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

After parting ways with Uncle Zhou and the others, Li Yunshan headed out of the deep mountains and forests.

Because he needed to hurry back to the village to find someone to help transport the deer from the mountains, Li Yunshan acted quickly and soon disappeared from the sight of Uncle Zhou and the others.

"Let's rest here for a bit. Zhao Shuanzhu, Cai Er, and You Lian, go to the cave and bring back all the things we left there. We'll stay here and guard these deer until Yunshan returns to the village with people."

After seeing Li Yunshan off, Uncle Zhou made arrangements for everyone.

When they left the cave early this morning to search for prey, they did not take everything with them.

Besides bringing the hunting rifle and bullets, and a small amount of dry food as rations for the day, most of the dry food and some necessities for going into the mountains, such as salt, pots, and cotton coats or fur coats for the night, were left in the cave.

They never expected to catch so much prey on this trip.

There are nine red deer lying on the snow here now. It's too far to transport the prey back to the cave, about three or four miles away. So Uncle Zhou didn't plan to go back to the cave. He simply asked Zhao Shuanzhu and the others to go to the cave and bring the supplies over.

It will take Li Yunshan four or five hours to return to the village from here. He will need to find people in the village then, so he can only lead people into the mountains again tomorrow to help transport the deer.

So, Uncle Zhou plans to camp here tonight. He needs to bring his dry rations, cooking pot, and military overcoat and fur coat for the night here in advance.

"Okay, Uncle Zhou, we'll head over now."

Zhao Shuanzhu, Cai Er, and Peng Youlian smiled and then set off back to the cave to retrieve dry rations and other supplies.

Although everyone knew that they would be setting up camp in the wild tonight and would have to endure the cold weather and the biting north wind, there were nine red deer lying on the ground, so no one was afraid or complained. After Zhao Shuanzhu and the other two left, Uncle Zhou and the others also took out their knives and cut down trees nearby to build a wooden house for temporary shelter.

If there isn't enough time, they would usually have to dig a snow cave in the snow to spend the night. But it's not even noon yet, so there's plenty of time. Besides, they have a lot of manpower. Apart from Li Yunshan, who went back to the village to find help, there are eight other people left here.

Building a temporary wooden hut using local materials is not a problem in terms of time or manpower, and there is not much pressure.

When Uncle Zhou and his men had gathered all the timber needed to build the wooden house, Zhao Shuanzhu, Cai Er, and Peng Youlian returned from the cave with dry rations, a cooking pot, and military overcoats and fur coats for the night.

Li Baotian walked around the area and found a U-shaped, sheltered slope. The U was more than three meters wide and seven or eight meters deep, enough to squeeze twenty or thirty people in. He nodded in satisfaction: "This place is good."

Next, Cai Er and his men carried all the felled timber over there.

The distance of three or four hundred meters was such that transporting all the timber there didn't take much effort.

The next step was to build temporary wooden huts.

Because the slope is U-shaped, you only need to build a simple roof out of wood, fill the gaps between the wood with dry grass and pine branches dug out of the snow, and finally cover it with a layer of soil for insulation. The roof of the temporary wooden house is then built.

After the roof was built, a wooden fence was made to serve as the door to the cabin.

Once everything was ready, they worked together to lift the deer and carry them into the wooden house.

By the time the last deer was moved into the cabin and placed inside, the sun was already beginning to set in the west.

"Phew, I'm exhausted."

Cai Er plopped down on the ground, panting heavily.

But when he saw the deer in the wooden house, his face was filled with joy.

"Let's eat some dry rations first to fill our stomachs, and then we'll cook the rest of the wild boar meat later."

Li Baotian said with a smile.

The wild boar caught in the trap still has a lot of meat left. They have achieved their goal of going into the mountains and will be going back tomorrow. The wild boar meat is just right to be cooked, and everyone can have a good meal.

……

"This wild rabbit is really fat."

In the mountains, Li Yunshan picked up a rabbit from the snow and weighed it in his hand for a few moments.

He was in a hurry to go down the mountain back to the village when a wild rabbit suddenly appeared on the way. He casually grabbed some grass and shot the rabbit dead.

Li Yunshan lifted the rabbit and weighed it a few times, estimating that it should weigh about six or seven pounds, and smiled with satisfaction.

Previously, when he and Uncle Zhou were hunting in the deep mountains and forests, they would not shoot at small animals such as rabbits and pheasants.

Because when they go into the mountains to hunt, they are looking for large animals or those that fetch high prices; wild rabbits and pheasants are so small.

If you shoot at a rabbit or pheasant and the gunshot scares away other large prey nearby, it would be a case of losing more than you gain.

However, things are different now. They have already achieved their goal of hunting in the mountains, and he was returning to the village from the deep forest to find people to help them. So, on his way back to the village, he can casually hunt rabbits while gathering grass.

A wild rabbit weighing six or seven pounds, after being skinned and gutted, would probably yield only three or four pounds of meat.

However, even a small mosquito is still meat, let alone this rabbit in my hand.

In an era of scarcity where many people might not even have enough to eat, even if this rabbit only yields three or four pounds of meat, it would still be enough to make many people's mouths water.

Stuffing the wild rabbit into a cloth bag and tying it around his waist, Li Yunshan continued his journey towards the village, finally arriving back as the sun began to set.

"Hey, Yunshan, didn't you hunters go hunting in the mountains? You're back so soon? Where are Zhou Wu and Baotian?"

Just as he arrived at the village entrance, a passing villager saw Li Yunshan returning alone and, puzzled, asked him a question.

"Hehe, Uncle Zhou and Uncle Baotian are in the mountains. I have something to do, so I won't chat with you anymore. I'm going home now."

Li Yunshan responded with a smile, then ignored the villager and headed home.

Now, the sun is already setting in the west, and he still needs to find someone to help him. By the time he finds someone, it will probably be dark.

Therefore, it's impossible for me to take people into the mountains today to meet up with Uncle Zhou and the others.

Moreover, even if he offered money, probably not many villagers would dare to follow him into the mountains after dark.

After dark, the wild animals in the mountains can move freely in the dark thanks to their superhuman eyesight. Humans' eyesight in the dark is far inferior to that of wild animals. If you go into the mountains after dark and encounter wild animals, you will only become their food.

"Go find someone first, then go home."

With that in mind, Li Yunshan went to the village to look for someone.

When the villagers that Li Yunshan found heard that they were going into the mountains, and even deeper into the forests, most of them were reluctant.

Because it is now the dead of winter, and food is scarce for wild animals in the mountains, the village has already experienced wild animals entering the village twice. Once was when a bear entered the village, and the other time was when a tiger entered the village not long ago.

Even tigers and bears from the mountains have come down to roam the village in search of food. How many wild beasts are still lurking in these mountains is unknown.

They were just ordinary farmers; they didn't even have a bow and arrow, let alone a hunting rifle. All they had were hoes and shovels for their daily work.

If we follow Li Yunshan into the deep mountains and forests, what should we do if we encounter wild beasts?

Therefore, a large number of people rejected Li Yunshan.

In the end, Li Yunshan only found six villagers willing to go into the mountains with him to help, and these six villagers only agreed after he raised the reward to three yuan.

"Uncle Maocai, it's settled then. The reward is three yuan. Meet at the village entrance first thing tomorrow morning," Li Yunshan said.

"Okay, okay, no problem. I'll help you out for the money."

Uncle Maocai nodded with a smile.

Although he was afraid of the dangers in the deep mountains and forests, the thought of his family being destitute overwhelmed his worries.

Rather than die poor and have a poor New Year, it's better to take a gamble and try to earn those three dollars from Li Yunshan.

It's the dead of winter, the off-season for farmers. Where is he going to earn three yuan?

There's simply nowhere to earn that kind of money.

"Uncle Maocai, I'll be going now."

After Li Yunshan finished speaking, he turned around and went home.

"Xiulan, Xiulan, I'm back."

As soon as he entered the courtyard, he saw the main room was lit up and called out.

Hearing the commotion, Lin Xiulan came out of the main room. When she saw Li Yunshan, a smile appeared on her face, and the anxiety that had been hanging over her finally subsided.

Li Yunshan went into the mountains to hunt, and she worried about him every day while he was away from home.

After all, Li Yunshan and his group went hunting in the deep forests, and the village elders said that many ferocious wild animals lurked in those forests...

Why aren't you with Mom at your older brother's place?

Upon seeing Lin Xiulan, Li Yunshan asked.

Before going into the mountains to hunt, he was worried that no one would help Lin Xiulan, so he sent Lin Xiulan and Dou Dou to his eldest brother's place so that Lin Xiulan could keep her mother, second sister, and fourth sister company.

"My two older sisters came to my older brother's place to see me today, and I was afraid they would feel awkward, so I brought them back with me."

Lin Xiulan explained.

Li Yunshan was stunned for a moment.

But upon reflection, Lin Xiulan was right. He had been married to both Gao Hongmei and Su Lihua, and then divorced them. To them, his mother was his former mother-in-law.

If Lin Xiulan stayed at her elder brother's house, Gao Hongmei and Lin Xiulan would have to face her mother all the time, which would probably have been really awkward.

Gao Hongmei is alright; she has a carefree personality. But Su Lihua…

"Are they all still at home?"

Li Yunshan asked tentatively.

"Mm." Lin Xiulan nodded.

Li Yunshan took off the cloth bag wrapped around his waist and took the wild rabbit out of it: "I caught a rabbit on the way back, perfect for an extra meal tonight."

"I'll take care of it. You go inside and rest."

Lin Xiulan reached out to take the rabbit from Li Yunshan's hand.

"Let me do it; you're not familiar with handling rabbits."

Li Yunshan smiled, handed the hunting rifle and ammunition pouch to Lin Xiulan, and then carried the rabbit into the kitchen.