The two walked through the dense woods, leaving their footprints, one large and one small, on the less traveled road.
Shen Yichen used a machete to clear a path ahead. Along the way, Chen Yuanyuan saw some wild plants he recognized and uprooted them. Even some stones were not spared and all were collected into the space.
After walking for a while, the two of them sat down on a rock and drank some water.
"Why are you collecting stones?" Shen Yichen asked.
"Grandma He said she wanted to pickle some kimchi and asked me to find some stones for him to press into the jar." Chen Yuanyuan said.
"We'll pass by a creek later and there will be more rocks on the other side. We'll get it then." Shen Yichen said.
Chen Yuanyuan's hands had to take off their gloves in order to touch the stone, and her fingers were red from the cold. Shen Yichen felt distressed and took Chen Yuanyuan's hands and put them into his clothes.
"Oh? Have you been here before?" Chen Yuanyuan didn't refuse Shen Yichen's intimate gestures. She didn't care if her hands were numb from the cold.
"I went to the research institute and came back early before. I went here to explore the road once. There are traces of animals in one place. Let's see if we can encounter them today." Shen Yichen said.
After saying that, the two got up and continued walking. In less than five minutes, they passed a creek with ice on the surface.
Chen Yuanyuan squatted by the stream and observed. Unfortunately, there were only a few small fry as big as the tail finger under the ice of the stream. They were not enough to fill the gaps between teeth, so they didn't bother to fish them out.
Fortunately, there were many stones of different sizes by the stream. The stones by the stream were cleaner and smoother than those on the mountain road, so Chen Yuanyuan packed a lot of stones into the space.
Seeing that they were almost done, they signaled to Shen Yichen to continue on the road. After the two walked for about five or six minutes, they reached a dense grass forest. Shen Yichen suddenly stepped lightly and waved to signal Chen Yuanyuan to stop.
Chen Yuanyuan looked ahead and saw a wild boar in the distance eating wild fruits. It seemed that Shen Yichen had found his target.
Shen Yichen bent down and picked up the compound crossbow on his back. Chen Yuanyuan also held her breath and watched nervously.
Seeing the wild boar lowering its head to clear away the snow, Shen Yichen immediately seized the opportunity. Hearing an electric chirp, a steel arrow accurately hit the wild boar's neck.
The frightened wild boar immediately ran wildly. Upon seeing this, Shen Yichen and Chen Yuanyuan immediately rushed to catch up. After Shen Yichen shot another arrow in the hind leg of the wild boar, the frantic wild boar slowed down.
After shortening the distance between him and the wild boar, Shen Yichen stepped forward to control the wild boar and stabbed his artery with a knife, causing the wild boar's blood to spurt out.
The stimulated wild boar was so powerful that it swung wildly in an attempt to get rid of Shen Yichen. Seeing this, Chen Yuanyuan immediately stepped forward and touched Shen Yichen, who immediately fell to the snow.
"Well, he will die faster this way." Chen Yuanyuan said awkwardly when she saw Shen Yichen was thrown and covered with snowflakes.
"Very good," Shen Yichen said, wiping the ice residue on his face.
When the wild boar was removed from space, it was completely dead, and its warm blood slowly flowed on the snow-white ground.
Chen Yuanyuan didn't want to waste it, so she took a large plate to collect the wild boar's blood, and then slowly waited for the blood to drain out.
"Your crossbow shot is quite accurate." Chen Yuanyuan praised.
"Come on, they are probably still busy. I will teach you archery here." Shen Yichen saw that it was still early, so he found a tree and drew a circle, and taught Chen Yuanyuan the compound crossbow skills step by step.
Although the compound crossbow is not as lethal as a gun, it is more silent and light-free when fired. It can covertly shoot the target and avoid detonating nearby explosive items.
Unlike bows and arrows, the compound crossbow does not need to be aimed at the same time when the string is pulled, so it is equipped with a sight scope. The hit rate is higher. The only disadvantage is that the reloading time is relatively long, so it is not suitable for use when refuting fire.
Shen Yichen knew that Chen Yuanyuan had shooting experience, and after briefly teaching her some tips and tricks, he let her practice it.
Chen Yuanyuan's first shot was able to hit a tree pole fifteen meters away, only a few centimeters away from the circle drawn by Shen Yichen.
"You are quite talented in shooting. You can spend more time studying this aspect." Shen Yichen affirmed.
"I feel it's easier to aim with this than a pistol, but it's too big to carry." Chen Yuanyuan said.
"It's not a big problem for you." Shen Yichen smiled.
After practicing for half an hour, Chen Yuanyuan was able to easily hit the circle from 20 meters away.
Unfortunately, there was a lot of noise while hunting wild boars, and the nearby animals were already frightened. Chen Yuanyuan had no choice but to try shooting at moving animals next time.
After seeing that the wild boar was bleeding almost completely and the body was gradually hardening, Chen Yuanyuan put a plate full of pig blood into the space, and then tied the wild boar's feet with ropes.
Shen Yichen also chopped a stick nearby, tied the wild boar to the stick and quickly carried it away. Chen Yuanyuan connected the stick with the pig to regain its space.
The two of them walked down the mountain along the way they came. The road that had been cleared of weeds was easier to walk than when they came. In about ten minutes, they saw the small woods they had just separated from in the distance.
When Chen Yuanyuan saw that she was about to return to the team, she stopped being lazy and moved the wild boar out of the space. The two of them carried it down one behind the other.
"We're back!" Chen Yuanyuan shouted.
"Thank you for your hard work!" Upon seeing this, Liu Feiyang put down the ax in his hand and stepped forward to help carry the wild boar down.
"Wow, you hunted pigs too, that's amazing!" Ding Xiangwen exclaimed.
"It's just good luck. Where are Chu Man and Linlin?" Chen Yuanyuan only saw Liu Feiyang and Ding Xiangwen, and didn't know where they went.
"They found a large field of wild vegetables under the snow over there. Chu Man said they were all edible, so they went to pick them. They even made a second trip." Ding Xiangwen pointed to the side and said.
Chen Yuanyuan looked at the wild vegetables on the ground. The oval leaves had serrated edges, like one of the ones He Yuehua also showed Chen Yuanyuan yesterday.
Chen Yuanyuan and Shen Yichen helped bundle the chopped firewood, and then waited for Zhang Linlin and Chu Man to return. Chu Man happily introduced the wild vegetables on the ground.
"These wild vegetables are called Feicai, but they are not useless at all. Although they taste slightly bitter, they are good for the heart." Chu Man said and began to pick the wild vegetables.
"As long as you can eat it, I don't care whether it tastes good or not!" Ding Xiangwen said and stepped forward to help.
"Don't you also grow a lot of fruits and vegetables at home?" Zhang Linlin remembered that when she went to visit Tangtang, she also saw a lot of vegetables grown.
"Oh, we didn't expect the weather to be so cold," Ding Xiangwen sighed.
Although Ding Xiangwen still has a lot of canned food and rice noodles at home, Tangtang is still young and needs to eat more vegetables.
However, many of the vegetables grown at home froze to death when the extreme cold first arrived, and the yields of newly planted vegetables were extremely low due to the severe cold weather. For a while, the home was still short of many vegetables.
"Although my family has moved the vegetables indoors in advance, the condition of the seedlings is getting worse and worse. Now in order to feed the vegetables, there is not enough firewood every day." Chu Man sighed.
Nowadays, in the extremely cold weather, the outdoor temperature has reached minus 40 degrees Celsius at night. Even if firewood is burned indoors, most people's homes can only maintain a temperature of about minus 15 degrees Celsius. Growing vegetables is indeed a problem.
Chen Yuanyuan saw the two men looking sad and decided to help them a little.
Pigs are so cute, you must make braised pork, braised pork trotters, and sweet and sour pork ribs
(End of chapter)
