Early spring in February.
The cold winter has passed, and although there is still a bit of coldness on the earth, the tender green grass has begun to sprout tips.
The season of resurrection of all things has arrived, and the mountain creatures that were originally hibernating in their nests are slowly waking up.
It was already sunset.
Rhubarb jumped hungrily through the jungle, with countless tree shadows passing behind him, but his originally strong and powerful limbs now felt weak.
It is the overlord of the mountain forest in Xiling, the fierce tiger in the mountain, and all the beasts in this area will bow their heads and tremble when they see it.
But even if he is the king of the mountain, his body will still shake if he does not have a full stomach.
Rhubarb, which has been hungry all winter, just woke up two days ago.
But I don't know if it got up too early. The prey seemed to be still sleeping in the nest for the winter. It walked around and didn't even see a rabbit.
In the end, I was very hungry, but I just caught a fat fish in the river, which finally filled my stomach.
But a fat fish cannot make up for its own consumption.
If it no longer finds prey to eat, its fate is to starve to death in the mountains and forests, and eventually become food for other wild beasts.
Faced with this outcome, Dahuang was reluctant.
So it decided to go back to the cave to rest for a while. After digesting the fat fish, it would come out for a walk at night and maybe find some delicious snacks.
The cave was soon reached.
Dahuang took a few steps forward, ready to go in and rest.
But soon, a delicious smell, a smell of blood, came from the entrance of the cave.
It trotted forward, looking for the scent and found it.
Soon, a figure lying in the grass at the entrance of the cave appeared in front of him.
A gray rabbit, a dead and lifeless gray rabbit.
But this is not the point. The point is that the meat of this gray rabbit is still fresh and not rotten. This is a gray rabbit that has just died.
This also means that this is food and can be eaten.
His stomach growled, and a huge feeling of hunger spread from his belly to his brain.
Soon, Dahuang's insensitive brain made a judgment. He lowered his head and opened his mouth. With a squeak, the motionless gray rabbit entered his mouth.
There were a few crunching sounds, and the sound of flesh and blood being torn and chewed came from the mouth. After every two clicks, accompanied by a burst of grunting, Rhubarb returned to the cave with satisfaction.
With the addition of the gray rabbit just now, it can last two more days.
Having two more days to hunt means a much greater chance of survival, which makes the mountain overlord very happy.
In a happy mood, my steps became a little faster.
Walking with graceful steps in the dark cave, walking...
Suddenly, a feeling of dizziness came from his brain, followed by a burst of fatigue and weakness, which spread from his limbs.
Drowsily, Dahuang swayed and took two more steps forward. Suddenly he fell down and lay on the ground without moving.
Another moment passed.
After about a moment, a figure walked in from the entrance of the outer cave.
"Well, it's another one, and the deposit can be increased by another hundred taels."
Lu Yuan stood in front of the fallen tiger, looking at the motionless King of the Mountain on the ground with a smile on his face.
This is already the third tiger he has captured since entering the mountains. There were also five black bears, a litter of wild boars, and a few unlucky foxes.
All the prey added up, if exchanged for silver taels, would be six to seven hundred taels.
It can be said that as long as these hunts are converted into cash, the bankruptcy crisis that originally troubled him will be solved in an instant.
He leaned down, took out his short knife, stabbed the tiger in the eye, penetrated the brain and stirred it twice, completely killing the king of the mountain.
Lu Yuan picked it up, turned around and walked out of the cave.
"With the capture of this tiger, the last large beast in the Dongshan Ridge is gone. I wonder if these small animals such as hares and pheasants will become overrun in the mountains without these upper-level predators?" He suddenly thought of these ecological issues, and then smiled again.
With himself, a top hunter, even without the large beasts, there would be no chance for those small prey to overrun.
after all.
He is the top predator in this mountain.
The rest are just prey.
…
Carrying the tiger on his back, he walked through the mountains and ridges. An hour later, he finally returned to his cave in the mountain.
Skillfully peel off the skin and tendons to remove the intact tiger skin and tendons.
Lu Yuan cut off the tiger's whip again, and after processing it for a while, he put it into a jar of spirits that had been prepared next to him.
Tiger whip is a good thing, and it is most sought after by wealthy people.
Especially for those who have unspeakable secrets, the price of a tiger whip can be as high as that of a tiger skin, which can be sold for a sky-high price.
Last year he killed a tiger and got a tiger whip. It was originally soaked in wine and planned to be kept for my own use.
Later, because he was short of money to buy the drug, he had to find a wealthy family in the next door house to sell the tiger penis wine, and finally got sixty taels of silver.
This shows how profitable this business is.
After tasting the so-called taste of food, Lu Yuan was of course interested in hunting tigers.
No.
This time when he entered the mountains, he hunted all the tigers he could find within a hundred miles.
After cleaning and processing the big tiger, Lu Yuan spent another five or six days salting, pickling and smoking the fur, bones and meat obtained in the past few days.
After everything was settled, he took the skins and tiger whip wine and headed south.
These goods are very valuable and are sold near Luling Prefecture. They are too eye-catching and can easily be found.
Therefore, Lu Yuan decided to let the Lantau Island Arrow God come out again after being dormant for a winter.
Go to Nanhai County again and sell these goods in batches.
Well, I won’t go to Nan’an County this time.
The last time I went there to sell goods, I already alerted the local Qingzhu Gang. I even hunted the gang's pursuers and made a small fortune.
After that loss and lesson, the Qingzhu Gang must be on guard.
If you go this time, you will easily be beaten and retaliated by the other party.
Lu Yuan is a cautious person, so of course he will not take this risk.
A real man never looks back.
If you want to sell something, go somewhere else.
He had already had one experience, and after being fully prepared for this trip to the South China Sea, he was not nervous at all and felt very relaxed and comfortable.
Everything is so skilled.
…
One month later.
Nanxiong Mansion, Meixian County.
Lu Yuan walked into this small Nanhai town with a basket on his back and paid the city entry tax of 30 cents.
As soon as he entered the city and walked on the street for a while, he was keenly aware that something seemed wrong with the atmosphere in the city.
Not only were the pedestrians on the road a bit hurried, but many of the shops on both sides of the street were closed during the day and did not do business.
Even those gang members who were supposed to be doing nothing, bullying men and women and collecting protection fees, could not be seen on the streets at this time.
"Something's wrong, something very wrong."
Lu Yuan looked at the passers-by on the street and frowned slightly at the slightly strange atmosphere.
Almost instinctively, he realized that something big had happened in Meixian County?
Otherwise, the city would not be in such a strange situation.
