As the villagers' food supplies continued to dwindle and they couldn't hunt game in the mountains, theft, robbery, deception, and fraud would soon become the norm.
After dinner, everyone gathered around the stove, helping to process the spikes from the thorn tree trunks.
"Uncle, we need to build a hidden cellar," Liu Tiezhu said.
Once everyone in the village ran out of food and found out their family still had meat stored, they would stop at nothing to get it. With only four men in the house, they couldn't possibly fight off that many people. The best way to avoid this danger was to build another cellar and move the food there. When the villagers came to cause trouble, they could let them search openly. With no meat in the house, everyone would feel balanced.
Uncle said, "Zhu is right. We need to build a secret cellar as soon as possible."
"I think the spot near the dog shed is good. Let's build the cellar there."
Once the four of them decided, Liu Tiezhu immediately grabbed a pencil and paper to draw a plan. The cellar for storing food didn't need to be deep—two meters was enough. But the underground space had to be spacious to hold more supplies.
A few minutes later, Liu Tiezhu showed a simple sketch to his older brother and uncle. The cellar would be fifty square meters, with a height of two meters except for the entrance area, which would be two meters and twenty centimeters. With the four of them working, it would take only ten days to finish. The heavy snow was about to start and could last for months, so they had the time to build it.
After hearing the plan, Uncle and Big Brother told everyone to rest early and start work at dawn.
Yang Yulan said, "Zhu, I'll have my older brother come help tomorrow. He's got nothing to do at home anyway, and he can help move the dirt."
Huang Xiumei heard this and also offered to bring her older brother and younger brother, but everyone refused. Huang Xiumei's home was too far from Liu Family Village, so it wasn't worth the trouble.
After discussing everything, they all went to bed early.
In the middle of the night, the hunting dogs in the shed started barking wildly. The sleeping family was jolted awake. Liu Tiezhu grabbed the broom from behind the door and rushed out. Dogs barking in the dead of night couldn't mean anything good.
Uncle and the others also woke up, grabbing tools and charging out. The yard was empty, with no one in sight. They exchanged glances, and Liu Tiezhu pointed toward the kitchen. Uncle and Big Brother immediately understood, taking shovels and creeping around from the left and right. Er Gouzi followed behind Liu Tiezhu with a wooden stick.
The hunting dogs in the shed were still barking furiously, their claws nearly tearing through the door. The four of them reached the kitchen but found nothing.
Uncle scratched his head. "Zhu, could the dogs have seen a rat or something?"
"Impossible. Taro and Sweet Potato were giving danger signals earlier. Someone must have broken in."
Liu Tiezhu said, picking up a flashlight and heading toward the north wall. Uncle and the others followed. After a quick inspection, they indeed found footprints in the snow on the ground. Besides the footprints, there was a drag mark on the wall.
Liu Tiezhu examined it and said, "This guy probably didn't know there were dogs in the yard. He jumped in and made noise. When the dogs started barking, he scrambled back over the wall and fled."
"It must be that bastard Liu Haifeng. I'll settle the score with him tomorrow," Er Gouzi cursed, looking like he wanted to skin Liu Haifeng alive.
"Gouzi, without evidence, going to his door is wrong," Uncle said.
"Dad, do we need evidence? That bastard was here scouting this afternoon," Gouzi said.
Liu Tieshan said, "Gouzi, calm down. Uncle's right. Without proof, you can't just go to his place."
Hearing that both Uncle and Big Brother disagreed, Er Gouzi, though fuming, had to let it go. They checked and found nothing missing, so they went back to bed.
Meanwhile, in a thicket of thorn trees at the entrance of Liu Family Village, two figures burst in and collapsed on the ground, gasping for air.
"Damn it, there were dogs in the yard! Why the hell didn't you tell me?" Liu Yangshan tore off his hood and cursed at Liu Haifeng beside him.
That afternoon, Liu Haifeng had told him that Liu Tiezhu's family had a huge stash of meat. The two of them planned to sneak in that night and grab a hundred or so pounds to satisfy their cravings. But when Liu Haifeng helped him jump down, the hunting dogs in the shed caught them. Panicked, he scrambled over the wall with all his strength and ran.
"Shan Ge, I didn't know Liu Tiezhu kept dogs either. But this is actually good for us," Liu Haifeng said.
Hearing this, Liu Yangshan slapped Liu Haifeng across the face. "Good my ass! With dogs, how the hell are we supposed to steal anything? Are you brain-damaged or what? Damn it!"
Liu Haifeng covered his face, looking wronged. "Yangshan Ge, let me explain. Think about it—every family in the village is starving, but Liu Tiezhu can still afford to keep dogs. What does that tell you?"
"Stop blabbing and get to the point," Liu Yangshan said impatiently.
"The dogs in the shed weren't just one or two. Keeping that many dogs means he has plenty of meat," Liu Haifeng said.
"So what? What's that got to do with us?"
"Nothing to do with us, but everything to do with everyone else."
Liu Haifeng lowered his voice slyly. "My plan is..."
Two minutes later, Liu Yangshan's eyes widened. "You're full of bad ideas, you bastard. But will this really work?"
Liu Haifeng said, "If it doesn't, no harm done. We've got nothing to lose. Shan Ge, are you in or not?"
Liu Yangshan thought it over and nodded. "I'm in. I'll tell my old man about it tomorrow morning."
The next day, after breakfast, Uncle and the others were about to start digging the cellar when the wooden gate of the yard was pounded loudly.
Outside stood Liu Changhai, leading a dozen neighbors.
"Open up! Liu Tieshan, Liu Tiezhu, I know you're home." Liu Changhai banged on the door and shouted.
That morning, his son Liu Yangshan had told him that Liu Tiezhu's family had thousands of pounds of dried meat stored up, and they needed to find a way to get some. Of course, he couldn't go alone. So Liu Changhai rounded up a few nearby neighbors, told them about the meat and his idea. The neighbors' eyes lit up immediately. Without a second thought, they followed Liu Changhai to morally blackmail Liu Tiezhu into giving them some meat.
Er Gouzi opened the door and, seeing it was Liu Changhai and his crew, started cursing.
"Damn it, what do you bastards want?"
"Gouzi, step aside. We're not here for you." Liu Changhai ignored Er Gouzi and led the group inside.