Chapter 68 Forming a Team to Go into the Mountains
At the hospital, Fang Chen needed to be hospitalized for observation due to the severity of his injuries. He was already listless from excessive blood loss, and being scolded by his father only made him more dispirited.
When his mother arrived, he had a sullen face, looking stubborn and unconvinced.
When Gu's wife saw her son's pale face, her eyes instantly reddened. "You can't do such dangerous things again."
"Mom, I wasn't the one who was wrong," Fang Chen protested.
“You’re not the one who’s wrong, but you’re the one who’s been hurt the most. If Mo An hadn’t been quick enough today, you wouldn’t be awake right now.” Aunt Gu was still shaken, but she comforted Fang Chen, “Don’t worry, this won’t just end like this. Your dad won’t let Wang Qinli get away with this. He dared to hurt someone with a knife.”
Fang Chen fell silent; he actually wanted to take revenge himself.
"Are you hungry? Come and have something to eat." Aunt Gu opened the insulated box she had brought, and a fragrant aroma of fish and meat wafted out.
"Mom, you bought fish!" Fang Chen exclaimed in surprise, as he loves to eat fish.
Sister Gu shook her head, "I didn't buy it. The supply and marketing cooperative doesn't sell fish, and I didn't go to town or county today, so where would I get fish from?"
"Where did this fish come from?" Fang Chen looked at the insulated box, which contained fish and tofu soup. The fish pieces looked quite large, indicating that the fish was not small.
“Your classmate Mo An brought this. He said his sister caught it in the river and brought it to help you recover. I used to think that Lu Lu was a dangerous person and didn’t want you and your siblings to associate with him, but now I’ve found that his uncle and nephew are good people. It’s your classmates who are different—” Aunt Gu shook her head, looking unwilling to say more.
"Mom, quickly bring me the insulated food container, I'm starving," Fang Chen said, swallowing hard.
"Alright, alright, here you go. You like fish so much, Mom will buy you some tomorrow." Aunt Gu regretted cooking all the fish tonight; she should have saved some for tomorrow. But her other two children hadn't had fish in a long time and were craving it terribly, which made her feel sorry for them.
Never mind, I'll buy another one tomorrow.
At Cheng Yubin's house, there was also a pot of fish soup on the dinner table.
Cheng Cai's right arm required over a dozen stitches. After the anesthesia wore off, he was in excruciating pain, but he dared not show it in front of his father. He had already been severely reprimanded at the hospital, and he didn't want to go through that again.
His mother placed the deboned fish pieces into his bowl, gave him a spoon, and said softly, "Eat slowly."
"Mom, the rice is a bit hard. Could you put some soup in it for me?" Chengcai likes to eat rice soaked in soup, but his father usually doesn't allow him to eat it that way, saying it's bad for his stomach.
When his mother heard him say that, she immediately added soup for him and mixed the rice and meat together. "Alright, eat up."
Cheng Cai was finally satisfied. He scooped up a spoonful and put it in his mouth. The fish soup was delicious, the fish was sweet, and even the rice tasted better. "Mom, where did this fish come from?"
"Your classmate Mo An brought it over; it must have been caught by his sister," the mother replied. Their family had only eaten fish twice recently thanks to Molly. This Molly—she hadn't even visited their house yet, but she'd already sent gifts twice.
"Is there any more? I want to eat it again tomorrow." Cheng Cai ate the fish with gusto.
"That's all, I cooked it all today. Your sister said she'd come to see you tomorrow, so I'll have her buy a fish from the county."
"The fish are all dead by the time they come to the camp from the county, so the soup won't taste as good."
"It's good enough to have something to eat, why are you being picky?"
Mo An and Lu Lu went to school as usual the next day. At noon, there were a few more young men at their house.
When Molly returned from the vegetable garden, she saw several little boys surrounding her family's water bucket, shouting incessantly.
Molly: "......."
Her fish couldn't be saved.
Half an hour later, Molly distributed the fish in the bucket to the boys, keeping only two that weighed five or six pounds for herself.
"They're so shameless. They just take whatever you give them without even asking for it." Mo An said unhappily, "I'm not bringing them back next time."
“Auntie, please don’t blame Xiao An. Those people shamelessly followed Xiao An back,” Yu San San explained.
Molly shook her head. "It's not my fault. But some of the things in our house might exceed the limit, so it's really not appropriate for outsiders to see them."
Yu San San's eyes lit up. What did her aunt mean by that? Was she saying she wasn't an outsider?
Mo An nodded, "I'll invite them out to play in the future."
The boys returned quickly, each carrying something in their arms: one was carrying a large pumpkin, another a large winter melon, and still others were carrying cabbage and radishes.
They said these were dishes from their own home and were brought over for Molly to try.
Molly raised an eyebrow. "Thank you."
"Sister, when are you going up the mountain? Take us with you! Mo An said you're really good at catching mice," one of the boys said.
Molly looked at Mo An, who lowered her head guiltily.
“According to seniority, you should call me auntie,” Molly corrected the children.
“We’re classmates with Mo An, so we called her that because we’re Mo An. Besides, you’re so young, it’s not appropriate for you to call me auntie.” The boy who spoke was the same boy who had explained the cause, process, and outcome of the matter to Molly at the hospital yesterday. His name was Qi Nian.
Molly was exasperated; this kid was incredibly talkative.
"So, sister, when are you going into the mountains next time?" the children persisted.
Molly's lips twitched. "As far as I know, the rats here don't grow very big."
But then Qi Nian added, "Mo An also said that you're really good at catching rabbits, sister."
Mo An lowered his head even further.
Molly: "...Go back and ask your parents. Once they agree, come back to me."
"You're so kind, sister. We'll go back and ask you now, and we'll give you the answer tonight."
The group of boys immediately ran away.
"I'm sorry, sister." If Mo An had known that Qi Nian and his group were up to this, he would have kept his mouth shut and said nothing.
Molly sighed helplessly. After all, he was only a 12-year-old child, and it was inevitable that he was not mature enough. "It's not your fault. Learn from this lesson and don't make the same mistake again."
"Auntie, if you go into the mountains, can I go with you?" Yu San San had been to the mountains before, but only on the outskirts and dared not go deep.
"Let them go if they want." At worst, they'll just stay on the outskirts and not go deeper into the area. Besides, with so many children, Molly doesn't think the parents will agree.
However, it turned out that Molly was wrong; the parents agreed.
"How could they agree?" Molly asked Zhao Jian'an, puzzled, at the dinner table.
Zhao Jian'an picked up a piece of fish and put it in his mouth. After finishing it, he said, "You dared to bring Mo An and Lu Lu into the mountains. Those children are older than Lu Lu. Why don't they agree?"
Molly: "......."
Is this even possible?
“Besides, everyone thinks you’re not the kind of person who lacks discretion. You have a good reputation now, and everyone trusts you.” Zhao Jian’an blinked and said the most important reason, “These past few days we’ve been going to the mountains in batches for training. There are people in the mountains every day, so there won’t be any major dangers.”
Molly suddenly realized, "No wonder."
On Saturday, Molly steamed several baskets of steamed buns. She ate some for breakfast and put the remaining twenty-odd buns into her basket to take to the mountains.
Before they had even finished packing, Qi Nian and the others arrived. Only a few children had said they were going to the mountains that day, but today twelve of them showed up.
Molly: "...Do your parents know?"
"Sister, we've already told Mom and Dad," the children said in unison.
Looking at the baskets on their backs, there was food inside, as well as a military water bottle, which must have been prepared for them by their parents.
Molly looked at the children and said seriously, "Divide into groups of three, and choose a group leader. The group leader is responsible for watching over their group members and making sure no one falls behind. Can you do that?"
Without hesitation, the children replied, "We can do it."
“Okay.” Molly looked at Qi Nian. “You’re in charge of selecting four group leaders.”
Mo An was not among these twelve people; he had to keep an eye on Lu Lu and Yu San San himself.
Qi Nian was very fast, and everyone was convinced by the group leaders he selected.
After making their choices, everyone lined up to leave from Molly's house.
A group of a dozen or so people passed through the camp, attracting a lot of attention. The children stood tall and proud; to an outsider, they might have looked like they were about to start a fight.
Although there was some playful fighting along the way, the formation remained intact, indicating that they had been well-trained and their discipline was quite good.
Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, Molly took the lead, followed by Lu Lu and Yu San San, with Mo An at the very end of the group.
Molly had gone into the mountains herself several times and knew where rabbits roamed.
However, with so many of them, the rabbits would probably all run away before they even got close to the rabbit burrow. So Molly didn't plan to take the children rabbit hunting; instead, she planned to take them fishing, to the place where she first went fishing in the mountains, which was also where she discovered wolves and deer.
There are fish and water there, making it convenient to start a fire and have a picnic.
Molly and her friends were lucky; before they even reached the ravine, they spotted several pheasants along the way. Under the children's astonished gazes, Molly hit a pheasant with every pebble she threw, never missing.
"He just threw it like that, without even using a slingshot, and it hit the target!" Qi Nian was dumbfounded.
"Sister, you're awesome!"
"Sister, how did you train? Teach us."
"Sister, let me become your disciple."
"......."
The children chattered away, more noisily than the birds in the forest.
Molly said sternly, "I won't practice, I won't teach, and I won't take on any apprentices."
Cold-blooded, like an emotionless machine.
Upon reaching the mountain stream, Molly and her group had already harvested seven brightly colored pheasants.
Upon hearing the sound of water, the children were so excited that they wanted to run over.
"Stop right there," Molly snapped.
The children all stopped and turned to look at Molly.
"Quiet, don't make a sound, I'm going to catch some fish," Molly said.
The children stared wide-eyed, utterly curious. They hadn't brought any tools; how were they going to catch it?
In front of the children, Molly used a sickle to whittle several sticks, sharpening both ends of each one so that one side would be blunt while the other side could still be used.
"Mo An, lead everyone to gather firewood and start a fire. Also, no one is allowed to go more than 100 meters away from this location. Team leaders, keep an eye on your team members and report immediately if anyone is missing. Remember one thing: no one can act alone."
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