Chapter 5

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

The meat on the sparrows was mainly on the legs and the breast. But Li Qiang and Li Juan didn't let a single bit of meat go to waste; they sucked the larger bones clean and chewed the smaller ones directly, swallowing them without spitting anything out. After eating, they even licked their hands clean.

Li Long felt a pang of heartache; these two children were truly starved for meat. He thought about how he hadn't treated himself poorly when he was an apprentice in Wucheng. After getting paid, besides buying clothes, he would go to the state-run braised meat shop to buy offal to satisfy his cravings. At that time, he had never once thought of his niece and nephew—he really wasn't a human being!

Watching Li Juan and Li Qiang still looking unsatisfied after eating, Li Long truly felt guilty.

How much meat could three sparrows have?

Originally planning to rest, he had new thoughts.

Anyway, he had nothing to do, and he had a flashlight on hand, so why not take advantage of this opportunity to go out again tonight?

However, he didn't make a fuss. After eating the sparrows, he shooed Li Juan and Li Qiang to the west room to sleep early. He tidied up, put on his cotton-padded rubber shoes that weren't completely dry yet, put on his cotton-padded overcoat, wore his fur hat, and walked out with the flashlight. In the yard, he took the landing net, found a urea bag under the shed, and carried it out of the yard.

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

"Xiao Long has changed. He wasn't that close to Juan and Qiang before, but now look..."

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

"That's the logic." Liang Wenyu said with a smile, "Although he was fired, he feels like he's grown up and become sensible. That money wasn't spent in vain!"

"It's good that 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, so it wasn't easy for him to discipline him much; he just hoped that by doing more himself, he could influence him.

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

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

"Don't worry about it. He's grown up, he should know what he's doing." Li Jianguo said, "What can he do in the middle of winter? Every family has people inside, and he can't stay outside for long. Maybe he went to visit someone."

After Li Long went out, he walked toward the east.

To the east of the brigade, there was a piece of wild land, and further east was cultivated farmland. On the edge, there were many large and small mounds of earth left over from reclaiming and harrowing the land. After the autumn harvest, some weeds and crop roots from the fields were scattered here.

And this was exactly the place where "guagua chickens" liked to stay.

Now, because of food shortages and lack of nutrition, most people had night blindness at night.

And "household appliances" like flashlights were not owned by at least half of the families in the entire brigade.

Therefore, the places where guagua chickens liked to stay, which people in the village knew about in later generations, were not yet known to people at this time.

Even if they knew, these people couldn't catch them—first, they had no tools, and second, their eyesight was poor.

Li Long lacked neither—he got meals while working at the food factory. Although he couldn't say he ate very well, his nutrition was better than in the brigade.

He walked with heavy steps, not deliberately hiding the sound of his footsteps.

Guagua chickens were actually quite stupid. At least in Li Long's view, they were. This guagua chicken "habitat" was discovered by an old man who herded sheep.

According to the old man, when he came back from herding sheep, it was already almost completely dark. He was tired, and seeing a black patch, he thought it was a rock exposed in the snow, so he sat down on it. As a result, before he even sat down, the "rock" ran away. It turned out to be a flock of guagua chickens.

In other words, unless forced, these things usually didn't run away.

After all, it wasn't easy to find a habitat, and after lying down for half a day to get warm, how much energy would it take to run away again? It wasn't easy to accumulate energy in winter!

Li Long was actually holding an attitude of trying it out. If there were any, of course, that would be best. If not, anyway, he couldn't watch TV at night, couldn't scroll through his phone, and had no friends to talk to, so going out for a walk to burn off some energy was fine too.

That place was about a kilometer away from the brigade, and it took Li Long almost half an hour to arrive—mainly because the snow was too thick. By the time he reached the place, he felt a thin layer of sweat on his body.

But as soon as he stopped, the chill immediately drilled into his body; this minus thirty degrees wasn't a joke. Li Long turned on the flashlight and immediately began to search; he couldn't stay outside for too long. There wasn't much food in his stomach, and the heat supply couldn't keep up, which was uncomfortable.

There were several obvious bulges in front of him; these were mounds of earth covered by snow.

He was a bit disappointed—the snow was too heavy, and the mounds were covered, so it would be difficult to attract guagua chickens.

He continued forward with the flashlight, looking at the mounds one by one.

Soon, Li Long discovered that near the mounds close to the farmland, the snow had traces of being raked, revealing the withered grass and crop stalks underneath.

There's a way!

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

Guagua chickens!

A rough count showed there were more than a dozen guagua chickens lying there. Some had already closed their eyes, while others were attracted by the flashlight beam and were looking toward this side vigilantly.

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

After more than a minute, he opened his eyes again and could barely see the things in front.

Looking carefully in the direction of the guagua chickens, he could barely see the black shadows, so he walked over step by step.

!.

Less than a meter away from the nearest guagua chicken, Li Long stopped and slowly raised the landing net.

He slowly covered it down.

Before the guagua chicken could react, it was covered in the landing net.

It just fluttered a bit before being reached in and pulled out by Li Long and put into the urea bag.

This one was not small, weighing half a kilogram, equal to more than a dozen sparrows.

Li Long was very happy.

Two guagua chickens nearby moved in panic, but in the end, they couldn't bear to leave the warm little nest under their bellies and didn't leave.

Then these two were also caught by Li Long in one net and put into the urea bag.

Then one guagua chicken flew away.

Other guagua chickens also began to move, and Li Long immediately waved the landing net and pounced over. At this time, if his movements were slow, there would be nothing left.

After catching two more guagua chickens in succession, the other guagua chickens finally realized what was happening and fluttered away.

A total of five. Li Long looked at the direction the guagua chickens flew away, but in the end, he didn't continue to chase.

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

Just this bit of intense movement made him break out in a cold sweat. Now that he stopped, the sweat turned cold again, which felt very uncomfortable.

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

But with five guagua chickens in his hands, Li Long was in a very good mood, like a general who had won a battle.

There would be something delicious to eat tomorrow!

(End of chapter)