Before even reaching the trap, we heard sounds like a puppy barking coming from inside.
"There really are animals!"
Zhao Chunling and the children rushed forward and ran towards the two traps.
"There's a muntjac here!"
As they shouted, Xie Yuyao approached and saw a muntjac lying in a deeper trap, its head raised and its front legs trying to jump up.
It looks a lot like a deer, weighs about 40 kilograms, is yellowish-brown all over, has some white hair on its chest, and has inward-curling antlers on its head. It is a male muntjac.
Xie Yuyao learned from her research that muntjac meat is delicious yet chewy, and its fur is very valuable and can be used to make high-quality leather.
"How do we catch them?" The male educated youth had already gone to other communes, and Yang Shumei didn't know who else to turn to for a while.
Zhao Chunling: "How about I go and call my uncle to come and catch him?"
"No! We can't let anyone else know!" The children already knew that if others found out, they wouldn't get many pieces of meat.
Xie Yuyao was in a dilemma. How could she get the muntjac down the mountain? It was too big. If the other villagers saw it, even several dozen kilograms of meat wouldn't be enough to share.
The children huddled together and whispered amongst themselves, finally deciding in unison: "Let's ask Brother Jianbin to do the killing, and we'll tell him we can't tell anyone else."
Xie Yuyao smiled at Yang Shumei, "I agree, he definitely won't tell anyone."
"How did you know?" Zhao Chunling looked at her with wide eyes. When did they become so familiar?
Xie Yuyao knew immediately that she was going off on a wild whim again, so she teased her on purpose: "I just know."
"What's wrong with you? You always..."
Knowing she was about to say something unpleasant, Xie Yuyao interrupted her: "Don't say so much. Send a few children to hand in their tasks first, then wait at the village entrance. As soon as you see Zhao Jianbin, bring him over."
"Wow!"
"I'm going too!"
Finally, all the children went to the village entrance to wait for Zhao Jianbin's return.
Only Xie Yuyao and two others remained in the valley, and they reinforced the trap once more.
Zhao Chunling suggested that they go find Huang Qi again, so the three of them used the trap as the center point and searched for Huang Qi in all directions.
When Zhao Jianbin arrived with a group of children, carrying a basket on his back containing a large net, hemp rope, and a pig-slaughtering knife, the three of them had already dug up four or five kilograms of astragalus.
"Such a fat muntjac is a rare sight!"
Zhao Jianbin sighed, then took out his homemade net and had Yang Shumei and Xie Yuyao hold onto one side while he held onto the other.
After setting up the trap in one corner, Zhao Chunling used a stick to scare the muntjac away. Because muntjacs are naturally timid, they were frightened and ran around wildly, bumping into the walls, and ended up falling headfirst into the large net and getting trapped.
Together, the group dragged the muntjac out of the trap. Zhao Jianbin tied its mouth and legs with hemp rope, then nimbly laid the muntjac down.
After peeling and cutting, it wasn't long before everything was done.
"What should we do next? Keep it to eat or sell it?"
When Zhao Jianbin asked, Zhao Chunling and the children unanimously said they wanted to eat meat, but didn't want to take it home to cook.
This muntjac looked plump, but it only weighed about 20 kilograms and was edible. Divided among a dozen or so people, not much was left for each person. Most families had large households, so they wouldn't be able to eat many pieces of meat at home.
Yang Shumei: "Why don't we just cook it in the mountains and sell the rest along with the furs?"
As soon as she finished speaking, she asked Zhao Jianbin uncertainly, "Can it be sold?"
Zhao Jianbin's eyes darted around, and he smiled, "Why don't you come with me to town this afternoon to take it and have a look?"
"Alright."
So Xie Yuyao went back to the educated youth compound and brought back a small wok, matches, seasonings, bowls and chopsticks and other items to the mountain.
Smoke curled from the chimney as the grass-cutting team stewed muntjac meat by the stream in the valley.
Everyone sat around the pot, their mouths watering as they smelled the aroma of meat wafting from the pot.
As soon as the meat was stewed, the children eagerly held up their bowls, waiting for Zhao Jianbin to distribute the meat to everyone.
"Eat slowly, be careful not to burn yourself."
Xie Yuyao saw them stuffing steaming hot meat into their mouths one by one, grimacing from the heat but unwilling to spit it out.
After eating and drinking their fill, the children thought of their beloved families.
"Can we not sell the rest of the meat?"
"I want to take it home for my mom to eat."
"Me too, I want my grandma to try it."
......
"In that case, let's include Comrade Zhao Jianbin and divide the spoils according to headcount."
Xie Yuyao's words were met with unanimous agreement. So Zhao Jianbin divided the meat into more than a dozen portions.
A clever child rallied everyone to find large leaves so they could wrap the meat inside.
"I'll take this fur home and process it first, then sell it for a good price after it's tanned." But this means my shopping trip is ruined.
Zhao Jianbin looked pitifully at Yang Shumei, seeking comfort. Seeing this, Xie Yuyao pulled Zhao Chunling along to look for leaves. They didn't want to be annoying third wheels.
In the afternoon, Xie Yuyao and Yang Shumei went to pick sour pears as usual.
After these days of harvesting, the pears in this field are almost all picked, which means that the foundation for their house will soon be laid!
In the evening, Jiang Penghui and Zhao Honghui brought back another truckload of bricks. Since the educated youth team had not yet returned, Zhao Jianbin called over several of his close friends to help.
Xie Yuyao and Yang Shumei invited him to stay for dinner, but Jiang Penghui declined, saying he had urgent business to attend to at home.
So Xie Yuyao went to the sales point and bought several cartons of good cigarettes. She gave one carton to Jiang Penghui and then distributed a pack to each of the men who had helped her, as a way of thanking them.
This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com