Gu Nanxun took out the pot that Lin Qing had prepared, then shoveled some snow from outside the cave and poured it into the pot to melt, preparing to cook instant noodles.
"Brother Gu, let's have a sheep!" Liu Guoqing said, his eyes shining as he looked at the prey on the ground. Although their harvest hadn't been plentiful on this journey, they had still managed to get something: two sheep, five rabbits, and three pheasants. In previous years, they had only eaten their prey during their hunts. Liu Guoqing had just seen the pot that Gu Nanxun had brought out and thought that if they could cook a bowl of mutton soup, it would definitely keep them warm. In the past, during winter hunts, without a pot, everyone had to roast their meat.
"Want some mutton soup?" Gu Nanxun glanced at Liu Guoqing, who was constantly swallowing, and couldn't help but smile and ask.
After hearing Gu Nanxun's question, Liu Guoqing kept nodding. Everyone around looked at Gu Nanxun expectantly when they heard him mention mutton soup.
"Okay, take two people to prepare a sheep. I'll cook some noodles first so everyone can have something to eat. The mutton soup won't be ready anytime soon."
"Alright, Brother Gu." Liu Guoqing happily led the two men to clean up the sheep.
"Two of you go and see if there's any suitable wood to make a few wooden bowls," Gu Nanxun said to Qiu Dong and Feng Yu Lei Dian, who were resting nearby.
Soon everyone was busy. Gu Nanxun and his third brother, Lin Yunfeng, were cooking noodles. Liu Guoqing, Zhao Youcai, and Wang Haoran were cleaning the sheep, while the rest of the people were making wooden bowls and chopsticks with daggers.
The water was boiling, but the wooden bowl wasn't ready yet, so Gu Nanxun didn't cook anything. Instead, he took out the steamed buns he had brought and started roasting them over the fire.
A short while later, Gu Nanxun looked up and saw that the wooden bowl was almost ready, so he put the instant noodles into the pot.
Soon, a pot of fragrant instant noodles was ready, and Liu Guoqing returned with the cleaned sheep.
Everyone filled a wooden bowl with instant noodles and ate it along with the dry rations they had brought. Soon, the whole pot of instant noodles, soup and all, was gone.
Gu Nanxun washed the pot, then cut the mutton into pieces and put them into the pot. After the water boiled, he changed the water and continued cooking.
"The mutton needs to be cooked for at least two hours. Do you want to wait for mutton soup or roast meat?"
"Let's skip the barbecue and wait for the mutton soup! We just had noodles, so we're not that hungry now!" Wang Haoran said, rubbing his half-full stomach.
Gu Nanxun glanced at Qiu Dong and Feng Yu Lei Dian, "Those who want barbecue can grill it themselves, and those who want mutton soup can wait. It's up to you. We have plenty of meat! Everyone can have a good meal."
After saying that, Gu Nanxun took out some seasonings needed for grilling meat and handed them to Qiu Dong.
Soon, the aroma of barbecue wafted over. Whether it was because the person grilling the meat was particularly good or because Gu Nanxun's seasoning was especially fragrant, Wang Haoran, who had repeatedly said he wouldn't eat barbecue, couldn't help but start eating it.
"Fourth Brother is so bored, how about we tell ghost stories?"
While eating the barbecue heartily, Wang Haoran made a suggestion to Gu Nanxun.
Gu Nanxun smiled upon hearing this, turned around and said, "Alright, then you start by telling one."
Wang Haoran swallowed the meat in his mouth, cleared his throat, and began to tell his story: "Once upon a time, there was an abandoned house where strange noises would come out every night..."
He deliberately lowered his voice, and the people around him unconsciously moved closer.
"The villagers all say that a soul that refuses to leave lives there."
The house belonged to an elderly woman who passed away many years ago, but she adored her grandson. It is said that her grandson disappeared in an accident and was never seen again. After the old woman's death, her spirit remained in the house, waiting for her grandson's return.
Every nightfall, the villagers could hear weeping and calling coming from the house; it was an old woman calling for her grandson. But as time passed, the sounds grew increasingly mournful, even beginning to include eerie laughter and whispers.
As the story unfolded, Wang Haoran's voice gradually softened, and everyone leaned towards him in order to hear him more clearly.
Wang Haoran coughed twice and continued, "One day, a stranger came to the village. He didn't believe the rumors circulating in the village, so he decided to go and check it out at night. He took a flashlight and quietly entered the abandoned house. The house was covered in dust and cobwebs; with each step, he could hear his own footsteps echoing in the empty room. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew by..."
Wang Haoran paused at this point.
"And then? What happened to that outsider?" Liu Guoqing was just getting to the crucial point when he saw Wang Haoran stop, so he couldn't help but ask.
"The next day, the outsider disappeared. But strangely, from then on, the villagers never heard any strange noises at night again."
"Why?" Liu Guoqing asked Wang Haoran with a look of surprise.
“Yes! Why?” Lin Yunfeng asked curiously.
"How would I know? That's the story." Wang Haoran said innocently when asked by everyone, but he was secretly delighted that someone finally knew how he felt when he first heard the story.
"No, what kind of ghost story is this?!" Liu Guoqing complained, "This story is worse than no story at all! The person telling it is all flustered and still doesn't know the answer."
Just as everyone was staring at Wang Haoran with dissatisfaction, Chen Bin suddenly said, "The reason why there was a sound in the house is because the old lady of that family hid treasure for her grandson in the cellar. Over time, part of the cellar collapsed, and the wind blew in from outside, hitting the gourd hanging on the old lady's wall. The gourd then hit the water vat where the treasure was placed, making a thumping sound."
Wang Haoran looked up at Chen Bin in surprise, then threw himself at Chen Bin, "Binbin, you actually knew? You knew but didn't tell me? Don't you love me anymore?"
Wang Haoran lay on Chen Bin's body, whimpering and pretending to cry. Chen Bin pushed Wang Haoran away, saying, "I forgot!"
"You forgot? You actually forgot? I thought about it for half a month and still couldn't figure it out. You actually forgot?" Wang Haoran was even more heartbroken when he heard this. He had really thought about it for half a month because he didn't know the answer. He never expected that his good friend would know the answer.
"Then why did the outsiders disappear?" Liu Guoqing suddenly couldn't help but ask.
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