pjbooks Chapter 68 Settling the Fawn
Chapter 68 Settling the Fawn
The prey will be kept at Shi Zhang's house. After processing it, we'll leave it overnight and sell it in town tomorrow to split the profits.
Gou Dan helped deal with the male stag at Shi Zhang's house, while Shan Yaowen took the three fawns back first.
After being up and down the mountain for so long, the three fawns were a bit listless, their heads drooping and their bodies limp.
If we don't get them some food soon, they might die.
When I got home, my mother was killing a chicken.
Ok?
"What day is it? Why are they killing chickens?" Shan Yaowen remembered that one of his hens had frozen to death, leaving only four hens that were laying eggs. Why were they killing chickens now?
My sister-in-law hasn't given birth yet, so it's not necessary to start taking all sorts of supplements now.
"No, it was your pet bird that brought it back." Mother Shan happily plucked the chicken feathers. "This bird is quite good; it even knows to bring prey home. I'll feed it more later."
Shan Yaowen actually remembered after he finished speaking that the silly bird had caught a chicken when it came back.
He was so preoccupied with the fawn that he forgot about it.
"Why are you carrying three little deer on your back?" Lin Nian sat at the door, looking at the little deer that Shan Yaowen was carrying with a puzzled expression.
She remembered that Shan Yaowen had gone to the mountains to hunt roe deer with his older brother and Shi Zhang.
Why did you bring back three spotted deer? And they're so small.
"We didn't see any roe deer, but we encountered a male deer and three fawns. We killed the adult one and captured the fawns alive, bringing them back with us," Shan Yaowen said as he put the fawns down and untied their ropes.
"Niannian, get me some bran and straw. I don't know if these three can survive."
Upon hearing this, Lin Nian didn't ask any questions and immediately got up to prepare things. Shi Fang, on the other hand, looked at the three fawns on the ground with some curiosity: "You're going to raise deer?"
"Let's give it a try. I can't guarantee it will work." Shan Yaowen said to his sister-in-law as he went to the room to find thread and a knife.
After plucking the chicken's feathers, the mother looked at the three sika deer that could barely stand and immediately exclaimed, "Can these even survive?"
Without saying anything, Shan Yaowen took a machete, chopped a few sticks, and tied them to the deer's legs.
Although the hunting dogs of the Shi Zhang family did not kill the three fawns, they did render them unable to move.
My leg is broken and I can't move it.
If you don't fix the bones in the leg to allow them to heal properly, it's really hard to raise a healthy animal.
Lin Nian brought over a bowl of bran and placed it on the ground, looking curiously at the three rather adorable fawns. "Where do you plan to keep them? In a sheep pen?"
Shan Yaowen held the three little creatures one by one by the edge of the basin and fed them. "If we keep them at home, and leave them in the sheep pen without someone to take care of them all the time, given their current condition, they are likely to be trampled to death by the sheep or freeze to death."
"At home, there's only the stable."
Upon hearing this, the mother said from behind, "But these three are so small, won't they get trampled to death by the horse?"
"Why don't we just eat it? Why bother with all that trouble?" Shi Fang felt there was no need to make a fuss.
"That's right, these three look like they can't survive." The mother agreed with her eldest daughter-in-law's statement.
Aside from Lin Nian, neither of the two women in the family had a high opinion of the three little deer.
This year is already colder than usual.
In addition, these three fawns are all weak and can only lie down. They need to be taken care of in terms of eating, drinking and relieving themselves.
Who has time to take care of three animals every day?
"It's okay, let's try it first. If we can raise this one well, it can be considered an industry in the future." Shan Yaowen held one and ate for a while, then switched to another.
Upon seeing this, Lin Nian put the straw aside and helped pick up the remaining one to start feeding it.
"Are you really going to let them roam in the stable?" Lin Nian hesitated for a moment, but she felt that her mother was right.
The horse's size is quite different from these three.
If you're not careful, all three of them could get trampled to death.
"Let's put them in the woodshed." Shan Yaowen stretched and carried the three fawns, who had eaten and drunk their fill, to the woodshed.
Lin Nian squatted on the ground, looking at the three fluffy little sika deer in the corner. They seemed a little shy, huddled together timidly and shrank into the corner.
She was instantly charmed and couldn't help but reach out and touch the three little guys.
"Awen, look, they're licking my hand."
Lin Nian felt an itchy sensation on her fingers and couldn't help but turn to call Shan Yaowen to look.
"Hmm? It seems you're more popular with them." Shan Yaowen found some planks nearby.
These are scraps left over from when he was repairing the sheep pen. He originally planned to bring them back to use as firewood, but he never expected them to come in handy now.
"Why don't you just put some straw and stalks in this corner? Are you trying to build a den?" Lin Nian watched her man grabbing planks and nails, making it look like he was building a doghouse.
"The woodshed is too spacious and not warm enough. Plus, the door has a gap and lets in drafts. If we don't make it warm, these three little ones probably won't make it through the night."
While Shan Yaowen was hammering away, his younger sister, having heard the news, ran back to the woodshed with her three puppies.
"Second pot, second sister-in-law!"
"Woof woof woof~"
The three dogs were just greeting their owner as usual when they discovered three little deer in the corner of the woodshed.
Then the three puppies, who were usually the ones being bullied, suddenly became smug.
"Woof woof woof~"
Seeing the three dogs barking and circling around trying to bite, Shan Yaowen casually picked up a board and hit them one by one.
"If they bite me, I'll eat dog meat hotpot!"
"Aww~"
The three dogs were hit and immediately let out a howl, lying on the ground with their bellies exposed.
"What a disgrace!" Shan Yaowen rubbed the bellies of each of the puppies.
The three dogs then wagged their tails, stood up, and sniffed around Shan Yaowen intently.
"Don't bully the deer, or it won't matter how much you try to please me." Shan Yaowen grabbed the dog by the scruff of its neck and pulled it in front of the three deer, letting them get used to the smell first.
"Don't bite so easily."
Upon seeing the new deer, the younger sister immediately forgot about her three dog companions and squeezed in with Lin Nian to pet the deer.
The three little deer had huddled even deeper inside, still trembling all over.
There was nothing I could do; the two-legged creatures in front of me were terrifying, and there were so many of them.
There were three dogs nearby that looked very curious about them, sniffing around as if afraid they might not be able to resist taking a bite.
Seeing the frightened deer, Shan Yaowen chased away everyone who came after him.
"Hey, while I'm not home, keep an eye on these three." After tidying up, Shan Yaowen got up and stretched.
"Okay," Lin Nian readily agreed.
In any case, she always supports Shan Yaowen in his actions.
The two have been inseparable since their marriage, and she naturally supports whatever Shan Yaowen wants to do.
After settling things with the fawn, Shan Yaowen told his family that they needed to keep a close eye on the fawn in the woodshed.
When Shan Yaowen heard that he had started raising deer again, Shan's father insisted on going to see his three fellow patients, even though he was leaning on his cane.
In his words, does the second son even know how to raise deer?
He only glanced at it before returning without saying anything.
After all, even Shan Yaowen thought the arrangement was very good and he couldn't find any fault with it.
After seeing this, the mother nudged him and asked, "Didn't you do a good job, son?"
"When did this kid learn all this? He can hunt, raise sheep, and now he can even raise deer."
Mr. Shan sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) feeling depressed. He suddenly realized that his second son didn't need his care and could do things quite well.
When the blizzard hit, other people's ranches were busy selling sheep, repairing sheds, and shoveling snow.
The second son not only had nothing to do at the ranch, but after finishing his work, he could also take time to go hunting in the mountains to supplement the family income.
He was a good-for-nothing just a few months ago, how come he's suddenly a completely different person?
"What's wrong? Are you upset because your son outshone you?" The mother didn't care why her son had changed, as long as he was doing well.
She doesn't want anything else right now, she's just waiting for her grandson to be born.
"It's not that I'm uncomfortable, it's just that don't you think my second son's change is a bit too fast?"
"You're just not convinced; you can't compare to your son and you still won't admit defeat."
Single father: ...
He couldn't figure it out, and he was too lazy to think about it anymore; ultimately, things were developing in a positive direction.
He then stopped caring.