Chapter 41 Hunting Knowledge
Zhao Erniu returned the bow to Gu Chan with an embarrassed look on his face, "Don't look at me like this. My bow is indeed sixty stones. If you don't believe me, look at it. There is a stone weight carved in the middle of the bow handle!"
After saying that, he took off the bow from his back and placed it in front of Gu Chan and Gu Chan.
Gu and Chan took a closer look and found that there were sixty-two small characters engraved in the middle of the bow handle.
This proves that this bow is indeed a sixty-stone heavy bow.
But the problem is that the weight of his bow and the bow Gu Chan bought are very different when the bow is opened.
Otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to be unable to draw Gu Chan's genuine sixty-stone heavy bow just now.
Gu Chan was also puzzled. She reached out and took the bow from Zhao Erniu, pulled it open and tried it again. It was true that the bow was lighter and not as heavy as sixty stones.
She lowered her head and thought, and understood immediately, "You won't be cheated, right? Where did you buy this bow?"
"I bought it from the weapons shop called Qianbingfang in the county market." Zhao Erniu replied.
Gu Chan was startled, "Qianbingfang? Is it the one diagonally opposite Wanqi Shop?"
"Yes, that's the one." Zhao Erniu nodded affirmatively.
Gu Chan's face was stiff.
Wanqi Shop is the weapons shop opened by the charming proprietress Qin Xiang.
Yesterday, when she was learning archery from Qin Xiang, she discovered that there was Qianbingfang diagonally across from the shop, but she didn't pay much attention to it. It wasn't until Zhao Erniu happened that she paid attention to this shop.
Of course, it was also proved at this time that Zhao Erniu probably wasn't bragging, he was just being cheated without knowing it.
Returning the bow to Zhao Erniu, Gu Chan said coldly, "I understand, it is very possible that the boss of Qianbingfang sold you a bow that does not weigh sixty stones."
"That's right! Bows have different weights and different prices. The boss of Qianbingfang will not sell you a 40-stone bow for the price of a 60-stone bow!" Ma Zheng added casually.
Zhao Erniu was instantly furious.
Although he didn't have a close relationship with the boss of Qianbingfang, he did have some business dealings with him. When he bought this bow before, he trusted the boss, so he didn't pay too much attention to the condition of the bow.
Now there is a problem with the pair of bows he bought for Gu Chan. How can this not make him angry?
Gu Chan comforted him in time, "Don't be angry. The boss can't run away anyway. Let's finish today's work first. In the afternoon, we will go to the county to ask him for an explanation."
"Okay, then today we will teach you archery skills in detail..."
"No, I've already finished learning archery. Just teach us how to hunt." Gu Chan interrupted Zhao Erniu before he could finish.
Zhao Erniu suddenly changed from angry to surprised.
Ma Zheng also stared at Gu Chan in disbelief.
Gu Chan thought they didn't believe it, so she immediately stood up and held the bow with her left hand. She took out an arrow from the arrow basket behind her back and put it on the string with her right hand. She aimed at a poisonous mushroom growing on the dead tree trunk in front of her, let go and shot the arrow.
"Whoosh!"
There was a whooshing sound, and the arrow had a sound of breaking wind. It shot through the poisonous mushroom in one quick and accurate stroke. Gu Chan fired the arrow with such powerful force that the arrow was completely immersed in the dead tree trunk.
Zhao Erniu was stunned and asked blankly, "Who did you learn archery from? You can shoot the arrow so smoothly." "Don't care who I learned it from. Anyway, you don't need to teach archery now. You teach me tracking." As long as the prey is good enough," Gu Chan lowered her bow to her side and replied proudly.
Zhao Erniu was speechless.
Ma Zheng looked at her with admiration, "Boss, teach me!"
"Don't worry, I will teach you slowly in the future. Today we will learn from him how to track prey." Gu Chan reassured.
Ma Zheng nodded obediently.
Zhao Erniu came to his senses and had to obey Gu Chan.
Although he didn't know who Gu Chan learned archery from, judging from the skills Gu Chan showed just now, it was estimated that the person who taught archery was better than him in archery alone.
Therefore, there was no need for him to hold on to this face anymore, so he could only give in and said, "Okay! Then I won't show off my shame in archery. Today I will teach you how to track prey."
"Hurry up! I can't wait any longer." Gu Chan urged anxiously.
Zhao Erniu rolled his eyes at her before saying, "Tracking prey is also the most important skill of a hunter. An hunter only knows archery, but if he cannot track the hunter, he will still be unable to hunt. There are three key points in tracking prey."
"What three points?" Gu Chan asked.
"These three points are: seeing, smelling, and listening. The so-called seeing means to observe the footprints of the prey through the eyes to judge its movement track, so as to facilitate tracking it." Zhao Erniu said, While looking around.
When he looked towards the grass on the right, he immediately walked over, carefully pushed aside the grass, pointed to a row of small footprints on the dirt and said, "Come here, take a look at this row of footprints."
Gu Chan and Ma Zheng hurriedly gathered around him, squatting beside him one on the left and one on the right, lowering their heads to carefully observe the row of footprints on the ground.
After observation, Gu Chan found that the row of footprints was very small, about the same size as a mouse's footprints, and it extended straight forward to who knows where.
Seeing the situation clearly, she asked, "Are these mouse footprints?"
"Wrong, these are the footprints of mountain rats. They are smaller than rats, more flexible in movement, smarter in mind, and more difficult to deal with than rats." Zhao Erniu shook his head and explained.
"Then we have to look at this row of footprints to track this mountain rat, right?" Gu Chan asked tentatively.
Zhao Erniu shook his head again, "Of course not. It can be easier to track by looking at the traces left by the prey, but it cannot be blindly tracked. You must use the second smell. If the prey is nearby, then we must be able to smell it. If you smell some prey, but you can't smell it now, it proves that the mountain rat is not nearby, and the footprints it left are just because it passed by here. "
"Oh! So that's it! I understand." Gu Chan was relieved and had to admit that Zhao Erniu was right.
Zhao Erniu continued to explain, "It is useless to follow a passing prey like this, even if you follow the traces it leaves, because when you are halfway through, the footprints are likely to be gone, which is a waste of our hunters' time and energy. No need to track."
"I understand, what about the third point?" Gu Chan was like a curious baby, eager to absorb all the knowledge.
"Listening is used to judge how far away the prey is from us. This third point is based on the second point. As long as the prey is nearby, it will definitely make a sound over time, so we can judge it by listening. Where is it, how far is it from us, and can we shoot it?" Zhao Erniu explained very clearly.
Gu Chan and Ma Zheng nodded repeatedly.
They had to admit that these three points of knowledge about tracking prey were indeed very important.
(End of chapter)