Reborn in 1963: I Hunted and Stockpiled Meat During a Famine

"Brothers, this is the last time we're going up the mountain before the New Year, so keep your spirits up! Whether we can bring back meat for the brigade during this drought depends on this!"

"Qin Qiming, you stay here at point two in the Yangguan Forest area and keep firing. We brothers will run to point three to catch up. When you hear any noise, fire your gun. Don't let your shotgun misfire this time."

"Your dad said that if you still can't catch any prey this time, you'll have to give up your spot in the production team, you hear me!"

……

A series of sharp shouts echoed through the Yangguan Forest Area, their lingering sounds gradually fading into the dense, bare pine forest.

"Cough cough... Whew!"

After coughing violently, Qin Qiming got up and leaned against the tree stump, panting heavily. The dense pine branches that came into view were hard for him to accept.

On a patch of icy snow stood bare pine trees, with a few stumps that had long been felled nearby, their rings swaying in the wind. A line of footprints marked the path he had waded through.

This is……

Yangguan Forest Area in 1963!

As the captain of a special forces unit, wasn't I pulled off a cliff and died while completing a decapitation mission?

Could it be that I've been reborn?

Qin Qiming couldn't believe it. As he looked at the familiar scenes before him, his eyes gradually reddened, and the snow on his eyelashes slowly melted into water droplets...

In his previous life, Qin Qiming was recruited into the Yangguan Commune production team because of the only valuable thing his family owned: a double-barreled shotgun. Although his marksmanship was subpar, he was able to earn some work points during the cold winter to help support his family.

However, in 1963, a severe drought, the worst in thirty years, struck. Qin Qiming not only exchanged all the grain in his family's empty grain jars for liquor, but also attacked his mother, claiming that she could not provide him with enough grain and liquor.

As for the only valuable item, the double-barreled shotgun, Qin Qiming had already made an agreement with the production team leader: if Qin Qiming failed to hit any prey on this last trip up the mountain, he would not only be kicked out of the production team, but the shotgun would also be secretly sold to the other party in exchange for a few kilograms of sweet potato wine.

And that's exactly what happened.

The shotgun bullets were a bit off-target, but luckily Qin Qiming was a kid who grew up in the mountains, and after going through several twists and turns, he managed to escape with his life.

When Qin Qiming heard that his plan had failed, he flew into a rage and, fueled by his drinking habit, beat the mother and son severely. That night, he secretly took the young girl and sold her to buy more alcohol.

The mother's attempts to appease him only led to further demands, and in a state of emotional collapse, she hanged herself in the backyard.

Qin Qiming had been raised by his mother since childhood, and he could not bear this heartache. He turned his anger into punching the old man until he was half dead. Then he left the mountains alone and joined the army.

In the moment before he finally became the captain of the special forces and fell off a cliff during a mission, the images of his mother and younger sister reappeared before him...

"Bang! Thump!"

A series of dull thuds came from the direction of the three-point mark, and a dark shadow appeared in Qin Qiming's field of vision.

"Pooh!"

Qin Qiming spat on the ground. Although he was still recovering from the fact that he had been reborn, the important thing was to survive in front of this bear!

The bear was panting heavily as its nearly 200-pound body darted through the woods, charging straight toward Qin Qiming.

Having served in the special forces for a long time in his previous life, Qin Qiming was not afraid at all and unconsciously gripped the hunting rifle in his hand tighter.

A thin rope was tied to the stock of the double-barreled shotgun, which was tightly connected to his waistband. Qin Qiming swung the shotgun aside and ran towards the nearby hillside.

Because of the deep snow, and the fact that two legs can't outrun four, Qin Qiming's running speed in the forest was naturally much slower. After running for several dozen meters, he saw that the bear was about to pounce on him.

"Tear!"

Qin Qiming suddenly stopped, hugging the bare pine trunk, and then lunged down a low hillside.

Bears are very dangerous, but their only weakness is that they can't turn corners when they run. Qin Qiming's body disappeared from the bear's sight, and the bear, which had pounced straight at him, fell to the ground with a dull thud.

The bear rolled around in the snow a few times, sniffed the air a few times, and then charged toward the hillside where Qin Qiming had jumped down.

"Snapped!"

Just as the bear's body emerged from the hillside, Qin Qiming lay flat on the snow below, aiming his dark gun barrel at the bear and pulling the trigger.

This shot was fired entirely by Qin Qiming based on his years of experience firing guns in his previous life, and the lead bullet that shot out hit the bear squarely in the head.

"Pfft!"

The bear's leaping figure suddenly veered off course, crashing heavily onto the snow-covered ground. Its muscular hind leg twitched once before it went still.

In his previous life, Qin Qiming had played and run on this mountain since he was a child. He was so familiar with the terrain that it was practically etched into his mind. He jumped down the hillside to cleverly avoid the bear's line of sight, giving himself time to draw his gun and aim.

Qin Qiming dragged himself to his feet. The gun barrel was still burning hot. After confirming that the bear was dead, he threw the hunting rifle into a snowdrift to cool it down.

The bear was a full 1.5 meters long, its dark fur mixed with snow water. Its body was intact, except for its bruised head from which steaming blood was flowing.

As the saying goes, bears are full of treasures, and their hides are especially valuable, whether for making fur coats or drying them for medicinal purposes.

At this point, the bear had just died, and its internal organs and skin had not yet deteriorated, so skinning it at this time would allow for the most complete removal of the bear skin...

Qin Qiming didn't hesitate. He took out an iron knife covered with cowhide from the pocket at his knee, smeared it with blood to warm the cold blade, and then plunged the iron knife directly into the bear's neck.

"Tear...!"

Qin Qiming grabbed the bear by its fur and slashed horizontally between the flesh and skin with his iron knife, the sound of flesh and skin tearing apart from the bear meat ringing out.

Tearing off a bear skin is no easy task. After nearly an hour, Qin Qiming's forehead was covered in sweat. As for transporting the two hundred pounds of bear meat down the mountain, that would also be no easy task.

Qin Qiming tightened his woolen hat, looked around, picked up some heavy pine branches, and used them as four anchor points to tie the branches together with the leather ropes he was carrying...

A simple snow frame is thus created. The bear is covered in snow to keep it frozen, and then it is dragged down the snow frame.

It took Qin Qiming almost two hours to finish all this. With the sun about to set, he stabbed the dagger into the space a few feet from his neck, reached in and turned it around a few times, and pulled out a steaming bear gall.

According to a centuries-old tradition in the village, if food is taken from the mountains, it must be given to the local earth god in some way.

At this moment, the sun on the west side of Yangguan Forest Area stimulated the snow line to emit a hazy yellow light, and the whole sky seemed to turn pinkish-purple in an instant. Then, large snowflakes fell from the sky in waves.

More than half an hour later, as darkness gradually descended into the stillness of night, Qin Qiming's figure finally appeared at a long-abandoned forest station at the foot of the mountain.

Qin Qiming loosened the cowhide rope around his body and thought for a moment. Since dragging bear meat around the village during this famine year would inevitably attract the attention of some people with ulterior motives, it would be better to leave it in the natural freezer at this station.

After settling everything in, Qin Qiming followed the scattered footprints toward his home.

The village roads were quite bumpy, and many oxcarts and horse-drawn carts inevitably made some potholes when they passed through the roads to carry goods, but they were not very noticeable under the cover of snow. Qin Qiming followed the small path and made several turns before arriving at his doorstep.

The house was made of some old bricks and tiles, with snow-covered thatched roof, and the yard was surrounded by uneven wooden blocks as a fence.

"What? Qin Qiming is missing? What are you people in the production team doing? He's not even twenty years old yet. How could he possibly take the risk of fighting alone? You...you give me back my son!"

"You spendthrift woman! The team leader made Qiming do a heavy responsibility by having him fight alone. Besides, joining the production team means taking on this kind of risk. By the way, Qiming is missing. What about that valuable double-barreled shotgun? And the wine we agreed on..."

"Are you even speaking human language? You've lost your child and you're still worried about that damn hunting rifle? Is my son's life worth less than that hunting rifle?!"

……

Qin Qiming had just turned the corner when a commotion came from the courtyard. Under the moonlight, he could see his parents and the other people from the production team!

The old man's words were even more hurtful!

A living human life is no match for a hunting rifle!