Hearing that sound, Lu Ping’an couldn’t help but feel excited. This body desperately needed that item.
He hurried to the warehouse to check. As expected, it was top-quality pork belly—five distinct layers of fat and lean, the marbling crystal clear.
The slab was thicker than the width of a palm. This was pork belly that could only come from a pig weighing several hundred jin!
Reluctantly, he exited the warehouse. For now, he couldn’t take it out—it would have to stay stored away.
Seeing that it was still dark outside, Lu Ping’an got up to wash, drank a large cup of spiritual spring water, and quietly slipped out of the house.
He needed to check the traps he had set yesterday. If they had caught anything, he would bring it back immediately.
Even if they hadn’t caught anything, the traps had to be retrieved—he couldn’t just leave them there.
He didn’t even know how many days he would stay in the city. In this hot weather, if prey were caught and he returned too late, it would already stink.
So the best option was to collect them first and set them again after he returned to the village.
By the time he left, dawn was breaking.
When he reached the foot of the mountain, he could already see clearly.
At the first trap, he noticed it wasn’t in its original position and felt a surge of joy. He quickly searched around.
Soon he found it—the trap had caught a large mountain rat.
By his estimate, it weighed about one and a half jin. That was already quite big.
This was the fattest season for mountain rats. Autumn harvest was approaching, and the mountains were full of ripe food—they lacked nothing to eat.
In high spirits, Lu Ping’an checked the second trap. Another mountain rat—slightly smaller, about one jin.
Like the first, it had been caught by the neck.
The third trap was empty.
The fourth did not disappoint—a rabbit weighing five or six jin.
When he arrived, it was still alive, struggling desperately.
Had he come a bit later, it might have escaped.
He quickly stepped forward and grabbed the rabbit.
Its belly was especially large. After a glance, the corner of his mouth lifted in a smile—it was a pregnant doe.
He immediately sent it into the grassland within the spiritual spring space. It became the first permanent resident there.
With a thought, he entered the space as well. Sure enough, the rabbit was happily nibbling grass, alive and well.
Overjoyed, he realized that before long, rabbit meat would no longer be a rarity for him.
He then went to check the traps set for wild chickens. His luck was incredible—three for three!
Because their legs had been snared, all the wild chickens were still alive.
After examining them, he saw there were two males and one female.
He put one male and one female into the spiritual spring space to raise for now.
As for the remaining one, he held it in his hand—perfect to bring to his second uncle as a treat.
After collecting all the traps, he headed home.
By the time he reached the gate, his father and mother were already up.
They had assumed he was still asleep, so they were surprised to see him returning from outside.
Lu Father glanced at what he was carrying and froze briefly before saying, “Not bad, kid—you’ve got some skills!”
“This mountain rat is nice and fat. Your mother and sister won’t eat it. Perfect—one for your grandpa, and one to take to your uncle!”
“Yunqiu, go grab some dry rice straw. After plucking the hair, we’ll smoke it with straw. It’ll be delicious with liquor!”
Lu Father stepped forward, taking the two mountain rats from Lu Ping’an’s hands with a smile.
Lu Mother added cheerfully, “There’s boiling water at home. We can use it to scald and remove the fur. I’ll fetch it!”
She headed toward the kitchen.
Lu Yunqiu hurried off to find dry rice straw.
“Dad, should we bring this wild chicken to Second Uncle as well?” Lu Ping’an asked with a smile.
It wasn’t that he was reluctant—he just wanted to be sure his father didn’t have other plans.
“Of course. Don’t kill it—bring it alive. Your uncle likes them that way!”
“There’s still plenty of fish at home—enough for your mother and the others for a few days.”
Lu Ping’an nodded, handed the wild chicken over, then went back to his room to store the traps for future use.
Plucking mountain rats didn’t take long. Soon, father and son had cleaned both.
Lu Yunqiu returned with dry rice straw.
Each of them used two sticks to clamp the rats by the tails and singed them over the burning straw.
Later, they buried them directly in the straw ashes, covering them with the remaining straw until it burned out completely.
Once the fire died down, they dug out two blackened lumps—their bellies puffed round from the heat.
After washing them clean, the skin turned a golden-brown color with a faint aroma of rice straw.
They gutted them, cut off the heads and tails, and the mountain rats were ready.
Lu Father told Lu Yunqiu to deliver the larger one to Grandpa—he loved that sort of thing.
After she left, Lu Father smiled. “Let’s go. Since you’re up, we’ll set off early.”
Lu Ping’an had no objections. He gathered a change of clothes, picked up the fish and wild chicken, and left Leping Village with his father.
Lu Father carried a large bundle on his back—not only clothes but also a quilt.
“Fajia, congratulations! You’re going to be a city worker now!”
“Fajia, you’re the first worker from Leping Village—well done!”
“Ping’an, why are you going to the city too?”
“Ping’an, amazing! You can even catch wild chickens!”
…
All along the road, fellow villagers greeted them. Both father and son smiled and responded politely.
Finally, once they had left the village behind, Lu Ping’an let out a breath of relief.
“Ping’an, feeling overwhelmed by everyone’s enthusiasm?” Lu Father asked with a grin.
Lu Ping’an nodded. There was no need to hide anything from his father.
“That’s just how villagers are. They mean well—they care about you.”
“Over ten years ago, when you were only two, we were so poor we couldn’t even uncover the cooking pot.”
“It was through everyone helping each other that we survived.”
“In those years, many elderly people in the village chose to starve themselves to save a bite of food.”
“More elders died in those few years than in the ten years after.”
“Life is still hard now, but compared to then, it’s already much better.”
Lu Father shook his head with a bitter smile, filled with emotion.
Lu Ping’an knew his father was talking about those terrible years around 1960—truly unbearable to recall.
It was the same across the country. Many had starved to death.
“Dad, don’t worry. Life will only get better. You and Mom just wait to enjoy the good days.”
He spoke with absolute certainty. He knew the course of history well—restoration of the college entrance examination and reform and opening up were only a few years away.
He would use these years to build up properly. As for high school, he had no intention of going back—there was no need.