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

"Comrade, according to relevant regulations, you cannot buy a hunting rifle without a gun license. If you want to buy a hunting rifle, you must first go to the commune police station to apply for a gun license."

The sales clerk at the supply and marketing cooperative explained to Gao Hongmei with a slight smile.

After selling the deerskin and raising enough money, Gao Hongmei came excitedly to buy a hunting rifle, but the salesperson poured cold water on her enthusiasm, making her feel quite irritable.

However, in order to buy a hunting rifle, she patiently went to the police station again.

"Comrade, I need to get a gun license."

At the document processing window, after the older man in front of her finished processing his documents, Gao Hongmei went over and handed her ID card to the police officer at the window: "This is my ID card."

"Get a gun license? You?"

When the police officer heard that Gao Hongmei wanted to apply for a gun license, he was momentarily stunned. He glanced at the ID card that was handed to him, then took it and examined it carefully: "Comrade Gao Hongmei, is it you who wants to apply for a gun license?"

"Yes, officer, can you help me with this?" Gao Hongmei nodded.

"cannot."

Why?

"Why would a woman like you need a gun license?"

The police officer sized up Gao Hongmei. He had worked at the station for over ten years and had handled many gun licenses, but those were all for hunters from the villages under the commune. The people who came to apply for gun licenses were all grown men. This was the first time he had encountered a woman coming to the station to apply for a gun license.

"Hunting."

Gao Hongmei spoke naturally and authentically.

"Hunting? Comrade Gao Hongmei, you know how to hunt? Are you trying to fool me like a child?"

The police were even less convinced after hearing this.

If you're lucky enough to catch a valuable game while hunting in the mountains, you can become rich overnight. But most hunters may never have such an opportunity in their entire lives. Most hunters go into the mountains just to make a living.

Moreover, the deep mountains and forests are fraught with danger. If you were to encounter a tiger or a bear while hunting, you would be in serious trouble.

Therefore, those who could go into the mountains to hunt, and dared to go into the mountains to hunt, were all hunters from the village, a group of grown men. They had been going into the mountains to hunt with their fathers since they were young, and their courage was cultivated from childhood.

Even so, many hunters would choose to retreat when encountering tigers and bears.

But Gao Hongmei, a woman, said she got her gun license so she could go hunting in the mountains... This...

The police officers were incredulous; it was truly outrageous.

"Who's treating you like a child? If you don't believe me, call our Guapigou Village and ask if I, Gao Hongmei, can hunt."

Seeing Gao Hongmei speak so confidently and seriously, the police officer was suspicious, but still used the station's landline to call the village office of Guapigou Village: "Hello, is this the village office of Guapigou Village? This is the Xiangyang Commune Police Station. There is a villager from your village named Gao Hongmei who wants to apply for a gun license."

"Yes, in the past, it was always the men, young and old, in our village who applied for gun licenses. We've never seen women apply for gun licenses before, so we called the village office to ask."

"What? She can hunt? She's even gone into the mountains and killed wild boars and deer? Okay, I guess I was mistaken. Alright, alright, I'll hang up now."

After finishing the call, the police officer glanced at Gao Hongmei again: "Comrade Gao Hongmei, I really didn't expect that a woman like you would dare to go hunting in the deep mountains."

"Can I get my gun license now?" Gao Hongmei asked hurriedly. She was eager to get her gun license sorted out so she could go to the supply and marketing cooperative and buy herself a hunting rifle.

"Of course, you can go sit over there and wait for a while."

"Okay, I'll wait a bit."

Seeing that they could get gun licenses, Gao Hongmei and Su Lihua went to sit on a nearby bench and waited.

About half an hour later, the gun license was processed. The police called Gao Hongmei to the window, handed her the gun license, and explained some precautions to her before letting her leave.

"Come on, Lihua, let's go to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy a hunting rifle."

After receiving her gun license, Gao Hongmei looked at it again and again as she walked out of the police station, her heart filled with joy.

After looking at the gun license thoroughly, she carefully put it into her inner pocket and said to Su Lihua.

"Which hunting rifle do you want to buy? I took a look at the supply and marketing cooperative earlier, and hunting rifles are not cheap. You only have so much money. If you spend it all on a hunting rifle, what if you suddenly get a headache or fever?"

Su Lihua said.

These days, making money is not easy. Most people work in the village collective to earn work points, and at the end of the year, they only make a hundred or eighty yuan at most.

The overall annual income of a family with only one or two able-bodied laborers is incomparable to that of a family with three, four, or even four, five, or six able-bodied laborers.

Therefore, many families have more children, so that when the children grow up, they will become strong laborers and bring more income to the family.

Gao Hongmei's family consists of only her and Gao Zhankui.

Before Gao Zhankui broke his leg, he was already old and his health was not as good as before. He could only earn a few work points throughout the year, so the burden of supporting the family fell entirely on Gao Hongmei's shoulders.

The few work points Gao Hongmei earned, when converted into cash at the end of the year, amounted to less than one hundred yuan.

After deducting daily expenses, being able to save 20 or 30 yuan a year is considered quite good.

Previously, when Gao Zhankui was hospitalized with a fracture, Gao Hongmei emptied her savings but still couldn't come up with 100 yuan.

But now, Gao Hongmei actually wants to spend over a hundred or two hundred yuan to buy a hunting rifle, which Su Lihua thinks is unnecessary.

If she goes hunting in the mountains, Li Yunshan has two guns. Gao Hongmei can use Li Yunshan's hunting gun first. After a while, she can hunt some game, earn more money, and have more money in hand. Then she can buy her own hunting gun. Instead of spending all the money she has just saved to buy a hunting gun on a gun that she doesn't know when she will be able to use.

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing."

But Gao Hongmei's mind is now filled with thoughts of buying a hunting rifle. As long as she goes hunting in the mountains with Li Yunshan, she won't have to worry about not catching any prey and returning empty-handed.

Seeing that Gao Hongmei was determined to buy a hunting rifle, Su Lihua stopped trying to persuade her.

Having known Gao Hongmei for so many years, Su Lihua knew her temperament very well. Once Gao Hongmei made up her mind, nothing could change it.

Soon, the two returned to the counter selling hunting rifles at the supply and marketing cooperative.

"Salesperson, this is my gun license. Could you please show me your Tiger Head brand hunting rifle?"

Gao Hongmei handed her newly obtained gun license, still smelling of ink, to the sales clerk. Pointing to the Tiger Head brand hunting rifle displayed in the window, she turned to Su Lihua and said, "Li Yunshan's hunting rifle is a Tiger Head brand double-barreled hunting rifle. It can hold two bullets and fire twice in succession. I used this Tiger Head brand hunting rifle to hunt wild boar and that deer before."

The sales clerk flipped through Gao Hongmei's gun license, glanced at it a few times, and then heard her words. She looked at Gao Hongmei with surprise: "Comrade, you said you've hunted wild boar and deer?"

"Yes, sales clerk, what's wrong?"

"No, it's nothing. I was just curious how you hunt wild boar and deer. To be honest, I've never even seen what wild boar and deer look like."

The sales clerk smiled.

In fact, what the salesperson said was true. Most ordinary people may never see what wild boars and deer look like in their entire lives. Only hunters like Li Yunshan have the opportunity to see wild boars and deer when they go into the mountains to hunt.

"Wild boars are similar to domestic pigs, except that wild boars have long snouts, tusks, and gray-black bristles all over their bodies, while domestic pigs have short snouts, no tusks, and less bristles on their bodies than wild boars."

"As for red deer, they are quite large. Male red deer have two pairs of thick antlers on their heads, while female red deer do not have antlers."

Gao Hongmei roughly described the images of wild boars and deer in her memory, but the salesperson still seemed confused.

"Here you go, a Tiger Head brand hunting rifle."

While pondering the images of wild boar and deer, the sales clerk took out the Tiger Head brand hunting rifle on display from the window and handed it to Gao Hongmei.

Gao Hongmei took the shotgun, admiring it closely. She unfastened the safety and examined it carefully for a while before handing it to the salesperson.

"This shotgun isn't suitable? How about we take a look at that 'Kung' brand shotgun?"

The sales clerk assumed Gao Hongmei was dissatisfied with the Tiger Head brand hunting rifle, so she took the initiative to ask.

"I'll take this Tiger Head brand hunting rifle."

Gao Hongmei said.

When she used to pester Li Yunshan to go hunting, she used a Tiger Head brand hunting rifle, and she got used to using it after that.

Therefore, the hunting rifle she initially planned to buy was also a Tiger Head brand hunting rifle.

Gao Hongmei was worried that she wouldn't be comfortable using other brands of hunting rifles.

"Are you sure you want this Tiger Head brand hunting rifle?"

"It's confirmed, I'll pay right away."

As Gao Hongmei spoke, she took out all the money from the inner pocket of her cotton-padded jacket, counted out eighteen ten-yuan bills, then three five-yuan bills, six two-yuan bills, and the rest were one-yuan bills, which she handed to the sales clerk.

The sales clerk took the money, counted it carefully, and after confirming that it was correct, took out ten shotgun shells from the display window: "Comrade, these are ten shells for a shotgun, please take them."

"Why are there only ten bullets?"

Gao Hongmei took the ten bullets handed to her by the salesperson, but felt it wasn't enough.

"This is a regulation from higher up, and it's always been like this. If you want to be equipped with more bullets, you have to buy them yourself. However, we have a rule that each person can buy a maximum of two boxes of bullets per month with their gun license. One box of bullets costs ten yuan, and there are twenty-five bullets in one box."

The salesperson explained.

Gao Hongmei glanced at the money she had left in her hand; there were only a dozen or so yuan left.

She gritted her teeth and said to Su Lihua, "Lihua, lend me ten yuan. I want to buy two boxes of bullets. I'll pay you back when I get home."

"What are you returning? Take it."

Without much thought, Su Lihua took out her own money, pulled out a ten-yuan note, and handed it to Gao Hongmei.

"Give me two boxes of bullets."

Gao Hongmei handed the money to the sales clerk.