"Tell me, Fourth Grandpa, tell me how you hunted leopards back then."

Seeing Chen Ling pulling up a stool and sitting down, eager to know, Chen Gannian grinned and the two scars left by wolves on his face trembled.

"You little kid, you are still the same as when you were naked, and you still love to listen to adults tell stories..."

The old man smiled, coughed twice, and recalled: "That year, at this time in autumn, a leopard came down from the North Mountain. This leopard was so powerful that it kept making trouble in our place for two or three days.

Our village Zhongkui Tada is bold. You must know Zhongkui. He is the hunter in our village who cut off the head of a woman and rolled it all over the ground.

Handle, come out and look for it.

That leopard was lying in a ditch at the base of Beishan. This man happened to see it, so he went over to kill it.

When he went to hunt the leopard, he couldn't tell whether his aim was correct or not.

He couldn't tell whether he was panicking or not, and whether his hands were shaking or not.

Anyway, as soon as he fired his gun, the leopard ran up from the ditch, pushed him to the bottom of the ditch, and sat on it."

"What do you mean?"

"Sit on it?"

Chen Ling and others listened intently. They were stunned when they heard this sentence and did not realize what it meant.

Chen Gannian took a sip of tea and nodded, "Sit on it. The leopard is strong and heavy, and its strength is frightening. It immediately pinned him to the bottom of the ditch, and sat on him with its buttocks.

Deadly."

"Then the leopard ate him?"

"No. The blame for what happened back then was just this place. The leopard sat on him and ignored him, didn't move him, didn't catch him, or bite him."

"Yo..." Everyone suddenly exclaimed.

Chen Gannian continued: "More people came later, but they just shouted in the distance, and no one dared to come forward. When the leopard saw that there were more people coming, it stood up again, and with a slight jump, jumped out of the ditch.

He jumped out, jumped north, and went back to the mountains.

This guy, also known as Zhongkui Tada, we called him Lao Diao at that time, saying that this man had been hunting for a long time, had an evil spirit in his body, was ferocious, and the animals were afraid of him, and he was very Diao.

As a result, I met a leopard. If I didn't show any trouble, he died two months later. I was scared to death."

"Oh, are you scared to death?"

"That's not true. Think about it, people at that time didn't have enough to eat, drank watery meals twice a day, and felt weak. If they were frightened by a leopard, they would get sick all over again?"

After Chen Gannian finished speaking, he chuckled twice, and then coughed violently.

Chen Ling saw that although he was awake, his eyes were cloudy and he would cough from time to time. It was obvious that he was not in good health, so he replaced the tea with a cup of honey water for the old man and let him drink it.

The water source always available at home is diluted spiritual water mixed with wild honey. The old man started to sweat after just two sips.

But my spirits are much better.

Chen Ling laid out the chess pieces, and while playing chess with the old man, he continued to ask: "That leopard is weird, why doesn't it eat that old man?"

Chen Gannian shook his head: "I haven't eaten. I don't know if it's because I'm not hungry or what? Anyway, I just ignored him."

Chen Dazhi also said beside him: "If a leopard doesn't eat people, it must be full, or it would have torn up and eaten that old man long ago."

"Well, if you don't say this is weird, the leopard knocked him down and sat on him, but he didn't eat. We were still young at the time, so we all hid behind the adults and watched, watching the adults make the old man follow him.

He was dragged up from the bottom of the ditch without a single injury on his body."

"Uncle, why does this old Diao Baozi go alone, instead of recruiting three or five helpers? If there are more people, why don't we be safer?" Wang Qingwen came over and asked.

"That's different. He is an Orion."

Chen Gannian raised his head and looked at Wang Qingwen: "He wants to kill the leopard and have it all to himself. If there are many people, they can go to the mountains and rivers, and everyone who sees them will have a share, and everyone who goes will get a share, and they will work

Those who do nothing can get a share, and those who beat the leopard will gain nothing."

"Oh, he hopes to make a fortune from hunting leopards?"

"That's not true."

After saying this, Wang Qingwen immediately understood.

Because in the Qinling Mountains west of Fenglei Town and north of Lutou Mountain, there used to be many herb farmers who made a living by collecting herbs.

They are both hunters and medicine farmers, and the medicines they collect are not just herbs, but also things from wild animals.

Just like this leopard.

Leopard skin, leopard meat, leopard heart, leopard gallbladder, leopard whip, and even leopard oil, all kinds of things on the leopard are very valuable.

"Fugui and your group met a leopard in the mountains a while ago, but it seems that they missed it?"

Chen Dazhi said at this time.

"Well, I didn't hit it. The leopard still had its tail broken off. It was so slippery, ran fast, jumped high, and jumped up to the tree. If you hadn't brought the dog with you, it wouldn't have hit you.

If you walk forward, you won't be able to get close to it."

You can't catch the domesticated tabby cat, let alone the leopard in the forest, which is even more difficult.

If a leopard does not actively attack people, but actively approaches people, it would be a dream for people to catch it. Unless there are good dogs and guns, and there are many people, a trap is laid in advance, or the leopard is lured, then it can be caught.

arrive.

"This leopard is so ferocious that it cannot be compared to the local leopards. This young man in our village has never seen a leopard before. When he first went up the mountain, it was quite new. But then he actually saw a leopard. When the leopard stared at him, he was so scared that he ran out of fear.

I was so sweaty that my hair stood on end, and I even forgot to fire the gun, let alone hit or miss."

Chen Ling curled his lips and expressed his helplessness.

"What was the trap you used later? Did it work? Did you lure the leopard?" Chen Dazhi asked again.

"It's not working out well. I went for a walk twice the day before yesterday, and I didn't catch any leopards or wild boars."

Chen Ling still shook his head. The clips placed on the wild boar's dung path in the Western Mountains did not yield any results.

That's the wild boar's main path, and logically it shouldn't be like this.

Unless there are other reasons.

For example, the leopard or the wolves on the north mountain may affect them.

"If that old Diao had the strength to lift a three-hundred-jin hammer like you, he might be able to kill the leopard when he sat on him." Chen Dazhi said with a smile.

"Are you right, Fourth Master?"

"Yes or no."

Chen Gannian put down the chess piece in his hand, stretched out his hand and gestured: "I don't know if you have seen the leopard's claws before. They are so long, almost half a foot long. That guy is no different from a steel hook. It is transparent and translucent. The claws are

, it's bright when you stick it out. If you catch a guy on a person, it's just a lump of flesh.

It has nothing to do with how strong you are. You can lift a ramming hammer of three hundred kilograms and firewood of five hundred kilograms. But even if its claws dig at you, you won't be able to carry it."

"Oh, so powerful?" Everyone was a little dumbfounded, thinking that the old man was exaggerating.

Only Chen Ling knew that what Fourth Grandpa said was true.

The speed of cats and the sharpness of their claws are beyond ordinary people's imagination.

Otherwise, why can they climb trees and run wildly on steep rock walls?

If you really want to fight one on one, no one can compare to their reaction.

"So, when hunting leopards or tigers, you still have to bring real guys with you." Chen Ling sighed.

Chen Gannian nodded approvingly when he heard this: "You have to bring a real guy. Even if you don't bring a gun, it's much better to bring a steel fork, a woodcutter, and a shovel than bare hands. There are fewer leopards now.

If you can't find it, generally don't recruit it. You won't make a fortune from it now."

Although the old man is sometimes confused and sometimes sober, the basic principles are very clear.

Now I woke up, started playing chess, and had fun with Chen Ling and others.

After playing a few games of chess, the rain gradually subsided. The old man watched the dogs and the eagles, wandering around the farm and praising the farm so much that Chen Ling was embarrassed to do so.

At noon, Chen Ling forced the two of them to stay for a meal, and then along with Chen Dazhi, he sent the fourth grandfather back to the village.

I heard someone said that not long after Fourth Grandpa returned that day, he started painting again.

Chen Ling didn't have time to see it again. The eighteenth day of the eighth lunar month was a sunny day. On that day, he drove his wife, children, and mother-in-law to Yaowang Temple to offer incense.

Baihe Ridge, where Yaowang Temple is located, is not too far from Fenglei Town.

You can travel by water as well as by land.

To take the water route is to start from Fenglei Town, and to take the land route is to take the ancient trade road between Changle Township and Fenglei Town like they did.

This ancient trade road passes diagonally, connecting three provinces, and the mountain road is very wide.

Even now, it is often repaired. Although it is a gravel road and it is bumpy for a bicycle to walk on, it is still okay for a car and does not feel too big.

Walking on the wide commercial road, there are many motor vehicles.

There are cars, tractors, and tractors, most of which are agricultural vehicles, pulling all kinds of goods and driving past with black smoke.

But most of them are pack horses and donkey carts, carrying grains bundled tightly. The donkeys and horses are walking with a steady pace, and the bells are shaking and jingling.
To be continued...