The whole mountain is my hunting ground

Zhao Youcai walked in front and entered the house first. He was startled when he saw the person coming and asked, "Chengguo, why are you here?"

"Are you off work today?" Zhou Chengguo smiled faintly and said, "I met my brother Zhao Jun twice in the past few days. He seemed to care about you when he spoke. It just so happens that I have nothing to do today, so I came over to take a look."

"Ah." When Zhao Youcai heard this, his thoughts changed rapidly and he didn't say much.

At this time, Zhou Jianjun came in carrying a sack of mutton. He put the sack next to the stove when he entered the house. He wanted to ask Hu Sanmei and Zhao Chun to come out to handle the lamb, but he heard someone talking in the house, so he came inside first.

As soon as Zhou Jianjun entered the house, he heard Zhou Chengguo ask Zhao Youcai: "How have you been these two days? Did you catch any leopard shadows?"

Zhou Jianjun saw his father-in-law wink at him, and then Zhao Youcai said to Zhou Chengguo: "No, I went into the mountain to search for two days and found nothing."

As soon as Zhao Youcai said this, Zhou Chengguo nodded and said, "That's what I said."

"What?"

When people hear Zhou Chengguo's words, they feel that there is something in them.

Zhou Chengguo smiled and said, "I met my brother Zhao Jun yesterday. He said that the leopard went to 42 Lin Class the day before yesterday, and he even watched it."

"This little bastard..." Zhao Youcai cursed in his heart, but in front of Zhou Chengguo, he did not show his anger and just said: "That's okay, it's common for local leopards to run dozens of miles in one night. Maybe they'll come back again. .”

He had just seen it two hours ago, so of course he knew that the leopard had returned.

After a few chats, Zhou Chengguo stood up and left. Hu Sanmei took Zhou Jianjun out of the house, and when she came back, she saw the sack placed next to the stove.

Before my son came back with his in-laws, they didn't have this sack, but they had it after they came back.

Hu Sanmei asked Zhou Jianjun very curiously, "Son, what is installed here?"

"mutton."

"What?" Hu Sanmei was stunned, and quickly pulled up the sack. When she opened the mouth of the sack, she saw about ten kilograms of mutton in the sack, but most of it was thin bones, and there was very little meat on the bones.

Hu Sanmei knew at a glance that it was the meat of the little lamb her son had carried away that morning.

"Why did this lamb die?" Hu Sanmei looked at Zhou Jianjun and asked.

When he mentioned this, Zhou Jianjun felt a pain in his heart and wanted to go back to the house to rest, but Hu Sanmei stopped him and refused to let him go. He could only reply: "It was a native leopard that killed him."

"Did you really lure a local leopard?"

"OK."

As soon as Zhou Jianjun nodded in response, he saw Zhao Chun coming out of the west room carrying the child on his back.

When Zhou Chengguo came just now, Zhao Chun only came out to say hello, and then went back to the house to comfort the children. At this time, she heard Zhou Chengguo leaving, so she came out. As soon as she came out, she heard a local leopard. Zhao Chun hurriedly stepped forward and asked, "Have you killed that leopard?"

"No." Zhou Jianjun shook his head. Just as he was about to continue, he saw Zhao Youcai coming out of the east room and going back to his own room, leaving Zhou Jianjun alone to deal with his mother-in-law and daughter-in-law.

Hu Sanmei and Zhao Chun looked at each other and asked Zhou Jianjun a question that struck a chord with his soul: "The leopard was not killed, but why did the sheep die?"

In fact, Zhou Jianjun was already feeling distressed at this time. He didn't want to say a word, he just wanted to go back to the room, fall on the kang and take a nap.

But he couldn't afford to offend the two women in front of him, so he could only briefly recount the story of today's trip to the mountain.

"well!"

"well!"

After hearing this, Hu Sanmei and Zhao Chun couldn't help sighing. Hu Sanmei picked up the sack with both hands, held the mouth of the sack to show it to Zhao Chun, and said, "Look, the lamb I bought for ten yuan was in vain." ?”

The old lady has been careful for most of her life. Although she heard that the money she spent was not her own, she still felt distressed.

She felt distressed, and Zhou Jianjun felt even more distressed, so he turned around and went to the west room.

At this time, the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law paid no attention to him. Zhao Chun glanced into the sack, then raised his head and said to Hu Sanmei: "Okay, Mom, this sheep is dead too, let's stew it quickly."

Her natal father bought the sheep, what else could she say to her mother-in-law?

Moreover, the weather is hot at this time, and meat cannot be stored. If it is not cooked and eaten, it will be even more distressing if it goes bad.

"Okay." Hu Sanmei put the sack aside and said to Zhao Chun, "I'll do it. My daughter, please go back to the house."

In the evening, when Zhou Chunming came back from outside, he was still carrying two bottles of wine. Although he is a leader, he never puts on airs in front of the relatives in this village, let alone his own relatives.

These days, every day when Zhou Chunming comes back, he has to have a drink with Zhao Youcai during dinner. It's just that Zhao Youcai and Zhou Jianjun had to go up the mountain the next day, so they couldn't drink much the first night, so they couldn't enjoy themselves to the fullest.

As soon as I got home today, as soon as I entered the yard and even before entering the house, Zhou Chunming smelled the fragrance.

"Mutton!" Zhou Chunming was overjoyed at first, thinking that the leopard had been shot and the sheep used as bait was useless, so he stewed it to celebrate.

But thinking of this, Zhou Chunming felt a little regretful. Even if he killed the leopard, he could still bring the sheep back and raise them. If you kill and eat meat at such a young age, isn’t this blindness?

Zhou Chunming opened the door and entered the house. Hu Sanmei, who was stirring egg liquid in front of the stove, casually asked: "I'm back."

Zhou Chunming glanced into the inner room. In his opinion, the sheep was bought by his in-laws with money. If someone wanted to kill it and eat it, he couldn't say anything, especially since it was in his own home.

Therefore, Zhou Chunming raised the wine in his hand and asked Hu Sanmei, "Where are the in-laws? Let's have a drink tonight."

"It's okay to drink a little, but don't drink too much." Hu Sanmei shook her head and said, "My in-laws have to go up the mountain in the morning tomorrow."

"Going up the mountain..." Zhou Chunming didn't think much about it. He knew that Zhao Youcai liked hunting, and he thought he might have seen some traces of prey in the mountains again. But he asked Hu Sanmei: "Hey, Lao Kuai, where is the leopard?"

"What?"

"Local leopard!" Zhou Chunming walked to the east room, looked inside, but found nothing. Then he came out and said to Hu Sanmei: "Where is that leopard? Let me see, I have lived so long, and I can still survive." I’ve never seen a native leopard.”

Leopards are rare in the Northeast, even rarer than tigers. Many people have only heard of them but have never seen them.

"Don't make any noise." Hu Sanmei winked at Zhou Chunming and frowned: "Why don't you open the pot and lift it? The leopard ran away and was not hunted. I think the in-laws are a little angry, so you just pretend you don't know. , don’t say anything, don’t ask anything.”

"Ah!" Zhou Chunming was startled when he heard this, but then turned to look at the fragrant cauldron and asked Hu Sanmei: "We didn't kill the leopard, so why did we kill the sheep? We won't have to pay for it tomorrow. Fight?"

"This sheep was killed by a leopard, so don't ask so many questions, okay?"

"Oh." Zhou Chunming sighed after hearing this, shook his head and walked towards the back room, muttering in a low voice as he walked: "Tonight, I have to have a drink with Youcai, otherwise he will easily get angry."

For dinner, four dishes were put on the kang table: braised lamb, roasted sprouts and eggs, stir-fried cucumbers, and tofu stewed with potatoes.

Because they were all relatives, Hu Sanmei and Zhao Chun also sat around the kang table to eat. It can be seen that Zhou Chunming was afraid that Zhao Youcai would get angry, so he held up a glass to persuade him to drink, but Zhao Youcai seemed to be fine, drinking wine normally and eating a lot of food.

Zhou Jianjun, on the other hand, seemed even more depressed than Zhao Youcai. He was holding the wine glass and drinking one mouthful after another. Zhao Chun couldn't stop him.

When he got up the next morning, Zhou Jianjun felt uncomfortable even though he had sobered up.

But there was no other way. After breakfast, I had to go out with my father-in-law. First, I went to Lao Sun's house and bought the remaining lamb from their house.

"Look, look." The old man from the Sun family pointed to the departing figures of Weng and his son-in-law, and said to his wife: "My father-in-law enjoys a lot of blessings. I stayed with my in-laws for two days, and my uncle killed sheep to eat every day. "

"Yeah." Old Mrs. Sun agreed, her eyes full of envy.

When Weng and his son-in-law went into the mountain, Zhou Jianjun was carrying the sheep at first, but halfway through, Zhou Jianjun couldn't carry it anymore.

Zhao Youcai had no choice but to take the sheep and carry it up the mountain.

Finally arriving at the place, Zhao Youcai tied the sheep to a tree, and then poured the bean cakes he brought from home in front of the sheep. This sheep can detect the arrival of the leopard earlier than humans, so we can't let it bark when it's hungry.

After settling the sheep, Zhao Youcai turned around to see Zhou Jianjun, only to see Zhou Jianjun huddled behind a tree uncomfortably, his eyes slightly closed and drowsy.

Zhao Youcai felt a little distressed when he saw a half-son-in-law, but most fathers in this era could not express their emotions. No matter how much they felt in their hearts, they turned into scoldings on their lips.

Just listen to Zhao Youcai say: "You said you can't drink, what can you do?"

Zhou Jianjun leaned his shoulder against the tree, without opening his eyes, and just murmured: "I feel bad."

"What?" When Zhou Jianjun said this, Zhao Youcai was startled. He hurriedly knelt down and put Zhou Jianjun's shoulders and asked, "What's wrong? Jianjun! Is your heart feeling weak?"

"No...I feel sorry for my twenty yuan."

"What the hell..." Zhao Youcai curled his lips, stood up and walked to the side. If Zhou Jianjun hadn't been feeling unwell, he would have wanted to take off his gun and shoot this kid.

After Zhao Youcai stood up, he subconsciously looked forward and saw a roe deer jumping out of the forest in front.

More than ten meters away from Zhao Youcai, the roe deer stopped immediately, glanced at Zhao Youcai, turned around and ran away.

"Jianjun!" Zhao Youcai said, "You watch here, I'll catch a roe deer!" After saying that, Zhao Youcai, who had already taken the gun in his hand, chased the roe deer away.

It has to be said that Zhao Youcai has rich hunting experience. He walked around the area on the first day he came. Even if there were no footprints of wild beasts on the ground, he knew that this post was the most frequented by roe deer.

If there are too many roe deer, they will naturally attract leopards.

This is the reason why Zhao Youcai set up an ambush here.

After Zhao Youcai walked for more than ten minutes, Zhou Jianjun, who was huddled behind the tree, stretched out a hand, supported the tree, struggled to get up, and walked back along the original path.

He didn't want to go home, but wanted to find a place for convenience. Probably because of drinking yesterday, Zhou Jianjun felt very uncomfortable in his stomach at this time.

But I remembered what Zhao Youcai said, no matter if you are smoking or taking a walk, you can't be around here, otherwise if the leopard comes and smells something wrong, it may leave.

Zhou Jianjun endured the pain and walked out for four to five hundred meters, then returned after relieving himself in the woods.

It was not yet half past nine, and neither he nor Zhao Youcai expected that the leopard would come.

When he walked about twenty or thirty meters away from the baiting place, Zhou Jianjun suddenly realized something was wrong.

Although there is food, the sheep will bark from time to time. They may bark after chewing two mouthfuls of bean cakes, or they may bleat when they have nothing to do.

But when it encounters danger, it will bark very quickly.

But at this time, it was quiet up there, and there wasn't a sheep bleating for a long time.

"It's broken!" Zhou Jianjun's heart suddenly thought. At this time, he regained his energy and ran up. But when he looked up, he saw a rope, one end of which was tied to the tree, and there was only a rope buckle on the other end.

There was a sheep's head with a neck on the ground next to it, but the sheep's neck was missing from the back.

"My ten dollars!" Zhou Jianjun stumbled and rushed to the sheep's head. He saw that the half pile of bean cakes left next to him was stained red with blood.

At this time, Zhou Jianjun was on the verge of crying, suffering a double blow to his body and soul.

"Jianjun, Jianjun!" At this time, Zhao Youcai's voice came from the south. At this time, he was dragging a roe deer up the slope.

There was no snow on the mountain at this time, and the ground was covered with grass, soil, sand and gravel. The friction was great and it was very difficult to pull the roe deer.

But down below, Zhao Youcai noticed something was wrong. The reason was the same as Zhou Jianjun's just now, he couldn't hear the sheep braying.

Zhao Youcai pulled the roe deer up to take a look. He was so angry that one Buddha was born and two Buddhas ascended to heaven.

Zhao Youcai left the roe deer behind, looked at the dead sheep's head and asked, "What's going on?"

"I don't know either!" Zhou Jianjun said, "I'll just relieve him and the sheep's body will be gone when I come back."

When Zhao Youcai heard this, he said angrily: "I asked you to watch here, why are you trying to untie your big hand?"

"Then my stomach hurts. How can I still put it in my pants pocket?" Zhou Jianjun said aggrievedly: "I just won't leave. If the leopard comes, I can't fight it without a gun."

"You don't have a gun... You don't have a gun. If you make any noise to scare the leopard away, won't the sheep be saved?"

"I..." When Zhou Jianjun heard this, he thought it was right, and now he felt even more distressed. If he had known that the leopard would come, he would have to hold the sheep while relieving himself.

"Oh! Okay, don't get angry. I didn't expect that leopard to come so early." Zhao Youcai sighed and said to Zhou Jianjun: "I'm still hunting a roe deer, so go and kill it."

"I can't lift it." Zhou Jianjun said painfully, "I feel uncomfortable."

Zhao Youcai curled his lips helplessly, took out his knife, went over and skinned the roe deer, then divided the meat into pieces and put them into a sack.

It was just after ten o'clock when Weng and his son-in-law went down the mountain to go home. The half-sack of roe deer meat could only be carried by Zhao Youcai.

This weighed more than forty kilograms, and Zhao Youcai had a hard time carrying it on his back as he walked and stopped all the way.

It happened that Zhou Jianjun was not feeling well either, so the two of them walked and rested until they reached the village at 12 noon.

Weng and son-in-law found a place to rest again, and after thinking about it, they walked back in one breath.

During the break, Zhao Youcai said to Zhou Jianjun: "Jianjun, I will go back tomorrow."

Zhou Jianjun didn't stay today and replied directly: "Then you go back, Dad."

"No!" Upon hearing Zhou Jianjun's words, Zhao Youcai became a little anxious and asked hurriedly: "Then the leopard won't be beaten?"

"Then what's the point?" The more Zhou Jianjun thought about it, the more distressed he became, and said, "The only family in our village that raises sheep has asked me to buy two lambs. Now they only have one big ewe left, so it's up to us. I have to spend seventy or eighty yuan to save face. How can I still have money? If I ask Chun'er for money, she can't give it to me."

Zhao Youcai took out a cigarette from his pocket, lit it, took a puff, and then asked Zhou Jianjun, "How much money do you have left in your pocket?"

Hearing this, Zhou Jianjun reached into his cotton-padded jacket pocket, took out a handful of money, showed it to Zhao Youcai, and then said: "This is more than three yuan. I can probably buy two legs of mutton..."

Before Zhou Jianjun finished speaking, he saw Zhao Youcai put the cigarette in his mouth, stretched out his hands and grasped his money hand.

"No, dad, what are you going to do?" Zhou Jianjun was about to resist when Zhao Youcai took the money away from his hand. But seeing that Zhao Youcai didn't count, he stuffed the money into his pocket and said, "Tomorrow morning Let’s go, I’ll buy his big ewe!”

Zhou Jianjun: "..."

I finished it in one go and I didn’t want to divide it, so I posted the two chapters together.

This leopard hunting experience is all true, so ups and downs