Suddenly a slingshot fell out, and Lao Hu subconsciously reached out to pick it up.
I just happened to see that this slingshot was made entirely of pig iron. It had been around for some years, and there were several turns of hemp rope wrapped around the hand. The slingshot rope seemed to be made of four strands of beef tendon, which looked very strong at first glance.
I picked it up first, handed it to him and asked, "Brother Hu, are you still playing with this?"
There was no change in Lao Hu's expression. He took it and said, "Don't call me Brother Hu. I'm not that young. I just play for fun sometimes. There used to be a lot of birds around here. When it's okay, I'll shoot some birds and sell them for money. I'll kill the ones that are worthless." Just feed the dogs.”
"Help me hold up the raincloth and cover these memorial tablets," Lao Hu asked me to help.
I grabbed a corner of the raincloth and thought: "Did he hit Yapo with a slingshot? That shouldn't be right... He is also from Tianguangdong Village. The iron slingshot with beef sinew is very powerful at first glance, and he hits people on the head with stones. Is that right?" If he can kill someone, why would he shoot Yapo?"
After covering it with a fan cloth, Lao Hu said: "Young man, kowtow, maybe Zaizai God can bless you in the future."
The statue of a Taoist priest wearing a hat stood in the small temple in front of me. Maybe it was cracked in some places because of the last time it was soaked in water. I followed Lao Hu and kowtowed three times.
Before I could get up.
Lao Hu suddenly pushed me and shouted: "Get down! Back off!"
Snap!
A small stone flew from nowhere and hit the table leg!
The table was moved backwards by the impact. This is a very heavy solid wood table!
If you hit someone on the head this time, it will be a big deal!
Lao Hu pushed me and hid behind the small temple. He turned off the flashlight and looked around nervously. I was also pressed against the wall.
He said: "This is not for you, it may be for me."
"Hu... Mr. Hu, who hit you with a stone? He almost hit me on the head." I asked breathlessly.
"have no idea."
Lao Hu put the hat he was wearing on my head and whispered: "Slowly reveal your head and go out, and then count silently in your mind, remember that the time should not exceed three seconds."
I immediately shook my head and retorted: "How can that work? I don't know who is outside! If I show my head out? Then beat me to death!"
"No, it's not that exaggerated. It's not a gun. It's easy to miss in the bad light. I need to know where the person is. You trust me."
"What? Did you just think that I hit the old lady with a slingshot?"
I nodded and immediately shook my head.
Lao Hu nodded to me with a flashlight.
I took a deep breath and slowly put my head out with his old hat.
I almost counted to three seconds, and just when I took my head back, there was a snap in the darkness!
A pebble hit the red brick of the temple wall! A lot of red brick powder splashed out.
Lao Hu bit the flashlight between his teeth. He touched a small stone and put it on the slingshot, and then leaned out.
The flashlight illuminated a dark figure. Lao Hu straightened the slingshot, took aim with one eye, and let go instantly.
I don’t know if I was hit or not. I only saw a black shadow, and I was sure it was a person.
"Snapped!"
"Snapped!"
He immediately hid after shooting the slingshot, just like a kid playing around. Maybe the light problem lowered the accuracy. Two pieces of the red bricks that built the small temple were broken. There were birds in the woods at night, and they were frightened by flapping their wings. Fly.
Perhaps because they felt that neither party could do anything to the other, the whole process lasted for nearly half an hour, and finally calmed down.
"Run away?" I asked quietly, leaning against the wall.
"I don't know, I'll wait and see."
After waiting for more than half an hour, the surroundings were quiet and there was no movement at all. Lao Hu secretly glanced outside.
"It's okay, we should go."
Looking at the broken red bricks at the edge of the small temple, I swallowed and asked, "Master Hu, who is this? Do you know him?"
Lao Hu shook his head and said he didn't know him.
I waited until after ten o'clock in the evening, when I came out of Guizailing, I followed Lao Hu to the hut where he lived.
A few sweet potatoes were roasted by the briquette fire, and Lao Hu asked if he wanted to eat them.
I lit the fire and said, "Don't eat, Master Hu. Is this guy from your village beating people with a slingshot? You really don't know who it is that beat Ya Po like that?"
Lao Hu peeled the sweet potato skin, took a bite and said, "How would you know who it is if you don't see it? There are many people in the village who can shoot slingshots. Maybe they have a grudge against Ya Po."
"What do you mean? Why do you mean there are so many people who can shoot slingshots?" I asked confused.
"It happened two years ago. No one is doing it now. I told you, so don't go out and talk nonsense."
I said yes.
I didn’t understand until he told me about it. I really didn’t know about it before.
"In the 1990s, many outsiders from Qiyang, Shuangpai, Ningyuan, including Daoxian County, came to collect birds. Because there were many birds here, they collected them and made them into ornaments. Some of them were dyed to resemble kingfishers.
They gave me a lot of money. Old Hu said that the Forestry Bureau arrested more than 30 people in 1996, and they were all published in the newspapers. He even pulled out a yellowed Yongzhou Morning News from under the bed for me to read. The headline was, "Yongzhou Police cracked down on a huge crime." In the poaching case, more than 30 people from the poaching gang headed by Hu Moumou were arrested.”
At that time, in addition to farming, people used slingshots to shoot birds, and even those with good conditions dared to use earthen guns.
Millions of migrating birds pass through the Yunbingshan Scenic Area in Lanshan County, Yongzhou City every year, in groups. As long as these birds fly lower, you can shoot down several of them with a slingshot.
There are red-billed lovebirds, blue-throated front tigers, thrushes, common buzzards, large-billed crows, black short-footed bulbuls, crested birds, etc.
There is a tuft of miscellaneous hair on the top of the crowned bird's head. The tuft of hair on the top of its head is pulled out and dyed blue. It looks very similar to the length and texture of the kingfisher's feathers. It can be said that they are almost exactly the same.
This kind of bird feathers can be used to pass off as emeralds, and finally the emeralds are mixed with gold and made into various jewelry, which are sold to rich women all over the country.
Many of today's jade ornaments still use this old method, which is difficult to detect because the detected substances are also organic. For Guangtian Guangdong Village, at least dozens of villagers had shot birds at that time, and every household had a slingshot. Lao Hu had done it before, so he couldn't tell who hit Ya Po with a slingshot.
I sat in Lao Hu's hut until about eleven o'clock, and then I returned to where I was staying.
Xiaoxuan opened the door for me and whispered: "Where have you been? You came back so late."
"What's wrong?"
Xiaoxuan pointed to the west room, "I told you to be quiet when you come back, so as not to disturb your Uncle Xue. Come with me, I'll be waiting for you."
There was no light in the room, it was cold and dark, and there were no candles lit.
I opened the door curtain and entered the inner room. I saw two dark figures sitting beside the bed, namely Bantou and Dou Sprout.
"Why don't you light candles?" I asked.
"Shh..."
Dou Sprout whispered: "Don't click, we are already asleep now."
Hei Gulongdong waved to me with his head.
I sat cross-legged on the bed, and Douyazai opened the window again, looked outside, made sure there was no one in the yard outside, and closed the window again.
"Boss, what's the situation? What are you doing?"
Sitting with his head opposite me, he coughed lightly and said, "Yunfeng, after my research these days, I have a very bad feeling."
"What does it feel like? Is it a water hole under a pond, or..."
"Both."
The head's voice sounded a little hoarse.
"I feel like we're in an inning."
"It could be a dead end."
