Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 354: The Birth of a Good Dog and a Narrow Escape
April 1984, 4, the 11th day of the third lunar month.

Suitable for: bathing, fishing, making nets, and hunting.

Taboo: marriage, burial, sacrifice, and cooking.

There is a big temperature difference before and after Qingming Festival. The temperature before Qingming Festival was above zero, but on the fifth day after the festival, the temperature suddenly dropped sharply. The temperature difference between day and night was more than ten degrees, and the daytime temperature returned to around minus ten degrees.

This weather phenomenon is called late spring cold, but it also makes people wonder: Will spring ever come?
In previous years, spring always came in late March of the lunar calendar, but now it is already mid-March. If it doesn't bloom in another ten days or so, this year can be said to be a bit dry.

However, many people have forgotten that this year there is a leap October, and the total number of days in the whole year is 384.

Therefore, whether spring comes early or late, it has nothing to do with drought or flood.

This morning, when Xu Ning came back from the toilet, he felt the temperature had risen, so he went into the house, took off his cotton jacket, put on a hiking jacket, and then went out with Wang Hu and the dog.

These days, the two of them and the three-person hunting gang have been running for five or six days in a row. Except for a trip to Xiaoshi River to catch fish with Xu Feng, Jin Yumantang, Wang Biao, and Liu Tianen on Sunday, they have basically not rested.

The harvest was not small. Eight wild boars, four yellow-haired pigs, two sows and two egg-digging pigs were captured.

After arriving home, Xu Ning kept two yellow-haired pigs and gave the rest to Lao Jiang and the other two, asking them to unload and sell them. After all, Lao Jiang, Liu Daming and Da Laba had taken on a lot of work in the two villages, and wild boar meat was the most in demand.

In addition, they also killed two roe deer. These two roe deer were captured by Blue Wolf after he smelled the scent and then brought his dog gang. The dog gang was truly beasts. When Xu Ning found the dog gang, the two roe deer were paralyzed from exhaustion!

The dog gang also squatted on the ground and panted violently, which stunned Lao Jiang at the time, because he had never seen a dog that could catch up with a roe deer and tire it to death. Then he looked at the blue wolf with its tongue hanging out and drooling, which seemed to be nothing serious.

Only Xu Ning knew that if the blue wolf wanted to chase the roe deer, it would definitely be able to do it with ease. Why?
Just because Qinglang once followed Xu Pao into the mountains and chased a deer for more than 90 miles. This was what Xu Pao said himself, so how could it be false?

So Xu Ning was not surprised. He just felt a little fortunate that the five puppies of the flower wolf did not chase them to death, otherwise they would really be tired to death.

Xu Ning kept some roe deer meat, which was stewed by his mother the next day. Liu Lizhen was not one to hide anything, and good things had to be eaten quickly. In the words of her mother: Why keep it? Can it still give birth to a baby?

The remaining roe deer meat was sold by Lao Jiang. He discussed with Liu Daming and Dalaba and decided to divide the money into five shares, with each of them taking one share.

So, when he gave the money to Xu Ning and Wang Hu, Xu Ning waved his hand to refuse. He couldn't take the money for three reasons. First, he had already left behind the good things such as meat and skin, whip, skull, heart, liver, etc.

The second reason they teamed up together was mainly because Xu Ning wanted to drag his five puppies along with Da Laba's three silly dogs.

The third thing is to look at Wang Biao and Jiang Qiuer. No matter whether these two people can succeed in the end, Xu Ning is the older brother, so he has to act like a brother.

So he couldn't accept it morally or logically. Besides, it wasn't much money in total, and Xu Ning got less than six dollars.

They have been running up the mountain for six consecutive days. Ever since the flower wolves started to run, they have never fallen behind. Their experience is increasing rapidly. Xu Ning thought about finding an opportunity to take the five flower wolves into the mountain alone to try how they can work independently.

Da Laba's three idiots also changed their work attitude and became very proactive. For a moment, Da Laba thought that his three stupid dogs were swapped, but when he saw the three idiots bleeding the wild boar, he came to his senses.

He asked Xu Ning if the three idiots' habit of bleeding wild boars could be changed. Xu Ning's answer was that it was best not to change it. Once this habit was changed, it would mean that their enthusiasm would be dampened, and it would be difficult to get them to eat again in the future.

The loud speaker had no choice but to give up. Then he figured it out. The three idiots bleeding the wild boar was unique in Qing'an. It would be a great honor to publicize it. So what else should be changed? Just leave it as it is!
He had been feeling very suffocated these days, as he had been running in the mountains for days and had no time to go out and chat. Even when he chatted with Lao Jiang and others, they just kept talking about the same things over and over again. Da Laba thought he should take a day off and then chat with others in the village about what had happened recently.

So he, Lao Jiang and Liu Daming all rested today, and only Xu Ning and Wang Hu led five puppies into the mountains.

On the way to Shuangfeng Ridge, Wang Hu was worried. Without the guidance of Blue Wolf and Black Wolf, he didn't have enough confidence in Flower Wolf and felt a little guilty.

"Second brother, do you think Hualang can open a clang?"

"As long as they can smell the smell, they will definitely start to attack. The most important thing is whether the five of them can bite down and hold the animal down!"

"Ah, just hold it down and it will be dragged out?"

Xu Ning shook his head: "Let's consider it halfway."

"Why?" Wang Hu was puzzled.

"Dogs are like people. They learn as they grow older. This is especially true for the hunting dogs we raise. You see, you feed them casually, but you have to give them some salt and observe their feces. If it's watery, you have to give them some bran. If it's dry, you have to give them some cabbage or something. And if they don't go into the mountains for a while, they tend to get itchy and become anxious..."

Xu Ning talked as they walked, explaining everything to Wang Hu along the way.

In front, Flower Wolf, One-Eye and three black dogs were walking through the woods. They also felt that there were fewer hunting gangs today, so Flower Wolf looked back at Xu Ning every two steps, as if he was afraid that he had been lost.

Xu Ning pointed at it from behind and said with a smile: "You go ahead! If there are animals, you can lead the four of them to chase them. Go ahead."

After hearing this, Hualang dared to go deeper into the forest. It was not until after ten o'clock, when Xu Ning and Wang Hu had just walked from the shady slope to the ridge, that they heard Hualang on the sunny slope start to cry. Five puppies rushed down the mountain at high speed, and Xu Ning and Wang Hu also hurried down the mountain.

The dogs kept barking along the way, especially One-Eye, who had a loud voice. Every time he barked, his head would pop forward, and then his front legs would land on the ground, and his hind legs would kick the ground...

These five dogs are very motivated, Xu Ning can definitely feel it, so he is in a pretty good mood.

After running for three or four miles, Xu Ning heard the sound of pigs barking. After running another two hundred meters, he saw three wild boars, two yellow-haired ones and an old sow.

The three pigs were only more than 80 meters away from the two men. At a glance, five dogs were dealing with the three pigs. The spotted wolf was harassing the old sow alone, and the one-eyed man and three black dogs were harassing the remaining two yellow-haired pigs.

The old sow ran forward, and when she was about to push the spotted wolf, One-Eye rushed over, scaring the old sow so much that she shrank back. The spotted wolf cursed at One-Eye twice in anger, as if he was annoyed by One-Eye's meddling.

"Oh my god, Hualang has a bad temper! Second brother, did you see that? Hualang is scolding Duyan."

"I saw it, good dog! Haha... Huzi, find a chance to fuck the old sow first, and leave one for the other five to play with."

Xu Ning laughed. Judging from the wolf's condition, this leader dog has already become a good leader. It can raise its head to smell the scent, and the scent can be at least three or four miles away. This has already met the standard of a good leader dog.

When we see it scolding the one-eyed man and driving him to harass the yellow-haired man, we can see that it has organizational skills and puts itself in the leader position.

The two men moved twenty or thirty meters down the mountain with guns in hand. Xu Ning handed over the gun and pulled the trigger. After shooting down the two yellow-haired guys, Wang Hu had already rushed to a position fifty meters away from Hualang. He saw that Hualang rushed towards the sow after hearing the gunshot.

The one-eyed man and the three black dogs only glanced at the yellow-haired boy lying on the ground twitching, then ran towards the old sow and pounced on her together with the spotted wolf.

The five dogs were not afraid of the gunshots, and they knew that the sound was a signal that Xu Ning had arrived, so the wolf rushed forward. The old sow screamed, kept retreating, and then suddenly rushed forward. However, the wolf was not afraid at all. It rushed forward and grabbed its ears, while the one-eyed dog aimed at the crotch, lowered his head and rushed forward to grab it fiercely. The three black dogs each bit the ears and mouth, among which the big black and the third black bit the pig's mouth and nose, and the second black and the wolf bit the ears together.

They shook their heads, yanked the old sow to the ground, and then pulled back with all four paws...

The old sow lay on the ground and struggled constantly, opening her mouth and letting out deafening screams, which scared the birds in the forest and made them fly into the sky.

Wang Hu glanced at the two dead yellow-haired beasts and turned back to shout, "Second brother? Do you want to bleed me?"

"Let go!"

In fact, Xu Ning was a little anxious, because he saw that the five dogs could no longer hold down the old sow. If the old sow escaped at this time, it would undermine the confidence of the five dogs.

Wang Hu quickly rushed down, drew out the sharp knife from his back, ran to the old sow, bent down and stabbed her neck, drew out the knife, turned around, and said with a smile: "Second brother, how about my knife skills?"

"Pretty good, have you been practicing secretly these past two days?"

Wang Hu said: "I learned two tricks from Brother Huang. He told me to insert the knife quickly and use the tip of the knife to poke downwards. No matter how thick the blood vessel is, it can be cut..."

"No problem, I thought you were practicing swordsmanship in your dream."

"Hahaha, I'm not as dreamy as Brother Qiang."

Xu Ning smiled, looked at the blood spurting out of the old sow's neck, glanced at the dog gang, and nodded, "One-Eye has really good teeth."

Wang Hu bent down and took a look. "Not very good."

After three or five minutes, the old sow collapsed to the ground and was completely motionless. Xu Ning shouted the names of Hualang, Duyan and the three black dogs, and then the five dogs opened their mouths and ran to him and circled around him.

There was a little blood on their mouths, especially Dahei and Hualang. They were right next to the cut on the pig's neck, and the blood rubbed onto their bodies.

Xu Ning called them to a snow-covered tree, sat on the ground and scrubbed their hair one by one.

Wang Hu was not idle either. He first bled the two yellow-haired pigs, and then gutted the old sow to take out the lantern hanging. After gutting all three pigs, he chopped off the three livers and threw them into the mouths of the five dogs.

"Huzi, you clean up, I'll go get some firewood."

"Hey!" Wang Hu was cleaning the pig's stomach, which is the pig's stomach.

This thing was so dirty that Xu Ning could smell it when he lit the fire even though it was more than ten meters away. However, the five dogs didn't feel anything. They just lay beside Xu Ning, looked up at him and stuck out their tongues.

Wang Hu cleaned the three pig stomachs and Xu Ning heated up the food. The two of them ate around the fire and rested for a while. Then they packed their lunch boxes, tied up the three pigs, and pulled the ropes down the mountain.

The old sow weighed nearly 300 kilograms, and the yellow-haired pig weighed 150 to 160 kilograms. It was easy for the two of them to pull them. After all, they had been working intensively for a period of time, and Xu Ning's physical strength and endurance were better than before.

We followed Xiaofeng Mountain into the narrow road and just as we reached the fork in the road leading to Ximaduozi, we ran into a group of people.

This group of people was the temporary hunting gang formed by Taipingtun, including Da Laba, Li Mazi, Lao Han, Lan Guodong and Lao Deng!

They were carrying hunting rifles and cloth bags, which were bulging as if they were filled with a lot of things.

Da Laba saw Xu Ning and his men, the five dogs, and the three wild boars they were dragging, and said in surprise, "Oh my, brother! How come you two came down the mountain so quickly? You caught something in the morning?"

Xu Ning smiled and waved his hand: "Yeah, it's ready this afternoon. I'm thinking of taking Hua Lang and the others for a stroll in the mountains. Hua Lang and the others are quite capable."

Da Loudspeaker laughed and said, "We couldn't get that fast when we entered the mountains a few days ago. Usually we couldn't see the animals until after noon. Your idea is really good."

"Ah, brother, let me introduce you. This is Doctor Deng from our village."

Xu Ning stepped forward, stretched out his hand and said, "Uncle Deng, we met a little while ago. My arm was broken off and you connected it for me."

"Yes, I remember you, and I have heard a lot about you these days."

Old Deng glanced at the yellow-haired guy and said with a smile, "He is indeed quite capable and his marksmanship is not bad either!"

Afterwards, the two of them greeted Lan Guodong, Lao Han, and Li Mazi, and asked, "Why are you going into the mountains at this time? It's almost half past one."

The loud speaker said, "Oh, don't mention it..."

Then several people talked about the purpose of their going up the mountain.

When Taipingtun was hunting the old leopard, didn’t they rent a temporary hunting gang? There were seven people in the hunting gang.

Among them is a man named Li Ye, who is the son of Lao Deng’s cousin and also his cousin. He is in his thirties and has a wife and two daughters.

Yesterday afternoon, Li Ye went into the mountains and told his wife that he was going to the ditch to catch some fish for the children. He did not say who he was going with, but he left at around eight o'clock and did not come back until dark.

Her wife was a little anxious. After finishing her dinner in a daze, she wanted to find Lao Deng to talk, because her mother-in-law passed away the year before last. But when she thought about how Li Ye often came back in the middle of the night when he went hiking, she sat on the kang and did not move, hoping for a lucky break.

Seeing that the children were all asleep, she couldn't fall asleep anyway, so she stared at the yard. It was not until after three o'clock that she heard some noise outside. She ran out quickly and saw that it was Li Ye. She happily took him into the house.

When they got into the house and turned on the light, they saw that Li Ye's face was covered in blood and one of his arms was cut with three cuts. Li Ye's wife was a little panicked when she saw this, so she hurried to find Lao Deng. After waking him up, Lao Deng put on his clothes, carried a box and came to Li Ye's house.

Old Deng took a look at Li Ye's wound and knew that he was scratched by a black bear. Fortunately, Li Ye knew how to bandage it, so not too much blood was lost. After he simply treated the wound and fed Li Ye some sugar water, he fell asleep.

When Li Ye woke up in the morning, he quickly asked his wife to call Lao Deng. After Lao Deng came over with the medicine box, Li Ye told him the reason with trembling lips.

"Uncle, Hu Zhiyong and I went into the mountains to fish, and we encountered a black bear in the back garden behind Lao Muzhuling. Neither of us reacted at the time.

Just as we were about to use our guns to fight, I was attacked by the black bear. My arm was held down and scratched, and Hu Zhiyong fired a shot..."

(End of this chapter)