The two waited a little longer, but there was still no movement on this side, so they carried their guns down the mountain.

Finally, the group reunited at the junction of the second-generation forest and the mother forest at the foot of the mountain, which was the place where they had separated earlier.

"Hey, what's this mountain weasel?"

Wang Jianshe and Gao Haining were quite puzzled. Weren't they supposed to be hunting roe deer? How did they end up encountering wild leopards?

Sheng Xiping then recounted what had happened to Wang Jianshe and the others, who were all amazed by what they heard.

Going hunting in the mountains is inherently unpredictable; you can encounter all sorts of situations.

Today's harvest was good, and everyone was quite satisfied. Since it was almost time, we decided to head down the mountain and head back.

On the way back, Sheng Xiping found a few more places to set traps. It was just something he could do easily. It would be great if he could catch someone, but it didn't matter if he couldn't.

Having learned from yesterday's lesson, everyone went down the mountain early today and returned home. Once back, they skinned the roe deer and the civet cat and divided the meat among themselves.

Today, Wang Jianshe and the others felt too embarrassed to eat at the Sheng family's house. They only chatted for a short while before each carrying their meat home.

On the morning of the 25th of the twelfth lunar month, Sheng Xiping and his group went up the mountain again to search for traps and found a few wild rabbits, pheasants and the like.

Thus, the hunting activities before the New Year came to a temporary end.

While Sheng Xiping and his family were busy hunting in the mountains, their families were also busy.

With the Lunar New Year just around the corner, everyone has a ton of work to do.

There's a little rhyme that goes something like this: On the 23rd, sticky candy; on the 24th, sweep the house; on the 25th, paste paper on the windows; on the 26th, buy meat; on the 27th, slaughter the rooster; on the 28th, prepare the dough; on the 29th, steam the buns; stay up all night on the 30th; and on New Year's Day, twist and turn.

Although customs vary from place to place, and the things to do in the days leading up to the Lunar New Year are also different, at the very least, people should clean their homes thoroughly and prepare various foods in advance, such as steamed buns and stewed meat.

When the Sheng family lived in their old house, the old house had mud walls, and to make it look nice, they had to put up sheds and other coverings.

The new house is a brick and tile structure with whitewashed walls, so there's no need to plaster the walls; just sweep away the dust.

Living in a bungalow is different from living in an apartment building. With the constant burning of firewood, there's a lot of smoke and ash. Even in the cleanest homes, there's always ash accumulating in the nooks and crannies.

So Zhang Shuzhen asked Sheng Xikang to take a new broom and sweep the dust from all over the house.

Then Sheng Yunfang and Sheng Yunfei carefully wiped the kangqin, cabinets, and other items with a rag.

Even the picture frames on the wall had to be taken down, carefully wiped, and then hung up again.

After cleaning the east and west rooms, the washed and dried curtains, window curtains, and door curtains were all hung up.

Next, the outer room, especially the kitchen, was cleaned and all the pots, pans, and utensils were brought out.

These days, there are no cleaning products like dish soap; most people use baking soda, or dough starter, to wash dishes.

Grab some dough starter and scrub the inside and outside of the bowls and plates until they are clean. Then rinse them twice with clean water, and they should be done.