"Gurgle..."
"Pfft! Pfft!"
A pheasant flew out from the bushes, flapped its wings twice in mid-air, and then fell headfirst to the ground.
A young man with bronze skin and a lithe figure emerged from the nearby woods and ran quickly to the pheasant.
He tore off a branch and quickly tied the pheasant securely, grinning broadly and revealing a set of white teeth.
"Two pheasants — take one to stew at home, and take the other to exchange for some rice and flour..."
Chen Yang made this plan.
He was lucky; he had caught two pheasants in one morning.
At midday, the sun was high in the sky, and the temperature in the mountain forest was rising. Chen Yang was not in a hurry to go home. He picked some goat milk fruit to fill his stomach and planned to try his luck again in the afternoon.
But Chen Yang had overlooked one thing.
People always have a "newbie protection period" when doing anything.
From last night until now, Chen Yang had caught a total of three pheasants and one small dove.
Upon reaching this point, his newbie protection period ended.
In the afternoon, Chen Yang had extremely bad luck and encountered almost no wild animals.
For example, wild pheasants, which he was good at hunting, seemed to have suddenly gained intelligence. They could sense human movement from afar, flap their wings twice, and fly into the forest and disappear.
Chen Yang then realized what was happening.
There are indeed many wild flora and fauna resources in the back mountains, but they are mainly concentrated in the deep mountain areas.
Only experienced hunters can venture deep into the mountains to hunt.
He was a complete novice, lacking equipment and experience, so it was quite fortunate that he had managed to catch several pheasants in one go.
But luck always runs out.
"If I want to earn 200 yuan a week by hunting, I'll have to find another way," he thought.
Otherwise, if hunting were that easy, the villagers of Niujiawan would have become rich long ago.
Otherwise, why did most of the villagers live on Niuxin Mountain but still honestly farm the land?
"Whoosh!"
Out of the corner of Chen Yang's eye, he saw a dark shadow flash by.
It looked like a wild rabbit.
It was thrown from the bushes on one side and darted into the grass on the other side.
It was as fast as lightning.
Chen Yang had encountered wild rabbits several times that morning.
However, this thing ran incredibly fast, reacted even more cunningly than a pheasant, and had a pair of long ears that could detect danger. It was difficult to hit even with a hunting rifle, let alone a slingshot.
Therefore, Chen Yang had never considered hunting this long-eared bandit.
But he hadn't gotten anything all afternoon, which made him feel a bit depressed.
Then he saw a wild rabbit hopping past him, almost as if it were a provocation.
Chen Yang couldn't stand it any longer and decided to hunt wild rabbits.
Slingshots wouldn't work; traps were the only option.
This was also a common trick used when hunting hares.
Experienced hunters would set up a special trap to deal with wild rabbits.
This type of trap required the use of rope.
You would make a slipknot in the middle of the rope, then hold a stick in the middle and place it on the grass.
In addition, the two ends of the rope were tied to two bent tree branches.
The two branches had elasticity, and when pulled by the rope, they generated two counterforces, tightening the rope from both ends.
The wooden stick pressed against the middle of the latch cancelled out these two forces.
Once the rabbit stepped on the stick, the rope was pulled, and the slipknot immediately bound the rabbit's leg tightly. No matter how the animal struggled, it could not break free.
These traps were usually set in places where wild rabbits frequently appeared.
No bait was needed; it worked every time.
However, the problem was that Chen Yang didn't have a rope.
The rope used for this type of trap was also carefully chosen.
It was said that old hunters would use fox pelts, dry them, apply grass oil, and then roll them into a thread-like shape.
This leather rope was not only strong, but also tough and elastic.
Crucially, it also easily attracted rabbits.
But where could Chen Yang find such a fox fur rope?
Nowhere.
He could only pluck two thin vines from under the tree, peel off the bark, twist the two ends of the stem together, and braid them into a rope.
He couldn't guarantee how sturdy it was; it would just have to do for now.
This was his first time hunting a wild rabbit.
Chen Yang specifically found a "feng shui treasure spot" on the back of the hillside where wild rabbits often appeared to set up a trap for these "rabbit gods."
He tied the vines between the two pomelo trees.
He then buried the loops of the vine in the ground and covered them with a few fallen leaves.
Without careful observation, you wouldn't notice any hidden secrets.
Chen Yang had been an expert in wilderness survival in his previous life. The traps he made, if not foolproof, were at least almost foolproof.
But at this moment, he was also uncertain.
Wild rabbits had much stronger limbs than domestic rabbits, and the vines had a drawback: they were not strong enough.
Never mind.
Man proposes, GodGodsposes.
Chen Yang set up the trap and hid downwind at the foot of a slope a dozen meters away, quietly waiting for the rabbit to come to him.
Rabbits had a keen sense of smell and hearing, so Chen Yang hid downwind and refused to show himself unless he heard any noise.
Everyone says that old forests are fertile, and that fertility comes from the soil.
Niuxin Mountain was covered with a large amount of uncultivated old forest.
The vegetation in the forest had grown for countless years, and the fallen branches and decaying leaves had piled up layer upon layer, turning into abundant fertilizer for the soil.
In some places, if you stepped into it, black water would sizzle up.
The vegetation that grew on such land was exceptionally lush.
In addition, the country had increased its efforts in forest protection in recent years.
The forests of Niuxin Mountain were so dense that they acted like a barrier. Often, you could only hear the sounds of prey, but you couldn't see any of them at all.
During the hour he waited for the rabbit to take the bait, Chen Yang felt he had remained very focused.
But it wasn't until he heard a "chirp" that Chen Yang suddenly realized what was happening and poked his head out to look at the trap.
A wild rabbit had somehow gotten caught in Chen Yang's trap, its left hind leg tightly bound by vines.
"Damn it, when did it get here... It's like a ghost, appearing and disappearing without a trace!"
Chen Yang was somewhat impressed by the rabbit's intelligence.
If it hadn't been for the ability to use traps, such clever creatures as hares could probably have outwitted humans completely.
Fortunately, Chen Yang's trap had worked.
Once the rabbit was caught in the trap, it desperately tried to push forward.
Its four claws, like a bulldozer, shoveled up the soil and fallen leaves, scattering them everywhere.
It even managed to bend the branches of two citron trees.
The vines that were looped around its ankle also made a "creaking" sound at this moment, and there was a risk that they would break at any time.
Chen Yang's heart tightened instantly. Without saying a word, he took out his slingshot and, before the rabbit could break free of the vines, aimed at the rabbit's neck and fired three pebbles in a row.
This operation was risky.
Startled wild animals can unleash an extremely strong will to survive in an instant.
So Chen Yang held his breath, without aiming at all, relying entirely on his senses, and fired three pebbles at an extremely fast speed.
He had to knock the rabbit unconscious before it broke free of the vines!
"Smack!"
"Smack!"
Two sounds, one crisp and one muffled, rang out simultaneously at the location of the trap.
The crisp sound was the snapping of the rattan.
The dull thud was the sound of a pebble hitting the rabbit on the head!