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

"Nonsense, all nonsense."

After hearing Li Yunshan's words, Uncle Zhou couldn't help but speak angrily as well.

"You bought that sheep with your own money, and the transaction was settled long ago. It has nothing to do with Lao Wan anymore. That bastard Wan Dayong came here to cause trouble. Although you were a bit impulsive, you did the right thing. If you hadn't taken action to deter him and made an example of Wan Dayong, there's no guarantee that others wouldn't think you're easy to talk to and then come to you to borrow money."

"What you did today, although some people in the village may gossip, is still better than having someone borrow money from you and then having them make all sorts of excuses to avoid paying you back."

"Uncle Zhou, someone's asked you for money too, hasn't they?"

Li Yunshan smiled, agreeing with what Uncle Zhou said.

In this day and age, although the country has proposed reform and opening up, the spring breeze of reform and opening up has not yet reached them, but only the coastal cities.

Therefore, in Qinghe County, it is really quite difficult to earn more money and live a better life.

Take the land distribution to individual households as an example. According to Li Yunshan's memories from his previous life, many places in China had already begun distributing land to individual households two years ago. However, it was already the end of August 1st in their area, and they had not yet heard any news about the land distribution to individual households.

But in his memory, the land distribution to individual households in Guapigou Village took place around this time. Could it be that his rebirth caused a butterfly effect, thus altering the course of events?

But Li Yunshan didn't believe he had that kind of influence.

Faced with Li Yunshan's question, Uncle Zhou also showed a bitter smile: "Yes, of course I do. I don't want anyone to ask me for money, but as soon as I got home yesterday, a neighbor came looking for me, saying he wanted to borrow ten yuan and would pay me back when he had the money."

"Listen to this! What kind of talk is this? What do you mean by 'wait until he has money to pay it back'? Does that mean if he doesn't have money, he doesn't have to pay it back?"

"From yesterday until just now, several people have come to me to borrow money, but I haven't lent them a single penny. I'm not afraid of what others will say about me."

"Brother Zhang also came to me early this morning to complain. Several people had asked him to borrow money. I told him to deposit the money in the bank and earn interest. Five hundred yuan in the bank can earn more than forty yuan in interest a year, which is more than the money he can earn by working hard for work points in the village collective."

Li Yunshan smiled and invited Uncle Zhou into the house, but Uncle Zhou waved his hand and said, "I won't come in. Remember to bring Xiulan and Doudou to my house for drinks and dinner later."

"Okay, I'll go in a bit."

Li Yunshan nodded and returned to his room after seeing Uncle Zhou off.

"Are you going to have dinner at Uncle Wu's house again last week?"

After Li Yunshan returned to the house, Gao Hongmei asked curiously.

"We hunted tigers and made money. Now that Uncle Zhou is the head hunter in the village, he will definitely invite all the hunters in our village to his house for a meal."

"Actually, this is a tradition among the hunters in our village. Every winter before going into the mountains to hunt, we would gather together for a meal. I used to be a bit of a rascal and never participated; my older brother would go. Now that he works at the forest farm, it's my turn to go."

Li Yunshan said.

"Is that so?"

Gao Hongmei was puzzled.

But Li Yunshan didn't continue explaining, because when he married Gao Hongmei, it was early spring, and six months later they were getting a divorce. So Gao Hongmei wasn't very clear about this custom among the hunters in the village.

Moreover, even before Gao Hongmei divorced him, he had already separated from the family and lived independently. At that time, he was idle and never at home, and he never mentioned these things to Gao Hongmei.

Now, he doesn't want to explain, lest he embarrass himself.

Ultimately, it was he who wronged Gao Hongmei in the past.

Seeing that Li Yunshan didn't explain, Gao Hongmei didn't press him for an answer, but her eyes darted around.

"In that case, I won't disturb you any longer and will head back now."

After Gao Hongmei finished speaking, she pinched Dou Dou's little cheek and then left Li Yunshan's house.

"Let's go to Uncle Zhou's house too."

After Gao Hongmei left, Li Yunshan also spoke to Lin Xiulan.

Although Uncle Zhou invited all the hunters in the village to his house for meals, they couldn't actually wait until mealtime to go.

There are nine hunting families in the village, totaling more than fifty people. With so many people to feed, it's impossible for Uncle Zhou's family to do all the work alone.

Just a few days ago, when the hunters from the village came to his house for a meal, each family had someone come to help.

"DouDou, let's go, come with Daddy and Mommy."

Lin Xiulan greeted Dou Dou.

"Okay, let's go play, let's go play."

DouDou immediately put down the doll in her hand and ran quickly to Lin Xiulan's side, letting Lin Xiulan hold her little hand.

After Lin Xiulan led Dou Dou out of the main room, Li Yunshan locked the door, and the family of three headed towards Uncle Zhou's house.

On the way, Li Yunshan encountered some villagers who were gathered in twos and threes, whispering to each other, and it was unclear what they were saying.

Although it's freezing cold and everyone is staying home to hibernate, the weather has been nice these past few days, with the sun rising during the day.

It's midday now, the time when the sun is at its warmest.

In addition, the tiger that entered the village was killed by the village hunters, so some people still came out of their homes and gathered together in a sunny place to bask in the sun and keep warm.

"Li Yunshan walked past."

"Did you hear what happened just now? Old Wan's youngest son went to his house and started causing trouble, trying to get a share of the money he got from hunting tigers. Li Yunshan shot him dead, which scared Old Wan half to death. Wan Dayong, that bastard, almost peed his pants in fright."

"I heard about it, I heard about it. Do you think Wan Dayong is stupid? Li Yunshan gave the money for buying sheep to his father, how can he have the nerve to ask for a share of his money?"

"Money can be a powerful motivator. If Li Yunshan had bought that sheep from your family, wouldn't you have thought that you contributed to it and wanted a share of the profits?"

"This...heh, it really is!"

"The hunters in our village made a lot of money after killing that tiger. When I went out this morning, I saw several people going to Cai Er's house. I guess they were going to borrow money from Cai Er."

"Did Cai Er borrow the money?"

"No, Cai Er said that his money didn't come from thin air, and no one is allowed to borrow a single penny."

"Cai Er is really stingy. He's earned quite a bit himself. Why won't he lend it to others? Everyone has their ups and downs. I don't believe he won't have to ask for help someday."

"That's what people who borrow money from him say too, but Cai Er doesn't even bother to listen to you. It's just that Cai Er has a good temper. If he had encountered someone with a bad temper like Li Yunshan, he would have already pulled out a gun and fired a couple of shots. He would have either killed you or scared you half to death."

As Li Yunshan led Lin Xiulan and Dou Dou away, the villagers couldn't help but start gossiping. Their gazes as the Li family of three walked away were filled with both envy and jealousy.

After all, you can earn several hundred dollars by killing a tiger.

However, most people also know that they don't have the ability or courage to fight tigers.

Putting aside other things, the hunting skills of the hunters in the village are basically passed down from generation to generation. When the children are only ten years old, the elders of the family take them into the mountains to teach them by word and deed how to identify animal footprints on the ground, how to identify animal sounds, how to track prey, and how to build their courage.

These are things that ordinary farmers in the village simply don't teach you.

Another point is that if you want to hunt, you need to have the right tools.

You should have at least a basic bow and arrow, or at least a hunting rifle.

However, acquiring a set of bows and arrows costs money; and buying a hunting rifle and bullets costs even more than acquiring bows and arrows.

The cheapest hunting rifles displayed in the supply and marketing cooperative now cost 180 yuan, which is an astronomical price for many villagers who earn work points in the village collective and only make a hundred or so yuan a year.

So, although everyone in the village knew that the hunters made money by hunting, no one taught them, and no one was willing to spend a lot of money to buy bows and arrows or hunting rifles. So they could only watch helplessly as the hunters in the village made money by hunting.

In the entire Guapigou Village, only Gao Hongmei had the opportunity to learn how to hunt because of her relationship with Li Yunshan, who was willing to teach her.

"They seem to be talking about you."

After walking over, Lin Xiulan said.

"It must be because the news of me shooting Wan Dayong to scare him got out. That's good, it's good that it made some people give up that idea as soon as possible."

Li Yunshan touched his nose, smiled, and said.

If word gets out that Wan Dayong came to him to borrow money today, anyone who wants to borrow money from him in the future will have to think twice about his temper.

"Just don't be impulsive in the future. Your shooting just now really scared my sister and me. We were afraid you would do something reckless."

Lin Xiulan whispered a word of advice.

"Um."

Li Yunshan nodded.

When they arrived at Uncle Zhou's house, everything was already bustling with activity.

Uncle Zhou, Li Baotian, and Peng Youlian, carrying ropes, barged into Uncle Zhou's pigpen, intending to lead out the pig Uncle Zhou was raising. Brother Zhang, holding a stick, was ready to help herd the pig.

"Uncle Zhou, are you preparing to slaughter a pig?"

Li Yunshan walked over to take a look and couldn't help but ask curiously.

The pig in Uncle Zhou's pigsty, though not as big as the big fat pig raised by Old Wang, wasn't much smaller.

There are still more than half a month until the Chinese New Year. Why slaughter the big fat pig that we have raised for more than half a year so early? We won't have to slaughter the pig to make money during the Chinese New Year.

"Several households in the village have raised large fat pigs this year. I reckon they'll save them until around the Lunar New Year to slaughter them. If several households slaughter pigs then, who will be able to buy so many? I might as well slaughter the pigs now, so everyone can have a good meal today and keep the rest for ourselves. That way, we can eat meat every day."

"When spring comes next year and the weather gets warmer, I'll go and catch two more piglets to raise."

Uncle Zhou said with a smile.

Normally, Uncle Zhou wouldn't be willing to slaughter a pig, but since they killed a tiger and made a lot of money, what could they do?

When you have money in your pocket, you're willing to eat and drink more, and you're willing to spend more money.

Uncle Zhou was unusually generous this time.