Chapter 1023

After catching up with the herd, Feng Feng Chengmin instructed the three of them:

"Let's spread out a bit, and then we'll drive the herd down the mountain together. It would save a lot of trouble if we could drive them directly home."

Wang An was stunned upon hearing this and said with a face full of shock:

"No way, Old Uncle-in-law, can you really do it like this?"

It was no wonder Wang An was surprised; he had never even heard of a method where you drive the prey home directly after catching it.

Feng Feng Chengmin just looked at him with an expression that said it was only natural:

"What's wrong with that? Isn't that normal? The deer I caught before the New Year was driven a long way, and when it finally couldn't walk anymore, I couldn't even get it to move by whipping it with a tree branch. I had no other choice, so I ended up killing it."

No wonder Feng Feng Chengmin had said earlier that once the deer's adrenaline wore off, it would just stand there and let itself be slaughtered. So Feng Feng Chengmin had done this kind of thing before!

It must be said that Feng Feng Chengmin's experience was truly rich; he knew almost everything about hunting.

But Wang An seized on a loophole in Feng Feng Chengmin's words and said:

"Old Uncle-in-law, didn't you say that the deer accidentally stepped on the snare before you started chasing it?"

Feng Feng Chengmin said with a calm face:

"Yeah, so can't I drive it for a distance after it steps on the snare?"

Upon hearing this, Wang An blinked his eyes and was suddenly unable to respond.

Seeing Wang An silent, Feng Feng Chengmin laughed instead and couldn't help but tease:

"You little brat, you've really kept track of my business. Is there anything else you want to say?"

Wang An smiled awkwardly and said:

"No, I haven't kept track of anything, and I have nothing to say. I was just curious and asked, hehehehehe."

Wang An had originally wanted to bring up Feng Feng Chengmin stealing someone else's prey, but he was blocked by Feng Feng Chengmin's words, which was indeed a bit embarrassing.

Just like that, the four of them rode their horses, driving the herd like sheep, and walked all the way back down the mountain, even eating pancakes on horseback for lunch.

Deer are animals that are very easily startled. If you try to capture and tie them up by force, it will definitely cause them to struggle violently.

But if they struggle violently, not only will it be very exhausting for people, but it will also cause casualties to the deer themselves.

And a method like this—cutting meat with a dull knife, or boiling a frog in warm water—is the only way to wear down their temper and stamina.

Sure enough, after walking slowly for an hour and a half, the herd finally did as Feng Feng Chengmin said: they stood there and refused to move, no matter what.

Even when the four of them whipped them, although the deer would bleat, they just wouldn't move, putting on an attitude of "do whatever you want to me."

However, in the eyes of the four, this was just a shameless attitude of a dead pig not fearing boiling water.

It was as if they had seen the reality and completely accepted their fate.

Wang An and Feng Feng Chengmin walked up to the large male deer that had been leading the way, wanting to use whipping to make it continue leading.

Because any animal group is the same: once the leader is subdued, the entire herd is basically subdued.

To put it plainly, as long as the leader stands up and walks, the other deer are very likely to stand up and follow.

But after being whipped, the male deer just lay there crying out, refusing to stand up no matter what.

Fortunately, the location of the four and the herd was already on the outskirts of the village, in the area on the edge of the mountains, so it wasn't very far from the village.

Feng Feng Chengmin said to the three of them with a helpless face:

"Look, what did I say? These things don't walk properly, and once they lie down, they won't move. What can you do?"

Wang An looked at the snares on the deer's legs, which looked like shackles, and really didn't know what to say about Feng Feng Chengmin anymore.

Each of these deer had at least two snares on its hooves; of course, the most any had was three.

One must know that the reason the snares stayed on the deer's hooves wasn't because of the clamping force, but because the short nails on the snares had already dug deep into the deer's hoof wrists.

Under these circumstances, it was already quite remarkable that the herd had been able to walk for over an hour.

After a while, Feng Feng Chengmin said to Wang An and Wang Li with great helplessness:

"There's no other way. Anyway, it's not far from the mountain now. Why don't you two ride back and drive the tractors over? I doubt two will be enough to carry them back."

Although there are no roads in the deep mountains, there are roads in the mountains around the village.

And the reason there are roads in the mountains around the village is because people need to cut firewood or haul mountain goods home.

Of course, such roads are not only difficult to walk on, but they are also not found everywhere. They would still have to lead the deer to the vehicles or lift them onto the vehicles.

Hearing Feng Feng Chengmin say this, Wang An quickly said:

"It's fine, I'll have my dad drive one too. There are only 41 deer in total, three tractors will definitely be able to carry them back."

Feng Feng Chengmin thought for a moment and said:

"I think even if we take these snares off, the deer won't be able to walk well. Why don't we call your eldest brother, second brother, and your great uncle to come and help lift the deer onto the vehicles? What do you think?"

Wang An nodded and said:

"Yeah, that works too. I'll see if they are all at home; if they are, I'll call them all."

Wang An discovered that the herd was still over 100 meters away from the nearest road accessible by vehicle, and lifting 41 deer onto the vehicles would definitely be a significant engineering project. At this time, they needed more people.

As they spoke, Wang An and Wang Li mounted their horses and rode straight home.

It must be said that the Oroqen horse is truly awesome on mountain roads; the ten-li distance took Wang An and Wang Li less than 20 minutes.

But when Wang An arrived home, Wang Wang Dazhu and his wife were not at home, and Second Brother Wang Shun was not at home either; they had all gone into the mountains to pick mushrooms or dig wild vegetables.

Fortunately, Second Great Uncle Wang Wang Daliang was at home, and Great Uncle Wang Wang Dashu, Eldest Brother Wang Yong, and Third Brother Wang Gan were all home. After a simple greeting, the six of them drove two tractors and one four-wheeled vehicle along the small mountain road and drove into the mountains.

To be honest, only four-wheeled vehicles and walking tractors could handle such mountain roads; even a large Jiefang truck would be useless.

However, even so, when the three vehicles reached a spot not far from the herd, Wang An, Wang Li, and Wang Wang Daliang, the three drivers, broke out in a cold sweat.

Mainly because on this damn mountain road, one slight moment of inattention could result in both the people and the vehicles rolling down the mountain.

(End of chapter)