Chapter 4: The Looting Squirrel—The Brothers Strike It Rich!

Panlong Mountain was blanketed in a vast expanse of pristine snow.

Qin Feng had no time to pay attention to Zhang Xiao’e’s idle chatter and hurriedly led Liuzi as they leapt and darted through the forest.

The woods near the village, frequently trodden by people, rarely harbored any fierce beasts; wild pheasants and rabbits were also scarce.

As a former field combat instructor in his previous life, Qin Feng was very familiar with this kind of wilderness.

After a snowfall, setting traps to hunt was a good strategy.

But it required luck and consumed too much time. Sometimes, ten days or more would pass without any yield.

Hunting was even more difficult—it was no easy feat.

If prey were that easy to catch, the village wouldn’t have to endure long periods without meat.

For Qin Feng, it was not that difficult, except that he lacked a suitable weapon at the moment.

If he had a gun now, he wouldn’t hesitate to go after a bear.

But his mother and sister at home couldn’t wait—they were still counting on putting rice on the stove.

They had to procure food today, or they would have to go hungry.

Tightening his cotton-padded jacket, Qin Feng signaled Liuzi to follow behind.

“What are we doing, Xiao Feng?” Liuzi, carrying an axe, couldn’t figure out Qin Feng’s plan.

They had been walking through the forest for nearly half an hour, and Qin Feng did not slow his pace.

“This is the place,” he said, standing before a stretch of level forest land where rows of towering pine trees stood tall.

He pulled out a short knife from his belt and diligently searched through the snowdrifts for a suitable branch, whittling away the extra offshoots.

Weighing the wooden stick, about the thickness of his forearm, in his hand, he found the grip just right.

Qin Feng told Liuzi to stay put, then took the stick and began examining the forest.

Each time he passed a pine tree, he struck its trunk forcefully with the stick.

Liuzi watched, bewildered.

“What are you doing, Xiao Feng? Casting spells? You look like that old charlatan from the west end of the village,” he said.

Qin Feng grinned and continued tapping the trees, occasionally pressing his ear against the trunk.

Finally, he seemed to have found his target.

He took out his short knife and marked the chosen pine tree.

Then he waved for Liuzi to bring over the axe and pointed to the marked tree. “Liuzi, chop it down!”

Liuzi didn’t understand what trick Xiao Feng was playing, but since he wasn’t the sharpest, he didn’t bother questioning it.

Wherever Qin Feng led him into the mountains, he just followed orders.

“Bang!”

Without hesitation, Liuzi swung the axe down on the marked pine tree.

Big and strong from heavy eating, he had more strength than many grown men in the village.

With repeated chops, the pine tree, as thick as a bucket, soon bent and broke at the base.

With the wedge embedded, the tree slowly fell along the prearranged direction.

“Phew~” steam rose from Liuzi’s head like a chimney as he stood panting, holding the axe.

Qin Feng, still wielding the stick, continued searching along the fallen tree, tapping trunks until he heard a faint hollow sound.

Nearby squirrels perched nervously on branches, chirping anxiously upon seeing Qin Feng uncover their food stash.

Calling Liuzi over, Qin Feng took the axe from him and struck the hollow spot on the trunk sharply.

With a crash, brownish-yellow pine nuts spilled out from the cracked crevice.

The squirrel guarding its home let out a frantic, heartbroken chattering—it was a home raid!

“Damn!” Liuzi cried out, stunned, eyes wide in disbelief.

“Xiao Feng! These are pine nuts?!”

In Liuzi’s eyes, Qin Feng now seemed even more magical than that old spirit medium.

Just by tapping a stick here and there in the forest, he could find where squirrels hid their stores high above?

“We're... we’re rich!” Liuzi exclaimed, gathering the pine nuts and cracking one open to taste—the rich fragrance of the nut filled his mouth.

These were the squirrels’ carefully selected summer reserves, each nut plump and top quality.

“Stop eating, Liuzi! Wait till we get home and you can eat all you want! Get up and keep working!”

“I brought some rations. We won’t return for lunch. Let’s aim to chop down 20 trees today!” Qin Feng laughed, gesturing to Liuzi.

“All right!” Liuzi beamed like a fool. Shaking the nuts from his hands, he grabbed the axe and plunged back into the work.

The forest was no small patch—surely over a thousand trees.

Qin Feng moved ahead, listening carefully to distinguish hollow trunks harboring pine nuts by subtle sound variations.

Liuzi followed behind, tirelessly chopping down the marked trees.

Each time a tree fell,

a squirrel nearby on another tree would emit a mournful chattering, seemingly cursing Qin Feng and Liuzi’s entire families.

They worked continuously until three in the afternoon.

By then, the axe blades were dull; the burlap sacks Qin Feng brought were full, so they finally stopped.

In half a day, Liuzi had almost single-handedly felled 40 trees—a stamina that amazed Qin Feng.

Worried Liuzi might overexert himself, Qin Feng offered to help chop, but Liuzi refused outright.

Though slow-witted, Liuzi was not truly foolish. He knew Qin Feng’s body hadn’t fully recovered and couldn’t handle such physical labor yet.

Besides, all he had was strength, no other advantage. Qin Feng had taken him into the mountains; he wouldn’t forget that favor.

Those clever with their minds used their brains; those with strength exerted it. It was a fair deal.

The two brothers leaned against a fallen pine, happily munching on their rations.

Liuzi, with a cornbread in his mouth, kept urging, piling the three large sacks of pine nuts together.

“Liuzi, you’ve got endless strength, don’t you?”

“Why don’t we chop a few more trees later?” Qin Feng said with a cornbread between his teeth, watching Liuzi fiddle with the sacks.

“Sure! I’m not tired! I could chop until tomorrow morning without tiring, heh heh...” Liuzi scratched his head and laughed foolishly, then grew slightly troubled.

“The axe blade is dull and ineffective. I’ll find a stone to sharpen it later.”

Qin Feng chuckled at Liuzi’s earnestness. No wonder the villagers called him Big Silly Chun—he took jokes seriously.

“All right, that’s enough for today. There are plenty of ways to get supplies; we’ll have more chances to work later,” Qin Feng waved him off and told him to rest.

“These three sacks probably weigh around 170 to 180 jin. We’ll have to carry them out soon.”

“You don’t have to carry anything, Xiao Feng. You just recovered and are still weak. I can handle it.” Liuzi clung to the sacks, his heart full of joy.

“I’m just sick, not about to die,” Qin Feng laughed and then grew serious.

“When we get back to the village, you call your uncle.”

“Have him bring the village accountant to inventory everything. The village collective keeps half; the rest we split between us.”

“Why split with the village? We worked hard finding these in the forest,” Liuzi frowned, puzzled.

Qin Feng didn’t bother explaining the planned economy system and collective sharing beyond work points.

After the pine nuts were handed over to the collective, the brothers would still get at least eighty or ninety jin.

Selling them at the county supply and marketing cooperative, even at thirty cents per jin, would net nearly thirty yuan.

That was a considerable sum—enough to cover Qin Feng’s family expenses for a while, even after splitting with Liuzi.

After eating their fill, they tied up the sacks.

Qin Feng carried one sack, and Liuzi slung two under his arms as they leisurely made their way home along the path.

By the time they reached the village entrance, dusk was settling.

The village street was deserted except for a sweeping northwest wind.

When Qin Feng and Liuzi entered the house, Dong Qiufen had just finished preparing dinner, anxiously waiting for her son’s return.

“What’s all this?” Dong Qiufen asked, eyes wide with surprise and delight at the three large burlap sacks in the room.

“Auntie, these are pine nuts we dug up in the mountains!” Liuzi couldn’t contain his excitement as he explained, opening a sack to reveal the shimmering golden nuts.

Dong Qiufen, unfamiliar with such a sight, was speechless with shock.

“You… you really dug these from the mountains?!” she stammered with joy.

“Yes, Auntie, you wouldn’t believe how amazing Xiao Feng is today—he just used a stick—”

“Enough!” Qin Feng laughed, interrupting Liuzi’s boasting with a playful pat on his head.

“Go call your uncle right away, and don’t forget to bring the village accountant,” Qin Feng instructed.