Capturing Deers with Salt

Biaozi chimed in, "Exactly! I promised those two youngsters at home to help them collect vegetable seeds and make a cold-dressed lamb dish for them later."

"Who said we won't have lamb to eat today? If we don't hunt deer, can't we still trap them?" Xiangbei took out a large bag of coarse salt and another bag of dry mimosa flower powder from the backpack. "Look at these. We'll pick some stones and soak them in concentrated saltwater, mix them with this mimosa powder. Sheep and deer love salt. We'll quietly scatter these stones along the grass near the water pond. There will always be a few greedy ones coming over. As long as they get close to our side of the woods without being stunned by our homemade Mengliao medicine, we can shoot them with an arrow and drag them into the cave without disturbing the other animals in the distance."

"North Miss is the smartest. We'll use this method from now on. Guarding this valley, we'll have more meat than we can eat." Huozi always be the first to praise and follow Xiangbei closely.

Tongxi said nothing and directly took the bag of salt to soak in saltwater on the side, very efficient. The silent handsome guy is really cool. Xiangbei shrugged awkwardly, gathered some fine bamboo twigs and old wild ferns to make fake hats for everyone. Then, with Tongchen, Lishu, and Biaozi, they passed through the cave and hid in the woods to quietly scatter the saltwater stones from the direction of the pond to the cave entrance.

Biaozi and Xiangbei placed several large piles of stones near the edge of the woods closest to the waterfall, leaving Xiangbei lurking here to break through later. Biaozi turned back and set up a few rope traps and trip pitfalls in the direction near the cave entrance with Lishu and others, then called the people waiting outside the cave to come and hide in the woods.

Before Xiangbei could hide well, a doe with fawns approached, ready to lick the salt. The tongue disappeared before touching the stones. Everyone was busy setting traps, and nobody noticed this side. Therefore, Xiangbei planned to discreetly bring a few cute animals into the space to grow freely. When two puzzled fallow deer suddenly appeared in the spacious valley of the space, they might be a bit confused. It had never been so quiet here. Where were the friends who were drinking water just now? What about the piles of salt stones discovered earlier? However, soon more sheep moms, deer moms, and little rabbits appeared on the grassland. There were even salt stones not far away. The big doe thought she was overthinking and decided to enjoy some salt. It was a rare harvest when coming here to drink water.

Animals kept coming over, slowly licking the saltwater stones towards the cave entrance. Xiangbei tried to take away some with cubs, and the male muntjacs. There were about twenty or thirty adult animals such as muntjacs, deer, and sheep passing by and entering the woods. The stones there were all soaked in Mengliao medicine powder. Now, it was time to see the results.

Suddenly, a sharp deer call, a lament, or a warning, echoed in the woods. The forest was filled with the commotion of animals. Xiangbei jumped out immediately, vigorously waving branches at the entrance. Several sheep trying to run out of the woods were scared and turned back. Some animals far away rushed over but fell down not far away. Until a small group of about five or six male deer rushed over rapidly, Xiangbei quickly stepped aside, propping up tree branches pretending to be small saplings. Oh my, these sheep seemed to have gone mad. They probably didn't eat the Mengliao medicine at all. Look at how spirited they were.

Two shadows appeared before Xiangbei, who was still in shock. She stared dumbfounded at two roe deer that were tilting their heads and making eye contact with her. What were these two brothers up to? Scientific meditation, perhaps? Her unique appearance seemed to attract their attention. Were they figuring out where to start eating her? But she heard that roe deer don't eat meat. Tong Xi and Jing Jing ran over, each holding a rope tied to the necks of the two roe deer, pulling them back. "Should we call them silly roe deer? While they're busy running for their lives, they still have the curiosity to spare. I don't even want to eat them. Let's not become as foolish as they are." Jing Jing was excited and almost going crazy. They not only picked on eating meat but also on the intelligence of these animals. No need to think about how big today's harvest was.

By the time Xiangbei and the others dragged the two silly roe deer out of the cave, everyone had already counted and allocated the prey. There were a total of five big yellow sheep, all dead suddenly. It was estimated that this batch started licking the salt stones with extra ingredients the earliest, resulting in a larger dose. The excessive pollen from the yang flowers caused heart paralysis and death. There was no need to worry about the sheep meat being poisonous. Mengliao medicine couldn't be considered poison; it fell into the category of nerve stimulants. Therefore, although overuse led to sudden death, the meat was safe to eat.

Four black mountain goats were strangled by rope snares, two horned sheep were shot by arrows soaked in medicine, and three more horned sheep and two male muntjacs were likely bound and stunned. At this point, they seemed to be waking up a bit. Five or six muntjacs were piled together, and it wasn't clear whether they were alive or dead, but the way they were stacked didn't look like living creatures.