Returning to the small mountain village of '86, intelligence updated daily.

Zhou Rui appeared to be comforting his second uncle, Zhou Shijie.

At this moment, Zhou Shiwei, who was at the back of the group, also spoke up:

"Your nephew is right. Besides, there's no such thing as a free lunch. Didn't you bring back so many wild gastrodia last time?"

"If we didn't have that thing, we wouldn't be able to get guns either."

As Zhou Shiwei spoke, he pointed to the object that Zhou Rui was holding.

Zhou Ming, on the other hand, was very curious and kept asking Zhou Shijie all sorts of questions.

The mountain road was not easy to walk on. Because it had just rained, many parts of the road were very slippery, and the water in the stream was significantly more abundant.

The group walked along the stream, and now they were no longer on the mountain, but rather in a crevice between several mountains.

There were no trees to block the sunlight from the stream, and the sun was shining on the four of them. It wasn't very warm because it was autumn and they were already deep in the mountains.

So everyone felt comfortable and didn't feel hot.

Just as the four of them had traveled some distance along the rugged path, they suddenly heard a rustling sound coming from the bushes beside them.

The vigilant Zhou Shiwei was the first to notice something was wrong. He tugged at Zhou Ming, who was about to turn around to ask what was going on, but saw Zhou Shiwei make a shushing gesture.

Almost at the same time, Zhou Rui also noticed something was wrong, and he gently tugged at Zhou Shijie.

The other person was much more composed than Zhou Ming, and only gave him a questioning look.

Then, Zhou Rui gestured for him to look at the bushes at the foot of a mountain not far away.

The rustling sound was coming from here.

The four of them immediately understood and held their breath.

This place was a bit far from where the four of them were, more than a hundred meters away.

After a while, just as the group was holding their breath, an animal peeked out from the bushes.

It looked around warily, but there was no other movement around.

Once it had fully emerged, its appearance was completely exposed to the four people.

It resembles a deer, but it has no antlers on its head, its upper teeth are well-developed and protrude in the shape of tusks, its fur is dark brown with pale yellow patches, and its tail is very short.

When the deer-like animal appeared, both Zhou Shiwei and his son Zhou Rui gasped and then stared at each other.

They both saw shock in each other's eyes, but beyond shock, there was also overwhelming ecstasy!

This is a musk deer! Also known as a musk deer, it is a type of deer.

However, its value is far beyond that of ordinary deer.

Because male musk deer possess something of extremely high value.

Musk!

This is an extremely precious Chinese medicinal herb, far superior to wild Gastrodia elata.

One gram of musk can sell for a sky-high price of 20 to 30 yuan!

This is the lowest tier; any knowledgeable buyer would snap it up at this price.

The actual price is much higher than that number.

Even at the lowest price, three grams of musk is enough to match the entire value of that wild boar weighing over a hundred pounds.

A single forest musk deer can produce 10-30 grams of musk.

Zhou Rui was shocked. He had connections; he just needed to get Zhao Jianjun to spend some money and pull some strings...

But that's all in the future. Right now, the most urgent task is to secure the deal. Whether Zhao Jianjun will even have the appetite to take it then is another matter entirely...

As long as they can get their hands on it, it means that even just considering the musk alone, they will be guaranteed to receive at least 200 yuan for the musk!

Not to mention that the skin, flesh, and bones of the musk deer can all be sold for money.

This musk deer is not very big, weighing only eight or nine kilograms, but that is relative to other animals. Within the musk deer family, this size is already considered outstanding.

At that time, excluding the musk byproducts, the total price could be over 200 yuan.

Adding all that up, even at the lowest possible estimate, their total earnings from this trip would be 400 yuan.

Moreover, the musk on this forest musk deer is very likely to be more than 10 grams; that's just the minimum amount.

In comparison, wild Gastrodia elata is as unremarkable as a potato compared to musk.

The musk deer in front of them was clearly a male musk deer, as it had distinctive teeth.

Zhou Shiwei dared not speak, afraid of scaring away the prey.

The musk deer is timid and cowardly; it will run away at the slightest noise.

The two men moved very gently, one on each side, and pinned Zhou Ming and Zhou Shijie, who were still in a daze, to the ground, leaving only one angle from which they could observe.

Zhou Shiwei glanced at the gun in Zhou Rui's hand, then looked at Zhou Rui again, pointed to himself, and then gave him an inquiring look.

His meaning was simple: Why don't you let me do it?

Zhou Rui understood, and after thinking for a few seconds, he shook his head slightly.

He plans to take charge personally.

It wasn't that I didn't trust my dad, but this shot had to be absolutely foolproof.

Because of the importance of this musk deer, it is a powerful support that can take the family to the next level.

Thanks to his composure and prudence in both his previous lives, and the fact that Zhou Rui had tinkered with these things quite a bit in his previous life.

While I wouldn't say I'd hit the bullseye every time I'm 300 or 400 meters, I can still hit it 70 or 80 times out of 100 or 200 meters.

My dad hasn't handled a gun in many years, so his accuracy is inevitably a bit rusty.

So in the end, Zhou Rui decided to take matters into his own hands.

Zhou Shiwei was somewhat stunned to see his son insist on this. He hadn't expected his son to choose a seemingly risky approach at such a time.

However, putting aside the fact that the son paid for the gun, even if he misses, so what? If he were to shoot, he would only have a 50% chance of hitting the target.

Moreover, this is his own son. Even if the other party just wants to have some fun, Zhou Shiwei will gladly oblige and treat it as practice for his son.

However, Zhou Shiwei didn't really think that Zhou Rui was the kind of reckless, playful person who wanted to have his fun.

He believed his son had his own reasons.

So Zhou Shiwei stopped asking questions and continued to stare at Lin She.

Zhou Rui, on the other hand, moved slowly, trying to load the gun as quietly as possible.

The two people who were pinned to the ground did not understand what was happening.

But they weren't fools; they understood that Zhou Rui and his son had their reasons for acting this way.

They all simply lay quietly on the ground, trying to remain completely still.

In fact, even without a gun, Zhou Shiwei could have tried to shoot him with the bow and arrows his second brother had brought.

But clearly, that would introduce even more uncertainty.

"Click—"

The sound of Zhou Rui cocking his gun rang in their ears. Although he tried his best to be quiet, he still couldn't avoid making a sound.

His eyes were fixed on Lin She. Fortunately, the distance was too great, and the sound of the gun being cocked was only loud enough for the four of them to hear.

The musk deer showed no abnormalities.

Zhou Rui also knew that now was not the best time to take action.

He was waiting for an opportunity, waiting for the prey to lower its head and graze.

Time passed second by second, and the group didn't dare to breathe, remaining as still as trees.

More than a minute passed before the musk deer seemed to relax its guard. It looked around and did not sense any threat.

So it finally lowered its head and began to graze leisurely.

The opportunity was fleeting. Zhou Rui, who had been completely focused, made his move. He had just used an extremely subtle movement to cock the gun.

Now he slowly raised the muzzle of his gun and aimed it at the musk deer in the distance.

"Bang!"

Zhou Rui pulled the trigger, the sound echoing through the valley, startling all the birds and beasts.