A Young Woman's Heart

Page 573

"If I get tired, carry me for a while!" Mo Xueyao said playfully.

Of course, this was just a joke. If she were really tired, she would definitely choose to turn back rather than have someone carry her.

This is a man's dignity.

However, there was one thing she hadn't considered: when a pretty girl asks someone to carry her, is it considered a thank you or a reward for him?

The two, with a dog and a cat, walked a little further and gradually began to hear voices.

Those people seemed to be talking loudly, and their laughter was quite hearty.

"Who is it?" Duanmu Ji subconsciously took a few steps in front of Mo Xueyao, vaguely blocking her way.

"It must be a hunter, right?"

"What if it's someone else?"

"Tch, who would want to come to this deep mountain forest except for hunters?"

"Maybe they're drug dealers?"

"You're overthinking it!" Mo Xueyao rolled her eyes at him. "I didn't expect you to be such a coward, huh?"

"...Some human traffickers live in such places to hide themselves and avoid being caught."

"The chances of that happening are too slim! Why are you so nervous?" Mo Xueyao laughed and waved her hand.

Duanmu Ji, however, frowned and slowly walked forward.

"Hurry up!" Mo Xueyao shoved Duanmu Ji, who was blocking her way. "Are you playing dumb?"

At that moment, Black Emperor suddenly wagged its tail and rushed out.

Could it be some poisonous snake or wild beast again?

Mo Xueyao's heart immediately jumped into her throat.

There was a stream ahead with a rotten log lying across it. Duanmu Ji carefully walked across and then glanced at Mo Xueyao, waiting to reach out and help her.

However, Mo Xueyao simply leaped over it, giving him a smug look and saying, "How about that? This is what you call Lingbo Weibu!"

She simply jumped a short distance with force, but because she had read too many martial arts novels, she liked to add some martial arts moves to her movements.

After crossing the stream, the view suddenly opened up, revealing a clearing in the forest.

And it's obvious that it was cut down by humans.

Because the ground was covered with tree stumps, these stumps now served as seats for the hunters to rest.

The grass on the ground of the open space had been cleared away, with only some new growth, which was clearly visible at a glance, so there was no need to worry about suddenly stepping on a poisonous snake or anything like that.

"Haha, which village are you from? I've never seen you before!" A man with a short bow beside him laughed and waved at them.

Judging from their attire, they are clearly hunters.

Mo Xueyao glanced sideways at the timid Duanmu Ji, then quickly walked up while holding the milk candy.

"Are they guests from the Ye family villa?" asked another very burly man.

"Hmm...I guess so." Mo Xueyao nodded.

Black King was clearly familiar with them, wagging its tail and darting around the five people as if it were seeing an old friend it hadn't seen in a long time.

The man with a short bow beside him bent down, rubbed the Black King's head, and took the venomous snake out of its mouth.

"It's been a year since we last met, and this guy still recognizes us," someone laughed.

"It's very clever. Look, this guy caught a snake, but its head has been bitten off."

"What a fine hunting dog! It's a shame to keep it as a pet." The burly man laughed and patted its back.

As if it understood, Black King wagged its tail even more proudly.

"Come, come, have a seat. We've just arrived, and we'll be going hunting soon." The burly man pointed to two round wooden stakes beside him.

The wooden stakes were nothing like the clean ones in cartoons or TV series. On the contrary, because they had been exposed to wind and rain, some of them were moldy and blackened, some had collapsed, and some had bulged.

Mo Xueyao, however, did not mind at all and casually sat down.

"Haha, why did you choose the dirtiest one? Don't get your pants dirty!"

"It's okay, I'll wash it when I get back. I'm bound to get dirty in the forest anyway." Mo Xueyao was wearing shorts that just reached her knees—of course she wasn't stupid enough to walk into the forest in a skirt.

However, she felt that she had oversimplified things and should have worn trousers like Duanmu Ji.

There are so many mosquitoes in the forest... and this is only morning.

Where are you from?

“Uh…” Mo Xueyao thought for a moment, but didn’t mention her hometown. Since she grew up in Hangzhou anyway, she answered, “Hangzhou.”

"Hangzhou." Duanmu Ji's answer was exactly the same as hers.

"Haha, what's going on? It sounds like you two had a fight?" the burly man asked with a loud laugh.

Meanwhile, another man picked up his longbow and carefully wiped it clean: "Isn't it normal for young couples to argue?"

Duanmu Ji's face instantly turned bright red, while Mo Xueyao remained calm, only slightly embarrassed.

"No, he's just my friend. That's just his personality. He doesn't seem to talk much, and he always seems to be sulking."

"Haha, she's subtly insulting her own man!" The hunter with the short bow flicked the bowstring, shooing away the insects that kept flying around him. "These young girls nowadays are really interesting, very individualistic."

"Haha!" Everyone else burst into laughter.

Clearly, they felt that Mo Xueyao was just making fun of Duanmu Ji.

Do you come hunting every day?

"No, I only come a few days a month."

"I think I saw you guys yesterday too. How was your harvest yesterday?" Mo Xueyao asked curiously.

"Ha, just caught a rabbit, and even ruined its fur." The burly man pointed to the youngest of the five, who looked to be only about twenty years old. "This kid's aim is pretty good, but he shot too many arrows!"

"I was just afraid it would run away!" the young hunter argued loudly, clearly unwilling to lose face in front of the pretty girl.

"Can I join in? The hunting trip?"

"Okay, we'll set up the traps later. Just stick close to us."

"So, you set a trap, and then you went to hunt them down?"

"Hahaha—it's not that simple. You have to wait in places where animals might appear, which requires a lot of patience. After they come out, you can chase after them. Usually, you can only catch a rabbit or something."

At this moment, Black King had already mingled with the yellow dogs. The yellow dogs were obviously the hunters' hunting dogs and were no strangers to Black King. The two sides communicated by sniffing each other.

What can you usually hit?

"There are more rabbits, and occasionally we can catch wild deer and wild boars—generally, wild boars are more common among large animals." The burly man glanced at the person next to him. "However, we only caught two last month."

"So little."

"Haha, do you think hunting is that easy? Sometimes you can't even catch one!"

"Is wild boar tasty?" Mo Xueyao asked expectantly.

"Well, people who like it really like it, while people who don't like it find it very unpalatable."

That's as good as saying nothing at all.

Mo Xueyao was about to say something when her eyes suddenly lit up. She pointed to a large bird with colorful feathers that swaggered out of the grass not far away and shouted, "What's that!"

"Oh? That's a pheasant."

"Aren't you going to arrest them?"

"Haha, no, no, those are protected animals." The man laughed and shook his head. "Our village's checks are quite strict. You can't keep them to yourself. You have to report whatever you catch. If anyone secretly catches a protected animal and doesn't report it, they'll be in big trouble if someone reports them."

"So that means if the rules aren't strict, it's possible to arrest someone?"

"Well... as long as they're not discovered, and as long as it's edible, hunters probably won't let it go, right?" the burly man said half-jokingly. "If our village weren't so strict, we would catch them too."

“Relying on individual conscience won’t work, haha—” the man holding the short bow laughed heartily.

"Is that enough?" the youngest man asked. "It's time to set the traps."

"Hmm." Another thin-looking old man nodded. He hadn't spoken and seemed rather quiet. Mo Xueyao also noticed that he was the only one not carrying a bow, but instead had a lot of things on his back. It seemed he was in charge of logistics...?

For some reason, the words "cooking squad leader" inexplicably popped into her mind.

"Alright, are you coming with us? If you are, stay close and don't wander off." The burly man said, standing up. "If we encounter a bear or a wolf, you can run first and don't worry about us."

"Now that you mention it, I feel like I'm about to run into one..." Mo Xueyao scratched her cheek.

Duanmu Ji nodded in agreement: "Can you win?"

"Don't worry, we'll find a solution! Besides, wolves and bears generally don't cause trouble for people. They'll avoid us like the plague, haha—"

……

Chapter Thirty-Nine: Hunting Was More Boring Than Expected

Hunting, in TV dramas, is a game for the nobility.

In the novel, however, it becomes a very interesting plot point.

Because whenever the protagonist goes hunting, he always encounters lucky events, such as falling off a cliff and finding a martial arts manual.

However, in reality, hunting is actually a very boring thing.

The first thing to do is to place traps in areas where animals might appear.

For example, near water, or near places that look like cave exits.

If you want to catch rabbits, place some bait that rabbits particularly like on it—not carrots or anything like that, of course.