The roe deer’s heart, liver, and lungs are incredibly tender and cook very quickly.
Wang An snapped off four straight branches and handed two to his old uncle-in-law to use as chopsticks.
You have to admit, eating freshly boiled heart, liver, and lungs in these desolate, uninhabited mountains really has a unique flavor to it!
It was spicy, warm, and hit the spot!
The only problem was when it came time to drink the soup—there were no bowls!
Feng Chengmin, however, didn't panic. He picked up his hunting knife and walked over to a linden tree.
He made a horizontal cut around the trunk, moved the blade up, and made another horizontal cut.
He then made a vertical cut between the two circles, pried the tip of the knife in, and with a pull of his hand, a sheet of linden bark came right off.
He went to another linden tree, repeated the process, and obtained a second piece of bark.
Wang An knew that peeling a linden tree like this wouldn't kill it.
Once spring arrived, it would continue to grow new bark; that was the unique, impressive quality of the linden tree.
The bark was very flexible, much like thick kraft paper.
Using his hunting knife, he trimmed the bark into as square a shape as possible.
He folded up the four sides, folded the overlapping corners vertically, and used the tip of his knife to poke a hole through the excess material.
He inserted thin twigs to secure them.
A square, flat-bottomed bark bowl was finished!
Wang An’s jaw nearly hit the ground.
You can do that too?! I’ve learned another trick!
Well, this thing works surprisingly well as a bowl!
It didn't leak—not a single drop!
Regardless, the spicy soup was truly delicious!
Whether there were seasonings or not didn't really matter.
Once both were full and satisfied, Wang An used snow to scrub the pot clean.
They extinguished the fire with snow, hitched up the sled, and continued wandering deeper into the mountains.
But this wasn't the aimless wandering Wang An had done before; he was now tracking the footprints of prey.
Tracking is a skill that comes with practice!
If you see enough of it and have someone to teach you, any normal person can learn it quite quickly.
Less than an hour later, Wang An and Feng Chengmin both instinctively wanted to call the horse to a halt.
"What is it? You spotted them too?" Feng Chengmin asked with a chuckle.
"Yeah. Look at these hoof prints—it should be one large and two small wild boars," Wang An replied with a smile.
"Haha, not bad, that's right. Let's see if the big one is a boar or a sow," Feng Chengmin said.
"Can you tell the sex from the hoof prints?" Wang An asked, puzzled.
"Why wouldn't you be able to? You can tell with any animal that has cloven hooves!" Feng Chengmin said.
"Really?" Wang An studied them for a long time, but they all looked the same to him.
Feng Chengmin laughed: "For a female, the hind hoof prints are spread apart."
Wang An looked and realized the large hoof prints were indeed spread apart.
He asked curiously: "Why is that?"
Feng Chengmin explained: "Because she's carrying piglets and her belly is heavy. The hind legs bear more weight, so the hooves get pressed open!"
Wang An nodded, half-understanding. Feng Chengmin’s explanation for *why* the hooves spread might not have been scientifically accurate, but the fact that a female's prints spread was true!
The two hitched up the sled and followed the tracks.
Wild boar tracks are much easier to identify than roe deer tracks.
Roe deer are relatively light, so their prints are shallow.
But a sow carrying piglets would weigh over 200 jin (100kg).
The prints were very easy to spot; all they had to do was follow the trail.
It wasn't deep winter yet, so the boars hadn't burned off much of their fat.
A normal sow would weigh over 250 jin, and by the time spring arrived, they would have lost most of that fat, leaving them at around 200 jin.
A pig's speed is quite fast, but they can't outrun most livestock.
If it weren't for the difficult mountain terrain and the occasional dense thicket, chasing them with a horse-drawn sled would be like child's play.
They were heading into the wind this time, so they didn't need to take a detour.
Sitting on the sled, they saw the three wild boars from quite a distance away, rooting for hazelnuts under a hazel tree.
The two tied up the horse and had to approach slowly.
Feng Chengmin explained that once a wild boar is startled, it will just keep running. Their stamina is incredible; they won't stop until they are exhausted and have absolutely no energy left.
So, to avoid a life-or-death chase, they had to get close quietly.
Once close, they had to aim for a kill shot. If they only wounded the boar, it would either attack or keep running—and keep running until it felt safe.
Whether it lived or died would depend on the severity of the wound.
If the wound was too severe, it would collapse and die after a while. If it wasn't, it would become a "gun-shy" boar, and trying to hunt it again would be extremely difficult.
Because a wild boar's sense of smell is far, far superior to that of a hunting dog.
You’d be lucky to even catch a glimpse of it again, let alone hunt it!
Wang An was shocked to hear this! These wild boars were almost supernatural!
But he believed it completely. As an experienced hunter, Feng Chengmin knew so much!
You could say Feng Chengmin understood the habits of most of the animals in these mountains!
When they got within about 100 meters, both men raised their rifles to their shoulders, just as they had done for the roe deer.
Feng Chengmin, worried about Wang An's aim, decided to take the sow himself, leaving the two 130-140 jin "yellow-hairs" (young boars) for Wang An to pick off.
But accidents always happen when you least expect them.
Before Feng Chengmin could even finish counting down, the sow lifted its head and sniffed the air.
Without a moment's hesitation, it bolted!
Its acceleration was incredible. The two young boars didn't even know what was happening.
"Bang!" "Bang!" "Bang!" Three shots rang out.
One of the young boars dropped on the spot, and the other ran a few steps before collapsing.
But the sow had escaped.
"Bang!" Another shot, followed by another "Bang!"
About 140 or 150 meters away, the large sow was dragging its hind legs, still trying to crawl forward.
Words couldn't keep up with the speed of events!
"Good lad! Your marksmanship is divine! Hahaha!" Feng Chengmin shouted, laughing with excitement.
100 meters or so is the optimal distance for a shot.
Any closer, and the mountain animals would smell the human scent and the gunpowder, and bolt immediately.
Any further, and the difficulty of hitting the target increases several times over; the shots become inaccurate and usually only result in wounding the animal.
You have to know that mountain animals have incredibly tenacious vitality; if they run, you won't catch them!
In this situation, the sow had smelled them and bolted, and Feng Chengmin, aiming for the sow, had missed the head.
He had only wounded it, which didn't stop the sow from continuing its mad dash.
Wang An’s two shots, however, had killed both young boars.
The fourth shot was fired by Feng Chengmin because, as the boar ran, it exposed its rear and hind legs.
Feng Chengmin could only aim for the legs. He hit it, but the sow could still run on one leg.
So the fifth shot was fired by Wang An, hitting the other hind leg.
With both hind legs crippled, the sow had no choice but to crawl forward on its front legs to survive.
But no matter how well it could crawl, how fast could it really go?
This kind of teamwork—crippling a boar that was about to escape—brought a thrill of success even more satisfying than a solo sniper shot!
Feng Chengmin was so excited he was practically vibrating!
After shouting, Feng Chengmin let out a howl and sprinted toward the sow!
He was fast! He clearly had plenty of energy!
Wang An, a 1.8-meter-tall, 19-year-old young man, couldn't even keep up!
Please keep reading, please keep reading, please keep reading!!
If you have tickets, throw them at me! Throw them hard!
Chapter 3 will be tonight, I have no stock left!! Sorry, sorry!!