After finishing a bowl of cornmeal paste, Zhou Cang had mostly recovered and was now staring blankly at the calendar hanging on the wall above the kang.
"1960!"
He had actually returned to this era where people could starve to death. Just now, the little girl had watched him drink porridge with longing eyes. Zhou Cang wanted to share it with her, but she refused adamantly. In the end, he practically forced her to drink two mouthfuls.
"Is there no food left at home?" Zhou Cang couldn't help but ask.
"None left. After this meal, I'll go to Uncle Zhang's house to borrow some grain," Zhang Yue whispered. She really didn't want to go to Uncle Zhang's house, but he was a relative after all. He couldn't just watch Fugui starve to death, could he? No one else in the Village would care about them.
"No!" Zhou Cang remembered what he had heard while in the coffin. Sending Zhang Yue to borrow grain would be like leading a sheep into a tiger's den, wouldn't it?
"I'll figure something out!" Zhou Cang already knew this was the Xing'an Mountains in Northeast China, a place with many wild animals. With his abilities, getting some wild game would be easy.
Moreover, the original owner Zhang Fugui's physique far surpassed ordinary people, combined with his own wilderness survival experience. The deep mountains and old forests were a death trap for others, but for him, they were a supply depot!
Zhou Cang had already made up his mind. Since heaven had given him this opportunity, he would cherish it and take good care of the little girl for Zhang Fugui. Perhaps this was the task heaven had given him.
"Um, Zhang Yue..."
"What is it, Fugui?"
"You wait for me at home, I'm going into the mountains to hunt something and bring it back!" Zhou Cang said.
"Don't go!" Zhang Yue immediately refused. "Last time you went into the mountains, you almost died, and you even ended up in a coffin."
"With your simple mind, what could you possibly catch? Don't just feed the wolves again!" the little girl said firmly.
Zhou Cang looked at the gesticulating little girl and chuckled slightly. "Don't worry, my mind is fine now!"
"What?" Zhang Yue was startled. She had been a little curious herself but hadn't thought much about it. Fugui was indeed different since waking up this time. Before, his mind was damaged from a fever, and now, after almost freezing to death, his mind was better?
"Then I'll go with you!" The little girl's face showed stubbornness.
"No, if I encounter danger alone, I can run, but with you, I can't!" Zhou Cang said.
"Don't worry, I won't go too far. I'll definitely be back before dark!" In the winter in Northeast China, it gradually gets dark around three or four in the afternoon.
Hearing him say that, Zhang Yue also knew that she would definitely be a burden if she followed him into the mountains, so she stopped arguing. At worst, if Fugui died, she would just follow him.
She found Fu Gui's father's hunting equipment and handed it to Zhou Cang: a hunting bow, seven or eight arrows, a sharp knife about forty centimeters long, and two bundles of thick hemp rope and a spear.
With just these few items, Fu Gui's father became a famous Hunter within a ten-mile radius, but unfortunately, he ultimately died under the tusks of a wild boar.
In Northeast China, there's a saying: one boar, two bears, three tigers.
Wild boars are not very intelligent, but they are incredibly reckless. They usually like to roll in the mud, and when they get itchy, they rub against pine trees, getting pine resin all over themselves, then roll in the mud again.
These already thick-skinned creatures become like they're covered in armor, and what's more, their agility is not low; in fact, it can be said to be extremely fast!
So, even bears or tigers are unwilling to directly confront an adult wild boar!
Zhou Cang dressed himself, and relying on the original Fugui's memories of the mountain forest in his mind, he set off. And at Zhang Yue's strong insistence, he also tied a quilt to his back.
If they didn't get anything today, they would run out of food tomorrow!
Along the way, he used his knife to make marks on the trees on the path, this was their retreat, not to be careless. Whenever he saw rabbit or pheasant footprints, he would make a few snare traps with thin hemp rope. As long as a small animal stepped on it, it would be caught.
From time to time, he would also swing his knife to cut branches, partly to clear his path, and partly to familiarize himself with this body. Zhou Cang was pleasantly surprised to find that this body's strength and agility were not much worse than his own in his previous life. With a slight push of his legs, he could dart several meters through the mountain forest. It was practically a natural jungle physique!
This was the body of an untrained 19-year-old boy, yet it could almost rival the physique he had cultivated through years of training and battlefield combat in his previous life. Incredible! Was this the innate talent of mountain youths?
Thus, he advanced while pondering and scanning his surroundings with his eyes.
Suddenly, a gray dog darted across a tree branch ahead. Zhou Cang immediately perked up. A gray dog is a Northeast squirrel. The fur of these small creatures could be used to make coats or exchanged for money.
However, what was most important to Zhou Cang at the moment was that the presence of a gray dog meant there was food. Although a gray dog doesn't have much meat, it likes to store pine nuts, hazelnuts, and other nuts in tree hollows or bury them in the ground. Zhou Cang was going to raid its nest!
The gray dog scurried through the trees, and Zhou Cang chased it on the ground. After following for a while, he indeed found a few handfuls of pine nuts and hazelnuts in a tree hollow. These items are high in fat, and eating a few roasted ones could stave off hunger. For people in this era who lacked oil in their diets, they were definitely good things.
After digging, he continued forward. Turning around a ridge, Zhou Cang looked at the mountain hollow not far away. This area was sunny, sheltered from the wind, and overgrown with shrubs and weeds, making it perfect for nesting. There was definitely something inside!
After surveying the terrain, Zhou Cang put his knife back into the sheath at his waist, then took his bow and arrows from his back and held them in his left hand, holding the spear in his right hand. He quietly crept up from the side.
From this vantage point, he could clearly see into the mountain hollow. A flock of pheasants was living in a patch of dry, flattened mugwort!
The pheasants also had gray feathers, similar in color to the mugwort, so they were not easy to spot if you didn't look closely. It seemed this flock of pheasants was huddled together, sunbathing and sleeping!
Although the distance was less than twenty meters, if he shot with a bow and arrow, even if he hit one, he would only get one. The injured pheasant's struggles would surely scare the others away.
Zhou Cang put down his bow, spear, and satchel. Except for the knife at his waist, he removed all his gear. He opened the quilt, grabbed the corners with both hands, and slowly approached the pheasants.
He painstakingly moved for half an hour over a distance of more than ten meters, finally getting close enough. He aimed at a few pheasants that were close together, lifted the quilt, and suddenly pounced!
A large cotton quilt descended from the sky, followed by the one-meter-ninety Zhou Cang, instantly covering seven or eight pheasants!
Several unlucky ones were crushed to death by Zhou Cang on the spot, and the remaining few that were struggling were knocked unconscious by his fists through the quilt!
He lifted the quilt to see a brightly colored rooster and eight hens. He had actually caught nine in one go!
He wrung the neck of each pheasant, then tied them with hemp rope and hung them on the spear. He hadn't expected such a big harvest so soon after entering the mountains. Zhou Cang carried the pheasants, ready to go home.
Thinking about how Zhang Yue had eaten almost nothing that morning, he now only wanted to quickly bring the pheasants back for the little girl to eat meat and drink soup!