Rebirth in the 50s: The Couple with the Hidden Space-Chapter 787 - 661: Unexpected Encounter—Beasts Clash
The next morning, as wisps of smoke rose from every household in Zhang Family Village, Little Ping’an suddenly sprang up from the bed after a night of good dreams, rubbing his eyes in surprise at the sleeping pair.
Zhang Guoqing was already awake and suddenly opened his eyes to smile at his son, "Why are you up so early? Go back to sleep for a bit."
Ping’an looked out the window in confusion, "Is it early? Without the bugle, I’m not used to it."
Zhang Guoqing was about to reply when he felt his wife uneasily moving beside him. He quickly tapped her gently, and when he saw her continue sleeping, he quietly got off the bed, holding his son, and left the room.
Standing in the living room, father and son breathed a sigh of relief together and tapped their chests simultaneously.
Zhang Guoqing looked at his little son Little Douding on the ground, feeling delighted!
"Dad, are we going up the mountain today?"
Zhang Guoqing raised an eyebrow, "In the morning, we have to pick the lettuce and cucumbers in the backyard, or the crab apples will be wasted if we don’t harvest them."
Ping’an frowned at him, calculating on his fingers to explain, "A pound of wild boar meat can sell for one dollar, while vegetables are only a few cents? Ten pounds of meat can buy a hundred pounds of vegetables. Before dinner, can you ask Brother Xi Zi and others to help, okay?"
Zhang Guoqing tousled his short hair, "Then act quickly. We’ll go early and return early."
"Dad?"
"Shh," Zhang Guoqing pointed to the inner room, "Your mom doesn’t want us two to go up the mountain, keep it quiet. If dad gets punished by your mom, you have to stand up for dad."
Little Ping’an happily nodded repeatedly.
The pair rushed into the courtyard, quickly washed up, and after listening at the window until they heard no movement from the inner room, they happily clapped their hands together.
Zhang Guoqing grabbed a basket from the west wing, picked up his son, closed the door, and went out. It was just dawn, and the father and son wouldn’t go far; they could return by noon after a quick loop.
Once out the door, Ping’an wasn’t worried about being stopped by his mom. On the way up the mountain, he watched the distant fields as the members gradually started working, the little figure shaking his head.
"What’s up?" Zhang Guoqing patted his head, following his gaze, somewhat understanding. He quickly ran forward, comforting the child with reassurance.
This time, going up the mountain, Zhang Guoqing wasn’t aiming to hunt anything wild. Without Zhou Jiao around, carrying things down the mountain would be inconvenient, and his goal was to let his son familiarize himself with the environment.
The morning forest still had dew, and some areas were shrouded in mist. He was like a kangaroo, with his son strapped to his chest and a basket on his back, running everywhere and explaining to the child how to handle special situations.
The "kangaroo kid" in front was fully serious, lips tightly pursed, holding a small stone, listening with full concentration to his dad’s guidance.
This time, without Zhou Jiao beside him as a distraction, Zhang Guoqing moved swiftly. The father and son didn’t even bat an eye when encountering wild rabbits fleeing in the grass.
Ping’an understood well the saying that Daqing Mountain was like their family’s backyard. With his dad’s abilities, living in the village wasn’t a worry about missing out on meat or having a bad life.
The father was patient in his explanation, and the son listened attentively. Time passed unknowingly, and when Zhang Guoqing reached the outskirts of the deep mountains, two hours had passed.
He softly narrated forward, "Beyond here is the deep mountains. Without some skills, going further, you can hardly return. When your dad was eight, your great-grandfather took me inside; every kind of wild animal is in there, and the most dangerous isn’t the big beasts, but the Mist Forest.
From here, walk for an hour or two, and you’ll reach the Mist Forest. Beyond this Mist Forest, your dad only went twice; people don’t dare to go further. Those two times, once was with your great-grandfather and a group of people, and another was years ago with Grandpa Wang and the others."
Ping’an’s eyes turned, shining brightly as he looked into the distance, "Dad, why don’t people dare to go further? Is it more dangerous inside than the Mist Forest? Has anyone ever been there?"
Zhang Guoqing patted him, "Your great-grandfather mentioned that long, long ago, people went inside, but unfortunately no one ever returned alive. Back then, the Daoists in the halfway up the mountain temple all had martial arts, but they dared not easily go in to rescue people.
One year, several men disappeared after going into the mountain as a group. Their families sought help from the halfway up the mountain temple, and the Daoist sent ten disciples inside. It took several days for half of them to return alive. Since then, it’s been passed down in our family tradition; beyond the Mist Forest, you shouldn’t go further." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺
"Dad, I’ll remember that."
Zhang Guoqing smiled upon hearing this and patted him. He exaggerated the facts just now, worried his child might grow up curious and venture inside alone.
Last time, following Mr. Wang inside, he could hear close by in the night the movements of large animals, and going further, the risks were self-evident. Even without the family tradition, the danger level was high.
"Today, let’s stroll to here, should we go back now? Your mom should be awake and preparing lunch by now."
Hearing this, Ping’an hugged his dad’s neck tighter, "Okay, take me inside next time."
"Good boy!" Zhang Guoqing kissed the child in his arms, ready to run, when he suddenly heard a roar from the mountain ridge ahead, his face changed, and he jumped up a big straight tree behind him.
In the blink of an eye, Zhang Guoqing was standing on a branch, observing the commotion ahead, but unfortunately, he could only hear the sound without knowing the situation. He worriedly glanced at the child in his arms.
"Are you scared?"
Ping’an had also noticed the movement earlier and excitedly shook his head, asking quietly, "Dad, is there the sound of wild boars? What else? We can’t see from here."
Zhang Guoqing was amused and exasperated; truly, a newborn calf is not afraid of tigers! Those are bears and wild boars. He prepared weapons and sedatives, paying attention to the roaring and the crashing sound of small trees falling ahead.
"Listen to the sound carefully; dad will take you forward to see the situation. Don’t make a sound from now."
Speaking, he took a glance at his son covering his little mouth immediately, got down from the tree, and detoured through the old forest, climbing up a large boulder mountain.
Looking down at the beasts fighting life and death beneath the cliff, even Zhang Guoqing, who had hunted many game animals over the years, couldn’t help but take a cold breath.
A pig, two bears, three tigers!
Inside the forest, the two king beasts were killing each other furiously.
Fortunately, he detected the unusual sound and stood at the upwind position. If he accidentally didn’t climb the rock mountain, colliding with these blood-eyed creatures would surely strip him of a layer of skin.
Ping’an tugged at him, pointing at the pile of old mountain yams that were being dug up in the distance.
Zhang Guoqing smiled approvingly and nodded.
Inside the small valley, there was only one bear, and the wild boar group seemed to be a family, with a big sow weighing over three hundred pounds and several piglets weighing around two hundred pounds, engaged in mutual slaughter.
The cause of the conflict was probably this pile of old mountain yams.
Likely, the group of wild boars were grunting and gobbling the nutritious, delicious mountain yams. By chance, the bear encountered them and decided to take advantage, relying on its fat and bear gall.
However, the wild boars were also fighting hard, a large family in need of food. An unwillingness to concede led to a battle over these broken mountain yams.
The bloodshed incident provoked by the yams was raging in the valley, and the battle was extremely fierce. Bears and wild boars were thick-skinned and strong, and both sides were wounded clearly fighting their hardest.
