My 1995 Small Farm.

Chapter 198 Going Home
"This is Liangkou Village, the largest village in our area, with more than two thousand households."

After the group arrived at Liangkou Village, Wang Qingzhong introduced the place.

Liangkouzhai is situated in a valley, with ponds, trees, farmland, and houses scattered throughout. Winding paths crisscross the area, and access is only possible through two mountain passes to the north and south.

Standing at the mountain pass to the south, one can see the rising sun and the mountains shrouded in a thin mist, as if a light veil had been draped over them.

Beneath the thin mist, the morning smoke rises from chimneys and dogs bark.

It makes this place seem remote and tranquil.

Is it close to Tianshui Village from here?

Han Ninggui asked.

"Yes, go out from the North Pass, walk along a mountain path for a while, and then go up the plank road. You'll reach Sweetwater Village very quickly..."

Wang Qingzhong was very familiar with the area. He led them through the mountain pass, then along the field ridges into the village, and then through a series of twists and turns to get out.

The destination is Tianshui Village.

They have a lot of stuff, so they can't move quickly.

In addition, Han Ninggui would occasionally take out the fur, bloodstains, and other things from the previous grass leopard and have Xiao Jin and the others search for other clouded leopards by scent.

When they encountered villagers, they would ask Wang Qingzhong to come up and inquire.

So by the time we left Liangkou Village, it was almost 10 o'clock, having taken more than two hours.

However, there was still no success.

In fact, Wang Qingzhong, Han Ninggui, and others had already explored all the nearby places yesterday.

Most of the photos that needed to be retaken have been taken.

The mission to enter the mountains is already more than half complete.

However, the crested ibis appeared nearby.

Out of concern for the protection of the crested ibis, surveys of the surrounding mountains and forests within a radius of thousands of miles have been very limited in recent years.

They were afraid that a single mistake might affect their survival, since there were only a handful left in the whole world.

Now that the crested ibis population has gradually grown and their habits have been better understood, restrictions have been gradually relaxed, allowing for in-depth investigations.

So their purpose in coming here this time is to conduct some simple investigations, make some records, and explore the area first.

Unexpectedly, they encountered Chen Ling's family in town and learned that there were golden monkeys and clouded leopards in the mountains, so they naturally didn't want to miss out.

We definitely need to search carefully.

Even now, no other clouded leopards have been found.

"There can't be only one of these on the entire Deer Head Mountain, can there?"

After spending most of the morning searching with all four dogs, they still hadn't found anything, and Han Ninggui couldn't help but start to have doubts.

"Logically, this shouldn't be the case. If there are female clouded leopards, there must be males nearby."

"Besides, this is the season when they are in heat, and their scent is most noticeable then."

Clouded leopards typically mate in winter and give birth in spring and summer.

Normally solitary creatures, when it's time to mate, the male and female will come to each other on their own as long as they smell each other's scent.

"..."

Chen Ling shook his head slightly: "It may be obvious, but there are many mountain streams and rivers in Lutou Mountain, so the scent can be easily interrupted. Besides, there are fewer and fewer clouded leopards in the mountains now, so it is quite difficult to find your own kind by scent."

The mountains surrounding Fenglei Town are called Lutou Mountain, not because the mountains resemble a deer's head, but because there used to be many deer in these mountains.

When mountain dwellers venture into the mountains, they often encounter various wild deer appearing after only a few steps, hence the name.

As Chen Ling said.

There are many streams in this mountain area, and they are quite complex.

If it were just one or two mountain streams or rivers, it wouldn't be a problem at all, given Xiao Jin's abilities.

In the past, when tracking down dog catchers, we would chase them across the river.

Too much water flow won't work.

The scent is easily dispersed or blocked, so even the most intelligent dog can't find it.

"You're right. It's like finding a needle in a haystack; it's really not easy."

Han Ninggui forced a smile, "If we don't find anything today, we'll stop looking."

Because Wang Qingzhong was familiar with the mountains, he could quickly find something by comparing it with the original photos.

The original task was progressing quite quickly.

In addition, they spent two days living in harmony with a wild population of golden monkeys.

The gains have been substantial.

But he couldn't feel happy at all; instead, he felt very heavy-hearted.

Even with several good hunting dogs, it would be difficult to find.

This proves that clouded leopards are indeed becoming increasingly rare.

The prowess of a good hunting dog needs no further explanation.

Just like training dogs with wolf blood, making them sensitive to the smell of wolves when they go into the mountains.

Once a good hunting dog knows the scent of a clouded leopard, it can easily find its own kind.

"Uncle Han, actually, leopards sometimes hide very well. When our village went hunting in the mountains last time, we think we encountered one. Also, many hunters in Jinmen Village nearby said that there are leopards in their mountains again this year."

“It was rare to see this before, but many have come out this year.”

Chen Ling noticed Han Ninggui's expression and knew that he was someone who truly cared about endangered plants and animals, so he comforted him.

Upon hearing this, Han Ninggui perked up and immediately pressed for more information.

After hearing Chen Ling recount the whole story, he became happy: "Although they don't belong to the same mountain range, they are all in the same county and are all south of the Qinling Mountains, so they should be the same kind of clouded leopard."

"If we don't find much here, I'll call a few old friends and take a trip to your mountains next year."

The book he's going to publish isn't fully organized yet, so it definitely won't be released this year.

……

They chatted all the way, and after leaving the North Pass and crossing the river, Xiao Jin and Heiwa suddenly reacted, wagging their tails and barking in front of the plank road.

"It is indeed greatly affected by the river."

Han Ninggui looked at Chen Ling and said, "It must have caught the scent of the clouded leopard in our hands."

Chen Ling nodded.

In town, the hawkers told them that the grass leopard was found by a herbalist from Sweetwater Village, and they were indeed telling the truth.

Sweetwater Village is small but famous, known for its mountain spring that is clear, sweet, and never freezes in winter. It has water all year round and has been there for over a hundred years with no signs of drying up.

Because the water could be drunk directly, it was a popular resting place for traveling merchants and itinerant knights.

After walking along the plank road, we arrived at Tianshui Village.

I was planning to ask the herb farmer in the village.

Unexpectedly, I encountered the Hawker here again.

Two young men, not very old, stopped at the entrance of the village, leading packhorses, surrounded by a group of women and children.

The two kite flyers each carried a long kite-flying pole, with a kite perched on their shoulders.

"Fly the kite, fly the kite quickly, fly it quickly..."

The little children chattered excitedly.

The two kite hunters, urged on by others, remained unhurried. They first tied their packhorses to a tree nearby before taking their kite poles and coming over.

This kite-flying pole is about two meters long, and the other end of the pole has a shovel.

The two stood apart, about ten steps away, and used shovels to scoop up a clod of earth from the ground and forcefully threw it into the woods outside the village.

Startled, the birds in the forest all flew out in a flurry.

Just then, the two hawkers on the shoulders flapped their wings and took to the air, flying in a crisscross pattern over people's heads. They aimed at a bird and flew away like arrows with a whoosh. The naked eye could only see two shadows flashing through the flock of birds in the sky. Then, two birds were shot down from the sky, spinning and falling to the ground.

The little children's eyes widened with excitement, then they jumped up and down, clapping their hands and shouting, "Catch one more! Catch one more!"

They still weren't satisfied.

After taking flight once, the two hawks leisurely flew back to their kite poles, their eagle eyes looking around arrogantly, standing tall and looking extremely proud.

The two kite riders smiled slightly, unloaded the goods from their packhorses, and laid them out in front of them.

The meaning is clear: if you want to continue watching the performance, you have to come and see what they're selling first.

They were clothes, hats, and boots, mainly coats, with rather unique styles.

They could be exchanged for grain, hides, or other goods, or they could be bought with money.

Chen Ling had learned what the Hawkers did last time, but he had never seen how they did business.

Moreover, in such a strange way.

I stepped forward first and looked at them for a while. The quality of these coats was actually quite good.

Most of them are made from yak hide and wolf skin.

I couldn't help but ask, "Did you come from Qinghai-Tibet?"

"Yes."

The two hawkers, one tall and one short, both quite thin, glanced at them with surprise before grinning and nodding.

"Are you a caravan too? Why are you only bringing dogs and no horses?"

"It's not a caravan. It's winter, so we've come to the mountains to hunt and have some fun for a few days."

Chen Ling smiled and squatted down, reaching out to touch the coats they had laid out: "How much is this wolfskin coat?"

"One hundred and fifty yuan."

"What if we traded you wolf pelts?"

"Nine wolf pelts can be exchanged for one overcoat."

"Nine? Does your coat have nine wolf pelts?"

"No, six."

These two kite hunters were more honest than the ones I'd met in town a couple of days ago. After shaking their heads, they gestured on a coat, saying, "This is one, this is one... there are six in total."

"A coat costs six or seven taels for a man and four or five taels for a woman, depending on whether it's a big wolf or a small wolf. I'll charge you nine taels for a men's coat because wolf pelts are hard to tan."

Hearing the thick Tibetan accent, Chen Ling laughed, stood up and said, "I have six wolf pelts. How much do you want in exchange for one of your coats?"

Sixty yuan.

The people from the surrounding Sweetwater Village were about to disperse when they saw the Hawker set up his stall to sell his wares.

They usually bring their kids to see kite shows and acrobatics, but they don't usually buy anything from them.

However, when he saw Chen Ling and the others coming over, he was in no hurry to leave.

Their attire and appearance didn't resemble those of people from the mountains, and they even had a dog with them; it was quite strange.

Some people who knew Wang Qingzhong had already come up to him and asked him all sorts of questions.

Then, seeing Chen Ling and the Hawker chatting about buying a coat, I became even more curious. I continued to watch the spectacle.

However, when Chen Ling took out the wolf pelt, the two hawkers were stunned. They looked at each other and said with some difficulty, "This wolf pelt can't be exchanged for six."

"what?"

Chen Ling was also taken aback. The short hawker pointed to the wolf skin and showed it to him, saying, "It wasn't peeled clean."

Chen Ling blushed immediately, feeling embarrassed. "Can I exchange it for several bills?"

"Four sheets, then add another hundred dollars, and we'll throw in a wolfskin hat for you."

"Row."

Chen Ling readily nodded, put down the wolf skin, and then took out money to pay them.

I received a soft, thick wolfskin coat, which felt quite heavy, and it was paired with a wolfskin hat.

Are you buying or not?

“No need to buy it, I have one at home. My dad has a tiger-skin coat, it was a gift from someone, it’s over a hundred years old. I’ll show it to you when we go to the city.”

"The lynx laughed."

Are you professional hunters?

At this moment, the tall hawker asked.

"We're not here specifically to hunt, we just came to hang out."

Han Ninggui picked up the conversation, took out the dead leopard, and showed it to them, "Have you two young brothers ever seen this before?"

"Shan Biaozi, he's seen the big shots."

"You've really seen it?"

"Yes, I've seen it several times."

"Where did you meet? Is it far from here?"

The two kite hunters looked at the old man who suddenly became agitated and pointed in a certain direction.

“Shan Biao comes out at night and stays in the trees; you can’t catch him.”

"Don't arrest them."

Han Ninggui explained, "We don't catch them. We just want to know how many of these things there are now, and which mountain they live on. We don't even need to see them. We just need to find their footprints and their droppings."

After all, clouded leopards are different from golden monkeys. Even if golden monkeys are not friendly to humans, they can still be seen. If a clouded leopard wants to hide, it can hide in a tree and not move. Even if a dog knows it is in a tree, a person may not be able to find it.

Therefore, it involves examining their living environment and population size.

"You'd have to go to Hase County. They're plentiful there. They come out at night looking for food, and you can run into them on the mountain roads. Horses and hawks are afraid of them."

"That's what the tall hawker said."

"Hase Prefecture? That's a bit far..."

Han Ninggui frowned when he heard the specific location.

To reach Hase Prefecture, you have to cross the neighboring Zhuguo County, which is further divided into East Zhuguo and West Zhuguo. The roads are extremely difficult to travel, and it can be said that the further west you go, the more isolated it becomes, making it very difficult to drive in.

Given this environment, it's understandable that more clouded leopards choose to settle there.

"Are these things plentiful in Hase Prefecture?"

The lynx also asked.

"Yeah, quite a lot. We stayed in Hase for two nights, and when they cried out at night, it sounded like a ghost crying, it was really scary."

The short hawker said with an embarrassed smile, "I heard that Shan Biaozi is making dolls, just like a cat, but with more energy. After making the dolls, he can press a big dent into the bottom."

"Haha, it's like this..."

Han Ninggui laughed: "But that wasn't a crater made by pressing down on the baby, it was dug out to scare the other male leopards."

I leave my scent mark by defecating and urinating in the pit, and of course, there's also the scent of mating, which means that the female leopard living here has mated with me, and no one else is allowed to come.

"Male leopard? Why do you all call him leopard here? I heard from people over there that Shan Biaozi is a little tiger."

The hawker was puzzled.

Shan Biao is the same as the "Biao" in the proverb "When a tiger has three cubs, one of them will be a leopard."

It means a very fierce little tiger.

Many places around Fenglei Town are called that.

Wang Qingzhong also said, "Yes, we call them 'earth leopards' here. In Changle Township to the east, they are also called 'old ma tigers' or 'shriveled tigers.' In Changgu and Zhuguo, they are called 'mountain leopards' both to the north and south. Miao villages also call them that... There are many names for this thing."

"Yes, Ah Zhong is right."

Han Ninggui nodded: "The clouded leopard has many names, but it's actually neither a leopard nor a tiger."

"The name 'Old Mammoth Tiger' is quite good. The word 'ma' is very accurate. Look at its teeth."

As he spoke, he pried open the leopard's mouth, revealing its long fangs. "This thing is just like the saber-toothed tiger."

"But the 'Spotted Tiger' is different; it's not the same thing as the 'Old Mammoth Tiger'..."

Just as he finished speaking, a little boy watching the commotion behind him suddenly exclaimed, "I know this one! The tiger is black. My grandma said that the tiger can spew black smoke, its eyes are like lanterns, and it can eat a hundred little babies in one bite."

The adults burst into laughter.

Han Ninggui was both amused and exasperated. "You're right, the tiger is black, and its eyes are like little lanterns, but it doesn't puff out black smoke."

Old Mammoth is a name for a type of leopard.

The "Ma Laohu" is a type of black tiger called "Bawang Xiao," which is ferocious, eats people, and is much more dangerous than ordinary tigers.

In the mouths of ordinary people, it is often confused with the old mammoth tiger, used to scare little children.

It existed in history, but it no longer exists.

Seeing that the people around him were a little confused, he laughed and said, "Just listen to it as a story."

The people of Tianshui Village laughed along with them.

The conversation then became increasingly lively.

Taking this opportunity, Han Ninggui pulled Wang Qingzhong aside and inquired about the Cloud Leopard.

They also asked the hunters and herbalists in the village.

The answer they received was similar to that of Liangkouzhai and Wang Cunye, except that they hadn't seen this thing much lately.

The herbalist who found the leopard said that he had only encountered it once in three or four years, and it was already dead.

"It seems that the clouded leopards here have likely migrated to Hase Prefecture. It's worth a trip there."

After Han Ninggui returned, he discussed the matter with the four members of the Mountain Cat and made a decision.

Changgu and Zhuguo counties also belong to Lutoushan.

Lutou Mountain is a boundary mountain between three provinces and is quite large. It is located south of the Qinling Mountains, so the clouded leopard population here is of research value.

Then he looked at Wang Qingzhong and Chen Ling and said, "I was worried that it would delay your own affairs, and that if you couldn't find the cloud leopard, you should go back as soon as possible."

"Perfect timing! The clouded leopard's base camp is in Hasegawa County, so we can return this afternoon."

"Huh? We're not looking here anymore?"

Wang Qingzhong was somewhat puzzled.

"Let's not look anymore. I guess it's because there have been more and more caravans passing through here in recent years, and the clouded leopards have all gone over there."

Han Ninggui guessed.

"Even if there are still some in the mountains around here, there are probably no more than ten."

Wang Qingzhong didn't quite understand.

Chen Ling, however, knew that Han Ninggui's guess was probably correct.

In the following decade or so, after highways and railways were all built, not to mention leopards, you wouldn't even see wolves. This was because human activity had such a huge impact.

After deciding to stop searching, they didn't linger in Tianshui Village any longer. At noon, they went with Wang Qingzhong to a friend's house to exchange wolf meat for some steamed buns and cornbread. They also fetched some water from a mountain spring, and then started a fire outside the village to roast the wolf meat and cook wild vegetable soup.

The roasted wolf meat was eaten sandwiched between steamed buns and cornbread, along with hot soup, which warmed the whole body.

Those two young kite hunters were rare honest people among kite hunters. After selling two more leather hats, they squatted down to eat together. They shared some hard jerky with the kite hunters and exchanged it for two skewers of wolf meat.

Then they had the kite catch a few more birds, which they skewered and roasted as well.

Upon seeing this, Chen Ling inquired about their methods for training kites.

They did not hold anything back either, and the steps were roughly the same as those for training eagles.

Hearing the end, Chen Ling shook his head. It was too much of a torment for the bird, and too much of a torment for the person; he couldn't do it.

“You can raise them from a young age, look at my hands.”

The tall hawker stretched out his hand, and on the back of his dark red skin, there were dense white dots, like small white blisters, but upon closer inspection, they were actually small scars.

"Were they all pecked by hawks?"

Chen Ling was surprised.

"Yes, it was bitten by a small bird. Both big and small birds are difficult to raise. In the end, they still need to be trained. Birds that eat raw meat are fierce and difficult to tame."

he laughed.

Chen Ling nodded silently.

That makes sense. If a dog isn't trained, there's a completely different difference between eating raw meat and not eating raw meat.

It's not uncommon for a dog to change its temperament drastically after witnessing bloodshed once.

After lunch, I set off with two kite hunters.

However, the two of them stopped when they reached Liangkouzhai and continued to fly kites to attract people, just like before, and then set up stalls to sell things.

"There's an Eagle Cave on the cliff north of Qingzhu Village. If the hawks are hard to train, I'll take you there to catch eagle chicks next spring."

When Wang Qingzhong saw that his brother-in-law was still staring at the hawker when he left, he smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"And there's Eagle Cave too? Okay, I'll definitely come."

Chen Ling also laughed.

He didn't mean to train the kites, but the more he looked at the kite handlers, the more they seemed to resemble monkey trainers.

However, monkey performers are just entertaining themselves for money, while these people sell goods, which seems to be slightly better than monkey performers.

"Count me in. Call me when Fugui comes."

The lynx quickly chimed in.

"Okay, I'll call you from the county town whenever I come over."

If Chen Ling was somewhat interested...

The lynx truly loves these things.

He's into everything – hunting dogs, eagles, wolves, fish, and turtles – he's willing to put in the effort, spend the money, and endure hardship.

They would run a long way for a dog, and in order to have good hunting dog foals, they would brave poisonous insects and mosquitoes in the middle of summer to go into the mountains to catch wolves for breeding.

Chen Ling didn't understand it at first.

Now that I'm familiar with them, I actually find them easier to get along with than others.

It's also easier to become good friends with them.

The group returned to Yaowang Village at around 4 p.m.

After sitting at home for a while, Han Ninggui and the others went down the mountain before dark.

Chen Ling and his wife didn't linger any longer. Wang Susu had been staying at her parents' house for almost a week and was planning to go home early the next morning.

Wang Zhenzhen needs to go back to school, and she also has many things to take care of at home. For example, she has to prepare in advance for the construction of the farm that she agreed with Zhao Dahai to start in the eleventh month of the lunar calendar.

(End of this chapter)