After making sure that the flock of sheep had completely left, several people climbed down the bushes nimbly, cleaned up the battlefield, and harvested the spoils of war.
In this battle, no one was injured except for the young coalition soldier named Xiaomu who got too excited and scratched his arm on the tree.
"Hurry up, drain the sheep's blood, pack up and leave here. The smell of blood is too strong. I'm afraid a big guy will come over soon."
While the goat's body is still warm, drain the blood so that the meat is less fishy.
There were four sheep in total, weighing about 700 pounds. It took six people some effort to carry this heavy happiness.
They also got an injured lamb as an extra harvest. It was not because they beat it immorally, but because the sheep were trampled in panic when they hit the tree.
The little lamb had a soft voice and one of its legs was seriously injured. It nestled in Ningxia's arms and bleated non-stop. I don't know if I can raise it if I take it home.
Several people dug the soil to cover the bloodstains. Liu Ximu took out a handful of Atractylodes lancea with some heartache. After lighting it, the air emitted a strong herbal smell. He threw a handful on the spot.
The rest was distributed to everyone, at least to cover up the smell of blood.
Fearing the "huge fortune" on their backs would attract wolves and tigers, the group practically scrambled to escape the dense forest. When it was completely dark, Li Gang raised his hand to signal them to stop and find a relatively open area to set up camp.
The animal repellent powder that Ningxia had exchanged for at Liefeng Shuguang but had not yet been used up came in handy again.
Liu Ximu took it, smelled it, and took out a jar of samples that Li Gang and his team had not used and filled it with a lot of samples.
He took out some unknown herbs from the bag and added them in. The moment the charcoal fire was put into the jar, an extremely unpleasant herbal smell filled the air around everyone.
Ningxia finally understood why it was called animal repellent powder. Not only animals but even humans couldn't stand it. However, the unpleasant smell in their nostrils did make everyone feel a lot more at ease.
"You two should get some rest early. The four of us will take turns keeping watch. Tomorrow morning, we'll head down the mountain at dawn and make other plans after we leave the mountain."
Everyone agreed, but with so much meat to look after and the unpleasant smell all around, no one slept well.
It was not until they had walked all day and returned to a large open space that they had passed by on the way here that they finally took a breath and realized they were finally not far from home.
I estimated that after a night's rest, we would be able to reach the river in half a day.
Although we didn't eat or sleep well, we didn't feel tired at all. Instead, we worked very hard and caught up with the pace.
During the meal, Li Gang also caught two rabbits, which were roasted and eaten by several people on the spot. The rabbits were seasoned with Ningxia spices and were salty, fragrant, and tender. Everyone was very satisfied with the food.
"Brother Mu, stop looking. We'll come back later."
As they were almost home, Liu Ximu once again passed by a small patch of angelica that they had discovered when they came.
Knowing that now was not a good time to pick herbs, Liu Ximu nodded and walked forward seriously.
"We're at the river now. I think we should take care of our things before going back to save the trouble of carrying them back and forth."
At this moment, everyone had returned to the foot of the mountain, upstream of the river in front of Ningxia's home, two hours away from home. Li Gang's proposal was exactly what she wanted.
While there is plenty of water here and it is still early, it will be much easier to deal with it when you return.
They did it right away. Several people unloaded the bulging luggage bags and took out the still fresh goat meat inside.
On the way, Li Gang and his companions discussed chopping off the sheep's head and throwing it away to reduce the weight. A strong smell of sheep hit them in the face.
Li Gang and his companions were experienced. They even brought very sharp planers. After a few cuts, not a single hair was left on the surface of the mutton.
Everyone was busy dividing and washing the things, and it took a long time to finally finish the job.
Ningxia couldn't bear to throw away any of the offal, but only picked up the ones that were easy to clean. There were plenty of offal from the four sheep anyway, so she cleaned them roughly, then went home and carefully processed them before stewing them in a pot. Adding some noodles, she had a pot of mutton soup.
Just roughly cut off the lamb leg and divide the body into two parts, and that's it.
Just as we were about to set off, a few monkeys suddenly jumped out of the woods behind us.
When they walked up to them, Ningxia looked at them curiously and thought they were here to exchange meat as rumored.
As a result, these guys just looked from a distance and left, with no interest in the mutton.
The few of them were only slightly wary and not too nervous. After all, these famous monkeys were quite friendly, and there were only about a dozen small monkeys.
Unexpectedly, there was an old acquaintance from Ningxia. The monkey with bald arms kept staring at Ningxia, as if confirming something.
It’s Monkey Little Friend, a name given by Sangsang, but Ningxia doesn’t know it yet.
She recognized it at a glance. After all, this young monkey was considered good-looking among the monkeys.
Until Ningxia shouted to it, "Is the wound on your arm healed?"
Ningxia was stunned the moment she spoke. How did she learn this from Sangsang? She even talked to the monkey. What could the monkey understand?
The monkey made a "woof" sound and came to Ningxia in a few leaps, not afraid of people at all.
"Do you really understand?" Ningxia was surprised.
The monkey raised its right arm and gave Ningxia a strange military salute, just like before.
Its round eyes looked at Ningxia seriously, and it made another "Woo" sound before turning around and jumping back into the monkey group. As the main group disappeared, Ningxia was left standing there in shock.
"Hey, this monkey is really smart."
“That’s really clever.”
Li Gang and Lao Liao sighed repeatedly.
Ningxia looked at the monkey's back as it walked away, and the corners of her mouth couldn't be suppressed. She didn't expect that it still remembered her. This feeling... is so wonderful!
"Let's go! Let's go home and feed the baby!"
Old Liao shouted loudly, and everyone couldn't help laughing. They didn't take this little episode to heart and hurried towards Ningxia's house with light steps.
When they arrived at the place where they had to part ways, Liu Ximu waved to everyone. He was eager to go home. He had been away for six or seven days and didn't know how Xiaoqing and the child were doing.
After removing the fur, heads, and internal organs, they harvested over 600 kilograms of meat. He received 80 kilograms of meat and two sheep's hooves, along with nearly 100 kilograms of fresh medicinal herbs in his carry-on bag.
Liu Ximu really couldn't afford so much, so he only took the medicinal herbs and sheep's feet home, and would go back to Ningxia's home to get the 100 kilograms of meat later.
"Remember to call your sweet sister over later to have some mutton soup!" After spending a few days together, Ningxia and Liu Ximu had become much more familiar with each other.
Liu Ximu nodded and said, "Okay, we'll come later." He had to go home and have a sleep first. He was so tired that he could collapse at any time.
"Xia Xia!"
"Sister Xia Xia!"
"Captain, are you back?"
The gate to the courtyard was locked, so Ningxia and the others called for it to be opened. Before Lin Yi could open the lock, the people inside the gate started to get excited.
Ningxia handed the lamb in her arms to Lin Yi and said, "Raise it in the yard first."
Several people unloaded all the mutton on their backs. Xiaojie took Sangsang and fetched several large basins of water in the yard. It was time for them to change and wash.
By the time Lin Yi had settled the lamb in his hands, Ningxia and the others had already fallen asleep.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com