Chapter 1: The Prosperous Era (4)

After escaping from his uncle's house, Li Xu found that he had nowhere to go. There were few teenagers of the same age in the nearby villages, and those with more well-off families had already gone to the school to study. Those whose families are more poor should follow their elders to the field as half a strong laborer, or fall into their own identities and go to the store as apprentices to save their own rations. It was the morning, and no one had a lot of time to waste except for the scoundrels in the county.

After walking away for a while, Li Xu had a good idea. He quickly ran back to his house, took the blue and white mule back to the cattle pen, put on the grass and water, and then ran to the kitchen, and found some dry food to fill his stomach. Then he went back to his hut, took off his robe, and changed into a linen short. Then he picked up the bow given by his uncle yesterday, grabbed half a pot of arrows that he used to shoot, and rushed to Daqingshan outside the village.

The people in Shanggu are mixed, and the people are fierce. At this moment, not long after the world was peaceful, the family with the big surname still retained the habit of letting the young children of the clan learn swords and archery. Once the young man in the clan makes a name for himself in the military, the power of the entire clan will grow by leaps and bounds. Even if they can't make a name for themselves in front of the battle, when the bandits come to rob, the elders of the clan can organize them to protect their homes.

Li Xu's archery skills are second to none among the children of his clan. Legend has it that he has no ability to wear Yang in 100 steps, and he is still somewhat sure of 10 shots within 50 steps. Occasionally, the miracle of hitting a rabbit from a hundred and fifty steps away has also happened. It's just that his luck is really bad today, more than 20 arrows were shot and retrieved, and they were used repeatedly, and in the end he almost shot off the feather, and he didn't shoot half of the living thing. The "treasure bow" in his hand, which was worth as much as three hangings in Yanyan's mouth, was very difficult to use, and it was difficult to pull it up, not to mention, the bow arm was always slightly trembling, and the feather arrows that were hard to aim were always crooked. After only ejaculating for half a day, Li Xu, who had always had some strength, was so tired that his arms were weak, and his fingers were also worn off a layer of skin. If it weren't for the fact that he felt sorry for the value of this bow, he would have untied the strings, removed the ears (Note 1), and smashed the back of the bow on the stone as a chopping wood.

Seeing that the sun was already setting west at the treetops, Li Xu had no choice but to go down the mountain in frustration. Daqing Mountain stretches for hundreds of miles, and there are often fierce beasts after dark. When he went up to the mountains to hunt alone, he didn't dare to delay too late. As he was walking, he suddenly heard the rustling of grass in the bushes, and when he looked up, a fat roe deer rushed past thirty paces in front of him.

How could Li Xu let go of such a good opportunity, the fatigue of his whole body suddenly lost, he took out the arrow, and pulled the bow to the full. As soon as the fingers were loosened, the feathered arrows shot towards the roe deer like meteors.

The wild roe deer in the mountains and forests are known as fools, and although they run fast, they rarely make sharp turns. It was also Li Xu who came to operate, and the arrow popped and shot from the back of the roe deer, deep into the chest and abdomen.

"Moo!" The roe deer, which was running rapidly, let out a long and mournful cry and slowly fell to the ground. Li Xu was so happy that his heart was overjoyed, he carried a bow and ran forward. At this time, it was the beginning of autumn, and the game in the mountains and forests had accumulated a spring and summer fat, and the meat was thick and fat. Such a big roe deer was dragged to his uncle's inn, and it was guaranteed to be able to serve as Xiao Banyue's signature dish. Peeling off the skin of the roe deer and selling it to a large family to make boots will make another twenty or thirty yuan.

Just as he bent down and was about to drag the front leg of the roe deer, a sudden chill came from his heart. Li Xu raised his head suddenly, only to see a wild wolf the size of a donkey slowly walking out of the woods, and his green eyes were staring at him.

"Ahh Li Xu screamed in fright, quickly straightened his body, and bent his bow and arrows. Although he was born in the last branch, he is also a child of a good family, and he is usually well cared for, and has little experience in hunting in the mountains alone. He had never heard of such a big wolf, let alone encountered it head-on.

When encountering a wolf, it is most taboo to turn around and run away. Li Xu is more proficient in reciting the truth than anyone else, but at a critical moment, the bow in his hand refuses to obey the call. The feathered arrows swayed on the bow, up and down, but they could not reach the wolf's head. Seeing the wild wolf approaching step by step, he was about to attach his forelimbs. Li Xu was so frightened that he shot an arrow out of his hand.

The arrow grazed the wolf's head like a meteor, and slammed into the ground half a foot with a "poof". The beast was also startled, let out a low roar between his mouth, his front paws picked up twice on the ground, and jumped up in the air, directly taking Li Xu's stalk.

At this moment, Li Xu didn't care about aiming, pulled out the arrow, and released it as soon as he pulled it. As soon as the arrow left his hand, he immediately abandoned his bow, took out a short knife from his waist for self-defense, and swung it with his eyes closed. After waving for a long time, he didn't feel any pain in his body or heard the movement of the wolf, and his heart, which was about to jump out of his throat, fell back slightly, and he mustered up the courage to secretly open his eyes a small slit, and vaguely saw a long blood stain on the ground, and the wild wolf the size of a donkey had already disappeared without a trace.

Straight lady thief, what kind of trick to play on the little grandfather. Li Xu scolded loudly, rushed forward a few steps, ran to a big tree with a thick hug, leaned his back against the trunk, protected his neck with a knife, and turned around suddenly. Contrary to his expectations, the wolf did not sneak up on him as legend has been said to have gone around his back and attacked him the second he turned his head. In the vast forest, there was nothing but the shadow cast by the setting sun. The sound of autumn cicadas on the branches of the trees is occasionally heard, mixed with their own heavy breathing.

Li Xu couldn't believe that he could scare a vicious wolf away with his knife. He turned around a few times with his knife in his hand, until he stepped on the horned bow on the ground, and then he believed that he had indeed saved the day. Hate spat at the horned bow of the mistake, and raised his foot to kick it to pieces. Fang lifted his leg, smiled, and slowly lowered his foot again.

"Is this thing worth three pennies?" Li Xu lovingly picked up the "baby" that almost killed him and inserted it back into the bow bag behind his back. "Another day, I will sell it to the Zhang family Xiaowu at a price of four hangs, anyway, he will never be able to shoot arrows!"

Looking back at the roe deer, it was already completely dead. The bleeding from the arrow wound in the abdomen had turned black and spread to the ground. After looking closely, I found that there was a huge scar on the hind leg of the roe deer, which was obviously injured by the wolf. Even if Li Xu didn't shoot it with arrows, it wouldn't be long before it would die of blood.

"It turns out that the beast complained that I robbed it of its food, no wonder it was looking for me desperately!" Only then did Li Xu understand why he had just shot over the roe deer and brought out a vicious wolf. Thinking about the danger of dying just now, my heart was beating up and down. The mountain wind blew, and the pores of the whole body were tightened. When I reached out and touched it, it turned out that my clothes were already soaked with cold sweat and stuck to my body wet.

Seeing that the sun was about to set, Li Xu didn't dare to delay any longer, walked up to the roe deer, and tried to carry it on his shoulders. His arms shook and hung down weakly. The muscles and bones of the whole body are sore, and they can't exert half of their strength.

"Could it be that the evil beast calculated that I couldn't carry the prey down the mountain, so he didn't fight with me?" Li Xu secretly complained in his heart, this is the depths of the mountains, and it is impossible to expect someone to help. After a moment, he was in a hurry, and he waved his knife and cut down a few branches and kudzu vines, and made a climbing plow. Roll the carcass of the roe deer onto the plough little by little, and use the kudzu vine to climb the plow with one end of the tree and the other end on your shoulder.

"Hey!" Li Xu let out a loud shout and walked forward. The tree-climbing plow creaked and slowly slid forward with his tug. After stumbling and taking a few steps, Li Xu felt that the weeds under his feet couldn't help slipping. When I looked down, I saw a trail of blood on the green grass pointing diagonally upwards and pointing far away into the dense forest.

"Could it be that I shot that arrow in a panic and wounded that beast?" Li Xu thought in surprise. Curiosity together, the body regained a little strength, and the heart felt less empty. After gaining courage, he greedily started the idea of a wild wolf.

Birds and beasts moult in spring and autumn, one season sheds hair, and the other season produces wool. Therefore, the fur of the beast in autumn is the most valuable, and such a large wolf skin does not change two stones of wheat. Thinking about his mother's smiling face after dragging the wolf skin back, Li Xu became more and more bold. I found some branches to cover the roe deer, and chased down the bloodstains with a talisman knife.

About two miles of mountain road, under a raised stone wall, Li Xu found a hole. The blood left by the wolf had faded by this point, but it was sprinkled intermittently into the depths of the cave. Li Xu leaned sideways and pressed his body against the stone wall. With one hand he raised his sword, and with the other he picked up a stone and threw it in.

The stones jumped in the cave, but no wild beast was startled. Li Xu squatted at the mouth of the cave for a while, couldn't hear any heavy breathing inside, crossed his heart, and dared to touch it.

The cave is not deep, and the entrance of the cave is facing west. At this moment, there happened to be the afterglow of the setting sun shining in, faintly shining on a gray-black wolf. The wolf had a long arrow stuck in its belly, and its whole body was black and red. The feathers at the tail of the arrow had already protruded, and it was clearly the branch shot by Li Xu in a panic. I only sighed that the evil beast's vitality was very tenacious, and it was so badly injured that it insisted on crawling back to its cave.

Seeing that there was only one injured wolf, Li Xu was even more courageous, and he stepped forward with a knife to "kill him". Before he could get closer, there was a low ** in his ears, and the forelimbs of the wild wolf suddenly moved.

"Brush!" Cold sweat immediately came out of Li Xu's forehead again, and his body quickly took two steps back, leaning his back against the stone wall, and waving the scimitar up and down. But the wolf seemed to be asleep, and did not move. neither stood up and fought with Li Xu, nor did he try to climb out of the cave to escape.

"Bang, bang, bang!" Li Xu heard his heartbeat echoing in the cave, and his throat seemed to be on fire, unspeakably hungry and thirsty. Boldly moving forward again, he found that the wolf's eyes had long since lost their brilliance. Beneath the forelimbs, a tiny head, desperately sucking the last of the lotion.

Little wolf cubs! Li Xu ran over, grabbed the fluffy little wolf, and raised his hand to fall on the stone. The warmth of the palm of his hand made him a little reluctant, and after a little hesitation, the little wolf closed his eyes and sucked the edge of his palm with his mouth.

For a while, Li Xu lost his mind. No one in Zhuangzi has ever raised wolves, and even if a naughty boy accidentally picks up a wolf cub, the parents will quickly throw them into the field when they see it. The wolf is the most protective of the cubs, and following the smell of the wolf cubs, the she-wolf will chase you for hundreds of miles. Until you return the cub to it, you will leave. Otherwise, today you will scourge donkeys and horses, and tomorrow you will steal chickens and ducks, and you will definitely never die.

But today, the mother of this little wolf cub has died under Li Xu's arrows, so naturally there is no need to consider the revenge of the she-wolf. Whether he can raise a wolf to be a good hunting dog, he doesn't have any experience in this area. As he hesitated, the wolf cub couldn't suck milk from the edge of his palm, and began to chirp.

Under the call, Li Xudeng's heart softened. Untied the belt around his waist, made a shoulder bag with a diagonal back, and put the little wolf cub inside. Then he put away the short knife, stepped forward and grabbed the wolf's leg, and dragged it out of the hole step by step.

With that bloodstain guide, Li Xu finally didn't get lost. He was careful in his heart, afraid that he would not be able to sell the wolf's fur at a good price, so he found kudzu vine to weave a climbing plow and became a slender man for the wolf. Dragging the plow, he walked along the blood trail for a long time, and finally found the carcass of the wild roe deer that he had hidden. Merge the two climbing plows into one, take three steps and one stop, and stop five steps, and climb down the hill panting.

With such a big burden, the road down the mountain is becoming more and more difficult. When encountering a steep place, Li Xu had to first go down the prey one by one with kudzu vines, then fall down the tree and climb the plow, and finally climbed down by himself. When you go down the slope, you have to load the prey again, and pull forward again. After a few tosses, I don't know how long it took to faintly see the lights in the village.

At the entrance to the village, it was already completely dark. Uncle Zhong, the housekeeper, lifted an angry wind lamp and was looking around anxiously. Seeing Li Xu's figure, he couldn't wait to run over and complained loudly: "Alas, my little ancestor, you ran there." The lord and the wife are in a hurry, and if I don't see you again, I will definitely gather the clansmen to find you up the mountain! ”

"I hit two big beasts and couldn't carry them, so I went down late!" Li Xu smiled apologetically and explained in a low voice. Pointing to the roe deer and the wolf on the plow, a sense of pride rose in his heart.

"You, you, I see that the master will move the family law tonight, who will intercede for you!" When the old housekeeper Li Zhong saw the huge wolf, he was not happy and angry, and pointed at Li Xu and scolded. "It's in vain that you've been reading for so many years, your parents are in the hall, and you don't understand the truth that you can't risk your life! You are a wild wolf to work hard, once there is a mistake, who will support this family in the future! Who will provide for your parents? Little unconscionable, look at how the master peeled you tonight! ”

"Uncle Zhong, Uncle Zhong, didn't I come back well. Besides, fighting a wolf is not a risk, didn't the ancestral hero still lead a bow and shoot a tiger? Li Xu hugged Uncle Zhong's arm and begged for mercy. The surname Li believes that after Li Guang, the general of the Han Dynasty, every clansman is proud of the deeds of their ancestors. The heroic deeds of the ancestors are really convincing. Old Li Zhong's rebuke stopped, he shoved the lantern into Li Xu's hand, leaned over and pulled up the kudzu vine, and shouted angrily: "Take it, go and light it up." When I saw your mother, she said that she had come back before it was dark. I met my classmates at the foot of the mountain and showed off my harvest to them, so I went home late! ”

"Yes Lak, Uncle Chung!" Li Xu happily agreed. Reaching out and dragging the other corner of the plow, he walked majestically with the butler in the direction of the house.

Seeing that his son came back safely and brought two prey as big, Li Zhang's family was really happy. Without waiting for Li Mao to interrogate the details, he had already covered a hot hand towel on his son's face, and while wiping the blood stains and mud on Li Xu's face, he praised him: "That is, my son is capable, and he can already shoot a wolf with arrows at the age of fourteen." When my ancestor shot a tiger in the middle of the night......."

"Who said that you want to use the family law?!" Lao Li Mao said dissatisfiedly, "If you don't return after the time, you still praise him." If you fool around with a street scoundrel, you can't help him! ”

"Didn't the child meet his classmates and be envied so much that he couldn't get away? Why are you so angry! He wasn't really playing in the mountains and wouldn't go home. Look at this fur, Ming'er is familiar with someone, just make him a cloak! The wind is cold in winter......" Li Zhang glanced at her husband and defended her son with a smile. Stuffed the towel into Li Xu's hand, and said lovingly: "Come, wipe your face clean and wash your hands with this water." Your dad is waiting for you to have a few drinks with him! ”

Seeing his wife doting on his son so much, Li Mao couldn't fight one against the other. The teaching work could no longer be carried out, so he had to arrange for Uncle Zhong, the housekeeper, to drag the two beasts down and deal with them overnight. Then he patted the stool beside him and whispered, "For your mother's sake, I won't punish you today." Let's sit down and eat, the meat soup is hot several times! ”

"Come right away, Daddy and Mom will eat first. I shot the she-wolf today, and I took the little one back! Li Xu agreed, and took out a fluffy little wolf cub from the jacket on his chest like a trick.

"Hurry up and throw it out, that's the disaster star of the loser!" Old Li Maodeng's color changed, he jumped up, and ordered loudly. "We have several livestock, once we ......"

"The she-wolf has been shot by me! Daddy! Li Xu stretched out his voice and prayed. His family's tutoring was not very strict, and after the early death of his eldest brother, his parents took great care of him, so he was about to be fourteen years old, and he still retained a little childishness in front of his parents.

"Then you can't raise it, the wolf is not a dog, you can't see it when you are a child, and when you grow up, you will understand the difference between yourself and a dog, and you will either fight back or leave!" When Li Mao heard his son say that the she-wolf was dead and that the family's livestock would not be threatened, he was shocked and relieved. I thought about it and explained in a low voice.

"Why bother raising it as a dog, when it grows up, it doesn't want to stay, I let it go to the mountains!" Li Xu smiled and said stubbornly.

Note 1: In the structure of the Chinese bow in the Han and Tang dynasties, the two ends of the bow arm were called the ce, and the end of the bow was equipped with ears. The ear is used for hanging strings, mostly made of bones and horns, and there are also copper, the tomb of the Marquis of Han Ruyin in Fuyang County, Anhui Province and unearthed the wrong copper bow ears of gold and silver. The concave string hanging from the ear is missing the famous string. Both the string and the ear are required to have a smooth surface to avoid scratching the bowstring. However, there are also practices in which strings are tied directly to the bow arm, which is called "edge". Bowstrings are made of leather strips, and some are made of silk twisted together, and most of them are hung strings. The bow handle in the center of the bow arm is called (bow + pay). The two curved parts between the bow handle and the bow tip are called Yuanyuan, also known as the shoulders.

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