The small creatures had long, slender bodies. From head to tail, they were no more than a ter long and likely weighed less than five pounds each.
But they were exceptionally vicious. They pounced on the roe deer and started biting, making it shriek in agony and leap about frantically, trying to shake them off.
But their claws were like hooks, anchoring them firmly to the roe deer’s body.
The roe deer couldn’t take it anymore. It collapsed and began to roll around on the ground, trying to scrape them off against the earth to dislodge them.
"Honey Dogs!" Li Baoyu could now see the four little animals clearly and realized whose tracks he had seen earlier.
The remaining two also leaped onto the roe deer, both sinking their teeth into the base of its neck, their four claws digging tightly into its body.
The roe deer thrashed on the ground, but soon it stopped rolling, curling up and kicking its legs spasmodically.
The description makes it sound drawn-out, but the entire event took less than a minute from start to finish.
Watching a large, eighty-plus-pound roe deer get taken down by four little creatures that couldn’t have weighed twenty pounds combined left Li Baoyu utterly dumbfounded.
"These things... are they really that tough?" Li Baoyu couldn’t help but ask Zhao Jun.
Zhao Jun nodded. "If you ever run into them in the mountains by yourself, avoid them if you can."
"Yeah, yeah," Li Baoyu nodded repeatedly. In truth, he was already thinking the sa thing even before Zhao Jun said it.
"Not even with dogs," Zhao Jun added. He knew that dogs didn’t recognize these creatures and wouldn’t attack them on their own, but he was afraid Li Baoyu might try to sic his dog on them.
Honey Dogs, also known as Yellow-throated Sables, are naturally ferocious and incredibly ruthless killers.
Zhao Jun recalled a news story from his past life, back when he was a bricklayer. A coworker had been scrolling through his phone during a lunch break and showed him an article about a Yellow-throated Sable that had disemboweled a three-year-old giant panda.
There were no giant pandas in the mountains around Zhao Jun’s family ho, but Zhao Jun knew that when three or five of these creatures ganged up, they even dared to go after yellow-haireds.
"Brother, what are you doing?" Suddenly, Li Baoyu felt Zhao Jun move beside him. He looked over to see Zhao Jun taking the rifle from his shoulder.
Without a word, Zhao Jun raised the rifle, flicked off the safety, and fired a shot into the air.
BANG!
At the sound of the gunshot, the four Yellow-throated Sables on the roe deer scattered and fled.
They ran in different directions, but after making a wide circle, they all regrouped to the east.
Zhao Jun turned the rifle and fired another shot toward the east, where the four Yellow-throated Sables had gathered.
He didn’t aim this ti, so he didn’t hit anything.
But after the second shot, the four Yellow-throated Sables vanished without a trace.
Zhao Jun lowered his rifle, holding it in one hand while reaching for the burlap sack on Li Baoyu’s shoulder with the other.
"What’s..."
Before Li Baoyu could react, he heard Zhao Jun say, "You carry this. Go down and drag that roe deer up here."
Li Baoyu froze for a mont, then said sothing as he handed the sack to Zhao Jun.
"Brother, you’re even more ruthless than they are!"
"Takes one to know one."
The two brothers exchanged a grin. Li Baoyu started heading down, while Zhao Jun remained vigilant, cautiously scanning their surroundings.
He was afraid the four Yellow-throated Sables might co back for revenge and disembowel Li Baoyu.
Even by the ti Li Baoyu got down into the gully and turned the roe deer over, Zhao Jun saw no sign of the Yellow-throated Sables returning.
Feeling a bit more at ease, Zhao Jun shouted down, "Baoyu! Gut the deer down there and leave the intestines and stuff for them."
"Alright!" Li Baoyu did as Zhao Jun said, taking out his Invasion Blade to field dress the roe deer. He had just pulled out the intestines and lungs and was about to toss them aside.
But just then, Zhao Jun, up above, changed his mind. "Baoyu, don’t throw them out! Bring them ho for the dogs. Just make sure you drain all the blood."
"Got it," Li Baoyu called back and went back to his work without another word.
After Li Baoyu had dragged the roe deer up, he said to Zhao Jun, "Brother, I’ve read in books about guys like you. The kind who’d pluck a feather from a passing goose."
"You should read fewer comic books."
Li Baoyu chuckled. "Why didn’t you just shoot those Honey Dogs earlier?"
"What’s the point of shooting them?" Zhao Jun shouldered the sack of squirrel forage. "Their pelts aren’t worth much, and the at’s no good. Why bother?"
"That’s true."
The two of them headed down the mountain, following the Preparation Road ho. They arrived before ten-thirty.
Zhao Jun dragged Li Baoyu over to his place, where Wang ilan cooked them dumplings with roe deer filling.
The pair had been busy all morning without a bite to eat or a drop to drink, so they were famished. They wolfed down the dumplings while, to the side, Jin Xiaoi stared at the three dead squirrels and the ten-plus pounds of nuts in the sack, unsure whether she should praise them or not.
Jin Xiaoi smacked her lips and shook her head. "In all my years, I’ve seen people hunt squirrels, but I’ve never seen anyone raid a squirrel’s nest."
"Haha," Zhao Jun laughed at her comnt. "Auntie, that was your Baoyu’s idea. The sack is from your house, too. If he weren’t so hungry, he would’ve scraped together a whole sackful to bring back."
Jin Xiaoi was speechless. The mountains weren’t short on pine nuts or hazelnuts. If you wanted so, you just had to go up the mountain in the fall and gather them.
And you could gather as many as you wanted.
’So, this might just be the first recorded case of squirrel nest-raiding since Yong’an was founded.’
’And the culprit was none other than her own eldest son.’
Jin Xiaoi shook her head, speechless. She picked up one of the squirrels and turned it over, her brow instantly furrowing. "You wasteful boy! Why’d you use a slingshot? It’s full of holes. This will sell for half the price."
Mouth full of dumpling, Li Baoyu mumbled, "Mom, have you considered that if I hadn’t used the slingshot, I wouldn’t have even gotten that half?"
"That’s true, I suppose." Jin Xiaoi nodded and said no more.
Just then, Wang ilan ca in with two bowls of the dumpling-cooking water, placing one in front of Zhao Jun and the other beside Li Baoyu.
"Drink the broth to help digest the food," Wang ilan reminded them.
Zhao Jun obediently picked up his bowl and took a sip. After putting it down, he said to Wang ilan, "Mom, Auntie, there’s a roe deer in the storage shed. Could you two go take care of it?"
"A roe deer? You two got a roe deer, too?" Wang ilan was astonished. ’Her son never ca back from the mountain empty-handed.’
At that, Li Baoyu finally saw his chance and chid in, "My brother stole that roe deer!"
"What?" Wang ilan and Jin Xiaoi were both taken aback.
Zhao Jun just laughed and recounted the story of how they’d "stolen" the roe deer. Wang ilan sighed and headed to the kitchen to get a knife to butcher it, muttering as she went, "What kind of trouble are you two getting into?"
Raiding a squirrel’s winter stash and stealing a roe deer killed by Yellow-throated Sables...
It was truly baffling.
Full and satisfied, Li Baoyu went ho. Zhao Jun lay down on the kang for a nap. Soti in the afternoon, he was woken by the sound of soone outside asking, "Auntie, are you ho?"
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