Reborn in 80: Starting with hunting in the mountains to get rich

Chapter 115 Digging in the Riverbed to Find a Nest, and Catching the Mother Leopard

Li Ju'an was worried about Tiechui. He wondered where the mother dog had run off to play again, and leaving her three puppies alone wasn't a good solution. He worried that Tiechui might have run into wolves and gotten trapped, or encounter even more troublesome wild animals, or that the cat might be hiding somewhere.

He called Da Hu out of the snow cave and said, "Where's your future wife? Let out a couple of howls and ask her."

The Qingchuan dog wasn't a wolf, and Da Hu actually howled twice on the spot, then calmly looked at him. He slapped his forehead, thinking, "What good is a man's howling? Only when a child calls will his wife come back."

Song Desheng said worriedly, "Brother Li, it's too late. Even if Tiechui really gets into trouble, we don't need to risk our lives. With such a large group of wild boars, there must be other large livestock around."

Lu Zhiqiang remained silent, equally unwilling to move. He vividly remembered Tiger King's shout, and the more he thought about it, the more his hair stood on end and he felt terrified.

Li Ju'an glanced at Lu Zhiqiang, who, recalling the horrific scene of Da Huang's death, clenched his fists in grief and began cursing Sun Weimin. But he still tried to persuade Li Ju'an: "Tiechui's situation is different from Da Huang's. Slippery dogs shouldn't be allowed in the mountains. If it runs around all day, ignoring the lead dog's calls, what hunter can stand that? If you don't hunt or set traps every day, are you just going to wander the mountains all day looking for a disobedient dog?"

Li Ju'an stood up and decided to go find Tiechui after all. He had thought that with the three pups around, Tiechui would be more disciplined, but he hadn't expected the dog to be so playful and still wandering around somewhere. Luckily, the three pups didn't have Tiechui's temperament, otherwise he would have really had to ask Old Tao to return the dog.

He called out three mixed-breed wolfhounds, and the three half-grown wolfhounds howled with a fierce and powerful manner, somewhat like wild wolves.

A short while later, the barking of dogs could be heard from not far away. At first, the sound was very soft, but after Da Hu joined in the howling, the barking of the dogs became bolder and louder.

Li Ju'an called to Wei Gou and rushed towards the deep ditch leading straight south, shouting, "I've found that girl Tie Chui!"

Song Desheng stamped his foot and spat, "It would be best if this dog made a great discovery, otherwise, if it's traveling in the dark at night, I'll cut a hole in its ear."

Li Ju'an didn't tolerate him: "Don't keep yelling. If you don't want to leave, then don't! You won't get any shares later."

Song Desheng was genuinely scared and didn't want to leave, but when he turned around, he saw that Lu Zhiqiang had run away faster than the black panther. The hunter's cabin was empty of the dogs and the two brave men, leaving him all alone. He heard the night owl's heart-wrenching howl in the distance, like crying, which made his scalp tingle and he immediately chased after it: "Brother! Brothers, wait for me!"

The journey south along the steep slopes was pleasant, with gentle inclines and low-lying mountains. However, the further down you went, the more icy and deep ravines appeared. With these ravines came steep cliffs and rivers.

In winter, the river freezes over, and Hammer is hiding in the bushes behind the poplar tree, barking softly at the river bend.

Lu Zhiqiang, full of anticipation, glanced at the frozen river and said angrily, "The slippery dog ​​searched for so long and only found one piece of ice? Are you kidding me?"

Li Ju'an kicked him away, called over Tiechui Dingwo, and said, "Tiechui, ignore him. In his eyes, even the best things are just a piece of ice in his crotch."

Lu Zhiqiang's crotch was still uncomfortable from the crushed ice, and his words stung him. Now, not only was his crotch uncomfortable, but his heart was also aching.

Song Desheng took out a cloth bag from the mule's back, pulled out a pickaxe, and struck the frozen river bend twice before starting to dig a hole.

Li Ju'an also rummaged in his cloth bag; the pickaxe was gone, but he still had a chisel. Iron Hammer barked at the river bend, and Li Ju'an started digging in the direction the hunting dogs were barking.

In no time, the two of them dug out quite a few female leopards.

The female leopard frog is actually a pregnant toad, a type of forest frog native to the Xing'an Mountains, also known as snow frog. This precious snow frog feeds on wild fruits and insects and gets its name from its ability to hibernate for up to five months during the harsh winter. Before winter arrives, the female leopard frog is already carrying eggs, and its oviducts are called toad oil, often referred to as "soft gold."

In the 80s, the villagers in the valley became more economically conscious. Many locals caught female leopards, dried them, strung them up, and sold them at the market. Some even made a fortune from this. The Niu family from Niubei Village said that some villagers signed a contract with the township to lease an entire valley in order to artificially breed female leopards.

The most valuable part of the female leopard frog is its toad oil. It takes a thousand frogs to extract just one pound of oil. Forest frog oil can sell for 600 yuan per pound. The sale of forest frogs to wealthy merchants in the south is rife with irregularities: males are passed off as females, and those without eggs are sold as those with eggs.

Lu Zhiqiang's eyes widened, and he shouted, "So many female leopards? You'd better be stingy!"

Iron Hammer glared at him with its dog-like eyes, then grabbed his trouser leg and dragged him aside, preventing him from approaching the river bend. Its gaze seemed to be defiantly challenging him.

Li Ju'an teased him, "If it weren't for the iron hammer, even if you could find this ditch, you wouldn't be able to find a place to dig even after staring at it for a long time."

Finding a female leopard requires keen eyesight and experience; it's a skilled job, and not everyone can do it. Especially when a female leopard hibernates in a ditch during the winter, some hunters can't spot her accurately, and even if they know there's a female leopard there, they might not be able to find her even after digging a dozen holes.

Lu Zhiqiang chuckled and tried to save face: "It has to be Tiechui. She pulled off a big heist right away. Good girl! I'll ask the owner to give you to me at a discount. I'll take you into the mountains every day to find female leopards and make a fortune."

Iron Hammer wouldn't let go; it continued to bite his trouser leg, whimpering and protesting, dragging him towards the outside of the ditch, refusing to let him touch it.

The two men laughed heartily and quickly dug out more than a dozen female leopards.

Li Ju'an remembers that female leopards are easiest to find in autumn.

When he was a child, whenever the forest frogs came down from the mountain, he would brave the rain and shine a flashlight on them on the road. After the rain stopped, female leopards would appear under the rocks in the river, in the ditches beside the fields, and under the rocks in the mountain streams. He, Sun Weimin, and the Lu brothers would catch many each time. Back then, Sun Weimin would even deliberately carry toads in his pocket to scare Lin Mei, making her cry.

Li Ju'an rewarded Tiechui with a piece of meat, which made Tiechui very happy. He ate it in big bites and even wanted to turn around and go back into the ditch, but Li Ju'an shouted him back.

“Where did you go? There’s no river bend over there. You’re always taking the opportunity to wander around. You have no sense of organization or discipline. I’ll have Lao Tao criticize you and do some ideological work on you later.”

The group put on their pigskin skis, intending to return to the hunter's lodge for the night and continue setting traps the next morning, but Hammer caused trouble again. He took off the pigskin skis and held them in his hand, forbidding Hammer from causing any more trouble.

Suddenly, the sound of firecrackers exploding echoed from the deep mountains at night.

Snapped!

The crisp sound of small firecrackers is familiar to everyone; it comes from a string of firecrackers. Families celebrating weddings set off firecrackers. After the hundred firecrackers have all gone off, there are always some that don't explode, still with a fuse, which can be collected and set off separately.

All Li Ju'an could hear now was the sound of firecrackers.

Song Desheng listened to the sound and determined the direction, saying, "Brother Li, there's someone setting off firecrackers on the fifth ridge south of Kaoshantun."

The distance was not short, and they couldn't travel in the dark while crossing mountains and valleys.

Li Ju'an made a decision: "Never mind, let's go back to the cabin and make do for the night. We'll go check again tomorrow morning."