Everyone worked together to move the meat into the new cellar beneath the dog shed, and by the time they finished, it was well past midnight.
Liu Tiezhu told Second Uncle and the others to rest while he took the night watch. After they returned to their rooms, Liu Tiezhu circled the cellar, tallying the stored dried meat and rice. There was still about over seven thousand jin of meat and roughly fifteen hundred jin of rice. That number sounded like a lot, but in reality, this amount of food was far from enough. The daily food consumption was staggering.
Just the nineteen hunting dogs alone consumed thirty-eight jin of meat and six jin of rice every day. At that rate, in a month, the dogs would eat over eleven hundred jin of meat and one hundred eighty jin of rice. On top of that, the bald eagle now needed three jin of meat daily, adding up to ninety jin a month. And with seven mouths to feed at home, three meals a day, the daily consumption was equally alarming. Over seven thousand jin of meat seemed plentiful, but at this pace, it wouldn't last four months.
The situation ahead would only grow more severe. Liu Tiezhu had to secure a large amount of wild game to get his family through this long, snowy disaster safely.
In the latter half of the night, snow began to fall again. Liu Tiezhu dared not close his eyes. He sat by the stove, warming himself, his mind churning over how to handle what was coming. Time passed quickly, and before he knew it, dawn broke.
The kitchen light flickered on; his sister-in-law and Yulan were inside, busy preparing breakfast for the family. Second Uncle woke up too and called out for Liu Tiezhu to go back to his room and catch some sleep, then wake up when breakfast was ready. Liu Tiezhu didn't stand on ceremony; he nodded at Second Uncle, returned to his room, and collapsed onto the bed.
An hour later, Liu Tiezhu, half-asleep, heard someone cursing. The voice was loud, echoing every few minutes. He woke up and found Second Uncle and the others standing at the yard gate.
"Gouzi, what's going on?" Liu Tiezhu walked to the yard gate, staring at the empty path with a puzzled look.
"Liu Xiaoming is chasing Liu Yangshan with a cleaver," Er Gouzi said.
"Ah... motherfucker, is this ever going to end?"
"You've already chased me five laps around! Do you really want to kill me?"
No sooner had Er Gouzi spoken than a wail reached their ears. Hot on its heels came Liu Yangshan's frantic figure. He was a mess—one shoe had fallen off, and his body was covered in blood, though it was unclear where he was injured. He kept cursing as he ran, not daring to slow down.
"Idiot, you absolute idiot!"
"If you've got the balls, stop right there! I'll chop off your dick!"
Behind Liu Yangshan, Liu Xiaoming swung the cleaver wildly, like a madman. If Liu Yangshan slowed even a little, the blade would strike his back.
Seeing this, Liu Tiezhu knew Liu Xiaoming must have caught Liu Yangshan red-handed with his wife. Liu Yangshan was fuming, and as he passed Liu Tiezhu, he shot him a vicious glare. The only ones who knew about his affair with Yang Xiaoli were Liu Tiezhu and Er Gouzi. Liu Xiaoming's sudden return last night—it didn't take a genius to figure out Liu Tiezhu had told him.
"What the fuck are you looking at?" Liu Tiezhu shot back a contemptuous glance and casually cursed his mother.
"Just you wait. Your good days are about to end soon, you bastard," Liu Yangshan threatened before sprinting off again.
After breakfast, Liu Tiezhu wasn't sleepy. He called for Er Gouzi to head into the mountains. Before leaving, he set aside two rifles for Second Uncle to hide, then packed the rest into a urea bag and took them along. Watching Liu Tiezhu carry eight rifles, Er Gouzi looked baffled.
"Zhu Ge, why do we need so many guns to go into the mountains? What are you planning?"
"We'll keep two out, one for each of us. The other six we'll hide for emergencies," Liu Tiezhu said. Keeping so many guns at home wasn't safe—if the militia came to search, it would be trouble. So he planned to take them out, stash them somewhere, and retrieve them when needed.
"You're worried the militia will search the house?" Er Gouzi caught on quickly.
"I killed all those bandits last night. Tiangang Village will investigate, and the militia definitely will too. I'm not sure if they'll search the house, but we need to be prepared," Liu Tiezhu replied.
They left the village, and aside from an endless expanse of white snow, there wasn't a soul in sight. The desolate scene felt like the end of the world. An hour later, the mule cart reached the foot of the mountain. Liu Tiezhu tied up the mule and, following yesterday's route, led the hunting dogs deeper in.
After walking a bit, Liu Tiezhu hid the guns under a rock and marked the spot. With the rifles stashed, they continued deeper. Familiar with the route from last time, it took them less than two hours to reach the spot where they'd roasted meat before.
"Zhu Ge, which way do we go this time?" Er Gouzi stared at the blurry white landscape, feeling lost again.
Liu Tiezhu thought for a moment. "Straight ahead is dense forest and rocky ground. I already went that way yesterday—no path. Today, let's go the opposite direction and see if we can find those stone caves Grandpa mentioned."
With that decided, Liu Tiezhu gestured for the dogs to move. Led by the five lead dogs, the pack of over a dozen hunting dogs charged into the towering trees. Liu Tiezhu chambered a round in his rifle and handed the other to Er Gouzi.
"This works pretty much like a shotgun. Load it, chamber it, pull the trigger, and the bullet fires," Liu Tiezhu explained before following the dogs.
Two hours later, they'd covered a few hundred meters. All they saw were massive trees and swirling snow. The silence was eerie, making both of them feel as if they'd stepped into a dead, lifeless void. Er Gouzi swallowed hard and said, startled, "Zhu Ge, this is fucking weird. I feel like this area isn't even in this world."
Liu Tiezhu slapped him on the forehead. "Don't think stupid shit. Go gather some dry wood—we'll roast some meat."
Truth be told, Liu Tiezhu felt the same way, but he couldn't say it, or Er Gouzi would be even more scared. After sending Er Gouzi off, Liu Tiezhu took out the meat and was about to prepare it when the dogs ahead suddenly started barking wildly without warning.
Hearing the commotion, Liu Tiezhu dropped the meat. He grabbed his rifle and sprinted toward the dogs. Er Gouzi reacted just as fast, hot on his heels. They burst forward twenty meters and stopped behind the dogs, only to see something that filled them with dread.
Er Gouzi's mouth hung open as he sucked in a cold breath. "Zhu Ge, is this the end of the world?"