29: Chapter 29 Returning to the Village

When Mo Shoutian had finished cleaning up the ox's belly, Mo Changlin and the others had also finished making four drag frames.

Mo Changlin first looked at Mo Xiaohu.

"Spread a bit more things on Xiaohu's frame, don't let his injured leg touch the wood."

Mo Mancang carried over a bundle of pine branches to spread on top, then took off a coat and padded it under Mo Xiaohu's lower leg.

The other three drag frames were much simpler, mainly used to load tiger skin, ox skin, bones, and the cut meat.

Mo Shoutian called everyone together.

"There are too many things, it's impossible to take them all. The tiger skin, tiger teeth, tiger claws, ox horns, and ox skin cannot be left behind either. Cut the good meat, and the rest can only be left here."

"Hide the heavy crossbows in the mountains first, we won't bring them back this time."

No one objected, and they began loading things onto the drag frames.

Until all three drag frames were completely full, there was still a lot of beef and tiger meat left on the ground.

Mo Xiaoshan looked at the meat that didn't fit, feeling a bit reluctant.

"These are at least over two hundred catties."

Mo Changlin said:

"Who would have thought these two creatures were so big, the ropes we brought were almost not enough."

It was already noon by this time.

Everyone rested for a while, ate some dry rations, and began walking down the mountain.

There were four drag frames in total. Mo Xiaohu occupied one by himself, and the remaining three were packed to the brim.

Except for Mo Xiaohu lying on the drag frame, there were ten people able to work.

Each drag frame was pulled by two people. Mo Shoutian and Mo Changlin followed beside, taking turns replacing those who were tired.

The snow on the mountain was very thick, and the mountain path going down was somewhat slanted. Pulling with the drag frames actually saved a lot of effort compared to carrying.

It wasn't until the afternoon of the third day that everyone returned to Mo Family Village.

As soon as they entered the village, they were surrounded by a few people chatting idly at the village entrance.

Quite a few of them were old hunters in the village.

Seeing the tiger skin, tiger bones, and that huge ox skin on the drag frames, several old men immediately started discussing.

"Shoutian, was this hunted back from the back mountain?"

"Yes, Sixth Uncle."

The old man reached out and touched the tiger skin.

"You guys are bold enough. It seems the heavy crossbows Shoutian bought back are really easy to use."

Another old man nearby saw Mo Xiaohu lying on the drag frame.

"What happened to Xiaohu?"

Mo Xiaohu said:

"Seventh Grandpa, it's nothing, just got bitten by a tiger."

"Getting bitten by a tiger is still called nothing?"

The old man walked over and looked at Mo Xiaohu's wrapped lower leg.

Before long, more and more villagers hearing the commotion surrounded the village entrance tightly.

Seeing that he couldn't leave for a while, Mo Shoutian asked Mo Changlin and his son to send Mo Xiaohu back first.

Just as Mo Changlin and his son took a few steps, Mo Shoutian instructed Mo Qingshi:

"Go find Uncle Chang'an right away after you get back, and let him take a look at Xiaohu first."

Mo Qingshi agreed with a sound, and pulled Mo Xiaohu to leave first with his father.

As soon as they left, a few young men a bit older than Mo Xiaochuan gathered around Mo Shoutian.

"Uncle Shoutian, these things can sell for quite a bit of money this time, right?"

Mo Shoutian nodded.

"It shouldn't be little, but exactly how much it can sell for, I can't say for sure right now."

One of the young men continued to ask:

"If we go to the back mountain to hunt big beasts in the future, can you take us along?"

In fact, Mo Shoutian hadn't been in a rush to leave the village entrance all along; what he was waiting for was someone to take the initiative and ask this question.

On the way back, he kept thinking about the matter of Spirit Stones.

More than a month had passed since he started searching for Spirit Stones.

Yet until now he hadn't truly gotten his hands on even a single Spirit Stone, having only found a beast core from the belly of the Mother Wild Ox.

Exactly how many Spirit Stones this beast core could be exchanged for was still unknown now.

According to what Qiu Wansheng said before, an inferior beast core could be worth three Spirit Stones, while a better one could be worth seven or eight.

Thinking over and over, wanting to satisfy the Spirit Stones needed by Qingli and Xiaochuan in the future, he could only hide into the back mountain to hunt big beasts.

Hearing the young men ask this, Mo Shoutian smiled.

"You can go if you want, but the back mountain is no joke."

"Go home and discuss it clearly with your parents first. If your family agrees, go register at your Aunt Qiuniang's place."

Hearing this, the young men instantly became happy.

"Rest assured, my parents will definitely agree."

As soon as these people finished asking, a few villagers around Mo Shoutian's age came over, saying they also wanted to follow into the back mountain together.

Mo Shoutian was naturally happy, and still asked them to go back and discuss it with their families first, and go find Xu Qiuniang to register once they discussed it well.

After about half an hour, the villagers surrounding the village entrance gradually dispersed.

Mo Shouyi looked at the leaving villagers and said:

"Shoutian, it seems we'll have to buy a few more heavy crossbows in the future."

Mo Shoucheng also nodded along.

Mo Chenghai said:

"Had I known, I would have brought the heavy crossbows from the mountain back, so we could let these people who want to enter the back mountain practice with them first."

Mo Shoutian said:

"Don't worry."

While talking, everyone pulled the remaining three drag frames to Mo Shoutian's house.

After unloading the things, several people were quite exhausted, and after telling Mo Shoutian, they each went home to rest.

Looking at the huge tiger skin, tiger teeth, tiger claws, as well as the big ox horns and ox skin in the courtyard, Liu Chunmei was also startled.

She just wanted to ask about the situation of entering the mountain, but Mo Shoutian had already walked out of the courtyard and gone to the next door Xu Qiuniang's house.

At the entrance of Xu Qiuniang's courtyard, villagers coming to deliver herbs came one after another.

Seeing Mo Shoutian return, Xu Qiuniang was about to speak when Mo Shoutian said first:

"Qiuniang, you get busy first, I'll take a look myself."

After speaking, he entered the courtyard.

Various herbs in the courtyard were neatly stacked.

Mo Shoutian walked over to one of the piles of herbs and reached out to touch them.

The herbs were thoroughly dry.

From entering the mountain to returning this time, they used a total of seven days. Mo Shoutian also didn't expect that in such a short time, Xu Qiuniang had already collected so many herbs.

At this time, Xu Qiuniang walked over holding a bundle of dry herbs.

"Brother Shoutian, when these herbs were dug back by the villagers, they were already a bit dry to begin with."

"And our place is close to the mountain, the wind is big in winter, basically they can dry completely in a day or two."

Mo Shoutian nodded.

Xu Qiuniang continued:

"During the few days you were gone, a total of two hundred and ten catties of herbs were collected."

"I estimate that by tonight, we can collect another few dozen catties."

"There are also some herbs that look a bit different from what the wild herb records describes. I didn't dare to put them together with the ordinary ones, so I put them aside separately."

As Xu Qiuniang spoke, she put the herbs she was holding in her arms into the same kind of herbs, and then led Mo Shoutian to the corner of the courtyard.

Several dozen herbs were placed separately there.

Mo Shoutian picked up one and smelled it, the medicinal scent was much stronger than ordinary herbs.

Xu Qiuniang said:

"The wild herb records calls this kind of herb Red-Root Vine."

"However, these of ours are a bit different from what's written in the book. The roots written in the book are red, but the roots of these of ours are purplish-red."

Mo Shoutian lowered his head to look, the roots had indeed turned purplish-red.

"I don't understand this either."

"When we go to Jiuzhou City, bring it over and let the people at Zhou Family Pharmacy take a look."

Xu Qiuniang nodded.

Just at this moment, a villager at the entrance shouted:

"Qiuniang, come and take a look, mine was dried according to what you said."

Xu Qiuniang turned her head and responded.

"Brother Shoutian, then I'll go get busy first."

"Go ahead and be busy."

Mo Shoutian glanced again at the herbs placed separately in the courtyard, feeling very satisfied in his heart.

He really didn't expect Xu Qiuniang to be so capable when doing things.

After looking at the herbs, Mo Shoutian returned to his own home.

As soon as he entered the house, he saw Xiao Niuzi and Nannan sleeping together on the kang.

Liu Chunmei also walked in behind.

"Qiuniang's side is busy, so Xiao Niuzi has been staying at our house, playing together with Nannan."

"The two children just had lunch, played for a while, and then both fell asleep."