As soon as the "Yellow Immortal Aunt" squeezed into the Leather Pouch, it immediately understood the situation, but since it was already half inside the No Descendants trap, regretting it was useless. It hurriedly tried to pull back, but the opening of the "Fur Wonton" was designed too maliciously. The hexagonal opening could be loose or tight; pulling from the outside made the opening wider, but from the inside, the locking piece around the edge of the pouch immediately tightened the opening. The hard hexagonal lock was thin and tight inside, instantly catching in the "Yellow Immortal Aunt's" bone crevices, causing it such pain that it flipped over and fainted on the spot.
From the Fatty farting and startling the "Yellow Immortal Aunt," to Yanzi's Hunting Rifle misfiring, which scared the "Yellow Immortal Aunt" into a dead end where it fainted from pain—this all happened in the span of a single breath. The three of us, lying under the red pine tree, were stunned. None of us expected things to take such a turn. After a brief pause, we cheered and ran over to pick up the "Fur Wonton."
Just as I snatched the "Fur Wonton" into my hand, I heard a dull roar echo from the Deep Mountains. In the dark night, a massive yet invisible sense of dread struck us dumb. "There's a bear cave near the Yellow Weasel Grave!" The three of us turned pale, exchanged a look, and without knowing who started it, we shouted together, broke into a run, and fled toward the riverbank, treading on the snow.
The winter came too early this year; the Human Bear had not fattened up enough before crawling into Tree Hollows and Caves for hibernation. It hadn't fully entered that near-dead state of hibernation yet. If it had been awakened by the gunshot and tracked us, things would have been disastrous. However, I couldn't afford to think too much; getting back to the Forest Farm meant we were more than halfway safe. We retraced our steps across the logs frozen on the river surface back to the Forest Farm. I ran until I was breathless. Upon entering the wooden cabin and seeing each other's disheveled state, we couldn't help but find it amusing.
Fatty lit the Oil Lamp inside the wooden cabin. He was eager to inspect the spoils of victory. He pulled open the Leather Pouch from the outside and hauled the "Yellow Immortal Aunt" out. Seeing it hanging limp with its tail down and motionless, he thought it was dead. If it wasn't alive when skinned, the quality of the pelt would be diminished. Moreover, neither Fatty nor I knew how to skin an animal; we had always planned to take the live Yellow Weasel to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to trade for Fruit Candy. Seeing the "Yellow Immortal Aunt" seemingly lifeless now made us both feel a pang of regret; those ten catties of Fruit Candy had instantly shrunk to two.
Yanzi often trapped Yellow Weasels and knew this creature's habits. She quickly warned Fatty, "Don't you dare let go! This thing is an expert at playing dead. The moment you loosen your grip, it will seize the opportunity to vanish. Be careful, it might have another trick..."
Fatty was just about to throw the "Yellow Immortal Aunt" onto the floor when he heard Yanzi's reminder. He immediately tightened his grip, firmly holding the Immortal Aunt's hind legs and tail. Then, a bizarre event occurred: the "Yellow Immortal Aunt" really was playing dead, and it seemed to have understood Yanzi's words, realizing its pretense wouldn't work. Before Yanzi could expose its second escape tactic, it immediately released a foul odor from its anus.
Although the Oil Lamp's Brightness inside the room was dim, we could still see large plumes of intense gas billowing from behind the Yellow Weasel in Fatty's hand. Before that cloud of smoke-like gas could dissipate, a pungent stench hit my nose. My breathing seized up, I immediately felt dizzy and lightheaded, my vision blurred, and my ears rang. I felt an overwhelming urge to Vomit, so I quickly darted to the door, yanked it open, and the cold wind blowing in from outside slightly lessened the annoyance, but I still felt extremely unwell.
Yanzi was also affected and rushed outside like a streak of smoke, grabbing handfuls of snow to wipe on her face. At that moment, I realized Fatty was still inside the cabin and immediately worried. The stench inside was overwhelming, making it impossible to enter. Just as I was about to call out to Fatty, I saw him crash out through the Window. His face had turned green from the "Yellow Immortal Aunt's" fart attack. Since he was holding the Yellow Weasel, he didn't have time to dodge and took the full brunt of the stench. His eyes streamed with tears, burned by the noxious gas, and he couldn't see where the doorway was. As a result, he slammed into the small wooden cabin's Window, breaking through it. Even so, he was still clutching the "Yellow Immortal Aunt" tightly, wiping snow on his face with his other hand while cursing, "Damn it, you think you can escape now that you're in my hands? Ten catties of Fruit Candy... I won't let go even if I'm smoked to death."
The "Yellow Immortal Aunt" fainted again from being squeezed by Fatty. Seeing that we had finally trapped the Yellow Weasel and that the Human Bear from Tuan Shanzi hadn't pursued us, I felt greatly encouraged. I said to Fatty, "The Yellow Weasel's foul fart can't knock down a Fierce Fire Diamond. Little Fatty, you're truly amazing. It's almost dawn, hurry up and tie it up so we can trade it for candy tomorrow. We should try to get two packs of cigarettes too. Damn it, smoking those Toad heads rolled in paper every day, the tobacco quality is too poor; it really needs improvement."
Mentioning trading the Yellow Weasel for candy and cigarettes made us all excited. It seemed guarding the Forest Farm was quite a good job. Tomorrow night, we'd try to trap a big Fox to bring back; that would make us rich. Fatty was so happy about the prospect of trapping more Yellow Weasels that he danced around, tying a tight knot with iron wire around the "Yellow Immortal Aunt's" hind leg to tether it to the corner of the wall. Then, we found some Yellow Millet Flour Sticky Bean Buns left by Old Man Qiao Shan in the flour bin to fill our stomachs.
Eating the sticky Sticky Bean Buns, Everyone found it very strange. It was still a long way from the Spring Festival, so where did Old Man Qiao Shan get this much Yellow Millet Flour Sticky Bean Buns? Was this old man robbing the socialist corner? Moreover, how could he and his granddaughter eat so many bean buns? There seemed to be something fishy about it, but we couldn't figure out what was wrong for a while, so we just ate many Sticky Bean Buns while harboring a string of questions.
At that moment, the "Yellow Immortal Aunt," which Fatty had just squeezed unconscious, woke up. I broke off a piece of bean bun and threw it to it, but it wouldn't eat. It looked like a beautiful woman filled with sorrow and grief, squatting in the corner, staring at its leg tied with iron wire. Its expression was indescribably sad, and tears streamed down from its watery eyes, drop by drop.
Fatty found it amusing and laughed, scolding, "How dare you cry! I'm about to interrogate you. Confess quickly: how many chickens have you stolen from the people? I'm telling you, as soon as dawn breaks, I will represent the people and send you to the Supply and Marketing Cooperative to be made into a fur scarf."
Yanzi and I burst out laughing. Just as we were enjoying ourselves, a sound of something smashing against the small wooden cabin door suddenly rang out from the Forest Farm. A grating, sawing-wood-like cry drifted in with the wind. I quickly grabbed the Hunting Rifle and pushed open the wooden door. The night enveloped the outside; the north wind carrying snow was blowing fiercely. The vast Forest Farm was empty, with not a single human figure in sight.