Educated Youth in the Countryside: She is the Village's Embroidery Queen!-Chapter 377: Wild Boar Herd

The moment Yi Chichi and her companions received the news, they couldn’t be bothered to work anymore. They quickly got off the kang, put on their shoes and light cotton jackets, and dashed toward the brigade headquarters.

Upon reaching the destination, they found a bustling scene, a cacophony of voices.

Aunt Ma cheerfully shouted with her loud voice, "This year we can have a great New Year."

Yi Chichi’s eyes lit up; this meant a bountiful harvest.

She darted over to Aunt Ma, "Auntie, what did Uncle and the others hunt this year?"

"Twelve wild boars."

"Young Master Duo?"

Yi Chichi’s voice changed with surprise. In previous years, they hunted wild boars but only one to three.

Then there were snow rabbits, roe deer, and pheasants.

Roe deer are naive and curious; an experienced hunter can easily capture them with certainty.

Pheasants are even more ridiculous; when startled, they bury their heads, a classic case of self-deception.

The temperature on the mountain was lower than below; the initial snow couldn’t settle in the village but accumulated well on the mountain.

Just one shot can scare the pheasants into flapping into the snow nests, and besides, pheasants have a herd mentality. Once one burrows in, the rest swarm in.

At this time, you can scoop pheasants from the snow nests, getting multiple in one go.

So, pheasants are also in abundance.

Capturing snow rabbits is challenging, but not for the captain and his team.

This creature makes excellent smoked rabbit. Smoked with tea leaves, the rabbit meat is infused with the aromas of smoke and tea, one bite is amazingly flavorful.

On the other hand, wild boars aren’t much to Yi Chichi’s liking.

But she never imagined that the captain and the others would bring back twelve wild boars this year. What about her share of snow rabbit, pheasant, and roe deer meat?

"You weren’t mistaken; they brought back twelve wild boars, five big and seven small."

Aunt Ma said smugly and added that they also brought back two musk deer, four roe deer, over thirty snow rabbits, and more than fifty pheasants.

Wen’s mother was curious, "Why so many this year?"

Yi Chichi and the others were also curious. If possible, they wanted to squeeze through to see it all. 𝚏𝕣𝕖𝚎𝚠𝚎𝚋𝚗𝐨𝐯𝕖𝕝.𝕔𝐨𝕞

However, the front was crowded with tall, sturdy men who were fervently discussing how to handle the game, making it impossible to get in.

Even if they did, it wouldn’t be a topic they were involved in.

So, it was better to listen to Aunt Ma and the others speak outside.

"We were lucky and encountered a herd of wild boars."

"Did you get them all?"

"Not at all, I heard a few ran away, and several people got injured."

"Are the injuries serious?"

"Not too bad; Yaozi said they were just flesh wounds, and they are currently being treated in the team infirmary."

At some point, Wu Yongfei chimed in, "As long as everyone’s alright."

A flesh wound isn’t much of an injury. As long as it doesn’t harm bones or muscles, it’s not a big issue.

Before Aunt Ma and the others could reply, he questioned again, "Did the captain say how to handle the pigs?"

This was a good question, but nobody had the answer at the moment.

Because within the circle, the brigade captain and others were having a dispute over how many wild boars to hand over.

"I oppose handing them over."

It was the newly appointed scorer, Li Genshu, speaking. He had lived a tough life earlier. Even though the villagers took care of him because of his and Chen Erhua’s heroic lineage, every household was poor.

What little help they could offer was limited.

After finally getting his life back on track after marriage, they lost their first child, though they managed to keep the second one.

But fear of poverty and hardship made them fiercely protective of their food.

They not only guarded their own but also the brigade’s food.

Knowing the brigade captain wanted to hand over half the wild boars, he passionately argued, "I have no issue with handing over the domestic pigs as they’re task pigs. But I’m firmly against handing over the wild boars. These are the fruits of our hard labor on the mountain for over half a month; some of us even got injured. The wild boar meat must be kept."

"I also agree to keep them."

Liu Minghui and others chimed in, "The city isn’t short of pork. The meat supplies from the meat processing plant go to the city dwellers. But for us farmers, eating a bit of meat is next to impossible. After working hard all year, we look forward to improving our meals at year’s end. If we hand over the task pigs and then the wild boars, what will we eat?"

Given the overwhelming opposition, the brigade captain was at a loss.

He took a drag from his pipe, exhaled a cloud of thick smoke, and sighed, "Bringing back so much game cannot be concealed. Not proactively handing over may lead to inquiries from the commune, which won’t benefit us."

If possible, he didn’t want to hand over either.

However, the commotion they caused on the mountain was too big, plus other teams were also hunting in the mountain, albeit in different locations.

But the forest amplifies sounds; seasoned hunters are extremely vigilant about any disturbance, and gunshots are especially hard to hide.

"How about this? We hand over five and keep seven. What do you all think?"

Nobody rushed to answer. They exchanged glances, and then Ma Yong spoke up, "Which ones are you planning to hand over?"

"Three big ones and two small ones."

"Pah!"

Ma Yong spat in frustration and then looked at him as if he was an idiot, "There are only five big pigs. Instead of handing over one big and four small ones, you’re thinking of handing over three big ones and two small ones? I think you’re becoming a pig."

The soon-to-be pig-like brigade captain remained as calm as ever, responding coolly, "Alright, then we’ll hand over four small ones and one big one."

The smoothness of his reply stupefied Ma Yong.

Where was the reasoned argument? How could he just go along with it?

Li Gen Sheng and the others saw it; Liu Datou was clearly going with the flow.

"Five is still too many, how about we hand over two instead?"

If yielding once worked, maybe a second time would also succeed.

The brigade captain wasn’t having it this time; he began to argue.

However, in Kao Shan Village, the rule is that if they can’t make a decision, the minority obeys the majority.

Too many voted to hand over two pigs; he couldn’t win.

"How will I explain this?"

He was red-faced with frustration. Liu Xiangqian, who had come back after getting his wounds bandaged, squeezed into the crowd to listen for a while and then looked at him as if he were a fool.

"Are you stupid? Outside of our brigade, who knows how much game we brought back?"

The implication was clear: as long as they kept the brigade members quiet, the rest could be explained as they wished.

The brigade captain’s mouth twitched, "Then you come with me to hand over the pigs."

"I’m an injured man; let Xiao Li and the others go with you."

Liu Xiangqian, with a bitten leg, was too lazy to go and pushed others to go instead.

Li Gen Sheng and the others were willing. Seeing this, the brigade captain tucked his pipe bag into his waist and pulled up his trousers, "Load the pigs for the commune. Liu the Fifth, deal with the remaining pigs. Divide the meat when I come back."

"Alright."

Liu the Fifth nodded, pulled up his pants, crouched, and took out his pig slaughtering tools from the cloth bag, starting to sharpen his knife.

Liu Xiangqian then called on the women to boil water and such. Yi Chichi, not included in those called upon, watched as the brigade captain and others left with one big and one small pig. After two seconds of silence, she squeezed over to Liu the Fifth.

"Fifth Uncle, can we discuss something?"

"What is it? Go ahead."

Liu the Fifth continued to sharpen his knife diligently, making it gleam bright and sharp.