ch 58 – First Time Into the Deep Mountains (3)
“HA HA HA…. More than just a few! Back in the days when grandpa was on the field, him and his master general – two mean and two swords – fought over 100 enemy soldier and killed some of them while the others scurried away…” Gu Xiao started tooting his own horn when it came to telling stories of his past. No only did his stories attracted Gu Ming’s buddies, even the villagers that were helping with the rebuilding of the houses were drawn in by them.
The grandfather was definitely Gu Ming’s newest hero. He had made up his mind that he’d put in a lot of hard work to learn Kungfu from his grandfather and become a hero on the field just like him!
“Ye-er, what is the story about this deer?” asked Gu Xiao as didn’t think the scrawny little girl in front of him could have hunted a deer that’s bigger than her.
Gu Ye had to hurry to make up some excuses, “I didn’t know what happened either. This thing dashed out in front of me out of nowhere and ran into a tree and knocked itself out. Well, I wasn’t startled in vain as I got lucky with it.” Gu Ye gave her most innocent smile under Gu Xiao’s scrutinizing look.
Gu Ming bought her story right away. Gauging the weight of the deer in his hand, Gu Ming smiled and said, “It’s around 100 lbs in weight! Mei mei is so lucky. You always catch something when you go into the mountains!”
Gu Ye sweated profusely: all those little animals inside the traps had nothing to do with her. She, too, was curious which nice guy had been doing such good deeds! As for where this deer come from, she was the only one who knew the truth.
“Exactly! I am so lucky to have such a wonderful brother!” said Gu Ye fawning over her brother to butter him up, trying to muddle the matters at hand.
Sure enough, Gu Ming was so happy he busted out laughing after hearing her words. When Gu Xiao saw that, he was minorly envious and cleared his throat on purpose to get the attention of his granddaughter.
Surely Gu Ye did not disappoint him. Quickly she added, “It was lucky for Gu Ye to meet grandpa too! The heaven must be trying to make up for me for all the hardships that I had to go through and blessed me with such luck and letting me run into such lucky events one after another!”
Gu Xiao had learned all about the little girl. Her words made him sad and he said to her, “My nice little granddaughter, you have had a few bad years. Don’t worry, you have grandpa now and nobody can pick on you from now on. If you want, you can walk side way in the village!”1
“Grandpa, only the crab walk sideways!” Gu Ye covered up her mouth and smiled. The grandfather and grandson Gu Xiao and Gu Ming also laughed out loud with her.
“Gu Ming! Gu ming!” It was Li Hao’s voice from afar, “My sister and I walked passed your trap on our way back from collecting firewood and saw two pheasants inside. We had brought them back to you since it was on our way.”
“Wonderful! We will be completely the beams and treating everyone to dinner tomorrow. This will be another good additional to dinner!!” Gu Xiao accepted the two fatty pheasants and his eyes were a straight line from his smile. His grandson and granddaughter were truly lucky and were so good at picking the right locations for their traps, hunting all these pheasants and rabbits all the time. He had only been back for 20 or so days and have already feasted on these in over 10 of those days!
Getting excited, Gu Xiao said to his grandson and granddaughter, “Let’s go! Grandpa will take you to a special spot where they had wild hogs from time to time. We will go dig a big trap and see if we can get a wild hog live!”
Ninth Uncle, who was over to help immediately shot down his idea and said, “Fifth Uncle, those wild hogs are vicious! They can take down an adult in no time. It’s too dangerous with two kids in tow. I don’t think you should go. Deer and pheasants are good enough. It’s not worth the risk!”
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Notes:
1. “walking sideways” means generally acting in an unreasonable way