Courtyard houses: Those who are capable are rewarded, and many children bring many blessings.

"Da Chuan, what I see from the front doesn't look like a wolf, it looks more like a leopard. There should be two wolves over at the rocky hill. Take another look, there are definitely a few more wolves around here."

Leopards are solitary animals, unlike wolves, which typically have packs of five to seven. Only two have been spotted so far.

Niu Sanhe followed along; this was the best opportunity for him to learn hunting, how could he miss it?

The two searched for a while longer.

"It's probably right above us," Niu Dachuan said in a low voice.

Everyone knew that wolves were vengeful creatures, and if you didn't wipe them out every time, you wouldn't have a peaceful journey.

Those who were sleeping against the wall woke up, gathered at the cave entrance, and peered out.

"With so many of us and guns in our hands, what are we afraid of these beasts stalking us and retaliating? If they keep stalking us, we'll just wipe them out together."

"Alright, since everyone thinks so, let's fight. Deshui, Dakang,..." Niu Dazhuang pointed to five people who were usually good marksmen.

"You two take on one, I'll take on the one directly in front of you. Aim carefully, and when you count to two, fire at once."

Five men, carrying guns and bending over, came out of the cave, found a suitable shooting position, and lay down on the snow.

Niu Dazhuang knelt on one knee at the cave entrance, adopting a semi-crouching shooting posture. Seeing that the other five were also ready to shoot, he whispered, "One, two, three."

"Bang! Bang bang, bang bang..."

With a few gunshots, several green eyes disappeared in the distance.

Everyone holstered their guns: "We'll go out again when it's light. Who's on guard duty then?"

The people of Qinjiawa asked in confusion, "Dazhuang, if we don't go and retrieve it now, it might be snatched away by some other animal before dawn."

The people of Niujiazhuang stared at the person who had just spoken as if he were a fool.

"If you want to die, go by yourself, don't drag others down with you." After saying that, Niu Dazhuang was too lazy to pay attention to him anymore. He leaned against the cave, crossed his arms, and dozed off.

Half-asleep, the aroma of rice and meat porridge wafted into his nostrils. Niu Dazhuang knew breakfast was ready and suddenly opened his eyes.

He stretched and stood up: "After we eat, we'll head back. Wolves have a very strong sense of territory; I estimate this is the only wolf pack for miles around."

The people of Qinjiawa huddled together and whispered for a while. Qin Xueyang walked up to Niu Dazhuang and said, "Dazhuang, we've discussed it. You guys should go back first. It's not easy for us to come into the mountains. We've come all this way, and it's not right to go back empty-handed. We'd like to wander around a bit more."

Niu Dazhuang immediately became unhappy: "Second brother, normally you're all adults, and I still call most of you 'brother'."

But today is different. The captain appointed me as the wolf-hunting squad leader, so you all have to listen to me.

I brought you all out safely, and I must bring you back safe and sound. If you want to go back into the mountains, you can organize yourselves to come back when you get back to the village. Anyway, we've already paved this way into the mountains.”

Qin Xueyang understood Niu Dazhuang's meaning, but once they returned, the brigade leader would definitely not agree to let them go into the mountains again.

"Dazhuang, this is what we discussed with you."

"Oh, then I disagree. There's no need to discuss it further." Qin Xueyang was taken aback and didn't want to be confronted with a red-faced, angry retort.

Some people from Qinjiawa started commotion: "Eryang, you're his brother-in-law, but you're all bowing and scraping to me, you look more like his brother-in-law!"

Niu Dazhuang, who was he? He wouldn't tolerate this: "San Dan'er, right? You look like my brother-in-law. Don't try to sow discord between us. If you want to stay, I won't stop you. Da Chuan, get his gun over here."

The atmosphere in the cave immediately fell silent as Niu Dazhuang raised his gun, pointing it at San Dan'er.

San Dan'er wasn't intimidated: "The gun doesn't belong to you, it belongs to the brigade headquarters. Why should we give it to you?"

Niu Dazhuang didn't waste any words with him and suddenly fired a shot, but not at people, but at San Dan'er's feet.

San Dan'er didn't expect the other party to be so decisive and actually dare to fire a shot.

"Stop talking nonsense, didn't you hear me? Da Chuan, De Shui, San He, bring all the guns from Qin Jia Wa over here."

"We never said we were going to stay, so why are we being forced to surrender?"

"Hmph! I'm afraid you'll shoot me in the back."

"Brother-in-law, why bother? Give your second brother some face. I guarantee they won't shoot you in the back. We came out to hunt wolves together, and it wouldn't look good if you were disarmed!"

Niu Dazhuang glanced at Qin Xueyang, his expression softening considerably: "Alright, for your sake, you guys hurry up and cook, then come back after you've eaten."

After everyone had eaten breakfast, Niu Dazhuang said, "Second Brother, why don't you take two men and go with Sanhe to see what's left and bring it back?"

Only the wolf carcass at the cave entrance was intact, while the two wolves in the pile of rocks only had their heads intact.

The group strolled back to Qinjiawa, with Niu Dazhuang always bringing up the rear of the group on the way home.

Upon meeting the brigade leader, Qin Youde, he said, "I've brought all the men back to you. We killed three wolves. Your village should also send someone to keep watch tonight; there's bound to be more wolves coming into the village."

Turning to Deshui, he said, "This time we don't want anything, you guys don't have any objections, right?"

"I'll do whatever Uncle Dazhuang says."

"Okay, Captain, I'd like to borrow a few guns, is that alright?" Niu Dazhuang asked.

"No problem, our two villages are in the same brigade, this gun belongs to the collective, it's only right."

This time, Niu Dazhuang was too embarrassed to borrow an M1 semi-automatic rifle; he only borrowed five rifles and two hundred rounds of ammunition.

After all, Qinjiawa also needed to use guns to guard against wild wolves entering the village.

Niu Dazhuang then said to the ten men, "You wanted to continue hunting wolves, right? I reckon wolves will be coming into the village in the next few days. Get ready. Let's go."

Once the other party had disappeared from sight, the ten men started shouting, "What a bunch of bandits! They start shooting at the slightest disagreement!"

Upon hearing this, Qin Youde's expression darkened: "Fourth Brother, what's going on? Niu Dazhuang fired at you?"

Qin Xueyang, the fourth oldest in his family, was relatively objective and recounted the events of this morning.

Qin Youde got even angrier upon hearing this and kicked San Dan'er in the backside: "You've gotten so tough, haven't you? Why didn't Niu Dazhuang break your legs back then? You wanted to hunt wolves, huh? Well, you'll be on duty tonight..."

Turning to Qin Xueyang with a stern face, he said, "Fourth brother, you too, don't you know your own limitations? You have no backbone at all, you just believe whatever they say. Do you think ten of you can take down a wolf?"

"Uncle, all ten of us are militiamen, and our marksmanship is pretty good. We didn't necessarily say we had to hunt wolves. It's not easy to come into the mountains, and we'd feel like we'd lost out if we didn't bring back some meat!" Qin Xueyang said, sticking out his neck.

These words left Niu Youde speechless with anger. His face turned ashen. "Fine, very well. You ten can take turns on night shifts. Here's your gun, and all you can carry. Let me see what you're made of." With that, he stormed off, hands behind his back.