Reborn in 78, I made my fortune by working in the mountains, supporting three families on my own.

150 yuan?!

Zhao Lei gasped.

In those days, the average worker in the city only earned twenty or thirty yuan a month, so one hundred and fifty yuan was a considerable income nationwide.

He started calculating in his mind.

A decent pheasant only sells for three yuan to the supply and marketing cooperative; you have to hunt fifty pheasants to earn that much.

If only we could kill that bear...

On the other side, Qin Dashan also liked this lovely niece very much. He reluctantly sent Peipei into the main room, turned around and said goodbye again before leaving.

"Brother-in-law, wait a minute!"

Zhao Lei chased after him a few steps and asked, "What time will the militia go into the mountains tomorrow?"

"Assemble at daybreak." Qin Dashan patted the homemade gun on his back. "What's up, want to try it too?"

Zhao Lei chuckled twice: "Brother-in-law, is your gun... any good?"

"I advise you not to even think about it. This money isn't easy to get! Don't think that just because you got lucky and caught a wild pheasant, you can hunt a black bear. Even if you have a gun, you're not guaranteed to win. For the sake of my sister and Peipei, you'd better not take the risk."

"I'm just asking, just asking..."

"Alright, I'll be going now. You'd better take good care of my sister and niece. If I find out you've bullied them, I'll make you regret it!"

After saying that, Qin Dashan pushed open the door and left.

Zhao Lei saw his brother-in-law out of the yard and closed the door.

When they returned to the main room, Qin Yuchan had already led Peipei to wash up, and Su Wanqing and Jiang Xinyue had also returned to their rooms.

The night grew deeper.

The mud-brick house fell silent, with only the occasional chirping of insects.

Zhao Lei blew out the kerosene lamp and wandered around the doorways of the various houses in the dark.

The house left by Zhao Lei's deceased father was quite spacious, with three bedrooms and a main room, as well as a simple stove and matchbox in the yard.

After he divorced and fled to avoid debts, his three ex-wives each ended up with a room.

"Where are we going to sleep tonight?"

Zhao Lei couldn't help but feel like an emperor choosing his concubines.

I already slept with Su Wanqing and Jiang Xinyue yesterday, so logically I should pamper Qin Yuchan today...

However, Qin Yuchan slept in the east room with Peipei, Su Wanqing slept in the west room with Yuanyuan and Xiaoshitou, and Jiang Xinyue slept alone in the westernmost room.

Zhao Lei stood in the corridor and pondered for a while.

Or... how about we go to Jiangxinyue's place?

Inside the pitch-black westernmost room.

"Stop fooling around tonight, I'm really tired today..."

"Go find Sister Yu Chan, she really needs you today."

Zhao Lei had just climbed into Jiang Xinyue's bed when he was turned away and could only tiptoe out of the room.

Standing in the courtyard, a gust of night wind made him shiver.

I go!

What kind of situation is this?

Even as the male head of the household, he has to resort to guerrilla tactics to get some sleep.

Finally, Zhao Lei could only walk to the door of the east room, hesitate for a moment, and then push the door open and slip inside.

In the east room, Qin Yuchan was holding Peipei, seemingly already asleep.

Zhao Lei groped his way to the bedside, carefully lifted a corner of the blanket, and just as he lay down...

"San Shi?"

Qin Yuchan's voice suddenly rang out, and her tone suggested that she was not sleepy at all.

"Go to sleep," Zhao Lei said with a grin.

"Who let you in? Get out!"

"Where do you expect me to go in the middle of the night?"

"Go wherever you want, just leave me alone."

Zhao Lei could hear the agitation in her voice, and knew that she was still upset about Wang Xiaofang.

He wasn't angry at all, and shamelessly burrowed into the blankets: "Alright, alright, I'll sleep here, I promise I won't touch you."

"you......"

"Shh..."

Zhao Lei quickly raised his finger, "Don't wake Peipei up."

Qin Yuchan swallowed back the words she was about to say. Her daughter was sleeping right next to her, and she didn't want to make a noise.

Seeing that Qin Yuchan didn't chase him away anymore, Zhao Lei felt relieved and obediently lay down on the edge of the bed.

Qin Yuchan waited for a while and found that he was indeed honest, so her tense body slowly relaxed.

In the darkness, Zhao Lei said softly, "Don't blame yourself too much for what happened today. I'll go with you to the Sun Production Team tomorrow, and we'll see if we can help."

Qin Yuchan remained silent.

A long time passed, so long that Zhao Lei thought she had fallen asleep, when he suddenly heard her softly hum in response.

Then Zhao Lei closed his eyes, listened to the breathing of the mother and daughter beside him, and slowly fell asleep.

Zhao Lei woke up before dawn the next day.

It's the weekend, and Qin Yuchan and Peipei are both still asleep.

Not wanting to wake them, Zhao Lei quietly put on his clothes and went out by himself.

Last night he thought carefully about the black bear.

"The militia is going up the mountain to hunt black bears today. If you're late, you might miss out on a huge sum of 150 yuan!"

"We can't just sit here and wait, otherwise when will things get better!"

Before his rebirth, Zhao Lei guarded the mountain alone for decades. Although bears are protected animals, he had helped relevant organizations hunt down two adult black bears under special circumstances!

He has real combat experience!

With his youthful physique, Zhao Lei is 70% confident he can complete the hunt!

"We haven't raised enough money for Peipei's tuition yet; it seems we need to take a risk!"

However... we definitely won't have enough arrows.

I need to get a hunting rifle first!

Just as Zhao Lei finished tidying up, Su Wanqing suddenly pushed open the door and came out.

"You got up so early today?" Zhao Lei asked, somewhat surprised.

"Yes, I'm joining the emergency medical team today, so I need to get there early."

Was it because of the militia's hunting?

Zhao Lei immediately connected the news that his brother-in-law had mentioned last night.

That makes sense, since the entire production brigade only had two doctors: Su Wanqing and another old traditional Chinese medicine doctor.

He should have received word from the commune about such a dangerous hunt.

Zhao Lei had his own plans. After saying goodbye to Su Wanqing, he went out first.

Hunting rifles are only available to the militia, so Zhao Lei needs to go to Qin Dashan in advance to borrow one.

When Zhao Lei arrived at his father-in-law's house, the sky was already beginning to lighten.

And there were already several people standing in the courtyard.

They were all militia members, carrying homemade guns and ready to go.

Qin Dashan was cleaning his gun in the yard when he saw Zhao Lei arrive. He paused for a moment, then asked, "Leizi? What brings you here?"

"Brother-in-law, may I speak to you in private?"

Zhao Lei pulled him aside and lowered his voice: "Brother-in-law, can I borrow your gun?"

"You really want to go hunt bears?" Qin Dashan's eyes widened.

"It's 150 yuan, might as well make some."

"Are you out of your mind? This is no joke. Last year, someone from the next commune was hitting a bear, and I heard he got half his face slapped off!"

"I know it's dangerous, but we have guns. Besides, I'm not going alone. Aren't you and the militia going too? I'll go with you, okay?"

Just as Qin Dashan was about to speak, a hoarse but powerful voice came from behind him.

"Who wants to join the militia?"

Zhao Lei turned around and saw an elderly man with gray hair but a vigorous spirit walk out of the main room, carrying a peony-patterned tea mug.

It was none other than his father-in-law, Qin Mancang.

"father."

Zhao Lei quickly and respectfully called him "Dad".

Qin Mancang sized him up and down, then snorted coldly, "You... fight a bear? Are you still half asleep?"

"You're a gambling addict who can't even kill a chicken properly, yet you dare to mess with a bear... Are you going to deliver extra food to the bear?"