23: Chapter 23: Let's get started.

Mo Shoutian hadn't originally planned to call him.

After all, Mo Changlin was already over fifty, and his strength wasn't what it used to be in his youth.

But this old man had passed through the depths of the back mountain, and among the younger generation in the village, very few people were more familiar with the mountain paths there than him.

"Alright, Uncle Changlin, come over together tonight."

Mo Changlin picked up the bowl on the windowsill again.

"That's more like it."

Mo Shoutian then visited a few more households in the village.

Mo Shouyi, Mo Shoucheng, and Mo Shoutian were all cousins, except they were all a bit younger than him.

When Xiaochuan was young, Mo Shoutian often went into the mountains with them; later, when Xiaochuan grew up, he took Xiaochuan into the mountains and rarely went with the two of them.

Mo Shouyi was a man of few words, while Mo Shoucheng was a bit more talkative, and the archery skills of the two brothers were top-notch in the village.

When he found the two of them, Mo Shouyi and Mo Shoucheng were sitting at the entrance of the village chatting with others.

Mo Shoutian didn't waste any breath and directly told the two of them to come to his house for a drink tonight.

The two of them didn't ask much and nodded, saying they would definitely arrive tonight.

And then there was Mo Chenghai.

Mo Shoutian didn't go to his house; he bumped into him on the roadside.

Mo Chenghai had just come down from the mountain, carrying a wild deer weighing over a hundred catties on his back.

Mo Shoutian looked at the wild deer on his back, and then looked at Mo Chenghai, saying:

"Did you just get back?"

Mo Chenghai nodded and said:

"I was lucky. I went up the mountain yesterday, and this morning I got this deer, so here I am back."

Mo Shoutian smiled and said, "Is it just luck? I won't say any more nonsense. Come to my house for a drink tonight."

"Should I bring wine?"

"No need."

"Alright then."

After agreeing, Mo Chenghai walked a few steps and stopped again.

"Is something the matter?"

Mo Shoutian neither admitted nor denied it.

Seeing that he wouldn't say, Mo Chenghai chuckled and carried the wild deer back home.

Afterward, Mo Shoutian went to Mo Mancang's home.

Mo Mancang had two children at home.

When Mo Shoutian arrived, he was holding his youngest daughter and walking around in the yard, while the child for some reason kept crying, wiping snot and tears all over his shoulder.

Hearing that there was going to be a drink tonight, Mo Mancang glanced into the house first.

His wife was cooking in the kitchen and said through the window:

"What are you looking at me for? Since Brother Shoutian called you, just go."

Mo Mancang then agreed.

Mo Chunhe was the last one; this eighteen-year-old kid was very nimble on his feet.

When Mo Shoutian arrived at his house, he had just crawled off the kang, his hair as messy as a bird's nest.

"What time is it and you're still not up?"

"My stomach hurt last night, and I tossed and turned for half the night."

Mo Chunhe put on his shoes and casually grabbed his hair a few times.

"What did Uncle Shoutian want me for?"

"Come to my house for a drink tonight."

"Is there meat?"

Mo Shoutian glanced at him.

"Without meat, you wouldn't go?"

"Of course I'll go."

After notifying all these people, Mo Shoutian made a calculation.

Including Mo Xiaohu, it was exactly ten people.

The time had reached noon; after returning home, Mo Shoutian told Liu Chunmei to prepare more food and wine, as he was inviting people over for dinner in the evening.

Liu Chunmei asked, "How many people?"

"More than a dozen people."

"Alright, I understand. We don't have much wine left at home, so go buy some more wine."

Mo Shoutian nodded. The family of four casually ate something at noon, and Liu Chunmei started getting busy.

After a day of getting along, Nannan also seemed to have gotten used to this home.

While Liu Chunmei was busy cooking, she played by herself in the yard.

As it was getting dark, Liu Chunmei pushed two tables together.

There weren't enough stools at home, so she went to the neighbor's house to borrow a few long benches.

Mo Xiaohu arrived the earliest.

After entering the door, he first smelled the aroma of meat in the room and said,

"Sister-in-law's cooking skills are truly not bad."

Mo Shoutian smiled and said,

"You kid, you only know how to eat. Go back into the house and drink some water first."

As the sun set, the people who had agreed to come also began to arrive one after another.

First came Mo Dashan and his brother, bringing a jar of wine.

Mo Mancang arrived a little later.

Behind them were Mo Changlin and his son, as well as the remaining few people.

After entering the door, Mo Qingshi didn't sit down immediately; he first helped Liu Chunmei bring over the remaining two dishes from the kitchen.

Mo Changlin sat by the edge of the kang, looked around at the people in the room, and then glanced at the shed outside, because when he came in, he had seen the heavy crossbow in the shed.

Almost all ten people guessed that tonight wasn't purely about drinking.

It's just that since Mo Shoutian didn't say anything, they didn't proactively ask.

Liu Chunmei placed the dishes down, then held Nannan and went to the kitchen.

Everyone drank a bowl of wine first.

The conversation at the table quickly increased.

Someone asked Mo Shoutian what Jiuzhou City was like, someone asked how much silver the carriage cost, and Mo Xiaoshan was still complaining that his brother wouldn't let him bring another jar of wine over.

When drinking the second bowl, Mo Xiaohu couldn't hold back anymore.

"Brother Shoutian, everyone has arrived, aren't you going to say it yet?"

Mo Shoucheng chimed in and said,

"I knew this meal of wine wouldn't be so easy to drink."

Mo Shoutian put down his wine bowl.

"This time when I went to Jiuzhou City, I bought a heavy crossbow used for hunting beasts."

Although everyone had guessed it to some extent, upon hearing him say it in person, they still quieted down.

Mo Shoutian continued,

"I plan to find a large beast in the back mountain to try it out first."

"The back mountain?"

A piece of meat that Mo Chunhe had just picked up fell back into his bowl.

Mo Xiaoshan also lost his previous smile.

"Brother Shoutian, in the past, when people from our village went to the back mountain, quite a few died."

Mo Xiaohu said,

"In the past there was no heavy crossbow. Now that we have a heavy crossbow, can it still be the same as before?"

After hearing this, Mo Shoucheng and Mo Shouyi started talking in low voices.

At this time, the oldest Mo Changlin tapped the chopsticks in his hand.

"Let Shoutian finish speaking first."

The room finally quieted down again.

Mo Shoutian first explained his thoughts, and then roughly talked about the matter of the heavy crossbow.

For a moment, no one in the room answered.

Mo Xiaohu had originally been quite excited, but recalling how people hunting large beasts with heavy crossbows had ended up with several deaths, the smile on his face vanished.

Mo Changlin said,

"Having a heavy crossbow just gives us a few more points of certainty."

"If we really run into a desperate large beast, people who are meant to die will still die."

Mo Shoutian nodded.

"Therefore, I am making things clear beforehand today."

"This time we aren't going to the front mountain to hunt a few pheasants, nor are we going into the mountains for a day or two. Whoever doesn't want to go can say it now and it'll be fine."

Mo Xiaohu said,

"I'll go."

Mo Shoutian glanced at him and nodded.

Everyone else at the table was not in a hurry to state their stance.

Mo Mancang opened his mouth to ask,

"Brother Shoutian, what if someone really doesn't come back?"

Mo Shoutian knew he had two children at home, and also knew why he asked this first.

"If someone really has an accident, I won't ignore his family's livelihood."

After hearing this, Mo Mancang didn't ask anymore.

Mo Shoucheng beside him chimed in:

"There's another matter that also needs to be made clear in advance."

Mo Xiaohu turned his head to look at him.

"What matter?"

"How to divide things after hunting something."

Mo Shoucheng said it very directly.

"Everyone is risking their lives to enter the mountains. If we don't make it clear now, and wait until things are hunted back before discussing it, it will easily cause conflicts by then."

Mo Changlin nodded.

"That's right."

Mo Shoutian hadn't planned to hide it from them in the first place.

"The heavy crossbow, crossbow bolts, and carriage were all bought with my money."

Mo Shoutian looked at everyone and said,

"Once the prey is sold for silver, after deducting the expenses on the road, I will take half of the remaining money, and the other half will be split equally among you ten people."

After hearing this, Mo Xiaoshan turned his head and asked,

"Brother, what do you think?"

Mo Dashan said,

"I think it's fine. If it weren't for the heavy crossbow Brother Shoutian bought, we wouldn't dare to enter the mountains to hunt large beasts. Taking half isn't too much."

"I think it's fine too."

After Mo Xiaoshan finished speaking, he picked up his chopsticks again and picked up a piece of meat.

Everyone else had no objections either.

Mo Chunhe was the youngest and couldn't help asking,

"How much silver can a large beast sell for?"

The people at the table all laughed.

Mo Changlin scolded,

"You haven't even entered the mountains yet, and you're already calculating silver?"

Mo Chunhe didn't feel ashamed at all.

"I was just asking."

Mo Shoutian said,

"It depends on what we hunt."

"The prices of tigers, bears, and mountain leopards are all different. The meat can be sold, and the skin can be sold too. If we really hunt a large beast, the money could even double."

Hearing the last sentence, Mo Chunhe said excitedly,

"I'll go."

Mo Shoucheng said,

"Brother Shoutian, when are you planning to enter the back mountain?"

"It hasn't been decided yet."

Mo Shoutian said,

"Let's practice and get familiar with the heavy crossbow first. With a dozen people using the same thing together, if anyone makes a mistake in a single step, something might happen once we're really in the mountains."

"Tomorrow after breakfast, everyone go to the west end of the village. Let's try out the crossbow first and break it in."

Mo Changlin asked,

"What about after trying it out?"

Mo Shoutian looked around at everyone.

"Those who are willing to stay can stay, and those who don't want to go can go home—I won't blame anyone."

This time Mo Xiaohu didn't wait for others to speak.

"I don't need to think about it, I'm definitely going."

Mo Shoucheng laughed and said,

"When have you ever thought things through, you kid?"

Mo Xiaohu said, "Why think so much? Brother Shoutian spent dozens of taels of silver to buy a heavy crossbow, he's not leading us to our deaths."

Hearing this, Mo Changlin said,

"Being afraid of death is nothing to be ashamed of."

Mo Xiaoshan looked toward his older brother again.

Mo Dashan didn't agree immediately, only saying,

"Let's test the heavy crossbow tomorrow first. We'll only know what the thing is really like after testing it."

Mo Mancang had all along not agreed.

When the wine was almost finished, he finally said,

"I'll go back and discuss it with the children's mother."

Mo Shoutian said, "That's how it should be. The back mountain is no ordinary place."

The remaining few people didn't say anything definitive either.

However, Mo Shoutian could tell that they all wanted to see what the heavy crossbow was actually like first.

After finishing the meal, everyone followed him to the shed outside.

Mo Shoutian lifted the linen cloth covering it, and the heavy crossbow was revealed.

The few people who had been talking nonstop just moments ago all swarmed around it.

Mo Dashan bent down and lifted the wooden frame slightly.

"It's indeed not light."

Mo Xiaoshan also reached out to try it.

"The two of us brothers carrying it should be no problem."

Mo Dashan said, "Stop boasting for now. Can carrying it a couple of steps be the same as carrying it into the back mountain?"

Mo Changlin didn't touch the heavy crossbow; he first walked around the wooden frame to inspect it.

Mo Shouyi picked up a heavy arrow and weighed it in his hand.

"If this thing hits a vital spot, I reckon those large beasts in the back mountain will be more or less as good as dead."

Mo Shoutian covered it back up with the linen cloth.

"Tomorrow after breakfast, go to the west end of the village."

Everyone chatted in the yard for a bit longer before leaving one after another.