After leaving Liujia Village, the three arrived at a small grove of trees. After killing two wild pheasants, Liu Tiezhu pointed to a path beside the grove.
"Remember the guys who robbed us of our rabbits yesterday?"
Yang Hua said, "I'd remember those bastards even if they turned to ashes."
"Good. We'll wait here."
"When they come out, we'll follow them."
Hearing this, Yang Hua was taken aback and asked, "Aren't we ambushing them here?"
"No." Liu Tiezhu waved his hand. "Those bastards made us waste a whole day. Beating them up would be too easy."
"I mean to tail them, wait until they catch some game, then beat them up and take their prey."
"Let those sons of bitches taste what it's like to work for nothing."
After listening, Yang Hua immediately gave Liu Tiezhu a thumbs-up.
"Brother Tiezhu, you're wicked."
"But this approach is really satisfying. I like it."
Liu Tiezhu said, "Enough talk. We need to keep a close watch."
"If they have too many people, we'll retreat."
"If it's around five of them, we'll take them on."
After they made up their minds, they saw a group of people passing by the grove path. This path was the route from Liujia Village to the mountains; they had to pass through here to enter the mountains.
The three crouched in the weeds, carefully scanning, but didn't spot yesterday's crew. After the group passed, they sat back up and continued waiting.
Time passed quickly.
Soon, it was past eight in the morning.
Many hunters passed by the grove, but they still hadn't encountered the ones who robbed them yesterday.
"Brother Tiezhu, could those bastards have rabbit meat and not bother hunting today?" Er Gouzi couldn't help asking.
It was already late; if they were going into the mountains, they should have come out by now.
Liu Tiezhu thought for a moment and said, "That's possible."
"Let's wait another half hour. If they don't show, we'll head back..."
Before Liu Tiezhu could finish, he was interrupted by an excited Yang Hua.
"They're out! It's that bastard Liu Yusheng."
Liu Tiezhu looked in the direction Yang Hua pointed.
Good grief, there were seven of them.
The loudest troublemakers from yesterday were all there.
The seven carried longbows and steel forks, chatting and laughing as they walked this way.
"Brother Tiezhu, do we take them on?" Yang Hua asked.
"We do. Let them pass, then we'll follow."
Even though Liu Yusheng had seven men, Liu Tiezhu wasn't afraid.
Hearing this, Yang Hua, who was fuming with anger, got excited.
After Liu Yusheng and his group passed, the three left the grove and followed at a distance.
Liu Yusheng's group didn't head into the mountains but toward a natural reservoir at the mountain's base.
A few minutes later, the seven bypassed the reservoir and continued forward.
Er Gouzi, following behind, couldn't help saying, "Where are those bastards going?"
"Did they find some place with game?"
Liu Tiezhu thought and said, "Probably."
"Look, they're not stopping anywhere, so they clearly have a destination."
Yang Hua chimed in, "Even better. We'll just wait behind."
"After those bastards catch some game, we'll hit them and take all the prey."
The three chatted for a while and noticed Liu Yusheng's group had stopped ahead.
They seemed to have spotted something, crouching low and slowly creeping toward a pile of fallen logs ahead.
Seeing this, Liu Tiezhu told everyone to fall back.
They hid in the weeds and saw Liu Yusheng raise his hand, signaling an encirclement.
The other six immediately drew their longbows with bamboo arrows and slowly surrounded the area in a circle.
As Liu Yusheng's hand dropped, the six released their arrows.
From the log pile came a mournful "moo," followed by Liu Yusheng's loud laughter.
A cow?
The three were stunned by the sound.
"Damn it, that bastard Liu Yusheng, is he stealing someone's cow?" Er Gouzi said.
Liu Tiezhu replied, "Probably not. No one ties a cow to such a desolate log pile."
"So they've caught a wild cow," Yang Hua added.
A wild cow?
Er Gouzi's jaw dropped: "No way. Wild cows are usually deep in the mountains; they wouldn't come to a place like this."
"Nothing's impossible. We'll see if it's a wild cow soon enough," Liu Tiezhu said.
After encountering animals like sambar and white-headed eagles, Liu Tiezhu figured it was normal for wild cows to come out of the mountains.
While they were speculating, Liu Yusheng and his men had already hauled the game out together.
"Damn, it really is a wild calf!"
"That meat is ours now."
Seeing what Liu Yusheng's group was carrying, Er Gouzi started drooling on the spot.
He'd eaten plenty of wild boar but never wild beef.
That hundred-plus pounds of beef, Er Gouzi already considered his own.
"Don't rush. Our target today isn't just this hundred pounds of meat."
"This calf is about a hundred pounds; it probably hasn't been weaned yet. There must be a mother cow nearby," Liu Tiezhu said.
Hearing this, Er Gouzi and Yang Hua were delighted.
An adult wild cow could grow to four or five hundred pounds.
If there really was a wild cow nearby, they'd make up for all the rabbit meat they lost.
Besides, wild beef was far more valuable than rabbit meat.
"Damn it, I'm hoping now that there's a whole herd of wild cows hiding in that log pile," Yang Hua said.
Just as he spoke, Liu Yusheng's group seemed to notice something.
They quickly drew their longbows, nocked arrows, and surrounded the area.
Suddenly, weeds and dead branches from the log pile were sent flying.
A male and a female wild cow burst out from inside.
Seeing the calf cut into pieces, the male bull went berserk, pawing the dirt with its front hooves, letting out a furious moo, and charging straight at the men.
The female cow reacted just as fast, coordinating with the bull to encircle them from the other side.
Liu Yusheng and his seven men hastily fired their arrows, not caring if they hit, then turned and ran for their lives.
A wild cow with red eyes could even gore a tiger to death.
If they took a hit from one of those horns, they'd be dead for sure.
"What the hell! Why did this wild cow suddenly go crazy?"
"Mom... I want to go home..."
"Ancestor, save me..."
Liu Yusheng and his men ran screaming, their souls nearly fleeing their bodies.
Yesterday, they'd spotted the calf in the log pile but hadn't brought gear, so they didn't take it.
To be safe, they'd even planned several hunting strategies.
They never expected the calf to be part of a family of three.
After sprinting dozens of meters, they noticed the chasing wild cows had stopped, with the female collapsing and twitching on the ground.
The male bull hadn't fallen but was staggering.
Liu Yusheng immediately stopped and burst into laughter.
"Hahaha, both beasts are badly wounded."
Liu Yapeng said, "Let's go back and finish them off. Don't let them get away."
Liu Yusheng waved his hand, pointing toward the bull.
"Easy. See the bull's neck?"
"It's bleeding nonstop. They won't get far."
"Wait until it falls, then we'll go drain its blood."
The group looked closely and saw a bamboo arrow stuck in the bull's neck, with blood gushing out.