"What happened?"

My mother immediately perked up her ears; curiosity overwhelmed everything else. She stood up and headed outside.

"Sounds like someone from the Li family?"

"The noise is coming from Li Junyi's house. Let's go check it out!"

Old Zhang put down his pipe and followed him outside.

The piercing cries sounded particularly eerie in the silent, snow-covered village.

The seven snow wolves that had been killed had been chopped into large pieces by Zhang Da Nao and the others with axes. They found an old balance scale, weighed them with trembling hands, and distributed them as fairly as possible to the seventeen surviving people.

It's an unwritten rule that whoever is more seriously injured gets a bigger share of the meat.

At Li Junyi's house, his mother collapsed onto the snow, pounding her chest and stamping her feet, crying until her voice was hoarse.

Li Junyi died halfway back.

In these years of scarcity, the loss of one's child by one's parents is a truly devastating tragedy.

The atmosphere was equally somber at Li Yaohui's house next door.

His mother was also in tears, while his father, Li Hongzhuang, had a dark expression on his face, staring intently at his son's drooping arm.

The wound was so deep that you could see the white bone fragments, and the surrounding flesh, which had been covered with snow as an emergency measure, had turned blue and purple from the cold.

Li Yaohui, however, remained defiant, saying that his arm was numb from the cold and he couldn't feel the pain for the time being; instead, he found his mother's crying annoying.

"Mom! Please stop crying! My arm is fine, it'll be better in a few months!"

"What a load of bull!"

Li Hongzhuang roared suddenly, his eyes turning red.

He only had this one son left with him.

The eldest son died young, the third son's head was smashed by a bear while he was in the mountains, and the second son just joined the army last year and we haven't heard much from him.

He didn't dare to think about what would happen to the fourth brother.

Li Hongzhuang squatted down and reached out to pinch his son's injured arm. It was cold, stiff, and numb.

Seeing his son's nonchalant and silly expression, Li Hongzhuang was so anxious that he almost burst into tears.

"Come on! Follow me to the county hospital!"

"What?"

Li Yaohui was stunned.

"Dad, are you delirious? This heavy snow has blocked the mountains and roads, how are we going to get to the county? There are no roads left!"

Do you still remember the iron pillar at the east end of the village?

Li Hongzhuang's voice trembled.

"The winter before last, he was in a similar situation to you. A wolf gnawed on his calf, but he thought it was nothing and would heal on its own. What happened? In just two days, he became delirious with fever, his whole body was burning hot, and he died stiffly on the kang (heated brick bed) without even leaving a word!"

As Li Hongzhuang spoke, he stumbled into the inner room and shouted to his wife, who was wiping away tears on the kang (a heated brick bed):

"Damn it! Quick! Bring out all the money and food coupons we have at home!"

Upon hearing about "Tiezhu",

The color drained from Li Yaohui's face instantly, and he froze.

My head was buzzing.

With a thud, it was all the words Zhang Cheng had spoken in the mountains:

"Do you want your arm, or your life?"

"Father! Father!"

He scrambled into the inner room, grabbed Li Hongzhuang's arm, and his voice was trembling with tears.

"Dad! We can't go to the county! This snow, the roads are freezing! If we both die on the road, how will Mom live?"

"Then, what can we do? Just watch you die?"

Li Hongzhuang looked at him in despair.

"Find Er Gouzi!"

Li Yaohui, as if grasping at the last straw, blurted out,

"Er Gouzi can save me! He can definitely save me!"

"Er Gouzi?"

Li Hongzhuang was stunned and didn't react for a moment.

Li Yaohui dared not delay any longer and incoherently recounted how Zhang Cheng killed the wolf king in the mountains, how he treated his wounds, and how he asked him questions.

"Arm or life?"

He spilled everything out at once.

After hearing his son's account, Li Hongzhuang's face was filled with shock and disbelief.

When did that taciturn Er Gouzi become so capable? He can even heal injuries? And decide whether to keep or discard an arm?

"An arm...for a life..."

Li Hongzhuang repeated this sentence over and over, then suddenly gritted his teeth, as if he had made a tremendous decision.

"Let's go! Let's find Er Gouzi!"

Without further hesitation, he bent down, hoisted Li Yaohui onto his back, and turned to yell at his still-crying wife:

"Honey! Quickly, take all the coarse grains, the little bit of salt, and the military knife that our second son sent back from his military service! Go to Old Zhang's backyard and find us! Hurry!"

After saying that, Li Hongzhuang carried his son on his back and staggered out of the house.

The Zhang family had just returned from Li Junyi's house, and none of them looked too happy.

Zhang An's face turned as white as paper. After hearing about Li Junyi's miserable state and seeing the bloody mess of other wounded soldiers, his earlier thought of making a fortune in the mountains had long since vanished.

Damn it, going into the mountains? That's suicide!

His mind was filled with the image of his neighbor Tie Zheng's thigh, which had been mauled by wolves, a bloody mess, and it was fucking horrifying.

"Old Zhang! Brother Zhang!"

Just then, urgent shouts came from behind.

The Zhang family stopped and turned around. They saw Li Hongzhuang carrying his son Li Yaohui, running towards them with uneven steps, panting heavily.

Old Zhang was taken aback at first, then his gaze fell on Li Yaohui's arm exposed to the cold wind. The wound was shocking, the skin was bluish-purple, and it was obviously frostbitten.

Tie Zheng's leg next door looks scary, but at least no bone is broken. He might be able to recover completely after a few months of rest.

But Li Yaohui's arm... is probably really going to be ruined.

"Hongzhuang, what's wrong with you...?"

Old Zhang frowned, puzzled.

He's not a doctor, so why did Li Yaohui come to him with such serious injuries?

"Where's your Er Gouzi? Tell me quickly, where is Er Gouzi?"

Li Hongzhuang was sweating profusely and asked the question abruptly.

Looking for Er Gouzi?

Old Zhang's eyebrows furrowed even more, and he remained silent, wondering to himself if Li Hongzhuang had lost his mind in his haste.

Zhang An, standing nearby, instinctively pointed towards the backyard without even thinking:

"It's in that dilapidated mud hut in the backyard!"

Having received confirmation, Li Hongzhuang felt as if he had been granted a pardon. Without even glancing at them, he carried his son on his back and rushed past them like a gust of wind, heading straight for the mud house deep in the courtyard.

"Hey! Li Hongzhuang! What the hell are you doing?!"

My mother realized what was happening, took off chasing after him, and shouted in a shrill voice as she went.

"Don't let your child die in our house! It's such bad luck..."