Chapter 918

The voice was loud, but Li Long could tell that the direction of the sound was not within the direct line of fire of the rifles, and the distance was not close—at least thirty or forty meters away.

Upon hearing the shout, everyone immediately lowered their guns, fearing they might hit someone. It was precisely because of this shout that the remaining red deer, which could have been hit by another round of fire, took the opportunity to escape.

There were four red deer lying on the ground. Li Long knew which one was his, but he wasn't sure who had shot the others.

It clearly wasn't enough to go around. He felt a bit regretful; if those people hadn't shouted, they could have at least gotten one for each family.

He could have fired at least one more shot.

But there was still no movement in the Red Willow Beach, so Li Long shouted:

"We've put our guns away, you can come out!" He guessed that the people over there must have been afraid of more shooting, which was why they hadn't dared to come out.

A few seconds after he finished shouting, figures appeared in the northeast.

Two people: one holding a gun, and one holding a stick.

Seeing that Li Long and his group had slung their guns over their shoulders, the one with the gun finally put his away. He still looked a bit cautious as he walked over.

"Where are you people from? Why are you shooting wildly here?" The man with the gun was very angry and questioned them as soon as he arrived. He directed his questioning at Li Jianguo, who was the oldest, naturally assuming that he was the leader of the group.

"What's the matter? Where is it written that hunting isn't allowed here?" Li Long stepped forward and, without waiting for Li Jianguo to respond, asked, "What's the matter, does this sand hollow have an owner now?"

The man was choked up for a moment. He glanced at Li Long and replied, "Although there's no owner, shouldn't you notify people to see if anyone is inside before hunting?"

"Then you ran into the sand hollow without notifying the people outside that you were in there, did you? Why don't you say what you're doing here?" This time it was Liang Dacheng who spoke.

Since Li Long had set the tone, the others knew how to respond. Everyone here had guns, so they couldn't be cowed, especially since the other party had started by accusing them the moment they opened their mouths—no one could stand for that.

Of course, as to whether there was anything wrong with shooting, that was a vague concept. Who could have known there were people inside the Red Willow Beach?

You couldn't just fire a shot into the air before every hunt; if you did that, what kind of hunting would you be doing?

The man turned bright red upon hearing Liang Dacheng's words, clearly very angry. The man next to him with the stick, whether out of honesty or fear, spoke up honestly:

"We're from the Second Company. Our horses got lost, so we came out to look for them..."

So they were from the Corps.

Li Long vaguely remembered that Wang Mingjun and the others were from the Fourth Company. Did that mean they were in the same regiment?

The man with the gun glared at the one with the stick, seemingly feeling that he shouldn't have shown such weakness.

"You should make more noise when looking for horses." Li Long, certain this was a misunderstanding, asked, "Did you see that herd of deer just now? Why didn't you shoot?"

"Didn't see them. They saw us first and then ran this way. There are too many red willows; we couldn't shoot at all..." The one with the stick continued, and only after he finished did he glance at the one with the gun, clearly realizing he had said too much.

The man with the gun glared at the one with the stick again, thinking this guy was truly stupid.

"How about this," Li Long thought for a moment and said, "we can consider this a case of not knowing each other until we fought. These deer, although we shot them, were startled over by you; otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to hit them either. We'll give you each a deer leg. We mainly need the deer hides, how about that?"

The one with the stick immediately agreed with delight. The one with the gun didn't say anything, which was likely tacit consent.

Actually, they didn't have to give them anything, but Li Long felt that if the others hadn't startled the red deer, they honestly might not have had such an easy time hunting.

He handed his gun to his older brother next to him and noticed that Li Jianguo had been staring at the one with the stick the whole time. The two men—the one with the stick was nearly forty, and the one with the gun was nearly fifty—were not young.

Li Long didn't think too much about it. He pulled out his knife, chose a doe at random, skillfully skinned the two hind legs, removed them, and handed one to each of the two men.

Seeing Li Long's knife work so skillful, the expressions of the two men changed. The one with the gun wasn't as angry anymore and took the deer leg.

The one with the stick thanked him several times, kept saying he was sorry, and then suddenly remembered something. He pointed to the northeast and said:

"If you're going further in, over there, about two or three kilometers away, there's a saxaul forest. We saw a herd of yellow sheep there yesterday. They ran off when we went over, but I don't know if they'll come back... If you're hunting, you can go take a look."

The man with the gun was truly defeated this time. Was this guy sent by the other side to infiltrate them? Why was he siding with them? Was he bought off by a single deer leg? Was his backbone that soft?

Just at this moment, Li Jianguo finally spoke:

"Second Company? Do you know someone named Luo Erwa?"

"I am Luo Erwa!" The man holding the stick and the deer leg looked at Li Jianguo earnestly. "This brother, why do I feel like your face is so familiar? Have we met?"

"Erwa? You're Erwa?" Li Jianguo was surprised at first, then smiled. "I'm the old Quartermaster of the Fourth Company, Li Jianguo!"

"Hey!" Luo Erwa stared at Li Jianguo again and thumped his stick hard on the ground. "You're Brother Jianguo? Really? Do you remember when several companies teamed up to dig the big canal, and I went to your kitchen to eat steamed buns?"

"How could I not remember? I thought you looked like him just now, just much thinner—and looking quite old. You're several years younger than me, so why do you look older than me now?"

At this moment, no matter how you looked at it, this Luo Erwa seemed older than Li Jianguo, yet Luo Erwa called Li Jianguo "Brother."

"That's because you look young for your age." Luo Erwa sighed. "You look like you've only aged a few years since then. Look at your complexion, just like a city person..."

He turned his head and glanced at the man with the gun next to him, who looked nearly fifty. Luo Erwa looked back at Li Jianguo and said:

"This is He Suozhu, the militia platoon leader of my company. He's forty this year..."

Alright, Li Long understood.

The living conditions of the people on his side in the Fourth Squad were considered good, and the average living standard of the Fourth Squad was much better than others in the county.

At this time, the living conditions in the Corps might be better than in the local areas in some places, and harder in others, so it was hard to say, but their lives were definitely not as good as the Li family's.

Since eating old sparrows and partridges in the winter of '81, the Li family had never lacked meat.

So whether it was Li Qing Xia and his wife, Li Jianguo and his wife, or the siblings Li Juan and Li Qiang, they all looked different from their peers at the time.

Li Juan and Li Qiang were sturdier and taller, while Li Jianguo and Liang Wenyu looked younger than their peers.

A rich diet has the external manifestation of making people look more energetic.

It wasn't very obvious in the village, but once they came out, the contrast was clear.

Because they knew each other, the slightly unnatural atmosphere suddenly became harmonious. Li Jianguo and Luo Erwa chatted about the past, while Li Long and the others took advantage of the fact that the doe hadn't stiffened yet to quickly skin and butcher it. Jia Dong took a moment to go to the tractor, started it up, and brought back some bags.

This deer was processed, and they left the remaining ones for now. Li Long still remembered the saxaul forest Luo Erwa had mentioned and wanted to go see if there were any yellow sheep there.

"Brother Jianguo, you have to come to my place for a meal," Luo Erwa invited sincerely. "It's been so many years, we must have a lot to talk about."

"Not today," Li Jianguo waved his hand. "We still have things to do today. You saw it, I didn't come alone. We're out hunting, and it's not time yet, so we have to go further in and see if we can hit some yellow sheep or something."

"Alright, alright, you must come over when you have time later. Your family is in that Fourth Squad, right? I'll come see you when I have time." Luo Erwa was very talkative now.

Knowing that Li Jianguo and the others still had to hunt, Luo Erwa didn't stay long and left with the deer leg. Although the other man was a bit dissatisfied, he couldn't say anything at the moment.

After the two men left, they moved the deer back to the tractor. Jia Dong kept watch by the tractor, while Li Long and the others took their guns and headed in the direction Luo Erwa had pointed out.

Luo Erwa and his companion had to find their horses, so they didn't go along. They had to find the horses before dark today; otherwise, the horses might be surrounded by wolves and possibly eaten.

Horses were public property of the company and couldn't be lost. Li Long and the others walked for over half an hour and arrived at the outskirts of the saxaul forest.

The tender twigs of the saxaul are food for wild animals in winter. Although not as tasty as the tender grass of summer, they were better than the withered grass on the ground at this time.

So this herd of yellow sheep had actually heard the previous gunshots. After hearing them, they had fled quickly, but because they didn't see anyone coming, the yellow sheep had returned and were continuing to gnaw on the tender saxaul twigs in the snow.

When Li Long and the others arrived, the yellow sheep had already seen them, but their movements were not large, and the yellow sheep were not sufficiently vigilant. By the time Li Long and the others were less than a hundred meters away, the most vigilant yellow sheep began to stir, hoofing it away from the saxaul forest, also moving away from danger.

"Get ready to shoot, we can't get any closer," Li Long said. "These yellow sheep are very cautious; if we get any closer, they'll run off in a herd."

Several people lined up, half-crouched, holding their guns and looking for their respective targets.

Li Long looked further into the distance—because the saxaul forest was sparser than the previous red willow forest, he could see into the distance through the not-very-tall saxaul trees. There were no people there.

No need to worry about accidental injury this time.

"Should we get closer?" Li Jianguo was a bit worried. "I don't think our sand guns can shoot that far, can they?"

Li Long suddenly realized that only his Type 56 semi-automatic still had accuracy and power at that distance; sand guns didn't have such power at that range. He nodded and said:

"Then we have to keep our bodies low and move over slowly."

"Alright," the others all agreed.

"No need to crawl, just crouch and move over slowly." Li Long crouched down and looked ahead. He could see that the "dwarf shrubs" exposed above the snow in front could actually block the line of sight, so they didn't need to go to that much trouble.

Crouching and moving forward for thirty or forty meters, they got closer and closer to the yellow sheep. Some yellow sheep had already left the saxaul forest and headed deep into the sand hollows.

This large herd of yellow sheep was composed of many small groups. Some small groups of yellow sheep were highly vigilant and left early, while others were still greedy for the tender saxaul twigs and reluctant to leave.

They wanted to eat their fill before the bigger snow came.

"Get ready to fire." Less than fifty meters from the herd, Li Long and the others had approached the edge of the saxaul forest. Seeing the forest already in a stir, he said, "Shoot as many as you can!"

This herd of yellow sheep currently had fifty or sixty animals. Li Long could guarantee that before the yellow sheep ran far away, he could fire at least two shots.

He also believed these two shots would definitely hit two yellow sheep. Right now, what he needed to do was choose which yellow sheep to target.

The tasty one, or the one with the big hide?

Li Long hesitated only slightly before choosing the former.

A yellow sheep about a year and a half old was currently resting its front hooves on a saxaul tree, stretching its neck to reach the tender twigs near the top—the ones closer to the ground had all been eaten by other yellow sheep, so it had to struggle to reach the ones above.

"Bang!" Li Long hit the yellow sheep in the head with one shot. He didn't even look at the result of his shot, turned his gun, and aimed at another yellow sheep not far away that was lowering its head to dig through the snow, then pulled the trigger:

"Bang!"

Then the others on the side began to shoot: "Bang, bang, bang, bang!"

Two yellow sheep fell. Li Long watched the yellow sheep herd, which had already exploded, and adjusted his muzzle. At this point, there was no way to aim precisely, so he could only aim again by feel at a yellow sheep running sideways: "Bang!"

The third yellow sheep fell. A joy welled up in Li Long's heart, and at the same time, he aimed at a fourth yellow sheep. "Bang, bang, bang," three shots in succession finally brought that yellow sheep down. When he turned his muzzle again, as far as his eyes could see, the yellow sheep had turned into black dots, and he couldn't aim at them anymore.

Li Long breathed a sigh of relief and stood up with his gun. Only then did he notice that his older brother Li Jianguo and the others were all looking at him.

"What's wrong?" Li Long was a bit surprised. "Why are you looking at me?"

"Brother Long, you're really amazing!" Tao Daqiang's face was full of sincere admiration. "We each fired two shots, and you shot four yellow sheep all by yourself!"

So that was it. Li Long smiled and asked, "How about it? How many did you all hit?"

"I got two," Li Jianguo smiled, put away his sand gun, and slung it over his shoulder.

"I got two as well." Tao Daqiang had that confidence; he had always felt that the best hunter in the squad was Li Long, followed by himself. Although he had been married for two years and his life was stable, he had spent many days hunting with Li Long before, and the others couldn't compare.

"I only got one," Xie Yun Dong said, a bit embarrassed. "My marksmanship still needs practice."

"I also got one, and I wounded another, but it didn't die and ran away," Liang Dacheng also said, a bit embarrassed. "The recoil of this gun is bigger than the Type 56, I'm not used to it yet."

That was the truth.

"Hmm, let's go, get the yellow sheep back, we need to hurry home," Li Long said. "This trip was quite a harvest. Brother Dong, just take one from me to bring back."

Xie Yun Dong hadn't hit anything during the four red deer last time, and Jia Dong hadn't either, so Jia Dong hadn't gotten a share. There were plenty of yellow sheep this time, so Li Long decided to give one of his own to Jia Dong, which could also count as payment for driving the tractor.

The others naturally had no objections. At least everyone had a harvest; that was enough.

There were quite a few yellow sheep. Fortunately, they had brought ropes when they came. If they couldn't carry them on their backs, they used ropes to drag them back through the snow. Li Long now missed the plastic sheet he used when hunting in the mountains a few years ago; he hadn't brought that stuff this time, thinking they had a tractor.

Fortunately, the distance wasn't particularly far, and the yellow sheep weren't particularly heavy. Each person took two, dragged them with ropes, and after more than an hour, they returned to the tractor.

Jia Dong hadn't expected such a big harvest of yellow sheep this time. He smiled: "Not bad, not bad, really amazing!"

"Brother Long shot four all by himself!" Tao Daqiang was always Li Long's little fanboy. He said excitedly, "He said one is for you."

"Hmm, then I'll take it," Jia Dong also knew there was no need to be polite at this time, and said with a smile, "When we come again tomorrow, it should be my turn to shoot. If I shoot more, I'll give some back."

Whether he could do it was hard to say, but he had put the words out there. Li Long could see that Jia Dong was sincere.

They piled the yellow sheep in the tractor and tied them up with ropes. This time, Xie Yun Dong volunteered to sit in the tractor bed; he wanted to keep an eye on the yellow sheep.

Li Long and the others drove the jeep back. In the car, Li Jianguo, Tao Daqiang, and the others were eating the food they had brought.

Although it was a bit cold, they were hungry and couldn't care less. It was mainly braised meat. Li Long himself would occasionally grab a piece and chew on it—there were no cameras at this time, and his driving skills were very good; holding the steering wheel with one hand was normal, so he ate slowly and wasn't hungry anymore.

Of course, what he was thinking about was getting home quickly to eat some hot food; it was better than this ice-cold stuff.

Over an hour later, the jeep returned to the squad and arrived at the Li family's place first. The tractor would take at least another hour to arrive, so they still needed to wait a while.

The Li family had long since prepared dinner. As soon as the jeep arrived, the four of them were welcomed in, followed by washing their hands, warming up, and then eating.

Rice porridge—what the locals called "white rice weak"—wasn't very thick, but the porridge oil was very rich. The warm feeling when drinking it went all the way to their stomachs.

White flour steamed buns were sliced and toasted until golden brown, meat-fried pickles were very oily, plus a large basin of shredded potatoes and a plate of braised mutton. Although there weren't many varieties, the portions were very generous.

"Little Jia and Xie Yun Dong are behind, right? Their food is left in the pot," Liang Wenyu said with a smile. "They must have frozen to death this time."

"But they're happy," Tao Daqiang said while eating. "Brother Long shot four yellow sheep and gave Jia Dong one. This way everyone has a harvest. A hide is worth thirty or forty yuan, so what's a little freezing?"

He had shot one red deer and two yellow sheep himself, so his income for the day was over a hundred; he was definitely happy.

Even Jia Dong, who had the smallest harvest, could get a yellow sheep. Not to mention the hide, the meat alone could be eaten for several days.

It was very good.

At this time, people in the squad were already starting to discuss it. After all, the jeep had returned, but the tractor hadn't. The group of people who had entered the Li family's house—had they actually shot anything or not? (End of chapter)