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

"DouDou, is the roast chicken delicious?"

The dim light illuminated the main room, where Li Yunshan and his family of three sat around the dining table eating dinner.

Seeing Dou Dou eating a roasted chicken leg with her mouth full of oil, Li Yunshan tore off the last roasted chicken leg and handed it to Lin Xiulan: "Xiulan, you can have a roasted chicken leg too."

"Let DouDou eat it, I won't eat it." Lin Xiulan took the roast chicken leg but didn't eat it herself. Instead, she put it in DouDou's bowl.

"Mom, one is enough for me, you can have this chicken leg."

DouDou chewed on the roasted chicken in her mouth, her cheeks bulging as she spoke.

"Yes, Xiulan, DouDou is still so small, one is enough for her."

"Oh well."

Lin Xiulan hesitated for a moment. In fact, a three-year-old child doesn't have a big appetite. After eating a chicken leg, he is basically half full.

Eating some more cornbread will fill me up for a meal.

However, as a mother, Lin Xiulan was thinking about making sure that Dou Dou ate all the good food first, even if it meant eating less or nothing at all.

But Dou Dou had already said that one was enough for her, and with Li Yunshan also urging her on, she hesitated for a moment before picking up the roasted chicken leg.

She gently opened her mouth and took a bite of the roasted chicken leg. The rich oil and lingering aroma instantly filled her taste buds. For a moment, Lin Xiulan even felt that this roasted chicken leg was the most delicious food she had ever eaten in her life.

Soon, Lin Xiulan finished eating all the meat on the roast chicken leg, and even sucked up all the oil on it.

After finishing the meal, Lin Xiulan seemed to be savoring the taste and couldn't help but lick her lips.

Li Yunshan glanced at it, but felt a little guilty.

These days, every family is poor. With a good-for-nothing like him in the family, the burden of survival fell on Lin Xiulan's shoulders, making life even more difficult.

Ordinary farming families could afford to buy a pound of pork or kill a chicken or duck to cook during festivals. However, he was idle and liked to gamble. He stole the chickens and ducks that Lin Xiulan raised, sold them for money, and gambled it all away.

Otherwise, Lin Xiulan wouldn't have looked so savoring after finishing that roasted chicken leg.

"When spring comes next year, we'll catch a few dozen chickens and ducks to raise. Once they're grown up, we'll slaughter them every few days to eat."

Li Yunshan said.

"If we raise so many, where will we feed them? Besides, the policy doesn't allow it. Are we supposed to raise them secretly?"

Lin Xiulan was somewhat tempted when she heard this, but she hesitated when she thought about the current policies.

In fact, although the policy was set out this way, many people in Guapigou Village secretly raised more chickens and ducks, the only difference being the quantity.

Some families raise four or five chickens and ducks, while others raise six or seven, or even seven or eight. As long as the people don't complain, the officials won't investigate. It's just that in this day and age, before the household responsibility system was implemented, everyone was struggling to get enough to eat and wear.

Many people raise chickens and ducks at home mainly so that they can lay eggs. They can keep the eggs for themselves to eat occasionally, or sell them to earn money for salt and supplement their household income.

Although current policies do not allow for excessive livestock farming, Li Yunshan, having lived two lives, knows that several special economic zones have already been established in the south, and the spring breeze of the household contract responsibility system from Xiaogang Village will soon reach their area.

When the time comes, with the household responsibility system in place, the harvested grain will be handed over to the state, and the rest will be yours.

Raising more chickens and ducks is not a problem.

Even if you raise a few more big fat pigs, no one will bother you or label you as capitalist or revisionist.

"Xiulan, listen to me. When I went to the county town, I found that everyone was talking about the household responsibility system, which means that the state allows collective land to be divided among individuals. When we have land, after we pay the required amount of grain to the state, the rest will be ours."

"When the grains are milled into rice, the rice bran can be used to feed chickens, ducks, and even pigs."

Li Yunshan explained to Lin Xiulan.

"Is there really such a good thing?" Lin Xiulan was skeptical.

"Really, why would I lie to you? Look at this newspaper if you don't believe me."

Li Yunshan suddenly remembered that he had bought a newspaper, so he took the folded newspaper out of his pocket.

The newspaper's pages were mostly dedicated to promoting national policies, with a large section reporting on the upcoming implementation of the household responsibility system across the province.

"Let me see."

Lin Xiulan took it and carefully looked at the contents of the newspaper.

Upon inspection, it was indeed as Li Yunshan had said: a document had been issued from above, requiring the entire province to ensure that the household contract responsibility system was fully implemented by the end of this year, or at the latest before the start of spring sowing next year.

"That's true."

Lin Xiulan immediately perked up: "If we could implement the household responsibility system, how much land would our family get!"

"It's hard to say. There are only three people in our family now, so we definitely won't get as much land as other families. But I guess we should be able to get five or six acres."

The household contract responsibility system distributed collective land to individuals for cultivation, based on the number of family members.

The more people in a family, the more land they are allocated; the fewer people in a family, the less land they are allocated.

Furthermore, it is divided into paddy fields, dry land, and sloping land.

Li Yunshan didn't remember how much land his family was allocated when the household responsibility system was implemented in his previous life; Lin Xiulan managed it all back then.

Later, Lin Xiulan took Dou Dou and left Guapigou Village. All the land in the family was handed over to her eldest brother to cultivate. He never knew where his family's land was until his death.

"Five or six acres is already quite a lot. As long as we work hard, we can definitely harvest enough grain to eat."

"Hehe, Xiulan, how about we have another child before the household responsibility system is implemented?" Li Yunshan took Lin Xiulan's hand and tentatively suggested.

"Hmph, that depends on your performance. If you can live a good life, everything is fine. I'd even be willing to have two more children with you. If you're unreliable, I won't bother with you."

Lin Xiulan's pretty face immediately flushed red, but when she thought of Li Yunshan's behavior during this period, which was completely different from before, she was also somewhat tempted.

People these days are still relatively conservative in their thinking and place great importance on carrying on the family line.

In his past life, Li Yunshan disliked Lin Xiulan because her first child was a girl, which was the biggest trigger for their later divorce.

"Xiulan, haven't I been behaving well enough lately?" Li Yunshan asked, feigning a pitiful expression.

"Okay, of course."

Thinking about how Li Yunshan had been hunting wild boars, wolves, and deer in the mountains, and even risking his life to hunt tigers, Lin Xiulan had to admit that he had really changed a lot and behaved very well during this time, even though she had some reservations about him.

He made money hunting wild boars and knew to share it with his wife. He treated Dou Dou better and was even willing to spend a lot of money to buy her new clothes.

I even spent money to buy her roast chicken when I went to town...

In the past, Lin Xiulan would never have dared to dream of such a thing.

"Then let's..."

At this moment, Li Yunshan felt a surge of excitement.

People are in high spirits when they have good news, and Li Yunshan felt like he had inexhaustible energy.

"DouDou isn't asleep yet, what's the rush?" Lin Xiulan rolled her eyes at him, swatting away his paw that was touching her inner thigh, and glared at him: "If you touch me again, you can forget about it tonight, hmph!"

Li Yunshan chuckled awkwardly, but just as he withdrew his hand, a commotion came from outside.

He listened carefully and realized the noise was coming from the chicken coop.

Not only did he hear the commotion, but Lin Xiulan also heard it.

"Could it be a weasel sneaking into the chicken coop to steal chickens?"

Lin Xiulan was suspicious.

Last time Li Yunshan bought wild boar meat, some villagers traded their own roosters for it. She kept the rooster in the coop and couldn't bear to eat it.

These days, all the commotion over there in the chicken coop is caused by that big rooster.

"That's possible."

Li Yunshan nodded. Now that it's the dead of winter, food sources in the mountains are decreasing, so animals like weasels will come down from the mountains and run to nearby villages, sneaking into villagers' chicken coops and killing the chickens and ducks kept inside.

This kind of thing happens quite often in winter.

I never expected that the chicken coop, which had been vacant for over a year, would attract a weasel as soon as a rooster moved in.

"I'll go get the flashlight."

Lin Xiulan immediately went inside, but when she came out, Li Yunshan was no longer in the main room.

She quickly grabbed a flashlight and ran towards the chicken coop.

But as soon as she reached the chicken coop, she saw Li Yunshan crawl out of it.

When the flashlight shone on him, he saw Li Yunshan holding a dark brown creature in one hand and a rooster whose neck had been bitten through in the other.

"Xiulan, look at this little beast!"

The light from Lin Xiulan shone on Li Yunshan, who held the dark brown animal high in his hand.

"Isn't that a weasel?"

Lin Xiulan didn't care; she was more concerned about the big rooster.

With a rooster, you only need to raise one or two hens, and they will lay a brood of eggs, which will then hatch into a brood of chicks.

But now, the rooster has been bitten to death by this little beast.

"This isn't a weasel, it's a sable."

Li Yunshan smiled broadly and said.

When he heard the noise coming from the chicken coop, he thought it was a weasel sneaking in to steal chickens.

After rushing into the chicken coop, he used his night vision and thermal imaging abilities to locate the "weasel" and threw a stone at it. Only then did he realize that he had hit a sable instead of a weasel.

Sable is a really nice thing; its fur is the raw material for high-end leather products, and it's said to be very expensive.

So when Li Yunshan picked up the sable that he had killed with a stone in the chicken coop, he was delighted.

Trading a rooster for a valuable sable is a worthwhile deal.

It will come back to you.

"Is sable very valuable?"

Judging from Li Yunshan's high spirits, it's clear that this sable is no ordinary person.

"Of course, the sable fur is very valuable. This sable was killed by me with a stone, and its fur is intact, so it will fetch an even higher price."

"Hehe, I never thought I could make a small fortune at home."

Li Yunshan said with a smile.