Chapter 352: Gluttony Leads to No Good End

It was impossible to keep all four wolves, but Li Long hoped to retain as many as possible.

So he needed to choose his targets first.

The smallest of the four wolves ran the fastest; with almost no vigilance, it dashed straight toward the piece of wild boar meat closest to it and began gnawing furiously.

During this half-day, the meat had frozen hard, covered in a thick layer of ice; although the wolf's teeth were hard and sharp, it couldn't bite through the meat or get it into its mouth right away, so the little wolf, anxious, gnawed and whined simultaneously.

The other three wolves were not so impatient; they ran while looking left and right, and when the little wolf had already started eating, they were still twenty or thirty meters away from the wild boar meat.

At this moment, one wolf stopped, sniffing left and right; it seemed to have smelled something that made it wary, its ears pricked high, emitting a low growl from its throat.

The other two wolves also slowed down, but upon seeing that little wolf desperately gnawing on something, they immediately cared less about caution and accelerated toward their own targets.

"You're the one!" Li Long immediately aimed his rifle at the wolf that had stopped—hitting a stationary target was something Li Long was most confident about.

Aim for the head!

Let's secure a good pelt first!

At a distance of less than a hundred meters, with slight shimmering in the air, Li Long aimed slightly behind the wolf's ear and pulled the trigger.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

After the first shot, Li Long immediately gripped the rifle and fired again; the wolf's body tilted, and it collapsed into the snow.

The other two wolves, whose muzzles had just touched the meat, were instantly startled and fled frantically in opposite directions; Li Long didn't even look at them, adjusting his muzzle to aim at the other little wolf—"That gluttonous creature probably won't run away so quickly!"

Indeed, this little wolf had successfully gnawed the meat free from the ground, with only the wire still connecting it to the stone frozen in the earth; although the little wolf heard the gunshot, it couldn't bear to let go of the meat in its mouth, intending to take it along, but with the wire attached, the creature cried out in anguish—it hadn't yet seen that one of its companions was already lying dead on the ground.

"Bang!"

With one shot, Li Long sent it to meet its companion.

Seeing Li Long fire three shots then put away his rifle, Li Junfeng couldn't wait to ask:

"Uncle Without Xiao Long, how did it go?"

"Two of them. Let's go out and take a look!" Li Long said with a smile, holding his rifle, "Not bad; this bait you guys prepared worked remarkably well."

"Hehehe!" Praised, both Li Junfeng and Li Li Junshan broke into smiles.

Pushing the door open, the sun had already sunk behind the western mountain peaks, and the chill in the air grew heavier; yet at this moment, the three of them felt warm at heart as they walked together toward where the wolves had fallen.

That little wolf still held the meat in its mouth, its eyes open in death.

To ensure a one-shot kill, Li Long had aimed at the little wolf's chest, damaging the pelt slightly, but overall it was still in good condition.

"This wolf isn't big; it's about the size of a dog," Li Li Junshan said after looking closely, curious as this was his first time seeing a wolf from such close range, "It looks quite thin."

"After the heavy snow, it probably hasn't caught anything to eat recently, which is why it was so greedy; otherwise, it wouldn't have been taken down by me," Li Long said, kicking the little wolf, "We'll skin it in a bit; let's go, there's still one more."

The other wolf lay twenty or thirty meters away; it hadn't lost much blood, but the snow around it had been kicked up, suggesting it had struggled for a while after falling.

"This wolf is bigger," Li Junfeng commented, "and fatter too; it must weigh seventy or eighty jin!"

Although Li Junfeng had used kilograms when selling fish a few days ago after arriving from his hometown, he was still accustomed to using jin in casual speech.

"About right," Li Long said, "Drag them back. They're definitely dead, but we need to skin and gut them as soon as possible; otherwise, we'll end up with the same problem as that wild boar."

Upon hearing this, Li Junfeng and Li Li Junshan immediately each grabbed a wolf and dragged them toward the wooden cabin.

Li Long put down his rifle, picked up his skinning and butchering knife, and began skinning the larger wolf.

The wolf's body hadn't stiffened yet; Li Junfeng and Li Li Junshan each held two legs on either side to assist Li Long, and watching Li Long work so quickly, they felt quite envious.

Li Long spent about ten minutes skinning the wolf, then proceeded to gut it; now with two people assisting, he no longer worried about things freezing, and since it was winter, meat was easier to preserve, so he sent the two of them to wash the stomach and intestines while he began skinning the other little wolf.

By the time they had finished processing both wolves, the sky had already darkened.

Noticing there was no moon in the sky, Li Long said to Li Li Junshan and Li Junfeng:

"Tonight, let's heat up the remaining buns, stir-fry the offal and entrails for a meal, and then rest; tomorrow morning, you two can take the wolf meat back."

"Aren't you keeping any here, Uncle Without Xiao Long?" Li Li Junshan asked.

"I'll just keep a leg," Li Long said with a smile, "With the rifle, meat is never scarce."

"Uncle Without Xiao Long, I really envy you!" Li Junfeng said sincerely, "When you want fish, you can get so many; when you want meat, you just take the rifle up the mountain and have meat to eat, plus you can earn money..."

"Haha, you two have money now too," Li Long said with a smile, "Once you return to your hometown, you'll be the ones others envy."

"That's true; as soon as I get back, I'll buy a bicycle!" Li Junfeng had already planned it out, "And get a new set of clothes for everyone in the family, buy some refined grain for the kids; I see Juanjuan and Qiangqiang have grown quite tall; my aunt says it's because they eat refined grain and meat..."

Once a person becomes a father, they instinctively think of leaving the best things for their children; it's only human nature.

"Uncle Without Xiao Long, should we just leave that wild boar meat there and ignore it?" Li Li Junshan asked during the meal.

"Leave it," Li Long waved his hand, "Once frozen, it won't smell so bad; by next spring when I've come down from the mountain, after it thaws, it will either rot into the ground or be eaten by other creatures; no need to worry about it."

After eating and cleaning up, Li Long added a lump of coal to the stove and covered it with a shovel full of coal dust, then went out to bring Number Seventy-Six into the small wooden cabin; he now felt that come next spring, he would need to expand beside this cabin, at least building a shed or something for Number Seventy-Six, otherwise it would be truly difficult to keep it here during future winters.

Of course, to prevent Number Seventy-Six from damaging other things inside the house, he tightened its halter, greatly reducing its range of movement.

The three of them squeezed together on the wooden kang in the large room to make do for the night; "Uncle Without Xiao Long, do you think anything else will come in the middle of the night?" Li Junfeng suddenly asked shortly after they had lain down.

"Probably not," Li Long, nearly asleep, mumbled, "How could there be so many creatures in these mountains?"

Saying this, he turned over and continued sleeping.

Li Junfeng, however, wasn't quite convinced; he always felt that for other carnivores in the forest, those pieces of wild boar meat should be an extremely strong temptation.

He wanted to see.

With something on his mind, he couldn't fall asleep; Li Junfeng patted Li Li Junshan, telling him to sleep in the middle while he took the outermost spot, then periodically climbed up to take a look.

His movements were slight, so he didn't wake Li Long or Li Li Junshan.

Li Long was dreaming of holding hands and chatting with Gu Gu Xiaoxia when he suddenly heard Li Junfeng's urgent voice:

"Uncle Without Xiao Long, Uncle Without Xiao Long!"

Li Long sat up immediately, seeing Li Junfeng urgently calling him from the head of the bed, and asked:

"What's wrong, Jun Feng?"

"Over there... by the meat, there's something!" Li Junfeng pointed toward the window.

Li Long looked at the window emitting a faint glow and asked, "What did you see?"

!.

"I don't know; the daylight is too dim to tell what it is." Li Li Junfeng shook his head. "I just felt there were several of them, but they weren't very big!"

Li Long climbed up, put on his outer jacket, fastened the buttons at the collar, picked up his gun, and went to the window to look outside.

Inside the room it was still dark; although there was no moon outside yet, the sky was slightly brighter, and with the reflection of the snow, Li Long could barely make out that where the frozen meat had been placed, there were indeed several small things moving.

He aimed his gun, then shook his head and said:

"I can't hit them; it's too dark."

Saying this, he intended to turn back and go to sleep.

But Li Li Junfeng suddenly spoke up:

"Uncle Without Xiao Long, do you want me to give it a try?"

"You know how to shoot?" Li Long asked, somewhat surprised.

"How could I not know how to shoot? I'm a militia member too!"

"Alright then." Li Long extended the muzzle of the gun out the window, then handed the stock to Li Li Junfeng, while he watched from the side.

Li Li Junfeng was a bit excited; gripping the gun, he began aiming in that direction.

To be honest, Li Long did not believe he could hit those fellows—most likely they were foxes, though he couldn't see clearly.

This kind of thing was definitely hard to hit, after all, since the daylight was too dim.

Li Li Junfeng aimed for a full two minutes before firing, and as soon as he fired, he let off two shots.

Li Li Junshan was startled awake; Li Li Junfeng handed the gun back to Li Long and said with some uncertainty:

"I don't know if I hit them or not..."

"Let's go take a look." By now Li Long had already fastened his jacket buttons and said, "I have a flashlight here; let's go out and check."

Although it was evident that those few things would pose no threat to three grown men, Li Long still took his gun when going out.

Li Li Junfeng and Li Li Junshan whispered about what they had just seen.

Li Long held one flashlight, Li Li Junfeng held another, and Li Li Junshan had nothing but a stick in his hand.

When the three of them reached that patch of snowy ground, they found that apart from the wild boar meat that had been torn open, nothing else had been left behind.

"Looks like we didn't hit anything." Li Long waved his hand and said, "Alright, let's go back to sleep."

Li Li Junfeng was still unwilling to give up; he rummaged through the snow for a long time, but ultimately found nothing, and followed Li Long back to the wooden cabin looking rather dejected.

The next day, Li Li Junshan got up earliest; after rising, he poked open the stove and prepared to boil water.

Li Long also climbed up. He dressed and went outside; the air outside was heavy with chill, yet it instantly cleared his mind. Having spent the whole night cooped up together, the air inside the room smelled terrible, so the door had been left open for ventilation.

Li Long ran to the spring, fetched a bucket of water, returned, and washed his face with cold water inside the room. He then went into the small room, chopped off a leg from the wolf meat processed yesterday and hung it up, while moving the remaining meat out to the cart outside—Number Seventy-Six was also led out.

Number Seventy-Six, having been cooped up in the room all night, neighed several times in discontented protest; Li Long paid no heed to its protests, simply got some fodder for it to eat.

After a simple breakfast, Li Li Junfeng and Li Li Junshan hitched up the cart and headed down the mountain.

Li Long had told them that after they finished selling the fish, they should lead the cart back up once more; by then, he would decide whether to go down or continue staying in the mountains.

By that time, if they managed to hunt anything, they could also haul it down the mountain.

After Li Li Junfeng and Li Li Junshan departed, Li Long began cleaning the small room; once it was clean, he added coal to the stove in the large room, kneaded dough, and prepared to let it rise so he could steam some mantou.

This kind of thing, kept inside the house, could always serve as reserve food whenever needed.

He intended to complete as much preparatory work as possible before Ha Li Mu and the others arrived. (End of chapter)