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

Qin Bowen nodded.

The two brothers immediately began checking their guns and ammunition to ensure the gunpowder was firmly packed so that there would be no mishaps during the crucial hunt.

Zhao Lei then gently patted Qin Bowen on the shoulder as a sign of encouragement.

The two of them crouched down and groped their way forward along the animal trail.

Their steps were very light, and the two of them, one in front of the other, carefully advanced along the hidden animal trail.

The further you go, the steeper the terrain becomes, and the soil under your feet gradually turns into large and small pebbles.

The trees on both sides gradually became shorter, and were replaced by dense bushes and vines climbing on the stone walls.

After walking for about half an hour, the woods ahead suddenly opened up.

Before Zhao Lei and his companion appeared a small valley of gravel.

From afar, you can see the clear mountain stream flowing down from upstream, converging into small streams among the rocks and valleys.

On both sides of the valley are steep rock walls.

The two immediately understood: they had hunted a female wild boar not far below this valley the day before, and this was, as Zhao Lei had said, a place where musk deer liked to roam.

Zhao Lei looked around and suddenly discovered a broken old tree stump.

This thing was originally unremarkable, and there were tens of thousands of them in the forest.

However, Zhao Lei noticed that a piece of the old tree stump's bark was missing.

He led Qin Bowen quickly over and squatted down to examine the tree stump. They discovered that a large patch of bark had been rubbed off, revealing the smooth, yellowish-white heartwood inside.

"Bowen, look at this." Zhao Lei pointed to the old tree stump.

Qin Bowen rushed over and gasped in shock: "Brother-in-law! Is this what you meant by the marks left by an adult male musk deer rubbing itself against something?"

Zhao Lei nodded: "That's right. The male musk deer's scent sac is at the base of their tail. You saw it yesterday too, so many mosquitoes and flying ants crawling in and out. Some of them are trapped inside and won't die immediately, which causes the musk deer to itch."

"When they get really itchy, they'll rub themselves against these rough tree bark or branches to relieve the itch."

Qin Bowen gestured with his foot and found that the rubbing marks reached exactly to the calf.

She exclaimed in surprise, "Brother-in-law, it really is just like you said, it reaches right up to my calf!"

Zhao Lei smiled and put a finger to his lips: "Keep your voice down. I think we've found the right place. This group of musk deer lives in this area. We need to be vigilant from now on and not scare them away."

Qin Bowen immediately stopped breathing and nodded repeatedly.

"Bowen, we've taken a big step forward in finding the musk deer's location. You've been with me for so long, you know that hunting is all about the result. What we've done so far has just been preparation for the crucial hunt."

"Finding prey is important, but successfully hunting them is the ultimate goal. We need to be more vigilant, especially at crucial moments. If we scare away these prey, we probably won't be able to find them again in this area today or even for the next few days."

Qin Bowen benefited greatly from this.

He could truly feel that his brother-in-law was genuinely teaching him real skills.

So the two of them then concealed their presence and became even more cautious.

Seeing his brother-in-law so serious for the first time, Qin Bowen couldn't help but feel a little nervous. His heart was pounding like a drum.

Now he relies on Zhao Lei as his main support, following him around like a shadow, doing whatever his brother-in-law does.

The two men cautiously made their way towards the valley.

Suddenly, Zhao Lei made a downward pressing gesture at him.

Qin Bowen froze instantly, stopping in his tracks.

Then, Zhao Lei pressed himself against the edge of a protruding boulder in front of him, inch by inch peeking out half his head, his gaze passing over the corner of the rock wall and looking into the depths of the valley.

As expected, hard work pays off!

Zhao Lei discovered four or five musk deer grazing on moss on a cliff face at a bend in the valley.

Judging by their size, it seems to be three large and one small.

He looked into the distance and could vaguely see that the base of two of their tails was bulging and that they had brownish-yellow fangs on their faces.

Very good!

Two adult male musk deer!

After working so hard for so long, Zhao Lei finally saw his prey and became quite excited.

But then one of the musk deer finished eating the moss, suddenly raised its head, and stopped moving, as if it were observing its surroundings.

Zhao Lei immediately shrank back and hid behind the stone wall.

Chao Qinbowen whispered, "Found them, there are four in total, two of them are male."

Upon hearing this, Qin Bowen's face lit up with joy, and he prepared to raise his gun and aim forward.

Zhao Lei immediately raised his hand to stop them: "Don't move. The distance is still too far. It's difficult for our homemade hunting rifles to kill them with one shot. Besides, in this kind of terrain, we can't outrun them, and we can't catch up with them either. We can only set a trap and wait for them to run into it."

Qin Bowen nodded solemnly, completely obedient to his brother-in-law.

So Zhao Lei pointed in another direction, and the two of them silently retreated about twenty steps.

Only after confirming that he was completely out of the musk deer's hearing range did Zhao Lei straighten up and let out a long breath.

Immediately afterwards, he took out a hemp rope from the basket Qin Bowen was carrying, and then pulled out a small knife from his waist, and began to weave a lasso with deft hands and feet.

"Bowen, look closely, this is called a slipknot lasso."

Zhao Lei's fingers flew across the rope and bamboo strips as he quietly explained to Qin Bowen.

"Musk deer are timid, but they're also incredibly stubborn. I reckon it's about time; they'll definitely return to the dung heap soon, so we'll set this snare on their inevitable path back. Once they're caught, they won't be able to escape!"

Qin Bowen squatted down beside him, watching intently, and occasionally mimicking the movements with his own rope.

However, he didn't grasp the trick and couldn't copy it exactly; he was just trying to remember the steps.

After working for 20 minutes, Zhao Lei made two sturdy slipknots and then picked some fresh dead leaves and vines nearby.

The two men retraced their steps and set up the two snares on the path next to the manure yard.

Zhao Lei carefully covered up all traces of human intervention on the noose, even smearing a layer of wet mud on the surface of the hemp rope to mask the smell.

After arranging everything, Zhao Lei led Qin Bowen to retreat to the vicinity of the manure field.

He figured the musk deer would come back to defecate after they finished eating, and this would be his second option if the lasso failed to trap them.

Whenever they return to relieve themselves, the two men lie in ambush, waiting for the right moment to fire.

After completing all the preparations, the two found their own hiding spots and lay down.

Zhao Lei and Qin Bowen split up and took up positions on opposite sides, both guns firmly aimed at the manure field. Now, all that remained was to wait quietly...