Chapter 1: The Prosperous Age (4) After escaping from his uncle's house, Li Xu found that he had nowhere to go. There were only a few young people of the same age in the nearby villages, and those from better-off families had already gone to school to study. Those from more difficult families had already gone to school.
, you have to follow your elders to work as a half-strong labor force, or you have to work as an apprentice in a shop to save a ration for your family. It is the morning, and except for the rogues in the county, no one has a lot of time to waste.
After walking for a while, Li Xu had a good idea and quickly ran back to his home. He took the blue and white mule back to the livestock pen, filled it with fodder and water, then ran to the kitchen, randomly found some dry food to fill his stomach, and then returned to his home.
In the hut, I took off my long gown and put on a short linen jacket. Then I picked up the bow given by my uncle yesterday, grabbed half a pot of arrows that I usually used for shooting, and happily ran to Daqingshan outside the village.
The people in the Shanggu area are a mixture of Hu and Han, and the folk customs are fierce. The world has not been at peace for a long time. People with big surnames still retain the habit of letting young people in the clan learn swordsmanship and archery skills. Once the young people in the clan become famous in the military, the whole family will
The power will grow rapidly. Even if they can't gain fame in front of the battle, when bandits come to rob, the elders of the clan can organize them to protect their homeland.
Li Xu's shooting skills are second to none among the disciples of his clan. The legendary ability to shoot through a tiger with a hundred steps is not there. He is still somewhat sure of hitting seven out of ten shots within fifty steps. Occasionally, he will get lucky. The miracle of shooting a rabbit from a hundred and fifty steps away is also somewhat certain.
It happened before, but he was really unlucky today. He shot more than 20 arrows, picked them up, and used them repeatedly. In the end, almost all the feathers were taken off, and he failed to hit even half of the living creatures. The one in Jin Jin's mouth was worth as much as three ounces of money.
The "Bao Gong" was very difficult to use, and it was difficult to draw it to full length. The arms of the bow were always trembling slightly, and the arrows that were finally aimed were always deflected. After only half a day of shooting, Li Xu, who had always had some physical strength, was exhausted.
My arms were weak, and a layer of skin was worn off my fingers. If I hadn't felt sorry for the bow's worth of several thousand yuan, I would have untied the strings, removed the ears (Note 1), and smashed the back of the bow on a stone to chop wood.
Seeing that the sun was setting over the treetops, Li Xu had no choice but to walk down the mountain in despair. Daqingshan stretched for hundreds of miles, and wild beasts often appeared after dark. A man went up the mountain to hunt, and he did not dare to delay too late. As he was walking, he suddenly heard something in the bushes.
There was a rustle in the grass, and when I looked up, I saw a fat roe deer rushing past thirty paces to the left.
How could Li Xu let go of such a good opportunity? All the fatigue in his body suddenly disappeared. He took out the arrow, pulled the bow to the full position and loosened his fingers. The arrow shot towards the roe deer like a shooting star.
Wild roe deer in the mountains and forests have a silly name. Although they run fast, they rarely make sharp turns. It was also Li Xu's turn. The arrow made a pop sound and was shot straight from the lower back of the roe deer, deep into the chest and abdomen.
"Moo!" The fast-running roe deer let out a long and plaintive cry, and slowly fell to the ground. Li Xu was so happy that he picked up his bow and ran forward quickly. It was the beginning of autumn, and there was a whole spring and summer of game in the mountains and forests.
If you drag a roe deer to your uncle's inn with such fat and fat fat, it will surely serve as Xiao Ban Yue's signature dish. If you peel off the skin from the roe deer and sell it to a wealthy family to make boots, you will earn at least twenty or thirty cents.
Just as he bent down and was about to drag the roe deer's front legs, he suddenly felt a chill in his heart. Li Xu suddenly raised his head and saw a wild wolf the size of a donkey slowly walking out of the woods, its green eyes staring at him.
"Ah!" Li Xu screamed in fright, and quickly straightened up his body, bending the bow and drawing an arrow. Although he was born in Mozhi, he was considered a son of a good family, and was always well cared for. He rarely had such great experience in hunting alone in the mountains.
He had never heard of wild wolves, let alone encountered them head-on.
When meeting a wolf, the most taboo thing is to turn around and run away. Li Xu memorized the truth better than anyone else, but at the critical moment, the bow in his hand refused to obey the command. The arrows were swinging around on the bow, up and down, but he couldn't aim at the wolf.
Li Xu was so frightened that the wild wolf approached step by step and was about to attach its forelimbs. Li Xu was so frightened that he let go and shot an arrow.
The arrow passed over the wolf's head like a meteor, and hit the ground half a foot with a pop. The beast was also startled, and let out a low roar from his mouth. He scratched the ground twice with his front paws and jumped in the air.
Get up and speak directly to Li Xugeng's voice
At this moment, Li Xu no longer cared about aiming, drew out the arrow, pulled it and released the arrow as soon as it left his hand. He then abandoned the bow, took out the short knife for self-defense from his waist, and swung it around for a long time with his eyes closed, without feeling any physical pain.
He couldn't hear the wolf's movement anymore, and his heart that was about to jump out of his throat dropped back a little. He mustered up the courage to secretly open his eyes a small slit, and vaguely saw a long blood stain on the ground, the size of a donkey.
The wild wolf has long since disappeared without a trace
Straight mother-in-law, what kind of trick are you playing on your little grandpa? Li Xu yelled and cursed. He rushed forward a few steps and ran to the foot of a big tree as thick as an arm. He leaned against the trunk of the tree, protected his neck with a knife, and suddenly turned around unexpectedly.
As he expected, the wolf did not sneak up behind him and attack him the moment he turned his head. There was nothing but the shadow cast by the setting sun. The sound of autumn cicadas could be heard occasionally on the branches, mixed with the
Among them, is his own heavy breathing
No matter what, Li Xu couldn't believe that he could actually scare away a vicious wolf with his wild swings of the knife. He held the knife and turned around a few times. It wasn't until he stepped on the horn bow on the ground that he believed that he had indeed saved the day.
He spat on the troubled horn, raised his foot to kick it into pieces, then raised his leg, smiled, and slowly put his foot down again.
"Is this thing worth three ounces of gold?" Li Xu lovingly picked up the "treasure" that almost cost him his life, and put it back into the bow pouch behind his back. "I'll sell it to the Zhang family's Xiaowu for four ounces of gold another day. Anyway,
He never shoots accurately!"
Looking back at the roe deer, I saw that the roe deer was already dead. The blood from the arrow wound on its belly had turned black and spread over a large area on the ground. When I looked carefully, I discovered that there was a deep bone on the roe deer's hind leg.
The huge scar was obviously injured by that evil wolf. Even if Li Xu didn't shoot it with an arrow, it would be bleeding to death in a short time.
"It turns out that beast complained about me robbing it of its delicious food. No wonder it wanted to kill me!" Li Xu finally understood why he had just shot the roe deer and attracted a bad wolf. Thinking about the danger of narrow escape just now, his heart jumped up and down.
The wind blew by, and I felt that the pores all over my body were tightened. I stretched out my hand to touch it. It turned out that my clothes had been soaked with cold sweat and clung to my body wetly.
Seeing that the sun was about to set, Li Xu did not dare to delay any longer. He walked up to the roe deer and tried to lift it up on his shoulders. His arms swayed, but then he hung down weakly. His muscles and bones were so weak everywhere that he could not exert any more strength.
Come
"Could it be that that evil beast thought that I couldn't carry the prey down the mountain, so it didn't fight with me?" Li Xu secretly cried out in his heart. This is deep in the mountain. It is absolutely impossible to expect someone to help. After a moment, he suddenly gained wisdom.
He cut a few tree branches and kudzu vines with his knife, made a sledge, rolled the roe deer's body onto the sledge little by little, used one end of the kudzu vine to tree the sledge, and put the other end on his shoulder.
"Hey!" Li Xu shouted and stepped forward. The tree sledge was pulled and creaked. Following his pulling, it slowly slid forward and stumbled for a few steps. Li Xu felt the grass slipping under his feet and looked down.
, found a bloodstain on the green grass diagonally upward, pointing to the dense forest in the distance.
"Did I shoot that arrow in panic and hurt that beast?" Li Xu thought in surprise and curiosity. He regained some strength and felt less weak in his heart. After gaining courage, he greedily fought the wild wolf.
idea
Animals moult in spring and autumn. One season they shed their velvet, and the other season they grow velvet. Therefore, the furs of wild beasts in autumn are the most valuable. For such a big wolf skin, even two stones of wheat would not be exchanged. Think about your mother’s smiling face after dragging the wolf skin back. Li Xu
He became more courageous and found some branches to cover the roe deer. He held his short protective knife upside down and chased it down the blood trail.
After tracing the mountain road for about two miles, Li Xu found a cave under a raised stone wall. The blood stains left by the evil wolf had faded at this point, but were intermittently spilled into the depths of the cave. Li Xu turned sideways and pressed his body against it.
Climbing up the stone wall, one hand raised the knife, and the other hand picked up a stone and threw it in
There was a sound of rocks bouncing in the cave, but no wild beasts were frightened out. Li Xu squatted at the entrance of the cave for a moment. He couldn't hear any heavy breathing inside, so he hesitated and boldly went in.
The cave is not deep, and the entrance is facing the west. At this moment, the afterglow of the setting sun happens to shine in, and it shines faintly on a gray-black wild wolf. There is a long arrow stuck in the belly of the wild wolf, and the whole body is black and red. The feathers at the arrow tail are
It had long been worn out, and it was clearly the branch that Li Xu had shot out in panic. He only sighed that the evil beast had very tenacious vitality. Even after suffering such serious injuries, he still insisted on crawling back to his cave.
Seeing that there was only one injured wild wolf, Li Xu became more courageous. He stepped forward with the knife and wanted to kill him. Before he could get closer, a low groan came from his ears, and the wild wolf's forelimbs suddenly moved.
Get up
"Brush!" Cold sweat immediately broke out on Li Xu's forehead. He quickly took two steps back, leaning against the stone wall, waving the scimitar up and down, but the wild wolf seemed to be asleep, and there was no movement.
He stood up and fought with Li Xu without trying to climb out of the cave and escape.
"Bang, bang, bang!" Li Xu heard his heartbeat echoing in the cave, and his throat seemed to be on fire. Feeling unspeakable hunger and thirst, he boldly moved forward again, and found that the eyes of the wild wolf had long lost their luster and the forelimbs had lost their luster.
Below, a small head is sucking the last of the milk.
Little wolf cub! Li Xu ran over, grabbed the furry little wolf, raised his hand and planned to throw it on the stone. However, the warm feeling between his hands made him reluctant to let go. After a slight hesitation, the little wolf
He closed his eyes and sucked the edge of his palm with his mouth.
For a moment, Li Xu lost his mind. No one in Zhuangzi had ever raised wolves. Even if a naughty boy accidentally picked up the wolf cubs, the parents would quickly throw them into the wild after seeing them. Wolves are the most protective of their cubs, and they will follow the wolf cubs.
If you smell the smell, the she-wolf will chase you hundreds of miles away and fight you until you return her cubs. Then she will leave. Otherwise, she will harm donkeys and horses today and bite chickens and ducks tomorrow. She will definitely fight to the death.
But today the mother of this little wolf cub has been killed by Li Xu's arrow. Naturally, there is no need to consider the revenge of the female wolf. Whether he can make the wolf a good hunting dog, he has no experience in this area. While hesitating, the wolf
The little wolf couldn't suck any juice from the edge of his palm, so he groaned.
As soon as he yelled, Li Xu immediately relented and took off his belt from his waist, made a shoulder bag for his body, put the little wolf cub in it, then put away his short knife, stepped forward and grabbed the wolf's legs, and dragged it out of the hole step by step.
With the blood trail as a guide, Li Xu finally didn't get lost. He was careful, fearing that the wild wolf's fur would be damaged and unable to sell for a good price, so he made a sledge with kudzu and worked as a tracker for the wolf, dragging the sledge along the blood trail.
After waiting for a long time, I finally found the body of the wild roe deer that I had hidden. I merged the two sledges into one, took three steps and paused, and then climbed down the mountain panting.
With such a big burden, it became increasingly difficult to encounter steep places on the way down the mountain. Li Xu had to first use kudzu to push the prey down one by one, then fall down the tree and climb a plow, and finally he climbed down the slope, and had to start all over again.
After loading the prey into the car and pulling it forward again, I didn’t know how long it took before I could faintly see the lights of the village.
Entering the village entrance, it was completely dark. The housekeeper, Uncle Zhong, held up an angry wind lantern. He was looking around anxiously when he saw Li Xu's figure. He ran over in a panic and complained loudly: "Oh, I'm sorry."
My little ancestor, where did you go? Master, my wife is impatiently waiting. If we don’t see you again, we will definitely gather the clan members to go up the mountain to look for you!"
"I killed two big beasts and couldn't lift them, so I went down the mountain late!" Li Xu smiled apologetically and explained in a low voice, pointing to the roe deer and wild wolf on the sledge, feeling a sense of pride in his heart.
"You, you, I think the master will use the family law tonight, who will intercede for you!" When the old housekeeper Li Zhong saw the huge wild wolf, he was not happy and got angry. He pointed at Li Xu and cursed, "You have read in vain."
After so many years of study, you don’t even understand why you can’t take risks when your parents are in the house! Why are you so wild and desperate? If something goes wrong, who will support this family in the future! Who will take care of your parents in old age! You are so heartless,
See how I will skin you tonight!"
"Uncle Zhong, Uncle Zhong, haven't I come back well? Besides, it's not dangerous to kill a wolf. Didn't the heroes of our ancestors still draw their bows and shoot tigers?" Li Xu hugged Uncle Zhong's arm and repeatedly begged Li to spare him.
Since Li Guang, the flying general of the Han Dynasty, every clan member has taken pride in the deeds of their ancestors. The heroic deeds of their ancestors were indeed convincing. Old Li Zhong stopped his scolding, thrust the lantern into Li Xu's hand, and bowed.
He pulled up the kudzu vines around his body and shouted angrily: "Take it, go ahead and light it up. When you see your mother, tell her that she came back before dark and met her classmates at the foot of the mountain. She showed off her harvest to them, so she came home late."
Got it!"
"Yes, Uncle Zhong!" Li Xu happily agreed and stretched out his hand to drag the other corner of the sledge, and together with the housekeeper, walked boldly toward the door of his house.
Seeing that her son came back safely and with two big prey, Mrs. Li Zhang was really happy. Before Li Mao could ask for details, she had already put a hot towel on her son's face, and wiped the blood and dirt from Li Xu's face.
He praised: "That is to say, my son is very capable. He can already shoot a wolf with an arrow at the age of fourteen. His ancestors shot tigers in the middle of the night..."
"Who just said that we were going to take action?!" Old Li Mao said dissatisfiedly, "You didn't come back after the time limit, and you still praised him. If he went to fool around with the street scoundrels, why don't you keep him in check?"
"Didn't the child meet a classmate and be envied by others? Why are you so angry? It's not like he was really playing in the mountains and refused to go home. Look at this superficiality. He will be familiar with someone tomorrow.
Just make him a cloak! The winter wind is cold..." Mrs. Li Zhang rolled her eyes at her husband, smiled to defend her son, put the towel into Li Xu's hand, and said lovingly: "Come on, wipe your face clean yourself.
, I washed my hands with this water and your father is waiting for you to have a few drinks with him!"
Seeing that his wife doted on his son so much, Li Mao couldn't fight one against two and the teaching work could no longer go on. He had to arrange for the housekeeper, Uncle Zhong, to drag the two beasts down and clean them overnight. Then he patted the bench next to him and whispered,
"For the sake of your mother's happiness, I won't punish you today for sitting here to eat. The meat soup has been hot several times!"
"Come right away, mom and dad eat first. I shot a she-wolf today and took out the little one too!" Li Xu agreed, and like a magic trick, he took out a fluffy little wolf from his chest pocket.
wolf cub
"Throw it out quickly, it is the disaster of ruining the family!" Old Li Mao immediately changed his face, jumped up, and ordered loudly, "We have several livestock in our family, once..."
"I have shot the she-wolf! Dad—!" Li Xu prayed in a long voice. His family's tutoring was not very strict in the first place. After his eldest brother died early, his parents protected him even more, so he was about to turn fourteen.
, I still retain a bit of childishness in front of my parents
"Then you can't feed it. A wolf is not a dog. You can't tell it when you are a child. When you grow up, you will understand the difference between yourself and a dog. You will either bite him or leave alone!" Li Mao heard his son say that the female wolf was dead and the livestock in the family
