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

"However, I don't have that many tables and chairs at home."

Li Yunshan continued.

"Let them bring their own tables and chairs over for a bit. Since all the hunters in our village are here today, and we just killed that tiger, let's all get together and have a good celebration and eat something nice."

"Go and inform your families, and bring all the tables and chairs over, otherwise the Yunshan family won't have enough for the banquet."

Uncle Zhou laughed.

"Hehe, we'll go back now, call our family, and bring the tables and chairs over too."

Cai Er also said with a smile.

"Cai Er, I won't be going back. If you're on your way, please let my family know so my wife can bring the kids over. I'll help him out here in Yunshan."

Zhang Sange said.

"Okay, no problem." Cai Er smiled and left Li Yunshan's house.

Soon, Zhao Shuanzhu, Peng Youlian, Wang Laojiu and others also left, leaving only Li Yunshan, Uncle Zhou, and Brother Zhang.

Li Yunshan asked Peng Youlian to go to his elder brother's place to inform Lin Xiulan, as well as his mother, second sister, and fourth sister. Uncle Zhou also asked Zhao Shuanzhu to go to his family's place to inform them.

At this point, the villagers who had been watching the spectacle also left, as the tiger had been dismembered and there was no more excitement to see.

"Brother Zhang, let's clean up this sheep too."

Li Yunshan pointed to the ram under the eaves, the one that had suffered an undeserved calamity last night and been shot.

He originally intended to use the sheep as bait to lure the tiger, but unexpectedly, it was Old Zheng's sheep that suffered the consequences.

According to Li Yunshan's idea, if this ram could attract the tiger, it would improve the family's meals.

However, since Uncle Zhou said that we should take this opportunity to let the hunters and their families in the village get together for a meal, we might as well take care of this sheep as well.

Li Yunshan was always generous when it came to food and drink, and he never felt that he would be at a disadvantage by doing so.

Ultimately, it's because he has lived two lives and is willing to give up food and drink.

If it were someone else, that might not be the case.

After all, making money is not easy these days. Many people are lucky if they can even have enough to eat, let alone eat well.

Nobody owns a gold mine, so why would they be willing to kill a sheep for someone else to eat?

"Okay, I'll help you pack."

Seeing how generous Li Yunshan was, even bringing out the sheep he had bought, Zhang Sange began to look at Li Yunshan with new respect.

Lamb is not cheap, and most people are reluctant to eat it. They would buy pork at most and eat pork, let alone give lamb to others.

Zhang Sange has never eaten mutton more than a few times in his life.

The mutton we ate at Li Yunshan's house yesterday, although it was simply cooked, was still delicious enough to make Zhang Sange enjoy it immensely.

Soon, Brother Zhang went into the kitchen, brought two buckets of boiling water, and poured them into a large basin.

Li Yunshan also grabbed the two lamb legs, one in front and one behind, and soaked the sheep in boiling water. After the wool was softened, he took it out, placed it on the door panel, and worked with Zhang Sange to clean up the softened wool.

As the wool is removed, the white sheepskin hidden beneath is revealed.

Before the wool was completely sheared, only most of it had been sheared, Lin Xiulan returned with Dou Dou. Also accompanying them were Huang Zhifang, Li Yunmei, Li Yunlan, Wang Xiaolian, and several of the family's children.

"Father, Father, where is the tiger?"

As soon as they entered the courtyard, Dou Dou rushed towards Li Yunshan, hugged his leg, and asked in a childish voice.

Last night, when the village hunters killed the tiger that had entered the village, Lin Xiulan didn't bring Dou Dou back to join the fun until just now when Li Yunshan and the others were dealing with the tiger. Firstly, there were too many people around, and secondly, she was pregnant, so she didn't bring Dou Dou back to join the fun.

"The tiger was killed by my father and uncles."

Li Yunshan smiled.

Because his hands were still covered in wool, he didn't pick up Dou Dou. Instead, he said to Lin Xiulan, "Xiulan, take Dou Dou and Mother inside. It's quite cold in this yard."

Lin Xiulan nodded and then told Huang Zhifang to go inside first.

Li Yunmei and Li Yunlan went to the cellar to get vegetables. They took half a basket of Chinese cabbage, half a basket of potatoes, a bundle of green onions, and a dozen or so white radishes.

In the early 1980s, although vegetable greenhouses already existed in China, they had not yet become widespread, and the limited number of greenhouses only existed around large cities.

In the vast rural areas of Northeast China, the variety of vegetables on the winter table has always been relatively limited. People mainly rely on vegetables that can be stored in the fall or pickled vegetables to get through the long winter.

Chinese cabbage, for example, is a staple vegetable on the winter tables of rural Northeast China, and is considered an absolute king among vegetables.

Every autumn, every household stores one or two hundred kilograms, or even three or five hundred kilograms, of Chinese cabbage in their cellars.

In late autumn, Li Yunshan's family stocked up on more than 200 kilograms of Chinese cabbage.

Secondly, there are potatoes and radishes.

We have stockpiled over 100 jin of potatoes, over 100 jin of white radishes, and about 60-70 jin of red radishes.

In addition, there were seven or eight bundles of scallions and more than thirty catties of cabbage.

There was also a vat of pickled sauerkraut in the kitchen.

After Li Yunmei and Li Yunlan took the cabbages and potatoes out of the cellar, they began to process them.

First, peel off the wilted leaves of the Chinese cabbage, then cut the Chinese cabbage open and wash it in a large basin.

After washing it once, I changed the water and then washed it a second time.

After washing, drain the water and set aside.

At this moment, Cai Er and Zhao Shuanzhu also arrived with their wives and children, carrying tables and chairs from their home.

Seeing Li Yunmei and Li Yunlan preparing to peel potatoes, Cai Er's wife and Zhao Shuanzhu's wife put down their long benches and went over to help.

"Yunlan, it's been so long! When did you go back to your parents' home? I haven't seen you around the village. I had no idea when you came back."

"That's right, it's been a while. I remember the last time we met was during last year's Spring Festival. By the way, your husband didn't come?"

"He didn't come; he was at work. I only arrived at my mother's house around her birthday, and then a tiger came to the village, so I hid at home and didn't dare to go out."

As soon as they got together, Cai Er's wife and Zhao Shuanzhu's wife started chatting with Li Yunlan.

However, when they asked about her man, Li Yunlan didn't want to say much and just made up a reason.

Then, Li Yunmei changed the subject.

After a while, more people started arriving.

Zhang Sange's wife arrived with her children; Wang Laojiu's wife also arrived with her two children.

Peng Youlian's wife and children, Li Baotian, Uncle Zhou's family... all gathered at Li Yunshan's house.

Li Yunshan, Zhang Sange, and Zhou Wushu were chopping mutton, while Cai Er, Peng Youlian, Zhao Shuanzhu, and Wang Laojiu were processing the tiger's internal organs. The tiger's heart, intestines, and belly were rare delicacies.

The women were processing vegetables, peeling potatoes, picking scallions, and taking out a lot of sauerkraut from the sauerkraut jar. After washing and wringing out the water, they chopped it finely, put it in a pot to dry, and then put it in a basin for later use.

Huang Zhifang and several elderly people over sixty years old chatted idly in the main room, while a dozen children ran and played wildly in and out of the yard, their joyful laughter ringing out continuously.

Li Yunlan was chopping scallions when she suddenly saw Qianqian run into the yard like the wind, playing happily with the other children. A childlike smile appeared on her tender face, and Li Yunlan was momentarily stunned.

On her husband's side, because her mother-in-law favored sons over daughters, her husband, Wang Yuanchao, always obeyed his mother. Li Yunlan could also sense that her husband was quite sexist, so he didn't treat Qianqian very well.

The mother-in-law was even more vicious, often scolding Qianqian as a money-losing daughter and saying that she would be like water spilled out in the future. Her husband, Wang Yuanchao, also often glared at Qianqian and rarely said anything nice. As a result, in such a repressive family atmosphere, Qianqian developed a timid and inferior personality.

However, I didn't expect that Qianqian would be so engrossed and happy playing with the village children after only a few days back at her parents' home.

"Fourth Sister, what are you looking at?"

Seeing that Li Yunlan had stopped, Li Yunmei glanced at her and then asked.

"Look at Qianqian. Second sister, look how happy Qianqian is playing."

Li Yunlan pointed at Qianqian and said.

Seeing this, Li Yunmei didn't continue the topic in front of so many people.

After all, as the older sister, Li Yunmei knew that her fourth sister, Li Yunlan, was not having a good life in her husband's family, but these things could not be said or discussed in such a large setting.

Therefore, Li Yunmei smiled slightly and then remained silent.

……

After more than an hour of busy work, chopping meat and preparing vegetables, Li Yunshan and his team finally finished cleaning and chopping the sheep.

Meanwhile, Li Yunmei had already chopped the cabbage and shredded the potatoes.

"Half of the mutton is used for a dry pot, and the other half is used to make mutton and white radish soup."

"Also, should the shredded potatoes be stir-fried with vinegar or hot and sour? Let's stew the cabbage with the cured pork."

"Make half of the stir-fried shredded potatoes with vinegar and half of the hot and sour ones, and stew the cabbage and cured meat until they're just right, with plenty of oil."

"The tiger's offal, like its intestines, heart, and belly, should be blanched and then used to stir-fry with pickled cabbage. Remember to add plenty of ginger, scallions, and cooking wine to mask the fishy smell."

"Give us another twenty catties... no, thirty catties of tiger meat, and stew it slowly in a pot until it's tender and flavorful."

"Uncle Zhou, we don't have enough pots."

"If you don't have enough pots, go home and get two. Then, pile up some bricks in the yard, make a simple stove, and you can stew meat over a fire."

With the meat chopped and the vegetables prepared, Uncle Zhou started writing the menu on Friday.

However, cooking and stir-frying were not done by Li Yunshan and his comrades, but were left to the women comrades.

After all, Li Yunshan and his men had worked hard for several days and hadn't had a proper rest in order to kill the tiger that had entered the village.

After Uncle Zhou made the assignments on Friday, Li Yunmei, Wang Xiaolian, Cai Er's wife, Zhao Shuanzhu's wife, and other women went into the kitchen. Some stewed soup, some stir-fried dishes, and some kneaded dough to make steamed buns. Everyone worked together and were busy for a while.

Wu Shenghong took out nearly thirty catties of tiger meat from the house, and he and Zhao Shuanzhu took knives and cut the tiger meat into pieces. They also cut some ginger and a bunch of green onions, and prepared star anise and dried chili peppers.

Cai Er went home and brought over two pots. Wang Laojiu and Peng Youlian built a makeshift stove in the yard, placed the pots on it, lit the fire, and boiled off the water in the pots. Then they put in the fat stripped from the tiger and fried it until the fat was rendered. They added ginger, scallions, star anise, and dried chili peppers to release the aroma before finally adding the tiger meat.

After stir-frying until flavorful, add a few spoonfuls of water and cover the pot.

While the tiger meat was stewing, Li Yunshan and the other men gathered around the stove to warm it up and thaw their icy hands.

"If there's not enough space inside when we eat later, how about we set up a table in the yard and light a few bonfires around it?"

While warming himself by the fire, Li Yunshan said with a smile.

"That's a good idea. Let the old folks and women stay inside with the children, while we men can drink and eat meat in the yard."

Zhao Shuanzhu agreed, and Cai Er, Zhang Sange, and others did not object.

"It's rare to have so many good dishes, including tiger meat and mutton. It's just a pity there isn't much wine."

Cai Er felt a little regretful.

"Let's go to Xiangyang Commune to buy it. Our village isn't far from Xiangyang Commune. It's faster by bicycle, and it only takes a little over an hour to go back and forth. We can just eat a little later if necessary."

Li Yunshan said with a smile.

"Then lend me your bicycle, I'll go buy one."

Cai Er immediately said.