But seeing those old women still burning incense and kowtowing to the snowfield where the tiger had previously lain every day, his desire to hunt the tiger faded.
Life went on like this, without any major ups and downs.
The weather is getting warmer day by day, and the snowmelt in the mountains is flowing gurglingly.
On snowy days, it's incredibly cold, like being pricked in the bone with needles.
Zhang Cheng, wrapped in a cotton-padded coat and wearing a wolf-skin vest over it, huddled by the stove, occasionally adding a piece of dry firewood inside.
Shi Yangyang wanted to get out of bed, but Zhang Cheng held her down; after all, she had nothing better to do.
The kang (heated brick bed) that had never been lit was finally lit.
It wasn't that Zhang Cheng was lazy; it was just that the firewood was indeed precious, so they had to use it sparingly.
"elder brother!"
It was Zhang Jianhao's voice coming from outside the door.
"The door isn't latched, come in."
"Alright!"
Zhang Jianhao shrank his neck and squeezed into the house, closing the door behind him. He was carrying a pheasant flapping its wings, and he pulled off the cloth covering his face, grinning as he came closer. "Brother, I just caught this at the village entrance. I'll add it to your dinner tonight!"
"The snow is melting on the mountain right now, and everything is slippery. You guys better not run around!"
"Brother, you can rest assured!" Zhang Jianhao plopped down next to Zhang Cheng, warming his red, frozen hands by the fire. "Brother, once the snow melts, all the wild animals in the mountains will be scared out. How about we brothers take a stroll around the village?"
Zhang Cheng lifted his eyelids and glanced at him. "I just told you not to run around. Did you forget as soon as you turned your back?"
Zhang Jianhao chuckled sheepishly, "Brother, I was just thinking that if we get a lot of wild game now, we can take it to the Guoyun Hotel in the county and make some money!"
"Don't worry about making money. You think you can get rich by selling a few pheasants? Once the snow melts completely, there will be plenty of work for you."
"I'll listen to you, brother!" Zhang Jianhao came running over, just waiting for these words.
"Brother, sister-in-law, if there's nothing else, I'll be going now!" Zhang Jianhao quickly got up, pulled his face mask back up, and walked towards the door.
"Stay put for the next few days and don't cause any trouble!" Zhang Cheng added, still worried.
"Brother, just hold on tight."
As soon as Zhang Jianhao left, Zhang Cheng put the iron pot on the fire, grabbed a wood-chopping knife, picked up a pheasant wing, and went out the door.
A sharp crowing of a rooster rang out in the yard.
Boil the water.
Plucking the hair, gutting the animal, and cleaning out its internal organs!
Keep the chicken feathers; once the snow melts completely, someone will come to collect them.
...
February was already over.
The snow in the mountains has mostly melted.
It's time to get started on spring plowing for the new year.
Zhangjia Village, with its six production brigades, marched south towards Guozishan Mountain, carrying hoes and shovels, under the command of the old village chief.
Zhang Cheng wasn't particularly interested in going to work, but seeing that everyone in the village, young and old, had come out, he felt bored being alone, so he strolled over and followed them.
After assigning tasks to each team, the old village chief sidled up to Zhang Cheng, rubbing his hands together. "Er Gouzi, the snow has almost melted. When do you think we should go to the county town and bring Mancang and the others back?"
"Let's wait two more days. The mountain roads are all muddy and difficult to travel on now!" Zhang Cheng replied.
"Alright!" The old village chief nodded, then his face scrunched up again as he lowered his voice, "Um... what about Old Hong's funeral arrangements?"
Uncle Hong died on the way, and his body is still lying in the county hospital morgue.
Zhang Cheng was in such a hurry to get back that he forgot all about it.
Zhang Cheng frowned. These days, hospitals don't have freezers... Uncle Hong's body has been sitting there for almost two months; once the weather warms up, it might...
"How about we cremate him in the county town and bring his ashes back?" Zhang Cheng asked tentatively.
"I'll ask Old Hong's wife what she thinks about this later!"
"Village chief, village chief..."
As the two were whispering to each other, a hurried shout came from the hillside.
The old village chief thought something had happened and ran towards the source of the sound.
Zhang Cheng quickly followed.
Once they reached the halfway point up the mountain, neither of them needed to ask any more questions.
Just a few hundred meters away, on another barren hilltop, a striped tiger was slowly strolling along, limping on one hind leg.
The old village chief's face immediately darkened.
Good heavens, that injured tiger from before hasn't gone far at all; it's been wandering around the village... It's practically a walking bomb!
The others saw it too, and they all turned pale with fright.
"Village chief, why doesn't this tiger go deeper into the mountains? What's it trying to do by circling around on the outskirts?"
"Damn it, it's always staying on the edge of the village, who will dare to go out in the future?"
"Village chief, I'm going back to get my gun!"
The old village chief squinted and gritted his teeth. "Don't work today, go back to the village!"
With a tiger watching you from the side, who can concentrate on their work?
Less than half an hour after they came out, the men, women, and children of the village all rushed down the mountain to the village below.
soon.
A group of twenty or thirty people gathered at the village entrance. Nine hunting rifles were planted on the ground, and the others held pitchforks or sharpened wooden sticks. Some even brought cow ropes.
The old village chief roared, and the group charged menacingly toward the hill where the tiger had appeared.
result.
When Zhang Cheng and his men arrived at the mountain, exhausted like a sick donkey that had been plowing the fields for three days, the tiger had already vanished.
They didn't head back until the sun was almost setting, grumbling and cursing.
What chilled everyone to the bone was that the striped tiger they had been searching for for most of the day actually reappeared behind the village, lying in the same spot where it had been before.
The old women in the village are incredibly brave.
Seeing that the tiger's injuries had clearly healed considerably, they actually took yellow paper and incense and went to offer prayers.
During this period, the snow in the mountains melted, wild animals roamed freely, and everyone had a good feast.
At this moment, the old ladies took out everything—pheasant, roe deer meat…—without batting an eye, and threw it all in front of the “mountain lord”.
The limp tiger slowly and methodically picked up a piece of meat from the ground and ate it with great relish.
"What should we do now!" The old village chief was so anxious that he scratched his head and looked at the "mountain lord" who refused to leave.
The group looked at each other, but no one could come up with a solution.
"Village chief, how about we fire some guns to scare the 'Mountain Lord' away first, and then find a way to kill it once it's far away?" someone suggested.
"This method will work."
"Then, shoot now?"
"This is the only way!"
"Bang!!!"
Zhang Weiguo picked up his hunting rifle and fired a shot into the air!
As soon as the gunshot rang out, the striped tiger's brownish-yellow fur bristled, and it limped away, leaping into the back of the mountain.
"Chase!!!"
At the old village chief's command, the village hunters grabbed their weapons and gave chase, howling as they went.
Two hours later, it got dark.
A limping, striped tiger sauntered out from the back mountain, shook the water droplets off its head, and swaggered to the village entrance, where it actually started snoring.
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