1983, Northeast China

Chapter 13 Eat my rabbit, I'll skin you alive

When Chen Shi left the brigade, he could still hear people talking from their windows.

Once past the corn stalk stacks at the edge of the village, all the sounds were carried away by the wind.

Chen Shi walked through the snow, making a "crunching" sound.

If it were anyone else, their mind would probably be filled with thoughts of dead people, police, and IOUs.

Chen Shi knew that these were not the most urgent matters at the moment.

First, fill your stomach and warm up the house; then even the biggest problems can wait.

He took the same route as before.

I was in a rush yesterday, and all I could think about was getting a rabbit to take home, so I didn't have time to look at it closely.

Looking at it again today, there are even more marks on the slope than that day.

Besides the rabbit, there was also a row of three-toed paw prints.

pheasant.

Chen Shi immediately perked up.

Rabbits are meat, and pheasants are meat too.

It smells even better than rabbit.

He scanned the footprints. Pheasants are timid and fly away when startled, but in winter, with thick snow, they are too lazy to flap their wings and prefer to burrow under the bushes. As long as the opening is blocked, there is a chance.

Chen Shi untied the hemp rope, twisted it into two strands, and tied a slipknot. He then broke off a thin hazel twig and propped the rope knot about a hand's breadth above the snow.

After finishing all that, he touched his chest.

And that half-eaten cornbread.

Chen Shi stared at the half-eaten cornbread for a while, and finally picked off a piece, crushed it into crumbs, and sprinkled it in front of the button.

After he finished scattering the cornbread, he felt a pang of regret. "Eat it. If you eat my cornbread, it'll be my chicken."

Chen Shi cleared the basket and tiptoed around to the upwind side.

He grabbed a handful of snow and threw it deep into the hazelnut grove.

There was no movement.

Chen Shi held his breath and grabbed a second handful.

Just as the snowball slammed in, a sudden "plop" came from under the bushes, and two pheasants thrashed out of their snow nest.

One flapped its wings, flew off at an angle, and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

The other one was blocked by its companion and didn't fly high, instead squeezing under the bushes into the narrow opening.

Chen Shixin was brought up.

If it's even a little off-center, all our efforts will be in vain.

The pheasant had just poked its head out when it pushed off with its feet and stepped right into the slipknot.

The hazelnuts sprang up suddenly.

Become!

Chen Shi practically lunged forward, taking three steps at a time, and slammed the willow basket upside down, pressing down hard on the edge of the basket.

The pheasant was flapping its wings wildly in the basket, making the willow branches rustle.

"Trying to run away?" He reached in and grabbed the pheasant by the neck.

The pheasant struggled fiercely, its sharp beak almost pecking the back of his hand. Chen Shi's temper flared up, and he grabbed its neck and slapped it hard across the face.

He tied the pheasant up, picked it up, and weighed it in his hand.

heavy.

Chen Shi finally felt a little more at ease.

What can one pheasant do? There are several mouths to feed in the family. Even if you stew it in a pot, the soup might not be enough for two meals.

It's not easy to come all this way, we can't just take back one pheasant.

He packed up the willow basket and continued walking towards the place where he had set the snares.

He suddenly stopped as he passed an old oak tree.

A patch of snow bulged up next to the tree roots, with a few hazelnut shells scattered around it.

Chen Shi squatted down and gently scraped away the frozen snow with the tip of his machete.

Sure enough, there was a small nest underneath.

The squirrel isn't home.

Inside the nest were hazelnuts, acorns, and some haystacks—the little creature's winter food, painstakingly saved up little by little.

Chen Shi stared at it for a long time.

If you take it all away, the squirrels will have a tough winter.

If we don't take it, the children at home will also suffer.

He swallowed hard, then grabbed only two handfuls of hazelnuts, buried the rest back, and covered them tightly with snow again.

"Can I borrow something from you?"

After saying that, he felt ashamed and added, "I'll pay you back when I'm doing better."

Borrow food from squirrels.

It would be embarrassing to say that out loud.

But when a person is starving to this extent, their pride becomes worthless.

Not far ahead is the nearest rabbit hoop.

The condom is still on.

The hazelnuts were bent under the weight of the snow, and the wire loops were still hanging there. The snow underneath was clean and dry; there wasn't a single rabbit, let alone a single hair.

empty.

The slight joy on Chen Shi's face gradually faded.

He squatted down and straightened the cap again.

The rabbit trail was still there, but the footprints had bypassed the snare and crawled under the tall grass beside it.

"Quite shrewd."

Chen Shi breathed on his hands to warm them, then used his machete to clear away the weeds and moved the snare further inside.

Setting a trap isn't as simple as just placing a hoop on the rabbit trail.

Things in the mountains aren't stupid.

Humans want to eat rabbits, but rabbits also want to live.

The second cover looked off from a distance.

The small hazelnuts had been bounced away, the wire ring lay crooked in the snow, and there were messy footprints all around.

Chen Shi quickened his pace by taking two steps.

It's a bit better than the last one; a few tufts of rabbit fur remained.

The rabbit broke free.

The wire loop had been pushed a little too big, and there were some bloodstains around the edge. The blood had frozen into a dark red color and was stuck to the snow.

Chen Shi picked up a small piece of hair with his fingers. "What a pity."

This rabbit must be quite large and strong.

If the lid were a little tighter, we could have made another half pot of meat today.

It was a pity, but he had no time to regret it.

The fact that it can open its eyes means the rabbit trail was found correctly. The snare is crudely made; it's its own fault for being inexperienced.

He straightened the wire and moved it to a narrower opening. This time, the opening was lowered, and two thin branches were used to block the bottom.

If a rabbit wants to squeeze through here, it has to duck its head.

When I lowered my head, my neck was right inside.

After finishing with the condom, Chen Shi felt his fingers were a little numb. He put his hands under his armpits to warm them up.

Chen Shi slowed his pace after taking only a few steps toward the third trap.

The snow surface was too messy.

Not only were there rabbit tracks, but there was also a clear drag mark. Next to the drag mark, there was a series of thin footprints.

The rabbit's head and front legs were still stuck in the wire loop, but the back half was missing.

"A weasel?"

Chen Shi squatted down to study the footprints carefully. They were wriggling as he walked, and the spacing between them was not short.

Most of them are yellow-skinned.

They might also be night owls.

However, stray cats don't steal food that aggressively.

Chen Shi stretched out the tip of his machete and brushed away the rabbit fur at the edge of the broken blade.

The area where the weasel's teeth had torn was a mess, with white bone fragments showing and flesh still attached to tendons.

Chen Shi stood up, not in a hurry to deal with the rabbit, but first surveyed the surrounding terrain.

He followed the marks on the ground toward the pile of rubble.

There are several large rocks at the foot of the slope, hollow underneath, with snow blocking half of them, leaving just enough gaps for a weasel to squeeze through.

Chen Shi walked over and brushed away the snow beside the stone.

A fishy, ​​foul smell immediately wafted up.

There's something in the cave!

Having run out of spare snares, Chen Shi simply took the rabbit apart, re-coiled a larger one, and used it specifically to deal with weasels.

They picked up the half-rabbit, found a good spot to set the trap, and hung the half-rabbit on a tree branch. The intestines and belly, which had been dragged out by the weasel, swayed along with the half-rabbit.

Chen Shi took two steps back, squinted at the rabbit, dug a small hole under it, buried the snare in the snow, and covered it with snow.

At first glance, there is no trace at all.

The wire loop was propped up on two rocks, taut, and positioned precisely below the half-rabbit.

As soon as that beast reaches for that piece of meat, it steps in...

Chen Shi chuckled coldly, "If you eat my rabbit, then I'll skin you alive."

Muttering to himself, he followed the footprints he had left behind and walked back step by step.

When we got to the Three Pine Trees area, we saw fresh hoof prints.

Its two hooves sank quite deep, like a roe deer.

Chen Shi stood and watched for a while before heading north into the old woods. The edge was still relatively new, and if he had a gun, a dog, or someone to help him, he might be able to touch it.

But he doesn't do that now. He looks back at the village and sees which dog is pregnant, then he gets the whole puppy and trains it from a young age.

Chen Shi sighed and temporarily gave up the idea of ​​finding the roe deer.

He turned around and found a dry, old oak branch, thicker than his arm, crooked and twisted.

He pressed the rope horizontally into the willow basket, then wrapped the hemp rope around the basket's handles and tied it across his chest to prevent it from losing its strength when going downhill.

This stuff is good firewood; stuff it in the stove, and the fire will be strong and burn well.

Before he even reached the courtyard gate, Ya Ya's little figure appeared in front of him again.

She seemed to have been waiting, a small tuft of her hair sticking up from sleep, her little face flushed, "Uncle."

"Didn't I tell you to stay with your mother? Why are you out here?"

"I stayed with her." Ya Ya opened the door. "Xiao Man is asleep, and Mom didn't cry."

Although the words were spoken out of the blue, Chen Shi understood them.

Ya Ya told him that she came out because everything was fine inside.

"Uncle, what good stuff did you bring back?" Ya Ya asked again.

Chen Shi pulled the tree branch back into the yard and put the basket down.

He pulled out the firewood one by one, and Ya Ya's eyes followed his hand. After waiting for a long time, there was still only firewood. "Firewood is a good thing, huh?"