bookrandom Chapter 109 What are you afraid of?
Chapter 109 What are you afraid of?
"No, Mom, you're busy. I'm not eating anymore. I need to sleep for a while and eat when I wake up at noon."
As soon as Li Xiangyang relaxed, his eyelids started to droop.
These past two days have been tough, not only because of hunting in the mountains, but also because of all the back and forth travel.
At this moment, my whole body feels like it's falling apart.
Seeing how tired her son looked, the mother quickly told him to go and rest.
Li Xiangyang put the gun away carefully before lying down.
As soon as I lay down, a heavy weariness instantly washed over me.
Li Xiangyang didn't sleep soundly, turning over from time to time.
It wasn't because I was tired, but because I had something on my mind.
This trip into the mountains with Wang Ergou was different from the past.
In the past, he dared not spend the night alone in the mountains, but now that he has a partner, someone will keep watch over him.
As long as this partner is reliable, there will be many benefits to hunting in the future.
"Brother, wake up, it's almost noon."
Li Xiangyang had been asleep for an unknown amount of time when Li Xiaohua's voice came from behind him.
When Li Xiangyang opened his eyes, he saw his younger sister standing by the kang (a heated brick bed), holding a bowl of steaming noodles in her hands.
Seeing that he was done, Li Xiaohua handed him the noodles, saying, "Eat up, it's not hot."
Li Xiangyang took the noodles and wolfed them down.
This sleep was neither too long nor too short, and it helped me recover from the fatigue of the past two days.
"Eat slowly," Li's mother said, walking in with a plate of pickled vegetables. "I boiled an egg for you."
"Mom, let's save these eggs for Xiaohua," Li Xiangyang said vaguely.
"You silly child," Li's mother sighed, "Xiaohua has already eaten, hurry up and eat too."
Li Xiangyang stopped refusing and happily started eating. After finishing, he began to pack his things.
The bearskin sleeping bag and wolfskin rug that Lao Zheng gave us were the most important; these were essential for survival when spending the night in the mountains.
He then loaded a flint and steel, some dry rations, and a few ginseng roots that he had left untouched.
The ginseng was a gift from Ma Laosan. Li Xiangyang thought that if he encountered anything in the mountains, he could suck on a piece to refresh himself.
"You're all packed so neatly, are you going into the mountains again?" Li's mother asked, looking at her son's busy appearance.
"Yeah, I've made plans with Wang Ergou to go hunting in the mountains tomorrow," Li Xiangyang said while packing his things. "This time I have a partner, so we can spend the night in the mountains."
"Can Wang Ergou be trusted?" Li's mother's face clearly showed worry.
"Don't worry," Li Xiangyang reassured him with a smile, "I have all the bullets. He's just an assistant. Besides, no matter how good his marksmanship is, he has almost zero hunting experience, so he wouldn't dare to act recklessly."
Hearing this, Li's mother was finally relieved, but she repeatedly reminded him to be careful on the road and to hunt within his limits.
The next morning, Li Xiangyang arrived at the village entrance carrying his equipment.
The black cat was already waiting there, and as soon as it saw him, it wagged its tail and came to greet him.
Xiao Hu wanted to come along, but Li Xiangyang stopped him and told him to go back to guard the house.
From a distance, you can see Wang Ergou leaning against an old locust tree.
This guy must have gotten his hands on a whole suit of leather armor from somewhere, with a big knife tucked into his waistband, looking just like an old hunter.
Li Xiangyang was not surprised; now that he had money, it was not unusual for him to buy himself a new outfit.
"This outfit is actually quite convincing," Li Xiangyang joked as he approached.
"Hehe," Wang Ergou grinned, "Working for you, I have to put on a good show. This suit cost me quite a bit of money."
"Alright, enough joking around," Li Xiangyang adjusted his backpack. "Let's get down to business on the road."
Wang Ergou nodded and followed Li Xiangyang into the mountains.
Before dawn, the cold wind carried fine snowflakes, and the sound of two people's footsteps was particularly clear on the mountain path in the early morning.
"Go this way." Wang Ergou pointed to the distant mountain.
The snow was knee-deep, and the cold wind whipped snowflakes at our faces, making the journey exceptionally difficult.
Li Xiangyang adjusted his backpack to a higher position to avoid it getting wet from the snow.
"You mean those people from Xujia Village came into the mountains from this side?" Li Xiangyang asked, panting heavily.
“That’s right,” Wang Ergou said, stomping out a deep hole, “They didn’t even have a dog, they just went in like that.”
After walking for a while, both of them were sweating quite a bit.
Li Xiangyang knew this was a matter of life and death. Sweating in the freezing cold, with sweat soaking through his clothes, was no joke.
"Take a break," he called to Wang Ergou, pulling a ginseng root from his pocket. "This was given to me by Ma Laosan; you can take it."
"This..." Wang Ergou stood there, stunned. "This is a really good thing."
“We’ll be spending the night in the mountains again, so we’ll need these,” Li Xiangyang said, taking out his own and biting off a small piece, then putting it in his mouth. “You should take one too, to warm up.”
Wang Ergou, clutching the ginseng, his eyes reddening, said, "Xiangyang, I..."
"Alright, enough nonsense," Li Xiangyang interrupted him. "Be careful on the road; large creatures often appear in this area."
The two continued on their way, stopping frequently, their inner clothes soaked with sweat.
Several times they even got stuck in snowdrifts and it took a lot of effort to climb out.
"Hey, lucky you!"
After walking for a while, Wang Ergou suddenly pointed to the snow in front of him.
Two pheasants lay there, frozen stiff.
This is common in the mountains. When heavy snow closes the mountains, many birds and animals cannot find food and freeze to death.
"Hehe," Wang Ergou carefully picked up the pheasant, "I told you I was lucky, right?"
Having picked up two chickens for nothing, Wang Ergou hadn't gone far when he stopped again: "Xiangyang, don't move. I drank a bit too much yesterday, so I didn't show you my true skills. Give me a bullet, and you'll see this time."
"Give!"
The two were paired up, and Li Xiangyang didn't give him the pills one by one, but immediately gave him a whole box.
Without wasting any words, Wang Ergou loaded a bullet, raised his gun, and aimed at a pine tree in the distance.
On a tree branch, a squirrel is gnawing on a pine cone.
"Watch this." Wang Ergou held his breath.
"boom!"
With a crisp gunshot, the squirrel fell to the ground and crashed into the snowdrift.
"How was it?" Wang Ergou slung the gun over his shoulder. "Was that a good shot?"
"That was a really good shot," Li Xiangyang exclaimed sincerely. "It's just a pity about the leather, but it doesn't matter. I know how skilled you are; let's work together..."
Before he could finish speaking, Li Xiangyang suddenly stopped and pricked up his ears.
"What's wrong?" Wang Ergou panicked when he saw Li Xiangyang's expression change.
"Don't make a sound!" Li Xiangyang said in a low voice, his eyes scanning back and forth in the woods.
The black cat's tail suddenly snapped open, and the cat arched its back, staring intently into the depths of the pine forest ahead.
"This is bad," Li Xiangyang said in a low voice, "anyone who comes out at this time can't be up to anything."
"What do you mean?" Wang Ergou subconsciously reached for the gun butt.
Li Xiangyang held his hand down: "Don't do anything reckless. Anyone who dares to show their face at this time is either a hothead who's never seen a gun before, or a territorial beast..."
Before the words were finished, the sound of footsteps crunching came from deep in the pine forest, as if some huge creature was slowly moving across the snow.
"This..." Wang Ergou's face turned pale. "This commotion..."
"Take a deep breath, don't panic. Don't forget you have a gun, what are you afraid of?"
As Li Xiangyang reassured him, Wang Ergou nodded frantically, but the gun in his hand trembled like a leaf.
At this moment, he was extremely grateful that he had gone up the mountain with Li Xiangyang.
He also understood why the entire group from Xujia Village had been wiped out.
I haven't seen anything myself, but I'm already afraid of becoming like this wave.
If they encountered it head-on, whether it was a wild elk or another ferocious beast, they would definitely be terrified on the spot, just like they were.
Thinking of this, Wang Ergou dared not move, and tried to take deep breaths to adjust his state.
The commotion ahead suddenly stopped, and the woods became eerily quiet.
"Stay close to me, back up little by little."
As Li Xiangyang spoke, he slowly moved his feet, saying, "Keep your eyes on what's in front of you, don't look at your feet."
The two of them and the black cat retreated little by little until they were behind a big tree, at which point Li Xiangyang finally breathed a sigh of relief.