As the laughter erupted, the room filled with people chatting and playing finger-guessing games; the previous awkward silence was completely gone!
Things had developed into a happy ending for everyone, and Liu Guilan breathed a soft sigh of relief.
If she hadn't seen her son struggling, Liu Guilan wouldn't have interrupted just now, because her original intention was also to let her son take Wang Li into the mountains!
But that's just how mothers are; no matter what the situation, the son always comes first, and no one else compares!
Since they were all one family, they had to help each other. Only by pulling each other up and supporting one another could every household's life improve, and the clan prosper further!
And only when the entire clan was prosperous and united could they be bold in everything, stand tall before outsiders, and not feel intimidated by anyone!
In the current rural landscape, every family lived in poverty and often fought over small things. For example, when gathering mountain goods, they would frequently fight until they were bloodied and bruised over a single fruit-laden pine tree or a patch of hazelnut trees.
There were plenty of these trees in the great mountains—one could say they were everywhere. It wasn't that they couldn't find them; they could gather as much as they wanted!
The problem was, they couldn't transport them out!
One had to realize that during the gathering season, there was no snow, meaning sleds were useless during that time!
There were only a few horse-drawn or ox-drawn carts in the entire village, and those were kept at the brigade headquarters!
Therefore, the only means of transport were two legs and a pair of shoulders, carrying or hauling large hemp sacks across mountains and ridges. A distance of two or three li was barely manageable; any further than that was simply nonsense!
The key was that it wasn't worth it! No matter what mountain goods were being gathered, it wasn't as simple as picking fruit.
For instance, if you wanted pine nuts, a fairly large pine cone only contained a few or a dozen nuts, and the pine trees bearing them were several to over ten meters high.
First, you had to climb the tree!
Second, you had to find a way to knock the pine cones down from the swaying branches!
Third, you had to pry the pine nuts out of the cones!
Only then could you carry the pine nuts home!
Furthermore, pine needles were very dense and quite prickly; if they poked your skin, it felt like a burning itch!
Thus, the fights were over geographical location!
Who wouldn't want to gather from a shorter pine tree? Who wouldn't want to gather near the village?
But the variety of mountain goods near the village was limited, after all!
So what happened when everyone wanted to gather nearby?
It was very simple: one word, fight!
Yes, fight. If you won, everything went your way; if you lost, you headed deeper into the mountains!
What did you rely on to fight? Numbers!
This was when the power and strength of the clan were displayed. The clan with the most people and the strongest power got the biggest harvest, while the widowers, widows, or solitary households could only venture deep into the mountains!
Of course, these were only a small part of it. Living in the countryside at this time required mutual help and support in every aspect.
Even when children fought, those with the same surname banded together to take on those with different surnames!
At this moment, the room was full of joy and harmony, but Wang Li seemed a bit overly excited. His backside felt like it had thorns in it; he fidgeted constantly and stole glances at the break-action gun hanging on the wall, looking as if he couldn't wait to enter the mountains and get to work right now.
Yao Ping had been too caught up in her own happiness to notice her son's state at first. However, once she calmed down, she first glared at Wang Li and then scolded him in a low voice, "Little Wang Li, you behave yourself, or don't say I told your father to give you a thrashing."
The deterrent power of this sentence was quite significant! Wang Li immediately became obedient, and even his way of picking up food became refined. It was clear that Wang Li had received his fair share of thrashings in the past.
After the meal, Wang An taught Wang Li in great detail how to use the break-action gun. Even after Wang Li learned, Wang An still felt uneasy, so he said to Wang Li, "Let's go; the two of us will take a stroll around the outskirts of the village."
Hearing that they were going into the mountains right now, Wang Li was thrilled and excited, but perhaps thinking of the image of being thrashed, he behaved quite modestly.
Since the goal was to let Wang Li get used to the gun, Wang An didn't take his SKS; he simply walked leisurely toward the outskirts of the village with Wang Li.
Along the way, Wang An continued to tell Wang Li about the various precautions when firing. He mainly focused on what to do if the break-action gun misfired.
If you bought bullets for a break-action gun, they cost 5 cents a round and had a very low failure rate!
But if you made them yourself, the cost was only slightly over 1 cent and less than 2 cents. Therefore, most hunters using break-action guns used homemade ammunition. This led to inconsistent quality, and an occasional dud was perfectly normal!
It was fine when hunting small animals; at most, the prey would run away and nothing would be hit. But if you were hunting boars, brown bears, or encountering a "big cannon" (large prey), a misfire would be disastrous!
Getting injured would be considered lucky; losing one's life wouldn't be an accident.
Strolling into the mountains around the village, the two searched carefully for traces of small animals. However, the area near the village had been trodden over countless times by adolescents and those who didn't know how to hunt properly; it was full of footprints, and paths had been worn into many places!
Hard work paid off. In a spot with fewer footprints, the two discovered six "Silly Half-Jin" birds. The Silly Half-Jin was practically a walking bird; they weren't very afraid of humans, and their numbers were quite large, second only to the jumping cats!
Wang An took the gun and demonstrated the full sequence of actions for Wang Li, though not particularly fast.
Wang An broke open the barrel, pushed a round into the chamber, and held another round between the middle and ring fingers of his left hand. He closed the barrel, cocked the hammer, and brought the gun to his face.
Once the gun was aimed, he pulled the trigger. With a "bang," the head of a distant Silly Half-Jin shattered.
The reason they were called "Silly" Half-Jins was that these birds were similar to roe deer—quite dim-witted. They wanted to figure everything out and couldn't really fly, only glide briefly or flutter for a short distance.
So, even though its companion's head had shattered, the bird just looked left and right, appearing as if it had been suddenly stunned into a stupor.
After firing the shot, Wang An didn't even look at the gun. His right hand held the weapon while his left hand quickly broke open the barrel, using the left thumb and index finger to pluck out the shell. The moment the shell was removed, the round held by his middle and ring fingers was pushed into the barrel.
His right hand pressed down slightly, and his left hand quickly lifted up. With a "click," the barrel closed. The left thumb then cocked the hammer, the gun was quickly brought to his face, aimed slightly, and "bang"—another shot!
Wang An's entire sequence of movements was like flowing water, extremely smooth without a single stutter. Most importantly, he never once looked down at the gun throughout the process!
By now, another Silly Half-Jin had reacted, looking around and starting to run, only to have its neck snapped by a shot, fluttering on the ground, while the other birds began to flee.
This time, Wang An increased his speed. The moment he finished firing, his left hand broke open the barrel, and the shell was flicked out onto the ground.
His right hand remained still while his left hand quickly pulled two more rounds from his pocket. He loaded one into the barrel and then used his index finger to hook the barrel and lift it up, closing it.
While cocking the hammer, the remaining round in his hand was already pinched between his middle and ring fingers.
He brought the gun to his face, aimed at a Silly Half-Jin already in full sprint, and "bang"—another shot.
(End of Chapter)