Chapter 192: Chapter 192: Hunting
Gu Kaiyuan flipped over and directly jumped down from the cave’s top, with a reverse hand action quickly settling a large wild boar nearby. As other wild boars charged at him, he had already leaped onto a nearby tree.
There were two large wild boars left, as well as two injured ones, and they didn’t let him off; instead, they began banging angrily against the tree.
Gu Kaiyuan grasped the swaying trunk with one hand and held his knife with the other. Suddenly, he exerted fierce strength, thrusting the knife into the back of the previously injured boar, which pained the boar enough to leap around awkwardly, distancing it from the tree.
Gu Kaiyuan smirked. Liu Pingkang and the others’ knives were decent, but not sharp enough.
He took out the small dagger he always carried. As a boar charged at him, he dropped swiftly, thrusting the dagger right into its head.
The two remaining snorting wild boars were furious. They didn’t even consider their precarious situation, only wanting to ram the two-footed beast before them to death.
Seeing them about to strike, Gu Kaiyuan leaped away, returning to the tree once more. The two boars couldn’t stop their momentum and collided head-on.
While they were still bewildered, Gu Kaiyuan took the opportunity to finish them off.
The boar stabbed in the abdomen earlier staggered forward, still trying to charge at him. Gu Kaiyuan tutted and shook his head, and with a swift leap, he pulled out the knife, putting it out of its misery.
The little wild boars were clueless, some even nudging the fallen boars with their snouts. Gu Kaiyuan ignored them; these small ones didn’t have much meat, so he let them fend for themselves.
He whistled towards the path they’d come from to signal Lin Wei and the others about the direction, then dragged the boars together.
This was quite a haul, six large boars in total, male and female, weighing over a thousand pounds. It seemed a lot, but there were many of them. Removing the skin and entrails would provide a few days’ worth of food.
They had just been resting by a water source; it would be best to drag these boars back there to process them.
Despite only encountering this boar family in the forest due to his injury, he didn’t dare confront them. He picked Lingzhi mushrooms, caught two wild chickens, and grabbed several rabbits before returning.
Lin Hua and the others arrived swiftly. Having lost track of Gu Kaiyuan, they were anxious since the snow kept falling, soon to cover all tracks.
Now hearing the whistle, they disregarded trapping the leftover rabbits and, clutching the four they’d caught, dashed towards the sound.
Before arriving, they could already smell the pungent scent of blood, even Yun Ni, usually calm, turned pale.
Impossible! Gu Kaiyuan’s luck is that good? To encounter such big prey?
This area is fairly close to the mountains; it’s unexpected.
But in snowy weather, who knows, perhaps the mountain beasts wandered down to the wrong place or met the mountain’s king coming to feed?
"Young master," Lin Hua’s voice preceded him, startling the birds in the woods, the echo resonating across the mountains.
"I’m here," Gu Kaiyuan finally jumped down from the tree, mainly because standing in the snow was too cold. He could endure it but found no need to suffer.
"Are you okay?" Lin Hua and Lin Wei chased the sound to find Gu Kaiyuan, instantly surrounding him.
"What could happen to me? But luck was good this time, bringing meat for everyone. Since it’s still early, let’s carry it back and tidy up. Maybe we’ll have a drink tonight."
The brothers Yun Ni brought widened their eyes seeing these boars. Mr. Gu was impressive, dealing with so many solo; with skills like this, why would they need hired protection?
Yun Ni approached to inspect the boars’ wounds, then gave Gu Kaiyuan a thumbs up, "Very impressive, let’s exchange pointers later."
"Absolutely," Gu Kaiyuan replied with a cupped hand gesture in response, "Anyway, I’ll trouble you guys to help carry them down."
"With meat to eat, they won’t mind working." Yun Ni’s words got immediate agreement from his brothers.
"Mr. Gu, we’ll handle this for you. With the food right here, we’d be foolish not to work quickly for it."
"Exactly, I could carry a boar down myself for a meal."
Once that was said, his area immediately cleared out; one boar weighed two to three hundred pounds after all, a bold boast indeed.
This person realized his slip, awkwardly chuckled, "Slip of the tongue, I meant dragging."
"Tsk..."
"Alright, brothers, let’s not fool around here. The blood smell is too strong; let’s hurry away," Yun Ni kicked the small boar standing aside and tut-tutted, "You’re too small; we’re not bringing you along this time."
Grow well here; perhaps when we return, we’ll make use of you."
Gu Kaiyuan chuckled and shook his head, well now, this cave’s been marked by these men. In the future, it’s up to these small boars’ destiny.
"Brother Yun’s got ideas," someone instantly flattered, "Given a few more months, these little boars should be just right."
In jest, without needing directed tasks, they dragged a pig leg and headed downhill, some with one person per boar, others with two.
Gu Kaiyuan had it easier, leisurely walking at the back.
On the way down, he remembered to catch two wild chickens for Bai Suihe, planning to make broth.
The party made quite a commotion; hardly reaching the bottom of the mountain, a crowd gathered around.
Hearing the wild boar would enhance their meal, all the escort agency guards guarding the vehicles joined in.
With many people, the power was evident; by the time Gu Kaiyuan’s group had just started on the chicken broth, the boars were cleaned and prepared.
Gu Kaiyuan took a basin of chicken soup and some fine wine, finding Liu Pingkang with two of the agents.
Liu Pingkang wasn’t picky; he had merely propped up an oilcloth by the fire, shielding from rain and snow, with wind sweeping through.
"Today you’ve worked hard, Brother Gu," upon learning Gu Kaiyuan hunted all those boars alone, Liu Pingkang saw deeper into Gu Kaiyuan.
He wondered, if this son is so outstanding, why does Mr. Gu dislike him?
"Just lucky," Gu Kaiyuan placed the chicken soup on the cleared coal pile, "I also owe Mr. Liu for your care."
As they laughed and chatted, it seemed their rapport had grown.
Regarding news of him hunting many boars, he figured he couldn’t hide it; perhaps the Gu Family already knew. But what if they did?
...
Gu Baijiang was also pondering this question, as he couldn’t recall having hired a martial master for Gu Kaiyuan. How did he do it?
