Chapter Fifty Mountain Cat

  Song Wen returned to the cave and saw that Shorty had already come back and was cooking porridge, but he didn't know what kind of porridge it was. The aroma was fragrant.

  He took a peek and found some white meat in the porridge, with a pile of wild vegetables beside it, and asked: "What is this?"

  "Toadstone."

  Song Wen's eyes widened in surprise as he hastily asked, "Who was caught?"

  Stone frogs are a good thing, with tender and delicious meat, rich in nutrients, fresh and beautiful taste, and have the effects of clearing heat and detoxifying, nourishing and strengthening the body. Now the market price is around 150, and stone frogs belong to national second-class protected animals, wanting to buy wild ones may not be available.

  "What's with the creek up there? You want to catch it too?"

  "Nobody dislikes delicious food."

  "You can catch some for yourself to eat, but don't catch them to sell. Although there are still some in the mountains now, if you catch them to sell, they might become extinct later."

  "Why sell it? It's better to catch two and eat them. Is that okay? I'll try the taste."

  "That's about it."

  The dwarf elder brother put the washed wild vegetables into the pot, adjusted the seasoning, and gave Song Wen a bowl.

  Song Wen picked up the chopsticks he had brought with him and started eating, the stone frog meat was tender and fresh, combined with the fragrance of wild vegetables and the delicious porridge, it was a perfect match, he ate so eagerly that his tongue almost swallowed itself.

  It seemed that Song Wen was heard drinking porridge, and Song Hu rubbed his sleepy eyes and woke up. When he saw Song Wen and the others eating porridge over there, he couldn't help but say: "You guys are also too unkind, you don't even call me when you eat."

  Song Wen ignored him, pouring the porridge from the bowl into his mouth, and then refilling it before speaking: "Hurry up and wash your face, eat some stone frog porridge, brother specially caught it, delicious to death."

  "Toadstone, true or false."

  Song Hu heard and walked over quickly. As soon as he saw the white stone frog meat inside, he immediately picked up a bowl next to him and started eating.

  "Hey, you haven't washed your face yet?" said the dwarf brother beside him.

  "After finishing washing, it's the same. The taste is really good. You're not being considerate at all, brother. How many times have you come to Linzi and never brought me any stone frogs to eat?"

  "If I told you, all the stone frogs in this mountain haven't been ruined by you yet." The dwarf brother said with a bad tone.

  It's really possible for Song Hu to do something like this given his personality.

  "I can tell you, but don't tell others that there are stone frogs here," said the dwarf brother seriously.

  Nowadays, people do anything for fame and fortune. If they knew there were stone frogs here, they would rush to catch them, so he carefully instructed Song Hu and Song Wen, who had grown up under his care since childhood and were still trustworthy.

  Song Wen nodded, but Song Huo curled his lip in disdain, thinking to himself that it would be foolish to tell others about this place. Having such a place to occasionally come and catch some fish to eat was much better.

  After dinner, the three of them packed up their things and came to the chestnut forest, where they started picking chestnuts again.

  Around 10 o'clock, I peeled off the chestnut shells and picked up a total of ten bags of chestnuts.

  They looked at each other and stopped after a while.

  The dwarf elder brother thought of Song Wen wanting to catch stone frogs, so he brought him to a rocky beach above the creek to catch stone frogs. Song Hu also caught some, but he killed them on the spot and took the meat back. Song Wen, on the other hand, put the whole thing in a bag and put it in his backpack, taking advantage of the opportunity to turn into a fan.

  Song Hu advised him to peel off the skin, remove the internal organs, head, feet and claws, and just take the meat, but Song Wen refused, saying that if they did it that way, the meat would not be fresh when they brought it back.

  After catching the stone frogs, it was already late, so the three of them cut a few branches to make carrying poles and carried the chestnuts down the mountain.

  Song Wen and Song Hu carried four bags each, while the shorter brother, being older and smaller in stature, was allowed to carry two bags, but he also had to carry the roe deer and wolf.

  Originally, the wolf was intended to be discarded, after all, it's a protected animal and too eye-catching, if people found out, there would be trouble. However, Song Wen planned to take it back, not to mention the wolf skin, but the wolf meat is also quite nourishing.

  Song Hu and the dwarf brother saw that he wanted to, so they agreed. His side is relatively remote, and no one knows if things are taken there. If it's taken to the village, it's different, there are many people and gossip, who knows what will happen.

  The way home is always faster, and soon after noon, the three of them arrived at the place where they picked up acorns yesterday.

  Song Wen ran to get the walnuts, several big bags of walnuts weighed down on the tree branch, which was bent like a carrying pole. Seeing that this branch couldn't hold any more, he had no choice but to go cut another one.

  "I told you not to pick it up, see, now you can't carry it anymore?" Song Hu said with a warning.

  But he still kindly helped Song Wen pick one bag, and there was nothing else he could do.

  They picked a route, and by noon the three of them hadn't even had time to eat, so they sat down under an oak tree and started eating. They were still eating the pork fat rice they had brought yesterday, Song Wen took out the dried meat he had brought and cut it into long strips with a knife, handing it to Song Hu and Xiao Lao Xiong, who stared at him with wide eyes, saying that if there was something good, why didn't you take it out early.

  After dinner, the three of them leaned against a chestnut tree with their eyes closed, taking a rest.

  Suddenly, Song Wen heard a cry coming from beside him, which sounded like a cat's meow. He turned his head to look and saw a dirty little cat not far away meowing at him, sounding like a cat's cry but not quite upon closer listening.

  At this time, Song Hu and the dwarf brother, who were resting, heard the sound and opened their eyes to look over. When they saw that it was a dirty little kitten with its down still not shed, they couldn't help but feel strange.

  "How did a cat end up here?" Song Hu asked in surprise.

  "It's probably a mountain cat," said the dwarf brother.

  In rural homes, almost every household has a cat. Female cats are fine, but male cats are restless and may run away at any time. Villagers say they have gone to the mountains to become leopards, but thinking back now, it's more likely that they've become mountain cats. There are many such domestic cats turned mountain cats in the nearby hills. When spring arrives, the mountains echo with the sound of mountain cats calling for a mate, and it sounds as eerie as you can imagine.

  "This guy, what's going on, always calling out to me." Song Wen said, looking at the little cat that kept calling out to him.

  "Is there something edible on you? These things have a very keen sense of smell and can detect the scent even from several kilometers away."

  After hearing what Shorty said, Song Wenzai suddenly remembered that he still had a few sausages in his backpack. It seemed that the little guy had smelled the delicious smell of the sausages.

  Seeing that the kitten must be hungry, he took out a sausage from his backpack and cut it into small pieces with a cleaver to feed the kitten.

  The little cat didn't know whether it was hungry or what, and without being polite, it started eating boldly beside Song Wen.

  In a short while, it ate a whole red sausage clean, then licked its own paws, and afterwards ran to Song Wen's side and rubbed against him before jumping onto his thigh and falling asleep.

  Heh, fooled himself, seeing that he had something to eat, he stuck with it, looks like this guy is also the kind who thinks whoever provides milk is his mother.

  Afraid of provoking the little wild cat, Song Wen carefully and gently touched the kitten's head with his finger. The kitten seemed very comfortable, rubbed against his finger, and continued to sleep with its head buried.

  It seems that this little guy has really gotten himself into trouble, what to do? Now he's carrying things all over his body and can't put them down. He thought for a moment, then hugged the kitten and walked towards the oak forest, taking advantage of Song Hu and Short Brother's inattention to put it in the Ruyi fan.

  Waiting for him to come out, Song Hu saw that the kitten was gone and asked: "Where's the cat?"

  "Let it go, mountain cat, I don't even know if we can raise it?" Song Wen said casually.

  "This mountain cat is too wild, I reckon it can't be domesticated. Even if we manage to raise it, it will still run away later." The dwarf brother said beside him.

  Song Wenlian nodded in agreement.

  After seeing that they had rested enough, the three of them continued on their journey. By the time they returned to Song Wen's home, it was already dark.