Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 621 Seeing the brown bear's hair, my heart beats faster

The autumn wind is bleak, blowing off the yellowed leaves. The sky is blue, with thin clouds floating in the wind.

Although the temperature in the mountains is a bit chilly, it still can't stop the old ladies' enthusiasm for picking mushrooms.

When they were no longer satisfied with the mushrooms near Ximaduozi, the old women headed towards Heishitang in groups.

Xu Ning could only follow them helplessly. He was unable to persuade them at all, because ever since the old ladies entered the mountain, as soon as they saw mushrooms, they were like locusts passing through a swarm, and basically did not let go of even the small mushrooms that had just popped out. Their movements were indeed very fast, but there were so many of them, and each of them just picked up a bunch, and the whole nest of mushrooms was gone.

After arriving near Heishitang, we saw three nests of mushrooms under several fallen trees and tree roots, and there were also cockscomb mushrooms growing on tree trunks. However, wild mushrooms have a common feature, that is, there are many worm holes. The appearance is a bit dirty, and there are even maggots...

These are all normal situations. You can just take a little care of it when you get home and it will still taste delicious.

At noon, the old ladies still had no intention of going home. When they each took out trough cakes and lunch boxes from their pockets, Xu Ning collapsed on the ground. He didn't expect that accompanying the old ladies to pick mushrooms would be even more tiring than running in the mountains and hunting livestock!

It's not the pain in my waist and legs, but the mental torture. I feel anxious as if I'm sinking into the water and can't open my eyes. It's like I'm scratching my heart and liver...

Guan Hua ran over and handed Xu Ning a lunch box and two mooncakes. Xu Ning was stunned and asked, "Why are there still mooncakes?"

"You haven't eaten yet. Go and urge your aunt to go home earlier instead of waiting until dark."

"Yeah, I know."

After Guan Hua left, Sun Lianfang jumped behind the tree with a mooncake in his mouth, played with the branches with one hand, and said, "Brother, how about we roast some sparrows to eat?"

"I'll bake it when I get home. You can eat this lunch. I'm not that hungry."

Sun Lianfang waved her hand: "I've already eaten two mooncakes, you can have yours."

Xu Ning opened the lunch box lid, revealing fried beans, half a salted egg, and pickled cucumbers. He took a few bites and felt that it had no taste. He asked, "Do you know who fried the beans?"

Sun Lianfang's eyes lit up and she asked excitedly, "How is it? How is Xiaowei..."

Xu Ning frowned when he saw her like this: "Did you fry it this morning?"

"Hmm, how does it taste, bro?"

Xu Ning said vaguely: "It's okay, but not as good as your sister-in-law."

"Hey, how can I compete with my sister-in-law? Just tell me! If I bring food to Xiao Shitou, can I do well?" Sun Lianfang said expectantly.

Xu Ning swallowed his food and said, "Are you using me as a test subject? I'm the eunuch who specializes in tasting food beside the emperor."

"Brother, you see, I wanted you to be the first one to eat the dish I prepared."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "Then I'd rather not eat..."

"Hey, brother, just tell me what's going on!"

"To be honest, these beans have no taste, but you fried them well. If they were half-cooked, I would definitely have to go to the hospital."

"It has to be cooked. My sister-in-law told me this several times."

"Okay, don't run around in the afternoon. Just hang around here. I estimate it will be around three o'clock before you can go home."

"Eh!"

After a while, the old ladies, led by Liu Lizhen, started to move again. They began to look down from the hillside on the north side of Heishitang, heading towards Tiaoshitang...

Xu Ning followed silently carrying the Type 56 semi, occasionally looking towards the mountains in the distance and the bushes where livestock might appear.

At that time, there were fewer wild fruits in the mountains, but there were wild walnuts, hawthorn fruits, etc. However, wild walnuts did not have much meat, and in later generations they were all turned into walnut charcoal, which was specially supplied at a high price to those who liked to boil tea around the stove.

At about 2 o'clock in the afternoon, a group of old ladies' backpacks were filled with all kinds of mushrooms. Liu Lizhen happily pulled off the mushroom roots and shouted to Xu Ning, who was looking for Acanthopanax senticosus in the distance, "Old man! Let's go back. We picked up more today than yesterday!"

"Not bad, this basket must weigh more than 30 kilograms."

More than 30 kilograms is just bragging. The basket Liu Lizhen carries is not big and can only hold 20 kilograms of things at most.

Perhaps you may ask, why do we only pick up so few mushrooms when we go into the mountains with baskets? One reason is that we need to put some leaves in the baskets to prevent the mushrooms from bumping against each other. If the mushroom heads are separated from the roots, the mushrooms will not be fragrant. In addition, more than 10 women went into the mountains together, and each of them could pick up 20 kilograms on average, which is already a very high harvest.

For example, a few days ago, Liu Lizhen, Han Fengjiao, Wu Qiuxia and others picked up more than 70 kilograms of fresh mushrooms. If they were dried, how many kilograms would be left? At most, only about 16-10 kilograms would be left!
Xu Ning turned around and said, "Then hurry home. I'll carry you on my back."

"No, this thing won't sink. You should just look around."

At this time, Meng Ziyan said: "Why don't you look at Lianfang?"

Xu Ning was stunned for a moment, turned his head and looked around, frowned and said, "Why hasn't she come back yet, Lianfang?"

There was no response after he shouted, and Liu Lizhen and others became anxious and shouted two or three times at the top of their lungs.

About two minutes later, Sun Lianfang responded. After she hurriedly climbed up the mountain carrying the old workbench, she ran to Xu Ning, raised her hand suddenly, and said, "Brother! Look at what this is!"

Xu Ning looked at the strand of brown hair in her hand, then took it and held it up to the sunlight.

"Where did you see the brown bear's hair?"

"It was placed in the pile of rocks at Heishitang. I wanted to see if there were any black bears hiding there. Then I saw this hair. Isn't there a pond under Heishitang? There are two pine trees in front of the pond. One of the pine trees has traces of wild boar scratching itself. The other tree also has brown hair. I can smell a foul smell..."

Sun Lianfang's mountain running experience is not much less than Xu Ning's, but her physical strength and endurance are slightly worse, otherwise she would not be able to chase the brown bear from the mountains of Sandaohe to the snail shell in Qing'an with Sun Jiye, Sheng Lianjun, Wang Ye, Liu Zhu and others.
So when she finished speaking, Xu Ning understood. He put away his hair and said, "Let's go down the mountain and go home first."

"Ah? Why don't you go and fight..."

"I can't take you there even if I beat you. What are you thinking? Let's go."

Sun Lianfang pouted as she picked up a bunch of birds from under the tree roots, then suddenly bared her teeth and said, "Let's go home and roast the sparrows!"

Liu Lizhen laughed and said, "Lianfang is always a child."

"Not bad, lively and energetic... What's the word for it?"

"Eccentric!"

They walked from Tiaoshitang to Heishitang, but when they were more than 300 meters away from Heishitang, Xu Ning asked them to go through the woods. Going down from the woods was the East Peak of Ximaduozi, and then crossing a valley they arrived at the foot of the mountain.

The old ladies were laughing and chatting in the front, while Xu Ning was unhappy in the back. He had been thinking about the brown bear even in his dreams since last year. If the brown bear disappeared this year, then looking for it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack.

And if the brown hair that Sun Lianfang found really belonged to that brown bear...

Xu Ning was a little hesitant. He looked at his mother and wife in front of him and gritted his teeth and said, "Lianfang, you drive the four-wheel drive to take your aunt and the others home first. I'll go to Heishitang to take a look."

Liu Lizhen was stunned when she heard this, and then she shouted, "Where are you going?" "I'm going to take a look at Heishitang and will be back soon. You guys go home first."

"No! I don't know what you are thinking. Do you want to go and fight the black bear?"

Xu Ning waved his hands and said with a smile: "Why are you fighting a black bear? I didn't even see the shadow of a black bear. I just went to take a look. Lianfang, when you get home, go to Lengchang to find stones and ask them to come to Ximaduozi or Heishitang to find me..."

"You can't go! Can't I speak for you? If you want to go, you have to wait for Qiangzi and the others to come."

"I'll go to Heishitang and wait for the three of them. I won't go into the mountains. What am I afraid of? Mom, you can prepare some food when you get home. I don't know when I'll be home in the evening."

Liu Lizhen pulled his arm and said, "I really deserve you!"

Meng Ziyan remained silent. She had an inexplicable trust in Xu Ning. She only said, "Be careful."

"I know. You guys should go back quickly. Lianfang still has to go to Lengchang to look for Shitou and the others."

Liu Lizhen glared at him when she turned around, slapped him twice in anger, and said, "Fight if you can, run if you can't, don't joke with your life, you've only been married for a few days? Are you listening, you little bastard!"

"Listen, don't worry. I will definitely not go to Shetanggou. I will wait for my eldest brother and the other two at Heishitang."

Upon hearing this, Liu Lizhen took Meng Ziyan's arm and turned away, and asked all the old ladies to get on the tractor together, and Sun Lianfang drove the tractor to Qing'antun...

Xu Ning was standing halfway up the mountain and saw that the tractor had disappeared, so he turned around and climbed up Ximaduozi again, then headed straight for Heishitang.

On the way, he specially checked the magazine, barrel and spring of the 56 semi-automatic rifle. There was no problem with anything. There were 9 bullets in the magazine, and there were 3 long clips on his leather belt.

Apart from that, he only had a canteen with half a can of water left, a box of matches, and a pack of cigarettes...

At 3:20, Xu Ning stood in the woods next to Heishitang, looking up at the situation in the pile of rocks, but after five minutes of looking and seeing nothing, he walked along the ridge toward the downstream of Xiaoshi River.

When he reached the pond, he slowly moved his body, went down to the bank of the creek, picked a narrow piece of land, and stepped over.

Xu Ning first walked to a pine tree that had been rubbed by wild boars, leaving only a bare trunk. He squatted down and saw two or three piles of feces 2 meters away. This was the wild boar's excrement.

He carried the 56-and-a-half to another pine tree and saw a strand of brown hair on the pine oil on the trunk...

At this moment, Xu Ning suddenly turned around and half-squatted, holding the butt of the gun with his left hand and his right index finger on the trigger!

Although the muzzle of the gun was pointed at Xiaoshi River, his eyes were always fixed on the old forest twenty meters away on the left.

Xu Ning could feel his heart beating faster because he suddenly remembered what Sun Lianfang said. She said that she smelled urine under the second tree and only found a wisp of brown hair. What did that mean?

This means that the brown bear often moves around near the waterhole, and humans' sense of smell is not as sensitive as animals'. If Sun Lianfang can smell the brown bear's urine, it means that the brown bear left not long ago.

And just now Xu Ning found another strand of brown hair...

So, he thought that the hairless brown bear was nearby! Not far from him, and it might even be staring at him!
……

After Sun Lianfang drove the tractor to drop off the old women at Qing'antun, she turned the car around and headed towards Dongshan. She did not drive the tractor on the main road because the main road was farther than the 28 Lengchang in Dongshan District.

She hurried to the 28th floor and shouted at the top of her voice: "Guan Lei! Guan Lei!"

Guan Lei, who was mending the kang with dirt in the shack, was startled when he heard the noise. He quickly got out of the shack and asked anxiously, "What's going on, wife?"

"Hurry up and find Brother Qiang and Hu Zi. I'm going to Heishitang to look for the brown bear!"

"What the hell? My brother went there alone?"

"Yeah! This is also my fault. I saw the brown bear fur when I went to Heishitang to play, and then I told my brother..."

Guan Lei patted her on the back and said, "Don't blame you. My brother had a dream before getting married about hunting brown bears. He thought about it day and night... I'll go call Brother Qiang and Hu Zi now. They're in the small arena."

"Hey, my brother told you to go directly to Ximaduozi or Heishitang, don't forget it! I have to go back now to get you food, so you don't wait until the evening to be hungry."

Guan Lei nodded and got on the tractor and said, "Why don't you take your shotgun? It's much easier for the three of us to go directly from Lengchang to Ximaduozi."

"I forgot because I was in such a hurry! I'll go back and get it now. It's a good time to get the food."

"Pick up Brother Qiang and Hu Zi first, and then we'll go from Dongshan. You came here in a tractor, right? It's parked in Dongshan?"

"OK!"

The two men drove a tractor to the No. 2 field. When Li Fuqiang and Wang Hu heard the noise of the tractor, they came out of the newly built shack.

Li Fuqiang said with a smile: "Didn't Lianfang go to Nanshan to pick mushrooms?"

Guan Lei turned off the tractor engine and said anxiously, "Brother Qiang, my brother has gone to Heishitang to hunt brown bears. Let the three of us go to Heishitang quickly!"

"What the hell?" Li Fuqiang exclaimed, "Why did he go there by himself? Oh my god! Is it the brown bear we saw in Heishitang?"

Sun Lianfang said: "I didn't see the brown bear, but I saw its fur."

Wang Hu clapped his hands and said, "My brother has been talking about that brown bear for a while now. After hearing this, I have to go check it out! Brother Qiang, what should we do?"

"What else can we do? The three of you should hurry home to get your guns, ropes, food, and other things. I will go directly to Heishitang from here. If my brother is fine, we will stay in Heishitang and wait for you two..."

Guan Lei and Wang Hu both understood that they had to get guns and food, and finally take some thick clothes with them. If they couldn't go home tonight, they would have to stay in the mountains overnight. The temperature in the mountains was lower, so it was better to take some thick clothes with them to be prepared.

"Okay! Let's go now! Wife, where is the tractor parked?"

"Right here..."

After Sun Lianfang, Guan Lei and Wang Hu left, Li Fuqiang quickly entered the house, picked up the axe standing in the corner, and went out and headed straight for Heishitang.

The three of them came to the foot of Dongshan Mountain and drove the tractor back to Lao Xu's house.

Inside the house, Meng Ziyan had already prepared everything needed for hunting animals, and even wiped the old club.

"Sister-in-law, fill the kettle with hot water! Auntie, do we have any extra ropes at home?"

Liu Lizhen was filling lunch boxes in the north kitchen when she shouted, "Go look in the shed next to the doghouse!"

After Guan Lei found the two ropes, Wang Hu also changed his clothes and came to Old Xu's house. Meng Ziyan said, "Take this coat and wear it when it gets cold at night."

Liu Lizhen packed the lunch box and came over to tell him, "Tell your brother not to be so stubborn! If you haven't found it, go home quickly and don't show off outside."

"I know, Auntie. It's mainly because my second brother has been talking about this brown bear for quite a long time, and he really doesn't want to give up."

(End of this chapter)