The next morning, taking advantage of the restroom break, Tao Hongying and Zhao Yuru also got to eat steamed buns.
Then came Li Lao Er, Li Lao San, Li Lao Si…
While eating breakfast, Jiayin sipped her porridge, glancing guiltily at the busy villagers, feeling somewhat uneasy.
After all, this is a time when everyone is working together to survive.
She led her whole family to have an affair, which is somewhat disloyal.
But she was just a child, and she couldn't reveal the existence of the space.
This is the only way I can do to protect my loved ones.
I hope to find an opportunity in a while to take out more of the food and vegetables from the space.
In this way, the villagers can also benefit...
As the sun rose and the moon set, they traveled by day and rested by night, advancing step by step into the mountains.
Perhaps they gradually adapted to the intensity, as few of them complained of being tired anymore.
But eating sorghum and wild vegetable porridge every day inevitably caused everyone to lose weight.
Seeing this, the old men called on everyone to discuss whether they should stop and rest for a day and gather everyone to go hunting.
We need to eat meat at least once, otherwise everyone's bodies won't be able to handle it.
The suggestion was met with enthusiastic support from everyone. Listening to their stomachs rumbling every day while having to trek arduously was simply too painful.
The boys were overjoyed; after learning for so long, they were quite familiar with slingshots and were finally going to put them to good use.
Jiayin was always thinking about finding an opportunity to take something from the space, so she insisted on going hunting with them.
Li Laosi was afraid of danger, but Li Laotai pleaded for her granddaughter.
"Fu Niu is lucky, so let's take her with us, maybe we can actually find some good stuff."
Having no other choice, Li Laosi wrapped his daughter up tightly, holding her close to his chest.
He was afraid that his daughter might be behind him and not be able to see him if something happened.
Jiayin was also well-behaved, lying in front of her father, her big eyes rolling around, not wanting to cause any trouble.
Li Laosi and Liu Biaotou, along with Jiayi Liu Yang, two villagers, and two half-grown boys chosen by Uncle Zhao, plunged into the southern mountains.
They went hunting, and also scouted the area.
Initially, the group was not lucky and only encountered two pheasants, which was not enough to satisfy the family.
As the sun began to set, everyone grew hungry and became somewhat anxious.
Jiayin was even prepared to take out a few of the rabbits from her space, but Heaven couldn't bear to disappoint them.
A wild boar with two piglets appeared in everyone's sight.
The mother and her two children wagged their tails and were burrowing around under the tree roots, completely unaware that someone was already impatiently putting them into the iron pot.
To be on the safe side, Liu the镖头 (bodyguard) instructed the two villagers and the young men to disperse and slowly surround the wild boar to prevent it from escaping.
Li Laosi drew his bow and arrow, and saw that Liu Biaotou also raised his long knife.
The long arrow in his hand shot out with a whoosh!
Wild boars love to wallow in mud, and the mud they roll around in becomes their most natural armor.
Even with Li Laosi's superhuman strength, the arrow only pierced halfway into the wild boar's belly.
The wild boar was in excruciating pain and was about to go berserk.
The two little wild boars were startled and ran away as fast as they could.
Just then, the two boys jumped out and kicked the little wild boar in the head. The little wild boar was kicked over, and before it could get up, the two boys' machetes struck it.
On the other side, Liu the镖头's long knife also chopped off half of the wild boar's head.
The wild boar didn't squeal for long before it died unwillingly.
The two villagers and the other two teenagers, before they could even react or see what was happening, were already doomed to become a meal for the three wild boars.
They were ecstatic! "We can eat pork! We can eat pork!"
"Hurry up and carry it home!"
Liu Biaotou and Li Laosi were also happy. Just as Li Laosi was about to step forward, Jiayin became anxious.
She used the wild boar as bait to do some dirty tricks.
"Father, there, there!"
She pulled her father and struggled towards a small clearing behind a tree.
A brilliant idea flashed through Li Laosi's mind, and he quickly rushed over.
Sure enough, a small patch of sweet potato vines grew behind the tree.
He took a deep breath, gently patted his daughter's back, and felt extremely complicated emotions.
He dared not investigate what magical abilities his daughter possessed, whether it was luck, good fortune, or something else entirely.
He just felt sorry for her, that she had to keep fleeing famine and wandering with her family at such a young age.
If she had been born into a wealthy family, would she not have had to suffer so much and struggle so much to feed her family?
The steamed buns secretly fed to them at night, the suicide rabbits that appeared from time to time, the pheasants that delivered eggs to their door, and the sweet potatoes growing in the desolate mountains and fields before them—even the vines were tender enough to be stir-fried and eaten…
Jiayin sensed her father's sobs, gently pressed her ear against his chest, and obediently remained silent.
In fact, her father didn't know that what was painful for others was a sweet happiness for her.
She wasn't afraid of hardship, but she feared being without family, wandering like a lonely soul in a cold world, waiting to grow old and die.
She cherishes every single day that is so lively and bustling now…
In the camp, as everyone prepared to start a fire for dinner, they also stood on tiptoe and looked south, all thinking about the hunting party.
After walking for most of the day, the hunting party still hadn't returned.
Did they encounter some danger in the woods?
Uncle Zhao and the others pounded their legs in frustration, once again blaming themselves for their incompetence.
If they had no problems with their legs, they would have gone to greet them long ago; why were they in such a hurry?
Fortunately, it wasn't long before the villagers who were guarding outside the woods to the south started shouting.
"They're back! They're back!"
"Wild boar! We've caught a wild boar!"
The entire camp erupted in excitement, with men, women, and children practically running forward in a frenzy.
"It's good that you're back, it's good that you're back!"
"I was so afraid something might have happened to you!"
Grandma Li quickly took her granddaughter and made sure she was alright before looking at the spoils her son had brought back.
The villagers couldn't help but cheer, "How come there are still sweet potatoes? So many! Enough to eat for several days!"
Liu, the head镖师 (bodyguard/escort), wiped the sweat from his brow and laughed, "We were incredibly lucky this time. We killed those three wild boars that were rooting around for food, and then we discovered a patch of sweet potatoes growing there. No wonder the wild boars were eating without even lifting their heads or opening their eyes; we wiped them all out!"
The group hurriedly carried the wild boar and sweet potatoes back, ignoring the disheveled state of Li Laosi and the others.
Because they hadn't brought bags, their baskets couldn't hold all the sweet potatoes, so they had to take off their clothes. Now they were only wearing their undershirts, looking quite disheveled...
Uncle Zhao and the others were also very excited, and directed the villagers to take the wild boar downstream to be gutted.
The women were so busy they barely had time to rest, preparing to boil water and stew meat.
Wash the sweet potato vines, chop them, blanch them in boiling water, and they taste delicious with a little soybean paste.
As for wild boar meat, it's best to stew it with dried vegetables you brought from home.
Dried vegetables can absorb the flavor of meat when eaten in soup.
Of course, I also washed a lot of sweet potatoes, cut them into chunks, and stewed them with meat. They'll be delicious and soft for little kids and elderly people with bad teeth.
Throughout the camp, men, women, and children were busy preparing wild boar and sweet potatoes.
Grandma Li guessed that her granddaughter had played a role in it, so she hugged her and couldn't get enough of kissing her.
Jiayin suddenly remembered that she had brought a gift for her grandmother, so she pulled the old lady to look at the basket that Jiayi had carried back.
The basket contained a bunch of small flowers; the stems and leaves were nothing special, except that the petals were green.
Grandma Li held it in her hand, looked at it from left to right, and asked her granddaughter with a smile, "Did Fu Niu bring this for Grandma?"
Jiayin nodded, lowered her head to sniff, and really liked the flower's delicate fragrance.
Just as Old Lady Li was about to speak again, Doctor Zhang happened to pass by and, upon seeing the flower, his expression suddenly changed.
"Throw it away, throw it away now!"
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