What came into Second Uncle's sight was a woman covered in bloodstains.
In the dead of night, the woman before him gave him quite a fright.
"Second Uncle, it's me, Yulan."
Yang Yulan was from the neighboring Yang Family Village. Her father had been very close with Uncle Liu Tieshan and his brother.
But after the older generation of both families passed away, their interactions dwindled.
Hearing the familiar voice, Second Uncle quickly pulled Yang Yulan inside.
"Sister, what's with the blood on you?"
Yang Yulan said tearfully, "This blood is my big brother's."
"He was catching pheasants behind our house and got his right leg caught in a trap."
Hearing this, everyone's faces changed.
"Sister Yulan, where is Brother Tian?" Liu Tiezhu asked urgently.
Yang Haitian and his family had always been good to them.
Back when their father passed away, Yang Haitian had no money himself but still borrowed two yuan and thirty cents from everywhere to give to Big Brother.
He also came to help handle the funeral arrangements.
Liu Tiezhu had always remembered that debt of gratitude.
"Big Brother is in the thornbush grove behind our house."
"I had no other choice, so I came to find you."
Yang Yulan sobbed and trembled as she spoke.
At home, it was just her and her brother left, relying on each other.
If something happened to her brother, how could she live on alone?
"Sister Yulan, don't worry, I'll head over now."
"Big Brother, you two look after Sister Yulan."
Liu Tiezhu threw on a thick cotton coat, grabbed a flashlight, and left first.
Second Uncle took out some strong liquor and handed it to Er Gouzi.
"Gouzi, take this and hurry to catch up with your Zhuzi Ge."
The weather was too cold; relying solely on thick cotton coats couldn't fend off the chill.
At times like this, drinking some high-proof liquor would speed up blood circulation and raise body temperature.
Er Gouzi took the liquor and quickly ran after Liu Tiezhu.
After walking about thirty meters, Liu Tiezhu couldn't help but shiver.
The wind was too fierce, mixed with heavy snow hitting his body.
The biting cold turned Liu Tiezhu's face purple and made breathing difficult.
In the harsh winter, the oxygen was too thin.
Even though he was gasping for air, he still felt signs of oxygen deprivation.
The snow on the ground was a full twenty centimeters deep, crunching underfoot with every step, making it very hard to lift his feet.
He knew the thornbush grove behind Yang's house; taking a shortcut would only take about twenty minutes.
But now, with the snow blocking the roads, twenty minutes wouldn't be enough to get there.
"Zhuzi Ge, wait..."
Er Gouzi caught up and handed the strong liquor he'd kept warm against his chest to Liu Tiezhu.
Liu Tiezhu took the liquor and gulped down a few mouthfuls.
As the liquor went down, it felt like fire burning inside, almost making him cough up tears.
"How is it? Feeling better?" Er Gouzi asked.
Liu Tiezhu nodded and handed the bottle back to Er Gouzi.
"This liquor is good. We should bring some when we go into the mountains."
With those few mouthfuls of liquor working through him, he felt a warmth spreading through his body, and the chill was gone.
Er Gouzi also took a couple of swigs and quickly caught up with Liu Tiezhu.
About twenty minutes later, they reached the thornbush grove.
Liu Tiezhu swept his flashlight around but didn't see Yang Haitian's figure.
"Brother Tian, Brother Tian..."
Not seeing Yang Haitian, he had to shout at the top of his lungs.
After a few shouts with no response, Liu Tiezhu broke off two dry branches and handed one to Er Gouzi.
"Use the branches to sweep the ground, then follow the swept path."
Liu Tiezhu instructed, then took the flashlight and moved ahead first.
The thornbush grove had traps, so he had to use the dry branch to probe the way before daring to move forward.
After they had walked about fifty meters, Er Gouzi suddenly shouted.
"Zhuzi Ge, he's over there..."
Liu Tiezhu shone his flashlight in the direction Er Gouzi pointed and indeed saw Yang Haitian lying on the ground.
Yang Haitian was now unconscious, half his body covered in snow, his face frozen purple—it was unclear if he was alive or dead.
Under the flashlight's beam, his appearance was somewhat frightening.
"Gouzi, hurry and gather some dry branches, and watch out for traps nearby."
Liu Tiezhu instructed as he quickly approached Yang Haitian.
Yang Haitian was still breathing, but the situation wasn't good.
His right leg was deeply embedded with the trap's teeth, and it was unclear if the bones or tendons were damaged.
These trap teeth were similar to fishhooks.
Once embedded in the flesh, removing them was very troublesome.
Liu Tiezhu couldn't worry about that now. He carefully checked where the trap connected to the flesh, then took a mouthful of liquor and sprayed it onto the trap area.
"Brother Tian, sorry about this."
"Losing a leg is better than losing a life."
Liu Tiezhu gritted his teeth, grabbed both sides of the trap with his hands, turned his face away, and forcefully pried it open.
With limited resources, he had no choice but to forcibly dismantle the trap.
As the trap came apart, several pieces of flesh, along with blood, stained the white snow.
The unconscious Yang Haitian immediately arched his back, his eyes bulging as he screamed in agony.
The piercing pain made him convulse uncontrollably.
"Brother Tian, have a few drinks, bear with it, I'll stop the bleeding."
Liu Tiezhu handed him the liquor, then grabbed handfuls of snow to plug the bleeding wound.
Yang Haitian convulsed wildly, took the liquor, and chugged it down.
By then, Er Gouzi had returned.
Seeing the scene before him, his face turned pale, and he was badly shaken.
"Gouzi, what are you standing there for? Start a fire."
Liu Tiezhu said as he tore a strip of cloth from his cotton coat, quickly wrapped it around Yang Haitian's injured area, and tied it tightly to prevent further bleeding.
Meanwhile, Er Gouzi had started a fire.
As the flames roared up, they startled the surrounding pheasants, which flew out of the thornbushes in groups.
The three of them stared with mouths agape, utterly shocked.
They hadn't expected this small grove to hide several hundred pheasants.
"Zhuzi Ge, we've stumbled onto a whole pheasant colony."
Er Gouzi drooled, his face full of excitement.
These pheasants hadn't flown far, meaning they were still in this thornbush grove.
If they brought the compound bow and crossbow tomorrow, that would mean another thousand pounds of meat.
Liu Tiezhu knew what Er Gouzi was thinking.
But his mind was on Yang Haitian right now.
The bleeding on Yang Haitian's leg had stopped, but the intense pain still made him convulse.
Yang Haitian pulled a cigarette from his pocket, handed one to Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi, and lit one for himself.
After finishing a cigarette, Yang Haitian's expression finally eased a bit.
"Zhuzi, Gouzi, how did you come?"
"Sister Yulan came to our house to tell us," Liu Tiezhu said.
"That girl sure knows who to turn to." Yang Haitian gave a bitter smile. "Thanks to you two coming, or I might have died here tonight."
Liu Tiezhu said, "Brother Tian, this isn't the place to talk."
"We need to get back quickly and treat the wound on your foot."
"That trap is all rusted. If we don't treat the wound, an infection could be trouble."
Hearing this, Er Gouzi immediately bent down. "Brother Tian, I'll carry you."
Yang Haitian didn't hesitate. With Liu Tiezhu's help, he climbed onto Er Gouzi's back.
"Zhuzi Ge, we can't miss out on those few hundred pheasants."
"Tomorrow, we'll bring the gear, take them all down, and stew some for Brother Tian to build up his strength."
After walking a bit, Er Gouzi was already thinking about the pheasants in the thornbush grove again.
"Don't worry, those pheasants aren't going anywhere," Liu Tiezhu said.
With blizzards raging all around, those pheasants couldn't fly out.
He definitely wasn't going to let go of the thousands of pounds of meat right in front of him.