Chapter 9: There's Meat to Eat
The Xu family sat around the fire, drinking porridge and eating dry food. Although Wang also cooked wild vegetables, they were tasteless without any oil.
The chicken soup from Wang the Hunter's house was already emitting a fragrant aroma, and several greedy children were crying loudly.
Xu Cai sniffed and took big gulps of the air that smelled of meat.
Xu Nian found the scene both funny and sad. It seemed that he had to find an opportunity to take out some of the meat in the space.
After the family finished their meal, Old Man Xu and Xu Yaozu went to the village chief's office.
The village chief saw that everyone had arrived, and then he made arrangements: "There are wild beasts on the mountain, which is not safe. Tonight, everyone will be divided into two teams to keep watch, and light more campfires outside..."
After the discussion, Old Man Xu and Xu Yaozu returned home and explained the arrangements.
"I'll be clearing the way ahead so I won't get tired. I'll be on guard in the first half of the night, and you two will take turns guarding in the second half."
Old Man Xu waved his hands and said, "How can you endure it by yourself? Let me take turns with you for half the night."
Xu Yaozu didn't argue any more and just let it be.
Xu Yaozu and Xu Fugui are on guard tonight. After Xu Yaozu left, everyone in the Xu family made their beds and went to bed to rest, gathering their energy for the journey tomorrow.
After closing his eyes, Xu Nian did not fall asleep, but entered the space with his mind.
In just two days, the fruit trees have all borne fruit, and most of the corn leaves have turned yellow. It looks like they will be ready for harvest in another day or two.
Xu Nian first drank a few sips of stream water, and she felt that it was right, the taste of stream water in space was different from that outside.
I just wonder if the food and fruits grown with stream water will be any different.
Xu Nian took out the bean seeds he had bought earlier from the tent, but since there was no spare space, he could only plant them under the fruit trees.
After sowing the seeds and watering the stream, Xu Nian fell into a deep sleep.
On the second day, after walking for a whole morning, the troop temporarily stopped in a cave.
Because of the rush these days, everyone’s water supply is almost used up, and now they are in urgent need of finding a water source.
Each household sent out a strong man to follow Wang the Hunter to look for water. The one from the Xu family was Xu Fugui, because he was the strongest among all the members of the Xu family.
Xu Nian changed her mind and grabbed her uncle's arm, wanting to go with him.
"Uncle, uncle, I'll go with you."
Xu Fugui glared at him and said, "This is nonsense! It's dangerous for a little girl like you to go up the mountain with me."
Xu Nian whispered, "Second Uncle, you forgot, I am blessed by the gods."
Xu Fugui was a little confused for a moment. What if the gods couldn't take a rest to protect him?
Without waiting for Xu Fugui to persuade her again, Xu Nian had already started to feed Wang Shi with nonsense, and Wang Shi agreed in a daze.
Seeing that everyone had gathered, Wang the Hunter shouted for everyone to set off. It was not until they had walked a long way that they noticed Xu Nian in the team.
"Xu's girl, why did you come with me? This mountain is so dangerous."
"Uncle Wang, I have read about finding water sources in my father's book, and I thought it would be great if I could help.
Besides, my father said that you are an excellent archer and a master at shooting arrows through a hundred li. I wanted to see you for myself."
Wang the Hunter laughed, "Your father told me that you were cured. I didn't believe it at first, but now I do. Look, your mouth is even smarter than your father's!
But we have to make a deal, you have to stay close to your uncle, this is no joke."
"Hey~ Uncle Wang, don't worry."
Xu Fugui felt it was very mysterious watching his eldest niece's mouth opening and closing. When did the girl become so eloquent?
The group followed the animal's footprints for about half an hour and finally found a river.
When they were still a hundred meters away from the river, Wang Hunter asked everyone to hide.
"There are five or six wild boars drinking water by the river. I'm afraid we'll have to wait.
Liuzi, Tianshui, you two go back the same way and ask everyone to come and fetch water."
The two strong men named Liuzi and Tianshui responded and ran back in the direction they came from.
Xu Nian felt a little jealous when he saw the wild boar grunting by the river. These were all meat.
However, she also knew that catching wild boars was somewhat dangerous. If there were only one or two wild boars here, she could still give it a try.
There are many people who share the same idea as her.
"Uncle Wuzi, there are so many of us, let's catch one and take it back." A young man in his early twenties came up to Wang the Hunter and said.
Wang the Hunter glared at him and said, "Tiger, are you crazy because of your greed for meat? The wild boar was standing there waiting for you to catch it, but before we could catch it, it pushed us away."
After Wang Liaohu finished speaking, not only the young man, but everyone else showed disappointed expressions.
Xu Nian's feet were almost numb from squatting, and the wild boar was still wandering by the river. They couldn't just wait like this for the whole afternoon. What if the wild boar stayed here?
As the saying goes, there is always a way out. Just as Xu Nian was thinking about it, a battle broke out by the river.
It turned out that there was a fight between wild boars and wild antelopes. Xu Nian was short and had no idea how this happened.
The Hunter King asked everyone to step back a distance, leaving enough space just in case.
Xu Nian stretched his neck and watched with great interest. This was much more intense than the animal world he watched on TV. Look at the antelope being bitten by the wild boar, with blood all over it. It was so cruel.
Xu Fugui felt helpless in his heart. He realized today that he didn't know his eldest niece well enough.
The words she said were so cruel, but the smile on her face was so brilliant.
In less than an incense stick of time, the antelopes were defeated, and the wild boars followed the direction of the fleeing antelopes.
The riverside returned to peace. Seeing that no one moved, Xu Nian did not dare to stand up.
When Wang the Hunter said they could go to the river, Xu Nian shouted and rushed over, and everyone who saw him was dumbfounded, except Xu Fugui who smiled awkwardly.
Xu Nian ran to the river and looked at the two antelopes that had been bitten to death, smiling so hard that his teeth were exposed.
"Uncle, come here quickly. Today we are celebrating the fast in our village. We will have meat to eat."
The first one to run over was the boy named Hu Zi.
"This sheep is really big. It's enough for us to eat for two meals."
Others followed closely, all of them extremely happy. Who would have thought that they would get such a good deal?
Wang the Hunter urged, "Hurry up and get some water. I'm going to take care of these two sheep. Otherwise, the bloody smell will easily attract wild beasts."
As soon as everyone filled their bamboo tubes and other items with water, the villagers also rushed over carrying water-carrying tools.
Xu Nian saw Xu Yaozu, Zheng and Xiao Wang happily coming to greet them.
"Dad, Second Aunt, Third Aunt, we have meat to eat tonight. Don't you know that there was a group of wild boars just now..."
Xu Nian was so excited that she didn't realize that she was becoming more and more like a twelve-year-old girl, rather than the calm and self-controlled twenty-eight-year-old modern Xu Nian.
Mrs. Zheng and Mrs. Wang were also very happy. They had not tasted meat for a long time, and the children in the family were especially greedy for it.
Xu Yaozu felt pity for his young lady as he watched her swallowing her saliva while speaking.
"Let's get some water as soon as possible so we can go back and eat meat."
"Yes, yes, yes"