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

"Wow, Yunshan, this trip into the mountains has been incredibly fruitful!"

"How much is this venison?"

"These two deer must be worth several hundred dollars!"

"Yunshan is really capable. He can earn several hundred yuan in just one trip into the mountains. Unlike my good-for-nothing husband, he only knows how to drink when he has a little money in his pocket. He only knows how to go into the mountains when he has no money. It's really infuriating to compare people like this."

"Li Yunshan can handle such a heavy burden; even the oxen raised by the village committee aren't as capable as him."

"Uncle, what are you saying? Can the village's cattle really earn us several thousand yuan for our village primary school?"

"That's their skill. Look how well they're doing. I'm so envious."

"..."

Li Yunshan carried two deer home from the village entrance, attracting the attention of many villagers who couldn't help but glance at him.

After all, two deer, weighing a total of four or five hundred pounds, are not something an ordinary person can lift on their shoulders and walk on with ease.

Another point is that, as everyone knows, the two deer that Li Yunshan hunted represent a significant value; if sold, they would earn at least several hundred yuan.

They can earn so much money; it's equivalent to two or three years' income for an average family in the village.

Faced with envious glances and words of envy from others, Li Yunshan simply smiled.

He was poor and foolish in his past life, but he was also rich and wealthy.

When you're poor or acting recklessly, you get nothing but scorn and gossip.

When I was rich, I was envied by many people.

He had long since developed a certain immunity to other people's opinions or evaluations.

After a while, Li Yunshan returned home carrying two deer, just as his second sister, Li Yunmei, came out of the main room of his house.

However, when Li Yunshan saw his second sister, Li Yunmei, he noticed that her eyes were slightly red.

"Second Sister."

Li Yunshan was pleasantly surprised to see Li Yunmei.

Since Li Yunmei got divorced and moved back to her parents' home, she rarely goes out and stays at home with her elderly mother.

Of course, Li Yunshan also knew that the reason his second sister, Li Yunmei, rarely went out was because she was afraid of hearing gossip from the villagers.

After all, in this day and age, although slogans like "gender equality" and "women can hold up half the sky" are used, women still face gossip and disdain once they get divorced.

Even moving back to one's parents' home is considered bad for their family and will be the subject of gossip.

Although Li Yunshan knew that his mother and eldest brother wouldn't have any objections to his second sister, Li Yunmei, just because she was living at her parents' home after her divorce, he was concerned about his sister-in-law...

Having lived two lives, Li Yunshan knew his sister-in-law, who loved to take advantage of others, quite well.

My second sister has been living at her parents' home for so long, and she's been eating and drinking at my eldest brother's expense. Although my sister-in-law won't say anything to my eldest brother and mother, she'll definitely say some gossip in their daily interactions.

However, it's possible that it wasn't the eldest sister-in-law gossiping about the second sister, but rather the neighbors.

After all, Li Yunmei, the second sister, lived with her parents after her divorce, and given the feudalistic thinking of people in the countryside, it was possible that she would gossip.

"Oh, Yunshan is back!"

As soon as she stepped outside, she saw Li Yunshan returning from hunting in the mountains, carrying two deer on his shoulders. Li Yunmei was also surprised, and then moved aside to let him pass.

Li Yunshan tossed the two deer on his shoulders under the eaves and immediately felt a sense of lightness.

"Yunshan, you fought both of these?"

Li Yunmei pointed to the two venisoned deer under the eaves and asked curiously.

When she came to Li Yunshan's house today, Li Yunshan was not home. Lin Xiulan told her that Li Yunshan and Gao Hongmei had gone hunting in the mountains together.

So she stayed at Li Yunshan's house for most of the day and had a lot of private conversations with Lin Xiulan.

Seeing that Li Yunshan had brought back two deer, and according to the rule that whoever hunts the game takes it home, Li Yunmei naturally assumed that Li Yunshan had hunted the two deer.

"This smaller deer was caught by Hongmei, and the smaller one was caught by me. Hongmei and I agreed to borrow a tractor from the village office tomorrow to transport it to the county town to sell."

Li Yunshan pointed to the two deer.

"Sell it in the county town?"

"Selling them in the county town will fetch a price that is one to two cents higher than selling them in the commune. Don't underestimate this one or two cents difference. These two deer weigh four or five hundred catties of meat. Even if it's one cent more per catty, the price difference over four or five hundred catties can be forty or fifty yuan, which is equivalent to the work points we earn in the village collective for three to five months."

Li Yunshan said with a smile.

"Yunshan, can I go to the county town with you tomorrow?"

Listening to Li Yunshan's eloquent explanation, Li Yunmei became curious and asked a question.

"Okay."

Li Yunshan nodded, then took the opportunity to ask Li Yunmei, "Second Sister, has something upset you?"

Li Yunmei was stunned for a moment, then quickly shook her head: "No, there's nothing that's making me unhappy. I'm with my mother every day now, and I'm quite happy every day."

But Li Yunshan didn't believe it at all. Li Yunmei vehemently denied that she was unhappy, so it was probably because of her sister-in-law.

My sister-in-law is a woman who loves to take advantage of others. After my second sister, Li Yunmei, got divorced, she had nowhere to go and went back to her parents' home. It was fine for a day or two, but after a while, given my sister-in-law's opportunistic nature, it would be strange if she didn't secretly say things that my second sister didn't like to hear to provoke her.

Li Yunshan was so certain because if his second sister was unhappy because of the gossip from the neighbors, given her personality, she would definitely complain to him.

The eldest sister-in-law had a problem with the second sister, but for the sake of her eldest brother's family, her mother, and family harmony, the second sister could only choose to back down, brooding and secretly grieving.

"Second sister, I can see right now. Don't lie to me. I'm not the three-year-old who used to follow you around like that anymore."

"If you say you don't have it, then you don't. I'm not talking to you anymore, I'm going back now."

As Li Yunmei spoke, she turned and ran away.

Li Yunshan stood in the courtyard for a while until his second sister's figure disappeared from sight before he turned and went into the main room.

He took the gun off his body and hung it on the wall. Lin Xiulan got up and went over to him, took the cotton-padded jacket stained with deer blood that Li Yunshan had taken off, and casually draped it over the back of the chair.

She thought to herself that she would have to wash the cotton-padded jacket stained with deer blood with hot water later, so she washed it clean as soon as possible and scrubbed it vigorously.

If you wash it the next day, the bloodstains will be harder to remove completely.

"What happened to Second Sister?"

Li Yunshan asked Lin Xiulan.

"Sigh, it's all because I've been staying at my parents' house for too long. My sister-in-law has a problem with my second sister. My second sister is afraid of putting my brother and mother in a difficult position and being indirectly criticized by my sister-in-law, so she can only endure it. She came over at noon to vent her frustrations to me."

Lin Xiulan sighed, but then she suddenly remembered something: "Oh right, after you and my older sister went hunting in the mountains today, the village chief and that newly appointed director of the education office of the commune, a man named Han Yuanhang, came to our house. They said that Director Han wanted to see you, but I told them that you weren't home and had gone hunting in the mountains. They stayed in the yard for a while and then left."

"Oh, the new head of the education office wants to see me? What does he want? Is he planning to take the money I donated to the village primary school?"

Li Yunshan was a little surprised, and then couldn't help but sneer.

In his past life, what he hated most were officials like Kim Geon-bin who did nothing in their positions.

The investment that cost him his life and fortune in his previous life, which ultimately led to his bankruptcy and impoverishment, was actually due to the interference of an inactive official who kept delaying his approval process, which caused his investment to fail.

Therefore, this is also the main reason why, not long ago, when Kim Geon-bin revealed his intention to divert the money he donated for some so-called "unified allocation and use," he confronted him head-on, even going so far as to investigate and track him down. After obtaining dirt on him, he decisively took action and removed Kim Geon-bin from his position as director of the education office.

Now, the newly arrived director of the education office wants to see him, which makes Li Yunshan instinctively think of Jin Jianbin, who has just been sentenced.

Is the new director trying to take away the money I donated to the village primary school again?

"The new director looks very refined and wears glasses, like a scholar. The village chief said that Director Han had worked in the Education Bureau for more than ten years as a regular staff member. As soon as he took office in the commune, he helped our village primary school solve the problem of approval materials. I don't think the new director is a bad person."

Lin Xiulan said.

Li Yunshan smiled but didn't respond to Lin Xiulan's comment.

Whether Director Han is a good person or a bad person is not something that can be written on his forehead.

Furthermore, the education system in Xiangyang Commune had long been a mess thanks to Jin Jianbin. It was said that he not only formed cliques there but also engaged in illicit relationships.

The newly appointed Director Han, in order to demonstrate his difference from his corrupt and decadent predecessor, will definitely make a splash when he first takes office.

The fact that the approval documents were successfully submitted was simply because their Guapigou Village Primary School had completely collapsed and needed to be rebuilt.

These approval documents are required and must be submitted to the county education bureau.

The key point is that Jin Jianbin wanted to delay the reconstruction of the village primary school in order to force the village committee to transfer the money he donated.

With the village committee's compromise, Jin Jianbin transferred the money, making the approval process much faster.

The newly appointed Director Han approved the materials as soon as he took office and then submitted them to the county education bureau, which shows that he also understands the priorities.

However, once the initial burst of activity from this new official has subsided, only time will tell what kind of person Director Han will become.

Hopefully, he's not the kind of official who holds a position without doing any work.

Li Yunshan thought to himself as he walked to the dining table and sat down.

On the table were steamed white flour buns, a bowl of braised pork, a bowl of stewed cabbage, and a plate of stir-fried shredded potatoes with vinegar. In these days of scarcity, it was quite a sumptuous dinner.

Lin Xiulan handed him the bowl and chopsticks: "You must be starving after a day of hunting in the mountains. Eat while it's hot. There's more in the kitchen if you need more."

"Where's DouDou?"

Li Yunshan picked up a white steamed bun, took a bite, and asked.

"She didn't sleep during the day, and she fell asleep in the cradle because she was sleepy. Don't worry about her. I'll let her eat dinner when she wakes up. Just make sure you eat your fill first."

"Um."

Li Yunshan nodded, picked up a mouthful of stir-fried shredded potatoes with vinegar, chewed it a few times, and then swallowed it along with the chewed-up white steamed bun.

During the meal, Lin Xiulan casually reminded him, "By the way, Yunshan, the day after tomorrow is Mother's birthday, her sixtieth birthday."

Li Yunshan was wolfing down a steamed bun when he heard this and was momentarily stunned.

In his past life, he was idle and did nothing but laze around all day, and his mother was heartbroken over him.

So, in her past life, her mother didn't have many good days before she passed away early.

By the time he finally realized his mistakes, started doing serious work, and began making money and becoming wealthy, his mother had already passed away.

As the ancients said: "The tree desires stillness, but the wind never ceases; the child desires to care for his parents, but they are no longer there."

These words are most fitting for Li Yunshan.

When his mother was alive, he did nothing productive and was penniless, his pockets were emptier than his face.

Only after his mother passed away did he realize his mistakes, start doing honest work, and become wealthy.

But when he wanted to show his filial piety to his mother, he was suddenly shocked to realize that she was no longer alive.

In his past life, from the time his mother passed away to the time he was hospitalized with a serious illness, there was a long interval, almost thirty years.

So much time had passed that after his rebirth, he completely forgot when his mother's birthday was.

If Lin Xiulan hadn't reminded him, he really wouldn't have known that his mother would be sixty years old in a few days.

"Okay, I got it. Tomorrow, my second sister, Hongmei, and I will go to the county town early, sell the venison, and then buy some gifts for Mother to show our respect."

Li Yunshan nodded and carefully wrote down Huang Zhifang's birthday, while also starting to think about what kind of decent birthday gift he should prepare for his mother.

After all, my mother is sixty years old, the age of sixty.

In an era of scarcity and poor medical conditions, living to sixty was considered a long life.

In his past life, he didn't properly take care of his mother.

He must take good care of his mother for the rest of his life.

It just so happens that it's Mother's birthday and his eldest brother is here too, so he needs to talk to his eldest brother about his sister-in-law and second sister.

My second sister moved back to her parents' home because she had nowhere to go after her divorce.

Moreover, it was the eldest brother who took the initiative to let the second sister move back to her parents' home. The second sister eats the food provided by the eldest brother, and the house she lives in was built by her parents. She should have a share of the food. The eldest brother had no objection, so why should the eldest sister-in-law have any objection?

However, as the younger brother-in-law, he naturally couldn't overstep his bounds and lecture his sister-in-law.

Therefore, this matter requires the eldest brother to take charge.

After all, the eldest brother and sister-in-law are husband and wife.

Although my mother was still alive in my eldest brother's family, after my father passed away, my eldest brother always ran the household.

"When my eldest brother returns from the forest farm, I'll talk to him about my sister-in-law and second sister's situation. This matter needs to be handled by my eldest brother."

"Of course, if after my elder brother speaks up, my sister-in-law still makes veiled criticisms and objects to my second sister moving back to her parents' home, then let my second sister stay at our house."

Li Yunshan recalled his past life, when he was little, he always followed his second sister around.

It was his second sister who took him in and cared for him; now that his second sister has been wronged, Li Yunshan is not happy about it.

If it weren't for saving face for his elder brother, he would have already gone to argue with his sister-in-law.

"You're the head of this household, and I'd love for your second sister to move in. It would be perfect if she and I could keep each other company, and DouDou also enjoys being with her."