After walking a few dozen meters and seeing that Dog Head Qiang and his men weren't chasing them anymore, they finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Brother Zhu, we should have just crippled those bastards back there."
"They were committing highway robbery, which is no small thing. Even if we crippled them, they wouldn't dare call the cops."
Hearing Er Gouzi's words, Liu Tiezhu immediately rolled his eyes.
"Gouzi, we're going to be developing business in town from now on. We can't go too far."
"We'll probably run into this kind of thing often in the future. If we can resolve it peacefully, try to avoid bloodshed."
"Often in the future? Brother Zhu, what do you mean?" Er Gouzi asked.
"When heavy snow seals off the mountains, how long can the villagers' stored grain last?"
"If they run out of food, do you think they'll find other ways?" Liu Tiezhu countered.
Er Gouzi suddenly caught on: "You mean these villagers will come out to rob too?"
Liu Tiezhu said, "Obviously. If they don't rob, what will they eat?"
"So, you need to learn some self-defense martial arts from me."
Martial arts?
Er Gouzi's eyes widened in shock.
"Brother Zhu, don't mess with me."
"Since when do you know martial arts?"
Liu Tiezhu smacked Er Gouzi on the head.
"Get the hell out of here. When have I ever messed with you?"
"Anyway, just follow my lead and learn."
"Don't mention the robbery when we get back, or I'll break your legs."
Er Gouzi rubbed his head pitifully, not daring to say another word.
By the time they got home, it was already dark.
After unloading the rice, Liu Tiezhu put the puppy he bought into the kitchen.
After dinner, Liu Tiezhu started tinkering with assembling a wooden cart.
Second Uncle and the others sat around the stove chatting.
"Gouzi, what's Zhu trying to do now?"
"Brother Zhu wants to reassemble a cart bed to use when we go into the mountains," Er Gouzi said.
Into the mountains?
Second Uncle was taken aback and asked, "You're going into the mountains?"
"Yeah, me and Brother Zhu plan to go into the mountains."
Er Gouzi nodded and continued, "When I went to sell meat with Brother Zhu today, we noticed the town is really short on meat."
"Meat prices have shot up a lot. It's a chance to make some money."
"So me and Brother Zhu plan to go into the mountains and take advantage of this opportunity to earn more."
"Nonsense!!" Second Uncle finished and slapped Er Gouzi across the face.
"Dad, why are you hitting me?" Er Gouzi covered his head, looking aggrieved.
"Why am I hitting you?" Second Uncle glared and cursed, "You little brat, you're obsessed with money."
"Did you forget what happened in Huangwu Village a few days ago?"
Er Gouzi said, "Dad, they were stupid, that's why something happened."
"Me and Brother Zhu discussed it. We'll use red ropes to mark the way. Nothing will go wrong."
As soon as he finished, he got another slap on the head.
Second Uncle waved his hand and said, "Think you're the only smart one, huh?"
"Forget about going into the mountains. We'll talk about it after the snow melts."
Er Gouzi opened his mouth but, seeing his father's angry face, didn't dare say anything more.
After scolding Er Gouzi, Second Uncle turned to Liu Tieshan beside him.
"Shan, talk to Zhu later."
"It's not a good idea to go into the mountains now. We can't take that risk."
Liu Tieshan nodded: "Alright, I'll talk to Zhu later."
Two hours later, Liu Tiezhu was sweating from all the work but finally finished assembling the cart bed.
He tried it on the mule, and it fit perfectly.
"Zhu, I heard from Gouzi that you two plan to go into the mountains?" Liu Tieshan walked over and asked.
Liu Tiezhu nodded: "I've been thinking about it."
"Meat prices are going up now. It's a good chance to make money, I—"
Liu Tieshan waved his hand to cut him off: "No way. We're not short on food or clothes right now. We can't take that risk."
"If you want to buy something, I still have one hundred and sixty-seven yuan."
Liu Tiezhu explained, "Brother, I'm not going into the mountains right away."
"I'll make preparations before going to ensure safety."
"Over the next while, I'll train the puppy. Have sister-in-law feed it more meat. We'll need it when we go into the mountains."
He'd thought about Er Gouzi's marking method from last night for nearly an hour and still felt it wasn't reliable enough.
For his own safety, he needed to train the hunting dog and the mule properly.
Besides that, he had to make other preparations for going into the mountains.
Like bringing enough fire starters, building up stamina, and so on...
...
The next day, Liu Tiezhu woke Er Gouzi up early.
"Brother Zhu, where are we hunting today?"
"No hunting today. I'm teaching you martial arts," Liu Tiezhu said.
Er Gouzi's bleary eyes widened: "Wait, Brother Zhu, you're serious?"
"Obviously. Do you want to go into the mountains? Do you want to get rich?"
"If you do, get up now and come with me."
Er Gouzi perked up instantly and got out of bed without another word.
After greeting Second Uncle, the two jogged out the door toward the back of the house.
Ten minutes later, they stopped at the peanut field behind the house.
Er Gouzi, who had been jogging the whole way, was already too winded to speak, panting heavily.
"Gouzi, if we want to survive in the big mountains, the key is stamina."
"Without enough endurance and strength, forget about hunting—we'd even struggle to walk. You're in no shape like this."
"Watch closely. I'll teach you how to control your breathing to build endurance and strength."
As Liu Tiezhu spoke, he began demonstrating breathing techniques and movements based on the mercenary training from his past life.
Er Gouzi was a quick learner. After watching a few times, he started mimicking the movements with some accuracy.
They practiced for an hour, shivering from the cold.
Liu Tiezhu lit a fire and took out two pieces of dried meat to roast over it.
Once they warmed up a bit, Liu Tiezhu brought over two stones weighing about ten jin each.
"One for each of us. We'll jog while carrying these."
Hearing this, Er Gouzi's face immediately fell.
"Brother Zhu, have you lost your mind?"
"It's hard enough just walking, and now you want us to jog with these?"
"I'm training your stamina. Don't give me any lip."
"If you want to go into the mountains, you have to train."
Liu Tiezhu warned him, then started jogging with the stone in his arms.
Er Gouzi gritted his teeth and followed suit, carrying his own stone.
They jogged back and forth for half an hour.
Finally, Er Gouzi couldn't take it anymore. He dropped the stone, sprawled out on the ground in a star shape, and gasped for air.
Liu Tiezhu came over and kicked Er Gouzi in the butt.
"Gouzi, sit up."
"Breathe the way I taught you. Slowly find the rhythm."
Er Gouzi rubbed his butt and obediently sat up, breathing rhythmically as Liu Tiezhu had shown him.
After a few minutes, he noticed his pounding heart starting to calm down, and his breathing became much smoother.
"See? Did I mess with you? Don't you feel a lot better now?" Liu Tiezhu asked.
Er Gouzi nodded excitedly: "Brother Zhu, that's amazing."
"Amazing, huh?" Liu Tiezhu chuckled and pointed toward the house: "Now get up and carry this stone back home."
Er Gouzi's face stiffened, and he felt like the sky was falling.
Under Liu Tiezhu's threatening gaze, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and obediently carry the stone back toward the house.
Back home, Second Uncle and Big Brother had just finished unloading a cart of stones with the mule.
Seeing Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi each carrying a stone as they ran back, they exchanged bewildered looks.
Second Uncle said, "Zhu, Gouzi, what's going on with you two?"
"We can just use the mule to haul the stones for raising the wall."
"Second Uncle, you go ahead with your work. Me and Er Gouzi are building our stamina."
After saying that, Liu Tiezhu didn't forget to kick the panting Er Gouzi.
"Put the stone down. Let's go back for another."
Er Gouzi let out a wail, hoping his dad would say something.
But when he looked at his father, all he got was a glare.
"What are you looking at me for? Hurry up and follow your Brother Zhu, or I'll break your dog legs."
Er Gouzi wailed again but could only grit his teeth and keep running after Liu Tiezhu.