The next morning, before daybreak, Zhu Pingan woke up from his sleep. He dreamed that his mother made him a bowl of steaming chicken soup last night. When he woke up, he realized that he was in this deserted wilderness, feeling so lonely.
Last night's firewood had gone out. The north wind was howling, and the wind was echoing in the shed, making Zhu Ping'an shiver involuntarily. He hurriedly put on his clothes, got out of bed, and packed up his bedding.
The only companion, Shamatte Heima, created a pile of feces overnight, and looked at Zhu Pingan with an innocent Shamatte horse face. Damn, he looks like a super popular Vietnamese group and acts cute...
The first thing I did in the morning changed from practicing calligraphy to my daily routine, then I boiled water to wash up, and then practiced calligraphy for a while.
The sky was gray and there was no sunrise until after breakfast, when visibility gradually improved.
Zhu Pingan was wearing a thick leather coat, a leather hat, and leather boots, sitting on the back of a Shamatte black horse, holding a book, reading while riding. Because there was only one mountain road, he was not afraid of taking the wrong road, so he let the Shamatte black horse run freely. Zhu Pingan occasionally looked up to check the direction, and continued reading after confirming the direction was correct.
This place should be the southern remnant of Dabie Mountains. The mountains are undulating and I haven't seen anyone for a long time.
After walking about a mile along the mountain road, Zhu Ping'an suddenly felt his fingers getting cold while reading a book. He looked up and saw small snowflakes falling.
In a hurry, the snowflakes became bigger, thicker, and denser. Clusters of snow fell down, like countless torn cotton balls tumbling down from the sky.
In an instant, the mountain path was covered in snow-white. When the Shamatte black horse walked on the mountain road, Zhu Ping'an could hear a creaking sound.
So, Zhu Pingan put the book in his hand into the cross-body bag, held the reins with both hands, and asked the black horse to slow down. It would be better to go slower and more steadily than to rush and cause an accident.
The snow fell heavier and heavier, and everything around was pure white.
Zhu Ping'an rode his Shamatte black horse along the mountain path, watching the north wind blowing the snowflakes into various tracks. When he turned a corner along the mountain road, Zhu Ping'an saw a gray, long-haired dog with dirty fur standing in the middle of the mountain road.
There's a dog here? It seems to be an old dog.
A dog means there is a home.
Zhu Pingan took a look and suddenly felt happy. After walking in the wilderness for most of the day, he was finally going to see someone.
But a good dog doesn't block the road, why is this old dog standing in the middle of the road, staring straight at Shamatte Heima and himself. This dog's eyes are quite bright, amber.
When Shamatte Black Horse saw the old dog blocking the road ahead, he stopped in his tracks. His horseshoe-studded hooves kept hitting the snow, and he made a humming sound from his snort.
What the hell, why doesn't this guy leave? Zhu Pingan pulled the reins, but the Shamatte black horse was still angry and refused to move forward. The Shamatte horse face was still snorting and staring at the old dog in front.
Zhu Ping'an was about to dismount to see why this Shamatte dark horse didn't move. Just as he was about to dismount, Zhu Ping'an caught a glimpse of the old dog in front of him out of the corner of his eye.
Yes. Although this old dog is a bit old, its eyes are still bright, it has a grayish face, a green back and a yellow belly, and it has a fluffy tail.
etc.
Dragging the tail
Zhu Pingan stopped moving. He looked carefully at the old dog in front of him again, and then. In the cold winter with snow falling, Zhu Pingan's forehead was sweating.
The old dog stood calmly in front, its tail twitching, its amber eyes staring straight at him and the Shamatte Black Horse.
"Howl..."
The old dog was calm and even in his breathing, then he barked at the top of his lungs in a long, crooked voice, which was as unpleasant to the ear as it could be and was very frightening.
This is an old dog, it's clearly an old wolf.
What should you do if you encounter a wolf
Zhu Pingan once asked this question to a classmate from Inner Mongolia, and the classmate said:
If you encounter a wild wolf alone, don't turn around and run away. Humans can never compete with wolves in speed. The correct approach should be to stay where you are, make direct eye contact with the wolf, stare at it intently, don't look away, and hold on as long as you can.
Is that all right
Upon hearing this, the classmate grinned and said: Well, this way we will die with more dignity.
Although that classmate was mostly joking, there was still one good thing about him, which was that he didn't turn around and run. Even if he rode a horse, he couldn't outrun the wolf.
There is another reason why you should not run away when you encounter a wolf. That is because the wolf may think that the prey is trying to escape or attack, and it will fight back. When confronting a wolf, it is best to retreat slowly, especially to a place with a lot of people. Generally, wolves are afraid of people, and they will not rashly attack people without full confidence.
Of course, this is not possible now. We are in the wilderness and I am all alone with nowhere to retreat.
However, although Zhu Ping'an was sweating, he did not panic. He looked at the wolf calmly while thinking about how to deal with it.
Wolves are afraid of fire, so they can be driven away with fire.
Zhu Ping'an thought of this method. He carried a tinder with him, and also had a set of flint and steel in his bag. If nothing went wrong, he could just pick up an old piece of clothing and light it with the tinder, and the wolf should be able to be driven away.
Because of Zhu Ping'an's calm gaze and the sound of the black horse's hooves hitting the ground, the old wolf on the opposite side was a little worried and did not attack immediately.
This old wolf was originally the leader of a wolf pack in the deep mountains. Due to its old age and frailty, it was defeated by a young wolf half a year ago and became an old wolf expelled by the wolf pack. It has been wandering for half a year. Due to its old age and poor hunting ability, it has been hungry and full for several days. Now it is snowing heavily. Experience tells it that hunting will be more difficult for a long time in the future.
So, despite his concerns, hunger forced the old wolf not to give up, and his amber eyes were looking for the right time to attack.
While looking at Laolang, Zhu Ping'an slowly reached out to the secret buckle on the saddle, fumbled to open the noose with one hand, and slowly put the dagger given to him by his elder brother Zhu Pingchuan for self-defense into his sleeve. Holding the dagger in his hand, Zhu Ping'an became much calmer.
With a dagger for self-defense, you can also start lighting a fire to drive away the wolf.
In order to buy time, Zhu Ping'an first threw a few pieces of dried meat that his mother Chen had prepared as a snack at his waist towards the old wolf.
When Zhu Ping'an was lost, the old wolf crouched down with its back hair standing up, its lips and ears stretched to the sides, revealing its front teeth, and it arched its back and growled a few times.
When the jerky was thrown over, the old wolf arched its back and took a few steps back to avoid the jerky, even retracting its tail.
When seeing the dried meat thrown by Zhu Ping'an, the old wolf sniffed vigilantly, stared at Zhu Ping'an with a pair of amber wolf eyes, crawled on the ground, picked up a piece of dried meat into his mouth, chewed it and swallowed it in one gulp.
Then, the old wolf ate a piece of dried meat while staring at Zhu Ping'an.
It was indeed an ungrateful wolf. After eating, it still stared at him, showing no intention of giving up hunting. Zhu Pingan held the dagger and the fire starter, looking at the old wolf and complained in his heart. (To be continued)