059 – Go Hunting Together
There was gust after gust of wind outside the window that blasted the window until it made a slight sound like a whimper. Qin Mian had woken up early. He shrunk in the quilt and did not want to move. Without moving, he watched Lei Tie get up on time and sit on the edge of the heatable brick bed as he put on his inner clothing, cover it with cotton unlined upper garment, and put on pants before wearing cloth shoes last.
“Get up to run.” Lei Tie turned around.
“I don’t want to. Why don’t you make breakfast today?” Qin Mian suggested.
Lei Tie picked up the man and took out the nicely warm clothes from inside the quilt[1] and threw them on Qin Mian.Qin Mian resignedly put on his clothes and said coldly: “You aren’t afraid of me catching cold!”
Lei Tie dully said: “Insist on training so you won’t catch cold easily.”
Qin Mian quickly dressed, combed his hair, and rushed out like an arrow. Didn’t you want me run? I’ll show you.
After Lei Tie locked the gate of the courtyard, Qin Mian was no longer visible. He ran to the right without hesitation. Soon, he saw Qin Mian’s back and caught up with him.
When Qin Mian heard the footsteps behind him, he quickened his pace.
Lei Tie also sped up. He was a zhang [330m] away behind him (QM).
Qin Mian curled his lips, kept moving forward at a constant speed and no longer competed with him.Everyone in the village got up at this time. The sound of scraping ashes, the sound of opening door, and the voice of talking together formed a special symphony.
When he passed by a gate of a courtyard, a basin of water flew out of it.
Qin Mian agilely darted away.
A fat aunt held an empty basin in her hand with a look of shocked and embarrassingly said: “Lei Tie’s wife, sorry ah. Aunt didn’t mean to.”
“It’s alright.” Qin Mian casually waved his hand and continued to run.
As the autumn wind rustled in the air, the cold wind tirelessly swept over and over again, and the withered leaves fell on the ground accumulated into a thick pile, making a “poof” sound when a foot stepped on it. After running for a while, his whole body warmed up. Qin Mian quickened his speed a little.
Zhang Dashuan, Wu Di and Lei Xiangli were together somehow. They were going this way, and when they saw Qin Mian and Lei Tie, they waved.
Zhang Dashuan said: “Still running? We’ve something to look for you.”
Qin Mian kept his pace. His breath was unsteady as he said: “Morning… after running… will talk.”
Lei Tie was reticent as before, following after him.
“They run like this every day?” Lei Xiangli asked Zhang Dashuan.
Zhang Dashuan said: “Yes. Except for rainy days, they run around the village every morning.”
Wu Di had a funny face. “I heard sister (QM) said it was called ‘morning exercise’.”
Lei Xiangli nodded, feeling somewhat embarrassed. The two outsiders knew his eldest brother and eldest sister-in-law better than him.
“Come on, let’s walk slowly. When we get to their gate, they should be done.” Zhang Dashuan said.
Sure enough, when the three slowly arrived at the gate of the courtyard, Qin Mian and Lei Tie just came from the small forest.
Lei Tie’s breath was steady, as if he had just gone for a walk. Qin Mian was panting, but his pace was still steady.
“Open the gate.” Qin Mian slapped Lei Tie on his shoulder.
Without saying a word, Lei Tie took out the key to open the big lock.
Zhang Dashuan and the others were secretly surprised. It turned out that the two got along like this in private. Although Qin Mian hit Lei Tie very hard, they could still tell how close the two were.
“How did the three of you come together? What’s the matter?” Qin Mian asked.
Before Zhang Dashuan had time to speak, Lei Tie asked Qin Mian as he scooped water from the well and washed his hands, “Wife, what do you want eat for breakfast?”
“Rice. It’s not like you don’t know that I dislike noodles very much. Still have to ask?” Qin Mian pulled off the cloth towel on the bamboo pole to wipe his sweat.
“I know. What about dishes?”
Qin Mian thought about it, “Half a [Chinese] cabbage, three radishes, and three pork ribs.”
Lei Tie walked towards the kitchen and glanced at Zhang Dashuan and the others: “Talk to my wife about it.”
“Eldest brother is cooking?” Lei Xiangli asked incomprehensibly.
Zhang Dashuan and Wu Di also looked surprised.
Qin Mian was taken aback, “No, he washed the rice and vegetables. His skin is thick, not afraid of cold. Haha.”
Zhang Dashuan and the others looked at each other, speechless. They found out a bit more about the male couple life of Qin Mian and Lei Tie.
Qin Mian invited them to sit in the living room.
“You haven’t said what you want from us?”
Lei Xiangli sat down on the settee and felt the softness of the settee with his fist.
Zhang Dashuan said: “Actually, we’re here to look for Tiezi. The three of us want to go to the mountain to hunt, so that we can have many dishes on the table during the New Year. Tiezi is the most experienced hunter, so we want him to take us.” In fact, it was proposed by Wu Di. He had a good relationship with Lei Tie and Qin Mian, but he was not as familiar with Lei Tie as Zhang Dashuan was with Lei Tie. He called Zhang Dashuan and when they passed by the old house, he saw Lei Xiangli at home and called him too.
Wu Di stood at the door of the kitchen and looked inside curiously. He was shocked to see that Lei Tie was indeed washing the rice. He looked at Qin Mian with admiration and then went back to sit down.
“Do you hear that? They invited you to go hunting.” Qin Mian shouted towards the kitchen.
Lei Tie’s voice came from inside the kitchen, “Heard it. Go after breakfast.”
“I’m going, too.” Qin Mian was idle and bored at home.
“En.”
Qin Mian laughed, and then asked Lei Xiangli, “Fourth brother, you don’t sell soup today?”
Lei Xiangli said: “Yesterday, the work of dredging up the river had been completed. Speaking of which, I’d like to thank eldest sister-in-law, we’d made a lot of money this time.”
Of course, those sitting here would not ask how much they had earned.
Qin Mian said with a faint smile, “It’s nothing. You, third brother, fifth brother and little sister have also helped us a lot. We’ve keep it in mind.”
Lei Xiangli could hear the implication of his (QM) words. He smiled and said no more.
Wu Di said: “Let’s go back and come back to Brother Tie’s house after breakfast.”
The three left together.
Qin Mian made a spicy and sour cabbage, and a stewed radish with pork ribs. After breakfast, Lei Tie wiped his treasured bow and put 20 arrows into the quiver.
Qin Mian put on his hat, fastened his scarf and was ready to go.
Not a while later, Lei Xiangli and the other two came, with each of them carrying a bow set and a basket on their back.
The five of them joked and chatted freely as they walked to the back of the mountain. It was only Qin Mian who was empty-handed.
Zhang Dashuan and the other two were well aware that Qin Mian only followed for amusement.
After entering the mountain, the few of them consciously quieted down. For a while, they could only hear the sound of foot trampling on leaves or dead branches.
Zhang Dashuan was at the front, Qin Mian and Lei Tie were at the rear. Zhang Dashuan, Wu Di and Lei Xiangli were not experienced hunters, their archery skills were average. Qin Mian and Lei Tie intended to give them more opportunities.
In the forest, pheasants and wild hares were the most common. Soon after, Zhang Dashuan saw a big, fleshy pheasant pecking in the grass. He stopped and waved to Lei Xiangli and Wu Di. Lei Xiangli and Wu Di crept to the other two directions and the three men surrounded the pheasant in a triangle.
Zhang Dashuan took out an arrow, aimed at the pheasant and pulled the bow before letting go of the string. The arrow brushed past the edge of the pheasant’s feathers and stuck in the dried up grass.
The pheasant was frightened. It clucked and fluttered its wings as it fled.
“Ah, too bad!” Wu Di was greatly disappointed. In a moment of desperation, he estimated where the pheasant fell, stretched out his hands and went over.
The pheasant probably did not expect that someone would try to catch it with bare hands. In the middle of a crisis, it burst out with great potential. Its two claws kicked on the tree trunk to turn its body around, and then it flapped its wings and flew to another place.
Wu Di fell to the ground forthwith.
Right at this time, with a “whoosh” sound, a feather arrow accurately hit the pheasant. When the pheasant died, it fell to the ground.
When Wu Di looked at the back, Lei Tie was putting down his arms. The arrow just now was shot by him.
Qin Mian, Lei Xiangli and Zhang Dashuan all burst into laughter when they saw Wu Di’s embarrassed look.
Wu Di’s face turned red and he quickly got up from the ground.
Zhang Dashuan kept laughing, “Wu Di, we’re here to hunt, not to catch chickens. Haha…”
“I was momentarily anxious?” Wu Di patted the grass off his body.
Qin Mian picked up the pheasant and put it into Wu Di’s basket.
Wu Di quickly took out the pheasant, “No, it’s Brother Tie’s prey.”
Qin Mian threw the pheasant back into his basket and said generously, “Just take it. He doesn’t care about this one.”
“No.” Wu Di firmly said, “It’s yours since it was Brother Tie who hunted it. In case I haven’t hunted anything when we go down the mountain, I’ll be cheeky and ask Brother Tie for one. Sister, I’ll temporarily hold this for you.”
Qin Mian had no choice but to nod.
As they went on, they met another two pheasants. Unfortunately, Zhang Dashuan, Lei Xiangli and Wu Dui missed them.
It was rare for Lei Tie taking the initiative to instruct them.
Zhang Dashuan, Lei Xiangli and Wu Di could be considered to have been taught. Lei Xiangli shot a pheasant and a hare. Zhang Dashuan and Wu Di each hunted a pheasant.
Lei Tie had the best luck. He hunted two pheasants and a mountain bamboo-partridge.
“I want to try it, too.” Watching them, Qin Mian’s hands felt itchy and reached his hand to Lei Tie.
Lei Tie explained: “This is a hundred dan[2]-force bow, you can’t pull it.”
Qin Mian was irritated and felt that he had been looked down upon, “How do you know if I don’t try?”
Lei Tie had no choice but to pass the bow to him.
Qin Mian drew an arrow from the quiver on Lei Tie’s back and set it up. Learning from Lei Tie’s posture, he aimed at a leaf on the ground and pulled the bowstring. The bowstring hardly moved.
Qin Mian internally said “far from good” and peeped at other people.
Zhang Dashuan and the other two all turned their heads, looking away from him. But Qin Mian could see that they were laughing. He said with a straight face: “What’s funny? Will you be able to pull it?”
Lei Tie leaned to his shoulder and whispered: “I’ll make you a small bow some other day.”
Note:
[1] Their bed [heatable brick bed] is a warming stove, so the clothes were warmed on the bed.
[2] 1 dan = 100 kg, so then 100 dan-force =10000 kg-force [wow]
