Chapter 66: So Thrilling
After watching for a while, the two realized that the situation seemed a little off.
Ying Kongtu turned to ask Wen Zhongshan, “Are the honeybees unable to beat the tiger-head wasps?”
“They can’t beat them. That’s why their numbers dropped so badly.” Wen Zhongshan confirmed something else as well. “This nest of tiger-head wasps is also made up of extraordinary creatures.”
Ying Kongtu focused and looked closely. “They really are. Did they stay on the mountain for too long, receive nourishment from divine power, and mutate a little, which caused this change?”
“It’s hard to say. Should we intervene?”
“First separate them, or there won’t be many honeybees left.”
This nest of tiger-head wasps did look extremely powerful, but Ying Kongtu felt more heartache for his own honeybees.
He released divine power to drive both sides apart.
The honeybees and tiger-head wasps all sensed the unusual aura and uneasily separated.
The tiger-head wasps quickly burrowed beneath the fallen leaves.
Only then did Ying Kongtu realize that there were several holes in the soil beneath the fallen leaves. Many tiger-head wasps were going in and out through them.
No wonder they had not discovered any traces of the tiger-head wasps all this time. So they had been living underground.
The honeybees buzzed in the air for a few seconds. Seeing that their enemies had flown away, they also turned and flew back toward the beehive.
Like a cloud, they soon disappeared.
The forest became quiet again. Only a ground full of insect corpses remained. There were more honeybee corpses and fewer tiger-head wasp corpses.
Ying Kongtu took off his hat, snapped off two twigs, and used them to pick up the honeybee and tiger-head wasp corpses into his hat.
As he collected the insect corpses, he saw Wen Zhongshan looking at the ground.
“What’s wrong?” Ying Kongtu also glanced at it. “This nest of tiger-head wasps has mutated a little. Their venom is probably very strong. Let’s not touch them for now. We’ll go back and study it first.”
“I was just thinking, would the Ba snakes be interested in this swarm of tiger-head wasps?”
“Hm? How did you think in that direction?”
“The Ba snakes seem quite interested in all kinds of poisonous creatures. This nest of tiger-head wasps should count as rare venomous insects.”
Ying Kongtu did not know this bit of hearsay, and immediately said with interest, “Then we’ll ask them later.”
The two crouched down together and used twigs to pick up insect corpses.
These dead honeybees and tiger-head wasps still retained venom. If they touched them and got stung, they could still be poisoned.
The two picked them up little by little.
Looking at the hat, where honeybee corpses made up the vast majority, Ying Kongtu sighed. “These honeybees we brought back are really fierce. They’re the ones that should be called tiger-head wasps. They clearly couldn’t win at all, yet they still attacked first.”
“Maybe small insects don’t really have that concept. When they sense a threat, they attack first.”
“That’s possible too. But with honeybees this fierce, we’ll have to be careful in the future. We can’t let Jingwei and the others go near the hives. If we hire workers to go up the mountain later, we’ll also have to pay extra attention to the bee problem.”
After thinking for a moment, Ying Kongtu added, “I’ll see if I can use divine power to modify them a little, make them gentler, and try not to have them attack people or animals nearby.”
As the two spoke, they carried the honey and held the hat as they went down the mountain.
They had gone up the mountain from Wuchuan Mountain, but they came down from Baogu Mountain. Between the two, they took mountain paths the whole way. Driving would not be convenient, so they relied purely on walking.
On the way down, they ran into quite a few people.
Perhaps because the way they were holding a hat was truly too strange, everyone was quite curious and habitually craned their necks to take a look.
Then, they were often startled.
“Where did you get these bees? They’re huge!”
“Are those honeybees inside? Or hornets?”
“These are good bees. Is your family starting to sell bees?”
This time, it was Ying Kongtu’s turn to be startled. “Why would our family sell bees?”
“To soak in liquor. These bees are so big and so venomous. Soaking medicinal liquor with them must be very effective.”
“Are you going to sell these bees on Friday? I’ll reserve a few first. Last time someone came to sell them, I said I’d come back after eating, but I didn’t make it in time.”
“How much are your bees? Two yuan each, or more expensive?”
It was the first time Ying Kongtu learned that soaking hornets in liquor could be used to treat arthritis.
And this kind of medicinal liquor was very popular. There were even people who specifically went into the mountains to catch hornets and bring them out to sell.
Ying Kongtu politely declined. “We’re not selling them for now. These bees are too venomous. We don’t dare sell them, in case something happens.”
The two finally managed to escape the enthusiastic neighbors and returned home.
Tiaozhu and the others were also very curious about the tiger-head wasps.
They had seen honeybees before, but this was their first time seeing such large tiger-head wasps. These tiger-head wasps were almost as long as large shrimp.
“Don’t smell them!” Ying Kongtu quickly scooped up Tiaozhu and held it in his arms. “The venom is still there. Be careful they sting your nose.”
Tiaozhu struggled a little in Ying Kongtu’s arms. “Meow-ao.”
“You can’t eat these. Stop being curious.” Ying Kongtu put Tiaozhu on the ground. “We cut honey today. I’ll make honey water for you.”
The honey they had shaken down with the centrifuge, that is, the honey extractor, had some impurities like insect bodies and beeswax inside. It needed to be filtered again through fine gauze before it could be bottled and stored.
It was all for their own family to drink, so there was no need to be too particular. Ying Kongtu took the fine gauze used to filter the honey and soaked it in water, making a big basin of sweet honey water, which he divided among the family’s furry ones.
Tiaozhu and the others all liked sweet water, especially honey water.
After receiving their honey water, they could not wait to crouch in front of the water bowls and lap it up with soft, pattering sounds.
“Meow-ao!” After only one sip, Tiaozhu’s eyes lit up. It turned and called to Ying Kongtu.
Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan were also drinking honey water.
Hearing its cry, Ying Kongtu smiled. “It tastes good, doesn’t it?”
“Meow-ao!”
“Awoo.”
Not only Tiaozhu, even Xian Niao praised the honey water.
Ying Kongtu said, “We put in so much effort to go deep into the mountains to find bees. It wasn’t for nothing, right?”
Last time they had entered the mountain for too long, after they came back, Tiaozhu had been somewhat angry. For several days, it faced them with its backside and had no intention of paying attention to them at all.
Ying Kongtu had coaxed it with canned fish for several days in a row before finally pacifying it.
Now that Ying Kongtu brought up the matter, Tiaozhu pretended not to understand. It crouched on the ground, lowered its head, and focused on lapping up its honey water.
The family had harvested honey, and they had also harvested tiger-head wasps.
After lunch, Ying Kongtu carefully packed the honey and tiger-head wasps and sent them to the Ba snakes with the fastest courier.
After sending them out, Ying Kongtu told the Ba snakes that he had mailed them a small gift and asked them to keep an eye out for it.
The Ba snake clan lived in the same province as them.
The package was mailed over, and the Ba snakes received it the next day.
[Mountain God, you sent us honey? And bees?!]
Ying Kongtu explained:
[It isn’t the honey we’re using to repay our debt. It’s only the first batch of honey produced by the bees we raised. I sent it for you to taste.]
[These hornets are also ones we found on the mountain. I didn’t know whether you’d be interested, so I sent some over as well.]
[Interested!]
[Very interested!]
[We just tasted one. So thrilling! How did you know we have a habit of eating bees?]
[Do you still have bees over there? If you do, can we trade for some?]
Ying Kongtu had not expected the other party to bring it up first, and he was pleasantly surprised. [Yes. There’s a large nest on the mountain. We haven’t had time to collect them yet. If we trade, how do we trade?]
Ba snake: [Three bees for one jin of Ba snake fertilizer? Do you still want Ba snake fertilizer?]
Ying Kongtu: [Very much. But I’m not sure how many hornets we can get from the mountain.]
Ba snake: [As many as there are. We’ll settle according to the number of bees when the time comes, okay?]
Ying Kongtu agreed readily. [We’ll go up the mountain tomorrow to catch the tiger-head wasps!]
Ying Kongtu had not expected that, after going around in circles, he would finally negotiate a deal to exchange hornets for Ba snake fertilizer.
He showed the phone to Wen Zhongshan. “It’s settled. Shall we go up the mountain tomorrow to catch tiger-head wasps? I’ll go to the commercial street later. I think there’s a store there that rents bee suits.”
Wen Zhongshan said, “No need. We can just go.”
Question marks popped over Ying Kongtu’s head. He hesitated. “You know how to catch tiger-head wasps? I don’t think I’m very good at it.”
Ying Kongtu had never been very good at catching these poisonous insects.
In the past, if there were hornets on the mountain, what he most often did was drive away part of them.
If that really did not work, he would light a fire, smoke the hornets unconscious, and then have a little mountain god go up.
Among his followers, there was a Bear Mountain God who was especially good at digging out bees. It also had thick skin and tough flesh, and was not afraid of being stung.
When it was around, it was usually the one to go.
Wen Zhongshan said, “It won’t be a big problem. I’ll get a pair of thick gloves and prepare a gauze net bag to hold the tiger-head wasps.”
Ying Kongtu observed his expression and confirmed that he was serious. He let out a breath. “Then I’ll leave it to you. Tomorrow I’ll go with you.”
Wen Zhongshan lightly patted him. “Don’t worry.”
When they went up the mountain the next day, Ying Kongtu intended to go only with Wen Zhongshan and not bring the family’s furry ones.
Xian Niao did not agree. It bit the corner of his clothes. “Awoo.”
Tiaozhu also followed him closely, looking as if it had firmly made up its mind to go up the mountain with them no matter what.
Ying Kongtu had no choice but to say, “When we go up the mountain, be careful yourselves. If something looks wrong, run quickly. Especially you, Tiaozhu. Don’t rely on your speed and provoke the hornets.”
As usual, Tiaozhu raised the tip of its tail to count as agreement.
Tiaozhu and Xian Niao were both little mountain gods, so they could just barely follow them up the mountain.
Dart and Jingwei absolutely could not. With their physical condition and reaction speed, if they followed them up the mountain, they would one hundred percent be stung until their heads were covered in lumps, and they would have to enter the veterinary hospital that very day.
Ying Kongtu was afraid they would secretly follow outside, so he specifically locked them inside the house. “Stop howling. We’ll be back soon.”
Jingwei said, “Awoo—”
Ying Kongtu rubbed its neck and then rubbed Dart’s belly. “When we come back, we’ll bring you something tasty.”
Wen Zhongshan was already ready and waiting outside.
Ying Kongtu noticed that he was carrying a short knife.
That short knife was dark and thin, looking extremely sharp and extremely dangerous.
Wen Zhongshan showed Ying Kongtu. “This is the short knife I’ve always used.”
“It looks so dangerous,” Ying Kongtu said, staring at the short knife.
Not only did the short knife look dangerous, even Wen Zhongshan carrying this knife seemed to become dangerous with it.
Wen Zhongshan hung the blade back at his waist with the edge facing inward. “It’s fine.”
They went up the mountain and quickly found the tiger-head wasp nest they had seen that day.
The tiger-head wasps had dug a hole in the ground and entered and exited through it.
Although it was only morning, they were already very active, constantly going in and out.
Ying Kongtu looked and said with some regret, “We still came too late. We should have come at daybreak.”
“It’s fine. We were going to leave some tiger-head wasps for next time anyway. The ones that have gone out can be left alone.”
“That makes sense too.”
The two began preparations.
They swept the fallen leaves together, then broke off some fresh branches and piled them over the wasp nest.
Tiaozhu and Xian Niao also helped by carrying over fresh branches in their mouths.
They needed to make a fire here that would produce green smoke.
The smoke would disrupt the wasps’ pheromones, preventing them from judging the outside situation normally and from communicating normally.
That way, their aggression would weaken significantly, and they would not be as dangerous.
Once they were ready, Wen Zhongshan gestured for Ying Kongtu to take Tiaozhu and Xian Niao and move back.
Ying Kongtu had not the slightest intention of showing off.
He immediately pulled Xian Niao by the scruff, picked up Tiaozhu, and retreated several meters.
Wen Zhongshan lightly dug open the wasp hole.
This group of tiger-head wasps’ nest was more intricate than they had imagined. The underground wasp tunnel actually had a long, winding passage, and it was not directly connected to the underground nest.
They had burned the fire for so long, but still had not managed to blow the smoke into the nest.
Now that Wen Zhongshan dug it open, the wasps inside flew out with a loud buzz, like a black cloud, extremely spectacular.
Ying Kongtu nervously hugged Xian Niao, scooped up Tiaozhu, and ran backward. “Wen Zhongshan, be careful!”
Seeing the cloud of wasps, Wen Zhongshan lightly swung the dagger in his hand twice.
The swarm of wasps turned from cloud to rain. The wasps fell rustling to the ground just like that, and not a single one managed to escape. Wen Zhongshan’s movements also looked extremely relaxed. It seemed that dealing with so many wasps was not strenuous for him at all.
So impressive!
Ying Kongtu’s eyes widened.
So Wen Zhongshan had this side to him too.
Author’s Note:
That day, Ying Kongtu and Wen Zhongshan returned home hand in hand.
The furry ones at home rushed out to present treasures. Xian Niao seemed to be holding something in its mouth.
“Awoo-woo!”
Jingwei cried out excitedly.
Ying Kongtu understood. It said they had caught an animal from out of town.
What kind of out-of-town animal could be so rare?
Puzzled, Ying Kongtu reached out and pulled out a fat raccoon.
So it was an escaped foreign animal.
