After catching up with the herd, Feng Chengmin gave instructions to Wang An and the other two
"The four of us should spread out. Once we're in position, we'll drive the herd down the mountain together. It'll be much easier if we can drive them straight back home."
Wang An was stunned upon hearing this and said with a look of total shock
"Wait, Old Great-Uncle, can you actually do it that way?"
It wasn't surprising that Wang An was amazed; he had never even heard of a method where you drive captured prey directly back to your house.
Feng Chengmin replied with an expression that suggested this was the most natural thing in the world
"What about it? Isn't that normal? That deer I got before the New Year—I drove it for a good long distance. Eventually, it just couldn't move anymore; I whipped it with branches and it still wouldn't budge. In the end, I ran out of options, so I just killed it."
No wonder Feng Chengmin had previously said that once the deer's adrenaline wore off, they would just stand there waiting to be slaughtered. It turned out Feng Chengmin had actually done this before!
Whether one liked it or not, Feng Chengmin's experience was truly extensive; he knew almost everything there was to know about hunting.
However, Wang An seized upon a loophole in Feng Chengmin's story
"Old Great-Uncle, didn't you say that deer accidentally stepped into a foot-trap before you started chasing it?"
Feng Chengmin replied calmly
"Mm-hmm. And after it stepped in the trap, couldn't I have driven it along for a while?"
Hearing this, Wang An blinked rapidly, suddenly at a loss for words.
Seeing Wang An silenced, Feng Chengmin was amused and couldn't help but laugh and scold
"You little brat, so you've memorized my little secret, eh? Anything else you want to say?"
Wang An gave an awkward smile and said
"Nothing, I didn't memorize anything, and I have nothing to say. I was just curious, hehehehe..."
Wang An had originally wanted to bring up the fact that Feng Chengmin had stolen someone else's prey, but he had been shut down by Feng Chengmin's retort. It was, to some extent, a bit embarrassing.
And so, the four of them rode their horses, driving the herd like they were herding sheep, making their way down the mountain. They even ate their jianbing pancakes for lunch while remaining in their saddles.
Deer are very easily spooked. If one tries to capture and bind them by force, it will inevitably trigger a violent struggle.
Such a violent struggle would not only be exhausting for the humans but would also result in injuries or deaths among the animals.
This method—like cutting meat with a blunt knife, or boiling a frog in lukewarm water—was the only way to drain their spirit and endurance.
Sure enough, after walking leisurely for an hour and a half, the herd finally did exactly what Feng Chengmin said: they stopped and refused to move. No matter what happened, they wouldn't budge.
Even when Feng Chengmin and the others whipped them with horsewhips, the deer would only let out cries; they simply would not move, adopting an air of "do with me as you please."
To Wang An and the others, however, this looked like the stubbornness of a dead pig that doesn't fear boiling water.
It was as if they had finally seen the reality of their situation and completely resigned themselves to their fate.
Wang An and Feng Chengmin approached the large male Sika deer that had been leading the way, attempting to whip it into leading the herd forward again.
As with any animal group, once the leader is subdued, the entire herd is essentially subdued.
Simply put, if the lead deer stood up and walked, the others would likely follow suit.
Unfortunately, after being whipped, the male Sika deer just lay there bellowing, stubbornly refusing to stand up.
Fortunately, the position of the four men and the herd was already on the outskirts of the village, in the outer region of the mountains, and not far from the settlement.
Feng Chengmin said to the three of them with a look of helplessness
"See? What did I tell you? These things won't walk properly; they just flop down and refuse to move. What else can you do?"
Looking at the foot-traps on the Sika deer's ankles, which looked like shackles, Wang An truly didn't know what to say to Feng Chengmin.
Every deer in the herd had at least two traps on its hooves, with some having as many as three.
The reason the traps stayed on the hooves wasn't primarily due to the clamping force, but because the short nails on the traps had sunk deep into the deer's fetlocks.
Under these conditions, the fact that the herd had managed to walk for over an hour was already quite a feat.
After a while, Feng Chengmin said with great resignation to Wang An and Wang Li
"There's no other way. We're not far from leaving the mountains anyway. How about you two ride back first and bring the tractors over? Two of them might barely be enough to haul them all back."
While there were no roads in the deep mountains, there were paths in the mountains surrounding the village.
These paths existed because people needed to cut firewood or haul mountain goods back to their homes.
Of course, such paths were not only difficult to traverse but weren't found everywhere. They would still have to lead the Sika deer to the vehicles or lift them onto the trailers.
Hearing this, Wang An quickly said
"It's fine, I'll have my dad drive one too. There are only 41 deer; three tractors will definitely be enough to get them back."
Feng Chengmin thought for a moment and said
"I reckon even if we take these traps off, these deer probably won't be able to walk. Why don't you call your eldest and second brothers, and your uncle? Have them all come over to help lift the deer onto the trailers. What do you think?"
Wang An nodded
"Mm-hmm, that works. I think they're all at home; if they are, I'll call them all."
Wang An noticed that the herd was still over a hundred meters away from the nearest path accessible by vehicles. Lifting 41 deer onto trailers would be a significant undertaking; at this point, they needed numbers.
With that, Wang An and Wang Li vaulted onto their horses and galloped toward home.
It must be said that Oroqen horses were incredible on mountain paths; the distance was less than ten li, and Wang An and Wang Li arrived in under twenty minutes.
However, when Wang An arrived, Wang Dazhu and his wife weren't home, nor was the second brother, Wang Shun; they had all gone into the mountains to pick mushrooms or dig wild vegetables.
Fortunately, Second Uncle Wang Daliang was home, as were Eldest Uncle Wang Dashu, eldest brother Wang Yong, and third brother Wang Gan. With a quick call, the six of them drove two tractors and one quad bike along the mountain path and headed into the hills.
To be honest, such mountain paths were likely only passable for quad bikes and walk-behind tractors; even a large Jiefang truck would be useless here.
Even so, when the three vehicles arrived near the herd, the drivers—Wang An, Wang Li, and Wang Daliang—all broke into a cold sweat.
The main issue was that on these damn mountain roads, one slight lapse in attention could result in both the driver and the vehicle rolling down the mountain.
(End of Chapter)