Wild boars do not eat black truffles completely clean, often leaving some mycelium behind.
Therefore, black truffles are very likely to still grow near places where wild boars have foraged.
Xia Huai'an searched carefully near the area turned up by the wild boar, using an entrenching tool to gently scrape away ten to thirty centimeters of topsoil, following the direction of the pine tree roots.
Hard work pays off; after more than half an hour, he found two clumps of black truffles.
Xia Huai'an surveyed the surrounding terrain and began considering how to use the black truffles as bait to set a trap for catching the wild boar.
He first covered the black truffles with soil, then began digging a pit with the entrenching tool to make a trap.
Wild boars are relatively cautious. If it were merely a simple drop trap where the ground gives way, it would be very difficult to catch one.
Because a wild boar does not sprint while foraging; instead, it sniffs the scent of food while moving forward slowly. If its front feet step into empty space, it will immediately stop or back up rather than charge forward and fall into the trap.
Therefore, a simple drop trap would not work; a mechanical trap was required.
Xia Huai'an dug a large pit, two meters deep and nearly two meters in diameter, with a slightly narrower opening and a slightly wider bottom. The pit walls were at a sharp angle to prevent the wild boar from climbing out. He excavated six or seven cubic meters of earth in total—no small project, though fortunately the soil was soft and not too strenuous to dig.
He used a dagger to whittle three wooden stakes, planted them in the center of the pit in a triangular formation, leaving about fifty centimeters exposed above the ground, and sharpened their tips.
This way, once a wild boar fell into the trap, it would most likely be pierced by the wooden stakes.
Next, he retrieved a rope ladder and placed it across the mouth of the pit, securely tying both ends to two large trees with rope.
Then he gathered some relatively straight tree branches, trimmed them with his dagger, and laid them neatly side by side across the rope ladder to serve as support.
Finally, he covered the branches with a layer of soil, moss, and fallen leaves to conceal any traces.
The trap was complete. The strength of the rope ladder was sufficient to support the weight of a wild boar.
However, as soon as the ropes securing the ladder were cut, it would lose its support, and the wild boar on top would instantly plummet into the pit.
Xia Huai'an dug out the black truffles and placed them in the exact center of the trap. Once exposed to the air, the aroma of the truffles quickly dispersed.
Xia Huai'an used his dagger to cut into the bark of several surrounding pine trees, causing pine resin to ooze out.
The scent of pine resin is very strong and can mask human odor, putting the wild boar off its guard.
Xia Huai'an rubbed a small amount of pine resin onto his clothes, trousers, and shoes, then built a shelter of branches behind a large tree, crawled inside, and completely concealed his form.
Through the gaps in the branches, he could observe the area within a few meters of the trap.
As soon as the wild boar entered the trap's zone, a single reach of his arm would allow him to cut the rope tied to the tree and spring the trap mechanism.
Next came the patient wait.
If other small animals came to steal the black truffles, Xia Huai'an would rush out and scare them away.
However, this did not happen. It seemed that only Westerners and pigs liked eating black truffles.
This wait lasted until dark.
Xia Huai'an was very patient, because nighttime is the prime time for wild animals.
Many animals have the habit of coming out to forage at night, and wild boars are no exception.
However, today was overcast, the moonlight was blocked by dark clouds, and the mountain was pitch black.
Xia Huai'an did not possess the ability to track by sound alone, and the timing for triggering the trap mechanism was critical; he had to clearly see the situation around the trap.
Xia Huai'an took out his headlamp, adjusted it to low-light mode, and placed it high on a tree branch, angled toward the trap.
This way, it looked like a ray of moonlight spilling down from the sky to the ground, without seeming too unnatural.
And this faint light was enough for Xia Huai'an, seven or eight meters away, to see the general situation around the trap.
He waited all the way until the second half of the night, when the headlamp's battery was down to less than a quarter, and finally there was movement.
The sound of snapping dead branches drew closer from afar—a large animal was walking across the ground.
Soon, a pitch-black, large fat pig strolled over. With its head down, swaying its rear end with every step, its snout continuously sniffing forward, from time to time it turned over rotting leaves or moss-covered soil.
It was clearly drawn in by the black truffles, walking almost in a straight line toward the trap.
Xia Huai'an's heart leapt into his throat. He only had one chance!
Moreover, if he missed and the wild boar discovered him, it would likely attack him!
Although he had prepared to climb a tree to avoid danger, being actually attacked by a large wild boar would undoubtedly carry considerable risk.
Within the field of vision of Xia Huai'an, who was holding his breath, the wild boar's front hooves stepped onto the trap, and its body swayed slightly.
Although the rope ladder could bear the weight of a wild boar, it was pliable after all, unlike solid ground, so it naturally shook a bit when the wild boar stepped on it.
The wild boar immediately stopped in alarm.
Xia Huai'an thought to himself that this was bad, his heart pounding faster.
However, the black truffles, right under its nose, were an immense temptation to the wild boar. It did not give up; instead, it cautiously tested the ground with a couple more steps.
Although the branches beneath its feet swayed slightly, they were quite sturdy and could fully support its weight. The wild boar took another step forward.
It walked very carefully, but having made sure it could stand steadily,
the wild boar took yet another step, and then began to eat the black truffles with cheerful grunts.
"Snap!" Xia Huai'an severed the rope on the tree with a single slash of his blade!
The cracking sound of breaking wood fibers pierced the night sky. The moment the camouflage layer collapsed, the boar plunged into the trap, letting out a deafening roar.
Xia Huai'an put on his headlamp, grabbed his entrenching tool and dagger, and rushed over to inspect the situation inside the trap.
All three wooden stakes had been knocked down by the wild boar, and there were obvious bloodstains on its body; clearly, at least one stake had pierced it.
The wild boar was not dead, but merely lying at the bottom of the pit roaring incessantly, its limbs twisting and struggling. Unable to stand back up, it must have been heavily injured.Xia Huai'an was overjoyed. He removed the rope ladder, tree branches, and other tools from around the pit, then quickly walked down the mountain.
There was no way he could carry such a huge wild boar back by himself. He needed to hurry back to the village, gather a few men like the Zha Family Sixth and Seventh, and head back into the mountains tonight to carry the boar back.
He could not delay too long. In case the smell of the wild boar's blood attracted even fiercer carnivorous wild animals like tigers, all his hard work would go to waste!
Given a tiger's athletic ability, this two-meter-deep pit could be easily crossed. It might even have the strength to drag the wild boar out of the trap!
Walking mountain trails at night was very dangerous, but with his headlamp lighting the way and having already walked the route once, Xia Huai'an did not move slowly.
As he neared the stream, he suddenly saw clusters of firelight flickering in the brush ahead.
It couldn't be an animal, nor could it be a ghost—having received nine years of compulsory education, Xia Huai'an was a staunch atheist.
It had to be people.
Sure enough, as he got closer, he heard shouting voices.
"Damao... Damao..."
Could they be looking for him?
Xia Huai'an was stunned, and hurriedly shouted in reply, "I'm right here!"
At the same time, he switched his headlamp to signal mode.
The headlamp emitted a striking red light, flashing on and off, making it an excellent locator in the dark.
Sure enough, the clusters of firelight converged toward him. Xia Huai'an also walked toward them.
Before long, Xia Huai'an met a group of villagers holding torches.
The Zha Family Sixth, Seventh, Laosan, several of the eldest son's sons, Blacksmith Zhao's eldest son, and others—easily a dozen people in all!
Among them, a thin, frail figure stood out remarkably.
"Yufang?" Xia Huai'an called out.
That figure immediately lunged toward him, burying herself in his arms.
"Sob... I... Big Brother..." Yufang was choked with sobs, unable to get a single clear sentence out.
Laosan Zha Zhonghe said, "Sister Yufang saw that you hadn't returned for a long time, and fearing you might get lost or run into trouble, she went from door to door begging us to come into the mountains to look for people. Are you alright, Brother Damao?"
"I'm fine!" Xia Huai'an immediately understood what had happened.
He gently patted Yufang's back and comforted her, "There, don't cry, I'm fine."
The feeling of being cared about, of being on someone's mind, was truly wonderful!
In the past, Xia Huai'an was also often on people's minds, and a little late would bring platform notifications: "Where are you? Why hasn't the delivery arrived yet?"
"If you don't deliver it soon, I'm giving a bad review!"
"It's almost overdue, dear!"
"Can you deliver to me first, I'm starving, dear!"
Though they were both instances of being on someone's mind, the feeling was vastly different.
Yufang reined in her emotions, hurriedly struggled out of Xia Huai'an's arms, and hid to one side with a blushing face.
In Zushang Village during this era, unmarried men and women hugging publicly could practically be charged with adultery!
Fortunately, everyone in the village knew the two of them would be a couple sooner or later, and they just hadn't held the wedding yet, so no one said much.
Zha Zhonghe cleared his throat and said, "Since Brother Damao is fine, let's head back."
Xia Huai'an said, "Wait, Third Brother! Since we've come, how can we go back empty-handed? I just caught a big wild boar, and it's right in the trap."
"If everyone isn't too tired, why don't you come along and help carry the wild boar back to the village to slaughter it?"
"What? A wild boar?" Everyone exclaimed in shock. "Damao, you kid are something else, even daring to catch a wild boar! If that thing charges into you, you'd lose half your life even if you didn't die!"
"Let's go, let's go! Hurry up and carry the wild boar!"
Hearing there was a wild boar, nobody felt tired anymore, and they all agreed.
Xia Huai'an had the Zha Family Sixth escort Yufang back to the village to report that he was safe, and told Yufang to boil a large pot of hot water, getting ready to slaughter the pig overnight!
As for himself, he led Zha Zhonghe and the remaining eight men back to the trap.
Following his own footprints, Xia Huai'an soon led the crowd to the pine forest.
From afar, they heard the roaring and howling of the wild boar.
"Listening to this wild boar's cries, it's full of vigor!" Zha Zhonghe asked suspiciously, "Didn't you say it was injured? How is it still howling so cheerfully after an hour or two?"
Xia Huai'an found it strange too; perhaps wild boars simply possessed too much tenacity for life.
Until they walked up to the edge of the trap and looked down, Xia Huai'an discovered that there were actually two wild boars inside!
One male and one female!
The injured, dying one was the male boar—the very one caught by Xia Huai'an's trap.
However, there was an additional female boar that had somehow appeared in the pit as well.
The female boar was frantically shoving the male boar's body, trying to lift it out of the large pit.
But the male boar had lost too much blood and couldn't stand up at all right now, so no matter how hard the female tried, she couldn't get the male boar out of the trap.
Instead, she herself had caught the attention of the humans outside the trap.
"Buy one, get one free?" Xia Huai'an was both surprised and delighted.
The crowd found some large stones and forcefully hurled them at the female boar. The female boar took two heavy hits to the top of her head, immediately stretched out her limbs, twitched a few times, and passed out cold.
Xia Huai'an chopped off some tree branches, trimmed them into two long poles, and securely tied the four hooves of both pigs to the poles. Dividing into teams of four, they each shouldered a wild boar and walked down the mountain.
When tired, they took turns carrying it; when they truly couldn't walk anymore, they rested for a while.
It was dawn by the time the group finally hurried back to the village.
Xia Huai'an, exhausted from a sleepless night, went straight back to the greenhouse to lie down and rest.
Yufang called for Butcher Zhang from the village to slaughter the male boar. The female boar still had a breath left in her, so she was tied up in the Xia Family Courtyard to be dealt with later.
Xia Huai'an took the opportunity to catch a short nap.
An hour or so later, the pig was butchered, and the pig's head, ribs, leg meat, trotters, knuckles, and offal were all neatly arranged.
Xia Huai'an woke up as well.
Quite a few villagers had gathered outside the Xia Family Courtyard, all waiting for him to distribute the pork!