The oxcart drove slowly along, and as dawn approached, we could finally see the boundary marker of Anlin Village.
Chu Nanzhi got off the oxcart, gave instructions to the oxen driver, and told him to go back, while he carried the parcel and walked to the village.
As soon as I entered the village, I saw a strong figure guarding the fork in the road.
"sister in law."
Seeing Chu Nanzhi's figure, Li Ce came over with enthusiasm.
"Why don't you wait at home?"
I don't know how long he had been waiting here, Chu Nanzhi asked with some shame.
Now Lin Jinxiao and the little son-in-law had a tacit understanding, and they notified Li Ce without anyone noticing.
Li Ce led her away and said, "I was afraid of missing my sister-in-law, so I waited here in advance."
In fact, I was still worried about her going out on her own.
This is the only way to enter the village and the tributary at the east end of the village. If she really wants to find fish fry, she must go here.
Chu Nanzhi realized that this guy was not telling the truth. After all, he wanted to enter the village, so he couldn't miss it. He stayed in this position because he was afraid that he would sneak away.
I didn't expect that a person as serious as Li Ce could have such a playful personality, and he was indeed Lin Jinxiao's good friend.
That guy was convinced by himself now, but Li Ce became suspicious.
He no longer dwelled on the matter. Thinking of the tributary mentioned by Lin Jinxiao, he asked Li Ce about the situation: "Every time I go into the mountains, I can see the wide river in our village. I see that the water flow is very fast.
, it seems that there is no passable road along the coast, and the water is so fast, I am afraid that no boatman can go down the river."
"Sister-in-law, you are really good at joking. There is no such a big river. To be precise, it should be a river."
Li Ce corrected her first, and then continued to explain: "No one in our village knows the name of that river. As my sister-in-law said, the river passes through the Duanlong Mountain area in our village, so the water is very fast and there is no one there."
Dare to go down the river."
Hearing Duanlong Mountain, Chu Nanzhi's brain seemed to be stung, and suddenly it started buzzing: "Duan, where is Duanlong Mountain?"
"What happened to my sister-in-law today? Why can't she even remember Duanlong Mountain? The mountain range behind our family is Duanlong Mountain."
Li Ce looked at her in surprise, and then smiled to himself: "However, Broken Dragon Mountain is indeed a bit weirdly big, stretching endlessly with no end in sight. No one has reached the end in so many years.
I heard that hunters in every village don’t dare to go too deep.”
"Oh, really?"
Chu Nanzhi pursed her lips. She didn't think there was anything evil about a mountain. It was just that it was too long and no one was willing to walk into it.
Li Ce shook the machete wrapped in his hand and smiled happily: "But if we want to go down the river, we really have to walk through the mountains to see if we can find a way. Although I don't know how to raise fish, I probably know that the only way is to go down the river."
Only in the lower reaches of the river where the water flow is gentle can you find fishermen who make a living by fishing.”
"Um."
Chu Nanzhi shook his head vigorously, his expression was dazed, and he always felt that something was wrong.
Li Ce noticed something strange about her and couldn't help but asked with concern: "Sister-in-law, what's wrong with you? Are you feeling uncomfortable somewhere?"
"It's okay, it's okay, Saburo, please lead the way."
Chu Nanzhi waved her hand and signaled: "It's important to be in a hurry. I'm afraid I woke up too early today and didn't get a good rest. Just take it slow."
"Well, sister-in-law, please follow me closely. You will inevitably encounter some ferocious birds and beasts in the deep mountains and forests. With a knife like mine in hand, no matter how ferocious the beasts are, they can't do anything to us."
Li Ce warned her, without saying anything more, and led her towards Broken Dragon Mountain together.
After entering the mountain, birds were chirping everywhere, and the sound of cicadas was rising and falling. Listening to this noisy sound, being in a quiet and gloomy dense forest felt like being in a busy city, so lively.
Not long after, they arrived at the place where they picked up rabbits last time. Chu Nanzhi took a closer look and didn't feel anything unusual. Seeing Li Ce holding a big knife in his hand and carefully exploring the way ahead, Chu Nanzhi had no choice but to continue walking behind him.
Walk forward.
The deeper you go inside, the more and more rotten dead leaves pile up on the ground and become thicker. Stepping on them makes the sound of broken branches from time to time.
It can be seen that very few people come here.
I don’t know how far I walked, Chu Nanzhi looked around and inspected the surrounding scenery, always feeling a sense of déjà vu.
There was a faint sound of chicken neighing from nowhere. Li Ce immediately raised his vigilance, and while showing the big knife in his hand, he slowly moved the branches hanging above his head. Chu Nanzhi also slowed down.
, carefully observing and listening to the movements around you.
After walking for a while, she inadvertently lowered her eyebrows and glanced at her feet. She found that the withered leaves seemed to have been trampled by someone, and there were dots of blood stains on the leaves.
"etc."
Chu Nanzhi shouted to Li Ce, squatted down and picked up a dead leaf stained with blood, brought it to his nose and sniffed it, and there was still a fresh smell of blood.
Upon seeing this, Li Ce was about to turn around and come back when suddenly the neighing of the chicken sounded again.
Li Ce was frightened, and he pushed aside the leaves and ran towards the place where the sound came from. Chu Nanzhi followed closely, holding the leaf.
After taking a few steps forward, Li Ce suddenly stopped. Chu Nanzhi looked around and saw a pair of golden roosters with long tail feathers fighting fiercely together, biting each other's necks, and their bodies were covered in blood.
Neither of them would let go.
The male bird has gorgeous feathers, with a golden silk-like feather crest on its head. The female bird is covered with brown-yellow feathers, and a circle of dark-brown feathers covers her head and back neck. The bright colors complement each other and are extremely beautiful.
Theoretically speaking, a female and a male should be attracted to each other, but how come they fight to the death, this makes Chu Nanzhi a little puzzled.
Just as he was surprised, he saw two golden roosters making a miserable cry and both fell down.
Li Ce happily put the big knife away and inserted it into the package on his back, and smiled at Chu Nanzhi: "Sister-in-law, it seems that we were lucky this time. We found game as soon as we entered the mountain, or we fell into a trap.
Effortless.”
As he said that, he took out a piece of coarse cloth from his arms and continued: "Just in time, I'll wipe off the blood stains and take it home. Our family can have a good meal with one of them."
Witnessing his dream with his own eyes, Chu Nan Zhi was still wondering, but Li Ce had already walked up to the place where the golden rooster fell, chattering to himself as he walked:
"I just don't know how many days this trip will take. If it takes too long, I'm afraid the golden rooster will break. Fortunately, my wife is thoughtful and knows that we are going into the mountains. She specially asked me to bring some salt. If I encounter something unexpected,
There are no shops at the back of the village where you can find some game to satisfy your hunger."
"Bah."
He seemed to have stepped on something and stumbled, but Li Ce ignored it and continued to pick up the two chickens carelessly.
Chu Nanzhi seemed to hear someone moaning. She opened her eyes, looked around, and cautiously approached Li Ce step by step.
Suddenly, she felt as if her soles were stepping on a hard stone. She stopped to take a closer look, but heard a slight moan coming from under the leaves:
"Oh, oh, mother, mother, you, you stepped on my waist."