Chapter 8: The Roar of the Bear

  Slowly, time had unknowingly arrived at noon. Zheng Datian had also finished chopping two bundles of firewood and asked Yang Zilu: "Young master, are you going back?"

  "No way! I'm just taking a stroll, Uncle Zheng, can I borrow that axe of yours?" Yang Zilu asked, pointing to the axe hanging from Zheng Datian's waist.

  Zheng Datian hesitated for a moment, then opened his mouth and said: "The axe is fine, but Master, don't go too far, just walk around here! We woodcutters are mostly in this area, and wild beasts and mountain bandits don't dare to come. But if you leave too far, it's troublesome!"

  "Ah, I see, thank you for reminding me, Uncle Zheng!" Yang Zilu nodded in response.

  Zheng Datian didn't say much after hearing this, saying more would be too tedious. He took off his axe and handed it to Yang Zilu, replacing it with a sturdy short wooden stick tucked into his waist for self-defense. With one shoulder carrying a pole and the other a bundle, he didn't need Yang Zilu's help, humming a mountain song as he carried two bundles of firewood weighing nearly 100 catties down the mountain at a leisurely pace.

  "Wow! The ancients were incredibly powerful, I thought it was fake, but unexpectedly a rural woodcutter is so formidable!" Yang Zilu looked stunned. However, he soon let out a sigh of relief as he saw Zheng Datian putting down the firewood to rest at the foot of the mountain, apparently not carrying this hundred-pound load of firewood all the way to Shanyu Village. To know that Shanyu Village is a full ten miles away from Mother Pig Mountain, even walking would take over an hour. Carrying these bundles of firewood would add at least half an hour to the journey time, which was not unacceptable.

  Yang Zilu suddenly slapped her forehead, "Oh! It's noon, I completely forgot to go back and eat lunch."

  However, when he turned his head to look in the direction of Jianluo Village, there was no smoke from cooking. Yang Zilu felt a pang of despair, and suddenly remembered that in ancient times, people only had two meals a day, which was unfortunate but true. In other words, Yang Zilu could only rely on the small amount of millet porridge he ate this morning to hold out until afternoon.

  Yang Zilu could only rely on himself to find something to eat. "Fortunately, it's summer now, and as autumn approaches, there should be plenty of fruit in this mountain!"

  However, after walking around, Yang Zilu found that, I don't know if it's because there are too many people chopping firewood nearby, anyway, the trees do have fruit, but all the slightly ripe ones have been picked by people. The remaining ones were as green as leaves, and Yang Zilu was so hungry that he picked one to eat, immediately threw away the fruit, spat out the pulp in his mouth, and almost vomited up bile.

  "Wow, it's too disgusting to eat! It's sour, bitter and astringent. Even pigs wouldn't eat this stuff." Yang Zilu spat out a few mouthfuls of saliva and looked at the narrow path leading into the dense forest. Although Zheng Datian had reminded him earlier, humans die for wealth and birds die for food, with an axe in hand, Yang Zilu felt somewhat reassured.

  Gritting his teeth, he thought to himself that as long as he was careful, there shouldn't be a problem. As long as he didn't go too deep, someone would hear him if he called out for help. Besides, this place was still within the range of human activity, so even if there were tigers, they wouldn't be more than one or two. He wasn't unlucky enough to actually run into a tiger, right? If he encountered wolves or wild dogs, he could just climb a tree. As for bears, he'd just play dead.

  Playing dead is not always effective, when bears are too hungry, it doesn't matter whether you're dead or alive.

  Yang Zilu walked for about 300 meters and actually found some food. It was a cluster of wild strawberries, and when Yang Zilu saw them, he couldn't help but feel overjoyed. He had seen other things that looked edible but didn't dare to eat them, but strawberries were something he recognized, so he hastily picked one and put it in his mouth. But immediately, Yang Zilu felt that what he had just eaten wasn't a strawberry at all, but rather a sour plum. The sourness made Yang Zilu's skin crawl with goosebumps. Although wild things were pure and natural, their taste was not great, and Yang Zilu couldn't help but miss the genetically modified crops of modern times.

  However, her stomach was really too hungry, so Yang Zilu could only swallow three of them into her belly, but she didn't want to eat anymore, it was just too sour. Suddenly, Yang Zilu saw a rabbit curiously standing not far away, staring at her with its black shiny eyes, curiously looking at Yang Zilu.

  "Amitabha Buddha, thank you, Buddha!" Yang Zilu was overjoyed and hastily chased after him with an axe. At this time, Buddhism had not yet appeared, nor did he know which Buddha heard Yang Zilu's cry of "Amitabha Buddha".

  That wild rabbit saw Yang Zilu with ill intentions, his eyes flashed a hint of panic, and immediately made a beautiful turn, turning his head to escape.

  Yang Zilu saw the wild rabbit's agile movements and knew it would be difficult to catch it bare-handed. He gritted his teeth, let out a low growl and shouted "Hey!"

  The axe in his hand swung out and really made Yang Zilu blind cat hit the dead mouse, the axe swept to the rabbit's leg. The rabbit immediately fell to one side. Yang Zilu was overjoyed, but he also knew that bronze was expensive in this era, so he went to pick up the axe first, lest he forget it. However, when he turned his head around, he saw the rabbit hopping into the grass with a limp.

  Yang Zilu was in a great hurry, how could he just watch the rabbit that was about to reach his mouth fly away! Without caring about wild beasts and whatnot, he parted the grass thicket, fortunately there were bloodstains all along the way, Yang Zilu slowed down a bit and also found the trail.

  Slowly parting the grass, it didn't take long for Yang Zilu to see that the wild rabbit had lost a lot of blood and was on its last breath. Yang Zilu took a step forward, picked up the rabbit, pulled out a tough long grass from the nearby grass, tied up the rabbit, and hung it on the axe handle.

  Just as I was about to leave, I suddenly heard a low growl, which seemed like the roar of a black bear in the animal kingdom.

  Yang Zilu's eyes widened, and his entire body felt a chill run down his spine. "Damn it!" he cursed. "Am I really this unlucky?" He hadn't checked the almanac before leaving the house today, and now heaven was being so cruel to him! Throwing him into this place was one thing, but all he wanted was to eat a wild rabbit! Yang Zilu's eyes welled up with tears.

  He recalled a TV show where the protagonist could avoid a bear by playing dead, and without thinking, he hastily lay down in the bushes with his muscles tense. His eyes were tightly closed, but his eyelashes still trembled slightly. In his heart, he prayed to all the gods and Buddhas, whether Chinese or Western, as long as they had a name, Yang Zilu prayed to them all.