Chapter 577

The two men of the Wei family, father and son, were dreaming of a comeback when suddenly a sharp, biting cold wind from the foot of Mount Changbai swept across their faces, making them shiver uncontrollably.

Wei Yongzheng sighed, "Damn it, the wind in this godforsaken place is too vicious. A single gust has chilled me to the bone. Let's get out of here quickly."

"Right!" Wei Changming also felt the bone-piercing cold; he quickly hunched his shoulders, stood up to brush the snow off his backside, and reached out to pull his father up.

It must be said that during this time of relying on each other for survival at Mount Changbai, the bond between father and son had grown much stronger than before.

In the past, although Wei Yongzheng favored this eldest son, for a selfish man like him, it was truly difficult to ever open his heart to anyone.

So, his feelings for Wei Changming were actually just average—only slightly better than his feelings for Wei Liang.

Wei Changming had always been a spoiled second-generation rich kid, thinking only of debauchery and chasing women every day, and he hadn't been very close to his father.

This was mainly because, when Wei Changming was young, he often heard his mother instill in him that his father was a man who didn't care for his family and kept women everywhere.

This made Wei Changming harbor resentment toward the old man from a young age.

However, upon arriving at Mount Changbai, the father and son had to work together to survive, which allowed them to set aside their mutual prejudices and become increasingly dependent on each other.

Everyone knew that in this environment, one could not afford to lose the other.

If they lost the other, the one remaining would certainly lack the courage and the ability to continue living.

The father and son walked from the foot of the mountain toward the distant, flickering lights.

The place with the lights was the village where they lived, still three or four miles away from the foot of the mountain.

As they walked, Wei Changming said, "Dad, Li the hunter in the village hunted a roe deer in the mountains yesterday. I heard that roe deer meat is delicious. Should we go to his place later and see? Let's find a chance to swipe a couple of jin of roe deer meat!"

"Swipe his meat?" Wei Yongzheng sighed, "That guy named Li is incredibly stingy. Last time he hunted a wild boar weighing over 500 jin, I asked him for a piece of pig intestine and he wouldn't even give it to me, telling me to pay him instead."

As he spoke, Wei Yongzheng grumbled, "Do you know what that hunter Li is named?"

Wei Changming shook his head, "How would I know what he's named? I only know his surname is Li."

Wei Yongzheng spat on the ground and said with disdain, "Damn it, a hunter who doesn't know a single character named himself Li Wenhao. I even asked him, 'A literary giant, huh? Can you even write your own name?' Guess what he said?"

Wei Changming asked curiously, "What did he say?"

Wei Yongzheng chuckled, "He said he could only write 'Li Wen,' but couldn't even write the character 'Hao'."

Wei Changming laughed, "If I'd known, I would've taught him to write 'Hao.' Once he learned, I'd make him pay two jin of meat as tuition."

Wei Yongzheng said, "Asking him for meat? He wouldn't even give you the pig skin."

Wei Changming said, "I see it's cold now, dozens of degrees below zero outside. He must have already slaughtered the roe deer he caught, and the meat is hanging in the courtyard freezing. Later, we'll climb over the wall, steal a piece to taste, and consider it a nutritional supplement."

Upon hearing this, Wei Yongzheng quickly said, "Then hurry and hide one of the ginseng roots we dug today inside your clothes. Don't hand them all over. Tomorrow, we'll use this ginseng to stew the roe deer meat; it'll definitely be a great tonic!"

"You got it, just watch me!"

Saying this, Wei Changming took out a ginseng root and stuffed it into his underwear.

The ginseng, frozen rock-hard, went into his underwear, and the cold made him howl.

Wei Yongzheng said with a look of disgust, "How could you stuff it there? How the hell are we supposed to eat it now?"

Wei Changming said, "It's fine, just wash it a few times. If I don't stuff it in my crotch, there's no way to hide it. They'll search us, you know that."

"Fine!" Wei Yongzheng said helplessly, "But make sure to wash it well later. It's best to blanch it in boiling water."

Wei Changming waved his hand, "Oh Dad, you don't understand. If you blanch ginseng in hot water, all the nutrients will go into the water."

Wei Yongzheng could only nod, sighing, "If only we could get two jin of liquor. We could soak the ginseng in the liquor, bring it into the mountains, and take a sip when it's cold. Man, that would be wonderful!"

Wei Changming said, "Widow Li seems to know how to brew liquor. I'll chat with her when I get a chance; maybe she has some hidden away."

The father and son chatted as they walked through the cold wind, and after more than half an hour, they reached the entrance of the village.

They didn't return to their dilapidated house immediately, but instead crept in the dark toward the home of Li the hunter.

Although life at the foot of Mount Changbai was poor, everyone lived off the mountain, so they didn't lack for much.

In the past, the whole village often went into the mountains to hunt.

But now, most of the young people have gone out to seek their fortunes, so not many people hunt anymore.

Li the hunter was the only professional hunter in the entire village.

If anyone in the village wanted to eat game, they would use money or other items to trade with him for some meat.

Wei Changming had been coveting his game for a long time because he was so poor he couldn't even afford to fill his stomach, let alone have anything extra to trade for meat.

Today, he was truly too hungry, and since Li the hunter had just hunted a roe deer yesterday, he set his mind on getting some meat to taste, no matter what.

Arriving outside the wall of Li the hunter's house, Wei Changming peeked over the wall and sure enough, there were pieces of roe deer meat hanging in the courtyard.

So he whispered to his father, Wei Yongzheng, "Crouch down and let me step on your shoulders to get up."

Wei Yongzheng was also truly hungry, so he quickly crouched down by the corner of the wall, let Wei Changming step on him, and climbed into the courtyard.

Wei Changming succeeded quickly, stealing a roe deer leg, and crawled out with it hanging from his waist.

As soon as he crawled out, he said excitedly to his father, "This leg is at least ten-plus jin; it's enough for us to eat for a week."

"Good, good, good!" Wei Yongzheng clapped his hands in excitement.

They hadn't eaten meat in ages, and with this much, they were really going to have a feast.

The father and son were just about to head back in excitement.

Suddenly, more than a dozen masked men in black rushed out from the shadows.

Even more terrifying was that all of these dozen people were armed; seven or eight held knives, and five or six held handguns.

The father and son were stunned. Wei Changming said with a mournful face, "Gentlemen, we're just here to steal some meat to eat. Is such a big display really necessary?"

Wei Yongzheng was also terrified and quickly said to him, "What are you still standing there for? Hurry up and return the meat to them."

Wei Changming quickly threw the roe deer leg on the ground and begged for mercy, "Gentlemen, please show mercy."

These dozen people surrounded the father and son, and one of them blurted out, "Are you Wei Yongzheng and Wei Changming?"

Wei Yongzheng nodded blankly and asked, "What do you gentlemen want?"

The man said coldly, "We were sent by the Wu family of Su Hang to rescue you two and take you away. The cars are already waiting at the village entrance. Come with us now; we're taking you back to Jin Ling!"

Upon hearing this, the father and son were stunned, and then both burst into tears.

The two looked at each other and hugged, weeping bitterly.

They never expected that they would actually have a day where they could finally see the light at the end of the tunnel!

So, the father and son knelt on the ground, kowtowing and crying, "Thank you, gentlemen! Thank you for your great kindness! Our father and son will never forget this in our lifetime!"