The poor girl from the 1970s was forced to kiss by the damp educated youth.

With a basket on his back and a wolf in his hand, Xi Lang led Chen Zhi back first.

"Captain, let's take the stones back in the baskets first, then we'll take these wolf carcasses to the canteen," Li Zhou'an said.

The others nodded in agreement.

Chen Renzheng waved his hand, "You guys help carry the stones first, I'll have others carry the wolf carcasses. We'll make an announcement over the loudspeaker when it's time to distribute the meat, so don't worry, we won't leave you out."

Li Zhou'an and the others, who wanted to see the wolf kill: "......."

Chen Zhi: "Two more trips will be enough. If we move quickly, we can finish within twenty minutes."

What are we waiting for? Let's memorize it quickly!

Everyone quickened their pace.

On the last trip, Chen Zhi invited these people to her home for dinner that evening.

"No need, we'll go home and eat meat," Chen laughed. Each of them got an extra five jin (2.5 kg), five jin! They wouldn't even get that much meat for their whole family during the New Year!

Zhao Jinbao added, "Yes, let's eat at home. You two must be tired today, so you don't need to cook for us."

Chen Peng: "What do we need to do tomorrow? When are we coming over?"

"what?"

Chen Zhi looked at Xi Lang.

Xi Lang: "We appreciate your kindness, but tomorrow is just for unloading, which we can do ourselves."

Chen Da and the others went to the canteen. Xi Lang took a knife to skin the wolf and butcher the wolf meat, while Chen Zhi assisted him.

"Shall we have stewed pork bones tonight?" Xi Lang asked Chen Zhi.

Chen Zhi had no objection. "Give Brother Shi fifty catties, and ten catties each to the other three masters?"

Xi Lang naturally had no objections, "You can arrange it as you see fit."

"That wolf has huge teeth," Chen Zhi said.

Upon hearing this, Xi Lang pried out the wolf fang and tossed it to her, saying, "Take this and play with it."

Chen Zhi: "......" What's so fun about this?

Xi Lang added, "I'll carve a few talismans on it, and you can carry it with you to ward off evil."

"You can draw talismans?" Chen Zhi asked in surprise. "Are you like my second aunt? Are you a Taoist priest?"

Xi Lang: "I guess so."

"Can Taoist priests get married?" Chen Zhi asked curiously.

Xi Lang glanced at her intently. "Do you want me to answer yes or no?"

Chen Zhi chuckled, "Just be a fake Taoist priest. You and I will keep this a secret."

Xi Lang smiled and said, "Then thank you."

The brigade canteen has been closed for a long time; it's only used now when pigs are slaughtered at the end of the year.

The children watched in amazement and a hint of fear as wolves were carried into the canteen.

"Is that a dog? It's huge!" a child exclaimed.

"Are you stupid? This isn't a dog, it's a wolf, a man-eating wolf!" Another older child made a face when he said "man-eating wolf."

The younger children were so frightened that they ran away in all directions.

"Where did this wolf come from?" The adults came running as soon as they heard the commotion.

"They came from the mountains and were run into by people from our village."

"They actually ran outside! Hope no one got hurt?"

"With so many wolves, injuries are inevitable. Hopefully, no one has died."

"No one was injured or killed. Everyone is fine. Do you see the wounds on these wolves? They were all killed with a single blow, and their pelts are almost completely intact."

It's not a knife, it's a sword.

However, the person in the know did not come forward to explain, allowing everyone to misunderstand.

"Wow, who's so amazing?"

"Those few young men, all tall and strong, had nowhere to use their strength, so they used it all on these wolves."

Chen Peng, Li Zhou'an, and others: "......."

I really want to deny it, but I'm afraid I won't be able to explain it clearly.

There's a sense of loneliness, like being the only one sober while everyone else is drunk.

Shi Xin drove his truck into the village again in the evening. As soon as he entered the village, he saw smoke rising from every household and the rich aroma of meat wafting everywhere, making his mouth water.

Shi Xin raised an eyebrow. Are the villagers living such good lives now?

Shi Xin parked the car and immediately asked Xi Lang, "What holiday is it today? Why is everyone eating meat?"

"It's not a holiday. The wolves will come down from the mountain this afternoon, and everyone will eat wolf meat." Xi Lang's words were concise.

"Where did this pack of wolves come from? Aren't they all extinct? And how did the wolves end up in the village? How did you kill them? Were any of them injured?" In this day and age, how could there still be wolves coming down from the mountains? Shi Xin found it unbelievable.

"They were dealt with at the foot of the mountain before we even entered the village. I did the cleaning. Okay, is there anything else you want to ask?" Xi Lang was putting bricks into his basket. "The meat isn't stewed yet. Let's unload first, then we'll have dinner later."

Shi Xin was stunned for a moment. When he came to his senses, Xi Lang had already walked away with his basket on his back. He looked at Chen Zhi and asked, "Sister-in-law, can you tell me what happened back then?"

Chen Zhi asked, puzzled, "Didn't Xi Lang say that?"

Shi Xin: "Tell me about the battle in detail."

Chen Zhi remained silent. Was there a process involved?

She only saw the result.

The unloading took only about twenty minutes, and it was still daylight when everyone sat down to eat.

A large pot of bones was served, its aroma filling the air.

The main dish is still rice, two plates of green vegetables, and three bowls of chili sauce. When you feel greasy while gnawing on bones, you can eat some chili to cut through the grease.

We had lunch together and carried bricks together, so the initial awkwardness had disappeared. Now, everyone had a bone in their hand and was eating without even looking up.

They devoured the entire pot of bones, even using the last bit of juice to mix with rice, leaving nothing to waste.

"This braised pork bone is delicious. I want to eat it again tomorrow," Shi Xin said.

"That's all," Xi Lang refused.

Shi Xin didn't believe him and went to see Chen Zhi.

Chen Zhi: "These are all the bones from a wolf."

Shi Xin couldn't help but feel disappointed. "If no one else were here, all twenty-four wolves would be yours, brother. You keep one, and I'll take the remaining twenty-three with me—"

Shi Xin felt increasingly distressed as he thought about it, "That's a huge sum of money."

Chen Zhi also fell into deep thought. How much is such a large sum of money?

Even Shi Xin, the black market boss, said there were a lot, so there must be a lot, right?

After dinner, it was already getting dark, and Shi Xin and the others had to head back.

Chen Zhi packed fifty catties of wolf meat into one basket for Shi Xin and another thirty catties into another basket.

"The meat here belongs to these three gentlemen, one piece each. Thank you for your hard work today."

"We have them too?"

The other three were surprised.

They weren't working for free; they were paid.

"It's just a coincidence that we're all eating meat together today. At other times, we wouldn't be able to get meat even if we wanted it," Chen Zhi said with a smile.

The three chefs smiled, their dark faces genuinely happy. The meat was delicious, and as they ate it, they thought how wonderful it would be if their families could eat it too.

Don't be fooled by their association with Boss Shi; they don't get to eat meat often. Firstly, meat is scarce, and secondly, it's expensive. They have elderly parents and young children to support, so they can't afford to eat it frequently.

Eating meat to one's heart's content like this only happens once a year.

They can feed themselves and bring back food for their families; it's like a dream come true.

The three drivers thanked Xi Lang and Chen Zhi repeatedly before getting into the car and driving away.

Chen Zhi had a lot of work to do today, and she fell asleep as soon as her head hit the bed.

Xi Lang also went to sleep, but got up once in the middle of the night to kill a giant python.

He skinned the python expressionlessly, then chopped the giant python into sections, put them into a wooden basin, and put the python skin and all into his Qiankun sleeve.

The python skin and today's wolf skin can be used to make shoes for Zhizhi, one for summer and one for winter, just right.

As for the python meat, it was made into salt and pepper and served to the workers over the next few days.

Xi Lang washed his hands and looked up at the mountains. Zhi Zhi's breath was getting weaker and weaker. This should be the last time, right?

Chen Zhi had no idea what had happened. When Xi Lang returned to bed, she turned over, facing away from him, and slept against the wall. This was a habit she had developed over more than ten years in the Chen family, and she still hadn't changed it.

Xi Lang covered her with the blanket and closed his eyes as well.

The next morning, Xi Lang was going to steam multigrain buns, and Chen Zhi helped him knead the dough.

A large pot of steamed buns, each about the size of a fist, forty-six in total.

The texture of multigrain steamed buns is a bit rough, but they are very fragrant. The more you chew, the more fragrant they become, and they are delicious even when they are cold.

Chen Zhi ate a steamed bun and a mouthful of chili sauce, completely satisfied.

She had just finished eating a steamed bun when Shi Xin's truck arrived.

"So early."

She sighed and walked towards the truck while biting into her steamed bun.

"Sister-in-law is having breakfast." Shi Xin got out of the car with a grin. "Perfect timing, I haven't eaten yet."

Chen Zhi: "......."

At first, I thought he was serious and cold, but after getting to know him, I found out that he was very outgoing and thick-skinned.

The three drivers were a little embarrassed, saying, "We went to pick up goods early this morning and didn't eat."

"That's perfect, the steamed buns are fresh out of the oven and still warm."

Chen Zhi thought that the steamed buns would be her main meal for the day, but half of them were gone by the end of the morning.

She began to worry about whether there was enough food at home.

Let's cook some sweet potato rice tonight; rice for every meal is obviously not practical.

At noon, there was another big pot of meat. The python meat had been marinated early in the morning, deep-fried until fragrant, and sprinkled with salt and pepper. If you like spicy food, you can also eat it with chili powder.

"What kind of meat is this?" Shi Xin asked.

Xi Lang glanced at him. "You're the one who got the food, don't ask any more questions."

Undeterred, Shi Xin asked, "Sister-in-law, what kind of meat is this?"

Chen Zhi shook her head. "I don't know either."

"The meat is in large chunks and smells very good. It's a bit like fish, but it has no bones, so you can't tell the difference," one of the chefs said.

Shi Xin: "It's delicious. Do you have any more? Could you give me some?"

Xi Lang's lips twitched, his expression indescribable. "Are you still lacking meat?"

"We don't lack any, but the meat here is delicious." Shi Xin then asked, "Do you have any or not?"

"No, that's all." Of course, it was fake; he wanted to leave the rest for Zhizhi.

"real?"

Believe it or not, it's up to you.

For dinner, we had spicy boiled fish, served with sweet potato and mixed grain rice.

The group of people at the table ate until they were sweating profusely, with runny noses, while shouting that they were thoroughly enjoying themselves.

Shi Xin brought up the old topic again, "This fish—"

"No," Xi Lang interrupted him.

Shi Xin looked hurt. "I'll bring your master over tomorrow."

The bricks, tiles, cement, lime, and sand have all arrived; we can start work now.

Xi Lang nodded, "We have to go to work early tomorrow morning. You can start working when you arrive. I'll come back later to cook."

Shi Xin: "Okay. I'll supervise the construction for you, there won't be any problems."

That evening, when Shi Xin left, Xi Lang gave him a bear paw.

It was dark, and Shi Xin couldn't see what it was, only that it felt quite heavy. It wasn't until he got home and, under the lamplight, opened the basket lid and was startled—"What a huge bear paw!"

"Bear paw? Where did you get a bear paw?"

Family members gathered around.

The bear paw was huge, and the entire arm, when joined together, weighed thirty or forty pounds.

"This is the first time I've ever seen such a big bear. It's truly a rare sight," Shi Xin's father exclaimed.

Shi Xin's wife was also shocked. "Your younger brother gave it to you?"

Shi Xin laughed and said, "Who else could it be but him? A guy who's all talk and no action."

"They saved your life and gave you such a nice gift. When are you going to invite them over for a visit?" his wife asked.

"He's busy right now, building a house and working. I'll invite him and his wife over when he's free."

"Even if you don't come to visit now, shouldn't you send a return gift? Yesterday it was wolf meat, today it's bear paw, these are all delicacies that can't be bought outside."

Shi Xinyi thought it made sense, "You can prepare the return gift."

"OK."