Su Dachuan blushed and stood there awkwardly.
The village chief and Su Weiguo came to the cafeteria together. After hearing the conversation of several people, they said: "Dachuan, your wife should really be taken care of. Doesn't she know the dangers of going into the mountains and you don't know either? You still let her act careless here." Do you want to go into the mountains and become a hunter?"
"Village Chief, I don't have this idea. I have followed the villagers into the mountains together over the years. If I go there by myself, wouldn't I be committing suicide? I won't go."
"If you don't go, take care of your own wife. I'm here to say, take care of your own wife and don't do anything behind your back. Anyone who envies Wei Guoguo for running a small stove or wants to join the mountains to become a hunter can sign up with me. Everyone is treated equally in the village. Just hand over 50 pounds of meat every year.”
Wang Guihua walked up to the village chief and said, "I'm not convinced, village chief. We are all from the same village. How come their family is so popular and spicy food, and we are all here eating cornbread. Brothers Su Wu and Su Wen just go to school. They The three girls in the family are also studying. I heard that the money for Su Wen’s unmarried daughter-in-law to go to school was also paid for by his family. They are all from Sujiazhuang, so the gap is too big, right?"
"Weiguo's father and I are cousins, the same grandfather. All three of their brothers died in the mountains. Weiguo was the second oldest. Of the four brothers, Weiguo is the only one alive now. There are six of them. No body was found. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the country divided the land. At that time, Wei's third uncle was still there. He approached me and said that he wanted to farm the land and not be a hunter. I agreed. There were many hunters in the village at that time. Unexpectedly, a few days later , all the hunters in the village want to farm, but no one is willing to go into the mountains to risk their lives. If they can live farming, who is willing to go into the mountains to risk their lives? There is no way I can find the third uncle of Weiguo. Two years later, in the winter, he went into the mountains and disappeared. When he came back, it was me who killed him. The situation of the three brothers of Weiguo was similar. Fortunately, they all had children left behind. Wang Guihua, isn’t it because I asked Su Wu to be the accountant of the village a few years ago and didn’t let your family Dachuan Why did you choose Su Wu if you are not convinced? This is what their family paid for with their lives." The village chief's roar scared Wang Guihua to sit on the ground.
"Are you convinced that Dachuan has chosen Su Wu to be the village accountant?"
"Second uncle, I obey."
"There are no hunters in the nearby villages. Only our village has them. Ask your relatives in the nearby villages how long it has been since they have eaten meat. The harvest in the fields last year was not good, and the outer edges of the mountains were no longer visible. It’s time to hunt. This year’s harvest is even worse. Our village’s food rations will last until New Year’s Day. I don’t know when the relief food from above will be distributed. I plan to organize everyone to go hunting in the mountains while Su Wen is at home. It is set for tomorrow. After entering the mountain, you must listen to Wei Guo and Su Wen. Those who are willing to go will meet at the village committee at eight o'clock tomorrow morning. 10% of the harvest from entering the mountain will go to Wei Guo and his son, and the remaining half will go to the village and half to the people who enter the mountain. Evenly divided.”
After returning home from dinner in the cafeteria, Su Wen couldn't help but ask his father: "Dad, what did you and the village chief say? Why do we have to go into the mountains to hunt together? It's not a joke for so many people to go into the mountains. In case of an accident, Our family is in big trouble."
"We have no choice but to go into the mountains. People in our village will definitely starve to death this year. We were able to survive last year because the village had the previous grain reserves. This year, there is no grain stock in the village. During the autumn harvest, nearly half of the land has reduced or even stopped producing. We are still relaxing Eat the big canteen in your belly.”
"What about tomorrow?"
"Let's see how many people are willing to enter the mountain. If there are few people, we will go into the mountain as a team. As long as they follow the instructions, there should be no risk. If there are many people, it depends on luck. Let's tell the location of the trap in advance to prevent the villagers from falling. Just fall into the trap and no one can guarantee anything else. If you all enter the mountain, you must bear the risk yourself."
The next day, Su Wen followed his father and elder brother to the village committee compound. The courtyard was filled with people standing in small groups.
The village chief said: "Those who want to go into the mountain stay, and the women, children and older people go out first." After the women, elderly and children left, there were still fifty or sixty people left in the yard. "Are you all going into the mountains? Is there anyone who wants to leave?"
"The rest of the Second Grandpa will go into the mountains. Please tell me the regulations as soon as possible."
"You little brat, why are you still here? Get out quickly. Everyone under 18 should get out. This is not a trip into the mountains. If there are too many people and too much noise, you may encounter large beasts, which is very dangerous."
The village chief drove a few who were too young and a few who were too old out of the compound and then said: "I won't organize everyone to go hunting in the mountains unless it is absolutely necessary. It's just that the village's rations will be eaten up soon. This time Going hunting in the mountains is related to whether our village can survive this winter. The relief food above may or may not be available. The problem is that we are about to run out of food and we cannot afford to wait. I just counted the number of people here at five Fifteen people. After entering the mountain, everyone will listen to Wei Guo and Xiao Wen. The hunting tools are all in the village warehouse and will be distributed to everyone soon. Wei Guo, please tell us how to arrange the hunting."
"Many of you have hunted before. I won't go into detail about how dangerous it is in the deep mountains. I thought about it carefully last night. There are two mountain cols that are suitable for us. We need to spend a night in the mountains to take advantage of this. After cleaning both mountain cols, the harvest inside can be converted into food, which should be able to survive this winter. Let's dig a trap at the mouth of the mountain col. I will find a place for everyone to crouch. Xiaowen will put some traps inside the mountain col. Hang up the firecrackers and see if there are any big ones inside. If there are any big ones, let them go as long as they don't fall into the trap. Don't be greedy. If there are no big ones, I will go to the mountain col with Xiao Wen, Sanshu and a few others. When chasing prey, you should guard your respective positions and don’t let the prey escape.”
After breakfast, the group headed into the mountains carrying dry food, weapons and two iron pots. There was no danger on the outskirts of the mountain. Everyone was walking quickly while talking and laughing. When dead branches began to appear on the ground, the atmosphere in the team began to become tense.
Su Wen began to lead the way, and his father was behind the team to prevent anyone from falling behind. The team successfully reached the first mountain col. Although it was winter and all the leaves had fallen off, the depths of the mountain col still looked a bit eerie from a distance.
The village chief led people to dig traps, while Su Wen and Su Su's father explored up from the ridge. Su Wen found some fresh small animal poop. Also stick a branch over the previous trap. More than an hour later, when they came down from the mountain, the village chief and others also dug the trap. Many sharpened sticks were inserted inside, and everyone worked together to cover up the trap.
Su Weiguo: "The village chief asked everyone to eat some dry food and start working. The places where fresh branches are inserted are traps, so everyone must be careful not to fall into them.
