The whole mountain is my hunting ground.

Chapter 1883 A Family of Warbringers

Seeing Zhao Youcai's dazed look, Wang Meilan was furious.

Over the years, Wang Meilan had come to know this old man all too well; she knew exactly what Zhao Youcai was thinking.

Wang Meilan glared at Zhao Youcai, then said nothing more.

To be honest, Zhao Hong is much more sensible than others, even though she's only a year older. She stretched her little hand out from under the covers and reached out with difficulty toward Zhao Youcai, nudging his elbow and whispering, "Dad, Mom is talking to you."

"Huh?" Zhao Youcai was taken aback, then looked at Wang Meilan, who was rolling her eyes at him.

"Lan, what did you say?" Zhao Youcai asked. Wang Meilan replied irritably, "I said I'm going to Old Pang's house tomorrow! This is outrageous!"

"Lan, forget it," Zhao Youcai advised. "Pang Gaoming has already been arrested..."

"What do you mean, 'forget it'?" Wang Meilan interrupted Zhao Youcai angrily, saying, "Didn't you hear what Dayong said? Those bastards, Pang Gaoming and his gang, would have broken our son's arms and legs! It's only because our son was prepared. What if he hadn't been prepared?"

“Lan, the problem is that our son is fine now, but Pang Gaoming is in jail.” Zhao Youcai rationally analyzed for Wang Meilan, “This is not good. Tomorrow, the Pang family and Han Shengli’s family will come to our house to make trouble.”

"They dare! They've gone too far!" Wang Meilan grabbed the towel she used to wipe her feet and threw it against the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), shouting, "Tomorrow I'll go to each and every one of them to find them!"

A mother's love is unwavering!

Hearing that her son had almost been killed, Wang Meilan felt a burning anger that she couldn't quell.

Not only her, but also Jin Xiaomei, Liang Xuemei, Xie Sunshi, Zhao Ling, and Yang Yufeng were very angry.

While washing the dishes, the group discussed that tomorrow they would first storm Lao Pang's house, and then go to Yongli Han Shengli's house to cause a huge disturbance.

"Lan, that's enough." Men have a different way of thinking. At this moment, Zhao Youcai advised Wang Meilan, "Killing someone is just a matter of beheading them. Pang Gaoming and the others have already had their sons sent to jail. What do you want to do?"

"What do you mean, 'what do I want'?" Wang Meilan, already quite angry, snapped at Zhao Youcai, "They deserved to go in! Did I tell them to do bad things?"

“Then they do bad things, they don’t…” Zhao Youcai hadn’t finished speaking when he saw Wang Meilan, who was sitting, get up and rush towards him.

"Who the hell are you on?" Wang Meilan shoved Zhao Youcai on the head, making him stumble to the side. Then she slapped him on the shoulder and yelled, "What's your stance? Huh? You're so reckless!"

Upon seeing this, Zhao Hong and Zhao Na, who were in the two quilts on the west side, quickly pulled the quilts over their heads.

"They were going to break your son's arms and legs, didn't you know?" Wang Meilan became angrier as she spoke, slapping Zhao Youcai twice more, and questioned, "Aren't you his biological father or something?"

"Lan, Lan, I was wrong, I misspoke." Seeing that Wang Meilan was really angry, Zhao Youcai quickly admitted his mistake, saying, "That old Pang family is just inhuman. Tomorrow I'll ride my motorcycle up the mountain and call down two or three hundred people from Lengchang to demolish the old Pang family's house!"

"Get lost!" Wang Meilan slapped Zhao Youcai again, rolled her eyes at him, and said, "You're just spouting useless nonsense."

After arguing with Zhao Youcai, Wang Meilan's anger subsided considerably.

As the saying goes, the couple has lived together for over twenty years. Wang Meilan understands Zhao Youcai, and Zhao Youcai understands Wang Meilan.

Seeing that Wang Meilan had calmed down, Zhao Youcai sighed and said, "That's good, as long as our son is alright."

Hearing Zhao Youcai's words, Wang Meilan's anger subsided somewhat.

Indeed, her son is alright, and that's better than anything else.

Then Zhao Youcai added, "It's these big claws that are so hateful."

As Zhao Youcai spoke, he glanced to the side and saw Wang Meilan glaring at him. Knowing that he couldn't hide his thoughts from Wang Meilan, he stopped trying to conceal them and said directly to her, "Lan, the grass on the mountain is as tall as a person, and the leaves are blocking the way. It's hard to hit anything."

"My skills are nowhere near as good as my son's. If you ask me, I'll go up the mountain tomorrow and see if I can help him out."

Wang Meilan was quite tempted by Zhao Youcai's words. But then she thought again, no, this house is so big, if Zhao Youcai goes and doesn't come back, I wouldn't dare to live here with my two daughters and daughter-in-law.

Thinking of this, Wang Meilan said to Zhao Youcai in an annoyed tone, "You should just stay home and behave yourself."

After saying this, Wang Meilan glared fiercely at Zhao Youcai.

Zhao Youcai pursed his lips and said nothing more. At this moment, Wang Meilan took off her clothes and got into bed. As she got into bed, Zhao Hong's little head popped out from under the covers next to her.

"Mom!" Zhao Hong asked Wang Meilan, "The Pang family you mentioned, is it the family of Blind Pang from Yongsheng?"

"Ah," Wang Meilan replied casually, then chuckled, "You even know Blind Pang?"

“I know,” Zhao Hong said. “Liu Daya from my class is from Yongsheng. I heard him mutter that Pang Xiaodong from Class Two’s grandfather was blind and had one eye replaced with a plastic eye.”

"This child," Wang Meilan said, patting Zhao Hong lightly. "What 'Liu Daya'? You can't give your classmates nicknames."

“I didn’t come up with that name, that’s what they all call it,” Zhao Hong muttered, then said, “Mom, tomorrow when school starts, I’m going to lead a group to smash up Class Two…”

"Huh?" Wang Meilan was taken aback and asked, "Second Miss, what did you say? What are you smashing?"

"Smash the class." Zhao Hong guessed that Wang Meilan didn't understand this new term, so she excitedly explained to Wang Meilan, "It means that when I lead people to their class, I beat them up in the room, that's called smashing the class."

Wang Meilan: "..."

Zhao Youcai: "..."

"His family dared to mess with my brother, they've spoiled them rotten!" Zhao Hong's chubby face puffed out as she angrily said, "Wait until tomorrow, I'll beat him up after the next class, and then I'll beat him up again after the next class, I'll beat him up eight times a day... Oh, Mom!"

Before Zhao Hong could finish speaking, Wang Meilan pinched her chubby face.

Wang Meilan couldn't bring herself to hurt her chubby daughter. She angrily let go and scolded Zhao Hong, "What did I tell you? Fighting is not allowed at school! Don't you remember?"

Zhao Hong pursed her lips and didn't say anything. At this moment, someone muttered behind Wang Meilan, "She learned all of this from you."

"Stop squinting!" Wang Meilan turned and threw a sentence at Zhao Youcai, then instructed Zhao Hong, "Second daughter, listen to your mother. If you're going to school, study hard and don't fight with your classmates."

After saying this, Wang Meilan added, "Did you hear me?"

"I heard you," Zhao Hong replied softly. Wang Meilan touched the chubby cheek she had just pinched and said, "Alright, go to sleep."

Zhao Hong obediently hummed in agreement, thinking to herself, "Tomorrow I'll lead Xiao Qiao, Ling Dang, Sun Ruihai, and Li Xiaomao to the second class to smash their classroom. After that, I'll be officially recognized as a second-grade student!"

Zhao Na, sitting next to Zhao Hong, was thinking: "That time it snowed, I saw an old man picking up the kids from the junior class. That old man had no eyeballs, which was quite scary. Could he be Pang the Blind Man?"
If he really is Blind Pang, then that little girl must be his granddaughter. No way, I'll ask at school tomorrow. If she's his granddaughter, I'll take Wang Tian and beat her up!

At this moment, Wang Meilan had no idea what her two daughters were thinking, but she didn't think anything good was coming either. She thought, "If things don't work out tomorrow, I'll go to Xishantun again. When I get there, I'll find that formidable old woman, take ten of them with me, and then we'll go to Yongsheng and turn Blind Pang into potato shreds!"

The three of them were thinking about similar things, but Zhao Youcai was thinking: "Isn't this big claw something the mountain god prepared for me? If I don't fight it, when will I ever be able to turn my life around?"

"After this woman leaves tomorrow, I need to figure out a way to get rid of that old Zhao, otherwise he'll keep watching me!"

And so, the family of four fell asleep, each lost in their own thoughts.

The next morning, Zhao Youcai and Wang Meilan got up at 4:30 to work. Zhao Youcai fed the dog, while Wang Meilan and Ma Ling tidied up the small vegetable garden in front of the house.

Jin Xiaomei, who lives next door, has been spending the last few days with her daughter-in-law. Right now, the two of them are tidying up the garden.

At this time, the cucumber and bean vines had started to climb. Wang Meilan and her colleagues first covered the vines with soil, and then watered the land.

After Zhao Youcai finished feeding the dog, he took the basin and went out to collect tofu.

No one was watching him while he was picking tofu, but if Zhao Youcai ran away at that moment, he would never come back.

After collecting the tofu, Zhao Youcai started a fire to scoop out rice and steam it.

The so-called "laomi zhengfan" is Northeastern-style laomi. It involves cooking rice in cold water, then scooping it into a container without adding more water before steaming it.

These days, this is the way to go, and it's very popular. But in thirty or forty years, people will eat like this to lower their blood sugar.

After scooping out the rice, the remaining hot rice water is excellent for stewing vegetables.

Zhao Youcai used it to stew tofu, then placed a horizontal fork on top, and then put the bowl of rice on top of it.

In this way, the rice and vegetables can be cooked together in one pot.

After preparing the meal, Zhao Youcai stood at the door and called out, "Dinner's ready!" Wang Meilan called to Ma Ling and then invited Jin Xiaomei and her daughter-in-law from next door to come in for dinner.

After the meal, Jin Xiaomei and Liu Mei helped clear the dishes, while Wang Meilan and Ma Ling took care of the two young girls, Zhao Hong and Zhao Na.

Zhao Youcai sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) in the west hut, a cigarette dangling from his right hand, stroking a small lynx with his left, staring blankly out the window.

Suddenly, several barks came from the backyard. Zhao Youcai craned his neck to look down the path and his eyes widened in shock.

Zhao Youcai hurriedly got off the kang (a heated brick bed) and ran downstairs in his shoes. As soon as he stepped out, Erhei pounced on him.

"Erhei!" Zhao Youcai excitedly hugged Erhei; the man and the dog had a very good relationship.

"Ow ooh..."

"Wang Wang Wang..."

Black Tiger, Green Tiger, and Yellow Dragon stood in front of the house, barking at the inside.

"Tiger! Tiger!" Zhao Youcai put one arm around Erhei and opened his other arm to Black Tiger and Green Tiger, but the two dogs ignored him.

At this moment, Zhao Hong and Zhao Na ran out of the house, and Black Tiger roared and charged at Zhao Hong.

But when it got close to Zhao Hong, Black Tiger stopped and circled around her.

The green tiger and the yellow dragon did the same; they didn't pounce on the little girl. It wasn't that they didn't want to be close to Zhao Hong and Zhao Na, but rather that they were afraid of knocking the little girl down.

"You're back!" Wang Meilan's voice rang out at the door. Seeing her come out, the green tiger barked twice in response, then raised its two front paws and placed them on Wang Meilan's arms.

"Good dog!" Wang Meilan patted the green tiger's neck, then craned her neck to look towards the gate, thinking her son had returned.

But what Wang Meilan saw was her younger brother, as well as Li Baoyu and Xie Chen.

"Qiangzi, why are you back?" Wang Meilan asked with some concern. "Where are Zhao Jun and the others?"

“They’re still up on the mountain,” Wang Qiang said. Wang Meilan quickly followed up, “How have you been doing up there these past few days?”

Wang Qiang glanced around, then stepped forward and whispered to Wang Meilan, "Great, sis, we've struck gold this time."

Wang Meilan knew immediately that they had had a good haul on the mountain. Although that wasn't what she asked, Wang Qiang's silence proved that everything else was fine.

At this moment, Li Baoyu happily moved closer to Jin Xiaomei and Liu Mei, enjoying the care and attention from his mother and wife.

"Baoyu, have you eaten yet?" Jin Xiaomei asked. Li Baoyu replied, "Mom, we came down the bus around four in the morning and just grabbed a bite to eat."

"Xiao Mei!" Upon hearing Li Baoyu's words, Wang Meilan hurriedly said, "Hurry up, there are still two red sausages in the refrigerator, cut them up and then I'll cook noodles for him."

Once inside, Wang Meilan and the others busied themselves cooking. Zhao Youcai, Wang Qiang, Li Baoyu, and Xie Chen sat down around the edge. Zhao Youcai asked Wang Qiang, "Qiangzi, what are you coming back for this time?"

"Brother-in-law, we're not taking anything." Wang Qiang smiled, then jokingly said to Zhao Youcai, "We're back because Team Leader Zhao has a task for you, hehe..."

"Yes, sir," Li Baoyu added with a smile, "Team Leader Zhao sent the three of me down here to relay a message to you."

"Get lost, you two." Zhao Youcai laughed as he offered them cigarettes, saying, "He dares to assign me tasks? He's gone too far!"

"Haha." Wang Qiang laughed as he took a cigarette. "I'm out of options, brother-in-law. The army's out hunting, and they've got a big fish in the sea here, so they can't spare any more manpower and have to come to you..."

"What?" Zhao Youcai suddenly stood up, knocking over the four-legged stool. At the same time, the cigarette that Zhao Youcai hadn't finished smoking fell onto the table, and Xie Chen, who was about to catch it, missed.

The Hongtashan cigarette rolled down the table and was caught by Jie Chen just before it hit the ground.

"Brother-in-law, what are you doing?" Wang Qiang was startled, but Zhao Youcai ignored him and strode across the east corridor toward the main house in the east.

"What a day!" Wang Meilan came over and helped up the four-legged stool, then asked Wang Qiang, "Qiangzi, what did Xiaojun say?"

"Isn't that right?" Wang Qiang gestured to the left and right and said, "My nephew was worried that my brother-in-law couldn't handle it on his own, so he sent the three of us back, along with Hu Zi, Lao Hu, Er Hei, and Huang Long. He told us to take the dogs and fight them steadily if they could. If they couldn't, we should chase them to a deserted place like Da Sha Gang."

After saying this, Wang Qiang smacked his lips and said, "This isn't like winter. Even in winter, you can still chase it away, but..."

Before Wang Qiang could finish speaking, Zhao Youcai, who was carrying a gun and walking back through the corridor, shouted, "I'm not afraid of anything! I can kill it if I go up the mountain!"