When they met, both sides were safe and sound, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

It was getting late, and everyone quickly grabbed their things and headed back, not having time to chat any longer.

Fortunately, while Gao Haining and the others were waiting, they made a simple sled and put both sows on it and tied them up.

So the group dragged two sleds and struggled to walk towards the forest farm.

The group left the woods in one go and came to a simple forest path. From there, they were not far from the forest farm.

Everyone stopped to rest and catch their breath. At this moment, Hua Hua came over, nuzzled Sheng Xiping, then snuggled up to Sheng Xi'an, and then leaped into the woods and disappeared.

"I thought it could go home with you," Wang Jianshe murmured, looking in the direction where Huahua disappeared.

"It belongs to the mountains and forests; its home is too small, and it wouldn't feel right going back there."

Sheng Xiping also hoped that Huahua could go back with him. Last time Huahua left, Sheng Xinhua searched for her for a long time after waking up.

"Let's go home quickly, it's already this late, our families must be worried."

Seeing that it was already past six o'clock, and knowing his family must be very worried, Sheng Xiping didn't dwell on it and just kept dragging the sled forward.

Before long, the group arrived at the large ridge at the east end of the forest farm.

The slope was made slippery by the forest farm children playing on it.

Sheng Xiping and his men simply put the sled down and slid down with it. Once they reached the bottom, they gathered the sled together and quickly dragged it home.

Sheng Xiping and his group left home around nine o'clock in the morning and finally arrived home around six o'clock in the evening.

The Sheng family hadn't had dinner yet and were waiting for Sheng Xiping and his brother to return. Hearing a dog barking outside, Sheng Liancheng quickly sent someone out to check.

"Dad, Mom, our dog is back."

When Sheng Yunfang went outside, she saw Erlang Shen leading several other dogs into the yard, so she shouted loudly into the house.

"Oh, they're finally back. Quick, let's get the food ready. It's so late, they must be starving. Let's eat first, then we'll talk about food."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Shuzhen hurriedly instructed her daughter to prepare the food.

While they were tidying up, Sheng Xiping and his group dragged two makeshift sleds into the yard.

"Dad, Mom, we're back!" Sheng Xiping shouted.

"It's good that you're back. Um, go wash your hands and eat."

Weiguo, Jianshe, and Junzi, don't leave either. Just stay here and eat. After you're done eating, you'll still have to clean up the meat, won't you?

"I'll send Lao Liu to inform everyone right away." Zhang Shuzhen opened the door and invited the young people inside for a meal.

Wang Jianshe and the others didn't want to stay for dinner, but Zhang Shuzhen's words made sense. The two pigs hadn't been cleaned yet, and the seven or eight wolves hadn't been skinned. They'd be busy for a while tonight.

It's too much trouble for them to go home for dinner and then come back. "Then let's listen to Auntie and eat here tonight."

"Yeah, why be so formal with your aunt?"

Zhang Shuzhen greeted the young men with a smile and invited them into the house, then called out to Sheng Xitai.

"Sixth brother, hurry up and go to your Uncle Wang and Uncle Chen's house to tell them that your brother and the others are back and having dinner at our house."

Wang Jianshe and his friends went hunting in the mountains with Sheng Xiping, but they hadn't returned by nightfall. The families were worried and sent people over to inquire several times.

Since we're inviting people to stay for dinner, we should definitely inform everyone so their families don't worry.

Sheng Xikang had just taken a few sips of his drink before heading to the security department to relieve Sheng Xiping on duty.

Sheng Yunfang and Sheng Yunfei were both timid and dared not go out late at night, so Zhang Shuzhen invited Sheng Xitai to join them.

"Okay, I'll go right away."

Sheng Xitai wasn't afraid of getting dark, so he put on his coat and hat and ran out in a flash, notifying each of the families in turn to tell them not to worry.

When those families heard that the person had returned and was staying at the Sheng family's house for dinner, they were all relieved.

As long as everyone comes back safe and sound, that's all that matters. The Lunar New Year is just around the corner, and if something happens, how will we celebrate?

Sheng Xitai took a walk around the forest farm and returned home to find his family eating dinner.

Upon seeing her youngest son return, Zhang Shuzhen quickly invited him to sit down and eat.

Sheng Xitai didn't stand on ceremony; he took off his coat and hat and quickly went to the kang (heated brick bed) to eat.

The Sheng family didn't cook anything fancy for dinner. They just had wild boar stew with sauerkraut, cornbread, some fried meat sauce, and some blanched radish slices.

Northeasterners love to eat vegetables with dipping sauce. If there isn't something to dip in soybean paste on the table, they feel like something is missing.

Whether it's dandelions, shepherd's purse, or wild greens from the fields in spring, lettuce, scallions, or cucumbers from the vegetable garden in summer, or potatoes and eggplants cooked in autumn, they can all be eaten with dipping sauce.

In winter, every household uses a heated kang (a traditional heated bed) or stove, and the house gets dry, so most people like to eat cabbage hearts and radishes.

The radish was sliced, blanched in boiling water, and eaten with sauce. It was juicy, sweet, and not as spicy as raw radish, which many people enjoyed.

Sheng Xiping and the others had been running around on the mountain all day and had only eaten something at noon. By now, they were all starving.

When Wang Jianshe and his group came to the Sheng family, they never pretended. They would eat whatever they could get their hands on and were never polite.

The young men ate their fill, leaving nothing on the table. Zhang Zhijun even managed to grab the last two slices of radish.

The young men wolfed down their food and then hurried to the yard to prepare the meat.

The basket on the mountain was almost finished. Apart from leaving some meat for the dogs, the rest was given to Wang Jianshe and the others.

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