Bonnie took the children to pick fruit, while Gu Ye and the others were looking for pheasant tracks.
Liu Jiu and Sheng Nan were the most enthusiastic. The two little girls followed behind the three adults, and their every move was very orderly, even more so than the eldest son of the Xu family.
"These two girls will be quite something in the future; they'll definitely show some discipline," Political Commissar Xu remarked. His two daughters didn't like training, and neither did his two sons; the older one was alright, but the younger one just wanted to play around.
“The child is still young. He likes things now, but who knows what will happen in the future? We don’t have that idea. We don’t expect the child to inherit our career. It’s up to the child.” Gu Ye himself was unhappy when he was young, and he only wishes for his child to be safe and happy.
“Yes, my husband, Staff Officer Deng, knows this all too well. He trains actively because he enjoys it.” Cao Wenze added that the first half of his life was too bitter.
"Shh, don't talk, I hear a pheasant calling." Liu Jiu's ears were quite sharp, and he was the first to hear the pheasant calling.
"That's true, it looks like we might get to eat roast chicken." Gu Ye was quite excited.
Dr. Cao was also happy; he didn't have many opportunities to hunt, so this was quite a novel experience.
Only Political Commissar Xu remained calm. He had been making a living in the mountains since he was a teenager and had seen it all. Back then, Northeast China was known for its wild animals, where you could beat roe deer with sticks and scoop up rain with ladles, and even pheasants would fly into your cooking pot.
In the dead of winter, with snow more than a meter deep, pheasants were chased so frantically that they plunged headfirst into the snowdrifts. These are all true stories!
It's just that I haven't been home for many years; it's too far!
"Political Commissar Xu, why are you daydreaming?" Dr. Cao tugged at Political Commissar Xu.
Three adults, a boy, and two girls tiptoed toward the direction from which the sound came.
There really were pheasants, more than one, wandering around the stream foraging for food.
After years of military service, the three grown men used secret signals to give instructions to the three younger men, and together they expanded the encirclement and slowly surrounded the pheasants.
The pheasants, unaware of the approaching danger, continued to stroll leisurely.
Four or five pheasants, catching three is enough to make a profit.
Even with the utmost caution, the pheasant sensed the danger and began to scatter. The six people, including the adults and children, sprang into action and intercepted the fleeing pheasant.
A pheasant came over from Liu Jiu's side. She seized the opportunity, pounced forward, and caught the pheasant beneath her. She then quickly grabbed the pheasant's wing. Success! Perfect!
Similarly, Cao Shengnan also caught one, although she got a little scratched.
The pheasant panicked and took flight, trying to escape. Cao Shengnan panicked too, reaching out to grab it, only to have her hand scratched by the pheasant's claws. The little girl endured the pain and didn't let go, instead using her other hand to grab the pheasant's wing.
Pheasants are hard to catch, but this time we spotted the enemy a little too late. When we tried to run away, we panicked and ran into a trap. Not a single one escaped.
Six people, five chickens, but only Political Commissar Xu caught nothing; the pheasants didn't escape in his direction.
The six men, laden with their spoils, were overjoyed at the thought of having roast chicken later.
"We're back!" Liu Jiu shouted as soon as she saw her mother and San Qi from afar.
"Come over here and rest for a while, have some fruit." Bonnie saw her daughter too, but she was too far away to see clearly what she was holding.
Bonnie and her friends picked a lot of fruit; it was the perfect season, and the fruit tasted delicious.
Sister-in-law Zhang picked a lot of wild vegetables and bamboo shoots, washed them all clean, and Staff Officer Deng, who had rested enough, went out for a walk and brought back a bamboo tube of wild honey.
"Look, look! What have we caught!"
Political Commissar Xu came over first, his voice filled with excitement.
"Did you catch a pheasant?" When Sister Zhang was in her hometown, she would occasionally go up the mountain and catch pheasants, mainly because there were many pheasants in her area.
"We caught them! We caught five!"
"Wow! There's meat to eat! There's meat to eat..." Except for Sanqi, the other three little ones rushed over eagerly.
"Dad, how many did you catch?" Xu Tao looked at the pheasants in the hands of the others, touched each one, and looked at his father with excitement.
"Ahem... I didn't catch a single one." Political Commissar Xu was a little embarrassed and touched his nose.
"What? You didn't catch a single one? Look at how smug you are, I thought you caught several!" Mrs. Zhang complained about her husband.
"We operate as a team. Political Commissar Xu's side didn't have any wild chickens to go over, so there was nothing we could do." Gu Ye spoke the truth; Political Commissar Xu had a bit of bad luck today.
"Come on, clean the chicken, the children are waiting to eat." Dr. Cao took out her simple first-aid kit and treated her daughter's injured hand. She had only used herbal medicine for emergency disinfection; she needed to thoroughly disinfect it and then bandage it to prevent infection.
"Shengnan is injured?" Staff Officer Deng came over to check on the child. Fortunately, it wasn't too serious; there were only two scratches.
Bonnie and Aunt Zhang also came over to check on it, and were relieved to see that it wasn't serious.
"Did you eat all five pheasants?" Aunt Zhang, who was used to being frugal, felt a little sorry for them.
"Eat up, there are so many people, let the children eat their fill." Bonnie thought five chickens weren't too many, considering there were so many people.
"Eat them, what a pleasant surprise!" Staff Officer Deng also felt that since they had unexpectedly caught five, they should eat them all. It wasn't easy to come out and have fun, so they should enjoy themselves to the fullest.
"Then let's eat!" Sister Zhang stopped hesitating.
Dr. Cao and his two companions took the chicken to clean it up, followed by three boys who had come to watch the commotion.
"Sanqi, why aren't you going?" Staff Officer Deng looked at Sanqi sitting on the bamboo mat. After all this time, she was still clean and tidy, while his two younger children looked like nothing at all.
"It's hot, and sweating makes me uncomfortable." Sanqi wasn't interested in killing chickens; what was there to see in all that dirt?
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