HPDBC Chapter 42 Hunting the Red Fox
Chapter 42 Hunting the Red Fox
After being shouted at by Li Xiangyang,
An unidentified creature, light brown in color and with a large grayish-white tail, darted out from the haystack directly in front of Li Xiangyang.
Bang bang bang.
Without much hesitation, Li Xiangyang raised his gun and fired three shots at the unidentified creature.
Three gunshots rang out like thunder, shattering the silent and gloomy sky, and the brown creature fell to the ground.
Before he could calm his wildly beating heart, Li Xiangyang dashed after him.
Just as they were getting close,
He suddenly realized that the creature might not be completely dead yet, and it would be bad if it launched a counterattack before it died.
He then fired two more shots into the head of the unidentified creature.
Once he was certain that the unidentified creature lying on the ground was completely dead, Li Xiangyang put away his gun and slowly approached.
"It's a red fox!" Li Xiangyang turned the unidentified creature over, and when he saw that it was a red fox, he smiled.
"I didn't expect to catch this thing today."
He knew something about the red fox in his previous life: red face, tiger eyes, white cat tail, cherry lips, black stockings, the true form of Daji, and the certification of King Zhou.
It refers to the red fox.
This shows just how beautiful the red fox is.
Moreover, the red fox is not only beautiful, but its fur is also soft and warm, making it a top-quality material for making fur hats.
The price is not cheap.
This one pelt alone would sell for 25 yuan.
Last time, that huge deer hide only sold for a little over 30 yuan.
As for the red fox meat... I reckon it could sell for around 10 yuan.
Another huge sum of money.
They put the red fox into a sack and continued to the next trap to investigate.
After running around for more than half an hour, Li Xiangyang set more than 50 wire snares yesterday, excluding the rabbit that was half eaten, and caught 6 wild rabbits.
A one in ten probability is not small.
The six rabbits filled a sack to the brim, making it heavy. After removing the fur and internal organs, it was estimated to contain about 20 pounds of meat.
At the current market price of 5 cents per pound, it can still sell for 10 yuan.
Six rabbit pelts can still be sold for 9 to 10 yuan.
I earned more than 50 yuan on this trip, which is quite a lot.
Li Xiangyang smiled, contentedly hurrying home. In a good mood, his steps, piercing through the snow, became noticeably lighter.
Li Xiangdong had already transported the fish to the kitchen of the state-run restaurant. Since the price had been negotiated in advance by Li Xiangyang, he didn't need to worry about it.
They put down 60 jin of fish, collected 14 yuan, and left.
An hour later.
When Li Xiangyang appeared at the village entrance dragging his sled, a large group of children immediately gathered around him curiously.
They all remembered the last time Li Xiangyang gave Li Chunsheng canned fruit and asked him to share it with them.
I just wanted to come and see if Li Xiangyang had brought any food today.
"Uncle, Uncle, you're back!" Xiao Chunsheng rushed over as soon as he saw Li Xiangyang return from afar.
The other children ran over and shouted in unison, "Uncle! Uncle!"
Li Xiangyang knew what these kids were thinking, so he just smiled and didn't say anything.
However, Li Chunsheng was unhappy. He pouted and shouted, "He's my uncle, not your uncle. You're not allowed to call him that!"
He was about to kick them out.
"Alright, alright, let's go back." Li Xiangyang stopped him. A boy who is too stingy will have no friends. "Chunsheng, it's too cold outside. Come on, let's go home with Uncle."
"Mhm." Li Chunsheng nodded, wiped his nose, and followed.
As we walked, we saw the bulging sack on the sled again and asked curiously, "Uncle, what are you pulling on your sled?"
"Why don't you open it and see for yourself?"
Li Xiangyang said indifferently.
A moment later,
Li Chunsheng burst into tears and ran home.
He was terrified by what was in the sack.
When Li Xiangyang returned to the Li family home, Wang Guiying, Liu Xiulan, and Zhao Lijuan were already waiting for him in the courtyard.
"Xiangyang, what did you use to scare Chunsheng again? Look, you've made him cry." Wang Guiying walked over and complained.
"Mom, Chunsheng is just too timid. It's just one red fox and a few rabbits." Li Xiangyang said as he unloaded the sack into the yard.
"What...? You think you can catch a red fox with that wire snare?" Zhao Lijuan was somewhat surprised.
She had seen the wire snare that Li Xiangyang had made last night. It should be fine for catching small prey such as pheasants and rabbits weighing 5 or 6 kilograms, but it would probably be difficult to snare medium-sized prey weighing more than 10 kilograms!
"It wasn't caught with a snare, it was shot." Li Xiangyang said, taking the gun off his back and handing it, bullets and all, to Liu Xiulan. Then he pulled the red fox out of the sack: "This guy ate most of my rabbit."
"Half a rabbit for a red fox, not a bad deal," Liu Xiulan said softly as she took the gun.
She really wanted to praise Li Xiangyang, but there were too many people around, and she was too embarrassed to say it.
After all, he's her own man; praising him would feel like she's just patting herself on the back.
However, Zhao Lijuan didn't have so many concerns. She was straightforward and would say good things if they were good, and bad things if they were bad.
Upon hearing that Li Xiangyang had traded half a rabbit for a red fox, he immediately said, "This is not only not a loss, it's a huge profit! Xiangyang is really capable now. He caught a red fox and so many rabbits with just one move."
"Just lucky, just lucky." Li Xiangyang was unusually modest for a moment.
The praise his family has given him in the past ten days or so is more than he has in his previous decades.
Amidst laughter and conversation, Liu Xiulan had already melted a large pot of snow into warm water and handed the knife to Li Xiangyang.
Zhao Lijuan helped Li Xiangyang fix the red fox's hind legs to the wooden board: "I didn't expect this red fox to be so fat, it's so heavy to carry."
"That's right, it's all fat stored up in the fall. Without this kind of flesh, we wouldn't be able to survive the winter in Inner Mongolia." As Li Xiangyang spoke, he took a small knife and made a circular cut in the fur on the red fox's ankle.
Then, make a longitudinal cut along the inside of the thighs to the tail, and then tear the fur off the limbs from the torso.
The entire pelt was removed just like that.
He handed it to Liu Xiulan: "Xiulan, please wash the blood off the fur."
"Mmm." Liu Xiulan paused for a moment, then quickly took the bloodstained red fox pelt.
Actually, she was a little scared, after all, her family were farmers, and such a bloody scene of disembowelment was rare.
But she's already married to a herdsman, so she has to learn this. She can't keep relying on her sister-in-law to do it all the time.
What if they split up?
After a simple wash, the entire red fox pelt was hung up to dry.
At this point, Li Xiangyang had already gutted the red fox, cutting off its heart, lungs, liver, intestines, and other internal organs one by one.
At last,
He handed the whole red fox and its internal organs to Liu Xiulan: "Just clean off the blood and fascia."
Zhao Lijuan wasn't idle either. She secured the remaining six rabbits to the wooden plank and asked, "Xiangyang, do you think rabbit meat or red fox meat tastes better?"
"Of course, it's rabbit meat," Li Xiangyang blurted out.
As he spoke, he took the knife and made a circular cut on the rabbit's ankle: "Don't be fooled by the fact that red fox meat is more expensive than rabbit meat. It's tough and has a fishy smell."
"What...? You've even eaten red fox meat?" Zhao Lijuan asked, somewhat incredulous.
People living in pastoral areas are used to eating wild rabbits, but red foxes are not easy to catch.
"I got one when I went out with some friends before," Li Xiangyang lied.
However, he had indeed eaten it before, but that was in his previous life.
"Sigh."
at this time,
The sound of a carriage being stopped came from outside the courtyard. Looking up, I saw that it was Li Xiangdong who had returned.
However, he looked displeased...