Chapter 17
Before dawn, Qin Yao got up.

She boiled a full pot of water and put it in a bamboo tube, boiled ten taros as big as a child's fist, put the two in a bag woven with straw rope, and started to prepare her luggage.

Pour out more than half of the salt in the jar and put it in a small bamboo tube, and stuff the flint into your pocket to carry it with you.

A ten-meter-long bundle of straw rope was rolled up and tied to his side. The bow and arrow were slung on his back. The handle of the short knife was re-wrapped with a rag. He held the knife in one hand and water and food in the other to put out the fire in the stove. .

Everything was ready, and with the white fish belly exposed on the horizon, we walked towards the mountain ranges to the north.

As soon as she left, the door of the side room opened gently.

Dalang and Erlang took their younger siblings by the hand, watching the gray figure drifting away in the thick morning mist, wanting to chase after it, but forced themselves to endure it.

The stepmother told them last night that she was going to the mountains to hunt for as little as three to five days, as long as seven or eight days, and told them to take good care of themselves at home so that they would have meat to eat when she came back.

Sanlang and Si Niang were still young. When they heard that there was meat to eat, they only cared about being happy and didn't think about anything else.

But Dalang already knows something. Hunting is not something ordinary people can do. The mountains are deep and full of ferocious beasts. Every winter, people in the village dare not let their children go out because the hungry beasts will come down the mountain to eat people. .

It is true cannibalism. Last winter, a family in the village lived in a relatively remote place. The daughter of the family was taken away by wolves. When she was found, there were only a few broken bones.

During the short time together these few days, Da Lang only vaguely knew that his stepmother was stronger than ordinary people, acted vigorously and resolutely, and was very imposing.

But he didn't know if the stepmother could handle the beast.

In fact, compared to this, Da Lang has a darker thought in his heart.

He always felt that the stepmother wanted to find a reason to leave the four burdens behind and leave alone.

But seeing the expectant looks in Erlang, Sanlang, and Si Niang's eyes, they couldn't bear to express this conjecture.

Perhaps, he was thinking too much.

Because of Qin Yao's instructions, Liu Bai and Liu Zhong dragged the reluctant Liu Fei to the third son's house at dawn, took the remaining wheat seeds, and went to the ground with hoes on their shoulders.

At the same time, Qin Yao has entered the outskirts of Beishan.

She first found a sunny place, sat down, drank water and ate something, rested for a while, and walked deep into the forest with all her strength.

Hunting is a job of chance. If you are lucky, you will return with a rewarding reward.

If you're unlucky, it's not unusual to return home empty-handed.

But for professional hunters, finding the traces of wild animals is the basic skill.

Few people come in this deep mountain. Occasionally someone wants to hunt some meat and make a tooth sacrifice, but it is only in the outer circle. There is no road in the deeper place, so Qin Yao just stepped inside.

She didn't hide her movements, she had a clear goal, and she was looking for a stronghold.

Qin Yao, who entered the mountain, felt like a fish in water, and the environment similar to the mutant jungle in the last days allowed her to quickly enter the state of a hunter.

Birds and small beasts in the mountain forest would run past Qin Yao from time to time. Qin Yao put the knife on her waist and took off the bow and arrow.

Once again, when a frightened bird flew overhead, the arrow was nocked on the string, and an arrow shot into the sky!
There was only a scream of a bird, and then a gray shadow struggled and fell from between the trees.

Qin Yao brushed aside the weeds that were as tall as a person in front of him, and hurried towards the falling direction. A gray bird with an arrow in its wing was struggling and whining in the fallen leaves.

"I still need to practice the accuracy." Qin Yao pulled out the arrow with a bit of regret, picked up the fat gray bird that couldn't fly, tied its wings with a rope, and continued walking.

She walked all the way, using the animals and birds she met all the way to find the familiar touch. When it was evening, her body was already covered with various half-dead animals.

There are pheasants, wild birds, little squirrels, and a litter of rabbits.

This litter of rabbits was really an accident. She was chasing squirrels running up the tree, but a rabbit head suddenly appeared on the small mound in front of her. Qin Yao saw that the prey that came to her door would never be let go reason?
With lightning speed, he found several rabbit holes nearby, sealed them with stones, leaving only one exit, burned a handful of wet fallen leaves, smoked them, and all seven rabbits in a litter ran out and captured them alive.

This litter of rabbits is not small in size, and it can be seen that they belong to a family. The two big ones are almost as big as a two-year-old child.

The five little ones are also fat and white, with shiny gray hair.

Qin Yao doesn't like to eat rabbit meat, but she loves rabbit skin very much, making it into clothes, gloves and scarves, which can keep you warm in winter.

Because of bringing this litter of rabbits with her, Qin Yao could only find a nearby leeward col to stop.

The taro he brought had been eaten, and only one-third of the water was left. There was a trickle of water seeping out of the stone wall of the mountain col. Qin Yao dug a small hole with a stick that could be seen everywhere in the woods. After waiting for a while, the water flow accumulated. It became a small puddle.

It was already dark, so she built a fire, killed and roasted the struggling bird to eat.

Today's physical exertion was very heavy, and one bird was far from enough to replenish the energy. Qin Yao also roasted the pheasant.

The roasted meat is covered with a layer of fat, and when you bite into it, it is delicious. Qin Yao, who hasn't eaten meat for a long time, devours it, and eats up a bird and a pheasant in a short time.

After she was full, she added a few sticks of firewood to the fire, and then Qin Yao rested, she wanted to conserve her strength
The temperature difference between day and night in the mountains is huge, so Qin Yao can only cover her body with dead leaves, which can not only keep warm but also hide herself, so as not to be discovered by large beasts looking for food in the middle of the night.

Fighting at night is a disadvantage for humans who cannot see at night. If you can avoid it, try to avoid it.

The deep mountain is not quiet, the sound of wild beasts can be heard from time to time, it seems to be around, and it seems to be in the distance, Qin Yao's body instinct is very alert, and she will wake up from time to time.

In the middle of the night, it started to rain.

The fire was extinguished, and a gust of cold wind blew in. Qin Yao was so cold that she woke up instantly.

Seven live rabbits were strung together by their feet, and when it rained, they became restless.

Fearing that they would attract large hunting beasts, Qin Yao had no choice but to kill them all.Broken the neck directly, keeping the good fur as much as possible.

As for whether this kind of meat is good or not, Qin Yao can't care anymore.

After taking care of the rabbit, the rain became heavier, and the mountain col could no longer block the rain.

Beasts don't like to come out on rainy days, so Qin Yao left in the rain and continued to search for the cave.

Finally, when the sky was bright, I found a natural cave hidden in the weeds.

The whole body was soaked, Qin Yao was tired and sleepy, but she didn't dare to rest, put the dead rabbit and sundries in the cave, and immediately came out to find the not so wet broken branches hidden under the fallen leaves, and went back to the cave to start a fire.

With the fire, the temperature in the body that had disappeared sharply finally slowly recovered. Only then did Qin Yao have the time to observe the cave where she was now.

This is a naturally formed cave. The entrance of the cave is low and narrow. You need to bend over to get in. It is very concealed. If you didn't feel the wrong wind direction when you walked by, you almost missed it.

The space in the cave is not very big, about five or six square meters, but the height is good, and it can barely stand.

And there is no animal feces here, which means that this is not the home of some kind of animal.

Apart from the small space, this is simply an excellent stronghold. Qin Yao decided to live here for the next few days.

After drying her clothes and hair, Qin Yao covered the tracks at the entrance of the cave and took the time to catch up on her sleep in the cave.

(End of this chapter)

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