We spent most of the day up the mountain, and we didn't see a single pheasant, let alone a pheasant.

Aunt Zhou wandered around in the mountains for four hours without seeing any pheasants. Her stomach was growling, so she could only eat cornmeal, which was dry and stuck in her throat. She had also run out of water. Finally, she gave up, sat down on the ground, and was panting heavily.

"Mom, you said there were pheasants, but where are there pheasants? Are you sure you didn't see wrong?" The youngest son kept muttering to himself. He had been walking for several hours and his legs were sore from all the walking.

Aunt Zhou chewed on cornmeal. "I'm not so old and blind. How could I not see such a big pheasant? I just don't know where that girl caught it."

As she spoke, she thought about the pheasant Lin Yuxi had eaten yesterday. It was such a big pheasant; how many meals would it take to eat it?

"Mom, this cornmeal doesn't taste good. I want to eat pheasant too. The little bit of fat you had yesterday isn't even enough to fill a tooth gap."

"Eat, eat, all you know is eating. You eat more than your sister-in-law every day, and you have the nerve to say that." Aunt Zhou pinched his ear in annoyance. Her youngest son was lazy and good-for-nothing. He was twenty years old and still stayed at home all day, not doing any work. It made her angry.

"Why are you pinching me for no reason? There are so many people in the family, and your little bit of meat isn't enough to eat. I didn't say anything wrong." He said this confidently, with a hint of sarcasm in his tone at the end.

With so many people in the family, after rendering the fat from two ounces of meat, only a little bit of crackling oil remains.

Upon hearing this, Aunt Zhou's face darkened.

She works outside during the day and has to cook for her family when she gets home. Although her daughter-in-law helps, she is about to give birth again, and there is no one to do the housework. Her youngest son is also lazy and can't be relied on at all.

In the end, they could only come down the mountain dejectedly. Fortunately, they had dug up some wild vegetables. However, Zhou Da Niang's youngest son ran home empty-handed. He couldn't even help with the wild vegetables, let alone find a pheasant. He was always thinking about eating his wife's food.

Yesterday, she noticed that Lin Yuxi was quite diligent and even went up the mountain to catch pheasants. Although she was a sent-down youth, she was beautiful and didn't have the spoiled air of a capitalist's daughter. She wished she were her daughter, but if she could become her daughter-in-law and have a grandson, that would be fine too.

Lin Yuxi was unaware that someone was eyeing her again.

It was just that someone was lucky enough to catch a pheasant in the mountains, which attracted so many people to come up the mountain.

At this moment, she was drying chicken feathers in the yard. The chicken feathers had been rinsed several times and then put in a pot with white wine to remove the fishy smell. After drying, they felt nice to the touch.

...

In the afternoon, everyone held a collective meeting at the village office.

The seed planter has been in Qinghe Village for three days, and the sowing on Huangtupo is basically done. The next issue is irrigation. Other villages use river water for irrigation, but their village can only use well water.

Lin Yuxi also brought over a small stool, intending to take it back after the meeting.

Village Party Secretary Cao Wang stood at the front, holding a loudspeaker, and delivered a long speech in a loud voice.

Besides mentioning that everyone needs to go to work tomorrow, he also gave an extra mention to Lin Yuxi for her act of bravery, since Lin Yuxi is now a member of their village, and if she receives honor, then their village receives honor.

He naturally cherished such talent, and in addition to the village's collective praise, he also received a reward of five yuan and work points.

"The meeting is over. Everyone should go back and get some rest. We need to fetch water tomorrow."