Chapter 384: Wild Beast Enters the Village to Fight Dogs (Part 3)
Chapter 384: Wild Beast Enters the Village to Fight Dogs (Part 3)
After eating their fill and drinking enough, it was getting late. Xiao Hua arranged the group of underlings into four teams, assigning each a specific patrol area. Lastly, with a reluctant glance at the warm and comfortable little wooden house, and under the amused gazes of Da Bai and Mao Tuan, it listlessly led its "underlings" to patrol their designated area.
That night, as the two teams of villagers patrolled near the back mountain, they were amazed to see over a dozen dogs obediently guarding the mountainside under Xiao Hua's lead. They were truly impressed, praising Xiao Hua as a good dog.
Xiao Hua proudly accepted these praises, arrogantly leading its dog "underlings" around on patrol, completely forgetting that it had caused the wild beast to come down from the mountain in the first place, which didn't require such seriousness.
In the following days, despite the continued patrols by villagers, not a single wild beast, not even a yellow weasel, was spotted. However, the area behind the mountain remained disorderly, making them unwilling to let down their guard. They continued their patrols every night, but seeing Xiao Hua and its team putting in so much effort, they relaxed their patrol frequency somewhat.
Meanwhile, those thirteen local mutts, after enjoying good food and drink at the Mo family's for seven or eight days, had noticeably put on weight. Their owners joked with Mo Yan not to feed them too well, lest they refuse to return home later.
Although it was said in jest, Mo Yan took it to heart. With Xiao Hua and Da Bai around, these mutts dared not stay away from home. However, if they got too fat at home and were taken back, they might end up being sold as meat dogs by the villagers, which would be a great sin!
Yet, Mo Yan couldn't not feed them either. Besides, she hadn't given them anything particularly good—just vegetable soup mixed with rice, far inferior to the picky three beasts.
While Mo Yan pondered how to slim down these dogs and avoid their fate of being sold off, snowflakes began falling from the sky. The snowfall was quite heavy, accumulating half a foot overnight and continuing into the next day.
With temperatures dropping, the python couldn't bask in the sun anymore, and the house felt chilly despite adding a charcoal basin. Mo Yan had to put it back into the space and sternly warned it not to cause trouble.
Such harsh weather was no longer suitable for villagers to patrol at night. Seeing how well Xiao Hua and its "underlings" performed, they were able to rest easy in their warm blankets.
However, Xiao Hua became addicted to patrolling. After dinner, it continued to wander around the mountainside with the local mutts. In the middle of the night, it even brought back more than ten rabbits. The larger ones weighed three to four pounds, while the smaller ones were no bigger than a palm, as if it had plundered someone else's burrow.
Seeing these small rabbits turned into stiff rabbit corpses, Mo Yan sighed in distress, pinching Xiao Hua's ear and warning it not to catch such small rabbits again. Xiao Hua reluctantly agreed and then snapped at a few mutts, biting off patches of their fur.
The reason was simple: those small rabbits tempted them, and they insisted on bringing them back.
With the ability of those mutts, there was no rabbit they couldn't catch with Xiao Hua. Even so, Mo Yan still divided up the rabbits and had them each carry one back to their owners, whether for sale or as offerings, which was quite good. Seeing that they could catch rabbits and make money, their owners wouldn't easily sell them off.
Mo Yan's assumption was correct. When the villagers received the wild rabbits, they were ecstatic, praising them heavily and showing off with their neighbors while holding the rabbits.
Deep down, they understood that without Xiao Hua from the Mo family, their own dogs couldn't possibly catch rabbits. Even if the Mo family kept all the rabbits, they wouldn't say a word of complaint. Therefore, they were truly grateful to the Mo family.
With their owners' praise and the rare chance to taste rabbit meat, these mutts became even more interested in hunting rabbits. That afternoon, they urged Xiao Hua to go into the mountains to hunt.
The snow on the mountain was thick, and the rabbits' short legs couldn't run fast. Although the mutts weren't fast either, it wasn't difficult for them to catch the rabbits. Thus, Xiao Hua took charge of finding rabbits while the thirteen mutts did the hard work of chasing them. In just one afternoon, they caught nearly twenty rabbits, all of them plump and large.
Each household received one or two rabbits. Mo Yan took out the largest thirteen and had each mutt carry one back. The remaining rabbits were temporarily left in the snowdrifts. If they didn't catch enough next time, they could add them later.
Various wild creatures hung under the eaves, so she didn't drool over a few rabbits. However, these few rabbits made many people in the village think.
"Let the village dogs lead people into the mountains for hunting?" Mo Yan looked at Yang Bao in surprise, not understanding why such a proposal would be made. "Uncle Yang, this won't work. The mutts can only catch rabbits. They can't handle anything bigger, and it's dangerous to go into the mountains with snow cover. It's better not to take risks."
"Um, I understand that, but most families in the village are struggling. Seeing those mutts catching rabbits, they just want to earn some extra money by selling pine nuts or something," Yang Bao replied awkwardly, well aware of the mutts' abilities. On the surface, it seemed like letting the mutts lead villagers into the mountains for hunting, but in reality, they just wanted to bask in Xiao Hua's glory!
Everyone in the village knew Xiao Hua was a good hunting dog, capable of bringing back even wild boars and goats. They just hadn't dared to suggest it before. Now that Xiao Hua could lead over a dozen mutts to catch rabbits, how could they not be tempted?
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