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

"Sister-in-law, the pig intestines are here!"

The cleaned pig intestines were brought inside.

At this moment, the blood curd made with pig's blood has just solidified, and it is tender and bouncy.

In the kitchen, Wang Xiaolian, Cai Er's wife, and several other women immediately got to work after the pig intestines were brought in. They took the tools for making blood sausage and started pouring the freshly coagulated blood curd into the pig intestines.

The stuffed blood sausage was quickly put into a steaming hot pot, while the pig intestines on the other side were cut into sections and added to the pot along with the pickled cabbage.

At this moment, inside and outside the house, some people were making blood sausage, some were chopping vegetables, and some were chopping meat, creating a very lively scene.

The hunters' children were running and playing wildly inside and outside the house. They would go to watch Li Baotian and Uncle Zhou cut meat, or run to watch Wang Xiaolian and Cai Er's wife make blood sausage. Two children stood guard at the stove, adding firewood to the stove, their bright black eyes glancing at the big pot on the stove every now and then.

Unfortunately, the pot was covered with a lid, so only the fragrant aroma of braised pork wafted out.

But the aroma of braised pork alone was enough to make the two children helping to tend the fire in the kitchen keep swallowing their saliva.

"Big Tiger, Little Tiger, hurry up and go out to play!"

Cai's second wife smiled and said to the two children.

"No, I'm not going. I want to stay here and help my aunt with the fire."

Da Hu shook his head, his eyes never leaving the pot on the stove.

"Why don't you go play? Lighting a fire is so boring."

"It smells delicious here, the braised pork in the pot smells wonderful."

Erhu said.

"hehe."

Hearing Erhu's words, the women in the kitchen couldn't help but laugh, but they didn't call the two children out again.

After a while, Wu Shenghong brought in a bowl of chopped meat, and after a while, Li Yunshan also brought in chopped pig liver, pig heart, and other meats.

"Fifth Aunt, Uncle Zhou said that the pork should be stir-fried until the lard is rendered. Then, the lard should be skimmed into the oil jar, and some wild mushrooms from the mountains should be added."

After putting the pork down, Wu Shenghong gave instructions.

"Alright, you guys go ahead and do your work. Leave the kitchen chores to us."

Aunt Zhou agreed on Friday.

"Fifth Aunt, you need to blanch the pig liver and heart before stir-frying them. Add plenty of salt and soy sauce, as well as minced ginger and garlic. It will make them even more fragrant."

Li Yunshan also laughed.

"Okay, put it there."

Aunt Zhou pointed to the stove.

When Li Yunshan came out of the kitchen, he saw some villagers gathered around the chopping board, selecting pork from Uncle Zhou's house.

These villagers weren't hunters in the village, so if they wanted to eat meat, they naturally had to pay to buy it.

In spring, summer, and autumn, very few people in the village slaughter pigs.

Because the temperature is high at this time, if the pig is slaughtered and the meat cannot be sold, and no one has a refrigerator these days, the meat will spoil if left at home overnight.

Moreover, people usually slaughter pigs before the Spring Festival.

Because the Lunar New Year is approaching, even the poorest family will buy a couple of pounds of meat for the holiday, so there's no shortage of pork to sell.

By the following spring, no one in the village was raising large pigs anymore, and they started catching piglets to raise again.

Therefore, even if the villagers wanted to eat pork, they couldn't have it every day, or only every few days.

The last time was when Li Yunshan went into the mountains to hunt and caught a wild boar, that the village had pork for sale. Otherwise, if you wanted to eat pork, you had to take meat coupons and money and go to Xiangyang Commune to buy it.

At this moment, the villagers who had come to join the fun saw that Uncle Zhou's pigs were so fat, and the price was the same as that of the supply and marketing cooperative, and no meat coupons were required, so they naturally flocked to buy some to satisfy their cravings.

"Uncle Zhou, I'd like a pound of pork belly."

"I want two jin."

"How much for this pork rump?"

Many villagers came to buy meat, and in no time, over a hundred kilograms of pork were sold.

"Alright, alright, I won't sell anymore, I need to keep some of this pork for my own family."

Seeing that more than half of the pork had been sold, Uncle Zhou hurriedly said.

The fat pig he raised had such thick layers of fat that in the past, he would have loved for the villagers to buy the whole pig for him.

But now that the tiger has been caught and the money has been distributed, Uncle Zhou has money in his pocket, so he has no intention of selling all the pork to make money.

Besides the meat that the hunters in the village gather to eat today, he also wants to save fifty or sixty catties to eat slowly throughout the winter.

"Huh? You're not selling it anymore?"

"Uncle Zhou, I haven't bought any meat yet."

Upon hearing Uncle Zhou say that pork was no longer for sale, several villagers who had not yet bought pork showed signs of disappointment.

"I'm not selling anymore, I'm keeping the rest for myself."

Uncle Zhou emphasized this again, and then asked Cai Er and Li Baotian to help carry the rest of the meat into the house.

Seeing this, the villagers who still wanted to buy meat could only grumble a few words before leaving dejectedly.

After the villagers who had come to watch the commotion and those who had bought meat had all left, Uncle Zhou gathered everyone together and gave each of them a Daqianmen cigarette: "Everyone, let's discuss which area we should go to when we go hunting in the mountains in a couple of days."

Li Yunshan struck a match and lit the Daqianmen cigarette he had been holding in his mouth.

In his previous life, he rarely participated in hunting trips in the mountains with the village hunters. This time, he was reborn and this was the first time he had ever participated.

The hunters in the village were led by Uncle Zhou Wu, and there was also an old hunter named Li Baotian, along with Zhang Sange and Cai Er, who were experienced hunters who had been hunting in the mountains for many years. They were definitely more familiar with the situation in the mountains than he was, so Li Yunshan waited for Uncle Zhou Wu and the others to make a decision on which mountain to hunt.

"I suggest we go to Daqingshan. When Lao Jiu, Youlian, and I went hunting there in late autumn, we found that there was a lot of game there. There were signs of red deer and sika deer, as well as a lot of wild rabbits and pheasants."

Cai Er suggested.

"Hehe, it was because we accidentally startled the deer and scared them all away. Otherwise, we could have hunted one or two deer like Yunshan did."

Peng Youlian said with a simple, honest smile.

"How come you all thought of the same thing as me? I was just thinking of going to the Daqingshan area too."

Li Baotian was somewhat surprised.

Normally, when the hunters in the village don't go hunting in the mountains together, they go in groups of three or five, each going their own way.

For example, Cai Er, Wang Laojiu, and Peng Youlian were in one group, Li Baotian, Zhao Shuanzhu, and Wu Shenghong were in another, and Uncle Zhou, Zhang Sange, and Li Yunshi were in yet another team.

Now, Li Yunshi has gone to work at Hongxing Forest Farm, and Li Yunshan is in a team with Uncle Zhou and Brother Zhang San.

The purpose of this was that if all the hunters in the village gathered together to go into the mountains and didn't catch many prey, it would lead to an uneven distribution of the catch.

So everyone was in groups of three to five.

The hunters in the village only gather together in winter to go hunting in the mountains.

Because at this time of year, when the weather is freezing cold and the vegetation is withered, animals in the deep mountains and forests will gather together.

For example, wild boars and sika deer may usually live in groups of a dozen or so, but in winter, they are very likely to temporarily form a large herd of wild boars from two or three groups. In the icy and snowy landscape, the large wild boars surround the perimeter while the smaller wild boars huddle together in the middle, using each other for warmth to survive the cold winter.

Similarly, the same applies to red deer, sika deer, and roe deer.

"Zhang San, Yunshan, what are your opinions?"

Uncle Zhou asked again on Friday.

Once Li Baotian opens his mouth, he can basically represent Zhao Shuanzhu and Wu Shenghong.

"Let's go to Daqingshan. We haven't been there in a long time."

Zhang Sange said.

"I have no objection; the minority shall obey the majority."

Li Yunshan also said.

After scanning everyone with his gaze, Uncle Zhou made his decision: "Alright, let's go to Daqingshan then."

"However, Daqingshan is a remote mountainous area, so we need to bring enough dry food, bullets, and medicine when we go into the mountains. Oh, and matches too. It's cold in the mountains in winter, and we may have to spend the night there. Without matches to start a fire, it will be hard to get through a whole winter night."

Uncle Zhou emphasized this on Friday.

"Uncle Zhou, we understand, don't worry."

Cai Er said.

"Hey, the food's ready, everyone, let's eat!"

Just then, Aunt Zhou poked her head out of the kitchen and called out to Uncle Zhou and the others.

"Hehe, the food is ready. Let's go eat together."

Upon hearing this, Uncle Zhou invited Li Yunshan, Li Baotian, and the others into the house.

At this time, three tables and twelve long benches had been set up in the main room of Uncle Zhou's house, enough to seat about thirty people.

There weren't enough seats left, so they cleaned up the earthen pits where they slept that night, and the women and children sat on the pits to eat.

On the dining table, steaming hot and fragrant dishes filled most of the table.

Sauerkraut and pork intestines, boiled blood sausage, braised pork belly, sauerkraut and pork bone soup, pork stew with vermicelli, pork and cabbage stew, stir-fried shredded potatoes with vinegar, stir-fried pork liver...

There were eight or nine dishes in total, with a variety of dishes and generous portions, making them look so delicious that they made one's mouth water.

Uncle Zhou took out several bottles of high-proof liquor from the house. As soon as he unscrewed the caps, a strong aroma of liquor slowly wafted out.

"It smells so good."

Upon smelling the aroma of the wine, Li Baotian and the others' eyes lit up.

Alcohol is a wonderful thing, especially in winter. A sip of strong liquor warms you right up.

They were all fond of drinking, but because they had to support their families, they didn't usually drink much, only taking a few sips during holidays and festivals.

High-proof liquor was poured into large bowls. After finishing one bottle, a second and a third bottle were opened, until all nine bowls were filled to more than half full.

Uncle Zhou picked up his large bowl and stood up: "Let's raise a toast to each other, wishing everyone a successful hunting trip in the mountains."

"Going hunting in the mountains, we will achieve a resounding victory."

Li Yunshan and the others also picked up their large bowls, clinked them together, and without saying a word, tilted their heads back and gulped down the wine in their bowls.