Hunting 81: Gathering Goods in the Mountains, I Spoil My Ex-Wife to the Extreme

"Rat-a-tat-tat..."

The tractor hummed merrily as it passed through the county town.

When passing by the county department store, Li Yunshan parked the tractor outside the store.

"What are you doing here? Buying something again?"

Seeing Li Yunshan jump out of the car and walk straight into the department store, Gao Hongmei couldn't help but ask.

"Xiulan likes to eat sponge cake, and Doudou likes to eat roast chicken. I'll go in and buy some."

Hearing Li Yunshan say this, Gao Hongmei couldn't help but feel a pang of jealousy. This bastard only remembers what Xiulan likes to eat, but he doesn't remember what I like to eat.

"You're already spending your money recklessly with just a couple of coins. Let's see how long you can keep it up."

Gao Hongmei, not speaking her mind, muttered something in an annoyed tone.

After entering the department store, Li Yunshan bought two pounds of chicken cakes for Lin Xiulan.

The sponge cake was golden brown and had a wonderfully enticing aroma that made one's mouth water.

I bought another roast chicken for DouDou.

Ever since she had two roast chickens before, this little girl has been craving roast chicken.

Last night before going to bed, Dou Dou was still hugging his arm and shaking it, begging him to eat roast chicken.

I bought two jin of mung bean cakes for Gao Hongmei.

He remembered when he was dating Gao Hongmei in his past life, he didn't have many coins in his pocket. He took Gao Hongmei to wander around the county town. When they saw a stall selling mung bean cakes on the roadside, Gao Hongmei couldn't move her feet. But he didn't have many coins on him at the time, so he only bought two for Gao Hongmei to try.

And so, Gao Hongmei still married him.

But, in his past life... sigh...

"Salesperson, I'd like two pounds of these fried cakes too."

After buying the mung bean cakes, Li Yunshan pointed to the golden-fried cakes in the shop window, remembering that Su Lihua loved to eat them.

"Okay, just a moment."

Soon, the saleswoman weighed out two more jin of golden fried cakes and handed them to Li Yunshan.

As they passed by a clothing store window, Li Yunshan bought a navy blue cotton-padded jacket for each of Gao Hongmei, Su Lihua, and Lin Xiulan.

The inner lining is lambswool, the outer lining is navy blue fabric, and warm, thick cotton is sewn in between. It is very warm to wear, and you won't have to worry about it even in heavy snow or strong north winds.

Then I bought three more pairs of cotton shoes. Although the sizes were different, they had rubber soles and a layer of cotton cloth inside, which would keep my feet warm when I wore them.

Finally, I bought DouDou a red cotton-padded coat and pants. The pants were printed with flowers, and the coat had a cute little pig and a lively little rabbit pattern on it. I also bought her a rag doll.

Although he spent over a hundred yuan on this round of shopping, Li Yunshan didn't feel the pinch at all.

Money is meant to be spent; if you don't spend it, are you going to save it for having kids?

However, when he came out of the department store carrying a huge pile of things, Gao Hongmei's eyes widened immediately; "Li Yunshan, do you have so much money you can't spend it all? Is this how you spend money recklessly?"

She looked at the things Li Yunshan was holding: cotton-padded jackets, cotton-padded shoes, various pastries, roast chicken, Erguotou liquor... He had bought a whole bunch of food, drinks and clothes.

How much money would that cost?

"These are the cotton-padded coat and shoes I bought for you. It's cold, so they'll keep you warm. And these are the mung bean cakes you love. I bought two for you to try before when we went to town because I didn't have any money. I'm making up for it this time."

Li Yunshan stuffed a cotton-padded coat, a pair of cotton shoes, and a bag of mung bean cakes into Gao Hongmei's hands.

He knew all along that Gao Hongmei would think he was wasting money by buying so many things, but he just didn't believe it. Even mung bean cakes couldn't shut her up.

Sure enough, Gao Hongmei was momentarily stunned the instant she took the things Li Yunshan handed her.

She glanced at what she had in her hands: a finely made cotton-padded jacket, a pair of cotton shoes with plastic soles, and a bag of fragrant mung bean cakes.

This instantly reminded her of the past, when she was dating Li Yunshan. Back then, Li Yunshan didn't have much money, but he still insisted on taking her to stroll around the county town.

As a result, when she passed by the roadside stalls, she couldn't move her legs.

So Li Yunshan emptied his pockets and bought her two mung bean cakes to try, while he himself was starving.

Although it happened several years ago, Gao Hongmei couldn't help but get teary-eyed when she looked at the mung bean cake in her hand.

She sniffed, wiped away the tears welling in her eyes, and gave Li Yunshan a reproachful look: "You still remember that I like mung bean cakes?"

"I remember, of course I remember. I remember when we were dating, I dragged you around the county town, you know... Later, you told me that you liked to eat mung bean cakes because when you were little, your mother would often buy mung bean cakes for you to eat when she went to the market in the commune."

Seeing Gao Hongmei's red eyes, Li Yunshan couldn't help but feel a pang of tenderness in his heart.

"These are cotton-padded coats and shoes I bought for Lihua. I remember the size and everything. Also, these are her favorite fried cakes. I won't be going to your house later, so please give these to her for me."

Li Yunshan then handed the cotton-padded coat, cotton-padded shoes, and fried cakes he had bought for Su Lihua to Gao Hongmei.

Holding the cotton-padded coats and shoes that Li Yunshan bought for her and Su Lihua, as well as the mung bean cakes and fried cakes that they each loved to eat, Gao Hongmei was stunned for a moment.

It turns out he remembered everything. He not only remembered that Xiulan liked to eat sponge cake, and that Lihua liked to eat fried cake, but he also remembered that I liked to eat mung bean cake.

These things happened many years ago, but he still remembers them.

Thinking of this, Gao Hongmei felt a warmth in her heart. She hugged her cotton-padded coat, cotton shoes, and pastries tightly, afraid of losing them.

Li Yunshan took out the tractor's crank key, started the tractor again, and drove it "putt-putt-putt" toward the direction of Xiangyang Commune.

……

"Hey, bro, why hasn't anyone arrived yet?"

In the afternoon, although the sun was out and some of the snow from the previous two days had melted, the temperature felt even colder.

At this moment, on the only road leading from the county town to Xiangyang Commune, at a winding bend with five hairpin turns, a man with a mustache and a lean man were squatting there.

Beside them were two accomplices.

One was burly and strong, the other had a face full of menacing features; they didn't look like kind people at all.

"How would I know? Maybe something happened on the way that delayed us. Let's wait and see. If they don't come by sunset, we'll leave."

The man with the mustache poked his head out and looked in the direction of the county town.

Although there were a few pedestrians on the road, judging from their clothes, they didn't seem to have much money in their pockets, so he immediately lost interest.

What interests him is a person he met today while staking out the farmers' market in the county town. According to what he overheard, the person claimed to be from Xiangyang Commune and had hunted two wild boars, which he brought to the county town to sell.

The key point is not who that person is, nor that he hunted two wild boars and brought them to the county town to sell.

The real key is the money that person made from selling those two wild boars.

Based on his and his accomplices' observation of the area from a distance over a period of time, the two wild boars weighed at least 300 jin (150 kg) in total, and people were selling them for 9 mao (0.9 yuan) per jin.

With the wild boar meat mostly sold out, the man and the woman with him had at least three hundred yuan in cash on them.

Around three hundred yuan in cash is a lot of money.

They endured the bitter cold, lying in wait on the only road from the county town to Xiangyang Commune, all for the sake of robbing this money.

In this day and age, they have a special name: highway robbers. This refers to criminal gangs that extort or even rob drivers, passengers, or passersby by means of violence, coercion, or other means on trains, long-distance buses, highways, or railways.

To ensure they could steal the money, the man with the mustache and the skinny man also called on two helpers.

However, with the weather freezing cold, the four of them had been waiting in this desolate wilderness for so long that they were getting impatient and their patience was slowly wearing thin.

"Brother, I don't think that big fish you mentioned is coming. It's so cold now, let's hurry home, make some dishes, and have a couple of drinks to warm up."

The burly road bully chuckled sheepishly.

"All you do is eat and drink. If you don't have any money in your pocket, what will you eat and drink? You good-for-nothings, get your act together. After we pull off this job, we'll have some money in our pockets, and we can enjoy a comfortable life at home for a month or two."

The man with the mustache slapped the burly road bully twice on the head, gritting his teeth and muttering in a frustrated tone.

"Erzhu, forget about eating and drinking. Let me tell you, that guy has a woman with him. She's got a great figure and looks. We'll rob him of his money, knock his woman out, and take her away. We brothers can have a taste of the good life."

The skinny man rubbed his hands together, a lewd look creeping onto his face.

"Skinny Monkey, are you telling the truth?"

After hearing what the skinny monkey said, the burly Erzhu's eyes lit up, and he even felt a certain part of his body begin to stir.

"Of course, I'm an honest person, would I lie to you?"

The skinny monkey chuckled.

"Hehe, let's wait a bit longer, and then we'll make our move when they arrive."

Erzhu chuckled foolishly.

Just then, the sound of a tractor chugging came from a great distance.

Although the voice was soft, the man with the mustache and the skinny monkey heard it.

They peeked out from their hiding place and looked in the direction from which the tractor's "putt-putt" sound came from. They saw a tractor driving towards them in the distance.

After confirming that it was the same couple who sold wild boar meat at the county's farmers' market earlier that day, they estimated that the tractor was about a kilometer away from them.

That's a long enough distance for them to prepare.

"Brothers, grab your weapons!"

With a deep shout, the man with the mustache covered his face with a cloth, tied it up, and then brought out a musket.

Seeing this, the other three accomplices also covered their faces with cloths to avoid revealing their appearances, and then picked up their weapons.