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

"Okay, brother-in-law!"

The two brothers traversed the depths of Qingfeng Mountain, identifying animal trails and precisely setting traps. After a busy day, it quietly arrived to three or four in the afternoon.

Including the eight snares left from yesterday, there are now a total of forty snare traps set up on the north slope of Qingfeng Mountain, covering a considerable area.

After everything was settled, the two went down the mountain together. When they returned to Zhao Lei's old house, it was not yet five o'clock in the afternoon. In the courtyard, Qin Yuchan was helping her three children recite the multiplication table.

Seeing the two return so early, she was immediately surprised: "Sanshi, Bowen, why are you back so early today?"

Without a word, Qin Bowen placed the basket on his back at the doorway. Inside the basket, two cleaned male musk deer were clearly visible.

Peipei and her younger siblings immediately gathered around. Seeing that their father and uncle had hunted prey again, the children jumped and danced with joy.

Zhao Yupei pointed to Lin She's long fangs and asked curiously, "Uncle, what's this? It looks so strange, with such long teeth!"

Qin Bowen mentioned the musk deer and explained with a smile, "Peipei, this is a musk deer, also called a forest musk deer. Only male forest musk deer have these tusks; the females don't."

Zhao Yupei nodded as if she understood: "Oh, it looks like a little deer, but it looks strange and smells bad."

Qin Bowen smiled and ruffled her hair: "You little rascal, you're getting smarter and smarter."

On the other side, Zhao Lei went into the house and took out the musk that had been stored yesterday. He then turned to Qin Bowen and called out, "Bowen, come and lend a hand."

"Brother-in-law is here!"

The two of them carried two baskets of smoked cured meat out of the kitchen and neatly stacked them in the back of the tricycle. Seeing this, Qin Yuchan quickly asked, "Sanshi, what are you doing?"

Zhao Lei looked up at the clock on the wall in the main room; it was already 4:40. His tone was somewhat urgent: "We can't possibly finish all this cured meat. I plan to take the cured meat and musk to the supply and marketing cooperative in town to sell them for money."

Qin Yuchan looked puzzled: "Wait a minute, Sanshi, weren't you saving this cured meat for your housewarming banquet? Why are you selling it?"

Zhao Lei waved his hand and explained, "We only need to pick a few pieces of cured meat to use as side dishes for the banquet. The main dishes still need to be made with fresh meat. It would be a waste to keep the rest. We might as well cash them out first to raise money."

Qin Yuchan, having heard that he had made the arrangements, did not ask any further questions: "Alright, if you know what you're doing, then do it your way." After saying that, she turned around and continued to watch the children recite the multiplication tables.

Zhao Lei then noticed that someone was missing from the yard and casually asked, "Yu Chan, where did Xin Yue go? Why are you taking care of the child alone?"

Qin Yuchan replied, "Sister Xia came to see her this morning, saying there was an exchange meeting in town, and she was afraid she wouldn't understand it, so she took Xinyue with her."

Zhao Lei didn't take it to heart anymore and immediately called Qin Bowen to set off. The two of them rode their bicycles to the supply and marketing cooperative.

Chen Pangzi, the boss of the Heping Brigade Supply and Marketing Cooperative, was a notorious eccentric.

He was originally a city dweller in the town, but was later assigned to the Heping Brigade to oversee the supply and marketing cooperative, where his schedule was very rigid.

He opens the shop at 10 a.m. every day and closes it at 5 p.m. sharp.

Yesterday, Zhao Lei arrived only half an hour late and found nothing; Fatty Chen had already locked up and left.

To avoid missing it again today, Zhao Lei was in a real hurry.

He was riding a slow tricycle loaded with goods, so he told Qin Bowen, who was riding a 28-inch bicycle, to go ahead and stop Fatty Chen at the supply and marketing cooperative, making sure he didn't close up shop and leave early.

Around 5:10 p.m., Zhao Lei finally arrived at the entrance of the commune's supply and marketing cooperative on his tricycle.

From afar, they could see Qin Bowen holding onto a fat man tightly, preventing him from riding away on a bicycle.

"Brother Chen, why are you in such a hurry to go home? I already told you my brother-in-law will be here soon, and we have some good stuff today!"

Fatty Chen was about forty years old and weighed over two hundred pounds. He had a face full of fat, but his appearance was like that of Maitreya Buddha. He was always smiling.

Although he was not a local of Heping Brigade, he got along well with everyone in the village. However, when it came to money, he was always impartial and uncompromising. Ordinary people could never get the slightest advantage from him.

Fatty Chen glanced down at his watch, then flung Qin Bowen's hand away and pushed his bicycle to leave, saying, "Bowen, why are you stopping me? It's time to get off work, I need to go home!"

"Brother Chen, can you wait a few more minutes? If you go back so early, your wife probably won't have dinner ready yet, and you'll have to help her cook. What's wrong with waiting a little longer?"

Upon hearing this, Fatty Chen immediately became anxious: "Oh, don't even mention it! I went back so early to cook. Your sister-in-law will be off work from the textile factory soon, and if she sees that I haven't cooked, she'll definitely give me a lecture again."

Qin Bowen suddenly chuckled: "Brother Chen, so you're saying you're still a henpecked husband!"

"So what if you're henpecked? Only henpecked men in Southwest China know how to care for others and are happy. What do you know! You're just a greenhorn, not even fully grown yet!" Fatty Chen retorted irritably.

Qin Bowen held on tightly to the other man's bicycle handlebars, refusing to let go and refusing to let him go no matter what.

Just then, he caught a glimpse of a tricycle approaching from the end of the road out of the corner of his eye. His eyes lit up, and he excitedly shouted, "Hey! Brother Chen, it's here! My brother-in-law is here!"

Fatty Chen squinted and looked ahead. Sure enough, he saw Zhao Lei standing with his back bent, pedaling his tricycle with all his might as he rushed over.

He thought to himself, "This kid actually managed to catch me."

At this moment, Zhao Lei was already covered in sweat from exhaustion.

It only takes a dozen minutes to walk from his home to the commune compound along the mountain path, but the tricycle can't travel on the narrow road and has to take a longer route.

Adding to the difficulty, the road was rugged and full of potholes, and the truck was carrying over 100 kilograms of heavy mountain goods, making pedaling particularly strenuous.

Along the way, there were several steep slopes, and he gritted his teeth and used all his strength to sprint repeatedly before he could barely climb them.

He secretly regretted that he should have let Qin Bowen come along, so that he could at least lend a hand when going uphill.

Seeing that Fatty Chen was about to leave work, Zhao Lei called out loudly from afar, "Brother Chen! Wait a minute, don't rush off!"

Qin Bowen quickly chimed in, "Brother Chen, look, my brother-in-law is here! I told you there would be good stuff today, but you didn't believe me."

To everyone's surprise, Fatty Chen's face suddenly darkened, and he looked at Zhao Lei, saying, "Bowen, judging from your brother-in-law's appearance, he must have brought over a lot of mountain produce again today, right?"

Qin Bowen grinned smugly: "Hehe, that's right, Brother Chen! It weighs over a hundred pounds, all of it is our smoked wild game!"

Upon hearing that it was smoked cured meat and wild game, Fatty Chen's heart instantly relaxed.

He had just seen Zhao Lei struggling to pedal his bike from afar, and he had secretly frowned and wondered what was wrong with him.