Chapter 5: Only the Quack-Quack Chicken is Good

The family shared ten old sparrows. Li Jianguo and his wife each ate one, Li Long ate two, and the remaining two children had three each.

The meat on the old sparrows was mostly just a little bit on the legs and breasts. But Li Qiang and Li Juan didn't let a single scrap go to waste; they gnawed the larger bones clean, and the smaller ones were chewed up and swallowed whole without a single spit. After they finished, they even licked their fingers clean.

Li Long felt a pang of heartache; these two children were truly starved for meat. He thought back to when he was an apprentice in Wucheng—he had never treated himself poorly. After getting paid, aside from buying clothes, he would spend the rest at the state-run braised meat shop to satisfy his cravings. Back then, he really hadn't thought of his niece and nephew at all—he truly hadn't been much of a human being!

Seeing Li Juan and Li Qiang still looking unsatisfied after finishing, Li Long felt a genuine sense of guilt.

How much meat could three old sparrows have?

He had originally planned to rest, but a new idea took root.

He had nothing to do anyway, and he had a flashlight on hand, so he might as well take advantage of the opportunity and go out again tonight.

However, he didn't make a scene. After finishing the sparrows, he shooed Li Juan and Li Qiang off to the west room to get to sleep early. He tidied up, put on his cotton-padded rubber shoes that hadn't fully dried yet, donned his cotton-padded overcoat, put on his fur hat, and walked out with the flashlight. He grabbed a landing net from the courtyard, found a urea sack under the shed, and headed out of the yard.

In the west room, seeing that Li Juan and Li Qiang were already asleep, Liang Yuemei whispered to her husband

"Xiaolong has changed. He wasn't this close to Juan and Qiangqiang before, but now, look at him..."

"He's their uncle, after all." Li Jianguo rolled a cigarette with *Mohe* tobacco, his tone full of matter-of-factness. "I take care of him, shouldn't he take care of his own niece and nephew?"

"That's the logic." Liang Yuemei said with a smile. "Even though he got fired, he seems to have grown up and become sensible. That money wasn't spent in vain!"

"As long as he's sensible." Li Jianguo was actually quite relieved. He knew what kind of person his younger brother used to be. But that was his brother, not his son; it wasn't easy for him to lecture him, so he just hoped that by doing more himself, he could influence him.

Now that Li Long was so sensible, Li Jianguo even felt a bit unaccustomed to it.

"I heard him go out just now, I wonder..." Liang Yuemei said while stitching a shoe sole.

"Don't worry about it. He's a grown man, he should know what he's doing." Li Jianguo said. "What can he do in the middle of winter? Everyone is at home, he can't stay out for long. Maybe he went to visit someone."

After Li Long went out, he headed east.

To the east of the production team, there was a stretch of wild land, and further east were the cultivated fields. Along the edges were many large and small mounds of dirt left over from clearing and leveling the land. After the autumn harvest, some weeds and crop roots were scattered there.

And this was exactly where the "quack-quack chickens" (grouse) liked to stay.

Nowadays, due to a lack of food and poor nutrition, most people suffered from night blindness.

And as for "home appliances" like flashlights, at least half of the households in the team didn't have one.

Therefore, the places where the grouse liked to stay, which people in the village would know about in later generations, were still unknown to most at this time.

Even if they knew, it wasn't easy to catch them—they lacked the tools, and their eyesight was poor.

Li Long lacked neither—he worked at the food factory, so he was provided with meals. While he couldn't say he ate very well, his nutrition was better than those in the team.

He walked with heavy, uneven steps, not bothering to hide the sound of his movement.

Grouse were actually quite stupid. At least, that was how Li Long saw it. This grouse "habitat" had been discovered by an old man who herded sheep.

According to the old man, when he was returning from herding, it was already pitch black. He was tired, and seeing a dark patch, he thought it was a rock exposed in the snow, so he sat right down on it. As it turned out, before he even sat down, the "rock" ran away. It was actually a flock of grouse.

In other words, unless absolutely necessary, these things usually didn't run.

After all, it wasn't easy to find a habitat, and after finally lying down for half a day to get warm, how much energy would they consume if they ran away? It wasn't easy to store up energy in the winter!

Li Long was actually just trying his luck. If there were any, that would be best, but if not, he couldn't watch TV, scroll through his phone, or talk to friends at night anyway, so going out for a walk to burn off some energy was fine too.

The place was about a kilometer away from the team, and it took Li Long nearly half an hour to get there—mostly because the snow was too deep. By the time he arrived, he felt a thin layer of sweat on his body.

But as soon as he stopped, the chill immediately began to seep into his bones; this minus thirty degrees was no joke.

Li Long turned on the flashlight and immediately began to search; he couldn't stay out too long. With not much food in his stomach, his body couldn't maintain its heat, which was miserable.

There were a few obvious bumps in front of him; these were dirt mounds covered by snow.

He was a bit disappointed—the snow was too heavy, and the mounds were covered, which made it hard to attract the grouse.

He continued forward with the flashlight, checking the mounds one by one.

Soon, Li Long discovered that near the mounds closer to the farmland, the snow had been scratched away, revealing the withered grass and crop stalks underneath.

He was onto something!

He continued forward and soon discovered gray-black things lying in the snow ahead.

Grouse!

A rough count showed at least a dozen grouse lying there. Some had already closed their eyes, while others were attracted by the flashlight beam and were watching him vigilantly.

Li Long turned off the flashlight and closed his eyes to adjust.

After more than a minute, he opened his eyes again and could barely make out the things in front of him.

Looking carefully in the direction of the grouse, he could barely see the dark shadows, so he walked over step by step.

Less than a meter away from the nearest grouse, Li Long stopped, picked up the landing net, and slowly raised it.

Then, he slowly brought it down.

Before the grouse could react, it was trapped in the net.

It only fluttered a bit before Li Long reached in, pulled it out, and stuffed it into the urea sack.

This one was quite large, weighing about half a kilogram—it was worth more than a dozen old sparrows.

Li Long was very happy.

Two of the nearby grouse moved in panic, but in the end, they couldn't bear to leave their warm nests under their bellies and didn't fly away.

Then these two were also caught by Li Long in one swoop and stuffed into the urea sack.

Then, one grouse flew away.

The others began to stir, and Li Long immediately lunged at them with the net. If he were slow now, he would end up with nothing.

He caught two more grouse in succession before the rest finally realized what was happening and flew off with a flurry of wings.

Five in total. Li Long watched the direction the grouse flew off in, but ultimately decided not to chase them.

The snow was too deep, and with no food in his stomach, he had no strength left.

Just this short burst of intense activity had made him break into a cold sweat. Now that he had stopped, the sweat was turning cold, and he felt very uncomfortable.

Li Long knew he had to soak his feet as soon as he got back, otherwise, he would definitely fall ill tomorrow.

But with five grouse in his hand, Li Long was in a great mood, like a general returning from a victorious battle.

There would be something good to eat tomorrow!