Chapter 12

After Hu Hao entered the mountains, he started looking for game. It must be said that the environment was much better back then, and the population was smaller. With just a knife, Hu Hao caught two wild rabbits and two pheasants. Before heading back, Hu Hao thought to himself, "I can't keep coming here every night to hunt game." He estimated that out of the four animals he had, he would only be able to eat one, and only for tonight. He guessed that by tomorrow morning, Colonel Zhang would have sent them away.

So, Hu Hao took off his military uniform, pulled out quite a bit of thread from it, and then loosened the soil in a few open areas with his knife. After setting up some bird traps, Hu Hao proudly patted the dirt off his hands and said, "The game these days is so stupid. I bet I'll find one or two by tomorrow morning."

Then, he picked up the game he had caught and started walking back. Everyone he met greeted him, and they all looked at the game in his hands. Hu Hao ignored them, thinking, "If you treat me like a fool, I'll act like one. It's better this way, more freedom!"

Hu Hao walked into the house, and Colonel Zhang was already cooking noodles.

"Brother, it's 55 minutes to the hour, I'm back," Hu Hao said, looking at his watch. He then proudly lifted the game and said, "I really caught them, good job, little me."

"Really caught them, huh? Well done, kid," Colonel Zhang said, taking the game. He asked, "Rabbit or pheasant for dinner tonight?"

"Pheasant. We had mountain chicken yesterday, so let's have pheasant today. Save the rabbit for tomorrow," Hu Hao said.

"Alright, I'll save you half a rabbit's leg for tomorrow," Colonel Zhang said, then went to prepare the game. Hu Hao looked around and, seeing nothing else to do, went over to help.

"Brother, save half the rabbit, or there won't be any for tomorrow night," Hu Hao said softly.

Colonel Zhang paused and said, "Haozi, I know you want to eat meat, and I do too, but our unit is poor, and the people are poor. When soldiers are injured, we can't afford to buy them chickens or ducks, so we can only give them white flour. Now that you've brought back some game, even though I'll send it to the hospital, there are over 500 injured soldiers. Each one can only have a small bowl of soup.

"We only had one mountain chicken last night, and we're having half a pheasant tonight. I'm already very satisfied. Many soldiers haven't had meat for almost a month if it weren't for the wild boar you brought back."

Hu Hao honestly plucked the feathers from the pheasant and said, "Alright, send it over. I'll send my half too. I'll go to the mountains again tomorrow morning. I set up some traps, so I might get some game by tomorrow morning."

"Alright, good. Your skills are really useful. You're saving our unit a lot of money and trouble. These days, even if we have money, we can't always buy chickens. The locals keep them for the New Year or for selling eggs. We can't even collect them," Colonel Zhang said.

"Brother, can the soldiers have fish?" Hu Hao asked.

"Of course, why not? Soldiers love meat," Colonel Zhang said, then added, "But fish are hard to catch. We know there are fish in the river, but we can't catch them. We don't know how to fish."

"Alright, as long as they can eat it. I'll go fishing tomorrow," Hu Hao said.

"You go fishing? You can catch fish? Our soldiers have tried, but they can only catch a few in a day," Colonel Zhang said.

"Don't worry about it. I'll go catch fish tomorrow," Hu Hao said proudly.

The next morning, Hu Hao went to the mountains first, collected a pheasant, and handed it to Colonel Zhang. Colonel Zhang sent all the game to the hospital. After breakfast, Hu Hao asked Colonel Zhang for a needle, bent it with fire, and attached a line. He then went to a fertile area to dig for worms. After digging, he took out some prepared rice wine and rice, mixed them together, and used them as bait.

He went to a backwater area by the river, scattered the rice, and started fishing. Within two minutes, he started catching fish.

One,

A big carp, nice, about half a pound.

Hu Hao put the fish in the bamboo basket he brought, then re-baited the hook and cast it again. Soon, he caught another one, a turtle.

"My goodness, there are so many turtles now? I could sell this for a few hundred yuan in my time."

Hu Hao continued fishing. By mid-morning, he had filled his basket. Seeing that he still had plenty of bait, Hu Hao put down his fishing rod and carried the basket back. On the way, he met a soldier and asked, "Hey, how do I get to the unit's kitchen?"

"Fool, what's in the basket?" the soldier asked, peering inside.

"So many fish, you caught them?" the soldier said.

"Yes, where is the unit's kitchen? Stop asking so many questions," Hu Hao said impatiently.

"Alright, I'll take you. Let me help you carry it," the soldier offered.

"Forget it, you carry it. I'm tired," Hu Hao said, putting the basket on the ground.

"Wow!" the soldier looked at Hu Hao in surprise.

"What are you looking at? You said you'd help me carry it. Take it to the kitchen. I need the basket back. Hurry up," Hu Hao urged.

"Alright," the soldier picked up the basket and walked to the kitchen, with Hu Hao following behind.

At the kitchen, Hu Hao dumped the fish into a wooden barrel and walked back to the river with his basket.

"Hey, what's the rush?" a soldier in the kitchen complained.

"Clean the fish quickly. Stop asking so many questions. Everyone will have a treat tonight," the kitchen sergeant said.

Hu Hao returned to the river and continued fishing, smoking a cigarette as he fished. By noon, he reeled in his rod, picked up the half-full basket, and went back. He stopped a soldier, picked out two big carp, and handed the rest to the soldier, saying, "Take it to the kitchen."

Without waiting for the soldier's response, Hu Hao walked away.

Back at the yard, he saw Colonel Zhang cooking and handed him the fish.

"You really caught a lot of fish. I heard you caught at least 50 pounds this morning," Colonel Zhang said.

"More than that. I just sent another half-basket, about 30 pounds," Hu Hao said.

"Brother, will you still hand over the game I catch?" Hu Hao asked.

"Why not? Can you eat that much?" Colonel Zhang asked.

"That's my business. I can't keep fishing and hunting every day," Hu Hao complained.

"Alright, I have an idea. You don't need to do anything else. Just keep catching game and fishing," Colonel Zhang said.

"Ah!"

"What 'ah'? This is a task assigned by the organization. You must complete it seriously," Colonel Zhang said.

PS: Don't doubt that he could catch so many fish in the morning. When I was a kid, I went fishing in a reservoir and caught 76 grass carp in less than two hours, each weighing two or three pounds. I had to ride my bicycle twice to bring them back. This is still my record in the village, and no one has broken it yet.

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