Chapter 97 The Old Village Chief's Advice

  Thanks for the reward and support from Zui Xiao Mi Le!

  "We'll wait for another hour or two, and Uncle will bring one of his closed-door disciples over. They're in a nearby city, visiting an old friend." Wen Qiu apologized.

  Everyone expressed understanding, but Chu Jiaqiang did not expect that his unintentional remark would cause such a big commotion. He was a bit worried in his heart, if there was no Hu Nanhu, wouldn't it be letting others take a trip for nothing? It's hard to enter the mountain, and without two or three days, you can't come out, this is not even deep into the situation. In the past, the old Taoist priest spent half a month in the mountains, which was not unusual.

  Miao Huo took advantage of this time to let Liu Yang and the others prepare some equipment, food, etc. for entering the mountain. He himself went with Chu Jiaqiang to dig up saplings, just in time.

  Liu Yang's big dog was tied up next to the house, Liu Yang's was a green-backed black-mouthed wolf dog, longer than ordinary dogs and shaped like a wolf. Wolf dogs are fierce and have a keen sense of smell, they are a relatively common breed. Many people raise them for hunting, herding sheep, etc.

  Wen Qi is a Bloodhound, with big and long ears, and a wrinkled face, looking like an old man who has experienced many hardships. However, he seems to have a gentle temperament, with melancholic eyes. It's said that this breed of dog has great physical strength, and is equally sensitive to their master's affection and reprimand.

  Finally, there was the dog of Ye's siblings, which looked the most handsome. It was a Samoyed with snow-white fur that looked very good and had a pair of very lively eyes.

  This sled dog is very friendly, belonging to the "friend dog" rather than the "loner dog". It is a loyal and affectionate companion, but generally gives people the impression of being noble and mature. Although gentle, it still has a strong wolf-like bite when provoked. Not easily irritated, not provocative. But if urgent, it's also very fierce, listed as one of the ferocious dogs.

  "This is Qing Lang, Xun Xue and Bai Xue, the breed of dog is still good, but can't compare with my lion." Miao Huo said.

  Chu Jia nodded slightly, the Tibetan Mastiff was already listed as one of the most ferocious dogs in the country, and its appearance alone could scare many children to tears. As for Miao Huo's lion, it had a relatively pure bloodline, so there was no comparison.

  Bring Chu Jiaqiang into the ground, those pomegranate seedlings are as tall as a person, and they should be one or two years old.

  "This sapling should be taken back and planted, it should bear fruit next year, but not too much." Miao Huo said.

  "It's just the right time for these seedlings! Your peach seedlings probably won't bear fruit until next year, and the villagers can't wait." Chu Jiaqiang smiled. He had another reason for planting peach trees - when the peach blossoms bloomed in February or March, it would be another beautiful scene.

  Miao Huo and Chu Jiaqiang took a number and organized people to rush to work.

  After Chu Jiaqiang and Miao Huo finished preparing the seedlings, Wen Qiu and others also sorted out the things they needed to bring. In fact, many items had been prepared long ago, such as simple tents, medicines, bows and crossbows. It was only after hearing that Chu Jiaqiang said it was a bit dangerous that they replaced the simple bow and crossbow with compound bow and crossbow.

  "There's no need to bring food, you won't starve in the mountains, and it's unnecessary to carry so many things." Chu Jiaqiang reminded.

  Although Chu Jiaqiang said so, everyone was still worried and brought some with them, preparing for any situation.

  Before long, Wen Qi's uncle Wen Chengli and his apprentice Xu Hao arrived. The two looked a bit dusty. They also had a hint of luck like Wen Qi, hoping to find the trail of the South China tiger and prove that this species still existed in the wild.

  "Hey young fellow, tell me about the tigers in your deep mountains. Maybe they're not South China tigers." Wen Cheng asked hastily.

  "Isn't it a South China tiger? Will we have other tigers in our south?" Chu Jiaqiang asked back in puzzlement.

  "Some, called Indochinese tigers, have shorter fur than South China tigers, lighter body color than South China tigers but darker than Bengal tigers, with narrower and black stripes. They are distributed in the eastern part of mainland Southeast Asia, Vietnam, Laos, Thailand, Malaysia, China and Myanmar."

  Chu's family nodded slightly and then shook his head: "This has to be asked of the old people in the village, after all I haven't seen it either."

  "Alright, let's hurry up and leave. It seems that this mountain range is also a treasure trove, with so many species existing here. The leopard should be the clouded leopard, a nationally protected animal of grade two. The bear you mentioned should be our country's black bear, although it's also a protected animal, but far less precious than the South China tiger." Old Wen urged everyone to leave immediately.

  The clouded leopard is the smallest of the "big cats". Its body shape and size are similar to those of a domestic cat. It inhabits mountainous regions with evergreen broadleaf forests, its coat coloration providing excellent camouflage in such environments, and it is an excellent tree climber. Due to several narrow black stripes on its sides that connect to form cloud-like markings, it is named the "clouded leopard".

  The black bear is also called dog bear, moon bear, and has a colloquial name called "black blind child". Why is it called "blind child"? Because it is born with myopia, and can't see things clearly beyond 100 meters. However, its ears and nose are very sensitive, and it can smell scents from half a kilometer away in the wind, and hear footsteps from 300 steps away. Don't look at its clumsy appearance, it's actually more alert than humans.

  Miao Huo handed the flower and wood yard over to his wife, then drove ahead as a vanguard, with four cars following behind. Chu Jiaqiang sat in Miao Huo's car. Wen Qiu was with her uncle and his disciples. The Ye siblings' vehicle was that most precious RV, according to Miao Huo, which cost no less than one million. Liu Yang's car had only his big dog and the prepared items inside. Finally, there was a truck carrying tree saplings.

  "Little brother, your village has a high sense of development! This road is well done, the car drives comfortably, such roads are rarely seen in rural areas." Miao Huo praised.

  Chu Jiaqiang smiled and said, "It was just repaired not long ago, using the strength of the whole village, so it's naturally done a bit better. Our place is poor, we can only repair this kind of road, cement roads are out of our reach, tens of millions or even hundreds of millions, even if we sell the whole village, we can't afford to build one road."

  The people behind him were also somewhat surprised, they thought that Chu's hometown should be very backward, after all, listening to his description, it was a very remote place. But this road doesn't seem like what they had imagined.

  Several cars entered the village, attracting another wave of onlookers. Fortunately, there were already cars entering the village one after another earlier, just not as many as this time, which made it acceptable to everyone.

  Many people knew that Chu Jiaqiang was back, and the truck behind him was carrying saplings. Those who had asked Chu Jiaqiang to help buy saplings put down their farm work and headed towards Shai Gu Ping, knowing that the vehicle would definitely stop there for a while.

  The car door opened, and several big dogs ran out, startling the onlookers. Some little kids hid behind their adults, but still peeked out to curiously look at these beautiful and ugly big dogs.

  "Help me move the saplings down. You guys take them back according to our previous agreement and plant them in the ground soon, not too deep. Water them afterwards and they'll grow quickly."

  Those people hastily thanked and then seven or eight of them worked together to move the saplings down. Several people started selecting their own fruit trees.

  Seeing the old village chief also coming over, Chu Jiaqiang introduced everyone.

  "Welcome, welcome everyone to Chu's village for a visit!" The old village chief immediately learned the etiquette from outside and shook hands when meeting.

  "The old village head, they're not here to have fun, they want to enter the mountain. These young ones want to temper their big dog's bloodline. And Wen Lao and his disciples are preparing to investigate the tiger situation in the mountains." Chu Jiaqiang immediately revealed the purpose of these people.

  The old village chief furrowed his brow as soon as he heard: "You want to go into the deep mountains? It's very dangerous inside, didn't Jiaqiang tell you? The tiger is an old story, who knows if it still exists now?"

  "Wen Lao asked immediately: 'Village head, what was the tiger you saw before like? Let me have an idea.'"

  Seeing these people seem to be determined to go in, the old village chief had no choice but to recall: "About 1-2 meters long, yellowish-red color, with a deeper back, and black stripes all over the body, deep and wide, and relatively dense."

  Xu Hao's face lit up and he said to Wen Lao: "Teacher, it's a South China tiger."

  The old man nodded and asked the village elder some more questions to confirm some prepared information. However, the village elder shook his head: "I haven't been deep into the mountains for a long time either. If you want to ask questions, you can ask two people, Old Five and Li Lao Tou. Those two families are familiar with each other and can take you there. My last advice is that these few dogs of yours look good, but when going deep into the mountains, it's still necessary to be cautious. It's not a place to joke around."

  Everyone knew that the old village chief did not want them to take risks, and their goodwill towards the old village chief increased, thanking him a few words.

  "Village head, they are looking for the South China tiger. It's said that the South China tiger is almost extinct and extremely valuable. If it were to be found in our Chujiashan deep mountains, it would be a big deal! The reputation of Chujiashan would immediately spread out, and the fruits planted in the village wouldn't have to worry about sales."

  The old village chief heard this and grasped his nerves, the development of the village had always been his heart disease. His enthusiasm came again, preparing to help these people enter the mountain.

  "Let's go and ask Lao Li and the others together. They are the ones who often enter the mountain in the village, but they also don't dare to go deep. Whether we can see or not is still unknown. And if you're going into the mountain, it's best to get them to join you too, after all, they have experience." The old village chief immediately leads the way forward.

  At this time, a sharp eagle cry came from the sky, and all the animals in the village quickly found a place to hide. Miao Huo's big dog was like an enemy, even the lion "Woo! Woo!" Low roar.

  Everyone looked up at the sky, a white dot was hovering in the blue sky and white clouds...