Chapter 41 Hunting Knowledge Zhao Erniu returned the bow to Gu Chan, looking embarrassed. "Don't look at me like that. My bow is indeed 60 shi. If you don't believe me, just look, the weight is engraved in the middle of the bow handle!" After saying that, he took off the bow from his back and placed it in front of Gu Chan and the others. Gu Chan and the others took a closer look and found that there were sixty-two small characters engraved in the middle of the bow handle. This proves that this bow is indeed a sixty-stone heavy bow. But the problem is that the weight of his bow and the bow bought by Gu Chan are very different when they are drawn. Otherwise, he would not have been unable to pull open Gu Chan's genuine sixty-stone heavy bow. Gu Chan was also puzzled. She reached out to take the bow handed to her by Zhao Erniu and pulled it open to try. It was indeed lighter, not as heavy as sixty stones. She lowered her head and thought about it, then she understood, "You weren't being ripped off, were you? Where did you buy this bow?" "I bought it from the weapons shop called Qianbingfang in the county market." Zhao Erniu replied.
Gu Chan was startled. "Qianbingfang? Is it the one across from Wanqipu?" "Yes, that's the one." Zhao Erniu nodded affirmatively. Gu Chan's face was stiff. Wanqipu is the weapons shop opened by the charming proprietress Qin Xiang. Yesterday, when she was learning archery with Qin Xiang, she discovered that there was a Qianbingfang diagonally opposite the shop, but she didn't pay much attention to it. It was not until the incident with Zhao Erniu that she paid attention to this shop. Of course, this also proves one thing, that is, Zhao Erniu was probably not bragging, but was just cheated without knowing it. Returning the bow to Zhao Erniu, Gu Chan said coldly, "I understand. It is very likely that the owner of Qianbingfang sold you a bow that does not weigh 60 stones." "That's right! The weight of the bow is different, and the price is also different. The owner of Qianbingfang will not sell you a 40-stone bow at the price of a 60-stone bow!" Ma Zheng added casually. Zhao Erniu instantly became furious. Although he and the owner of Qianbingfang were not close, they did have some business dealings from time to time. When he bought this bow before, he trusted the owner quite a bit and did not pay too much attention to the condition of the bow. Now, when he paired it with the bow he bought from Gu Chan, problems really arose. How could he not be angry? Gu Chan comforted him in time, "Don't be angry, the boss can't get away anyway, let's finish today's work first, and then we will go to the county together in the afternoon to ask for an explanation from him." "Okay, then today we will teach you archery seriously..." "No need. I have already learned archery. You just need to teach us how to hunt." Gu Chan interrupted Zhao Erniu before he could finish. Zhao Erniu's expression suddenly turned from anger to surprise. Ma Zheng also stared at Gu Chan in disbelief. Gu Chan thought they didn't believe her, so she immediately stood in bow posture, held the bow in her left hand, took out an arrow from the quiver behind her with her right hand and put it on the string, then she aimed at a poisonous mushroom growing on the dead tree trunk in front of her and let go and shot the arrow. "Whoosh!" There was only a whooshing sound, and the arrow shot through the poisonous mushroom with a sound of breaking through the wind. Gu Chan shot the arrow with such powerful force that the arrowhead was completely embedded in the dead tree trunk. Zhao Erniu was stunned and asked stupidly, "Who did you learn archery from? You can shoot the arrow so smoothly in one go." "Don't worry about who I learned it from. Anyway, I don't need you to teach me archery now. Just teach me how to track prey." Gu Chan hung the bow at her side and replied proudly.
Zhao Erniu was speechless. Ma Zheng looked at her with admiration, "Boss, please teach me!" "Don't worry, I will teach you slowly in the future. Today, let's follow him to learn how to track prey." Gu Chan comforted. Ma Zheng nodded obediently. Zhao Erniu came back to his senses and had to admit that Gu Chan was right. Although he didn't know who Gu Chan learned archery from, but judging from the skills Gu Chan showed just now, it was estimated that the person who taught him archery was better than him in archery alone. Therefore, he didn't need to maintain his dignity any longer and could only give in. "Okay! Then I won't show off my archery skills anymore. Today I will teach you how to track prey." "Hurry up! I can't wait any longer." Gu Chan urged anxiously. Zhao Erniu rolled his eyes at her before saying, "Tracking prey is also the most important skill for a hunter. If a hunter only knows archery but cannot track prey, he still cannot catch prey. There are three key points to tracking prey." "Which three points?" Gu Chan asked. "These three points are: looking, smelling and listening. The so-called looking means observing the footprints of the prey with your eyes to determine its movement trajectory, so that it is convenient to track it." Zhao Erniu spoke while looking around. When he looked at the bushes on the right, he immediately walked over, carefully parted the bushes, pointed to a row of small footprints on the mud and said, "Come here and take a look at these footprints." Gu Chan and Ma Zheng quickly surrounded him, squatted on his left and right, and lowered their heads to carefully observe the row of footprints on the ground. After observation, Gu Chan found that this row of footprints was very small, about the same size as a mouse's footprints, and it extended forward, with no one knowing where it extended to. After seeing the situation clearly, she asked, "Are these rat footprints?" "You are wrong. These are the footprints of mountain rats. They are smaller than mice, more agile, smarter, and more difficult to deal with than mice." Zhao Erniu shook his head and explained. "So what we have to do next is to look at this row of footprints and track this mountain rat, right?" Gu Chan asked tentatively. Zhao Erniu shook his head again, "Of course not. Looking at the traces left by the prey can make it easier to track, but we can't just track blindly. We have to use the second point of smell. If the prey is nearby, then we must be able to smell some of the prey's scent, but now we can't smell it, which proves that this mountain rat is not nearby. The footprints it left behind are just because it passed by here." "Oh! So that's how it is! I understand." Gu Chan felt relieved and had to admit that Zhao Erniu was right. Zhao Erniu continued to explain, "For prey like this passing by, it is useless to follow the traces it leaves behind, because halfway through the pursuit, the footprints may disappear. Not only will we waste our hunters' time, but we will also waste our energy. There is no need to track it." "I understand this, but what about the third point?" Gu Chan was like a curious baby, eager to absorb all the knowledge. "Hearing is used to judge how far the prey is from us. This third point is based on the second point. As long as the prey is nearby, it will make a noise over time. In this way, we can rely on hearing to judge where it is, how far it is from us, and whether we can shoot it." Zhao Erniu explained very clearly. Gu Chan and Ma Zheng nodded repeatedly after listening. They had to admit that these three points of knowledge about tracking prey were indeed important. (End of this chapter)