The three of them walked out of the thorny bramble forest, and Second Uncle and the others hurried over as well.
Seeing that Yang Haitian was fine, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
Liu Tieshan took over carrying Yang Haitian from Er Gouzi, and the group continued heading home.
Back at the house, Liu Tiezhu untied the cotton cloth wrapped around Yang Haitian's right leg.
The bleeding from the wound had stopped, but the clotted blood made it hard for everyone to see the full extent of the injury.
Just then, Yang Yulan brought over hot water and a towel.
Liu Tiezhu took the hot water and asked, "Sister Lan, do you have any bamboo fiber at home?"
Bamboo fiber came from the heads of old bamboo, dried in the sun and then stripped into strands.
In the rural areas of the 1980s, almost every household kept some on hand.
It was better than any medicine for stopping bleeding and reducing inflammation.
Yang Yulan nodded, turned around, and brought over a wooden box filled to the brim with bamboo fiber.
Liu Tiezhu set the bamboo fiber aside, wet the towel, and gently wiped the wound.
Yang Haitian winced in pain, gritting his teeth tightly, his face pale as a sheet.
Liu Tiezhu examined it carefully and breathed a quiet sigh of relief.
The wound was large, but luckily Yang Haitian was wearing thick cotton pants, which had blocked the sharp iron teeth of the animal trap and prevented it from reaching the bone.
With this kind of superficial injury, as long as he rested for a while and had enough nutrition, he'd be back on his feet soon.
"Brother Tian, nothing serious, but you'll have to lie down for at least ten days or so."
"I'm going to apply the medicine now. Bear with it."
Liu Tiezhu gave a warning, pressed the bamboo fiber onto the wound, then quickly wrapped it up with the cotton cloth and tied it tight.
After dressing Yang Haitian's wound, Liu Tiezhu turned his attention to Yang Yulan.
"Sister Yulan, cook some meat porridge for Brother Tian."
Hearing this, Yang Yulan's face immediately flushed red.
There was no meat left at home.
She and her brother had planned to go to town to buy some, but the snow was too heavy to get out.
Her brother had thought of trying the thorny bramble forest to take a chance.
But instead of getting meat, this accident had happened.
"Tiezhu, I... I..."
Yang Yulan stammered, too embarrassed to say it outright.
Liu Tiezhu immediately understood the difficulty at Yang Yulan's house and turned to tell Er Gouzi to go back and bring thirty jin of meat.
Er Gouzi, quick on the uptake, went home and brought back dried fish and wild boar meat.
Besides the meat, he also brought some bamboo shoots and porcini mushrooms.
By the time everything with Yang Haitian was settled, it was already late at night.
Back at home, no one felt like sleeping.
Yang Haitian had helped their family out a lot before.
Now that he was in trouble, they couldn't just ignore it.
"Tiezhu, about Brother Tian's situation..."
Liu Tieshan opened his mouth, but before he could finish, Liu Tiezhu cut him off.
"Brother, we can't take care of everyone else's problems."
"But since we've run into Brother Tian's issue, we see it through to the end."
He knew what his brother meant—worried that two extra mouths to feed might upset him.
Second Uncle said, "Tiezhu's right. The Yang family has been good to us. We can't let them down."
"We'll just ration the meat at home. It'll last half a year without issue."
Er Gouzi chimed in, "Dad, no need to ration."
"There are hundreds of pheasants hiding in that thorny bramble forest."
"Tomorrow, Brother Tiezhu and I will gear up and bring them all back."
Hundreds of pheasants?
Hearing this, Second Uncle and Liu Tieshan both widened their eyes, turning to Liu Tiezhu for confirmation.
Liu Tiezhu nodded. "There really are hundreds of pheasants hiding there, and each one weighs five or six jin."
"I reckon besides these pheasants, there are definitely other birds too."
"I'll go with you tomorrow. One more person means more help," Second Uncle said excitedly.
"Second Uncle, leave the hunting to me and Gouzi."
"You and Brother go check on Brother Tian's place tomorrow."
"See if there's anything they need help with."
Hearing this, Second Uncle suddenly broke into a grin.
"Tiezhu, your uncle thinks you and Yulan would make a good match."
"Yulan's three years older than you, and that's perfect—'an older wife brings gold bricks.'"
Liu Tieshan was taken aback, then immediately slapped his thigh.
"How did I forget about that?"
"Yulan has a good personality and is hardworking. If Tiezhu marries her, it'll bring our two families even closer."
With that, Liu Tieshan turned his gaze to Liu Tiezhu.
"Tiezhu, are you on board?"
"If you agree, I'll go talk to Brother Tian about it tomorrow."
"This..." Liu Tiezhu was stunned. He'd never thought about marriage.
Second Uncle made the call directly. "None of this 'this' or 'that.' It's settled."
"I'll go with Shanzi tomorrow to discuss it."
...
The next day, the biting wind had stopped, but the temperature had dropped even colder.
No one in the whole village dared to go out, all huddled by their fires at home.
Liu Tiezhu got up early, checked his crossbow, and then walked into the kitchen.
Inside, his sister-in-law had already cooked the rice.
Dry-fried wild boar, spicy chicken, and porcini mushrooms stir-fried with chicken gizzards.
Second Uncle and the others gradually woke up.
The rich aroma whetted everyone's appetite.
After breakfast, his sister-in-law packed up the cooked meat for Second Uncle and his brother to take to the Yang family.
Since they were planning to bring Yang Yulan into the family, they couldn't treat her poorly.
After seeing off his brother and Second Uncle, Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi geared up and headed for the thorny bramble forest.
"Brother Tiezhu, why are we bringing a steel fork to hunt pheasants?"
Looking at the steel fork shoved into his hands, Er Gouzi was baffled.
"You want to get caught in an animal trap?"
Liu Tiezhu shot back at Er Gouzi.
Hearing this, Er Gouzi shook his head like a rattle-drum.
"Am I crazy? Getting caught in one of those means lying in bed for ten days!"
Liu Tiezhu said, "If you don't want that, then bring the steel fork."
"When we get into the thorny bramble forest, we'll use it to probe the way."
Half an hour later, the two arrived at the entrance of the thorny bramble forest.
Er Gouzi pulled out the steel fork to start probing, but Liu Tiezhu stopped him.
"Brother Tiezhu, what's this..."
Liu Tiezhu gestured for silence and pointed to the right.
Dozens of meters to the right, a fat weasel had pinned down a pheasant and was eating it with relish.
"Damn, a weasel."
"Should we take it out?"
Er Gouzi asked, looking clueless.
"No kidding, that's seven or eight jin of meat."
Liu Tiezhu rolled his eyes, aimed his crossbow, and was about to pull the trigger when Er Gouzi pushed his hand down.
"Brother Tiezhu, you shouldn't mess with weasels."
"The old folks always say they're earth spirits. If we kill it, we'll get cursed."
*Smack!* Liu Tiezhu slapped Er Gouzi on the back of the head.
"Earth spirit my ass. I'm the First Emperor of Qin—you believe that?"
"That's seven or eight jin of meat, a whole meal for us. You want to let it go?"
Er Gouzi rubbed his head, looking speechless.
Liu Tiezhu didn't waste words. He aimed at the weasel again and pulled the trigger.
Just as the weasel, enjoying its meal, sensed danger, the bamboo arrow pierced its head.
Er Gouzi moved to go bleed the weasel, but Liu Tiezhu pulled him back again.
Before Er Gouzi could figure out what was going on, Liu Tiezhu shifted his crossbow and pulled the trigger once more.