Autumn and winter are good times for hunting, but not right now.
Because there had just been several snowfalls, the mountain was very cold. Whether horses or people, stepping in the snow made crunching sounds. The animals in the mountains were all very alert—at the slightest unusual disturbance, their little heads would pop up and look warily around.
After encountering several such alert prey in succession, Zhao Hanzhang reined in her horse and very decisively took down her quiver to carry on her back, then made hand signals to Zhao Erlang, Zeng Yue, and the others. Everyone settled the horses, then according to instructions, spread out in an encircling formation and moved forward.
Zhao Zheng and the other youths also followed, tiptoeing forward, asking Zhao Erlang in low voices: “Why dismount?”
Zhao Erlang: “Don’t know. Elder Sister ordered it.”
Zhao Zheng: …
After walking forward for a while, a guard’s ear twitched. He said quietly: “There’s the sound of water. There’s a water source ahead—there might be prey.”
The youths’ spirits lifted upon hearing this, and they moved even more quietly. Passing through a not-very-dense forest, they saw bright daylight ahead. A small stream flowed downward with a babbling sound. By the stream were four or five deer and three roe deer drinking with their heads lowered, quite far apart from each other. Zhao Hanzhang’s sharp eyes even spotted movement in the grass by the stream—a gray rabbit head poked out, then quickly retracted.
The deer and roe deer would raise their heads from time to time to look around. Only when they discovered no danger would they continue drinking.
Zhao Hanzhang pointed in several directions to everyone, and they dispersed with tacit understanding.
Zhao Hanzhang walked forward a few steps, hid behind a tree, and gently nocked an arrow to her bow without drawing it, waiting for everyone to reach their assigned positions before acting.
They had been out all morning—she wanted all the prey by the river!
Everyone reached their positions. Seeing this, Zhao Hanzhang’s lips curved up. She drew her bow and walked out from behind the tree. The deer and roe deer by the stream saw the person and cried out in alarm, then took off running. Zhao Hanzhang’s fully drawn arrow shot out like a meteor, striking straight into the neck of a running deer…
Zhao Zheng was still trying hard to aim when he saw this and couldn’t help exclaiming “Wow!” Zhao Rong and the others’ eyes lit up even more. Another arrow shot out, together with another arrow killing a deer that had crashed into the forest. She glanced at Zeng Yue in another direction, then turned to shoot at the panicked roe deer that couldn’t find a direction and was running wildly.
Precisely because it was running without any pattern, it was harder to shoot. One of Zhao Hanzhang’s arrows grazed its neck and pinned into the ground. Normally, when an animal encountered such a scene, shouldn’t it turn and choose another direction to run?
The roe deer also wanted to do this, but it just seemed unable to distinguish directions. After being startled, it jumped wildly in place twice, stepped on the arrow, and ran forward again. Then it was caught by an arrow from Zhao Erlang pursuing from behind, which shot it to the ground with a swoosh.
With Zhao Hanzhang leading a group encircling and shooting, the animals naturally couldn’t escape. Even four gray rabbits hiding in the grass were caught.
Zhao Hanzhang walked forward and lifted a large, plump gray rabbit, turned back to them with delight. Just as she was about to speak, her gaze swept past a tree and her expression changed drastically. She called out: “There’s a trap, avoid it—”
Before the words finished, Zhao Zheng had already stepped on it. With a crack, his eyes widened and he cried out “Ah” as he fell downward.
Zhao Rong only managed to grab him, then was pulled down as well.
Zhao Hanzhang flew forward, slapping down at the pit’s edge with a smack. She reached out and grabbed Zhao Rong who was falling, her whole body jerked forward, but she quickly kicked out of the mud to slow herself.
Zhao Erlang, being closest, was first to react. He rushed forward and grabbed Zhao Rong’s arm. Zeng Yue and the guards also ran over, lending their hands to pull up Zhao Rong and Zhao Zheng, who was clutching tightly to Zhao Rong’s arm.
The two collapsed on the ground looking at the wooden spikes in the pit, their faces deathly pale, unable to say a word.
Zhao Hanzhang rubbed her shoulder, walked to the trap’s edge, and looked down. “Hoh!” she exclaimed. This trap was quite deep, and the bottom was planted with many wooden spikes. Fortunately Zhao Rong had caught Zhao Zheng—otherwise, if he had really fallen like that just now, he would likely have been disemboweled.
Zhao Zheng and Zhao Rong looked up at Zhao Hanzhang with lingering fear, tears welling in their eyes, about to fall but not quite falling.
Seeing this, Zhao Hanzhang comforted them: “It’s fine. This is a trap left by hunters. See the marks on the tree, and those three stones on the ground? They’re all markers for the trap.”
Zhao Rong turned to look. But Zhao Zheng was frightened. His eyes only had Zhao Hanzhang. Hearing her gentle voice but not clearly understanding the words, he just felt wronged and afraid inside. He suddenly hugged the legs before him and began wailing.
Zhao Rong, who was about to crawl over to look at the markers, gave a start and turned to look at him.
He saw the usually precocious and clever Zhao Zheng hugging Zhao Hanzhang and crying breathlessly, rarely showing the manner of a youth.
Zhao Hui and the others also gathered around, silently watching.
Zhao Erlang scratched his head. Seeing Zhao Zheng’s tears and snot falling on his sister’s pants, he immediately became displeased. He stepped forward to pull him away: “Stop crying. It’s just a trap. If you had slid down along the pit wall, you wouldn’t have been hurt.”
Seeing Zhao Zheng still clutching Zhao Hanzhang’s legs and crying, Zhao Erlang grew more unhappy. Originally just pulling him, he now directly tried to pry his hands loose: “Stop crying. Are you a man or not? This is my elder sister…”
Zhao Hanzhang irritably patted Zhao Erlang’s head, crouched down, and patted Zhao Zheng’s back.
Zhao Zheng’s face suddenly reddened. From childhood until now, this was the first time he had been embraced by a woman like this, even if only loosely. He stopped crying, looked up at Zhao Hanzhang, still sobbing and sniffling, choking out: “Third Sister, you’re like my mother.”
Zhao Hanzhang couldn’t help but rub his head, patting his back to help him calm down.
Zeng Yue had the guards descend into the trap and pull out all the planted wooden spikes.
Zhao Zheng also slowly regained his composure. He wiped the tears from his face, ignoring Zhao Erlang’s glare, and after rising while supporting himself on Zhao Hanzhang’s hand, stayed close to her.
Zeng Yue asked Zhao Hanzhang: “Should we fill in this pit?”
“No need,” Zhao Hanzhang felt the earth of the pit wall. “This trap was only dug a few days ago, right by the water source, specifically for hunting. Just pull out the wooden spikes.”
She turned to Zhao Zheng and Zhao Rong with a smile: “A false alarm, but a blessing in disguise. Come, let Zeng Yue teach you how to survive in the mountain forests. The first thing to learn is discovering hunters’ traps.”
Zhao Rong, his shock barely settled, asked unhappily: “Third Sister, you shouldn’t have opened the mountain forests at this time. Winter snow covers tracks, making traps harder to spot. These people are so vicious—digging pits is one thing, but planting so many wooden spikes inside! If someone like us who doesn’t recognize traps falls in without anyone as capable as Third Sister to pull them out in time, wouldn’t they lose their life for nothing?”
Zhao Hanzhang nodded: “You’re right.”
She turned to Zhao Erlang and Zhao Zheng: “Have the county office issue a notice, and summon all the village chiefs. People may enter the mountains and forests to hunt, but they must not plant wooden spikes in traps. Traps must have clear markers nearby to avoid accidentally injuring people.”
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