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

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

By 5:30 p.m., it was completely dark.

The tractor was parked outside Gao Hongmei's yard.

"Hongmei, this is your money."

Before getting off the bus, Li Yunmei took out a wad of cash from the cloth bag she used to carry money while selling venison and handed it to Gao Hongmei.

Last time, Li Yunshan and Gao Hongmei went to the county town to sell wild boar meat, and they mixed up all the money from the sale. This time, when they went to the county town to sell venison, Li Yunshan was smarter. He sold the male deer that Gao Hongmei had hunted first, tied the money up with a hair tie, and then kept the money from selling the other deer.

This will prevent money from getting mixed up and make it easier to distinguish which money belongs to which person.

"Okay, Sister Yunmei, I'll head back now."

Gao Hongmei and Li Yunmei handed over a stack of neatly bundled money and then walked into the courtyard.

"Second sister, let me take you home first."

After Gao Hongmei closed the courtyard gate, Li Yunshan spoke to Li Yunmei.

"No need, I can walk back myself," Li Yunmei said.

"It's already dark, and the road is pitch black. I'm worried it might not be safe for you. Let me take you back to your older brother's place."

It had gotten dark half an hour ago.

If it weren't for the tractor's headlights, they would have had to use flashlights or drive in the dark to get home halfway there.

The Guapigou Village of today is not the same as the Guapigou Village of decades later.

In his previous life, before Li Yunshan fell into poverty due to failed investments, he donated a batch of solar streetlights to the village. Those things absorbed sunlight during the day, converted it into electricity, and automatically turned on at night.

But now, let alone solar streetlights, almost every household in the dozens of households in Guapigou Village has installed electric lights.

Even so, with electric lights installed in every household, many people still use kerosene lamps or candles after dark.

To save on kerosene and candle costs, some would simply eat and drink their fill before dark and then go to sleep in the pit.

Nowadays, the village paths are dark and freezing cold, and with a bear having recently entered the village, Li Yunshan is worried that Li Yunmei might encounter danger on her way back on her own.

"Alright then, you can take me back, but it'll be hard on you again."

"What's so hard about it? You're my older sister. I remember when we were little, you took care of me and my younger sister without ever complaining."

Li Yunshan smiled, turned the tractor around, and then took Li Yunshan back first.

……

"Father, Lihua, I'm back."

Gao Hongmei was clutching a thick wad of cash in her hand. Although she didn't know the exact amount, she was walking with a limp.

According to Li Yunshan, the deer she hunted should have a meat yield of about 300 jin (150 catties), and at a price of two yuan per jin, it should be worth about 600 yuan.

Around six hundred yuan!

This was undoubtedly a huge sum of money for Gao Hongmei.

Moreover, she earned this large sum of money herself.

Pushing open the door to the main room, which was only slightly ajar, Gao Hongmei walked in with cheerful steps.

At this moment, a kerosene lamp was lit in the main room.

As soon as the door opened, a blast of cold air rushed in, and the flame of the kerosene lamp flickered a few times.

After Gao Hongmei turned off the kerosene lamp, the flame burned steadily again.

"Why are you so late coming home today?"

As Su Lihua escorted her out of the room, she couldn't help but ask a question.

Last time, Gao Hongmei and Li Yunshan went to the county town to sell wild boar meat and managed to get home before dark. Today, however, they didn't get home until almost dark an hour later. Is it that venison is hard to sell in the county town?

"Hey, I should have gotten home much earlier, but something happened on the way."

Gao Hongmei casually recounted how she and Li Yunshan had helped Granny Sun, then slammed the money she was holding onto the table: "This is the money I earned selling my portion of venison today."

"So much? How much money did you actually make from that deer you hunted?"

Su Lihua glanced at the thick wad of money tied up with a hair tie and was somewhat surprised.

I thought Gao Hongmei came back so late because venison was hard to sell in the county town, but I didn’t expect that a red deer could sell for so much money.

"We haven't counted them yet, so we don't know the exact number, but Li Yunshan said it should be more than that."

Gao Hongmei spread her fingers and gestured.

"Six hundred? That's quite a lot."

Su Lihua was secretly surprised as she watched Gao Hongmei's gestures.

But then she thought that Gao Hongmei had been out for most of the day and must be starving by now, so she said, "Hongmei, let's eat first."

"No, let's count the money first. I won't feel at ease until I've counted how much money that deer made."

But Gao Hongmei waved her hand.

Ever since Li Yunshan said she should have earned about six hundred yuan from the deer she hunted, she has been preoccupied with one thing: how much money she actually made from selling the deer.

Because she still has a debt to pay off.

Previously, her father broke his leg and underwent fracture surgery at the county hospital, which cost a lot of money. Most of that money was lent to her by Li Yunshan.

Last time she went into the mountains, she hunted two wild boars and took them to the county town to sell. She split the profits 50/50. She paid back 171 yuan to Li Yunshan, but still owed him 563 yuan.

If we catch a deer this time and sell it in the county town, and we really make about six hundred yuan, then we'll be able to pay back Li Yunshan's debt, and we'll even have a little left over.

Thinking of this, she pulled Su Lihua over and made her sit down, then sat down herself, untied the hair tie that was binding the money, and spread the money out on the table: "Lihua, help me count how much money we made this trip."

"You've been in the county town for most of the day, aren't you hungry yet? I think you should eat first."

Su Lihua said.

"Hongmei, just listen to Lihua. Eat first, fill your stomach, and then count how much money you made on this trip."

At this moment, Gao Zhankui also came out of the house.

When he was hospitalized before, the pain from the fracture was unbearable. Gao Zhankui couldn't eat or sleep well. After the surgery last night, he was observed in the hospital for a period of time, and he became skin and bones.

After being discharged from the hospital and returning home, Gao Zhankui has recovered most of his spirits thanks to the meticulous care he received from Gao Hongmei and Su Lihua, who did their best to provide him with good food and drink.

At first, he was bedridden after being discharged from the hospital, but now he can walk short distances by himself with crutches.

Seeing Gao Hongmei counting money so hastily, Gao Zhankui knew that she was worried about the money she owed Li Yunshan.

But people are made of iron, and food is essential; you'll get hungry if you skip a meal.

Gao Hongmei left early in the morning and didn't return until long after dark. Gao Zhankui was worried that she would be starving.

"Dad, I ate two meat buns on the way back, so I'm not hungry yet."

Gao Hongmei quickly went over to help Gao Zhankui to the table and helped him sit down.

Looking at the pile of money spread out on the table, Gao Zhankui couldn't help but tear up, and tears soon fell uncontrollably.

He held Gao Hongmei's hand tightly: "Daughter, you've worked so hard."

Gao Zhankui knew that if he hadn't broken his leg and needed major surgery, his daughter Gao Hongmei wouldn't have incurred such a large debt.

It was precisely because of the debt, and a large one at that, that Gao Hongmei went to find Li Yunshan and went hunting in the mountains with him.

Hunting can be a good business, and you can make a lot of money when you're lucky. But if you're unlucky, you're risking your life, and you never know when you might lose it.

Gao Zhankui had never hunted, but he had lived most of his life and experienced a great deal.

In the past, there was a hunter family in Guapigou Village, consisting of two brothers. They would go into the mountains to hunt and always manage to catch some wild game. On lucky days, they could even earn tens or hundreds of yuan in one trip.

At that time, among the dozens of households in the entire Guapigou Village, the two brothers were the most prosperous.

They were the first in the village to build new tiled houses, and one after the other they each married a woman who could bear children.

But after one of their trips into the mountains, they never returned.

The village organized villagers to go into the mountains to look for the person, but after searching for several days, they couldn't find a single person.

A year later, an old hunter from a neighboring village went into the mountains and found two muskets in a mountain stream. He also found scattered human bones nearby. After identification by the family members, it was confirmed that the two muskets found by the old hunter belonged to the two brothers.

However, it remains unknown what kind of ferocious beast killed the two brothers.

Some say it's a bear, others say it's a tiger from the mountains, and still others say it's a pack of wolves—there are all sorts of theories.

After confirming that the brothers were indeed gone, the wives of the two brothers remarried not long afterward.

The brothers' elderly father also cried until he went blind. One day, while groping his way along the road, he accidentally fell into a ditch and drowned.

Therefore, every time Gao Hongmei and Li Yunshan went into the mountains, Gao Zhankui was always worried, fearing that something might happen to Gao Hongmei.

Seeing so much money spread out on the table, Gao Zhankui felt a mix of emotions.

I don't know if this money is enough for my daughter to pay off Li Yunshan's debt. If it is, she won't have to risk her life to go hunting in the mountains with Li Yunshan to earn money in the future.

"Dad, why are you crying? Every time I go hunting in the mountains with Li Yunshan, I come back unharmed. Don't worry about this and that all the time."

Seeing Gao Zhankui shed tears, Gao Hongmei felt somewhat helpless.

My father used to be such a strong-willed person. Back when he was earning work points by harvesting rice for the village collective, he would cut his finger with a sickle, and the blood would gush out, but he wouldn't even flinch. But lately, he's been crying very easily.

"Okay, okay, Daddy, don't cry, don't cry."

Gao Zhankui quickly raised his hand to wipe away his tears.

After Gao Zhankui wiped away his tears, Gao Hongmei began to count the money. She picked out a ten-yuan note, straightened it, and put it away neatly. Then she found a five-yuan note, straightened it, and put it away neatly as well.

Seeing this, Su Lihua also helped sort the bills into different denominations, muttering as she did so: "One, two, three, five..."

After sorting through the bills—five-yuan notes, two-yuan notes, one-yuan notes, and small denominations of five mao, two mao, and one mao—Gao Hongmei and Su Lihua began counting the money.

Gao Hongmei counted out the large bills: "Ten yuan, twenty yuan, thirty yuan, forty yuan... seventy yuan, one hundred and ten yuan... one hundred and fifty yuan... these large bills make one hundred and fifty yuan. Lihua, you count the five-yuan bills, how much money is there in total?"

"Five plots of land, thirty-one sheets, totaling one hundred and fifty-five yuan," Su Lihua said.

Then, the two began counting the two-dollar and one-dollar bills.

After counting for a while, Gao Hongmei counted 73 two-yuan bills, totaling 146 yuan; Su Lihua counted 138 one-yuan bills, totaling 138 yuan.

I counted the remaining small bills: five-cent, two-cent, and one-cent coins, which added up to sixty-nine yuan and two cents.

All the money added up to a total of 658 yuan and 2 mao.

The meat from the entire deer was sold for over 650 yuan. This result not only left Gao Hongmei speechless, but also Gao Zhankui and Su Lihua were so surprised they couldn't close their mouths.

This sum of money is equivalent to the work points a strong laborer earns in the village collective for four or five years.

"Six hundred and fifty-eight yuan. After paying back the five hundred and sixty-three yuan owed to Li Yunshan, there are ninety-five yuan left."

Gao Hongmei counted on her fingers while muttering to herself.

However, when she saw that she could pay off the 563 yuan debt she owed Li Yunshan by simply hunting a deer, Gao Hongmei could not calm down for a long time.

"Hunting is a really good business."

Gao Hongmei thought to herself.

But then she suddenly remembered that although the venison had been sold, the deer hide was still on the tractor that Li Yunshan was driving.

That large deer hide should fetch a good price.

"I'll go find Li Yunshan tomorrow to return the money, and while I'm at it, I'll get that deerskin back. Next time I go to town, I'll sell it and see how much it'll fetch."