Chapter 111: You're All Clever People

  As they entered the mountain forest, the path became increasingly difficult to navigate. Ju An had no choice but to dismount and lead Dou Cao on foot. Hu Tou and Suan Tou led the way ahead, occasionally stopping to urinate at the base of trees to mark their position. Teddy happily followed Hu Tou, waiting for him to finish marking before going up to sniff. Sometimes, he would even rub his back against the tree trunk, leaving a scent behind. Ju An knew that Teddy was also leaving his scent marks. The mountain path was rocky and uneven, making it perilous to ride on Dou Cao's back. As night began to fall, Ju An turned on her high-powered flashlight and continued forward.

  It's estimated that it will take about an hour to get to the camping site. This is Ji'an's first time entering the mountain, and he has no experience. He thought they could arrive at the campsite now, but who knew the terrain would be so difficult to traverse? Even riding a horse wouldn't make much of a difference.

  There are at least two people hugging big trees around, the dense tree crown covers the sky and the sun, occasionally there is a gap, and the silver white moonlight can only pass through the gap to sprinkle on the ground, forming mottled shadows.

  Under the guidance of a strong flashlight, Ju An finally arrived at the campsite, a small grassland next to a stream. He removed the saddle and tack from his horse, Tak, and let the two horses graze on the edge of the campsite. Then, he took out a small military shovel and cleared a semicircular area on the grassland. Next, he walked to the stream and used the flashlight to find some stones to enclose the empty space. He then took out the firewood he had split yesterday from his backpack, piled it up, and lit it with a lighter. After that, he found a three-legged stand in his luggage, hung a pot on it, and poured more than five liters of drinking water into the pot, which he had bought at a supermarket. He then took out a package of diced cooked beef from his backpack, along with some bones, and put them into the pot. Next, he took out several clean onions and potatoes from his backpack, put on protective goggles, and began to peel them while blowing a whistle.

  If Taylor or Old Thomas saw this, they would definitely be disappointed: what kind of hunting trip is this? This is simply a mountain tour. You're using mineral water from the supermarket and eating self-brought beef jerky. If they could see the stuff piled up in the courtyard of the An Space Inn, their eyes would pop out. Good grief, there's a small hill of seasonings alone, including cumin, Sichuan pepper chili sauce, and even seven or eight bottles of Chinese-made stinky tofu.

  With a happy heart, I finished peeling the potatoes and onions, poured some seasonings into the big pot, covered it with a lid, pulled my luggage to the side of the bonfire, took out the cushion and put it on the ground, spread the sleeping bag on top, and placed the saddle in front of the sleeping bag as a pillow.

  After finishing all the busy work, Ju An easily took out a folding canvas chair and placed it next to the bonfire, sat down, took out a bottle of beer from space, and started drinking. Then he looked over and saw that Teddy classmate had already gathered around the bonfire, staring at the big pot with an extremely focused expression, just like a diligent student looking at the teacher's blackboard. Wu Song classmate was leaning against his side dozing off, seemingly a bit sleepy.

  It suddenly occurred to him that this guy had been running for a long time and hadn't eaten anything, so he must be starving. He put the beer down by the chair leg, slipped into space, used a small bucket, picked up seven or eight pieces of fruit and brought them out, then poured them in front of Teddy all at once. The two guys immediately came to life and started eating ravenously, even the tiger head garlic head and peeled egg from not far away came over to sniff the fruit on the ground, before going back to lie down on the ground, vigilantly watching the surroundings. Ju An had no choice but to take out a few more slices of bread to divide among the three guys, letting them fill their stomachs first, and then everyone would eat a hot meal after dinner was cooked in the pot.

  After a while, when there was still about half of the beer left in his hand, a mouth-watering meaty aroma wafted from the campsite. Ju An lifted the lid and took a look, the broth had already started boiling. He scooped up a bit with a spoon and tasted it, hmm, it's a bit bland, so he took out the salt bag and added some more salt. Just as he covered the pot again, he saw Hu Tou and Pi Dan standing up, baring their teeth, making "woo woo" sounds, staring into the darkness.

  He put down the beer bottle in his hand, took out a revolver, picked up a flashlight and stood beside Tiger Head. He turned on the flashlight and saw four small foxes staring at the bonfire from a distance. One of them, slightly larger than the others, had something that looked like a squirrel or mouse in its mouth. The three smaller ones let out two cries when they saw him. At this time, Teddy also ran over, saw the group of foxes, hugged his leg and barked twice at the foxes before retreating with his head tucked back.

  Hai patted Teddy on the forehead and scolded: "You useless foodie, a few foxes put together aren't as big as you, but you're so timid. What's the point of raising you to be so big? You stupid bear, even if we encounter a wild beast, it'll be you who stays behind to hold them off. I'm outta here, got it?"

  When I heard a few small foxes shouting at me from time to time, and then staying there motionless, I felt strange. Could it be that this fox was mentally ill? We have the absolute advantage here, just you few little guys, not even enough for one tiger head to worry about. Using a flashlight to take a closer look, I found that the big fox's ear had a missing piece, how familiar is this? Then thinking carefully, damn! Isn't this just a family of egg thieves? No wonder the skin eggs were just warning with bared teeth, it turned out to be old acquaintances. If not for rushing forward early on to take a bite,

  Then, slowly walking forward, he said to a den of little foxes: "Egg thief?" Then, he saw several little foxes happily calling out twice. The larger fox took two steps forward and put down the thing in its mouth. It then called out to Ju An twice. Ju An walked over to take a look and indeed found a squirrel that had been bitten to death. Using his fingers to stir the blood-stained fur of the squirrel, Ju An thought to himself: People say foxes are spiritual, could this be something sent for me?

  Then he picked up the squirrel's body and said to the foxes, "Delivering mine? Thanks a lot." After finishing speaking, he turned his head to leave. Behind him, another cry was heard. When he turned his head again, he saw that the old fox had already turned around and walked a distance away, calling back at the little foxes. The several little foxes called out twice towards their mother, then took two more steps in An's direction. An looked at them, wondering what these little guys were doing, so he walked over. The little ones jumped up and down around him, then cried out again, leaving An bewildered. He simply didn't think about it anymore, stretched out his hand to slowly stroke the little foxes' fur. Behind him, Teddy saw An stroking the little fox's fur, and with a wagging tail, he ran over, sniffing at the little fox's body without any of the initial fear of clinging to An's leg. After stroking twice, An turned around and walked back to the bonfire. No choice, the pot lid was about to be flipped over by the boiling water, making clattering sounds.

  He turned around, not only Teddy, but also a few small foxes followed Ju'an to the bonfire. Ju'an lifted the lid and found that the dinner in the pot was already cooked, so he took the pot down and hung the squirrels brought by the fox on the tree branch. After fluffing up the fur over the bonfire, he dug a small hole with a small shovel and buried it under the bonfire to make a roasted squirrel. It wasn't for himself to eat, but when the time came, he could give Teddy a treat as well.

  The squirrel was done, and he returned to the pot, only to find that there were indeed many people gathered around it. There was a big-faced Teddy, four triangular-faced foxes, and Wu Song, who was leisurely eating fruit. The big pot was surrounded by them, and fortunately, there were still three tiger heads left on the outside, which had not yet joined in.

  He looked at the fox family gathered around the pot with some annoyance, and grumbled in his stomach: "You bunch of foxes, are you here to give gifts or eat and drink? The squirrel you brought is not even enough for one person to eat, and now I have to entertain your whole family. This is just like bringing a pound of tofu to a banquet and clearly taking advantage of the host's generosity, this family is also quite clever."

  But who made us Chinese so hospitable? Since my brother is in a good mood today, I'll let you off for now. Comforting myself, I took out several small bowls and arranged them in a row by the bonfire. I filled each bowl with meat soup for the guys by the pot, adding a few pieces of beef and a small bone. The guys immediately found their own bowls and started devouring their food.

  Then he made three bowls of meat soup, with three or four pieces of crushed beef bones, and soaked some bread in it. He added a full spoonful of beef, and then called over the "Tiger Head", "Garlic Head" and "Egg Skin". These three comrades were hardworking people, so their treatment had to be slightly improved, otherwise it would dampen their work enthusiasm.

  Finally, Ju An gave herself a big serving of beef, onions and potatoes in her own bowl, with almost no soup at all, just dry goods. Only at the end did she pour a spoonful of broth into her own bowl, to keep the flavor, you know. She only likes to eat dry things, doesn't like drinking soup, this is Ju An's psychological hint to herself. Holding the bowl with the high pile of dinner, Ju An sat down on the chair contentedly and started eating. From time to time, she would put the small bones she had eaten into Teddy's bowl.

  During the meal, he also fulfilled the requests of several enthusiastic little fox guests and added a bit more soup and meat to their bowls, fully embodying the traditional virtues of the Chinese nation that "it is a delight to have friends coming from afar".

  Everyone sat comfortably and finished the food in their bowls, the pot was also spotless, the small stainless steel bowl of the fox guest was also filled to the brim, only Teddy was still sitting on the ground, his rice bowl almost stuck to his head, clearing the plates.