Chapter 47

"I won't participate in the rest of the work." Halimu said, "I'll go get the horses. You can ride the horse later and drag these two wild boars back, drag them to the horse-drawn carriage, load them up, and take them away."

Li Long knew this was because of some customs that were hard to talk about here. He said with a mix of curiosity and gratitude:

"Actually, you didn't have to come; I could have hunted them myself."

"No, I had to kill that big one. This place is only one mountain gully and one mountain ridge away from my winter camp. I've observed that it has already finished rooting through the mountain gully to the east. If I don't stop it, in a few days it will bring this group of wild boars to my winter camp, and that will be very troublesome."

Although Li Long didn't know exactly how troublesome this trouble was, knowing why Halimu had come to kill this wild boar leader with him, even at the risk of violating some taboos, he knew the seriousness of the matter.

Moreover, this big wild boar had clearly been shot and was still charging up, wanting to kill the person who fired the gun—from this, one could see how fierce this guy was!

If it really ran to Halimu's winter camp, it would probably be a disaster!

Halimu left, leaving Li Long here.

Li Long moved his hands and feet, put the rifle's safety on, slung it on his back, and walked to the smaller wild boar.

This wild boar had been killed by his single shot, and now a large patch of blood had soaked into the ground and frozen.

The main reason Halimu left him here was the fear that if both of them left, wolves would come and eat the wild boars.

Wouldn't Li Long's hunting have been in vain then?

He squatted down and saw that the bullet had passed through under the shoulder blade; it should have hit the heart and then exited from the other side.

Li Long grabbed the pig's ears, wanting to drag this wild boar to the big wild boar, so it would be easier to drag with the horse later.

At this moment, Li Long felt what it meant to be dead heavy. He used all his strength to barely drag the wild boar a little bit. There was no other way; Li Long had to trample the snow away himself and then drag the pig. He broke into a sweat before he finally dragged the two pigs together.

Next was waiting.

That big wild boar had two tusks extending out of its mouth, one of which already had a crack, and one was sharp. It seemed it was used often; it was really like a dagger.

What disappointed Li Long a little was that these two wild boars, especially the big one, didn't have the "shoulder armor" mentioned in novels.

In his previous life, he also read novels, often seeing things like "one tiger, two bears, three boars," or "one boar, two tigers, three bears." Anyway, they blew the wild boar up to be very powerful, saying that their shoulders often rubbed against pine trees, and the resin hanging on their bodies was like wearing a layer of armor, making it hard for ordinary knives to pierce them.

This big wild boar seemed to have some years on it, but looking at its shoulders and body, there was no armor. Under the fur, there was at most a layer of grime, which would fall off with a scrape of the hand and had no protective function at all.

Was it the novels lying, or was it just that he had only seen these two wild boars and hadn't encountered one with armor?

Li Long was pondering here when Halimu arrived.

He dismounted, handed the rope to Li Long, and told him to tie the two pigs securely, then hang the rope on the saddle and let Li Long ride the horse to start dragging.

The horse walked twice and didn't drag it. Halimu said:

"Give it a whip, let the horse use its strength. Once it's dragging, it can run. If you're afraid, just hold onto the saddle horn tightly."

Li Long did as he was told. With a flick of the whip, the horse immediately exerted its strength. After two or three tugs, the wild boars started to move.

Under the power of Li Long's whip, the horse started to trot, following Halimu along the side of the ridge, winding around, and arrived at the horse-drawn carriage in front of the winter camp.

Halimu and Li Long worked together to wedge the horse-drawn carriage under a gentle slope, just below the wild boars.

The two of them secured the carriage, and Li Long went up to untie the rope binding the wild boars. Using the friction of the snow, he pushed them down slowly, then pushed the pigs and the snow together onto the carriage. He did the same for the second wild boar. By the time they were on the carriage, Li Long felt he was too tired to move.

Both tired and nervous. When he was riding the horse to drag the wild boars just now, he was really too worried—worried about falling off and worried that the horse couldn't drag them.

"Wipe the horse's sweat; the horse is also exhausted." Halimu reminded him again, "You can't feed the horse right now; let it rest for a while."

Li Long took the old blanket Halimu threw over and wiped the sweat off the horse's neck and body.

The sky was already bright, and Halimu's wife walked out of the winter camp, calling to them.

"Let's go, go inside and drink milk tea." Halimu said with a smile.

Li Long led the horse to the front of the winter camp, tied it up, and followed Halimu inside.

He put away the rifle, took off the fur coat, took off his shoes, got on the kang, and took the bowl handed over by the woman, drinking the milk tea in big gulps. As the boiling hot milk tea entered his stomach, Li Long finally felt that his body was his own again.

He had been reborn for many days, but today he truly felt what it meant to be tired and nervous.

After a simple breakfast, Li Long took the bullets out of his pocket and handed them to Halimu:

"There are still a few bullets in the rifle; this is all I have left on me. Please help me return the rifle to Brother Yushanjiang, and give him these bullets too. I'll bring some more next time I come."

!.

"Alright." Halimu didn't stand on ceremony and took them. In these dangerous mountains, these were more useful than anything else.

"Then I'll be going." Li Long knew that since he was carrying wild boars, he couldn't stay here too long. "I'll come again in a couple of days. By the way, what else do you need? I'll bring it next time."

Halimu thought for a moment and said:

"If possible, bring some rice. Not much, just a little bit is fine." Li Long nodded and said:

"No problem."

He got up to say goodbye to the old lady and the others, put on his clothes, and left the winter camp.

This trip had yielded jade and two wild boars. He had originally wanted to get some wood to fill the carriage, but he really didn't have the strength.

Halimu put a bundle of grass on the carriage for him, helped him harness the horse, and waved goodbye.

Li Long drove the carriage down the mountain cautiously. Going down was not like going up. Now he was alone, but there were two wild boars on the carriage. The rifle had been returned; he wasn't exactly unarmed, but he only had a previously confiscated iron pipe, which really wasn't of much use.

Li Long walked a few hundred meters and stopped, unwrapped the grass bundle to barely cover the two wild boars, and then found some tree branches along the way to weigh down the grass before driving the carriage out of the mountains.

He drove all the way to the county before stopping.

He felt hungry. He had drunk a lot of milk tea in the morning, eaten little naan, and had high consumption in the evening, so now his stomach was empty.

Li Long drove the carriage to the entrance of the meat canteen, lifted the door curtain, and shouted to the waiter inside. He ordered three meat buns, paid, and ate while driving the carriage to the purchasing station.

He wanted to know if they would buy those two pieces of jade.

He didn't know now that because he hadn't returned for a night, plus the matters of Gu Ermao and Tao Dayong, the people in the team were already spreading rumors that he had been caught!

(End of chapter)