Chapter 35: Hunting in the Mountains

This time, letting Mo Yunshen go to the Educated Youth Station, Peng Yanling was still somewhat afraid; they had been in the Cowshed for four years, doing the heaviest labor and eating the worst food, so not going hungry was already something to be grateful for.

Xiao Yunshen had also gone from being lively and cheerful at the beginning to being taciturn now; as the child became more sensible, the couple's worries only grew deeper.

The arrival of An Xiangbei that day brought a smile to Mo Yunshen's face, and his speech became more frequent; he would explain problems to An Xiangbei and teach him some common knowledge about the mountains.

Every time they went out, they would return smiling; for the two siblings of the An family, Peng Yanling was very grateful.

Yesterday, An Xiangbei came to ask if he could invite Mo Yunshen to their home as a guest.

It wasn't just Mo Yunshen who was anxious; the couple was also very anxious. If they didn't go, they were afraid of making the little friend distant; if they did go, they didn't know the An sister's attitude, and whether it would cause their son to shrink back into his protective shell once more, never to come out again.

Fortunately, they bet correctly.

That's right, it was a bet.

They agreed to An Xiangbei because they saw An Xiangbei's attitude, as well as his politeness and upbringing; they bet on this one time, allowing Yunshen to step out of the Cowshed.

"Are you full today? Should Mom boil some more porridge for you?" Peng Yanling smiled, and as she spoke, she prepared to stand up.

Mo Yunshen hurriedly shook his head, "Mom, I'm so full today."

In these days of material shortages, being full was already a great luxury.

"What did you eat?" Peng Yanling didn't take it to heart; her Yunshen was very sensible and often feared there wasn't enough food at home, so he would say he was full.

She didn't expect that this time, her son was truly full; the four little friends were there without any adults, and everyone ate very happily without any worries, not having to look at anyone else's expression just because they ate a little more.

"There was sweet and sour pork loin, stewed cabbage with white meat, and also a fried meat dish and meatballs, but I still liked the candied sweet potato made by An Jie the best, and I also ate a Steamed Bun and drank sweet mung bean soup." Mo Yunshen introduced it in detail, a peaceful smile on his face, and he spoke much more than usual.

At this moment, An Yinan had already hidden in her space, taking out the prescription given by her friend; the ingredients on it were all very common and were already in her space. She used a high-speed blender to grind the traditional Chinese medicine into powder, then used a small electronic scale to weigh out the corresponding grams of lard and some floral water, then slowly simmered it in a small pot for over half an hour, before pouring the liquid from the pot into a basin to cool; the liquid automatically congealed into a yellowish-brown ointment.

An Yinan searched for a long time before finding a bottle that used to hold small buttons; there were no words on it.

She filled the small bottle with the ointment bit by bit and plugged the opening with a wooden stopper.

"Looks like I need to find someone to custom-make some small bottles," An Yinan pondered to herself.

In these past few days, she had already translated eighty percent of the magazines, and with only one thick one left to translate, she planned to go to the Back Mountain to practice hunting after finishing it tomorrow.

For a fixed target at ten meters, her accuracy could reach one hundred percent; what she needed to practice now was moving targets.

Dawn broke, and An Xiangbei obediently boiled millet porridge and cooked four eggs. He peeled two eggs, placed them in his sister's and his own bowls, put one on the cutting board for Xie Yuanyuan, and put the other in his pocket—this one was for his little friend.

After An Yinan heard the work whistle and came out, she saw Xiangbei drinking his porridge quickly.

"Are you going to the Cowshed in a bit?" An Yinan handed over the glass bottle filled with Anti-crack Ointment from yesterday.

"Give this to Yunshen; I saw his hands were all cracked yesterday. Tell him to apply it once in the morning and once in the evening, and it should be better in a week."

An Xiangbei put the glass bottle into his military-green schoolbag, put the egg from his pocket inside as well, and took a workbook from the room.

"Sister, I'm going to the Cowshed. I'll cook when I get back at noon; Sister Yuanyuan's portion of millet porridge is in the pot, and the egg on the cutting board is too." An Xiangbei carried his schoolbag, making arrangements sentence by sentence, and only ran off happily after he finished.

"Little housekeeper," An Yinan responded coldly, then smiled; having someone for company was a wonderful thing.

After delivering the meal to Xie Yuanyuan, she learned that Comrade Xie had taken the day off; having only been working for a few days, her whole body felt like it didn't belong to her, so she decisively let it go—being looked down upon by Lao Xie didn't seem so unbearable after all...

An Yinan heated five meat buns in the pot, threw them into her space after they were hot, then heated three more meat buns from the pot, wrote a note for An Xiangbei, and stuck it on the edge of the corridor; the white paper was very eye-catching, and Xiangbei would see it as soon as he got home.

Picking up a large basket, An Yinan walked into the Back Mountain; this time she didn't stop, noting the locations of the mountain goods, and continued walking deeper into the mountains.

Not until she reached a place where wild rabbits appeared frequently did she throw the large basket into her space and take out a handful of pebbles.

"Boom." A huge sound hit a tree, and the fattest rabbit closest to it shivered in fright.

While the rabbit was too scared to move, another pebble struck, and that fat rabbit was instantly hit in the head.

An Yinan rubbed her wrist and emphasized to herself a few times, "Less force, less force, less force."

The very first pebble had already embedded itself into the tree, and since it was her first time practicing, she was a bit nervous, and when she was nervous, her strength tended to increase...

An Yinan walked over, threw the fat rabbit into her space, and continued walking inward.

After walking less than a hundred meters, she saw a group of wild rabbits hopping around on the ground—it was quite a spectacle.

Rabbits breed very quickly, and no one had hunted in the Back Mountain for years, which led to them being visible everywhere in half the mountain.

An Yinan rubbed the pebbles in her hand with her thumb, her eyes like an eagle's; the peaceful aura on her body faded, leaving behind a coldness and focus.

"Piu~" The sound of the pebble cutting through the wind quickly struck the head of a wild rabbit; that wild rabbit was lowering its head to eat grass and didn't notice the movement around it at all.

The sound wasn't loud; apart from the sound of the rabbit falling to the ground, no other noise was made—a single strike was fatal.

"Piu~Piu~Piu~" Three sounds of breaking through the air; the landing point of every pebble was a rabbit that had stopped moving—some were lying on the grass sleeping, others were lowering their heads to eat grass.

The three wild rabbits went silent, but the surrounding rabbits also discovered something was wrong and scattered in a flurry.

"The opportunity is here." The pebbles in An Yinan's hands were thrown out continuously; because of the immense force, the pebbles didn't follow a parabolic arc, but a straight line.

Dynamic targets were very hard to hit; she threw ten pebbles and only hit three rabbits. Regarding this harvest, An Yinan expressed that she was very satisfied.

She walked over, collected the four rabbits she had just hit, and went to pick up the three scattered ones and threw them into her space.

She didn't dare to go further forward now; with her current ability, if she encountered large wild boars or wolves, she could only hide in her space.