Chapter 109: What to Do When You Encounter a Group of Wild Boars?

“Dad, you’re just in time. We were just about to stir-fry some badger organs for dinner,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

“Well, it looks like I got here at the right moment,” Lin’s father laughed heartily, very happy.

With these two animals, this hunting trip wouldn’t be a wasted effort.

With Lin’s father’s help, the badger meat was quickly prepared. It was salted heavily, and a drying rack was set up near the shelter to air-dry it.

“I brought pickled radish shreds, along with garlic sprouts, spring onions, and chili peppers. We can stir-fry the intestines with those,” Lin’s father said as he took out items from his basket with a smile.

“That sounds great. We haven’t had anything sour in days,” Lin Heng said with a smile.

Humans are the most tolerant of sour foods, to the extent that not eating something sour for three days can make you feel uncomfortable.

Lin Heng and the others were really missing things like pickled radish.

The radish shreds were already stir-fried, and Lin Heng cut up the badger’s large intestine, small intestine, and stomach into pieces. He then combined them with the pickled radish shreds and chili peppers into a dish.

The liver was stir-fried with chili and garlic sprouts.

The kidneys were also stir-fried in the same way.

Finally, a wild chicken leftover from breakfast was simmered into soup, creating a full meal with three dishes and a soup.

Lin’s father and older brother, Lin Yue, brought over a large stone slab to serve as a table.

When the food was placed on the table, both Lin’s father and Lin Yue felt it was somewhat unreal.

“You know, even if it were New Year’s, we probably wouldn’t have a meal this good—three dishes and a soup, all meat,” Lin’s father sighed.

“And Lin Heng’s cooking skills are no joke. I just realized these past two days that every dish he makes smells so good,” Lin Yue also laughed.

“Haha, I just figured it out myself, so it’s not bad,” Lin Heng chuckled.

Cooking, for someone who has been through hardship, was just a basic skill.

“Here, I brought some syrup. Let’s have a little,” Lin’s father said, pulling out a plastic bottle of syrup and happily serving it to everyone, including Lin Wei.

“Cheers!”

In rural areas, it’s not customary to say “cheers.” Instead, you clink glasses and drink immediately.

Taking a sip, the sweet syrup mixed well with the spicy liquor. Though Lin Heng wasn’t good at drinking, he found it quite enjoyable.

A sip of alcohol and a bite of meat—this was quite carefree and satisfying.

Drinking, when done moderately, could create a sense of atmosphere. It made a person feel half-drunk, as though experiencing the kind of inspiration that might have come to Li Bai after a few too many cups of wine.

The whole world seemed to be slightly different. Lin Heng, lacking cultural sophistication, could only say it was truly beautiful.

By the time dinner was over, they were all too full to eat anything else.

It was quite hot today, but Lin Heng wasn’t tired. He found a large stone by the stream to lie on and relax. The stone, warmed by the sun all day, still felt warm.

The sky, after the rain, was exceptionally clear. Lying on the stone, Lin Heng felt as if the stars, billions of light-years away, were right before his eyes.

The sound of the stream flowing nearby was like a cheerful melody.

Older brother Lin Yue was bathing with his son by the stream, creating a lively atmosphere. Lin’s father was also soaking in the water, occasionally joining in the conversation.

Aside from the annoying mosquitoes, it was a peaceful evening.

“Look! A shooting star!”

Lin Heng pointed to the sky and said. A shooting star streaked from the east to the west, leaving a straight white line behind.

“Wow, it’s so beautiful!” Lin Wei said excitedly.

Lin Yue and Lin’s father also looked up at the sky, mesmerized. It was rare for people who work hard all the time to look up at the stars. If they did, they might wonder about the meaning of life.

But now, they found the starry sky enchanting, as their lives seemed to be getting better, as though they had earned the right to appreciate the view.

“Wang!”

The silly dog lying next to Lin Heng also looked up at the sky, curious about the shooting star. It seemed to want to chase it.

Though the dog was smart, it didn’t understand the significance of the starry sky or the vastness and distance of the shooting star.

After the meal, with more and more mosquitoes, their enthusiasm waned. Lin Heng sat up, patted the silly dog’s head, and said, “Let’s go, it’s time to sleep.”

Back at the shelter, the silly dog tried to jump onto the bed, but Lin Heng pulled it down.

“It’s not cold tonight, you sleep on the ground,” Lin Heng said, patting its head.

“Woo!”

The silly dog looked at Lin Heng with a resentful expression, biting his hand without using force, as if holding back.

Yesterday, it had asked to sleep on the bed because it was cold, but now it was being pushed off. What a terrible human.

“Stupid dog, you need to know the difference between one full meal and being full all the time,” Lin Heng glanced at it.

The dog, irritated, released its bite. After all, it was saved by its silly owner, and it wasn’t the kind of dog to repay kindness with resentment.

Fortunately, Lin Heng was considerate and made a bed of straw for the dog, so it wouldn’t have to sleep on the wet, cold ground.

The next morning, the four of them got up early.

Lin Heng took a look at the grouse and immediately felt speechless: “Sigh, you really want to die.”

He didn’t know what happened, but the grouse had died. It could have lived for a few more days, but it seemed it had wanted to bring something back to its mate.

“Well, in that case, I guess we’ll have to eat you,” Lin Heng shook his head and quickly went to check on his muntjac.

“Ow!”

The muntjac was happily munching on grass, but when it saw Lin Heng, it immediately hid in the grass.

“At least it’s still alive,” Lin Heng smiled. This was a valuable creature. If he could catch another one, he could start breeding them.

Turning back, his older brother Lin Yue had already packed everything up.

“How about we eat first and then leave?” Lin’s father suggested.

“I’ll skip breakfast and head back first. It’s cooler in the morning,” Lin Yue shook his head.

“Go ahead, brother, and be safe,” Lin Heng said, waving.

Lin’s father, still worried, saw him off.

Lin Heng and his older nephew started a fire, first cleaning up the grouse and giving the organs to the silly dog.

Since Lin’s father had brought some pickled vegetables, they made a pickled vegetable soup for breakfast.

When Lin’s father returned, the soup was ready.

After eating, Lin Heng started turning over rocks, searching for earthworms.

“Lin Heng, are you planning to go fishing?” Lin’s father asked.

“Yes, but I think the chances are slim today. I’ll try catching some earthworms and fish for a bit. With the water rising and fish retreating, I think we might have a good catch today.”

Lin Heng looked up at his father and said.

“I’ll help grab a few earthworms too. Maybe I can catch that big fish you missed,” Lin’s father joined in.

They were catching black earthworms, about the size of a pinky, which were larger and more enticing to fish than red worms.

Lin Wei wanted to go too, but he had to stay at the camp and watch the muntjac.

“In the afternoon, you and your grandfather can go pick mushrooms. I’ll stay here with the muntjac,” Lin Heng reassured him, noticing his sulking expression.

“Okay,” Lin Wei said, finally looking a bit more hopeful.

After collecting enough earthworms, father and son set off with the silly dog. They didn’t need fishing rods; they’d just find a bamboo stick at the Three-Fork Gorge.

“Let’s check the mountain ridge where I usually gather herbs. I’ve set some traps there,” Lin’s father said.

“Okay,” Lin Heng nodded, walking alongside his father.

The traps had almost all been triggered automatically.

“Such a pity. A grouse got caught in one, but it seems something ate it all,” Lin’s father shouted from afar.

Lin Heng glanced over and guessed it was most likely a weasel, but civets, badgers, and wild cats might have been the culprits.

“It looks like we’ve had no luck. There are still four or five traps ahead. Let’s just go fishing,” Lin’s father shook his head. It seemed luck wasn’t on their side today.

As they climbed over a ridge and looked up, they were suddenly stunned.

“Ow!”

A small wild boar, about ten kilograms, was hanging by its hind legs from a trap, suspended in mid-air.

But that wasn’t the most important part. The crucial thing was that next to this small wild boar, a much larger sow, weighing around 200 kilograms, was still there, gnawing at the rope.

Behind her, there were seven or eight smaller wild boars following, and two larger ones weighing 80 or 90 kilograms—this was a group!

Clearly, this had only happened recently, and the sow hadn’t given up yet.

“Lin Heng, let’s go. If we anger them, we might not escape,” Lin’s father said, a little scared. Once wild boars gather in groups, they become much more dangerous.

“Does that mean we’ll get no reward at all?” Lin Heng shook his head, watching the wild boars below. They were in a high position, and the boars were about 300 meters below.

“If we get too close, it’s dangerous. Wild boars are fierce. There are cases where they’ve been known to rip out people’s intestines. We can’t take the risk,” Lin’s father held Lin Heng back, clearly frustrated.

Finally, they came up with an idea. Lin Heng thought of a plan: “Let’s do this. Let’s have the silly dog bark, and we’ll throw rocks at them. If the boars run away, we might still catch one of the piglets. If they don’t run, then we’ll back off. Getting too close is really dangerous.”

“That’s a good idea,” Lin’s father agreed after thinking for a moment. He nodded.

“Xiongba, bark!” Lin Heng said, picking up a piece of rotten wood.

“Woof! Woof!”

The silly dog rushed out, growling angrily.

“Oooh!”

“Oooh!”

Lin Heng and his father threw rocks and sticks, while making monkey-like noises to scare the wild boars.

When the boars saw them, they panicked. The piglets scattered first.

The remaining two adult boars also moved away. Before being forced into a corner, they still feared humans.

After some more effort, the sow gave up on the piglet and ran away.

“Let’s go. Quickly, we need to catch that piglet.”

Lin Heng was excited. Perhaps they could catch more piglets, as they had scattered earlier.

Lin’s father was also thrilled. They both ran down together.

“Ow!”

The piglet squealed, frightened, and started running wildly.

“Ow!”

The father and son hadn’t gotten close yet, still more than fifty meters away from the wild piglet, when the mother wild boar, hearing the piglet’s miserable screams, actually turned back and charged toward them.

“Not good, the mother is protecting her piglet!” Lin’s father exclaimed, picking up a long wooden stick.

“If you don’t want to live, then don’t!” Lin Heng said, looking at the wild boar about fifty meters away, and directly readied his bow and arrow.

Whoosh!!

The black arrow shot out, the triangular blood-grooved arrowhead reflecting a cold glint in the air, and it lodged into the mother wild boar’s front shoulder blade.

“Ahh!!”

With a scream, the mother wild boar’s front leg was crippled, and in pain, it limped away.

Compared to her piglet, she cared more about her own life. After all, a piglet could be replaced, but the pain she was feeling was real, and if she didn’t leave, she would lose her life.

“Trying to run!” Lin Heng sneered. If the mother boar hadn’t backed down and charged at him, he would have been more cautious. But running away was really foolish.

He drew another arrow and shot it out with a whoosh.

“That was fast, you’re lucky,” Lin Heng muttered as the arrow missed. It flew thirty meters before hitting a tree trunk.

“Son, you’re amazing.” Lin’s father gave him a thumbs up. Despite being terrified, Lin Heng was able to stay calm and hit the wild boar’s front leg with perfect aim.

“The boar was only twenty meters away, and your legs were shaking from fear, but you still hit it,” Lin’s father continued, impressed.

“Don’t worry, you go after the piglet. I’ll chase the others. Xiong Ba, let’s go!” Lin Heng ordered, leading Xiong Ba to follow the direction the small wild pigs had fled.

As for the mother wild boar, they would let it bleed for now. It wasn’t the right time to confront it—it would likely fight to the death.

“Woof!!” Xiong Ba barked and ran ahead with Lin Heng, who had a general idea of the direction the wild piglets had gone.

It didn’t take long for them to find one of the piglets rooting in the ground. As soon as it saw them, it turned and ran. Xiong Ba immediately went into pursuit mode.

“Arghhh!” Less than thirty seconds later, Xiong Ba had tackled the wild piglet and bit down, causing it to scream in agony.

“Nice work.” Lin Heng said, approaching. The piglet, which weighed only about ten kilograms, was bleeding but wouldn’t die immediately.

“Let’s take it alive and roast it when we get back,” Lin Heng added, holding it down and walking back. When he had chased the piglet, he hadn’t taken anything but the bow.

“Arghhh!” The piglet cried, its body still bleeding as it was carried. Lin Heng didn’t care, knowing it would eventually quiet down.

When they returned to where they had shot the mother boar, the piglet had stopped screaming.

“You actually brought one back,” Lin’s father said, surprised. He had already tied the piglet that was caught in the trap and put it in the basket.

“Of course, wild pigs can’t run too far,” Lin Heng said with a smile, pressing the piglet down as Lin’s father tied it up.

“What should we do with the piglets? Eat them or raise them?” Lin’s father hesitated as he looked at the two piglets in the basket.

“Of course, we eat them. We raise domestic pigs, not wild pigs,” Lin Heng said matter-of-factly. Wild pigs are nothing compared to domesticated pigs that have been bred for thousands of years.

“True, raising wild pigs seems pointless. We can check if anyone wants to buy them, or we can sell them. I’ve also heard that pigs bred from wild boars and domestic pigs have better meat,” Lin’s father said. If there’s money to be made, he’d rather sell them than eat them.

“That’s fine, we’ll see. First, let’s put the piglets back and then track the mother wild boar,” Lin Heng said, looking at his father.

Lin’s father waved his hand. “No need. They’re less than forty kilograms, I can carry them. You and Xiong Ba go ahead, and I’ll follow behind.”

He was worried that they might lose track of the boar, which would be a big loss.

“How about we find a hole to put the piglets in and come back for them later? No one’s up here on the mountain anyway,” Lin Heng suggested.

“That works.” Lin’s father agreed.

They found a small cave nearby, placed the piglets inside the basket, and covered them with stones so they couldn’t escape.

After checking twice to make sure everything was fine, the two returned to their original spot.

“Xiong Ba, it’s up to you now,” Lin Heng said, smiling as he patted Xiong Ba’s head.

“Woof!” Xiong Ba, sniffing the blood, moved quickly ahead.

The blood trail was so obvious that they didn’t even need to use their noses.

“Son, weren’t you scared with the mother boar so close earlier?” Lin’s father asked as they walked.

Lin Heng smiled. “Compared to that big boar last time, this one is much smaller. Besides, I was prepared this time.”

The last time they fought the big wild boar, Lin Heng lacked experience, but after reflecting on it, he had figured out the best way to deal with wild boars. If a shot couldn’t kill them instantly, targeting the front leg and shoulder blade would cripple their ability to fight or escape.

He explained his reasoning to his father, who nodded approvingly. “You’ve really figured it out, a qualified hunter.”

With a smile of pride, Lin’s father continued walking. They soon crossed over a mountain ridge.

“These wild boars can really run,” Lin Heng said, surprised. They had already crossed a mountain and still hadn’t found its tracks.

“Maybe it got scared and ran down into the valley. If there’s water, it’ll be hard to track,” Lin’s father said, concerned.

They kept going, and when they reached the halfway point down the mountain, they suddenly came across a large patch of blood.

“The blood’s increasing. The wild boar should be nearby. I bet it’s almost done for, it can’t be losing this much blood and survive.”

Lin Heng’s face lit up with a smile, and he quickened his pace.

Lin’s father followed suit. The two of them soon reached a valley with no flowing water, just some rainwater that had accumulated, giving the place a yellowish tint.

“Lin Heng, look,” Lin’s father said, pointing down the valley.

There, a black wild boar was stumbling, its shoulder blade still bleeding. Clearly, it was on its last legs.

Lin Heng’s shot had been so precise that it had crippled the boar, and now, it was simply too exhausted and bled too much to continue.

“Xiong Ba, be quiet. Leave it to me,” Lin Heng whispered as he patted Xiong Ba, who was eager to charge.

At first, Lin Heng was worried about a desperate fight, but soon he became confident. The boar was already exhausted, and with so much blood lost, its consciousness was fading.

It had reached the end of its life.

Lin Heng watched for a moment before raising his bow and shooting. The arrow flew and struck its neck. Blood sprayed out, and with a thud, the wild boar collapsed, never to rise again.

“I still need to reflect more. I didn’t do it perfectly this time,” Lin Heng thought to himself. He had actually had the chance to approach quietly and kill the boar instantly, but after the experience with the big boar, he had hesitated.

“Now we’re really in luck,” Lin’s father said with joy as he approached.

“Can I have some?” Lin Heng was about to speak when someone appeared on the hillside in the distance, holding a rifle and looking at the father and son.

(End of Chapter)