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

In the kitchen, the fire in the stove was burning brightly, and white steamed buns were being steamed in the steamer. In another burner, there was a double-handled aluminum pot with mutton soup simmering inside. As soon as Li Yunmei lifted the lid, she saw that the mutton soup had turned a thick white color and was bubbling up.

"Can we add the white radish now?"

Wang Xiaolian leaned closer, glanced into the pot, and couldn't help but take a deep breath: "This mutton soup smells so good! I wish I could have mutton soup every month from now on."

"Sister-in-law, you really dare to dream. If I could drink mutton soup once a year, I would be so happy that my nose would bubble with snot."

Upon hearing Wang Xiaolian's words, Cai Er's wife, who was standing to the side, couldn't help but laugh out loud.

"Yes, we'll be able to have mutton soup later, and we have to thank Li Yunshan for that. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't even know what mutton tastes like."

Zhao Shuanzhu's wife echoed this sentiment.

In this day and age, there are many people who don't have enough to eat and are so hungry that they are pale and emaciated.

Qinghe County is located in the three northeastern provinces, where plains and mountains are clearly distinct.

Although Guapigou Village is surrounded by mountains, it also has many flat areas and a lot of arable land. Every year, after handing over the grain to the state, the rest is enough for everyone to eat for a year.

Having enough to eat is not a problem, but whether you can eat well depends on your own abilities.

Ordinary farmers with many able-bodied men in their families can earn two or three hundred yuan a year, while those with fewer able-bodied men can only earn a hundred or so yuan a year.

The hunters in the village are farmers during the busy farming season, and they go into the mountains to hunt during the off-season, earning an extra income that makes their lives better than those of ordinary farmers.

Ordinary farmers only buy a few pounds of meat to improve their lives during festivals, while hunters in the village have more opportunities to eat meat throughout the year.

Of course, there are fewer.

Like Brother Zhang, whose wife is frail and whose children are still young, he is the only strong laborer in the family. Sometimes when he hunts prey, he can't bear to eat it himself, but instead sells it to get money to buy medicine for his wife.

In fact, whether they are ordinary farmers or hunters, they are not very willing to put effort into their food and drink.

The desire to eat well is understandable, but most people know that earning money is not easy, and they usually live frugally in order to save more money.

So, when people crave something, they might buy some pork to try, but lamb or beef is something they wouldn't even dare to dream of.

Just like Old Man Zheng and Old Man Wan who raise sheep in the village, they have raised sheep for so many years, but they probably don't even know what mutton tastes like.

I heard that the sheep they raised were bought by sheep dealers and taken to big cities to be slaughtered and fed to people in those cities.

That's why Cai's second wife said that if she could drink mutton soup once a year, she would be so happy that her nose would bubble with snot.

Zhao Shuanzhu's wife's words were also agreed upon by Cai Er's wife, Li Yunmei, Li Yunlan and others.

They were able to eat mutton and drink mutton soup today because Li Yunshan was willing to give up a whole sheep to provide for everyone.

"Yunmei, your third son is really generous."

"Yes, I've never seen anyone so generous with their food and drink. Your third son is not only generous with his own food and drink, but he also takes care of us hunters' families. This is the first of its kind in our Guapigou Village."

Zhao Shuanzhu's wife and Cai Er's wife spoke one after the other.

"Hehe, our third son used to be a bit unreliable, but now that he's successful and earns money, he's more willing to spend on food and drink."

"Besides, we're all hunters. We can't let this good food and drink go to outsiders, right?"

When she heard others praising Li Yunshan, Li Yunmei responded with a smile.

However, in Li Yunmei's opinion, her third brother, Li Yunshan, was indeed willing to spend money on food and drink.

During the time she stayed at her parents' home, she heard her mother say that her third brother had bought her all sorts of food and drinks, such as malted milk powder, steamed cakes, and even sent large chunks of wild boar meat to her eldest brother, and also gave her a lot of pocket money.

And then there's Lin Xiulan. The last time I saw her was during last year's Spring Festival. At that time, Lin Xiulan was pitifully thin, and her pretty face looked pale and emaciated.

But now, it's said that after the third brother reformed, his attitude towards Lin Xiulan is completely different.

The third brother used to dislike Lin Xiulan for giving birth to a girl, but now he not only doesn't mind, he treats Lin Xiulan very well and also dotes on Dou Dou.

To put it simply, it's like "holding it in your hands for fear of dropping it, and keeping it in your mouth for fear of it melting."

"Hehe, things will only get better from now on."

At this moment, Li Yunshan walked into the kitchen and overheard Li Yunmei and Cai Er's wife's conversation. He then said with a smile.

"Will things get better from now on? I don't think so."

Cai's second daughter-in-law said.

"In our county, the land will soon be distributed to individual households, either before or after the Spring Festival. The village committees will definitely take action. Also, the south has started reform and opening up, and factories and industrial zones are springing up everywhere. This trend will soon blow north and reach us."

"After the land was distributed to individual households, we had our own responsibility land. After paying the state the grain we grew, the rest was ours."

Li Yunshan said with a smile as he lifted the lid of the pot.

As soon as the lid was removed, a cloud of steam rushed out, followed by the rich aroma of mutton soup filling the nostrils.

Li Yunshan took a bowl, scooped up a spoonful of soup, tasted it, and nodded: "This tastes good."

He scooped up another piece of mutton and stuffed it into his mouth: "The mutton isn't very chewy, so we can put the white radish in the pot now."

Lamb and radish soup needs to be simmered for a longer time to taste good.

"Okay, I'll put it in right away." Wang Xiaolian said as she got up and put the chopped radish pieces into the pot.

"I'm going out now."

Li Yunshan said something and then left the kitchen.

"Ring ring... Ring ring..."

Li Yunshan had barely stepped out of the kitchen when the clear sound of a bicycle bell rang out from afar.

A short while later, Cai Er, who had gone to Xiangyang Commune to buy wine, returned.

When they arrived at Li Yunshan's house, Cai Er stopped his bicycle and pushed it into the yard.

"Hey, Cai Er, you're back with the wine so quickly!"

Everyone was quite surprised. It was six or seven miles from Guapigou Village to Xiangyang Commune, and the road was still difficult to travel because of the snow in winter.

Under normal circumstances, it takes about half an hour to cycle back and forth.

In weather like this, with muddy roads, a round trip would take at least an hour.

Including the time to buy the wine, it will take at least an hour and a half.

But from the time Cai Er went out until he returned, it was less than an hour.

Did Cai Er put a whirlwind on his bicycle?

"On the way, I met someone selling two cans of bulk liquor in the village. I was curious and tried a sip. It tasted good, and the price was the same as at the supply and marketing cooperative. I figured it would be about the same price and taste at the cooperative, so I bought it from the person selling liquor in the village," Cai Er explained, then untied the wicker basket full of bottles of bulk liquor from the back of his bicycle.

"Someone's even coming into the village to sell alcohol? Isn't that illegal?"

Zhao Shuanzhu asked curiously.

"Who knows? Anyway, the guy seemed honest and reliable, and the wine tasted pretty good, so I bought it." Cai Er said, then suddenly asked, "Didn't you buy a fake?"

Fake alcohol?

Everyone was stunned for a moment.

For people of this era, "fake alcohol" is still a term rarely heard in daily life.

In this day and age, being able to eat your fill is already a blessing; most people don't have the spare money to drink alcohol.

Moreover, after those difficult years, wine was a monopoly, and private individuals had no right to produce it.

"It must have been the reform and opening up, the country had new policies that allowed individual businesses to brew liquor, so some people brought their own brewed liquor to the countryside to sell."

Li Yunshan said.

Since people are already taking liquor to the countryside to sell, it means that the spring breeze of reform and opening up has reached them. Industries that ordinary people couldn't access before are gradually being deregulated or have had policy loopholes opened.

Of course, the first people to try it have already begun to appear.

"I remember that if you wanted to buy alcohol in the past, you had to go to the supply and marketing cooperative and you had to have a quota. You couldn't buy it if you didn't have a quota."

"Who said that? You can buy it for half the price."

Peng Youlian and Wu Shenghong said.

"Speaking of which, I just remembered something. Zhang San went to the supply and marketing cooperative to buy a gun, and Yunshan and I went with him. When we bought the gun, the salesperson asked us a lot of questions. Yunshan said that the country might tighten its gun control policies soon, and it might become increasingly difficult to buy bullets for hunting in the future."

"We make a living by hunting. If you have any money, you might as well buy some more hunting rifle bullets. You never know when they might become hard to find," Uncle Zhou said at this moment.

"I was wondering why the salesperson asked me so many questions when I went to buy a hunting rifle the other day. So that's why."

Wang Lao Jiu slapped his thigh and said.

"I need to buy a hunting rifle quickly, otherwise I won't be able to buy one later!"

Peng Youlian, who had always used a shotgun for hunting, became anxious after hearing what Uncle Zhou and Wang Laojiu said.

"The government will control firearms, that's inevitable. If you still want to hunt, you'd better buy one now."

Li Yunshan said.

With the progress of reform and opening up, in order to create a good social security environment, it is inevitable that the state will tighten the sale of hunting rifles and gradually control firearms.

Another point is to protect the environment and protect wild animals.

"Then we need to stockpile more shotgun ammunition as soon as possible."

"Yes, if what Yunshan says is true, then when we run out of bullets, it will be difficult to buy more. What will we use to hunt then? Bows and arrows?"

"I'm used to using a hunting rifle, but I won't take the bow and arrow."

"That's right. If we hunt with a bow and arrow, aren't we just going backwards?"

Cai Er, Zhao Shuanzhu, and others also spoke up.

"The mutton soup is ready."

At this moment, Li Yunmei came out of the kitchen and called out.