Chapter 110 Entering the Mountain

  As expected, after a quiet evening at home, only three groups of kids came over with their parents to trick-or-treat. It wasn't until after 8 o'clock that the last two little ones arrived at our place, and they weren't even there for candy - they were just dropping by to play with Wusong's Teddy on their way home. They were Emily and Jerry, those two little rascals.

  Two little ghosts knocked on the door, and Ju An immediately went to open it. As soon as he opened the door, he saw two little ghosts say "Uncle An is good" and then quickly drill through Ju An's arm and rush towards Teddy and Wu Song in the house, leaving behind a depressed Ju An and a smiling Keli.

  "Looks like not many people came today, come on in and take a seat. I'm sure you've had a long run too." He invited Klie to sit down on the sofa inside the house, and he himself went to make a cup of coffee for Klie.

  Cree sat down on the sofa, took off his cowboy hat and put it on the armrest. Juan handed him a cup of hot coffee, which Cree thanked him for before saying: "I'm exhausted from running around tonight, those two little ones had me going all over town for candy, don't let the small bucket fool you, there's plenty more in the car. Your house has a great holiday atmosphere too, I saw about ten jack-o-lanterns on your porch and two at the entrance of your ranch."

  "I'm not celebrating Halloween for the first time, am I? People gave me a lot of pumpkins, so I carved over ten and scattered them around. I thought many kids would come to the ranch to trick-or-treat, but after waiting for several hours, only two or three little cats came. What a waste of all that chocolate I bought."

  Kerry took a sip of coffee, laughed and said to Ju'an: "The ranch is not as lively as the town during the holidays. Everyone lives far apart, so it's hard to go door-to-door for candy in the ranch. It would take two or three hours to visit just a few houses. It's better to go to the town where people are closer together. That's why adults usually bring their kids there to ask for candy. Next year you'll have experience and won't need to prepare anything. We didn't even buy any candy at home, we just went to the town and came back after asking around. On our way back, we saw the big lights outside your house and thought it would be a good opportunity for the two little ones to play with Teddy and Wu Song." After finishing speaking, Kerry looked at the two little ones who were playing with Teddy and Wu Song. The two of them were peeling sugar from their small buckets and feeding Teddy and Wu Song. Wu Song wouldn't want any more if he had one in his mouth, while Teddy was like a little glutton, opening his mouth to receive whatever was given to him without caring whether he had finished eating or not.

  "Hey, don't feed them too much sugar, they've already had a lot today. This guy ate so much for dinner and still wants more, Wu Song is okay but Teddy is like a bottomless pit."

  Kerry looked at Teddy's bulging belly and laughed, saying to the two little guys: "Bears are like this, in the wild they basically open their eyes every day to find food, there is no break, you two little guys don't let them eat so much, Teddy will get cavities if he eats too much."

  Emily curiously asked after hearing Keli's words: "Teddy is a bear, will bears also have tooth decay?" After finishing, she looked at her brother Jerry with some disbelief. Jerry seemed to be caught off guard by his sister's question and scratched his head, unsure of how to respond.

  "Then take a look at Teddy, does he have teeth? If he has teeth, they will definitely rot, just like you did some time ago, it was very painful, wasn't it?" Keli walked over to Emily's side, squatted down and stroked her little head.

  Emily thought for a moment and then nodded, handing the small basket to Keli. Keli took the small basket from the two little guys' hands and put it on the coffee table.

  "Come and have some fruit, and give Teddy a few more too. Tonight's all meat and sweets, so it'll be good for them to have some fruit."

  Kerry asked Ju An, "Are all the cows here now? Now that I've walked along the edge of your pasture, it finally feels like a real pasture. Before, I walked for half a day and didn't see a single cow."

  "Uh-huh," said Ju An, nodding his head. "The last batch arrived this morning, so now we have over 30,000 cattle in total. The brokerage firm also gave us less than a hundred calves as a gift."

  "This bunch of guys, it's better to reduce some brokerage fees, and the little calf still needs to be fed for a year." Keli said with a smile.

  Jū ān also smiled and replied: "It's better than nothing, by the way, how are your family's pastures doing with tourism now? Is the quality of tourists still good?"

  "Uh-huh, not bad, basically all good. Taylor has been beaming with joy lately, business is booming, and the shops in town are also making a lot of money thanks to these generous Chinese customers."

  After hearing this, Ju An also put his mind at ease. He then asked: "Now that it's hunting season, do you have any plans? Will you go hunting again this year?"

  Kerry shook his head: "Not this year, the groups coming to the ranch for a holiday are already booked up until Christmas, where would there be any time? How can you plan on going hunting?"

  "Alright," said Ju An with a nod, "I'm planning to go hunting in the mountains in two days and catch a big deer with ten or so antlers."

  "Hunting deer is easy, just find a pond and squat there for two nights and you'll definitely encounter deer. But finding big deer with ten or more antlers is not that simple. You basically have to go deep into the mountains, wait by the water source in the mountains, and even then it's all about luck whether you can get one. What's the point of hunting this way? Even if you're lucky, you'll still have to stay in the mountains for five or six days. If you're unlucky, you might end up waiting in vain." Krichi said with a strange tone.

  "Look at those big deer heads mounted on the wall, I think they look great, I'm planning to hunt one myself and mount it in my home."

  Actually, the main reason I'm going to the wilderness is that I kind of miss the feeling of camping with Old Taylor and others, the spiritual shock of being close to nature under the vast sky and majestic mountains. And these past few days at the ranch have been pretty busy, so it's a good excuse to escape into the mountains.

  Kerry said: "If you go, I suggest you bring a few more dogs, it's best to bring this guy too." He pointed at Teddy.

  "What's the point of bringing this guy along? He seems like he'll just eat and drink, and it's such a hassle to prepare food for him too." Yu An asked in puzzlement.

  "When we're outdoors, Teddy fares better than you do. He knows what to eat and what not to eat, and with him around, you'll never get lost. Otherwise, how did he survive before we met?" Keli explained.

  Two people chatted and it was almost time to leave, so Ke Li took the two little guys and bid farewell. Ju An had put several handfuls of chocolate in the basket for the two little ones, but there were still half a box left, so she decided to keep them as snacks for Wu Song and Teddy, giving them two pieces each day to indulge in.

  The next morning, Ju An arrived in town and handled the deer hunting procedures. He paid over $100 and got a permit to hunt ten male deers. Next, he went to the supermarket and bought a lot of food and drinks, preparing to put them in his space so that even if he couldn't catch any rabbits, he could still survive for 10-20 days with the supplies from his space.

  In addition, this time Ju An prepared a sleeping bag and didn't use the kind of tent that needed to be propped up like last time. After a big shopping spree, Ju An drove his GMC back to the ranch, of course, taking a detour along the way to put all the purchases into storage space.

  Following Thomas's words, he prepared to pack up and set off towards the big mountain tomorrow. Thomas suggested that Ju'an not go into the mountains alone, after all, there were bears and wolves inside, and Ju'an had never gone into the mountains alone before. Ju'an promised not to venture too deep, just wanting to hunt a deer. Thomas saw that he couldn't be persuaded, so he let out the two horses, one with a black mane and one with a brown coat, which was castrated, to carry luggage.

  When it was time to set off, he helped Ju An check the luggage again. Old Thomas carefully asked Ju An how to read maps and use a compass, and finally said to Ju An: "Once you enter the mountain, be sure to pay attention to fire, and keep the bonfire burning at night. Many wild animals are afraid of fire. Also, don't eat anything casually. If you see some fruit, let Teddy try it first. If Teddy eats it, you can eat it too. If he doesn't eat it, you absolutely shouldn't eat it. It's probably poisonous."

  "Rest assured, I really won't go deep, in five or six days' time I'll be back. Don't worry, with Tiger Head, Garlic Head and Egghead, three guys, are you still afraid that I won't come out of the mountain?"

  Old Thomas shook his head and said, "It's not that I'm afraid you can't get out of the mountain, as long as you walk towards the sun or with your back to the sun, you'll always be able to come out. What I'm afraid of is that you'll run into wild beasts."

  "I've got the stuff," said Ju An with a smile, patting the rifle on Dou Cao's back and the revolver at his waist. He didn't bring a handgun because it would be more troublesome if it jammed; in this regard, handguns were not as good as revolvers.

  "I'm just afraid that when the time comes, you'll panic. I know your marksmanship is good, but that's just your usual shooting practice. When you actually encounter danger, it's different. Many people can't even draw their guns when they're face to face with a fierce beast at close range. If this weren't a ranch where we can't get out of here easily, I'd really like to go in with you," Thomas said.

  "Don't worry, I'll still be kicking around in a few days," said Ju An. If things don't go well, my buddies can also dodge into space, what danger could there be? But this is something that mustn't be told to Thomas.

  "If you don't come back in seven days, I'll report it to the police and they can send a helicopter to find you," Thomas said seriously.

  "It's not necessary to make such a big fuss, and even mobilize helicopters."

  Thomas nodded: "We are taxpayers, if you haven't come back in a week, it's possible that you've encountered danger, it's their responsibility to find you."

  It's better for Thomas to take care of things at the ranch, he'll be back in six days at most, and everything will be left to him during that time.

  Riding on Dou Cao, with a flick of the reins, Dou Cao began to walk forward. The other chestnut-colored gelding named Ta Ke, carrying Wu Song, also followed with a flick of the reins and walked forward alongside Dou Cao. Tiger Head and the three others ran happily on the ground with Teddy, occasionally letting out excited barks at the reunion with Ju An.