Harvest
Xu Nian told his elder brother in the evening that he would go hunting with him the next morning and went to bed early.
It cannot be said that every household has secretly gone up the mountain to hunt game, but it is almost the same. However, if they are not caught, it is not a big deal. If they are caught, even though they are villagers, they will be in big trouble. First and foremost, the family's Five Good Family Honor Award will be revoked.
In the past, Xu Nian always thought that this was nothing, and that getting benefits was not more important than a reputation. Later, when she saw that some people were actively working before five o'clock in the morning just to get the title of "Model Worker", she no longer dared to look at the current development with the perspective of the future. Even her cunning elder brother seemed to do this often. She spent little time in the village and didn't know how fierce the competition was.
Although Xu Fengjian is a young man from the countryside, he has great ambitions. He has set a goal for himself to become the team leader of this area when he is 30 years old. He has calculated that the old team leaders are all over 50 years old, and his uncle is the accountant of the team who likes to count money and has no interest in getting promoted. This is just a good opportunity for him.
But even the most ambitious person cannot control his greed, not to mention that it was his son's birthday wish. He got up and covered his wife with a quilt again. He got up in the cold. It was still dark outside. To be on the safe side, he got up before five o'clock. Without washing his face, he went to call the second son, and then went to call his younger sister's window quietly.
After he and his second brother had packed up everything, there was still no sound in Xu Nian's room. Thinking of how eager the younger sister was to call him last night, the two brothers smiled at each other helplessly. Xu Fengjian called out again, and only then did he hear the girl's humming response in the room.
Xu Nian was used to staying in the small courtyard in the county and thought that Xu Hongqi was disturbing her by getting up early. In fact, it might be because he promised Xu Nian to stop next year, which made him feel under time pressure. Now he gets up very early every day and squeezes in time to assemble the radio. Even this time when he was supposed to go home, he didn't come back.
Xu Nian kicked on the bed reflexively, but missed. His mind was still fuzzy when he suddenly sat up. He heard a knock on the door and instantly woke up. He immediately put on a thick cotton coat and went out.
Xu Fengjian saw his sister coming out and laughed at her, "My sister actually got up. If you hurry up, I will be there soon."
Xu Fengkang also laughed when he heard this, but he still cared about his sister and said, "Niannian, why don't you stay home? It's cold in the back mountain. Don't catch a cold again."
Xu Nian was sobered up by the cold air outside, but the lingering sleepiness made her yawn loudly. "No, I'm already up."
After saying that, she deliberately said to her eldest brother, "I'm really lucky. You'll understand when we get there."
Besides, it was already five o'clock in the morning, so the three of them didn't waste any more time. They went out, and Xu Nian went up the mountain tremblingly, sandwiched between his two brothers.
It was cold at first but then I felt warm. I was panting heavily from climbing the mountain. They didn't dare set traps too close to the inside, at most a little closer than the area where everyone was collecting firewood.
Arriving at the destination, Xu Nian's eyes lit up and she noticed that the leaves near the trap were badly damaged. She excitedly pulled Xu Fengjian and said, "Brother, it must be there. I saw that the trap was destroyed."
Xu Fengjian was also happy to hear this, but he still asked his younger brother and sister to stop for a while while he went to take a look first, fearing that there were some ferocious beasts inside that were not yet dead. This had happened before, and if one was not careful, they would linger on and bite people.
Xu Nian saw his brother holding a stick and carefully scratched it a few times. When he heard no movement, he knocked on the ground for a while, but he didn't dare to make too much noise, as it would attract more big beasts.
I waited for a while, but there was still no sound. I took out a flashlight from somewhere, turned it on, and carefully shone it towards the trap.
Xu Nian grabbed his second brother's sleeve and muttered, "Brother, you have a flashlight, why didn't you use it when we were on the road? It was so dark that the three of us almost tripped."
Xu Fengkang whispered, "Brother, this flashlight must have been borrowed from our grandfather. You don't know our grandfather, he keeps a close eye on all his good things. If you find out that you've used too much electricity when you get back, you won't be able to borrow it next time."
Xu Nian shut up as soon as she heard this. She decided not to make any unnecessary comments about this little old man. It was mainly a waste of feelings. He was sometimes good and sometimes bad, too moody. Yesterday, when she went to see him, she ate two extra pieces of dim sum and he scolded her in person, which made her so angry that she ate two more pieces.
The two were chirping when his elder brother turned around with a flashlight in his hand, waving his finger at them with his mouth almost split open. The bright light of the sun shining on his face, coupled with his expression, was so eerie and strange, it felt like he was in a horror movie.
Xu Nian and Xu Fengkang shivered and huddled closer together, sighing that it was really not easy to get a bite of meat. Their eldest brother beckoned to them and then turned away. They didn't want to think too much and hurried over there.
When she got there, she heard Xu Fengjian panting heavily. Xu Nian didn't even bother to look at the trap. She looked at her elder brother first, thinking that he might as well not get the meat.
She was still thinking about it when she heard her second brother, who was always honest, say, "Damn it."
Then he shook his elder brother excitedly and was also panting. Xu Nian had a vague guess in her mind, so she quickly squatted forward and looked into the trap. Then she also opened her mouth and panted. This was not a ghost, but her heartbeat accelerated with excitement.
When they were digging the hole yesterday, his two brothers said that they didn't need to dig too deep and that the chances of catching something would be higher if they dug more. Xu Nian dug a few times and was so tired that he told them that they only needed to dig one and dig deeper. Otherwise, if they dug too many holes and someone accidentally saw them, the reporting team would definitely investigate.
His eldest brother thought about it and agreed. The three of them dug a big deep hole. The hole was not particularly big but it was really deep. Later, when they saw that it was time to start work, they were afraid of being bumped into, so they dug for a while before leaving. They were scolded by the team leader for being late.
But the quarrel was not in vain. The three of them were overjoyed. There was clearly a wild boar in the cave. Xu Fengjian didn't dare to speak loudly. "This wild boar is probably still a young pig. I estimate it to be about 100 pounds."
He suppressed his excitement and reminded his younger brother and sister, "We have to pack up and leave quickly. I'm afraid someone might come over if we wait any longer."
Xu Nian just nodded and said "hmm hmm". She was responsible for weighing the bag, and the other two were responsible for fishing. Because the hole was deep, Xu Fengkang first tied a loop with the hemp rope, and Xu Fengjian put it on the wild boar and tightened it. Then the two of them pulled hard to fish it up. Fortunately, the wild boar was not too big, and the two of them quickly fished it out.
Xu Nian was so excited just now that he didn't notice it, but as soon as he fished it out, the smell of blood immediately overwhelmed him. He heard his elder brother continue to say, "This wild boar probably died from excessive blood loss. Quickly put it in a bag. The smell of blood is too strong. We need to leave quickly to avoid attracting ferocious beasts."
Xu Nian's sack was almost full, and she felt nauseous and scared. She was turning her head away when she heard her second brother's voice again, "Brother, little sister, there's something in the hole."
Xu Nian immediately threw the bag and looked into the hole. It was a little blurry. Before she could take a closer look, Xu Fengjian came over and turned on the flashlight. The three of them took a breath and saw two rabbits and three pheasants inside. They looked at each other and thought, what kind of luck! The harvest was too rich.
Xu Fengjian rubbed his chest and said, "Just now I was wondering why the wild boar ran to the outskirts of the mountain. I thought it was eating the crops because it had nothing to eat in winter. Now it seems that the smell of pheasants and rabbits in here probably attracted it."
He swallowed and said, "Let's pack up and leave quickly, otherwise it will be dangerous."
I'm really excited, but when the eldest knows the importance of things better than the two younger ones, I have to leave immediately...
Because the wild boar was there first, the pheasants and rabbits that came later did not seem too big to them. So they brought a sack and put the pheasants and rabbits in the cave into the sack. Since they had enough time, the wild boar decided to let the second one carry them away.
After the three of them finished cleaning up, they saw that the younger sister was scared, so they didn't let Xu Nian take the prey. Instead, they gave her the flashlight and asked her to be alert and show the way. If there were anyone around, she had to hide quickly.
Fortunately, they arrived early, and people get up later in winter than in summer. They were extremely nervous along the way, but they finally returned home quietly and safely.
After entering the house and putting the prey in a secluded backyard, the three of them went to look for their parents together.
Xu Qinghua woke up early. He was still a little worried about the children of Daiheitian going out. He wanted to go too, but the eldest brother refused to let him go. He opened his eyes and thought about it. Lu Mei woke up soon after. The two of them chatted incessantly, and their emotions eased a lot.
When they heard a sound at the gate, they sat up immediately. Just as they put on their clothes, they heard a light knock on the door and their daughter's voice, "Dad, are you awake?"
Xu Qinghua put on his shirt and said, "Hey, you're awake, come in."
The couple thought it was just their daughter, but as soon as the door opened, all three children squeezed in. The eldest was the most excited and wanted to speak as soon as she came in. Xu Nian followed behind and closed the door.
"What did you say? Did you kill a wild boar?" After hearing what the boss said, Lu Mei and Xu Qinghua shouted louder in shock.
Xu Fengkang chuckled, "Mom, keep your voice down..."
"Oh my god, it's been so long since we last had such a good thing, and now you three have finally met each other." Lu Mei was surprised and happy.
Xu Nian felt a little nauseous because of the fishy smell on her body, and said to her mother: "Mom, let's make some water. I want to wash. It smells so fishy!"
Seeing her daughter's red face from the cold, Lu Mei hurried to get up, but was stopped by her husband. "It's not easy to handle so many things, and you have to be careful of people." Xu Qinghua only thought of this after hearing his daughter mention the fishy smell.
Lu Mei sat down again, thinking about it, "What should we do? How about we take a day off today and take advantage of the free time to deal with it?"
Xu Qinghua waved his hand. "How can that be? Our third son found a job in the county, and neither of us asked for leave. Now, out of the blue, we both ask for leave for no reason. Doesn't that clearly mean there's something fishy going on?"
While holding her daughter's hand to warm her, Lu Mei said, "What should we do? We can't have meat but not eat it. My darling grandson is still waiting to eat meat."
Xu Fengkang listened for a long time and thought about it. Suddenly, he thought of something and said to his father, "Dad, why don't we let my grandfather come? He always slaughters pigs for the team during the Spring Festival, and he doesn't go to work now."
Xu Nian curled his lips after hearing this. He didn't expect that his grandfather had that ability. However, this idea was obviously approved by several people, and they gave her the task of calling people.
After being busy for so long, it was only a little after six o'clock, but everyone was too excited to sleep. Xu's mother got up and first made a big pot of water for the three of them to wash. Then her daughter-in-law got up and gave the stove to them to cook. Then she took out a lot of eggs that she had saved from the cupboard, washed them, and steamed them on the grate, which made the two daughters-in-law open their eyes wide in surprise.
Is this too much?
Xu's mother smiled, but did not intend to tell her daughters-in-law right away. She only said that they had hunted pheasants and rabbits to make them happy. She was afraid that the two daughters-in-law would not be able to keep the secret if she said too much.
Everyone agreed that there would be no meat to eat early in the morning. After everyone finished their eggs happily, they all looked forward to the big dinner in the evening and were still thinking about it when they went to work.
I'm afraid to think about anything, but when I think about it so much, I'm surprised that it suddenly comes to mind. My little sister will go to school tomorrow, so she must go back to school this afternoon. Doesn't that mean I can eat the meat at noon?
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