HLnovel Chapter 141 The ranch buys peace with money, and the rewards increase.
Chapter 141 The ranch buys peace with money, and the rewards increase.
As Chen Xiangqian opened the door to go over, he found that Li Ju'an was surrounded by people, all of whom were ranch forest rangers and injured security personnel.
After giving the old veterinarian and security guard Lao Sun a quick bandage, they put Lao Sun on a stretcher at the clinic and then came over. The ranch's captain rushed over, and a group of people surrounded the three hunters, extremely grateful.
Li Ju'an waved his hand, indicating that it was nothing serious; any hunter who heard the gunshot would come to check, and he would help if he could. He separated the two halves of the chopped-up cannonball and left them for the ranch's captain, so that the canteen could cook a big stew to give the ranch people some extra nourishment.
Upon hearing this, the ranch chief knew he couldn't let the hunters leave, so he warmly invited them to have a meal together and stay for a few days.
Li Ju'an pondered that he had already set snares and traps along the way, just waiting for them to slip through. Given that it was getting late and traveling was unwise, especially with the large-clawed predators watching nearby, he decided to stay overnight and find out what had happened on the ranch these past few days.
The three of them moved into the cement room accommodation area to warm themselves by the fire. After the first canteen opened, the ranch captain personally served them three large bowls of braised pork, pork stew with sauerkraut and vermicelli, served with white steamed buns, a large aluminum box of fried soybeans, and five or six kinds of mixed vegetables grown in the vegetable garden. It was a very generous meal.
The cannonball meat wasn't very tasty, but the cafeteria chef cooked it so well that the fishy smell was completely suppressed, and it was stewed until tender, with a rich flavor and a unique taste.
In the harsh winter weather, he slurped up a big mouthful of steaming hot pork and vermicelli. The vermicelli soaked up the rich, savory broth, and it was both hot and delicious in his mouth. He couldn't bear to spit out the pork as it rolled around on his tongue.
The three of them chatted and laughed with the ranch captain as they ate. They enjoyed the meal so much that they were sweating from the heat.
After the meal, the aluminum boxes and bowls of the three people were cleaner than if their faces had been licked clean, not a drop of oil was left. Each of them held their stomachs, feeling very satisfied.
Ranch Captain Wang then smiled and recounted what had recently happened at the ranch.
"To be honest with the three hunters, our ranch has run into some trouble this time. We've lost three groups of hunters we hired, and Old Sun, the old hunter from the security department, can't do it this time either. The only one who can handle a gun is Veterinarian Old Zhang. But Old Zhang can't handle so many things by himself."
Lu Zhiqiang, having enjoyed his meal, started talking and asked, "What's wrong? Weren't the wild boars driven away? Is there anything else?"
Ranch Captain Wang slowly recounted what had happened.
Last time, the delivery driver went into the mountains at night. On the road leading to the pasture, a Siberian tiger suddenly appeared in front of him. The driver didn't dare to disturb the tiger and followed cautiously behind. At first, the tiger was running forward, but perhaps stimulated by the car's headlights, the Siberian tiger suddenly turned around and ran towards the car.
The delivery driver panicked immediately. Seeing such a large Siberian tiger, with its thick, strong limbs and robust physique, he felt an overwhelming sense of oppression. Startled, the driver dared not open the window or stop, slowly driving forward while gripping the steering wheel tightly, constantly watching the tiger's movements. Finally, at a bend in the road, taking advantage of a lull, the driver stepped on the gas and hurriedly drove towards the Qianjin Ranch.
Ever since the delivery driver came to the ranch, the ranch people have been seeing large paw prints in the snow.
Last night, the students in the mud-brick house gathered together to warm themselves by the fire when they suddenly heard a noise at the door. They got up and looked out the window, and were so frightened that their souls almost flew out of their bodies—it was a huge Siberian tiger!
The Siberian tiger was also very cautious, circling the mud-brick house several times before finally standing guard at the door for a long time. The people inside dared not move or make a sound, for fear of disturbing the tiger king and enraging him so that his large paw would smash the wooden door to pieces.
Fortunately, the night passed without incident. When the ranch foreman found out, he quickly invited hunters from several nearby villages to come to the ranch to hunt the tiger. But what they found instead of the tiger king was a large herd of wild boars.
The hunters had never seen such a large herd of wild boars. Their 400-pound roe-filled hooves charged wildly, killing over a dozen hunting dogs. The hunters felt sorry for their dogs; the sight of sixty or seventy wild boars was terrifying and incredibly oppressive. The ranch's money wasn't even enough to buy new dogs.
The ranch's head, Captain Wang, was extremely worried and could only ask Forestry Leader Chen for help from his partner hunters. Qin Pao, a hunter Chen had been working with for years, was seriously injured and still in the hospital with a cast on, while Zhao Pao from Yingtun had also injured his falcon. With the Lunar New Year approaching, the forestry hunters were very busy, all trying to maximize their harvest before the holiday to have a good year.
After several attempts, Captain Wang was unable to borrow any men, so he had to ask the hunters from the security department to take up their hunting rifles and protect the ranch.
And then this happened.
Ranch Captain Wang and Veterinarian Lao Zhang sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), facing Li Ju'an, and sighed, saying, "We thought this little white dog was pretty good; it wouldn't be easy to spot in the snow. We even thought that if Tiger King really came, this little dog could work with Lao Sun. Who would have thought the dog would be useless, and Lao Sun would end up in the clinic."
Veterinarian Zhang got up and went out for a while. When he came back, he stretched out his calloused hands and led a white Tibetan mastiff.
When Li Ju'an heard the white puppy sound, he thought it was a hunting dog the size of a hunter's dog, like Big White or Little White. He didn't expect such a big white mastiff to come in and say it was a puppy.
The white mastiff was as sturdy as a calf. As soon as he entered, Da Hu instinctively stood in front of Li Ju'an, leading ten pack dogs to confront the white mastiff.
Dogs that bite don't bark much. Da Hu's piercing eyes were full of murderous intent, causing the white mastiff to turn its head away and avoid eye contact with Da Hu.
Veterinarian Zhang brought the white mastiff to the front of the kang (a heated brick bed), rubbed its head, and took a piece of meat from the box to feed it.
Li Ju'an found this dog interesting; it had a particular urge to show off its cleverness. Whenever there was any movement, it would bark loudly in that direction, showing off its abilities.
That's quite similar to the slippery texture of a hammer, cunningly oily.
There was no meat in his box, so after he finished eating, he took out the steamed rice cake he had brought with him from his cloth bag. The white mastiff wasn't picky about food, and it ate the oily steamed rice cake with smacking lips. It quickly became familiar with him and followed him around.
The white mastiff was huge, and Li Ju'an found it friendly, so he was happy to tease it. The hunting dogs were very perceptive and watched their owner, so they didn't bite the white mastiff.
Seeing an opportunity, Ranch Captain Wang seized the chance to flatter him, saying, "Little Li, we've heard of you from Old Chen at the forest farm. Old Chen said you were too busy with forest work to come. But Little Li actually showed up, so you'll have to put in a lot of effort. This tiger is yours after you've hunted it down. Our ranch will give you extra reward, and we'll also give you this dog."
When Lu Zhiqiang heard that they were going to hunt tigers, he shook his head vigorously, saying it was absolutely unacceptable.
He quickly advised Li Ju'an: "Li Ju'an, let's just say why we came to the ranch, right? It's to avoid the Big Claw. If we keep gritting our teeth and going straight for the Big Claw, we won't be able to make it."
Song Desheng had never met Big Claw before, nor was he as afraid as Lu Zhiqiang. He asked, "Captain Wang, how much is the reward?"
When Ranch Chief Wang talked about this, he straightened his back. Hiring a skilled hunter to hunt tigers nearby was already expensive, but several groups of people were scared away by large herds of wild boars without paying, so his costs kept increasing, and he couldn't find a skilled hunter. Therefore, he was willing to spend a lot of money and go all out.
Captain Wang counted on his chest, "The New Year is almost here. We don't want anything to happen on our ranch, so let's just consider this money as buying peace."
After comparing the price of 1000 yuan, Song Desheng excitedly jumped up.
Lu Zhiqiang swayed a couple of times, stood up, and stared wide-eyed: "How much? 1000 yuan? That's not much better than catching those slippery big sly dogs all over the mountain."