On the way back, Zhou Cang's previously set snare had also yielded a catch; a large grey rabbit was caught by its hind leg.
Seeing Zhou Cang approach, it struggled desperately but couldn't break free.
Zhou Cang rushed over and twisted the rabbit's neck, then hung it along with the pheasant on his spear, and joyfully ran home.
"Zhang Yue, come and see!" Zhou Cang shouted as soon as he entered the yard.
"Oh! A pheasant! And a rabbit!" The little girl circled Zhou Cang happily.
Finally, there was meat to eat; she couldn't remember the last time she had eaten meat—a year ago? Or two years?
She couldn't even remember the feeling of being full the last time.
"Hurry and boil water, we'll stew the chicken!" Zhou Cang said softly.
"Okay!" Zhang Yue had been observant and quick since she was young, with the efficiency of a Village girl, and soon had the water boiling.
They scalded the two pheasants with boiling water and, with many hands, plucked the feathers.
Once most of the feathers were gone, they singed them with a flaming piece of wood, then gutted them.
Except for the feathers, droppings, and gallbladders, everything else was chopped up and put into the pot to stew.
Soon, a fragrant aroma wafted from the large pot on the stove!
It was the long-lost smell of chicken, and both of their stomachs rumbled continuously!
"You watch the pot, don't let it dry out.
I'll go exchange the pheasant for some grain," Zhou Cang said to Zhang Yue, who was drooling while warming herself by the fire.
He knew that while eating only chicken could fill them up, they still needed to exchange for some grain.
If they truly only ate lean meat like chicken and rabbit, which are high in protein and low in fat, even with an unlimited supply, people would still lose weight until they starved to death!
It might sound unbelievable—how could one starve to death from eating meat?
But that's the reality; the human body consumes energy to break down lean meat.
To survive, one must try to eat as much fat as possible.
Carrying four pheasants, Zhou Cang walked all the way to the Production Team Leader's house.
The Production Team Leader was named Zhao Kaishan, a man in his forties, with a wife and two sons.
There were two reasons for choosing to go to the Production Team Leader's house: first, the Production Team Leader's house definitely had grain; second, according to the original owner's memory, Zhao Kaishan and Fu Gui's father had a good relationship.
Fu Gui's father was originally the Production Team's mountain patrolman.
Besides working in the fields, whenever wild beasts entered the Village or harmed crops, Fu Gui's father would kill or drive them away.
Before the autumn harvest this year, in order to protect the Production Team's crops from being damaged by wild boars, Fu Gui's father hunted several litters of wild boars, but unexpectedly, he ended up sacrificing himself.
"Uncle Zhao, are you home?" Zhou Cang shouted at the door when he arrived at Zhao Kaishan's house.
"Oh, Fugui, come in quickly!" A short-haired middle-aged woman pushed the door open and ushered Zhou Cang inside.
"Auntie, it's me.
Is Uncle Zhao home?" Zhou Cang asked as he walked in.
"He's here!
You haven't eaten yet, have you?
Come sit on the kang and eat with us!" a middle-aged man on the kang said; it was Zhao Kaishan.
"No, thank you, Uncle Zhao.
I caught a few pheasants and want to exchange them for some grain with the Production Team.
What do you think?" Zhou Cang looked at the food on the kang table: several cornmeal pancakes, cabbage soup, and a dish of soybean paste.
It seemed that even the Production Team Leader's family didn't have much oil and fat in their diet in those years.
"Alright, your father used to exchange mountain goods for things with the Production Team too.
What do you want to exchange for?" Zhao Kaishan asked while picking up two pancakes and handing them to Zhou Cang.
His two sons stared at the pheasants, gulping, and fiercely bit into their pancakes.
"These are four pheasants, one male and three female.
Could you exchange them for some grain and potatoes, please?" Zhou Cang didn't take the pancakes; he pointed at the pheasants on the ground and said.
"Okay, then I'll give you ten catties of sorghum, half a bag of potatoes, and two cabbages.
How does that sound?"
"Thank you, Uncle Zhao!" Zhou Cang hadn't expected the other party to be so generous.
"Don't thank me.
Your father sacrificed himself for the Production Team, so it's only right to give you a bit more.
By the way, is your family running out of grain?
We just gave your family fifty catties of millet as a condolence payment last month.
Did you finish it so quickly?" Zhao Kaishan asked.
Zhou Cang was stunned to hear this.
"Condolence payment?"
"Yes, your second uncle came to collect it.
Didn't he give it to you?"
"No," Zhou Cang shook his head.
Zhao Kaishan's face fell a little.
He had already guessed it; Fugui's inhumane second uncle, Zhang Deben, had most likely kept the two bags of millet.
"Damn that Zhang Deben, that scoundrel!" Zhao Kaishan slammed the table and angrily said, "Eldest, second, stop eating, come with me!"
After speaking, he got off the kang and put on his shoes, saying to Zhou Cang as he did so, "You eat here, then take the grain home and just wait!"
Seeing his stance, he was clearly going to settle accounts with Fugui's second uncle.
Thinking about it, it made sense.
The grain he had given to Fugui's family had been secretly kept by Zhang Deben.
In the future, the villagers would say that Zhao Kaishan was not a good person, that he didn't care about the orphans' lives!
How could he continue to be the Production Team Leader then!
Zhou Cang, who understood what was going on, secretly chuckled and no longer stood on ceremony.
He grabbed the pancakes and devoured them in a few bites.
Looking at the grain Zhao Kaishan's wife brought out, he wiped his mouth, hoisted it onto his shoulder, and left.
Meanwhile, Zhao Kaishan, with his two sons, stormed out the door.
Back home, smelling the fragrant aroma filling the house, Zhou Cang felt life was so beautiful.
He had grain in his hands, and a little girl waiting for him in the house.
They scooped out the chicken, washed the rice, and put it into the pot.
The two of them stared at a basin of chicken and devoured it like a whirlwind.
Zhang Yue hadn't eaten so much in a long time.
She held a chicken drumstick in her hand, eating with oil dripping from her mouth.
Zhou Cang hadn't experienced prolonged hunger, but infected by Zhang Yue's enthusiasm, he also ate heartily.
Finally, they both soaked a large bowl of rice in the vegetable soup.
After eating their fill, the two of them lay on the kang, catching their breath.
At this moment, Zhang Yue was incredibly happy.
Not only had Fugui brother come back to life, but he had also brought her pheasant to eat and even exchanged for grain!
From not being able to survive to eating meat until full, it all happened within a single day!
She even wondered if she was dreaming!
Zhang Yue struggled to get up and clear the table (in Northeast China, tidying up dishes after a meal is called 'clearing the table'), just as Zhao Kaishan arrived.
"Fugui, your two bags of millet are here.
I've dealt with your second uncle.
If you ever need anything in the future, just come find me!" After saying that, he didn't wait for Zhou Cang to reply and hurried away.
Zhou Cang guessed they had smelled the chicken in the house and were eager to go home and eat meat!
In reality, from Zhao Kaishan's perspective, this matter was due to his own negligence in his work, which caused Fugui to go hungry and almost freeze to death in the mountains.
He felt guilty!
However, Zhou Cang was no longer thinking about those things.
Zhang Yue had said during dinner that this stewed chicken meal was definitely the best in the entire Village.
Before, when his father was alive, he would occasionally hunt and bring back game to exchange meat for grain with everyone, and sometimes even sell it at the Supply and Marketing Cooperative in Town for money.
Since his accident, no one in the Village dared to go into the mountains, so there was no meat to eat, and everyone lacked oil and fat in their diets.
Zhou Cang thought for a moment and decided that eating his fill was still the top priority right now.
So, he would continue to hunt.
With his abilities, he and Zhang Yue would definitely not starve!
"Xiaoyue, tomorrow I'll go into the mountains again to hunt for more things.
Before the heavy snow falls, let's get more game and exchange it for grain, so we can comfortably spend the winter!"