Reborn in 78, I made my fortune by working in the mountains, supporting three families on my own.

It turns out that Uncle Changlin couldn't figure out the habits of these animals and couldn't find them accurately, which is why he often returned empty-handed.

Qin Bowen saw more in his brother-in-law and admired him immensely.

Zhao Lei then explained some more details to him.

After giving their explanations, the two men separated by twenty or thirty meters and searched the forest side by side, carefully examining every clue.

The two men crouched low, moving stealthily, afraid of making any noise that might scare away their prey.

The two brothers wandered around the nearby woods for over twenty minutes, but found nothing except the chirping of insects and birds.

Moreover, the distinctive odor of the musk deer has become increasingly faint, to the point that it is almost undetectable.

Qin Bowen then ran to Zhao Lei's side and said, "Brother-in-law, did we come to the wrong place? Even that strange smell is gone now."

Zhao Lei frowned and fell into deep thought.

He finally nodded: "That makes sense. Let's go somewhere else. Hunting requires patience, so don't rush."

Zhao Lei tried to reassure Qin Bowen, but he himself felt a bit anxious.

According to the habits of musk deer, they are generally more active in the early morning and evening.

The sun is now high in the sky.

From the time they left home around 6 a.m. until now, it's almost 9 a.m.

If the musk deer doesn't come out and move around for a while, how can he not get anxious?

However, she still needs to maintain a mature and sophisticated image.

Upon hearing this, Qin Bowen couldn't help but give a thumbs up: "It has to be my brother-in-law!"

Zhao Lei smiled awkwardly, then led Qin Bowen toward the rocky beach in the valley where they had hunted the sow the day before.

The two remained vigilant and moved slowly throughout their journey.

The surrounding forest grew denser, and the humus soil underfoot felt soft and spongy, with a faint, fermented, sour smell of grass and wood.

Zhao Lei noticed the tracks left by the sow when she ran wildly yesterday, scraping against the grass and branches. It seemed he was heading in the right direction.

Just as Zhao Lei was about to turn around a clump of waist-high ferns, his peripheral vision suddenly caught sight of the roots of a crooked pine tree to his left.

hiss......

There was a pile of fallen leaves that was noticeably darker than the surrounding area, and experience told him that something was amiss.

So he quickly walked over, bent down, and reached out to brush away the surface layer of dead leaves.

Suddenly, a cluster of black particles was revealed beneath the withered leaves.

Chocolate chips?

"Bowen, come here."

Zhao Lei waved to Qin Bowen in a low voice.

Upon hearing that his brother-in-law had made a discovery, Qin Bowen rushed over in a few strides, squatted down beside his brother-in-law, and stared wide-eyed at the dark chocolate beans in front of him.

I immediately remembered what my brother-in-law had said before, that this is the shape of a musk deer's droppings: "Brother-in-law? Is this the musk deer's droppings you were talking about?"

Zhao Lei didn't mind at all. He reached out and picked up one, rubbed it, crushed it, and then brought it to his nose to smell it.

A peculiar stench assaulted his nostrils. Zhao Lei immediately flung his hand away and wiped it on the withered leaves: "Ugh, that's it, fucking this stuff!"

Qin Bowen originally wanted to take one and smell it like his brother-in-law, but seeing his brother-in-law's pained expression, he gave up.

Zhao Lei noticed the kid's mischievous grin and immediately frowned, saying, "You little rascal, why don't you squeeze one and smell it too?"

"Oh, brother-in-law, didn't you already smell it? Why would I smell it again? I'll just forget about it."

With a slap, Zhao Lei tapped him on the back of the head: "I'm teaching you something so you can get used to this smell. Only then can you tell the difference between it and wild goat droppings when you go into the mountains alone in the future."

Soon, a mask of pain also appeared on Qin Bowen's face.

Because he had no choice but to do as his brother-in-law instructed.

Sure enough, the stench was indescribable, it went straight to the top of my head!

After wiping his hands, Qin Bowen wanted to take out a cigarette to clean his nasal cavity, but Zhao Lei stopped him by raising his hand.

"No, don't smoke now. The musk deer might be nearby, and if the smell of your smoke gets out and they spot it, it might disturb them."

"what?"

Qin Bowen then gave up, "Then brother-in-law, what are we waiting for? Let's hurry up and keep searching!"

Zhao Lei stood up and began to look around: "Finding just one pile of feces isn't enough. I need to look around some more, because if the feces field is here, it means there should be quite a lot of musk deer feces."

If this is the only spot, it suggests it might just be a place where the musk deer temporarily relieves itself, not their toilet.

Zhao Lei told Qin Bowen to also look around the area.

So the two brothers used the pile of black chocolate beans as a center and began searching the surrounding area.

Sure enough, not long after, they found another pile of feces about seven or eight meters away.

As more and more such discoveries were made, Zhao Lei was able to confirm that this was where the musk deer defecated.

Furthermore, judging from the dryness of the stool, four or five of them were relatively fresh, indicating that they were excreted within the last two days.

Zhao Lei judged: "There should be quite a few of these musk deer, probably more than four or five. And judging from the amount of excrement, there are quite a few adult musk deer as well."

Zhao Lei was secretly excited.

If we could catch them all, we could make several thousand dollars here on this mountain today.

It can solve the problem of tight financial conditions at home in one go.

Zhao Lei became even more cautious, fearing that Lin She might return and alert the other party.

The two brothers stealthily observed and searched the area.

Suddenly, Qin Bowen called Zhao Lei to a spot, pointed to the direction of the fallen leaves and the direction of the fallen grass, and said:

"Brother-in-law, look. There seem to be traces of something walking here. Come and take a look."

Zhao Lei observed carefully and found that it was a narrow path no more than two bundles wide, not too far from the manure field, and extending faintly towards the river valley and rocky beach.

Zhao Lei noticed that the fallen leaves on the path were significantly flatter than those around it, and some of the grass stalks were also lying down in the same direction, as if something small had been walking and trampling them here.

As Zhou Shuren once said, there were originally no roads in this world, but as more people walk on them, they become roads.

The same applies to animals; they leave traces and paths in the places they frequently travel.

Zhao Lei squinted; he was now almost certain that this path was the musk deer's animal trail.

Because the musk deer are not large, weighing only about ten or twenty kilograms, the paths they walk on are naturally very narrow. Moreover, they are very good at finding their way around; once they feel safe after walking a path once, they will often walk on that path repeatedly.

This is why the fallen leaves on the path are trampled down, and the vegetation tends to grow in the same direction.

Zhao Lei sighed inwardly, "There's absolutely no mistake."

Zhao Lei immediately became alert and reminded Qin Bowen, "Get ready, check your guns and ammunition. We're heading this way; the musk deer should be just ahead."