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

"I should have brought two more pots into the mountains. At least I could have collected two pots of deer blood, made blood curd, and cooked it to eat."

Zhao Shuanzhu slapped his thigh in regret.

"Heh, if I had known earlier, there would be no poor people in this world."

Uncle Zhou smiled and waved his hand, signaling Zhao Shuanzhu not to sigh.

While it's a pity to waste deer blood, nothing is ever perfect.

Although the deer blood was wasted, the fact that they hunted eight red deer on this trip into the mountains far exceeded their expectations.

In previous years, when they went hunting in the mountains in winter, they rarely encountered deer.

Even if they are lucky enough to encounter them, the red deer have amazing hearing and sense of smell, and once they spot them, they will quickly run away.

Alternatively, they might disturb the deer as they approach, startling it and causing it to run away.

This is the first time in many years that nine of them have acted together, getting as close as possible to the deer without being noticed or alerting them.

Moreover, their luck was incredible; eight red deer, a full eight, all of them adult red deer!

Both Uncle Zhou and Li Baotian were old hunters who had spent half their lives begging in the mountains, and this was the first time they had encountered such a situation.

They wouldn't get excited if they managed to shoot one or two deer, because if they encountered deer and ambushed them, they would have the ability to shoot one or two, or even two or three.

But today, it seems that God is looking out for them.

So, at this moment, looking at the eight red deer lying in the snow, they were so excited that they didn't know how to describe it.

Cai Er, Zhao Shuanzhu, and others also had joy on their faces.

The more prey you hunt, the more money you earn, and the more money you get in return.

Adding the money they got from selling the tiger a while ago, they should have more than a thousand yuan in their pockets.

The Lunar New Year is just around the corner. I can buy more new clothes for my parents, wife, and children, and stock up on more meat so we can have a happy and prosperous New Year.

"Hey, where are Zhang San and Peng Youlian?"

After being happy for a while, Li Baotian looked around and suddenly realized that two people were missing, so he asked them.

"Oh, Zhang Sange and Youlian just went to chase deer."

Li Yunshan replied.

Just as they were speaking, a loud "bang" rang out in the distance, followed by a gunshot.

"Let's go check it out, see if Brother Zhang and Youlian have caught a deer!"

Zhao Shuanzhu waved and said.

"Hehe, that's exactly what I was thinking."

Li Yunshan smiled and then ran towards the direction from which the gunshots rang out, along with Zhao Shuanzhu, Wu Shenghong, Wang Laojiu, Cai Er, and others.

"Heh, these kids!"

Seeing Li Yunshan and the others run over, Uncle Zhou smiled, pleased with the harmonious atmosphere among the young hunters in the village.

Trust is very important among hunters who go into the mountains to hunt.

Because hunting deep in the mountains and forests involves the possibility of encountering various dangers at any time, having a trustworthy teammate is extremely important.

To build a strong relationship of trust, you must have a life-or-death bond or a harmonious relationship with each other.

Uncle Zhou had been hunting for half his life. Back when Li Yunshan's father and Zhang San's father were still alive, he would go hunting in the mountains with them, and they trusted each other completely.

Later, after Li Yunshan's father and Zhang San's father passed away, Li Yunshi and Zhang San teamed up with him to go hunting in the mountains.

However, when Li Yunshi and Zhang were in their thirties, he had watched these two young men follow him into the mountains to hunt, and the trust between them had already been built up over the years.

The same was true for other hunters in the village, including Li Baotian and Cai Er.

Li Yunshan had never gone into the mountains or hunted with them before, so Uncle Zhou was always worried about what would happen if Li Yunshan didn't get along with the other hunters in the village.

However, what reassured Uncle Zhou was that although it was Li Yunshan's first time hunting in the mountains with them, he seemed to get along quite well with the hunters, including Li Baotian and Cai Er. As they spent more time together in the future, they would naturally develop trust in each other.

……

"Brother Zhang, Youlian, how's it going? Did you catch the deer?"

On the other side, after hearing gunshots from the woods, Li Yunshan and his group ran over and saw Zhang Sange and Peng Youlian holding guns and looking at the ground, seemingly having shot a deer.

However, the snow on the ground was ankle-deep, and after running for a short while, a thick layer of snow stuck to the soles of their shoes, causing them to slow down.

Actually, the current snow depth is manageable. If there's a heavy snowfall, the snow in these deep mountains and forests could be knee-deep, making it difficult to run in such thick snow.

When Li Yunshan and his group reached Zhang Sange and Peng Youlian, they saw a dead deer lying on the snow. The deer was quite large, about the same size as the one they had killed before.

"We hit it. The deer ran forward, and Youlian and I chased it for a while. Youlian fired the shot, hitting the deer in the thigh, and I went up and fired another shot into its head."

Zhang Sange said with a smile.

Zhang Sange and Peng Youlian were satisfied with killing the deer.

"We've really made it big this time in the mountains. This red deer, plus the eight red deer we just killed over there, makes a total of nine red deer."

"Hehe, if divided equally, each person gets a deer."

Zhao Shuanzhu and the others also had happy and joyful smiles on their faces.

"By the way, Yunshan, how did you sell the deer you and Gao Hongmei hunted for last time?"

At this moment, Zhang Sange asked Li Yunshan.

"The supply and marketing cooperative buys red deer meat at 1.8 yuan per jin (0.5 kg), and sells it in the county town for 2 yuan per jin. We hunted several red deer, so the amount of deer meat is large. I estimate that we won't be able to sell it for 2 yuan. After all, scarcity drives up prices. If there is less deer meat, the price will definitely be higher. Now that there is more deer meat, the price will be cheaper."

Li Yunshan thought for a moment about the price he and Gao Hongmei had when they went to the county town to sell venison before slowly speaking.

"Two yuan? That's pretty good. During the busy farming season, we work for the village collective for a few days and the work points we earn can only be exchanged for this little bit of money."

"Sometimes when we don't have enough food at home, we have to go to the village office to get an advance on our food rations, and then they'll deduct it from our work points at the end of the year. Sometimes during the busy farming season, we work on the farm for the village collective, and when it comes time to settle accounts at the end of the year, hey, we end up owing the village office a sum of money. Where can we complain about that? So, I'm content with two yuan."

"Of course, we should be content. In the past, when we couldn't even get enough to eat, if it weren't for our hunting skills that allowed us to go into the mountains to beg for food, we would have tightened our belts long ago. Some people in the village were so hungry back then that they were just skin and bones."

As Cai Er and the others talked, their hands didn't stop either. Each of them grabbed a deer leg and lifted the deer up, heading towards Uncle Zhou and Li Baotian.

"Hey, we actually caught a deer! Now we each have a deer."

When they saw Li Yunshan and Cai Er carrying a deer back, Uncle Zhou and Li Baotian's smiles deepened, and wrinkles appeared on their faces.

After Li Yunshan and the others put the red deer together with the other eight red deer, Uncle Zhou asked Li Yunshan the time: "Yunshan, what time is it now?"

Of all the people present, only Li Yunshan was wearing a watch.

It's not that Uncle Zhou and his family didn't want to buy it, it's just that making money is hard these days, and who would be willing to spend over a hundred dollars to buy a watch?

Moreover, these days, if you want to buy a watch, it's not enough to just have money; you also need watch coupons or industrial vouchers.

But where do rural farmers get watch tickets?

They were industrial coupons, which were only given to factory workers in the county town. Usually, they would receive one industrial coupon for every 20 yuan of wages, and two industrial coupons for every 40 yuan of wages.

To buy a watch, you usually need twenty or thirty industrial vouchers, plus cash.

Of course, you can buy one even if you don't have a watch ticket or industrial voucher, but you'll have to pay extra.

The watch on Li Yunshan's wrist was bought with extra money.

"Ten o'clock, still early."

Li Yunshan said.

In fact, from the moment they spotted the deer, to crawling close to it, to shooting it, and then to Zhang Sange and Peng Youlian chasing after it, the entire process didn't take long—less than an hour.

"Ten o'clock? That's still early. Here's what we'll do: Yunshan, you, Youlian, and Shuanzhu go back to the village and ask a few more able-bodied men from the village to go into the mountains and help transport all these deer back. As for the price, you can give us one yuan for labor. Anyway, we've hunted so many deer, we're not short of money. If it's really too much, we can just add a little more."

Uncle Zhou gave the instructions.

Now, each of them owns a red deer. As long as they can safely transport all the deer back to Xiangyang Commune or sell them in the county town, it will be a large source of income.

"Uncle Zhou, I can go back by myself. Youlian and Shuanzhu can stay here and keep an eye on these deer. After all, this is deep in the mountains and the blood of these deer is so strong. I'm afraid it might attract tigers or bears."

"Besides, it's winter now, and there are many hunting teams going into the mountains. I'm afraid you might encounter some scheming hunting teams in the mountains who might try to take our deer. Let Youlian and Shuanzhu stay here and keep an eye on them. We have a lot of people, so we're not afraid of any accidents."

Li Yunshan said.

"This...can you manage to go back by yourself? I'm afraid you might encounter wild animals in the mountains on the way."

Li Baotian was worried.

"Hehe, Uncle Zhou and Uncle Baotian, don't worry. I dare to go to Hongxing Forest Farm to hunt tigers by myself. I naturally have something to rely on. I will have no problem going back by myself."

Li Yunshan said with a confident smile.

He has thermal imaging and night vision capabilities, so he dares to venture into even the deepest forests after dark.

Now that it's broad daylight, as long as he uses his thermal imaging ability, he can detect any danger on the way back in advance.

"Alright then, you can go back by yourself. Go early and come back early, and be careful on the road."

Seeing Li Yunshan's confidence, Uncle Zhou thought about it and agreed.