Chapter 99: Going into the mountains to pick up a package

He woke up very early in the morning. He didn't dare to sleep too deeply at night in the mountains. The weather in November was already very cold. In addition, he was next to a stream, so he slept very uncomfortably with only a sheet of quilt.

It was actually better now. I dozed off for a while before slowly getting up. It was almost nine o'clock. I tidied up the shed and washed my face by the stream, and finally I was able to completely get rid of the sleepiness.

Just after breakfast, I was in a daze when two dark figures appeared where the stream entered the mountain. Zhang Xingwang looked up and tried to see two figures walking quickly towards the stream. He could vaguely see that they were carrying something behind them. It seemed that they were the couple.

Sure enough, within five minutes the man came to the shed with his wife and greeted Zhang Xingwang with a smile, as if he had seen a wild boar.

The man's wife couldn't stand it anymore, so she rolled her eyes at him and kicked him in the calf. When Zhang Xingwang turned his gaze to her, she smiled at him embarrassedly, and then yelled at the man:

"Why are you grinning like an idiot? You've forgotten your business."

As they spoke, the two men put down the things behind them. Zhang Xingwang took a look and saw more than a dozen wild rabbits and three pheasants, all of which were smoked. He just didn't know how well the craftsmanship was.

At this time, the woman next to him said:

"There are two more wild boars, but you'll have to wait because I don't know when you can come over. They're still in the trap. But you'll have to pay for these first."

Zhang Xingwang was impressed by this and thought that they were indeed professionals and reliable. He had originally thought that this trip was in vain, and it seemed that he was superficial.

Without saying a word, the three of them began to count the money. There were 13 rabbits and 3 pheasants in total. The man took a scale from his back and weighed them one by one. After a long time, they still couldn't figure it out. Zhang Xingwang looked helpless.

You two are really professional and even brought a scale, but you two calculated for a long time and looked at me for some meaning. Helpless Zhang Xingwang calculated in his mind for a while, then silently squatted down and added twice on the ground with a branch.

The total weight was 74 kilograms. After hearing this, the two of them were stunned for a moment and then quickly nodded and said it was no problem.

Zhang Xingwang was both angry and amused when he saw their reactions. Perhaps seeing Zhang Xingwang's confusion, the man scratched his head and said embarrassedly:

"We weighed it before we came here, and my father also calculated the weight, but we forgot about it because we were so busy on the road. We remembered it as soon as you mentioned it."

Zhang Xingwang thought silently, what's the difference between your brains and Da Vinci's flashlight? If I don't tell you, you will probably never remember it in your lifetime.

The air was quiet for a while, and the man suddenly said with hope:

"Is it still 4 cents per pound?"

Zhang Xingwang originally wanted to answer, but after seeing the man finish speaking, he asked his wife to kick him twice from behind.

Then, in Zhang Xingwang's puzzled eyes, he gave the man a vicious look and said anxiously:

"My dad said that the rabbit and pheasant are smoked before being feathered, so they are much lighter. We also use salt, which costs extra."

Zhang Xingwang felt that the request was reasonable, but he didn't expect the old man to be so logical and well-founded.

But seeing the woman's uneasy look after she finished speaking, he crossed out the equation between the words "old man" and "shrewd".

It seems that this sentence was also memorized in advance. Even though the old man didn't come, he made clear arrangements for both of them.

Zhang Xingwang replied casually:

"That's 5 cents?"

Then the man nodded frantically with a big smile on his face, while his wife lowered her head and thought for a few seconds, then said silently:

"How about we wait until the wild boar is delivered and then talk about the price. We can pay you when the time comes. What do you think?"

Zhang Xingwang knew at a glance that the woman must have forgotten everything the old man told her. As for the man, he probably didn't remember it at all.

Then the man took a breath and ran excitedly in the direction they came from. The woman was also waiting restlessly with Zhang Xingwang by the stream, looking at Zhang Xingwang and then at the edge of the woods.

Seeing that the woman was anxious, Zhang Xingwang suggested putting the smoked meat in the shed first.

After moving the smoked meat to the shed, the woman looked at Zhang Xingwang with less wariness. Finally, she said to Zhang Xingwang tentatively:

"Dad said you don't look like a bad person, and we've already done business, so you shouldn't have any bad intentions, right?"

Zhang Xingwang could only smile bitterly and said:

"We are in the mountains. There are three of you, hunters. And I am alone. If I don't trust you, do you think I dare to come?"

The woman obviously let down her guard after hearing this. She probably felt pent up after two days in the mountains. She opened up and chatted with Zhang Xingwang casually.

During this time, the woman also taught him some common sense about hunting in the mountains. As for what Zhang Xingwang wanted to learn about finding prey, the woman said that was the old man's strong point, and she and her husband had not yet learned it well.

During this time, the woman asked him cryptically if he had brought enough money. After getting a positive answer, she smiled and asked him to wait for a while until the man and the old man got the wild boar. She said that the old man had been watching the wild boar for two days, otherwise he could trap a few more rabbits. Then, under Zhang Xingwang's guidance, she talked about the money she got from selling the prey last time.

It turned out that Zhang Xinwang was right. The old man and the man were father and son, and the woman was the old man's youngest daughter. The old man's childhood friend went into the mountains when the woman was in her teens and never came back. The old man raised her and later married her to the man.

Last time I got a huge sum of more than 100 yuan, which improved my family's life. Otherwise, I couldn't even afford the salt for bacon.

The children and the man's mother no longer had to go hungry twice in three days. I bought a big bag of coarse grains and could eat the steamed buns made of two grains of flour in front of everyone, unlike before when I secretly brought some meat back and ate it in the dark in the middle of the night.

He didn't dare bring too much. The villagers said they were visiting, but in fact they were all watching his house, and they wanted to dig open all the rat holes in his house to have a look.

The man's mother lost a tooth from chewing meat on bones because of slander. The child was even worse off, not being able to eat enough every meal, and when he finally got to eat meat, he almost lost a piece of meat due to indigestion.

Not only did the child suffer, but the villagers' sarcastic gossip almost made the man lose his temper.

The last time they sold the prey, it really gave their family hope of survival. They took advantage of the fact that not many people were hunting at this time, and it was rare to meet Zhang Xingwang who dared to collect the prey.

They thought that they could save some money with their hunting skills. Otherwise, according to the current situation, who knows how many people will come to the mountains in winter, and there will probably be nothing left in the mountains after the New Year. By then, those who don’t know how to farm will have no hope at all.

The two chatted for a long time, and Zhang Xingwang also let down most of his guard about this family and even invited the woman to have lunch.