sjar Chapter 428 Kui 3 encounters the big monkey
Chapter 428 Kui 3 encounters the big monkey
The half-empty pot of monkey wine swirled, releasing a fragrant aroma. Chen Xiangqian took a deep breath, finding the scent quite unique.
Li Ju'an said, "Monkey wine, that's a good thing from the deep mountains. We can sell it for a lot of money if we bring it down the mountain."
When monkeys hibernate, they store fruit in tree hollows. Since monkeys don't just store fruit in one tree hollow, there are always some hollows that are missed. The fruit in these hollows ferments and forms monkey wine.
If a hiker manages to unearth monkey wine, it will be highly sought after in the market. Authentic wild monkey wine also has a time limit; it must be made from fruit found in a monkey's neglected burrow the following year to be considered genuine original monkey wine.
Li Ju'an carefully rummaged through the tree hole again until he could no longer scoop out the liquid, then he put the stopper on the wine jug. Chen Xiangqian poked his head into the tree hole, turned on his flashlight, and grinned, saying, "Hey, it really is! There are quite a few fruit scraps, and they've been spoiled for quite a while."
Monkey wine naturally has sediment from the fermentation of wild fruits. He reached out and wiped some off, sucked on it, and his eyes lit up as he exclaimed, "My father will definitely like it. The best monkey wine is worth more than a thousand pieces of gold."
As Li Ju'an put the wine jug into the cloth bag, he said, "You're absolutely right. Monkey wine requires the right time, place, and people; it's truly priceless. Take this back to the division commander, and he'll allow you to go into the mountains again next time."
After he finished speaking, he looked at Chen Xiangqian and laughed. Chen Xiangqian knew that he was being teased, and scratched the back of his head embarrassedly, saying, "How could that be? If my dad knew that someone had died in this area, he probably would never agree to let me go into the mountains for the rest of his life."
A group of people wanted to go down the mountain, and the fastest way down was through the wild monkey forest.
Falcons soared and cried out in the sky. Li Ju'an drove the dog sled and led the hunting dogs at the front of the group, followed by Chen Xiangqian leading the large livestock. Lao Jiang and the others stared angrily at Kui San and the others who were tied up.
The bound man cursed, "Damn it, I'm back in this forest again. What bad luck."
Xiao Xu kicked him, hitting the man right in the wound. The man screamed in agony, "Shut up! What else do you want to do? This time we absolutely cannot let you get away. Don't even think about it. If you think you can run away, you're just talking nonsense."
The bound men dared not speak out in their anger, their eyes fixed on the forest of wild monkeys, filled with fear and apprehension, hoping only to descend the mountain as quickly as possible.
Li Ju'an also noticed that the dense canopy of this forest was unusual.
Kui San's chest wound was severe, but looking at the dense, eerie forest, he still panted heavily and weakly said, "You guys, be careful not to run into a big monkey begging for a mouthful."
In the Xingan Mountains, many adults use the term "mandrill" to scare children. The mandrill, also known as the big macaque, is an extremely fierce species of monkey.
Locally, it's commonly known as the "Big Macaque." The Big Macaque is enormous, unlike the common macaques found in the area; it can reach a height of about six feet, equivalent to a woman's height. Among the hunters, many have reported encountering the Big Macaque, returning to their villages terrified and babbling incoherently. Later, it became a warning from adults to children.
"If you don't behave, the big monkey will take you away."
Li Ju'an often heard this saying when he was a child, mostly from Lu's second aunt, as a warning to the incredibly resilient Lu Zhiqiang. He also heard it from Sun's mother, as a stern warning to Sun Weimin.
The giant monkey, along with bears, leopards, weasels, and fox spirits, are almost collectively known as the wild animals most feared by children in the Xing'an Mountains. Of course, there are also rabbits, ingrates, and bastards. If someone gets called a bastard at home, they'll immediately run away, otherwise their father might come at them with a slap on the sole of his shoe.
Old Jiang stared coldly at Kui San and said, "Kui San, don't play tricks. If a big monkey really comes, would so many of us be afraid of just one monkey?"
Kui San's forehead was covered in cold sweat, and he gasped for breath in pain as he told Lao Jiang what had happened on their way into the mountains.
The leader of the tomb raiding gang was called Captain Wang. When Kui San and Captain Wang and his men went into the mountains, Captain Wang always felt that someone was following them. The footsteps were light and strange, and sounded completely different from those of ordinary mountain people.
They were outlaws, so they weren't afraid of unfamiliar footprints. Captain Wang slowed down, then suddenly stopped and turned around, his sharp eyes fixed on the figure behind him, his small pistol pointed at the person, ready to fire. But the figure also stopped, just as Captain Wang had stopped.
Xiao Zhang next to him laughed at him, "What's wrong with you? You can be scared by your own shadow."
Team Leader Wang shook his head. Although he was afraid, he had done so many heinous things that he had hidden his fear in anger. He looked closely and realized that it wasn't a human figure at all, but a ghostly face with yellow eyes and all sorts of colors.
The enormous ghost face looked very strange. This big thing was robust, with a large and long head, a bony protrusion on each side of its nose, and a red face with a light blue surface, making it look just like a fierce ghost or a phantom.
Xiao Chen, who was standing nearby, couldn't hold back any longer. He was so frightened that he fell to the ground with a thud, backing away repeatedly while shouting in terror, "Ghost! Ghost!"
Kui San was a local who had heard of the mandrill but had never seen one in person. Upon seeing the mandrill, he exclaimed, "It's just a mandrill, nothing more. Don't be afraid, it's just a monkey."
The mountain demon, the mandrill, has a short, thick tail and its body hair is mainly dark gray. Its face is very colorful, with black and reddish-yellow hair mixed in with its body, but it has an orange beard, a red nose, and lips.
The average mandrill is between 61 and 76.4 centimeters long, with a tail that is about 7.6 centimeters long when held upright. But this macaque is truly enormous, large and robust, and appears to weigh much more than an average male macaque. When it stands up, it looks like a woman, probably over 1.5 meters tall.
The group consisted of desperate criminals from the mountains, whose business revolved around the dead. As Captain Wang put it, "We're not afraid of living people, so why would we be afraid of a mere animal?"
"You beast, beat it to death, skin it, and eat its flesh."
Several men pulled out their small pistols and fired at the monkey. After a few shots, Kui San laughed heartily, thinking that he could get a monkey skin for free and go back to the village to show off to the other hunters. He felt very proud and honored to be able to talk about it.
Old Jiang raised his rifle butt and struck Wang, the gang leader, on the shoulder, saying viciously, "Where are your pistols? Where did you put them? Were you planning to sneak up and shoot them?"
Captain Wang's shoulder was shot open by Li Ju'an across the hill, causing him excruciating pain. He gasped for breath and couldn't even lift his elbow. Cold sweat poured down his forehead, beads of sweat the size of beans. He gritted his teeth and said, "That big monkey snatched my pistol."
Li Ju'an and Chen Xiangqian were both taken aback when they heard this. Xiao Xu also paused for a moment, then burst into laughter.