frightfiction Chapter 211 When will the two traps be lowered?
Chapter 211 When will the two traps be lowered?
Li Guaizi lit a Bingcheng cigarette, took a puff, and laughed, "If the Lu family brat wants to learn mountain running, the Lu family patriarch will have to break the legs of both of his sons first."
Lu Zhiqiang patted the ugly revolver at his waist with pride and said smugly, "This gun was a gift from the old man."
Li Guaizi, startled, swallowed the cigarette he had inhaled, coughing violently. His eyes widened in astonishment as he exclaimed, "Impossible! Old man Lu wouldn't slap himself!"
When the old master of the Lu family retired from hunting, it caused quite a stir, and he even threatened that no Lu family descendant would be allowed to hunt in the mountains. Seeing the reactions of Li Ju'an and Lu Jinyang, Li Guaizi knew that it was probably true. He didn't dare to be arrogant and became polite to the two brothers, Lu Jinyang and Lu Zhiqiang.
"Great, great. Let's form a team when we go into the mountains in the future and go raiding dungeons together."
Li Guaizi made an appointment with Li Ju'an to invite him next time he went out to raid, and then hurriedly went back.
After he left, Li Ju'an laughed and said, "Brother Guai Zi is afraid that the thief who stole his trap will target him again, so he asked us to share some of the firepower."
The group was also puzzled. Could there really be someone like that? Why would they not set a trap themselves, but instead just stare at what others had caught? That was utterly depraved! What kind of person was that? If they found out, they'd have to drag them out and give them a good scolding.
Lu Jinyang is really good at making clips; he learns quickly.
Li Ju'an noticed that Lu Jinyang usually looked gentle and refined, with fair skin and seemingly little strength. However, when he worked, he was very focused and attentive, and quick to learn. He handled the small clips quickly and steadily, and the springs were fixed very tightly.
Small clips are enough.
Small traps are suitable for catching mice, pheasants, and wild boars, but they are not suitable for other prey that require intact pelts.
Taking advantage of the free labor, Li Ju'an chopped a piece of wood with a knife, took it back to the house, and instructed Lu Zhiqiang to chop the wood into planks so that Lu Jinyang could learn how to use wooden clamps.
"If we encounter footprints that are large, or small animals that need fur, such as greyhounds, badgers, or raccoons, it's better to use wooden traps to prevent the prey from damaging its fur while struggling."
Wooden clamps are specifically designed to catch small animals whose fur is needed to sell. Because only with a strong spring can the clamp be incredibly powerful; if a small animal's neck or head is caught, it can be crushed instantly. Unable to breathe while struggling, the animal suffocates and dies.
The Lu brothers followed Li Ju'an, plied a piece of thick iron wire, and used cotton thread to shave it out of the drawer, one coil at a time, just to avoid damaging the small animal's fur.
This wooden board clamp looks simple in principle, but it's not easy to make. A thicker spring is needed to ensure greater strength, and the wire also needs to be correspondingly thicker. When embedding the wire frame, you must ensure there are no gaps between it and the wooden board.
The gaps in Lu Zhiqiang's trap were too big. Li Ju'an shook his head and pointed to the trap, saying, "The gaps are too big. If the bait is placed in front, and a small animal comes from behind to eat it, the gaps will be too big to catch it."
Lu Zhiqiang's lips twitched: "There are so many opinions about this thing, who would want to make it? It's better to just buy it at the market."
He looked up and saw that Lu Jinyang had already made quite a few, and under Li Ju'an's supervision, he was even learning how to set snares with wire ropes. He immediately couldn't sit still and clicked his tongue, saying, "You two have only done so much work, and you've already made over a hundred. Even if we went into the mountains to set snares, we wouldn't finish in a day."
He felt a pang of envy seeing his cousin do so well, but he had no choice but to admit it. After all, Lu Jinyang had been a good student since childhood and learned things quickly, so the old man in the family always praised Lu Jinyang.
Provoked by this, his competitive spirit was ignited, and he patiently sat down next to Li Ju'an to humbly learn from him. He grinned and leaned close to Li Ju'an, his voice even cracking: "Brother Li, teach me, please."
Li Ju'an got goosebumps all over his back, and the hairs on his body stood on end. He laughed and scolded, "What brother? Call me godfather!"
"Godfather, I'll treat you to a meal sometime, Godfather."
……
That night, the three of them made more than two hundred clips, which amazed Uncle Zhang from the security department who came to visit, and Widow Chen who brought dumplings.
When Widow Chen went back and told Old Tao, Old Tao's lips twitched. With so many traps, how long would it take to set them all? But then he thought about it and realized it made sense. During the New Year, the young people were all staying at home. If they went out to set traps every few days, whatever they caught would be free, and it would even add to their New Year's reunion dinner.
Big harvests are a matter of luck, but small harvests are definitely frequent, such as pheasants and jumping cats.
After listening, Lao Tao gave his evaluation: "Li Ju'an is a down-to-earth kid. Young people shouldn't be all talk and no action, or end up like that kid from the Sun family."
The widow Chen knew he was referring to Sun Weimin. Sun Weimin looked down on small gains and loved to prey on Xiongcang, losing so many good dogs—every village knew that. She said, "Sun Weimin has been getting close to Qin Pao lately; maybe he'll learn some tricks."
The next day, Li Ju'an led the Lu brothers into the mountains. Their task for the day was simple: set traps and snares. They wouldn't fight or fire anything else; they would wait until after the fifteenth of the lunar month to return and set the traps.
The more than two hundred traps were divided equally among the three people and put into their respective woven bags. They would find places to set the traps after entering the mountains. Lu Zhiqiang was very excited, carrying a heavy woven bag full of traps made by the group.
"Li Ju'an, we brought in more than two hundred traps at once. Aren't we the only ones in the surrounding villages who could pull off something like this? That's really impressive."
He was already calculating in his mind how much he could gain from over two hundred traps. Even if only one out of five traps caught a small animal, wouldn't a quick stroll after the fifteenth day of the lunar month result in over 40 small animals falling into the traps? If he was lucky enough to catch a big leopard, he would truly be rich.
Lu Zhiqiang rubbed his hands excitedly, imitating Li Ju'an, and specifically sought out seed-bearing shrubs to set traps.
Li Ju'an led the two men through the bushes, searching for a snow-free spot. The bushes he chose were the places where pheasants and Sha Banjin (a nickname) loved to hide in during winter.
Take pheasants, for example. In winter, when there's no food, they can only survive on grass seeds. But after a few heavy snowfalls, not only the grass seeds, but even the shrubs are covered by snow. Pheasants can only survive by finding places without snow and where there are grass seeds.
Therefore, these rare shrublands became his preferred targets.