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

"I'm so full!"

"Those wontons were so delicious, I'm stuffed."

"Those dumplings have thin wrappers and lots of filling; I feel like I could eat another bowl."

"No wonder everyone wants to move to the city and live the life of city dwellers. They don't have to eat like this every day. I want to move to the city too."

"..."

As it approached midnight, Li Yunshan, Uncle Zhou, and the others finished their meal outside and, while picking their teeth with toothpicks, walked into the guesthouse that Captain Jiang had arranged for them.

Dinner was naturally arranged by Captain Jiang.

Li Yunshan and his men hadn't eaten for most of the day and were starving, so they naturally accepted any food offered.

Wonton, dumplings... everyone ate at least three large bowls.

In those days, everyone's life was tough. People could generally endure hunger and withstand it, but once they had enough to eat, they could eat a lot.

In addition to the wontons and dumplings they had just eaten, all filled with meat, Uncle Zhou and Cai Er and the others enjoyed their meal very much.

This county town is really great! Even late at night, there are still food stalls open. If you want wontons, you can get wontons; if you want dumplings, you can get dumplings; and there are also noodles with half a spoonful of minced meat sauce.

When they're at home, if they want to eat wontons or dumplings, they don't have that much meat filling. Even their dumplings are filled with sauerkraut, with hardly any meat at all.

The snack shops in the county town offer generous portions of wontons and dumplings, and they taste good. The only downside is that they are a bit expensive.

However, thinking about how much money they made selling that tiger today, and how they could split it among themselves into seven or eight hundred yuan when they returned to the village, Cai Er and the others suddenly felt that it wasn't expensive anymore.

However, Cai Er and the others wouldn't dare to eat like this every day.

After all, even if they get a share of the money after returning to the village, they can't keep up with this kind of extravagance if they eat like this every day.

"How about we take another stroll around the county town tomorrow before heading back to the village?"

At this point, Zhao Shuanzhu made a suggestion.

"Sure, since we're staying at the county guesthouse tonight, we don't need to rush back early tomorrow morning. We can take a stroll around the county town before heading back to the village."

Li Baotian said that he also wanted to visit the county town.

During busy farming seasons, they have to work in the fields to earn work points. When the busy season ends, they have to take advantage of the winter off-season to go hunting in the mountains to earn more money.

Now that I've finally come to the county town, I must take a stroll around and buy some things before heading back.

"Uncle Zhou Wu, is it alright?" Cai Er asked Uncle Zhou Wu.

"Can."

Uncle Zhou smiled and nodded.

He also knew that the young people in the village longed for the county town.

In addition, after selling the tiger, everyone felt they had money in their pockets and wanted to buy some food, clothes, and other necessities to take back to their wives and children.

"In addition, each of you will receive an advance of fifty yuan. The remaining money will be divided equally when we return to the village."

Uncle Zhou said this at the end.

"hehe."

This decision made Cai Er and the others burst out laughing.

They didn't have much money on them to begin with. Although they were planning to explore the county town, they were also thinking of asking Uncle Zhou for an advance. They didn't expect Uncle Zhou to have thought of that for them.

"This time I have to buy my daughter a rattle drum. Last time she went to the market in Xiangyang Commune with me, I didn't have much money on me, so I didn't buy her one. She cried for a long time after we got home."

"Hehe, I need to buy my son a new cotton-padded jacket. He's wearing his two older sisters' hand-me-downs, it doesn't look good. I also need to buy my wife a couple of new clothes. She's been married to me for so many years, and she's never bought me any decent clothes."

"..."

Cai Er and the others laughed and talked, their voices filled with the happiness of overcoming hardship.

Soon, while talking and filled with anticipation for a better life, Li Yunshan and his entourage arrived at the guesthouse diagonally opposite the county hospital.

Captain Jiang had given prior notice, and although Li Yunshan and his group were carrying hunting rifles, which made the front desk of the guesthouse a little hesitant, they still quickly arranged accommodation for them.

That night, Li Yunshan and the others slept soundly, but the county public security bureau mobilized almost all of its officers, except for a small number who remained on duty, and searched every guesthouse, restaurant, and eatery in the county town.

Just after four in the morning, as the east was about to turn a pale white, a gunshot shattered the early morning silence of the county town...

……

The next day, when the sun was high in the sky, Li Yunshan and the others had breakfast near the guesthouse and then went to stroll around the county town together.

Walking down the street, Cai Er and his friends looked around, finding everything strange and interesting.

Along the way, you can see many people riding bicycles, and occasionally motorcycles and cars passing by.

"Look, that building is so tall, one, two, three, four, five... five stories high. It must have cost a lot of money to build such a tall building."

"That's the county bank building. It was just completed at the beginning of this year. Building one must cost at least several hundred thousand."

Li Yunshan glanced at it and said.

Cai Er and the others stared in astonishment, their mouths agape.

Hundreds of thousands?

What does that mean?

They only earned about seven thousand yuan for killing that tiger, but this building cost them hundreds of thousands.

That's money they might never earn in their entire lives.

"Let's go check out the department store."

Zhao Shuanzhu suggested.

The proposal was agreed upon by everyone.

In this day and age, a department store represents a dazzling array of goods, with everything imaginable: food, drinks, household items, clothing, cosmetics, floor cleaning supplies, toys... Of course, the prerequisite is that you have money, otherwise you can only stare blankly.

When Li Yunshan and his group arrived at the county department store, there were already quite a few people inside, either shopping or simply browsing around.

"My goodness, there are so many people in this department store, even more than at the market in Xiangyang Commune."

"The food, daily necessities, and clothing here are more plentiful than at the supply and marketing cooperative, and the sales clerks are much more enthusiastic than those at the supply and marketing cooperative."

As soon as they entered the department store, Cai Er and his companions felt overwhelmed by the sights.

In their eyes, the supply and marketing cooperative was already a place with abundant resources and a wide variety of goods, but the department store was even better than the supply and marketing cooperative.

The department store has three floors, each with an area of ​​several hundred square meters, and each floor is filled with all kinds of goods.

From large items like refrigerators, washing machines, televisions, sewing machines, and bicycles, to small items like needles, thread, and snacks.

The washing machine store is located in one area, which is further divided into several sections, each corresponding to a different brand.

Welly, Little Swan, Hitachi, Xinle, Friendship... there are probably eight or nine washing machine brands in total.

In addition, there were bicycles for sale, including Phoenix, Flying Pigeon, Feida, Golden Lion, Forever, Red Flag, and six or seven other brands, each occupying a counter.

There were also vendors selling clothes, candy, melon seeds, and soft drinks.

Selling toothpaste and toothbrushes, selling soap and laundry detergent, selling thermos flasks...

The dazzling array of goods left Cai Er and his companions completely bewildered, finding everything fascinating and interesting.

"What's this? A washing machine? What's it for? Damn, it costs seven or eight hundred yuan!"

Wang Laojiu ran over and glanced at the price of the washing machine, then couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

"This is for washing clothes. Just plug in the washing machine, put the clothes in, and it will wash them for you automatically."

Li Yunshan said with a smile.

"Spending so much money just so you don't have to do laundry?" Wang Laojiu couldn't understand, just as everyone else thought.

In those days, making money was so difficult. They worked in the village collective to earn work points. From spring planting to autumn harvest, they worked for half a year and only earned a hundred or eighty yuan. Only in the winter, when they were not farming, would they go into the mountains to hunt and earn more money to supplement their household income and make their lives a little better.

Washing clothes is something anyone with hands can do.

Moreover, in the dead of winter, when it's not the busy farming season and people aren't sweating a lot, they usually just change into their underwear and wash them. Larger, thicker clothes like cotton-padded jackets, cotton-padded trousers, and sweaters are usually washed only once in a long while.

"If you have money to buy a washing machine, you might as well buy a bicycle."

Peng Youlian smiled.

"Hehe, Youlian, didn't you want to exchange your shotgun for a hunting rifle? Since you're shopping at the department store today, you can buy the hunting rifle here. It'll save you from having to make another trip to Xiangyang Commune later."

Li Baotian said with a smile.

"That's right, Uncle Yasuda, you're very thoughtful."

Upon hearing this, Peng Youlian agreed with Li Baotian's reasoning and headed towards the counter where he could buy hunting rifles.

"Let's go see what kind of hunting rifle Youlian is buying, and we can give him some advice."

Uncle Zhou also said.

Li Yunshan and the others all followed suit.

Upon arriving at the counter selling hunting rifles, Peng Youlian presented his gun license and selected a rifle to try out.

It was a single-barreled shotgun. Peng Youlian wasn't very satisfied with it after trying it, so he tried a double-barreled shotgun instead.

After consulting with Uncle Zhou and others, Peng Youlian finally bought a Tiger Head brand double-barreled shotgun and two boxes of ammunition.

"Hehe, with this gun, I can shoot bullets much faster when I go hunting in the mountains, and I won't have to be afraid of encountering those dangerous big guys anymore."

After paying for and receiving the hunting rifle, Peng Youlian was delighted with it.

He used to use a musket, which required reloading gunpowder, attaching a fuse, and then loading iron pellets after each shot.

Each time a match is fired, it has to be struck, which is very troublesome and the shooting efficiency is not high.

If the length of the gunpowder fuse is not properly controlled, the bullet in the barrel may be fired before the prey is even aimed at.

If you encounter wolves, bears, or even tigers, you're in big trouble.

If he misses with his first shot, those beasts will be right in front of him before he even has a chance to load the gunpowder and attach the fuse.

"Alright, now all the hunters in our village have switched to hunting rifles. From now on, their hunting haul in the mountains will definitely be plentiful."

Uncle Zhou laughed.

"Hehe, I think it's not good for everyone to stay at home and hibernate during the winter off-season. Why don't we find some time to go hunting in the mountains together? There's strength in numbers, and we might have an unexpected harvest."

Li Baotian suggested with a smile.