Chapter 5: Gua Gua Chickens Are the Best

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

The meat on an old sparrow is mainly just a little on the legs and breast. But Li Qiang and Li Juan ate every scrap, sucking the larger bones clean and chewing the smaller ones right down to swallow them without spitting. After finishing, they licked their hands clean.

Li Long felt a pang of sorrow; these two children were truly lacking meat. He thought back to his time as an apprentice in Wucheng and how he had never neglected himself. After getting paid, besides buying clothes, he would spend the rest at the state-run braised meat shop buying offal to satisfy his cravings. Back then, he really hadn't thought once about his nephews and nieces—he truly wasn't human!

Seeing Li Juan and Li Qiang still looking unsatisfied after finishing, Li Long truly felt guilty in his heart.

How much meat could three old sparrows have?

Originally planning to rest, he suddenly had a new idea.

Since there was nothing to do and he had a flashlight on hand, he might as well go out again tonight.

However, he didn't make a fuss. After eating the sparrows, he herded Li Juan and Li Qiang into the west room to sleep early. He tidied up, put on his cotton-soled rubber shoes that weren't fully dried yet, donned a cotton coat, wore a leather hat, grabbed his flashlight, and walked out. In the yard, he took a scoop 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 Yuemei whispered to her husband:

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

"He is their uncle," Li Jianguo said, rolling a Mo Heyan cigarette, his tone full of natural certainty. "I take care of him, so shouldn't he take care of his own nephews and nieces?"

"That's the logic," Liang Yuemei said with a smile. "Even though he was expelled, he seems to have grown up and become sensible. That money wasn't wasted!"

"It's good that he's sensible," Li Jianguo said, actually feeling quite gratified. He knew exactly what kind of person his younger brother used to be. But he was his brother, not his son, so he couldn't lecture him too much; 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 just heard him go out, I don't know..." Liang Yuemei said while stitching the sole of a shoe.

"Doesn't matter. He's that old now, he should know what he's doing," Li Jianguo said. "What can one do in such a cold winter? Every household has people inside; he can't stay out for long. He's probably just visiting neighbors."

After Li Long went out, he headed east.

To the east of the team's area lay a wild field, and further east were the reclaimed farmlands. Along the edges were many large and small mounds of earth left behind when plowing and harrowing the newly opened fields. After the autumn harvest, some weeds and crop roots from the fields were scattered there.

And this was exactly the place where the "Gua Gua Chickens" liked to stay.

Now, due to food shortages and malnutrition, most people suffered from night blindness at night, known as "night blindness."

As for flashlights, these "household appliances," more than half the households in the entire team did not have one.

Therefore, while villagers in later generations knew where the Gua Gua Chickens liked to stay, at this time, it was unknown to people.

Even if they knew, these people wouldn't go catch them—first, they lacked tools, and second, their eyesight was poor.

Li Long lacked neither—working at the food factory meant he was fed. Although it wasn't said to be great food, the nutrition was better than in the team.

He walked with uneven steps, not making any special effort to hide his footsteps.

The Gua Gua Chicken, a type of bird, is actually quite stupid. At least, that's how Li Long saw it. This "habitat" of the Gua Gua Chicken was discovered by an old man who herded sheep.

According to that old man, when he was returning with his sheep, it was almost completely dark. He was tired, saw a patch of black, thought it was a rock exposed in the snow, and sat down heavily. But before he could sit, that "rock" ran away. It turned out to be a flock of Gua Gua Chickens.

In other words, unless forced to, these creatures usually do not run.

After all, finding a habitat is not easy; having lain there for half a day to get warm, running away would consume how much heat? It's not easy to accumulate energy in winter!

Li Long was actually just trying his luck; if there were any, that would be best. If not, since he couldn't watch TV or scroll on a phone at night anyway, and had no friends to talk to, coming out for a walk to burn off some energy was fine.

That place was about a kilometer from the team's area. Li Long walked for about half an hour to get there—mainly because the snow was too deep. When he arrived, he felt a thin layer of sweat on his body.

But as soon as he stopped, the cold immediately seeped into his body; minus thirty degrees was no joke. Li Long turned on his flashlight and immediately started searching; he couldn't stay outside for too long. With little food in his stomach, the heat supply was insufficient, making him feel uncomfortable.

There were a few obvious bumps ahead; these were mounds of earth covered by snow.

He felt a bit disappointed—the snow was too heavy, covering the mounds, which would make it hard to attract the Gua Gua Chickens.

He shone his flashlight forward, examining the mounds one by one.

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

There's hope!

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

Gua Gua Chickens!

A rough count showed more than ten Gua Gua Chickens lying there. Some had already closed their eyes, while others, attracted by the flashlight beam, looked warily in this direction.

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

After a minute or so, he opened his eyes again and could barely make out the objects ahead.

Looking carefully in the direction of the Gua Gua Chickens, he could just barely see the shadows, so he walked forward step by step.

!.

Stopping less than a meter from the nearest Gua Gua Chicken, Li Long picked up the scoop net and slowly raised it.

Slowly, he brought it down.

Before the Gua Gua Chicken could react, it was trapped under the scoop net.

It only flapped once before Li Long reached in, pulled it out, and stuffed it into the urea bag.

This one was quite large, weighing half a kilogram, equivalent to more than ten old sparrows.

Li Long was very happy.

Two nearby Gua Gua Chickens moved in panic, but in the end, they couldn't bear to leave the warm little nest under their bellies and did not depart.

Then Li Long caught these two as well with one sweep of the net and stuffed them into the urea bag.

Then one Gua Gua Chicken flew away.

The other Gua Gua Chickens also began to move, so Li Long immediately waved the scoop net and rushed at them. If his movements were slow now, there would be nothing left.

He successfully caught two more Gua Gua Chickens in succession before the others belatedly fluttered away.

Five in total. Li Long looked in the direction the Gua Gua Chickens flew but ultimately did not pursue further.

The snow was too deep, and with an empty stomach, he had no energy left.

Just this brief period of intense activity had made him break out in cold sweat. Now that he had stopped, the sweat turned cold, making him feel very uncomfortable.

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

But with five Gua Gua Chickens in hand, Li Long was in high spirits, like a general who had won a battle.

There will be something delicious to eat tomorrow!

(End of this chapter)