Gu Qingcheng settled the remaining accounts for them, and the shop assistants, carrying empty baskets, were about to head back.
Gu Qingcheng asked them to put down their baskets and carrying poles, leaving them for her to use. She paid for them, and now on the mountain, everything was scarce, especially carrying baskets.
The old baskets were sold for the price of new ones. The boss would likely not blame her, and it would be more convenient for her to go down the mountain herself. So, the shop assistants took the money and left the baskets behind.
Gu Qingcheng used these goods as a cover to take more supplies such as cotton clothes and quilts from the storage cabinet, and then took out more preserved cured meat, vegetables, salt, rice, flour, oil, and grains.
In any case, this way, the supplies she took from the storage cabinet had a source.
The villagers only saw them carrying a lot of things up from a distance, and didn't know exactly what they were carrying, which made it convenient for Gu Qingcheng to "play favorites".
Gu Qingcheng even took out 10 pheasants and three wolves from the storage cabinet and asked Mi Guo to stew several pots of meat soup that night to reward everyone.
They had shot over 200 wolves in Jinsha City before, and were worried about where to sell them. Now was a good opportunity to clear inventory.
Mi Guo called Luo Juan and Wang Daya to help him process the pheasants and wolves.
Luo Juan and Wang Daya were shocked to see so many wild animals and asked where they came from.
Gu Qingcheng and Mi Guo had already prepared their story, saying that they bought the wolves from someone selling them at a low price down the mountain, and the pheasants were hunted by them on their way up.
The two girls didn't suspect anything, so they went to fetch spring water, boiled a large pot of hot water to scald the feathers, while Mi Guo started processing the wolves.
He hung a wolf on a low tree, then cut open its belly from the jaw downwards, and slowly peeled off the skin until a complete wolf pelt was removed.
After the wolf pelt was tanned, it could be used as a blanket or made into fur clothing.
There was a cobbler in the village who could do this.
The children, after finishing their grass cutting, gathered around curiously when they saw Mi Guo processing the wolf. Some touched its head, some its paws, completely fearless.
Processing the offal was troublesome. Gu Qingcheng asked Mi Guo to simply remove the internal organs, dig a hole, and bury them. They would become organic fertilizer the following year, not a waste.
Mi Guo then took the internal organs of the three wolves, along with the pheasant feathers and offal plucked by Luo Juan and the others, found a low-lying spot, dug a hole, filled it with soil, and disposed of them.
They could have just thrown them away, but this would attract insects when they rotted, and Gu Qingcheng was afraid of that.
After all these were processed, Mi Guo used the three largest iron pots to boil water. He himself chopped the wolf meat with a clatter, cut it into pieces, threw them into the pot, and added Sichuan peppercorns, ginger, and pepper, as well as a small amount of bird's eye chili.
Wang Daya and Luo Juan also brought the 10 pheasants after they had been stripped of their feathers and internal organs.
Mi Guo did not separate the pots, but directly chopped the pheasants into small pieces, threw them into the pots, and cooked them together with the wolf meat.
The three large pots were boiling at the same time, and the rich aroma of meat wafted through the entire new village.
"Ah? What's that smell? Is it meat? It smells so good, who's cooking meat?"
"It smells so good, could it be that someone is cooking a whole piece of cured meat?"
The villagers working on the nearby slopes couldn't help but sniff the air when they smelled the meat.
"It doesn't smell like cured meat. It smells like the wolf meat we ate at the camp that day," someone said.
"Cooking meat again? Who's so lucky? Eating meat every day, could it be Young Master Gu?"
However, when they returned to the camp at noon, they found that they were the ones eating the meat.
The squad leader informed them that one person from each family could go and get wolf meat, and each family would receive a share, which was an extra meal.
Everyone was overjoyed and quickly found the largest basins at home to collect the meat soup.
After Mi Guo's skillful preparation, the gamey smell of the wolf meat disappeared. The villagers, smelling the delicious aroma, licked their lips and craned their necks, eagerly anticipating their share of the meat.
Soon, everyone was holding a basin full of meat soup and happily walking home.
After eating the meat and drinking the soup, they even licked the basins clean. Life couldn't be better!
Gu Qingcheng ate a simple sandwich and then went into her shed to catch up on sleep. She had walked up and down the mountain, and had woken up too early that morning, making her feel tired.
What Gu Qingcheng didn't expect was that when she woke up, it was already completely dark.
Mi Guo told her that Dai Fa had returned.
Gu Qingcheng rubbed her eyes and said she would go find Dai Fa to see what he had gained from his trip down the mountain.
In front of Dai Fa's shed, a dense crowd of people was squatting.
Mi Guo couldn't see Dai Fa and quickly called out, "Uncle Dai."
Dai Fa stood up from the crowd and said, "Young Master Gu, I was just looking for you!"
Upon seeing Gu Qingcheng, Dai Fa quickly reported that he had bought a lot of goods, including rice, flour, oil, grains, and farming tools. On his way back, he had specifically gone to the previous camp and mobilized people. Another 50 or so people were willing to come up the mountain.
Phoenix Village was short of everything, and the most urgent need was people. Gu Qingcheng was naturally happy to accept them.
She activated the loyalty measurement and found that all these people were qualified. So, Gu Qingcheng said, "Alright, you can all stay! Those who stay, follow me, and I'll give you rice and oil."
These people never expected that as soon as they arrived at Phoenix Village, they would receive precious grain and oil, which made them incredibly excited.
The army marches on its stomach.
To stabilize morale, there must be food and drink.
Gu Qingcheng saw that the new villagers looked dispirited, so she naturally had to give them a shot in the arm.
Everyone followed her to her shed. They were envious of the abundant daily necessities, including grain, cotton clothes, and a large quantity of farming tools, far more than Dai Fa had, almost piled up like a mountain.
Dai Fa smiled and said, "Young Master Gu, you bought so much today?"
Gu Qingcheng said, "When we reached Zhan Chun Town, everything we saw was what our village lacked. Without realizing it, I bought too much. Fortunately, because of the large quantity, the shop owner let his assistants help deliver it up the mountain, otherwise, Mi Guo and I alone couldn't have carried it back."
With everyone's help, Gu Qingcheng quickly distributed the food and oil rations for over forty people.
These forty-odd people were not all individuals; there were brothers, and even a pair of sisters-in-law.
The two sisters-in-law were only in their early twenties. One was named Qin Yue, and the other Liu Cui. Their husbands had both died, one from extreme cold and the other from eating poisonous mushrooms on their way fleeing from famine, leaving only the two women to depend on each other.
Qin Yue and Liu Cui had finally made their way south, but to their surprise, Wang Chun City did not take them in. They had no rice left, and their lives were extremely difficult. They were on the verge of starvation, so the two of them intended to find a secluded place and end their lives with a rope.
Unexpectedly, Dai Fa came to the camp to recruit people for Phoenix Village.
They were desperate, so they came.
Since they were not afraid of death, why would they be afraid of being deceived?
If they were indeed deceived, they would just die again!