The four people in the living room were tired from playing and collapsed on the kang, panting. They looked at each other and laughed.
"Xiao Wu, you are so lucky! There are no troubles at home or outside."
"You make it sound like your life isn't easy." Zhang Guoqing didn't want to talk about it anymore. "Do you guys want to take a break first?"
"I'm not tired. What about you guys?" Yi Jiefang saw that they all shook their heads and looked at Zhang Guoqing, "What are the plans for next?"
"How about I take you guys for a walk?"
Yi Jiefang looked at Wan Dayong and the other man and asked, "How about we go to the countryside now?"
Geng Dazhi hesitated and said, "We can't go hunting now. Isn't it too late?"
After discussing it, the three of them decided to go to the countryside now and go up the mountain early tomorrow morning. This time they came here just to hunt, so why stay in the house?
Zhang Guoqing didn't object. He felt more at ease in the village. He asked them to wait for him. He still needed to find a carriage to take some things back.
When he came back, Li Qinglin, Zhang Yuntao, and the three Zhao siblings were already gathered in the living room, chatting and laughing with Yi Jiefang and the other two.
Zhang Guoqing listened for a while, came in and rolled his eyes at them - how rude of them to use him and his wife as a topic for fun.
"Xiaowu, let's go together."
Zhao Yuanyuan shouted with joy when she saw him.
"You have to make another trip to say hello to your uncle and ask if he would like you to arrange a car to go to the grassland in the next few days." Zhang Guoqing heard on the way that there was a shortage of supplies in the county town, and he suddenly had an idea. There were no ready-made people here.
Zhao Yuanyuan's eyes lit up when she heard this. "Is that festival happening in these few days? I'm going right away. You guys have to wait for me and don't leave me."
Before Yi Jiefang could ask her what she meant, everyone had already run away. Confused, he asked everyone, "What's going on? Tell us."
Everyone turned to look at Zhang Guoqing.
He smiled helplessly, "We've been there once before. It's near the military horse farm mentioned in Dayong's paper. They have a horse racing festival every year at this time."
“There are open markets for ethnic minorities during the festival.”
After listening to Zhang Guoqing and his wife's explanation, Yi Jiefang happily said that they had made the right decision. Then, he gave him a hard kick, saying that if the three of them hadn't come over, they would have missed the opportunity.
Zhang Guoqing was quick to avoid it.
Geng Dazhi hurriedly shouted, "Don't break it, it will be useful tomorrow."
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone burst into laughter.
When Zhao Yuanyuan came back and told him that Zhao Dashan had told Zhang Guoqing to wait for news, he knew it was almost done. Since he had brought the three of them back, he planned to have a good time before school started again.
A group of people rushed into the village, and there was an immediate commotion at the foot of the North Mountain. When the old captain came over, Zhang Guoqing specifically explained to him that they would not be eating in the cafeteria for the next two days.
The old captain was still very embarrassed. In previous years, he would have invited them to a meal at home. But now he could only let them speak up if there was anything wrong in the village.
This group of people are all good at having fun. Without Zhang Guoqing leading the way, they have already run to the river at the entrance of the village. If it weren't for the drought and the thin layer of water left, they would probably rush over to swim.
That's how it is. You can find a large plate of river delicacies such as snails, loaches, and eels by touching the mud and fields.
For everyone's safety tomorrow, Zhang Guoqing went to the mountains to explore the trails. After bringing back a few wild rabbits and pheasants, he didn't hesitate to give half of them to the village canteen.
When it got dark, they lit mosquito repellent herbs and enjoyed a barbecue, stew, and soup in the yard, which was enough to satisfy their cravings. Upon learning that his parents were visiting Beijing, Zhang Guoqing excitedly brought out the wine he had brought home and had everyone drink it all.
They kept making noises late into the night, and Zhang Guoqing didn't wake them up the next morning. This was expectedly a late start. It would be strange if they were still chatting in the wee hours of the morning.
At noon, everyone got up, washed up, and, as soon as they finished their porridge, clamored to hurry back into the mountains. Their expressions were as if they were afraid that if they were too late, all the prey would fly away.
Zhang Guoqing had no plans to go home for dinner that day, so he asked everyone to carry their iron pot lunch boxes, rice and coarse grains and go to the mountains for a picnic. The group was so happy that they couldn't wait to pull him off.
Led by Zhang Guoqing, a group of people sneaked up the mountain from behind.
In the past two years, Daqing Mountain has been continuously cleared by the nearby villagers, and many trees on the periphery have been reduced. It can never recover the lush greenery of its early years, but the safe area has also expanded a lot.
On the way to the cabin, the further we went inside, the more trees there were, the more weeds grew on the ground, and the ravines and shrubs appeared in front of us.
At this moment, Zhang Guoqing was thankful that the wolves had not been exterminated, otherwise Daqing Mountain would have become a desolate mountain. The occasional wolf howl in the middle of the night could help to counteract the excessive logging.
Halfway up the mountain, they rested for a while. Zhou Jiao handed the medicine bags to everyone, reminding them to be careful. Don't be fooled by the fact that everything went smoothly; that was because Zhang Guoqing had been removing poisonous snakes ahead of them.
If someone else had led the team, Zhou Jiao would never have dared to go up the mountain. She had provided so many wound medicines and antidotes to the village in the past few years that she knew the mountain was fraught with danger.
Zhang Guoqing was truly troubled by Zhao Yuanyuan's non-stop chatter. Did she really think they were going on a picnic? Aren't they afraid of attracting wolves with these barking noises?
Fortunately, he has Zhou Jiao as his helper, otherwise he would really abandon the other party.
They arrived at the cabin safely. This time, Zhang Guoqing would never take them into the mountains again. Compared to his friends in the county town, Yi Jiefang and his two companions were much more skilled.
Here, Zhou Jiao took Zhao Yuanyuan and others to cook, while over there, Zhang Guoqing, Yi Jiefang and the other two had already taken out three hunting rifles and other weapons and set off.
Zhang Guoqing didn't dare to take any risks. He had invited people over for fun, so he couldn't let them go back injured. He made a long detour and took them to hunt some small game, agreeing to continue hunting after lunch.
Perhaps the animals on the mountain today hadn't expected Zhang Budao to come again. On the way back, he heard a noise in the woods, which made Zhang Guoqing very happy. Finally, he had enough meat.
He brought three people and approached stealthily. Zhang Guoqing didn't do anything and brought back two wild deer that had been killed. As for the other wild animals that had escaped, they didn't chase them.
The temporary harvest made the three of them so happy that they couldn't stop smiling. They had no time to pay attention to anything else.
I carried things on my back, munching on dry food on an empty stomach. It was already afternoon when I returned to the cabin. I ate a few bites of food and had no time to rest. I was busy again.
This day in the mountains, they finally didn't have to hide from outsiders, so they feasted to their heart's content, roasting and stewing pheasants, rabbits, venison, and the remaining wild fruits and watermelons, until everyone was so full they couldn't walk any more.
The consequence was that after returning to the village, the venison was so filling that I either couldn't sleep all night or had to go to the toilet frequently. Fortunately, there was medicine prepared by Zhou Jiao.
Zhang Guoqing shook his head repeatedly. He'd saved the deer blood and other things for them to take back to Beijing, worried they wouldn't be able to hold on. Each of them had a bowl of rice porridge in the morning, so he assumed it would take at least two or three days for them to regain their appetite for meat.
But... who would tell him? These guys had recovered so vigorously, why were they still clamoring for meat?
The group of them had been playing around the village for three days, either helping to harvest melons or catching loaches in the fields. The children in the village were all so slick that they called them "brothers." By the time they received the news from Zhao Dashan, they had had enough.
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