Return to the small mountain village in 1983

Chapter 82 A rare treasure in the forest, a dog barking at night

There are almost no roads in this forest, and there are broken and rotten trees everywhere on the way down the mountain.

There are still quite a lot of small bugs. From time to time, you can see some crawling millipedes on the ground, which shrink into a circle at the slightest touch.

Beetles, unicorn beetles, and green beetles can often be seen on the trees. If Lin Heng was a child, he would catch a few and play with them, but now he just looked at them twice and walked away.

In ten minutes, Lin Heng and others arrived at the Sancha Canyon where three streams converged. After just a few steps, Lin Heng discovered something at their feet.

"I found a Pseudostellariae heterophylla when I came down. This place is not bad." Lin Heng looked at it but did not dig it. It was too small and not worth much.

Dried Radix Pseudostellariae only costs [-] cents per pound. Although this stuff has the word "ginseng" on it, there are a lot of them, and there are a lot of them in the Qinling Mountains.

Just like epimedium, he found several pieces while walking today, but he was too lazy to do it. The purchase price was not high, and he had to have a lot to sell it for a little money.

"This one here is big. I dug it and cooked it at night." Tian Baishun also found one and picked up a hatchet to dig.

The black soil under the forest was very soft, and I dug it out in a short time. There were more than ten palm-sized roots underneath, and half a catty was enough.

"There is a mountain stream ahead. Let's walk up the stream to see if there is any shelter from the rain and wind." Uncle Lu Honghai said and walked to the front.

"Be careful of snakes." Uncle Li Baiquan said, walking forward side by side with Lin Heng.

In summer, the weeds grow like crazy, and there are grasses half a meter high around the feet. Some even cut off the feet, and some grass seeds get on the clothes, which is very demanding.

It's much more difficult than walking in the woods. At least there isn't such thick grass under the woods.

"Click click!!"

Suddenly, a pheasant flew out of the grass not far away, flapped its wings and flew into the distant mountain forest.

Lin Heng and the other four could only watch helplessly. No matter whether it was a gun or a bow and arrow, it was impossible to hit him.

"Damn it, it's really hard to hunt this summer." Tian Baishun cursed angrily, lit the rolled welding smoke and took two deep puffs.

"Indeed, hunting still has to be in autumn and winter." Li Baiquan was also very depressed. The missing traces of pig and badger today made him very unhappy.

When they reached the creek, they took a deep breath and washed their faces first.

"This water is really cold." Lin Heng said with emotion, and it actually felt cold when he touched it.

"Mountain streams are already cold, not to mention that they are close to Taibai Mountain." Tian Baishun said matter-of-factly.

Of course Lin Heng knew this. He was wondering if there would be Qinling fine salmon in this place.

This rare species of fish is a cold-water fish, and the maximum water temperature it can live in cannot exceed [-] degrees. The water temperature is probably around ten degrees, so he thinks he can pay attention to it.

Walking up the stream, although the road is not easy to walk, it is much better than walking through the grass.

"The stream groupers here are quite big, and there are also ground tigers." Lin Heng looked at the stream groupers in the pool, which were similar to those in Baishigou.

"It's a pity that it's too far away, otherwise we would come here and shock the fish." Li Baiquan said with a smile.

While everyone was talking, a black figure suddenly jumped out from the stream in front and burrowed into the grass.

"Damn, what a big black-tipped snake!" Lin Heng blurted out involuntarily.

He was still shocked, but his uncle Li Baiquan had already rushed out.

I saw him running after the snake. When he got close, he grabbed its tail and lifted it up. He moved his other hand along the tail and pinched the snake's neck in his hand. The whole process took less than ten seconds. .

"Awesome!" Lin Heng exclaimed. When he caught the snake, he would pull the tail with one hand and hold the snake's head with a stick in the other hand. It was terrifying to just lift it up and grab the snake's head. His hand speed was too fast.

"You are good at catching snakes with one hand." Tian Baishun couldn't help but praise.

Li Baiquan chuckled, weighed the snake in his hand, and said unsatisfied: "It looks big, but it only weighs a little more than two kilograms in your hand, so forget it and let it go."

The black-tipped snake was already cheap, and it wasn't that big. He didn't really want to carry a snake on his back for a few days.

"Don't let it go. Let's stew it at night. I have a pot with me. Let's have a pot of dragon and phoenix soup to make him look auspicious." Tian Baishun stopped him quickly. The old man didn't care and dared to eat anything.

"That's okay." Li Baiquan chuckled, took a bag and put the snake in it.

Lin Heng shook his head and could only say that the snake was unlucky. None of the four of them were afraid of snakes. It could only admit that it was unlucky tonight.

After walking about seven or eight hundred meters along the stream network, a white stone beach appeared. The ground was covered with white stones, and there were some big trees in the distance.

"The gap between the two rocks is quite suitable for people to live in." Lin Heng pointed at the two large bluestones measuring four to five meters in the southwest and said.

"I think it's okay. Let's go over and have a look." Uncle Lu Honghai nodded and everyone walked past.

At this time, the sun had set on the ridge of Taibai Mountain in the west. Half of the sky was dyed blood red, and half of the sky was blue. Coupled with this paradise-like environment, it seemed as if they had strayed into some fantasy land.

It's a pity that there is no camera, otherwise Lin Hengheng would have filmed this scene.

Several people came under this big rock. The place is really nice and big. There are no weeds around. There are not many mosquitoes at night. The view is wide and dangers can be detected in time.

"It's just that the gap is too big, so we need to get some trees to cover it." Tian Baishun said.

Li Baiquan took out the hatchet and said, "Let's get it, I guess I can't find anything better."

This shelter is a triangular area formed by the toppling of two large bluestones. There is ventilation on both sides, so the other side has to be blocked.

"My uncle and I are here to cut down the trees. Uncle, you and Old Man Tian can go cut some grass and come back." Lin Heng also took out the hatchet and said.

"Okay." Uncle Lu Honghai nodded, put down his things and went out to cut the grass.

Lin Heng first picked up some dead tree trunks on the ground and placed them on the rocks. He built two densely packed layers, which initially blocked the area, but there was still some ventilation.

"I'm here, you get out of the way." At this time, my uncle Li Baiquan cut down many treetops and put this thing up, and it was immediately airtight.

Then find some big tree poles and put them on top to prevent the wind from blowing away the treetops. Once this is done, the preliminary construction of the shelter is completed.

All that's left is to "decorate" the interior. Pick out the stones to build a stove, get some hay to use as a mattress, and then you can rest.

"I'll take care of the golden rooster."

Old man Tian got two bales of hay, and then he couldn't wait to eat.

There was actually a small aluminum pot with a diameter of [-] centimeters in his backpack, and he built a stove and placed it on it to boil water.

"Eating so early is a good time for hunting." Lin Heng didn't understand.

Tian Baishun glanced at him and grinned: "The sky is huge and the food is the biggest. Let's deal with the golden rooster first and cook the meat. It won't be too late to find it later."

This old man has no worries and is really cool.

"Li Baiquan, go kill the snake and make soup. I also brought wine. Let's have a few sips at night." Tian Baishun said again.

When he heard that there was wine, Uncle Lin Heng's eyes suddenly lit up: "Go right now, just wait."

After saying that, he took out the black-tipped snake from the bag and went to the river. He slashed it with a knife and the snake's head fell off. The bright red blood flowed down the creek, attracting many small fish to swim for food.

It's just that the blood disappeared too quickly, and it had already disappeared before it was used.

"Lin Heng, help pull it, and let's peel off the snake skin." Li Baiquan said.

"Okay." Lin Heng came over to help his uncle.

Separate the snake's skin and flesh from the neck, then grab it and pull hard, with a stinging sound, it's like tearing off a piece of cloth, and the black snake skin is peeled off immediately.

"This thing is handled very quickly." Li Baiquan chuckled, used a knife to cut open the snake, and removed the internal organs, and he was done.

"I'm going out to see if there are any signs of prey."

After handling the snake, Lin Heng walked out with a bow and arrow, while his uncle and Tian Baishun continued to handle the golden rooster.

As the sun gradually set, the mountain breeze became cooler, ruffling Lin Heng's long black hair.

He walked on the white stone beach with a bow and arrow. In the distance was the mist-shrouded Taibai Mountain, and in the near distance were gurgling streams and tall forests.

The scenery was beautiful, but he only admired it for a moment and then focused on finding prey, because now he was no longer a prodigal son and had the burden of letting his family live a happy life.

Going up the creek, Lin Heng came to a tall forest. From a distance, he saw ants crawling in a black line on the ground, each carrying a small white egg, hurriedly rush to their new home.

The thornberries on the roadside were already red and plump and would fall if touched lightly. Lin Heng picked two and put them in his mouth. His eyes were attracted by a red-haired squirrel on a tree not far away.

It held a bug-gnawed Zhengxiang in its hands. As soon as Lin Heng picked up the slingshot, it climbed to the top of the tree with a hiss, jumped from a branch to another tree, and soon disappeared.

Shaking his head, Lin Heng reluctantly put away the slingshot and got into the forest. Not far away, he saw several astragalus trees growing together.

Astragalus leaves are arranged in rows, with pea pods attached to them, which are easy to identify.

"Anyway, I didn't encounter anything. You can just pull it out and dry it in the sun to boil water for drinking." Lin Heng muttered to himself, walked over and pulled it out.

The soil under the forest was soft, and all the roots came out as soon as they were pulled out. After cutting off the roots and throwing them into the basket, Lin Heng continued to move forward. Even though it was already evening, the prey was not that easy to find. I didn’t hear any sounds, and I didn’t find anything while walking in the forest.

White white milk mushrooms are everywhere in the forest, piece by piece. The mushroom tastes extremely spicy when raw. Even after it is blanched and dried, it still retains a strong spicy taste.

Almost no one eats them here.

Lin Heng could kill two of them by taking just two steps. He occasionally picked up a few chanterelles when he saw them.

"If you can't catch prey, it's not bad to encounter two red Ganoderma lucidum trees."

Lin Heng smiled, walked to the roots of the oak tree, and picked up two beautiful red Ganoderma lucidum trees.

After searching nearby, I found three more trees.

"It's okay today. Although I didn't catch any prey, I harvested Ganoderma lucidum and honey which is pretty good."

After muttering to himself, Lin Heng had the idea of ​​going back to eat. He was already a little hungry.

But when I looked at the ridge ahead and saw the tall trees, I felt that there might be new discoveries in the past.

"Forget it, let's continue watching." He grabbed a handful of soybeans fried by his wife and ate them, thinking of Xiulan again.

After walking half a kilometer of the mountain road, Lin Heng came to the ridge. Looking into the distance, he casually pulled away the small branch beside him. Suddenly, a burning feeling came from the back of his hand, and then turned into a heartbreaking pain.

"Damn!! So hot!!"

Lin Heng cursed and knew without even thinking that he had accidentally touched a live spicy guy.

This thing is the scariest thing in the woods in summer. It hides behind the leaves. If you accidentally hit it, it will hurt for half an hour.

Lin Heng took a look and saw a swollen knot on the back of his hand: "You have to seek death, right?"

He turned around and turned over the branch, and sure enough he saw a live pepper. It was the kind of live pepper with four corners and long golden-green fluff.

"You spicy king, no wonder it hurts so much."

Lin Heng broke off the leaves. There are many kinds of hot peppers. This kind is the most terrifying, and it hurts the philosopher the most.

He placed the leaves with live chili seeds on the stone, picked up a small slate, squeezed out the green liquid in his body, and applied it on his hands. The pain was immediately relieved.

This is a native method in the mountains, and it works well most of the time.

"Damned thing." Lin Heng angrily cut his body into thousands of pieces to relieve the hatred in his heart.

Although it was said to be a live spicy thing he accidentally encountered, this thing should not exist at all.

This is probably the common psychology of everyone who has been tricked.

"Huh?" While handling this live creature, Lin Heng felt as if he saw a reflection in his peripheral vision, which seemed to come from animal fur.

He turned around slowly, and a small figure three hundred meters away came into his sight.

This figure looks like a deer, about the size of a poodle, with dark brown hair. Its ears stand up like a rabbit, with a ring of white hair in its ears. The most obvious thing is that it has two white vertical hairs on its chest.

Lin Heng turned his head and it didn't move away, standing there looking at him curiously.

Lin Heng held his breath at this moment and his heart was beating wildly: "This is not a muntjac, this is a forest musk deer."

What is a forest musk deer?

Forest musk deer are also called deer deer. Male forest musk deer have natural musk. The purchase price of natural musk per gram in 2023 is [-] to [-] yuan.

Even in the [-]s, it could still be sold for [-] yuan per gram. A forest musk deer generally has [-] grams of musk. In other words, if you catch a male forest musk deer, you can guarantee a fortune of [-] yuan. .

How could Lin Heng not be excited?
  But he quickly became disappointed because it was a female forest musk deer. Because there are no canine teeth that are bent backward and downward on its mouth, while male forest musk deer have canine teeth that are everted.

Seemingly noticing Lin Heng's aggressive gaze, the female forest musk deer turned around and ran away. Lin Heng did not chase her, but looked at the direction in which she was running from a distance.

"It's a pity. It's too far away. It's still a female." Lin Heng shook his head helplessly. If the prey saw it first, there would be no chance of hitting it.

Unless you have a sniper rifle, the range is hundreds or thousands of meters.

But this is a good thing for him. There are female forest musk deer here, and there must be males. As long as you search carefully, you will definitely gain something.

Male forest musk deer cannot be too far away from female forest musk deer.

"Unfortunately, forest musk deer breed in November and February of the Gregorian calendar. During this time, there is no way to find them by listening to the sounds." Lin Heng shook his head.

"Damn alive spicy guy." Lin Heng whipped the corpse again and continued to search around.

Originally he planned to go back, but now he decided to continue looking. Maybe he would be lucky enough to meet a male forest musk deer.

It's like you said you were going to stop and go home, and suddenly you caught a big carp, and you couldn't help but throw a few more shots.

Lin Heng also had the same mentality, but just like catching a big fish and continuing to fish will often lead to nothing, Lin Heng found that it was already dark and still had nothing to gain.

"Let's go back."

Lin Heng shook his head and decided to come over again tomorrow morning to explore.

His current location was already two or three kilometers away from the shelter, so he took a new route back.

Go down the mountain directly from this place and take a look inside the Sanchagou Canyon.

When he was halfway down the mountain, he suddenly heard a rustling sound. When he turned around, he saw a hedgehog shrank into a ball and became motionless.

"Damn it, you're scaring me, right?"

Lin Heng kicked him away.

Continuing to walk, his pace quickened a little. As soon as he came down the mountain, there was a bang of gunshots from the downstream direction, and suddenly the world became quiet.

"Who found the prey?" Lin Heng was a little curious.

Shuttle through the canyon. The trees in the canyon are relatively sparse and the grass is very deep, making it difficult to walk.

"Wang Wang~"

"Huh? Why are there still dogs barking here? Is it Old Man Tian?"

Lin Heng was stunned for a moment, listened carefully, and was sure it was a dog barking. He immediately changed direction and walked in the direction of the barking dog.

"Is this in a wetland?"

After walking not far, Lin Heng found that the ground under his feet became muddy and stopped quickly.

"Old man Tian, ​​is that you?"

Lin Heng shouted loudly. He was a little worried. Is this old man in danger?
  "Wang Wang!!"

No one answered, and the barking of the dogs became more ferocious.

"Are we really in danger?"

Lin Heng felt a little scared. Tian Baishun was really in danger, why didn't he fire a shot?

Fortunately, he is a staunch materialist and does not believe in any ghost legends, otherwise he would definitely feel that he had encountered a ghost.

Taking out a flashlight, Lin Heng found a stick to explore the way, and shouted as he walked: "Old man Tian, ​​is it you!!"

"It's me, be careful where you step, don't fall into the quagmire, and walk slower!"

Finally, Lin Heng heard Old Man Tian's voice.

"Are you okay?" Lin Heng breathed a sigh of relief, as long as he could still speak.

"I can't die for the time being. If you didn't come, I might have confessed today, leaving only my chest." Old Man Tian's voice was very low.

Lin Heng understood. His chest was squeezed by the mud. No wonder his voice was so low. If he hadn't walked here, the old man would probably die here today.

He couldn't figure out how an old hunter could make such a stupid mistake?
  After taking two steps, Lin Heng didn't dare to go any further. He went back and found a way, but halfway there it was blocked. It was really scary to walk in such dangerous terrain at night.

The field of vision was too narrow and I couldn't tell which road was open, so I could only explore carefully.

But he couldn't go back to look for people. Old Tian was drowned up to his chest. If he went back to look for people, he would be dead if he came back.

After half an hour, Lin Heng finally found the path Old Man Tian took and arrived at the place where he fell.

From a distance, this place looks like a flat land covered with leaves. If you don't look carefully, you won't notice that there is a black cement pool below.

At this time, Old Man Tian only had his shoulders up, and the spotted dog next to him had sunk in with half its head left due to its random struggle.

(End of this chapter)