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

"Okay, remember what you said."

A smug smile appeared on Li Yunshan's face. He then patted the snowflakes and dust off his trousers and said to Li Yunshi and the other two, "They've admitted defeat. Let's go."

"Hey, third brother, I've always seen you idle around, and I've never seen you practice a single move. I never expected you could beat Zeng Guoqiang up like that, with his nose and face all swollen."

Zhang Sange nudged Li Yunshan with his shoulder and chuckled.

"Yeah, third brother, when did you become so good?" Li Yunshi also found it strange. His younger brother usually idled away his time and did nothing productive, but who knew that he would know martial arts.

Even his own brother didn't know.

"Maybe this is talent. Don't let my idleness fool you. When I get serious, I can learn anything quickly without a teacher, just by thinking about it myself," Li Yunshan said with a grin.

"I just gave you a couple of compliments, and you're already getting cocky."

Uncle Zhou laughed and scolded.

……

"Brother Guoqiang."

Watching Li Yunshan and the others walk away chatting and laughing, Zeng Guoqiang's gaze was low. He wasn't someone who couldn't accept defeat, but he felt bad about losing to someone like Li Yunshan, who usually idled away his time.

A young man next to Zeng Guoqiang spoke up, but was interrupted by Zeng Guoqiang's raised hand: "Don't say anything. This time, I admit I was outmatched. Besides, we came here specifically for their catch. Now that we've lost, we've lost. There's nothing to hold a grudge about."

"In the end, we brought this trouble upon ourselves."

"Let's go back."

As he spoke, he wiped the bruises from the corner of his mouth and walked toward the frozen river.

Seeing this, the villagers from Xiao'an Village looked at each other and quickly followed.

On the way back, stepping on the frozen river, everyone remained silent.

As they approached the middle of the river, a sharp-eyed young man suddenly spotted a hole in the ice, cut open, on the way to their village, Xiao'an.

"Brother Guoqiang, look at this ice hole. Was it made by those people from Guapigou Village?"

"It seems so. This ice hole looks like it was recently dug. There are still some broken pieces of ice around it. And look, there are a few willow root fish that we forgot to pick up."

"Damn it, they went too far when they were chiseling the ice hole. Let's go back and find them."

Several villagers from Xiao'an Village couldn't help but get restless.

"Shut up, all of you."

Hearing the villagers chattering away like crows, Zeng Guoqiang roared angrily.

In an instant, the villagers all shut up.

"go back."

Zeng Guoqiang gritted his teeth. Only then did he understand why Li Yunshan had proposed a one-on-one fight with him. It was highly likely that Li Yunshan also knew that they had crossed the line when they were chiseling the ice hole.

But how did Li Yunshan know they would discover the ice hole that had been carved out of the boundary?

Also, why did he think he would win?

However, considering that he had also admitted that Li Yunshan and his group had not crossed any boundaries, Zeng Guoqiang had no intention of going back to draw up any rules with Li Yunshan.

Besides, even if we went to Li Yunshan to try and get a clear answer, what would happen? It would just be a lot of wrangling and passing the buck.

But what if things get too big and ugly, and it turns into a village-to-village brawl like it did more than ten years ago?

Zeng Guoqiang doesn't want to bear this responsibility, nor can he afford to.

……

After leaving Xiaoqing River, Li Yunshan and his three companions headed towards Li Yunshi's house.

"Hey, Uncle Zhou, are you guys going to chisel holes in the ice at Xiaoqing River?"

"Is this whole sack full of fish?"

"How many ice holes would we have to drill to catch so many fish!"

"..."

On the way back, they encountered many villagers. When they saw that Li Yunshan and his group were carrying ice picks, nets, and shovels, they knew that they had just returned from chiseling ice holes at Xiaoqing River. The villagers then struck up a conversation with them.

Especially when they saw Li Yunshan carrying a large sack on his shoulder, with a fishy smell emanating from it, the villagers became envious.

Uncle Zhou gave a few perfunctory replies and quickened his pace.

"Hurry up, or they'll take your share of the fish."

Li Yunshan and the other two also quickened their pace.

Soon, they returned to Li Yunshi's house.

Dou Dou was building a snowman in the yard, and Huang Zhifang moved a chair and sat under the eaves to watch.

The courtyard gate opened, and upon seeing Li Yunshan and the others return, Dou Dou immediately rushed towards Li Yunshan: "Daddy, Daddy, where have you been for so long? I was tired from building snowmen at Uncle's house."

"We're going to break holes in the ice on the river and catch fish. Dou Dou, Daddy smells fishy. Go to Grandma's side and wait for Daddy to put the fish out of the sack. Then we'll take you home."

"Okay, I'll listen to Father."

DouDou nodded and ran to Huang Zhifang's side.

Li Yunshi went inside and brought out two large basins. Li Yunshan opened the burlap sack and poured all the fish inside into the two large basins.

"Oh my, so many fish! When will we ever finish eating them all?"

Wang Xiaolian came out of the house and saw that the large basins were full of fish.

Inside were grass carp, catfish, willow root fish, yellow catfish, crucian carp, common carp, silver carp, bighead carp... There must have been dozens of kilograms of them.

She couldn't help but slap her thighs with both hands, laughing so hard her eyes widened.

"Uncle Zhou, Brother Zhang, you two go first. Take whichever fish you want."

Li Yunshi spoke first.

"How could I possibly accept that? Let's divide each type of fish into four portions."

Uncle Zhou was a little embarrassed because Li Yunshi's words were clearly a gesture of deference to them.

"Uncle Zhou is right. You all caught the fish together, so you should split them equally."

Wang Xiaolian chimed in from the side.

If Uncle Zhou and Brother Zhang San pick out all the good and big fish, leaving only the bad and small ones, then the head of the household will have wasted his efforts.

"If you have nothing else to do, go inside and mend the soles of your shoes."

Li Yunshi glared at the beaming Wang Xiaolian and said unhappily.

Startled by Li Yunshi's glare, Wang Xiaolian's heart skipped a beat. She pouted and reluctantly entered the house, turning back every few steps.

"Uncle Zhou, Brother Zhang, my eldest brother told you to take it first, so please take it first. I just want this catfish, two crucian carp, and these willow root fish."

Li Yunshan smiled and echoed Li Yunshi.

Because of his past life experiences, Li Yunshan is not a petty person.

Uncle Zhou and Brother Zhang San's families were not well-off, and Li Yunshan understood that Li Yunshi was letting them choose the fish first because he was taking care of them.

He picked out the catfish he had his eye on, then took two crucian carp, and then picked out the rest of the willow root fish, putting them into a small basin.

I estimate that this amount of fish weighs only about seven or eight pounds.

"Third brother, you picked so few, how can that be? Besides, there's not much meat in these willow root fish. I think you should take more fish."

Feeling a little guilty, Zhang Sange quickly squatted down, picked up two carp, and put them into the basin in Li Yunshan's hand.

"Okay, okay, Brother Zhang, I'll just take these two fish, I don't need any more."

Li Yunshan had no choice but to go along with him.

Li Yunshi only picked one grass carp, one silver carp, two common carp, and a few yellow catfish.

Wang Xiaolian stood at the door of the main room and saw that Li Yunshi and Li Yunshan had only ordered such a small amount of fish. She stomped her feet in anger and cursed the two brothers in her heart for being fools.

Why is it that when everyone works together to break the ice and catch fish, they get the small share while Uncle Zhou and Brother Zhang get the big share?

But Li Yunshi was in charge of the household after all. Even Huang Zhifang just watched with a smile and didn't say anything. Wang Xiaolian didn't dare to jump out and say anything either. She could only stare blankly and pout, sulking.

Soon, thanks to the modesty of Li Yunshan and Li Yunshi, the fish caught from chiseling the ice hole today were divided up.

Li Yunshan and Li Yunshi took the smaller portions, while the rest were divided between Uncle Zhou and Brother Zhang.

"Yunshi, Third Brother, thank you so much!"

Uncle Zhou and Brother Zhang both knew that the Li brothers were taking care of them, and they were very grateful.

"Uncle Zhou, Brother Zhang, no need to thank me. We're all hunters from the same village, and our friendship has been built up since my grandfather's generation. Saying thank you would be too formal," Li Yunshi said, waving his hand.

"Hehe, you're right, then I won't stand on ceremony with you."

Uncle Zhou smiled, saying nothing, but he remembered this kindness in his heart.

"Marble, thanks."

Zhang Sange is honest and simple, and doesn't talk much. Although he doesn't say much, he remembers the kindness of Li Yunshi and Li Yunshan.

Because, of the four of them, his family was the most impoverished.

He had to raise several children and a wife who was sick and unable to do heavy work all by himself.

He knew that Li Yunshi and Li Yunshan were helping them indirectly.

"Brother Zhang, everything will be alright."

Li Yunshan patted Zhang Sange on the shoulder, everything was understood without words.

After dividing the fish, Uncle Zhou and Brother Zhang left first.

Li Yunshan talked with Huang Zhifang for a while before taking the fish and carrying Dou Dou home.

"Mother, Mother, Father and Uncle have caught a lot of fish."

Back home, as soon as DouDou entered the courtyard, she dashed into the main room and stretched out her arms in front of Lin Xiulan, gesturing: "These two basins are so big, they're filled to the brim."

"You really caught that many fish?"

Lin Xiulan was also surprised.

When Li Yunshan carried Dou Dou out, he had promised to take Dou Dou to his older brother's house, but unexpectedly, Dou Dou went to catch fish with his older brother instead.

"They caught quite a lot, but Uncle Zhou and Brother Zhang took most of it. I only took one catfish, two crucian carp, and some willow root fish. Oh, right, Uncle Zhou saw that I took less and was afraid that I would be taken advantage of, so he picked up two carp and stuffed them into the basin."

Li Yunshan's voice came from outside. He stood at the door of the main room, took off his cotton-padded coat which smelled of fish, and put it under the eaves.

Lin Xiulan is now pregnant and can't stand certain pungent smells. They can trigger morning sickness if she smells them, so Li Yunshan is being extra careful.

When Lin Xiulan went outside, she saw a wooden basin at Li Yunshan's feet, which was full of fish.

"With so many fish, how are we going to eat them? And what can we do with these tiny willow root fish?"