Liu Shan pointed at Liu Tiezhu, his teeth clenched in fury.
"Fine, I'll leave."
"Liu Tiezhu, you remember this—if anything happens to your family from now on, don't come crying to me."
The remaining seven or eight neighbors sided with Liu Shan, pointing at Liu Tiezhu and hurling curses.
Liu Tiezhu sneered at their antics.
Hearing the commotion, Second Uncle grabbed a wooden stick and rushed over with Er Gouzi.
"What's going on? I heard from Liu Lin next door that that old bastard Liu Shan brought people to cause trouble?"
"Where is he? I want to reason with that old fool."
"Second Uncle, Liu Shan and his crew are gone."
Liu Tieshan sighed and recounted everything that had just happened in detail.
After listening, Second Uncle's eyes widened as he cursed, "That bastard, threatening us now."
"If he dares to pull something like that, I'll report him to the town authorities."
Liu Tiezhu said, "Second Uncle, there's no need to get angry with Liu Shan."
"Just eat well and drink well, keep your eyes open—he'll be in trouble soon enough."
Er Gouzi nodded along: "Brother Zhu is right. Let's just watch and see how long that old turtle can keep up his arrogance."
After a midday meal, Liu Tiezhu grabbed Er Gouzi and took some meat into town.
Second Uncle stayed behind to help salt the game they'd caught the night before.
Though it was cold enough to keep the meat from spoiling,
to preserve it longer, they needed to cure it with sea salt.
Last night, they'd bagged over 1,300 pounds of meat.
Cutting it all up and salting each piece was no small task.
Liu Tieshan picked out a few pieces of lamb to cure and gave them to Huang Xiumei to take back to her family, while the rest was salted and dried.
An hour later, Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi arrived in town.
This time, they brought over 300 pounds of meat, trading it for 108 yuan.
In the 1980s, rice cost just over a dime per pound.
A hundred yuan was already a small fortune.
"Brother Zhu, is it really true that a blizzard will hit in a day and last for dozens of days?"
After leaving the game purchasing point, Er Gouzi asked curiously.
"Have I ever lied to you? Don't waste this money."
"We need to stock up on rice and meat to get through this winter safely."
Liu Tiezhu pulled out a crumpled stack of bills, counted them, and handed fifty-six yuan to Er Gouzi.
Er Gouzi quickly waved his hands: "Brother Zhu, I don't want this much. You hunted all the game—I was just tagging along."
"If it weren't for you, I'd probably still be starving."
He wasn't the type to forget a favor.
Without Liu Tiezhu taking him hunting, he'd still be living hand to mouth.
Now he had meat to eat, hundreds of pounds of rice stored at home, and over thirty yuan in his pocket.
All of this was thanks to Liu Tiezhu.
So he didn't dare—and couldn't—accept that fifty-plus yuan.
"I said take it. We're brothers—no need to be so precise."
Liu Tiezhu shoved the money into Er Gouzi's hand: "Come on, let's buy some rice. Save the rest—it'll come in handy later."
Er Gouzi wanted to refuse, but a glare from Liu Tiezhu shut him down.
After buying several hundred pounds of rice, they headed to a shop selling hunting gear.
From his experience being surrounded by a pack of coyotes, Liu Tiezhu realized that the compound crossbow's method of shooting one arrow and reloading was far too slow.
If he didn't modify it, running into a large group of animals again could be deadly.
After all, luck wouldn't always hold out.
Heading deeper into the mountains meant a higher chance of encountering large animals, and the current crossbow was no longer up to the task.
Drawing on memories from his past life, Liu Tiezhu spent nine yuan and seventy cents on a pile of parts before calling Er Gouzi to pedal the tricycle back to the village.
"Brother Zhu, are you buying all these parts to assemble another compound crossbow?"
Er Gouzi noticed the parts looked similar to last time and couldn't help asking.
"Not assemble—upgrade."
"I'm turning our compound crossbow into a repeater," Liu Tiezhu said.
In his past life as a mercenary, he'd used military crossbows.
Those could hold twenty bolts and, with a laser guide, were the deadliest close-range cold weapon.
With limited resources now, he could only build a five-shot repeater, adding two springs to boost lethality and greatly improve his own safety.
"Repeater?" Er Gouzi's jaw dropped, his eyes wide with shock.
"Brother Zhu, you can actually modify it into a repeater?"
"Then when we hunt and run into a herd, we can wipe them all out!"
Liu Tiezhu said, "Don't get your hopes up."
"The modified crossbow can hold at most five bamboo bolts."
"Plus the one already nocked, that's six total."
"But adding two springs to the crossbow will double its killing power."
Er Gouzi said, "Six bolts—that's still impressive."
"If we'd had this crossbow last night, we wouldn't have been so desperate."
By the time they got home, it was late afternoon, and the sky was darkening.
His sister-in-law, Huang Xiumei, was already busy in the kitchen.
Second Uncle and his older brother were moving the dried fish from two days ago into the cellar.
Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi unloaded the rice and stored it, just as dinner was ready.
"Zhu, are we heading into the mountains tonight?"
After everyone sat down, Second Uncle took a sip of wine and couldn't help asking.
The mountains at night were incredibly bountiful—four hours had netted over a thousand pounds of meat.
It tempted Second Uncle to try his luck again.
Liu Tiezhu said, "Second Uncle, we're not going into the mountains."
"After our ruckus last night and all the hunters from other villages going in today, the animals will be spooked and won't come out easily."
"So tonight, we'll try a different spot."
Hearing this, Second Uncle found it reasonable.
With so many hunters in the mountains, the animals would retreat deeper.
Going in at night would likely yield nothing.
But aside from the mountains, he couldn't think of anywhere else to hunt.
"Zhu, if we're not going into the mountains, where do we hunt?"
After a moment's silence, Second Uncle voiced his confusion.
"The bamboo grove behind the house and the cornfield next to it—those are prime hiding spots for game."
"Large animals, scared off by the hunters during the day, won't come out easily."
"But smaller ones like pheasants, mountain chickens, wild ducks, and rabbits—the bamboo grove and cornfield are their best shelters."
"If we're lucky, we might bag even more than last night."
Liu Tiezhu didn't hold back, sharing his plan.
After dinner, Liu Tiezhu handed the remaining thirteen yuan and fifty cents to his older brother, then started tinkering with the parts he'd bought.
Second Uncle and his brother flipped the drying meat and evenly coated it with coarse salt.
An hour later, Liu Tiezhu took out the newly modified compound crossbow and aimed at the star fruit tree in the yard.
*Swish, swish, swish*—a series of sharp sounds startled Second Uncle and the others.
They looked over to see the star fruit tree's bark burst open, sap oozing from a hole in the trunk.
Six bamboo bolts were neatly embedded in the same spot, cracks spreading across the wood.
Second Uncle rushed over like he'd discovered a new world: "Such powerful killing force—how did you do it, Zhu?"
"Second Uncle, this is my modified compound crossbow—it can fire six shots in a row."
Liu Tiezhu pointed to the latch mechanism on the crossbow.
"Look here, all the bolts are locked in place, with springs underneath."
"Each time I fire one, the spring pops the next bolt up into position, and I just pull the trigger to shoot."
Second Uncle examined it from every angle, then gave Liu Tiezhu a thumbs-up.
"Zhu, you've got a sharp mind—you'll do great things someday."
"With this thing, we won't have to worry about running into a pack of coyotes again."