The family worked together and finished building the stone house in three days. The earthen kang was also laid.
They needed to fire the kang for two days to drive out the dampness before moving in.
This task was left to the two little ones—all they had to do was feed a few sticks into the fire from time to time.
Now that they had this house, if any wild animals came, they could take shelter inside. That meant Fang Youwei could safely venture a little farther to hunt.
Hunting more game would allow them to dry the meat and store it as provisions. Their grain supply was running low, so they needed to ration it carefully.
Fang Youwei moved the grain, pots, pans, and other belongings into the house. Then, carrying his bow and arrows and wielding his machete, he set off.
Jiayin and Fang Zhiyuan had the task of firing the kang, so they didn’t pester to go along.
Liu Liu no longer needed to be tied up. He roamed freely around the small valley, nibbling grass and drinking water at his leisure, completely at ease.
Li Shi was digging wild vegetables in a nearby grove, while Old Madam Yang washed clothes by the creek. Neither went far, always staying within a distance where they could quickly run back to the house.
Jiayin watched Old Madam Yang’s hands covered in plant ash and asked curiously, “Grandma, if you put ash in the clothes, won’t that make them even dirtier?”
Old Madam Yang explained, “No, it won’t. After plant ash is burned, if you add some while washing clothes, they come clean in no time. This has been passed down from our ancestors.”
Jiayin didn’t quite understand, but she didn’t press further. Instead, she became more interested in the wooden beater in Old Madam Yang’s hand.
“Does hitting the clothes with this stick make them clean? Won’t it tear them apart?” Putting ash inside the clothes and then beating them hard with a stick—what a strange way to do things.
Old Madam Yang laughed heartily at her question. “No, no. This brings the dirt out from inside the fabric. Clothes are soft—how could they tear? You little one, your questions are truly amusing!”
Her ancestors had washed clothes this way for generations. If pressed to explain the principle behind it, she really wouldn’t know.
Life in the small valley was peaceful and serene. But Fang Youwei, far away, had walked a great distance. Aside from a few pheasants and rabbits, he hadn’t caught any larger game.
Last time, a goat had fallen into his pit trap, which meant there were goats in these mountains. But after walking for over an hour, he hadn’t seen a single goat—not even its tracks.
He wrung the necks of the pheasants and rabbits and placed them in his basket, then decided to walk a little farther. If he still found nothing, he would turn back.
Not long after he continued, he spotted a half-grown wild boar! The boar had its head down, drinking water, and didn’t notice the person approaching from the opposite side.
Fang Youwei looked around and confirmed it was a solitary boar. He immediately nocked an arrow, drew his bow, and let it fly—the arrow cut through the air straight toward the boar.
The half-grown boar had no time to react before the wooden arrow pierced its eye!
With a single sharp scream, it collapsed to the ground.
Fang Youwei quickly stepped forward and slashed its neck several times. Only when he was certain it was dead beyond any doubt did he stop.
He didn’t dare linger. He buried the blood on the ground with dirt, then smeared mud over the boar’s wounds to stop the bleeding.
He cut a few forked branches, placed the boar on them, and dragged it as he hurried back.
With such a large prize, there was no need to hunt anything else for now. Getting it back and processed was the real priority.
Unlike the journey out, which had taken over an hour as he scouted left and right, the return trip was much faster. In just over half an hour, he was back at the small valley.
As Fang Zhiyuan was gathering sticks near the valley’s only entrance, he spotted his father dragging the wild boar!
Cheering, he ran over. “Ah, such a big wild boar! Dad, you’re amazing! You caught a huge wild boar!”
Fang Youwei smiled proudly. “This isn’t that impressive. It’s only half-grown—about two hundred catties. A real full-grown wild boar can weigh four or five hundred catties!”
Fang Zhiyuan’s eyes sparkled. Four or five hundred catties! How much meat would that be?
Li Shi and Old Madam Yang heard Fang Zhiyuan’s shouts and dropped what they were doing to run over.
Seeing the wild boar Fang Youwei was dragging, they were overjoyed as well.
Li Shi quickly ran into the house to fetch the boning knife and wooden basin. Old Madam Yang hurried to add firewood and boil water. Once the water was boiling, she poured it over the boar and began scraping off the bristles with a knife. Fang Youwei skillfully butchered the boar in no time.
As a lifelong hunter, he was adept at breaking down game. Soon, the wild boar was reduced to piles of meat stacked in the wooden basin.
The bones and innards were washed clean by Li Shi and set to simmer in a pot.
Li Shi looked at the meat in the basin, then at the salt bag, and said to Fang Youwei, “We don’t have much salt left at home. There’s definitely not enough to cure all this meat. And we’re deep in the wilderness—I don’t know where to get more.”
Jiayin looked at the salt in the bag, then went to ask Liu Liu, “Where can we find salt in these mountains?”
Liu Liu replied in confusion, “What is salt?”
Jiayin thought for a moment and described it, “It’s that white stuff that tastes salty in your mouth.”