Chapter 617: Capturing a Roe Deer Alive (2)

By now, Zhao Jun and Jie Chen were dressed and ready. When Li Baoyu called from outside, Zhao Jun had Jie Chen carry the wild boar meat intended for Zhang Yuanmin’s family while he himself held the comic books he’d bought for him. The pair went out to meet Li Baoyu, loaded the eleven dogs from both families into the vehicle, and drove straight to Zhang Yuanmin’s house.

The moment the vehicle stopped in front of Zhang Yuanmin’s house, Zhang Yuanmin came running out from inside.

The comic books Wang Meilan had bought for Zhang Yuanmin came in simple, complete sets. Each of the Four Great Classical Novels was packed in its own cardboard box, the sides of which were folded inward with a hole punched through the middle to form a handle.

Zhang Yuanmin carried *Dream of the Red Chamber* and *Water Margin* in his left hand and *Journey to the West* and *Three Kingdoms* in his right, grinning from ear to ear. He said to Zhao Jun, “Brother, with these books, your big brother here is like a fish in water!”

Zhao Jun: “…”

Before Zhao Jun could say anything, Yang Yufeng came out of the house. Seeing Zhao Jun and the others standing at the door, she jogged over, took the wild boar meat from Li Baoyu’s hands, and chided Zhang Yuanmin, “Stop fawning over your books already. Go up the mountain with the others.”

As she spoke, Yang Yufeng reached for the comic books. But Zhang Yuanmin dodged to the side and said, “Your hands just touched meat. Don’t touch my books.”

Yang Yufeng: “I…”

「Two minutes later.」

Zhang Yuanmin came running out of his house, practically skipping, and pulled open the car door to hop into the passenger seat.

Then, the vehicle started and headed out of the village.

Meanwhile, Zhao Youcai arrived at the small store’s entrance, carrying a large leg of wild boar.

He placed the boar leg behind a large vat next to the door before pulling the door open and entering the store.

Wang Fu was behind the counter, eating congee. When he saw Zhao Youcai arrive, he quickly put down his chopsticks and asked, “Youcai, what can I get for you?”

“Two pounds of shortbread cookies and two pounds of sponge cakes,” Zhao Youcai said, reaching into his pocket for money.

“Let me bag that up for you.” Wang Fu pulled out a sheet of butter paper, placed it on the scale, and then added casually, “Zhao Jun came by yesterday for two pounds of shortbread cookies as well. Put it on his tab…”

Wang Fu only mentioned it because he saw Zhao Youcai reaching for his money. Since the Zhao family father and son hadn’t formally split their household, Wang Fu assumed Zhao Youcai knew about the tab and was planning to settle his son’s debt while he was here.

But to Wang Fu’s surprise, halfway through his sentence, Zhao Youcai stuffed the money back into his pocket and said, “In that case, put what I’m getting on his tab, too.”

“Huh?” Wang Fu froze. Before he could react, he heard Zhao Youcai add, “Go ahead and weigh me out two pounds of oven-baked cookies and two pounds of large crackers, too.”

“Ah… alright.” Wang Fu had a feeling Zhao Youcai was taking advantage of the situation, but he figured it was their business since they were father and son, so he didn’t ask any questions.

After Wang Fu finished packing everything, Zhao Youcai left the grocery store carrying four butter paper packages. He remembered to grab the boar leg and headed to the village entrance to meet Wang Qiang.

Wang Qiang had already been waiting for a long time when Zhao Youcai arrived at the village entrance. Having grown impatient, his face instantly lit up when he saw Zhao Youcai carrying the large wild boar leg, and he jogged over to meet him.

“Brother-in-law, what are you doing bringing the boar leg all the way out here for me?” Wang Qiang reached out with both hands to take the leg and said, “It would’ve been better if you just dropped it off at my house. Now I have to take it back myself.”

At that moment, Wang Qiang thought Zhao Youcai had brought the boar leg over as a gift for him.

But unexpectedly, after handing the leg to Wang Qiang, Zhao Youcai said, “This isn’t for you. It’s for Third Brother Xing.”

“Then you can carry it yourself,” Wang Qiang said upon hearing this, tossing the boar leg aside.

Zhao Youcai glanced at Wang Qiang. He felt a pang of guilt but said nothing. He simply walked over, picked up the boar leg, and started heading toward the hunting grounds.

Wang Qiang shouldered his rifle and followed Zhao Youcai. He asked, “My nephew’s the one who hunted this boar, right?”

Zhao Youcai turned back and shot Wang Qiang a sharp, sidelong glance. Then he retorted, “What about it?”

“Heh!” Wang Qiang jutted out his chin. He said, “If my nephew hunted it, my sister will be sending a share to my house soon enough!”

Zhao Youcai shot Wang Qiang a look and chuckled dryly.

…

The vehicle arrived at the base of a mountain slope. Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu jumped down from the truck bed. Seeing Jie Chen and Zhang Yuanmin approach, Zhao Jun said to Zhang Yuanmin, “Big Brother, you get in the truck and watch the dogs.”

“You got it!” Hearing Zhao Jun’s order, Zhang Yuanmin agreed without hesitation.

Then, Zhao Jun led Li Baoyu and Jie Chen up the slope, heading for the spot where he had set the leg-hold traps the day before.

Just as they entered that patch of woods, they heard a squealing sound coming from up ahead. “SQUEAL… SQUEAL…”

“We caught one!” Hearing the sound, Li Baoyu started to rush forward, but Zhao Jun grabbed him and held him back.

“Get the ropes.” At Zhao Jun’s words, Li Baoyu quickly opened his satchel and took out thick hemp ropes.

There were three hemp ropes: one long and two short. The long one was nearly ten feet, while the short ones were less than three feet each. Zhao Jun took the long one and left the two shorter ones for Li Baoyu and Jie Chen.

Zhao Jun folded the rope into thirds and draped it over his shoulder. He then unslung his semi-automatic rifle, holding it ready as he led Li Baoyu and Jie Chen through the trees.

They hadn’t gone far, not yet reaching the place where he’d set the traps yesterday, when they saw a roe deer lying under a linden tree.

When it saw them approaching, it quickly pushed itself up on its legs and turned to run. But after it took a step with its left foreleg, as its right foreleg tried to follow, there was a flash of light from the end of that leg.

One of Zhao Jun’s handmade leg-hold traps was clamped around the roe deer’s foreleg. The moment the leg hit the ground, the deer stumbled sideways to the right, crashing to the ground and letting out a series of pained yelps.

And not far ahead, the cry of another roe deer echoed in response.

“Caught two!” Zhao Jun’s heart leaped with joy at the sound. He slung the rifle back over his right shoulder, then took the rope from his left. With a flick of his wrist, he grabbed one end and tied a slipknot.

Seeing Zhao Jun approach, the roe deer turned its head to look at him, its eyes filled with terror.

It turned its head back, trying to bite the trap clamped around its hoof. But when a roe deer lies down, both its forelegs bend backward from the knee.

No matter how low the deer bent its head, it couldn’t reach the trap on its hoof.

Like a Mongolian herdsman lassoing a horse, Zhao Jun threw the loop, slipping the noose neatly over the roe deer’s neck. With a sharp tug, he pulled the knot tight.

Feeling something pulling its neck to the side, the roe deer cried out even louder. But now the noose was tight around its neck. Zhao Jun, holding the rope taut, shouted to Li Baoyu and Jie Chen, “You two, be careful!”

Normally, they wouldn’t try to capture the roe deer today. They should have left it here to starve for a few days.

But that would mean having to come back to check on it every day, and Zhao Jun didn’t have that kind of time. So, he brought Li Baoyu and Jie Chen along to deal with the deer the hard way.

This was a doe, weighing over fifty pounds.

A roe deer this size, Black Tiger could pin and kill it on his own. But for a person to capture it alive, that was much more difficult.

Especially when it came to tying its legs.

At this point, trying to grab the deer’s legs by hand would certainly be met with a desperate struggle.

If someone got seriously injured by a kick during the struggle, it wouldn’t be worth it at all.

Suddenly, Zhao Jun put all his strength into it, giving an abrupt yank that pulled the roe deer off balance, sending its two right legs flailing into the air.

But Li Baoyu and Jie Chen were ready, each holding one end of a rope. They flicked it upward, letting the center of the rope fall between the deer’s two right legs.

Then, they quickly wrapped one end of their rope around the deer’s right front hoof and the other end around its right rear hoof. With a sharp pull, they brought the two hooves together until they crossed. They quickly tied a knot, binding the two right legs tightly together.

Seeing this, Zhao Jun quietly let out a breath of relief and slightly loosened his grip on his rope. ‘The one I’m holding is around its neck,’ he thought. ‘I’d better be careful not to strangle it.’

With its two right legs crossed and bound together, the deer could no longer move them. But it still had two free legs, so Li Baoyu and Jie Chen had to be extra careful.

They grabbed the deer’s bound legs, pushed them to the right, and instantly flipped the animal onto its back, all four legs pointing toward the sky.

With two legs already tied, Li Baoyu and Jie Chen set to work on the other two. Repeating the process, they soon had all four of the deer’s legs bound tightly together.