As soon as Niu Yiqun finished speaking, a wave of curses and complaints immediately erupted from the crowd!
"Things like this happen all the time in the village, but we've never seen you mobilize the whole village before!"
"It's because Niu Dali is his nephew!"
"Exactly! This is total bullshit!"
"Fuck, it's the middle of the night and we still have to go into the mountains!"
"If he doesn't know how to hunt, he should've known to bring people along!"
"Serves him right! That's what happens when you try to keep the mountain's wealth for yourself!"
"What the hell is the point of going into the mountains in the dead of winter to hunt a blind bear? Does he have no common sense?"
"And he makes it sound so damn noble!"
"Holy shit, look at you using big words!"
"Get lost!"...
Wang Li wanted to speak, but Wang An held him back. They had to go regardless; complaining was useless and simply not worth the effort!
However, intimidated by the authority of the Brigade Secretary, no one dared to say these things out loud!
Only a few people from the village's major clans dared to whisper and gossip among themselves!
In this era, no one dared to easily offend a Brigade Secretary.
Furthermore, for a collective action like this, no matter how much they complained, every household had to send at least one person.
The five Wang brothers were naturally in one group. Wang An didn't invite anyone else to join, mainly fearing they'd end up with someone like Li Biao—completely useless and only good for causing trouble!
It must be said that all five brothers were tall. Only Wang Li, being only sixteen and under 1.8 meters, was the exception; from the eldest, Wang Yong, to the fourth, Wang An, they were all over 1.8 meters.
The five brothers went home to change into their mountain gear, agreeing to gather at Wang An's house.
In a short while, the four brothers arrived, each with their stabbing knives mounted on long poles.
The handles of the stabbing knives were hollow; once mounted on long wooden poles, they became thrusting spears!
Wang An remembered he had a single-shot shotgun at home, so he went to the kang-bed cupboard to find it, along with six shells. With this gun, taking too many bullets was pointless!
Experienced old hunters could reload quickly, but for those who weren't proficient, if they missed a shot in the dark, the gun became nothing more than a fire-poker—less practical than a stabbing knife on a pole. One could say that after one shot, it was useless!
Wang An walked outside and asked, "Brothers, do any of you know how to use a shotgun?"
The second brother, Wang Shun, said, "I've fired a few shots with one of those."
As soon as Wang Shun finished speaking, Wang An handed over the gun and the shells. Wang Shun took them happily; no matter the gun, every man loved them!
Wang An then said, "Let's go, otherwise Old Niu might stop eating grass." After Wang An spoke, everyone burst out laughing.
Leaving the courtyard, the five brothers followed the main group into the mountains.
Along the way, the group chatted idly and bragged, not looking for all the world like people going to rescue someone.
Fortunately, it was dark; otherwise, anyone seeing them would have thought a group of people were heading into the mountains for a pleasure trip.
Niu Dali's reputation was poor to begin with, so he naturally had no friends. He had gone into the mountains to feast alone, but the main issue was that all the men in the village had to enter the mountains in the middle of the night to find him.
This resulted in immense resentment. No one actually cared whether he could be found or not.
Consequently, they didn't act in groups as Niu Yiqun had instructed. Instead, they stayed together in a noisy huddle.
After more than three hours of laughing and joking along the way, they finally arrived near the "Heavenly Storehouse" mentioned by Li Er-lengzi—the area around the large green poplar tree.
Luckily, they were all young, strong mountain folk accustomed to mountain paths; otherwise, three continuous hours of night hiking would have certainly exhausted a few of them.
Although the moon was bright and the stars were few, and they carried torches, the mountain forest was filled with nothing but large and small trees, shrubs, and stumps.
There were also branches and trunks broken by wind or lightning; dark shadows were everywhere, making it impossible to tell what was what!
The large group had to split up to search. Cries and shouts echoed everywhere, punctuated by the occasional sound of gunfire.
Wang An's group of five was lucky. They found a bunch of flying squirrels huddling for warmth in a snow hollow. After catching them, each person got two or three, leaving the five brothers overjoyed!
Flying squirrels are arboreal animals that usually stay in low trees at night, only burrowing into deep snow hollows for warmth when the temperature drops too low!
It was essentially like the snow huts people build in the wild; the temperature inside differs greatly from the outside!
An hour later, someone finally found Niu Dali beneath a pile of shrubs. He looked neither human nor ghost, lying there unconscious, his exposed feet seemingly frozen stiff!
He looked even worse than the Ma Laizi brothers! Truly miserable!
Wang An noticed that the place where Niu Dali was now was clearly different from where he had seen him during the day!
Judging by the tracks, he had crawled here, meaning Niu Dali had woken up at some point! He must have been severely injured to be unable to walk!
At that moment, many people present were likely feeling the same secret joy as Wang An: *This nuisance is finally going to be quiet!*
The Niu family made a simple stretcher and lifted Niu Dali onto it. Then, the group marched grandly back out of the mountains.
They didn't provide any emergency treatment for Niu Dali, mainly because they couldn't and didn't know how. He wasn't bleeding anywhere; in these mountains, as long as you aren't bleeding, you're fine!
Moreover, with the nighttime temperature so low, he might have been okay, but if they had unbuttoned his clothes, he likely would have frozen to death!
On the way back, they rotated carrying the stretcher in pairs. Except for the Niu family members, who had no choice because of their surname and stepped forward to take turns, no one else from other families volunteered. Instead, occasional bursts of giggling and laughter could be heard! Wang An and his brothers trailed at the back, carrying their flying squirrels and chatting away!
In truth, Niu Yiqun knew he had incurred the public's wrath. Over the years, several villagers had gone missing in the mountains!
Their families had come to him for help, but he had never once mobilized manpower to search!
This time, for the sake of his nephew, he had truly abused his power for personal gain!
Thinking that the land was about to be distributed to individual households and that his position might not be secure in the future, he couldn't help but sigh in his heart!
Looking down at the nephew who had always been a source of worry, he didn't know how to feel. This nephew's existence had done nothing but bring him trouble and hatred; he had never done a single good thing!
Well, at least now he could probably stop worrying about him!
By the time the group returned to the village, Wang An checked his watch; it was already 2:30 AM!
Fuck, what a day!
He handed the two surviving flying squirrels to his mother, who hadn't slept much, to process.
Wang An returned to the west room, stripped off his clothes, crawled into the quilt, and fell into a deep sleep within seconds! This was a habit he had developed in prison in his previous life; it had to be said, it was very practical!
When he woke up, the sky was still dim. He lit the kerosene lamp and checked the wall clock; it was only 6:00!
Being young was great; staying up late didn't hinder an early start.
After washing up and eating, his brother-in-law, Mu Xueli, arrived with a sled.
Wang An checked his gear, tied up the dogs, and together with his brother-in-law, they each drove a sled toward the mountains.
On the way, they naturally started by checking and setting traps. This simple, easy method of hunting—which mostly involved walking—was something both Wang An and Mu Xueli were addicted to!
What they were most addicted to was the feeling of picking up one "jumping cat" after another every time they checked the traps!
(End of Chapter)