The large old trees that were broken by heavy rains and lightning in the summer have almost dried up by autumn and winter.

Zhang Fangyuan was very strong. He chopped off branches of wood that was thicker than his waist, collected them and carried them to the edge of the mountain pass, where he piled them up for chopping.

He picked and chose, and usually would not split the wood with straight and smooth strips to make firewood. Such wood could be kept for building houses and repairing animal sheds in the future. In addition, there would be people who would buy it at the lumberyard, and depending on the quality and strength of the wood, he could exchange it for ten to thirty cents.

Although one can make money by selling the collected wood, it is a job that requires a lot of luck and physical exertion. Villagers who do not have a physique like Zhang Fangyuan generally cannot make this money. Every year there are people who break their backs, sprain their legs, and injure their bones from carrying wood to sell.

Occasionally, if they wanted to improve their meals and buy some meat, there would be young and strong men carrying two logs from the village to the lumberyard to sell them. However, unless they had no other choice, they would not do this as a means of making a living.

In half an hour, Zhang Fangyuan found more than ten pieces of wood, only two of which were good materials, and the others were crooked and could not be sold. He took out a hatchet and an axe from his backpack and chopped the bad wood into small pieces or split it directly on the spot.

Chopping wood is tiring. Even if you wear fewer clothes in winter, you will still sweat in just a quarter of an hour. There was no one around, so Zhang Fangyuan simply took off his clothes and hung them on a branch nearby. He made an idea in his mind that after slaughtering a few more animals, he would exchange the money for buying a saw, as using only an axe and a hatchet was too tiring.

He was thinking about better tools, not realizing that the knives and axes he had were already enough to make others envious. Xu He, who came up the mountain from the small path to collect firewood and only had a sickle with a blunt blade, was one of them.

Xu He held the shoulder rope with both hands. The rope, as thick as his thumb, was fine when the backpack was not loaded with weight. But when the backpack was filled with firewood and carried from the mountains to his home, his skin would be cut by the rope every time.

For this reason, when he went up the mountain, he would deliberately collect layers of soft outer layers from palm trees. When there were enough, he could take them home and sew them into a shoulder rope half the width of his palm, which would reduce a lot of the pressure of carrying the weight.

However, just as he replaced the new shoulder strap of his previous backpack, his mother took it away and he had no choice but to use the backpack with a thin shoulder strap. So he went up the mountain again and picked up some firewood.

He was lost in thought as he was thinking about whether he could collect more palm coats today. When he pricked up his ears, he heard the continuous sound of chopping wood, as if he had endless energy, which made him quicken his pace.

Everyone likes to pull the firewood to the hillside to chop or pack it. Firstly, it is close to the road going down the mountain and easy to carry down the mountain; secondly, this end is more open and they can keep an eye on the time and weather at any time.

Xu He, carrying a backpack that was much bigger than his body, climbed up the hill like a stubborn snail with great difficulty. Before he could catch his breath, a tall man with a naked upper body and wielding an axe suddenly appeared in his sight.

The man stood beside the firewood pile like a rock that could not be blown away by the wind. His exposed back and arms were wheat-colored, tending towards bronze. When he exerted force, veins on his arms bulged. He looked like a ruthless man with full strength.

I don’t know how long I climbed the mountain, but the chopped firewood at my feet had piled up like a small hill.

Xu He sucked in a breath of cold air, belatedly avoiding the gaze, and almost tripped over a rock in his panic.

Zhang Fangyuan heard a noise behind him. While wiping the sweat off his face, he turned around and saw that it was the youngest child of the Xu family.

The little boy walked lightly with his face turned sideways, not wanting to make any noise to disturb anyone. He looked like a skinny little black monkey. He was obviously tall among the boys of the same age in the village, but he was too thin and frail, not as tall as those short ones.

There are not many men in the village who come from well-off families, so they are all underdeveloped and short in stature. Therefore, the boy is too tall and is not very popular among men in the village.

Standing next to her, she is about the same height as herself, and she doesn't feel like a little bird on the other side. Few men like this, but most families prefer guys with big physiques, as they are good at doing work.

Zhang Fangyuan greeted him in a friendly manner: "He brother."

The skinny little black monkey looked up when he heard the words. He was still walking, but when he saw the person's face, his breathing stopped. Without even a word of response, he trotted into the mountain.

Zhang Fangyuan looked at the young man's back. He heard people say that not only did the youngest Xu look very different from his sister, but his temper was also very different from his sister's. He was weird and aloof. When he saw his elders, he would just say hello and would not say a single word more, as if someone owed his family money.

A guy with a cold and bad temper, who has no sense of style and can't speak well to please others, how can he get married in the future? He will probably have to stay at home as an old man and pay the late marriage tax.

He shook his head and looked away, and suddenly saw a piece of cloth hanging on a tree branch. His arms felt cold and he suddenly realized that he was not wearing any clothes. He touched the tip of his nose in displeasure. His greeting to the villagers with good intentions seemed more like a joke to them.

After chopping the firewood, Zhang Fangyuan carried two good-quality logs back home. It was already past noon after the two trips back and forth. He ate a pancake and drank some water, then went up the mountain again.

There were some more branches and firewood on the hillside at this moment, as well as some small branches that he had shaved off from the big tree trunks that were too small to be used. They were piled up on the other side of his firewood pile. It was obvious that they were the firewood picked up by Xu He. There is no one here now. Maybe he has gone to look for firewood again.

Seeing that the sky was turning cloudy and it might rain, Zhang Fangyuan planned to check the traps and come back to finish his work. Whether there was anything there or not, he would have to take back all his hunting tools. Tools cannot be left overnight in the mountains. Recently, many people have gone up the mountain. It is not a big deal if you don’t catch anything, but it is not worth it if the hunting tools are lost.

He first stuffed a large backpack with the chopped firewood, but there was so much firewood that the basket could not hold it all. He thought about cutting some banana leaves to cover the firewood pile, otherwise the firewood would get wet when it rained and it would be difficult to carry it down the mountain.

When he picked up the sickle and was about to look for banana leaves, he saw Xu He, who was carrying a palm coat and holding firewood in his arms, looking at him not far away, and seemed to be hesitating whether to go up and talk to him.

Zhang Fangyuan thought that Xu Laoyao saw that it was going to rain and wanted him to pack up the remaining firewood. He felt sorry for the young man and said, "It's raining now. It will take some time for you to chop firewood and pack it into the basket. It will be difficult to go down the mountain when the mountain road is soaked. The remaining firewood I have packed is enough for you to fill a basket."

Xu He saw that the butcher looked a little gentler after he was dressed. He was a little surprised that Zhang Fangyuan would give him firewood, but he did not ask for it. Instead, he used his blunt sickle to chop the firewood and asked indifferently, "Did you dig the trap over there by the wild chestnut tree?"

Zhang Fangyuan heard the hoarse voice he heard at Xu's house yesterday again and raised his eyebrows: "Well, do you have the goods?"

Xu He continued chopping wood, but said, "I saw a man over there who seemed to be trying to dig a trap."

Zhang Fangyuan paused when he heard this, realized something was wrong, and quickly rushed into the mountains with his sickle.

Xu He saw the person running like the wind and frowned. After a long while, he decided to follow and see.

He had just gone deeper into the mountains to collect palm coats, and from a distance he saw a man digging out the weeds and branches that covered the trap.

It was not strange to see hunting in the mountains, and he did not want to speak out to bother others. However, the man's behavior was stealthy. He dug for a while and then looked around vigilantly, like a thief. He felt that something was not right, but he could not go up and scold him.

If you live in the deep mountains and old forests and get bitten back, you are considered lucky. If you meet someone without conscience, you don’t know what evil intentions he might have. He carefully retreated back to the hillside and saw Zhang Fangyuan coming back. He was hesitating whether to take the initiative to talk to him and ask if he was the one who set the trap. Even if he was an ordinary man, he would not want to talk to anyone, let alone a man with a reputation like Zhang Fangyuan.

But when he was hesitating, Zhang Fangyuan spoke first, meaning that he wanted to give him firewood, so he just meddled in his business out of kindness.

Zhang Fangyuan had long legs and could run fast, so he slowed down his steps when he entered the deep mountains and approached his trap. There was actually a thief who stuck his butt out and tried to use a tree branch to poke up the iron nails in the trap. It is better to arrive in time than to arrive early.

With a bang, Zhang Fangyuan kicked the thief, who immediately fell to his knees. He stared and saw that the man was a tall, strong, and fierce-looking butcher. He immediately hugged his kicked stomach and dared not wail: "Mercy, Butcher Zhang, please spare me!"

Zhang Fangyuan hated these dishonest people the most. He leaned over and grabbed the short and fat man by the collar and lifted him up: "You knew it was mine, but you still stole it from me! You are the most shameless bastards. These traps are for you to identify and steal from! If the hunters are afraid of you stealing and don't put up the marks, causing the villagers who go up the mountain to fall into them, they can only blame you dishonest people!"

"If someone with good hands and feet doesn't do serious work, I think it's better not to keep him."

After saying that, Zhang Fangyuan threw the man to the ground, stepped on the man's wrist, swung the hatchet in his hand at the man's hand and was about to chop it down.

Suddenly, a sharp scream echoed through the forest, scaring all the mountain birds away.

“Ahhhhh, my hand, my hand!”

Zhang Fangyuan looked at the man lying on the ground with a wet crotch. His eyes were filled with horror as he stared at the hatchet that was just a few inches away from chopping off his hand. He cried and howled in fear.

Xu Hexin, who was hiding far behind, was also very nervous. Zhang Fangyuan's iron-blooded wrist not only scared the thief, but also frightened him so much that cold sweat broke out on his back. It is said that butchers are fierce. In the past, he only thought that they were decisive in slaughtering animals, but then he thought again, he has slaughtered so many animals, who knows if he will kill people if he provokes him.

He didn't finish reading the sequel and returned to the hillside with weak legs.

"If you dare to do such sneaky things again, you won't be so lucky this time." Zhang Fangyuan kicked the thief in disgust: "Get out of here now."

The man dared not breathe, and got up from the ground with lingering fear. He was sweating profusely, and kowtowed to Zhang Fangyuan repeatedly to beg for mercy: "I, I won't dare to do it again, and I will never go up the mountain again!"

After saying this, he was afraid that Zhang Fangyuan would regret it and give him two punches, so he quickly ran away.

Zhang Fangyuan spat. For some days, hunters often said that they had lost their prey and hunting tools. They thought that there were blind bears roaming in the mountains. For a time, people were so panicked that they dared not go up the mountain to hunt. They never thought that it was this dog that was causing trouble.

He counted his hunting tools, fortunately he arrived in time and nothing was lost, but he didn't catch a single skinny pheasant. Many people hunt in winter, whether they are professional hunters or half-hearted hunters who want to go up the mountain to improve their food. There are fewer prey and greater competition, so it is naturally more difficult to get anything.

Zhang Fangyuan did not feel disappointed. He packed up his things and went back. He saw Xu He still chopping wood on the hillside. He did not notice the lush trees in the mountains, but when he got to the hillside, the trees were sparse and he could clearly feel the drizzle.

The winter rain is not impatient, but it is cold. The raindrops falling into the neck are cold, and the wind blowing with them is even colder.

The strands of hair on Xu He's forehead were wet and stuck to his face, and a layer of white frost formed on the top of his head.

He heard the noise behind him and stopped what he was doing. He saw Zhang Fangyuan raised his eyebrows and looked at him, as if he was a little angry, and suddenly strode towards him.

The large figure brought up cool wind and rain, and the moment Xu He was stunned, the man stretched out his arm and took the backpack at his feet.