Chapter 18: The Chicken is More Ferocious than Humans

  A new week has begun, I'll update a chapter first and rush to the top of the charts. Hope everyone will give me more support in this new week.

  Li Wenjun nodded and asked reluctantly, "Uncle Sun, Jianing told me that a fairy once spent 50 taels of silver to buy a medicinal herb from a medicine collector. Is there any other similar rumor in Sanshan County besides this one?"

  Sun Baicao said: "As far as I know, apart from this one, there is another rumor. It is said that someone had seen someone flying in the sky above San Shan County town at midnight."

  How is this possible? Our family has lived in the county town for generations and has never seen anything like it. I reckon that person took some kind of large bird to be a human being.

  Wen Jun, you are a promising candidate for studying, if you can focus your mind on the imperial examination, maybe in the future you will become a respected gentleman with a good social status. Isn't this better than putting your mind into these empty and frivolous things?

  "I advise you to calm down and study hard, in the future our family's Jia Ning might still need your help."

  Li Wenjun knew that Sun Baicao was kind-hearted, so he smiled and said: "Thank you for your kindness, Uncle Sun. I know what to do now."

  Sun Baishe thought Li Wenjun had taken his words to heart and smiled with relief.

  Before they knew it, Li Wenjun and his group had been walking on the mountain for half a day. The medicine basket on Sun Jianing's back only had a few strands of worthless herbs. Sun Baicao didn't mind, today he just wanted to take Li Wenjun out for a walk to clear his head and deepen the bond between his son and Li Wenjun.

  As the sun approached noon, Sun Jianing's stomach growled, and Sun Baicao smiled: "You two must be hungry, right? Wait a minute, let me see if I can catch a mountain chicken. We'll have pheasant for lunch today."

  "Alright." Sun Jianing called out.

  Sun Baicao picked up a fist-sized stone from the ground, took out a rope, tied both ends of the rope to the stone, and quickly made a flying stone lasso for catching small animals.

  Sun Baicao used to hunt small animals like mountain chickens and wild rabbits when he entered the mountains, collect spring water, and solve his own food and drink problems. Catching mountain chickens was not a difficult task for him.

  "Wen Jun, let's go take a look together. My dad's skill at throwing flying stones is quite impressive, one throw and it's always on target," said Sun Jianing.

  Li Wenjun nodded and followed Sun Jianing behind Sun Baicao, looking around for the footprints of the mountain chicken.

  Sun Baicao was very experienced, and under his leadership, Li Wenjun soon heard the sound of pheasants calling.

  Following the sound, Li Wenjun saw that in the thicket of shrubs on the mountain slope in front, there were several pheasants foraging, among which one had colorful plumage, a fiery red crest, and a body size much larger than the other pheasants, even comparable to most geese, very majestic, this was a rooster, also the leader of this group of pheasants.

  Sun Baicao signaled Li Wenjun and Sun Jianing to stop in their tracks, not making a sound. He crept forward a few steps, before the pheasant noticed him, he swung his slingshot round and round, then released it, and the stone flew out with a whizzing sound.

  The pheasants were extremely alert, and as soon as Sun Bairen appeared, they let out a sharp cry and scattered in all directions. However, they were fast, and Sun Bairen was even quicker, so that when they darted into the bushes, the flying stone had already shot past them, hitting one of the pheasants right on its long neck with a loud thud, breaking its neck instantly without even giving it a chance to let out a cry.

  Li Wenjun and Sun Jianing both applauded and cheered "good".

  Sun Baicao stood up and walked towards the pheasant. No one expected that when he bent down to pick it up, a sharp cry suddenly came from the bushes, and the rooster rushed out of the thicket, flapping its wings and flying straight at Sun Baicao's face.

  This rooster was extremely fierce, with sharp beaks and sharp claws. If it landed on Sun Bairen's face, the scars left behind were minor at best. What he feared most was that it would peck at Sun Bairen's eyes, which would render him blind.

  Sun Baicao subconsciously covered his face with his arm and desperately pushed the rooster away with his other hand.

  The rooster's strength was great, and now it was enraged again because of the hen's death, its power increased invisibly, and under its continuous attack, even the sturdy Sun Baicao had to retreat frequently.

  "Dad." Sun Jianing was startled, and with a father-son connection, he didn't have time to think much. He picked up the mountain knife and rushed out in big strides.

  Li Wenjun picked up his spear and hurried after him.

  Before Li Wenjun and Sun Jianing rushed over, Sun Baicao, who was suddenly attacked by a mad rooster, stepped on a stone, slipped under his feet, lost his balance, and rolled down the hillside.

  Sun Jianing was flustered and disoriented, didn't dare think too much, rushed down the mountain slope to chase after Sun Baicao.

  Li Wenjun rushed over, waving his hunting spear and chased the rooster away. He watched as the rooster disappeared into the distance until he was sure it would no longer pose a threat to them before turning around and heading down the mountain slope in search of Sun Baicao and Sun Jianing.

  Ran over a dozen zhangs of mountain slope, and when he found the father and son, Li Wenjun secretly sighed.

  Only a few wild walnut trees grew scattered on the mountain slope, the trunks were not very thick. Sun Jianing lay on the ground, his eyes tightly closed, unconscious, and a big lump had swollen on his head.

  Sun Baicao was still conscious, but he couldn't move either. His leg had hit the tree and broken, which wasn't even the worst part.

  Sun Jianing rolled down the hill, and the mountain knife in his hand flew out, coincidentally inserting itself into Sun Baicao's other leg, tearing a big gash on Sun Baicao's leg.

  When Li Wenjun found them, Sun Baicao was gritting his teeth in pain. He endured the pain and used both hands to pinch his thigh hard, desperately trying to stop the blood from gushing out.

  Li Wenjun followed, and Sun Bicao hurriedly said: "Wenjun, go take a look at Jia Ning quickly, see how he is?"

  Li Wenjun bent down and tried Sun Jianing's breath, still had air, the pulse was also jumping, then said: "Uncle Sun, Jianing is not dead."

  Sun Baicao visibly let out a sigh of relief and said, "Wen Jun, trouble you to hurry up to the mountain slope and bring back the medicine basket. Inside there is hemostatic medicine that I personally prepared."

  "Shall I help you bandage it first?" Li Wenjun asked.

  "No need, you quickly go get the hemostatic medicine. Be careful now, among the three of us, only you are unscathed, whether we can leave safely or not all depends on you. You mustn't get hurt again." Sun Baisuo reminded him.

  Li Wenjun nodded and used his hunting rifle as a cane to climb back up the slope, bringing down all the luggage and placing it in front of Sun Baicao.

  Sun Baicao turned out the hemostatic medicine and bandages, skillfully applied the hemostatic medicine to himself, and then used the bandages to tie up the wound. He also reset his other broken leg by himself and asked Li Wenjun to help him pick up some branches to fix it with the bandages. These were all the skills passed down from Sun Baicao's ancestors, which would allow them to rescue themselves when they got injured while going out to collect medicine.

  After doing all this, Sun Baicao looked a bit weak. He was bleeding and had a short leg. Even if he handled it well, it was impossible to recover immediately. He asked Li Wenjun to drag the unconscious Sun Jianing to his side, then used some simple medical techniques passed down from his ancestors to check on Sun Jianing, confirming that he should be fine, just having bumped his head, but when he would wake up was hard to say.

  Sun Baicao was both desperate and fortunate. Desperate because he and his son were injured, one with a head wound, trapped in the Wufeng Mountains, far from the city, with little food and water, in a hopeless situation. Fortunate that there was still Li Wenjun by their side.

  It was impossible to get them out of the mountain and send them back to the county town of Sanshan County, just relying on Li Wenjun alone. He said: "Wenjun, why don't you go down the mountain first, call a few people, and then come up the mountain to rescue us."

  Li Wenjun shook his head and said, "Uncle Sun, I won't abandon you."

  Sun Baisu said: "Wen Jun, you have this heart, I'm very grateful. But you're the only one left, it's useless. Now I can't move, if I do, these two legs will be disabled. Someone must carry me to get down the mountain. Jianing is the same, also needs someone to carry. You alone, how can you do it? You must go down the mountain as soon as possible. Neither of us can afford to delay."

  Li Wenjun thought for a moment and nodded his head. "Alright, I'll go down the mountain," he said. "But what if you encounter wild beasts after I leave?"

  Sun Baicao pointed to the mountain knife and said, "I have this for self-defense, and it's no problem dealing with ordinary wild beasts. Of course, if you bring people back before we return, and we encounter wolves, then we can only blame our bad luck, and we won't blame you. Wen Jun, I'm counting on you, please hurry up and come back quickly."

  Li Wenjun nodded solemnly and said, "I will definitely do my best."

  Sun Baicao took out a pancake from that pile of luggage and handed it to Li Wenjun, saying: "You take it, eat it on the road."

  "I'll be back as soon as possible." Li Wenjun took up his pancake and set off on the road to seek help outside the mountain without looking back.

  Li Wenjun was anxious to save people, so he decided to take a shortcut. He thought he could see clearly on the mountain, but he forgot that he was not familiar with Wufeng Mountain. After seven or eight turns, he got lost. By the time he realized it, he had no idea where he was.

  As soon as he thought of Sun Baicao and Sun Jianing waiting for him to find someone to rescue them, Li Wenjun felt like crying. He had no choice but to try turning back, finding the original shortcut through the mountains with Huan Xia, and descending again.

  After a while, it started getting dark.

  It was dark and downhill, very dangerous. After a day of rushing around, he was extremely tired. Li Wenjun hadn't drunk a drop of water, his stomach was growling with hunger. He found a big tree, leaned against the trunk and sat down. Then he took out the pancake that Sun Baicao had given him and wolfed it down.