Chapter 116: The Hanged Ghost

  Sat down on the chair, found a small twig and poked at the bonfire from time to time. Not far away, the mountain lion was lying under the tree, motionless, lifting its head to look over here, seemingly still panting heavily. Although the mountain lion lay motionless, the guys by the bonfire obviously couldn't fall asleep again, all of them sticking their heads out by the bonfire.

  As the last remnants of darkness dispersed, morning sunlight enveloped the earth. In the distance, a thin layer of mist hovered above the forest, wafting gently upwards into the azure sky devoid of clouds. Various early-rising birds flitted about on tree branches, chirping joyfully as they told tales of the mountain's serenity and tranquility. It seemed as though the fierce battles between top predators in the forest the night before had never occurred.

  Refilled the pot on the rack with water, opened a plastic bag of lamb chops and put them in the pot, casually added a few corn sticks, looked around at the lazy big-bellied men, and had to pick up a few pieces of diced beef with bones and add them too, just as compensation for everyone not sleeping well last night.

  She casually took a few fruits from the space, gave Wusong and Teddy each a large pear, and also got herself a big yellow apple. She sat on the stool, leisurely peeling the apple skin. The fox family saw that everyone's mouth was moving, regardless of size, they all surrounded Teddy and Wusong, sniffed at the fruits in their hands, and then dispersed to continue watching the big pot on the bonfire.

  Ju An saw this scene and deeply suspected that the old fox had just come to send the squirrel, turned his head to leave with a posture similar to some people, rushing to enter someone else's house at mealtime, waiting for him to enter the door, immediately saying "Oh, I'm eating now, I'll come back later", making a gesture of turning around and wanting to leave, but actually waiting for the host to hold on, then pushing and shoving, pretending to be embarrassed, sitting down and picking up chopsticks.

  While thinking about the motivations of the fox family, I gnawed on the apple in my hand. After taking a bite, I looked down and saw that Comrade Teddy had already arrived at the foot of Ju'an, searching for the fruit peel that Ju'an had cut off in the grass. I patted him on the back and scolded, "You're going to starve to death! If someone else sees this, they'll say I'm abusing you. Stop looking, I'll give you an apple core." After finishing speaking, I handed over the remaining fruit to Teddy, who ate it without going through Wu Song's hands for once, and got a big chunk of fruit meat on the core as proof.

  Lift the lid with chopsticks and poke it, feeling that the meat is almost cooked, then start serving breakfast to everyone. After serving a circle, a group of heads buried in front of small bowls eating, Ju'an and Wu Song picked up an ear of corn and gnawed on it, while gnawing on the corn, looking at the map in their hands, thinking about leaving this place quickly, walking a little further up the mountain, maybe they can meet the big deer that satisfies Ju'an.

  As soon as he lifted his eyes, he saw the mountain lion still lying there motionless. Ju An felt a pang of sympathy and took out an iron basin, scooped up a piece of meat and put it in the basin. Then, he found a longer branch and slowly approached the mountain lion. Pi Dan and several others saw Ju An walking towards the mountain lion and also put down their bowls of breakfast, following beside him to guard him. As they got closer, looking at this big cat staring at them without any reaction, they took another few steps forward. Then, using the long branch, he pushed the basin over. The mountain lion saw the basin in front of it, smelled the meat inside, and Ju An watched as it tried to take a bite with its mouth. After that, it lifted its head and stopped moving. Ju An thought for a moment and then pulled the basin back, ladled out a large bowl of meat soup from the pot, and pushed it in front of the mountain lion. Only then did the mountain lion start licking its food.

  As for his own cleverness, he is quite satisfied with himself. Isn't there an old saying that saving a life is better than building a seven-story pagoda? He has also saved the lion from water and fire.

  After finishing breakfast with a happy heart, Ju An began to pack things up and prepare for the next camp. Everything was ready, and the saddle was placed on Dou Cao's back. The bonfire was extinguished, and then they carefully checked around to see if anything had been left behind. Indeed, one thing had been forgotten - the bowl in front of Shan Shi had not been collected. So Ju An walked over, picked up the long stick, and retrieved the bowl that Shan Shi had eaten clean. They took it to the lake shore to wash it clean, put it into the bag on Tuo Ke's back, mounted Dou Cao, and were ready to set off.

  I got on the horseback, preparing to appreciate the surrounding scenery again. Unintentionally, I saw something in the woods, picked up the binoculars and looked over, only to see a wolf crouching under a big tree, staring here. Then, using the binoculars to observe the surroundings, no other wolves were found, but it can be confirmed that other wolves are lurking nearby, waiting for oneself to leave, and then pounce on the injured mountain lion, tearing it into pieces of meat to satisfy their hunger.

  He sat on the back of a bean grass, looking at the mountain lion that was lying under the tree. This is a dilemma. Logically speaking, mountain lions eat other animals, and it's natural for wolves to eat them too. But when this happens right in front of you, lending a hand means saving a life. Do I have to stay here until the mountain lion can walk? After thinking for half a day, he suddenly heard Ju An shouting loudly at the sky: "Brother, I'm here to hunt deer, don't play with me like this!"

  A group of foxes and wolves shrunk their necks in fright, while a few tigers looked on with a sense of security, and the dogs' eyes were filled with confusion.

  Just as Ju An was preparing to dismount, thinking of putting Shan Shi into the space, Shan Shi slowly got up. Ju An took a look and thought it was a good guy, with a pool of blood under him, staining the white fur on his belly red. Shan Shi slowly rushed towards Ju An's side, probably knowing that if he didn't keep up with Ju An, staying behind would mean death.

  Ju An slowed down his pace, waiting for the mountain lion to follow. After a while, Ju An turned around and looked back with binoculars, only to see that five wolves had come out of the forest and were following closely behind him. As soon as Ju An turned his horse's head and fired a shot in their direction, they immediately scattered in all directions. However, after a short while, they regrouped and continued to follow him. This repeated several times, making it seem like they were relentless ghosts.

  After walking for a while, the mountain lion lay down to rest. Ju An had no choice but to rein in the bean grass, stop his footsteps, dismount, and take out a small basin from Tak's back. He poured some milk from the space into it and placed it in front of the mountain lion, watching as he drank. At this point, Ju An was not afraid at all; even walking quickly was tiring, let alone having the strength to kill himself.

  He steeled himself and put the mountain lion into space, but as soon as it entered, the mountain lion seemed to be unadapted, crying out from time to time. The attempts to calm it down were ineffective, so he tried taking it out again. As soon as it came out, the mountain lion stopped crying once it was back in its familiar environment. After a few tries, he gave up.

  After a while, he got up again, hung his head and walked forward. Ju An thought it was better not to ride the horse anymore, so they just walked like this, and went ahead to lead the bean grass, walking along.

  As he walked to the side of a rock, Ju An stood on the rock and looked back, several ghosts still hanging behind him at a distance of about hundreds of meters.

  The mountain lion then turned its head and let out a low growl towards Ju An, before walking in the direction of the side road. After a few steps, it turned its head again and let out a few more growls. It seemed to want Ju An to follow, so Ju An had no choice but to lead Dao Cao and change direction to follow behind Shan Shi.

  After walking for a long time, Ju An was led by the mountain lion to a pile of rocks. Looking at the mountain lion continuing to walk forward, Ju An had no choice but to lead the small hunting team and follow it. In this kind of place, Dou Cao and Ta Ke were very uncomfortable walking, all small stones made it difficult for them to step down, while Da Niu walked leisurely and effortlessly without any pressure.

  As they reached a slightly larger rock, the mountain lion lay down. The rest time for the mountain lion was getting shorter and shorter, and it seemed that its physical strength was almost exhausted. Just as I was considering whether to take out some milk from space to supplement this guy again, I heard the mountain lion roar towards the front and call out. In a short while, two small mountain lions ran out of a nearby rock cave, each with small spots on their bodies, similar to domestic cats. It turned out that this was a mother lioness with a litter of cubs.

  When Xiaoyu heard his mother's call, he immediately ran to the front of his mother's belly and found milk, sucked it up, and walked forward to take a look. The two little guys were not big, just like the small cats raised at home when they were young. They couldn't be said to be fat, but they were much better than Teddy when Xiaoyu first met him. The two little guys looked very clean, with shiny black and gray fur, small heads, and a bit shaky when walking, but their spirits were good, and their cries were clear and crisp, just like little cats. Where did they look like the dirty and messy Teddy that Xiaoyu had first met? His whole body was covered in dirt and twigs, and his skin was tight over his ribs. Looking back at the now plump Teddy, Xiaoyu felt a pang of sympathy.

  Just thinking of Teddy, he trotted by, seemingly wanting to play with the two little mountain lions. The big mountain lion immediately bared its teeth and let out a threatening cry. Teddy had to stop in his tracks, standing up on his hind legs, and waved a front paw at the mountain lion.

  Here is the translation:

  Looking at this family, they've reunited, but my troubles have also increased. The wolf pack in the distance is watching us too. Alas, I'm so unlucky! So I brought the whole family into the space, with Little Mountain Lion by their side. Now Old Mountain Lion has calmed down as well. Looking around, I poured half a bowl of milk beside Old Mountain Lion and then left the space.

  Out of space, it's convenient to think that this is also a solution. After the old mountain lion has slightly recovered from its injuries in space, I'll let them out again. Hmm! The meat in space needs to be kept safe. When we arrive at the campsite, go back to space and put all our food in the house so that this family doesn't eat it.

  Pulling the bean grass out of the rocky terrain, Ju An easily got on his horse and took a look at the wolf pack with his binoculars. He saw that several wolves were surrounding the last place where the mountain lion was, sniffing around, occasionally looking in Ju An's direction, as if trying to figure out how such a big meal had disappeared so silently.