Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

The squirrels are hung in the oven, and the beggar's chicken is buried in the charcoal fire. It can be said that more than half of the work has been done. All that's left is to roast the sparrows, stew half a catty of wild pheasant and rabbit, and make pheasant soup.

Of the remaining three dishes, only the roasted sparrow was more troublesome, because it had to be marinated and skewered like roasted squirrel. As for the stewed meat and soup, Wu Dong and Wang Shuai took care of those.

Continuing their busy work, after Wang An hung strings of marinated sparrows into a pit filled with charcoal and sealed the pit with a mud pot, Wu Dong and Zhang Shuya also stewed half a catty of rabbit, pheasant, and silage in a pot, and Feilong was also put into another pot to simmer.

Even though everyone worked together, by the time they finished, it was already 3 p.m. Even Wang Xiaomei and Wang Xiaoli had come home from school, and everyone still hadn't had lunch!
Wang An took out biscuits, candies, and other snacks to give everyone a snack, but they were met with collective opposition.

He Liang stared wide-eyed and said to Wang An:
"What? You've put a bunch of cookies here so we can't eat meat? Let me tell you, no way."

Ma Guoqiang also glanced sideways and said:
"Put away these pieces of junk. We've been waiting for so long, what's a little longer?"

Wu Dong glanced in the direction of the kiln, swallowed hard, and said:

"If there's meat to eat, who would still eat cookies?"

Just as Zhang Shuya and Wang Shuai were about to speak, Wang An turned around and took away the basket containing the cookies and candies.

Wang An mainly realized that what these two were about to say was definitely not nice.

The key point is that taking the cookie at this moment was really inappropriate.

When Wang An brought the cookies back inside and came out, He Liang rolled his eyes at Wang An and said:

"Why are you giving us cookies? Why don't you eat some yourself?"

Wang An smiled with a righteous and earnest expression:

"I was just worried you guys would be hungry. I'm not that hungry yet, I can hold my appetite. I'll eat the meat when it's cooked, hehehe."

Wu Dong looked up at Wang An with a smile and said:

"You think you can hold back, but we can't? What? Are you so hungry that a little longer won't make a difference? I've noticed you're quite cunning."

When his little scheme was seen through, Wang An smiled but didn't say anything, mainly because he had nothing to say.

It must be admitted that Wang An did have a ulterior motive in taking the cookies out.

Because squirrels are not very big when they are alive, after removing their fur and internal organs, the whole squirrel is only about 3 ounces of meat.

So although more than 100 squirrels sounds like a lot, when these squirrels came out of the kiln, there weren't actually many things to see.

If others eat cookies, they will definitely eat less squirrel meat, so Wang An can eat more.

In Wang An's opinion, once the squirrel is roasted, he will definitely not get much meat. Being able to eat a whole squirrel would be quite a feat.

The main problem was that as soon as Wang An's grilled meat came out of the oven yesterday, Wu Dong and his six friends snatched half of it. After giving two skewers to each of Wang Dazhu and the others, Wang An only had one skewer left.

The crucial point is that Wang An only managed to eat two bites of the last remaining skewer.

Because Wang An only ate two small pieces of meat, the rest of the skewer was taken by Wang Xiaomei and Wang Xiaoli.

To be honest, Wang An was really frustrated that after all the hard work of grilling meat, he only ended up with two small pieces.

Under the eager gazes of everyone, half an hour passed quickly, and the roasted squirrel was finally fully cooked. Just as Wang An was about to make a move, Wu Dong, Zhang Shuya, and the other five suddenly sprang up and pushed Wang An aside.

Wang An quickly greeted them:
"You're all worrying for nothing. I'm just showing you whether it's cooked or not."

However, the six men completely ignored Wang An's words, and He Liang, without even looking up, smiled and said:

"It's alright, let's eat it while it's hot, whether it's raw or cooked. If you're not hungry, you can eat it later."

Having only eaten one meal since morning, how could Wang An not be hungry?
As soon as the oven was opened, Wu Dong put on gloves and started picking out the meat. He was incredibly fast.

Of course, everyone else was doing basically the same thing.

After each of the six people had picked up seven squirrels, they made way for Wang An to approach the kiln.

To be fair, this time it was alright, because each person didn't get too much, and there were plenty of squirrels.

Just as Wang An was busy picking up squirrels, Wu Dong, Wang Shuai, and the others, who were starving, started eating them with gusto.

He Liang mumbled incoherently as he stuffed meat into his mouth:

"It's delicious, so delicious! How can this stuff be so good?"

Wang Shuai did the same, nodding as he spoke:
"Mmm, delicious, really delicious,"

Others chimed in, but after they had all spoken, the only sound left was chewing.

It's worth mentioning that although Zhang Shuya and Sun Nian are women, they have none of the reserve that women should have, and they eat meat even faster than Wu Dong and the others.

Wang An smiled and looked at everyone. After handing a roasted squirrel to Huang Zhong, he picked one up and ate it himself.

After just one bite, Wang An felt his taste buds experience an extreme level of enjoyment, and he even wanted to praise himself, "You're awesome!"

Squirrel meat is inherently delicious, and it tastes good no matter how you cook it.

But after Wang An tasted the oven-roasted squirrel, he suddenly realized that his previous practice of stewing squirrels was a complete waste of good food!

Because squirrels mainly feed on nuts and other dried fruits, squirrel meat naturally has a flavor that is a mix of pine nuts, hazelnuts, and pecans.

If you stew it, you can only retain a small part of the aroma. But now that Wang An puts it in the oven to bake, he has preserved the aroma to the maximum extent.

Similarly, because squirrels eat dried fruit, which is a type of grain, squirrel meat is not as tough as rabbit or other herbivore meat; instead, it is particularly tender and oily.

This roasting process allows the squirrel's fat to fully infuse into the meat, further enhancing its aroma.

Soon, the squirrel in everyone's hands was reduced to a small pile of bones.

The reason there was only a small pile of bones left was that, apart from the hard bones that were difficult to chew and were spat out, the smaller bones, such as squirrel ribs, were chewed up and swallowed by everyone.

There's no way around it, roasted squirrel meat, even the bones are more and more delicious the more you chew them, you don't even want to spit them out.

After everyone had eaten three, their stomachs were finally full, and they began to speak again. (End of Chapter)