Chapter 49

After leaving Liu Xianghong's house, Wang Xiaoqiang had the idea of raising wild pheasants. Wild pheasants not only have delicious meat but also tasty eggs. The key is that both the eggs and the meat are highly nutritious. With quality guaranteed, the price and sales should not be a problem.

According to Wang Xiaoqiang's plan, he intended to lease Huamotou Mountain and build a chicken farm there, adopting a free-range strategy. The wild pheasants would mainly live off insects and seeds on the mountain, with a moderate amount of sorghum fed to them, ensuring that the meat and eggs remained purely natural.

Of course, this was just a plan. Wang Xiaoqiang decided to start small and first catch a few wild pheasants to try raising them.

Since he needed to catch the wild pheasants alive, a hunting rifle would not be useful. Wang Xiaoqiang put the rifle back in the old village committee building and started making a slingshot.

Wang Xiaoqiang was very familiar with slingshots, having grown up playing with them. First, he climbed a willow tree to find a Y-shaped branch as thick as an adult's finger to use as the frame. Then he bought a strong, flat rubber band to use as the elastic, and cut an oval piece from the semi-soft sole of an old sports shoe to use as the pouch. This way, he made a standard slingshot. With the slingshot ready, he bought some steel balls to use as ammunition.

After making the slingshot and buying the steel balls, Wang Xiaoqiang found a small bag of cornmeal at home, mixed it with liquor, and spread it on the open ground between Huamotou Mountain and the yam field in the evening. After doing all this, he returned to the old village committee building to wait. When it was almost dark, Wang Xiaoqiang went back with his old yellow dog and saw six wild pheasants lying motionless on the ground as if they were drunk from the cornmeal mixed with liquor.

When they saw someone approaching, the pheasants tried to fly away, flapping their wings and fleeing toward Huamotou Mountain. However, before they could get far, Wang Xiaoqiang and his dog pounced on them, quickly pinning them down. One of the pheasants, which was less "drunk," managed to fly up and toward Huamotou Mountain. Wang Xiaoqiang aimed his slingshot and shot a steel ball at it.

It must be said that Wang Xiaoqiang's childhood slingshot skills were still quite accurate. However, the shortcoming of the slingshot became apparent as the steel ball started to wobble when it was about five to six meters away from the pheasant, deviating from its original trajectory and missing the target. The steel ball grazed the pheasant's long tail without causing any harm.

The pheasant did not fly high or far, landing about thirty meters away after its first flight.

After missing the first shot, Wang Xiaoqiang did not give up. He ran after the pheasant, taking another steel ball from his pocket and loading it into the slingshot. As he aimed, a thought flashed through his mind, and he channeled a small amount of golden qi into the steel ball with his right thumb and index finger, which glowed white at the tips.

Then, he aimed and fired.

Whoosh!

This time, the steel ball shot out quickly and powerfully, making a sharp whistling sound. Although the distance was farther than the previous shot, it did not wobble and hit the pheasant's tail directly.

The pheasant let out a painful cry and fell to the ground.

Wang Xiaoqiang looked at the distant pheasant, somewhat surprised. The golden qi had such a wonderful effect. It seemed that the slingshot could now serve as a handy weapon. If anyone provoked him, a single shot from the slingshot could make them bleed.

The old yellow dog chased after the pheasant and brought it back to Wang Xiaoqiang, who, upon regaining his composure, saw that the steel ball had deeply embedded itself in the pheasant's buttock, causing a lot of blood to flow.

Fortunately, it was not a fatal wound, and the pheasant was still alive. Wang Xiaoqiang picked it up, originally intending to use wood qi to heal it, but he abandoned this idea. He decided to use this pheasant for a special meal.

The five "drunk" pheasants had their wings clipped and were kept in the old village committee courtyard. The injured pheasant was taken home for his sister-in-law, Liu Juyi, to cook.

The pheasant was not light, weighing about twenty pounds. Liu Juyi boiled water to remove the feathers, then cleaned the internal organs and made a pot of chicken soup. She also made a large plate of chicken with the chicken frame and legs.

The large plate of chicken was very famous locally, and all the restaurants sold it. However, the chicken used in the restaurants was ordinary domesticated chicken, raised on feed in chicken farms. The meat was fatty but not fresh, with a thick layer of yellow fat outside the meat, making it too greasy and unpalatable.

In contrast, the wild pheasant made a large plate of chicken that was fresh, tender, and not greasy. With Liu Juyi's excellent cooking skills, it was truly a delicious dish.

Wang Xiaoqiang enjoyed the meal thoroughly. By the time he finished, it was already dusk. His mother brought out a bowl of chicken from the pot and put it in a basket, saying, "Xiaoqiang, Doctor Xu from the health station is sick. Take this bowl of chicken to see her. She's a girl from the city, and it's not easy for her to live here. Now she's sick and has no one to take care of her..."

Wang Xiaoqiang hesitated to take the basket, saying somewhat awkwardly, "Mom, you should go instead, right?"

"It's dark, and I can't walk well. You should go!" his mother said. "Or you can go with me."

Wang Xiaoqiang took the basket and said, "I'll go then! It's just a visit, no need to make a big deal out of it."

"That's the right attitude, go quickly!" his mother smiled.

His sister-in-law, Liu Juyi, looked somewhat unhappy and disappointed.

Earlier in the day, Zheng Dazui had come to sound out the opinions of Wang's parents about the city girl, Xu Xiaoya. If they did not like her, she would introduce Xia Guiying to Wang Xiaoqiang, as she thought the two were well-matched. Xia Sanwa had been urging her to act as a matchmaker.

At the health station, although Xia Sanwa had said he would speak for his daughter, he ultimately could not bring himself to do it. He was a notorious gambler in the village, and he feared being rejected by the Wang family. For the past few months, he had been urging his daughter to pursue Wang Xiaoqiang, but Xia Guiying, being shy, did not take the initiative. Frustrated, Xia Sanwa had to turn to Zheng Dazui again.

Wang's parents were old and uneducated, with outdated views. They naturally preferred the city girl, Xu Xiaoya, who was not only beautiful but also very sensible. While Xia Guiying also had these qualities, the key was that she was from the city, educated, and had a good demeanor. According to Wang's parents, marrying a city girl would bring glory to the family and make their ancestors proud.

They decided to encourage Wang Xiaoqiang to be more proactive with Xu Xiaoya.

Wang Xiaoqiang understood his mother's intentions but was not considering marriage at the moment. He was focused on developing his career and making money. Although he was reluctant, he agreed to take the chicken to Xu Xiaoya.

He also felt that Xu Xiaoya, a city girl, had come to Sanmiaocun to serve the entire village, and it was both tiring and lonely for her. Now that she was sick, she deserved care and attention.

However, just as Wang Xiaoqiang was passing by the entrance of Dazui's supermarket, Xia Sanwa, who had been pestering Dazui to speak for his daughter, spotted him and asked, somewhat surprised, "Dazui, why is Wang Xiaoqiang carrying a food basket so late at night? Who is he delivering food to?"

Dazui looked at Wang Xiaoqiang's distant figure and said, "I guess he's delivering it to Doctor Xu..."

"This, this is not good, Dazui! They shouldn't still be in contact!" Xia Sanwa said, both angry and worried.

"Isn't he your son-in-law? Why don't you ask him yourself?" Dazui rolled her eyes. For the past few days, Xia Sanwa had been pestering her to matchmake between Wang Xiaoqiang and Xia Guiying, but she thought it would be more prestigious for Wang Xiaoqiang to marry Xu Xiaoya, which would also reflect well on her as the matchmaker.

With Dazui's encouragement, Xia Sanwa, without any shame, ran after Wang Xiaoqiang, shouting, "Hey, Xiaoqiang, hey, son-in-law..."