TFS – Chapter 62 Into the Mountains

Apologies for the Delay
I’m sorry for missing recent updates as my laptop broke last night. I managed to arrange a temporary system today after work. I’ll be updating today’s chapters now and will continue with the temporary system until my laptop is fixed. Thank you for your patience and understanding! 🙏

Li Feng made his usual patrol around the mountain. This was a routine task for him, ensuring that no large animals from the deeper parts of the forest wandered out to wreak havoc on the current mountainside village. The mountain now had a few dogs, and although they couldn’t compare to Xiaohua, the dog that had accompanied Tang Chunming from the start, they were still better than the dogs of other households. Uncle Da and Uncle Tie often joked, saying that the soil and water of this mountain were so nourishing that since moving here, not only did they feel healthier, but even the dogs they raised were better, smarter, and more obedient.

Uncle Da, in particular, was deeply grateful to Li Feng’s family. His injured arm had been examined by Doctor Hu before, but it couldn’t be healed. However, after Li Feng brought him to Doctor He, and with a period of acupuncture treatment, he could clearly feel the strength in his arm gradually returning. This was an outcome that brought joy and tears to him and his entire family. As a result, he devoted himself even more earnestly to the work on the mountain.

On his way down the mountain, Li Feng saw Uncle Da weaving straw mats. Most of the sheep pens now had thick straw mats hanging outside. Seeing Li Feng coming down, Uncle Da greeted him with a cheerful smile. Li Feng had already known that he was doing this. As the weather turned colder, these sturdy straw mats would help prevent frost from affecting the livestock. In fact, Uncle Da was much more knowledgeable about animal husbandry than he or Ming Ge’er.

As he continued walking, Li Feng’s sharp senses suddenly caught something unusual in the bushes along the roadside. This area had been normal when he passed earlier on his way up the mountain. Without hesitation, he walked toward it. The sound of rustling came from the bushes, and when he parted them, he met a pair of wary eyes, fierce like a small beast ready to pounce at any moment.

Li Feng chuckled inwardly. No matter how aggressive the child tried to appear, there was still fear and unease hidden deep in those eyes. But why was this kid here again? Was he still trying to keep an eye on Ah Lin and Xiaoyun? Recently, Ming Ge’er hadn’t let Ah Lin wander up the mountain, and Li Feng himself had kept an eye out during his patrols, ensuring the child didn’t show up here. It seemed he’d need to remind Uncle Tie and the others to pay extra attention during their patrols with the dogs, ensuring no villagers sneaked into the mountains.

Li Feng took a step forward, but the child, startled, fell backward to the ground. Then, like a frightened rabbit, he scrambled up and tried to flee. The villagers had said before that this scar-faced man was the fiercest, and though the boy hadn’t believed it then, standing before him now, his animal instincts screamed at him to run.

“Stop!” Li Feng’s shout only made the boy run faster, stumbling and crashing through the bushes, tearing his clothes on the brambles. Li Feng frowned, quickened his pace, and grabbed the boy by the back of the neck, lifting him up effortlessly. The child flailed wildly, trying to scratch and bite, but held firmly in Li Feng’s grip, he couldn’t get close. His struggles were nothing but futile thrashing in the air.

“What are you doing here?” Li Feng asked coldly. He wasn’t interested in bullying a child, but if it weren’t for Ah Lin, he wouldn’t have bothered dealing with this boy.

“Let me go!” the boy growled like a little beast, baring his teeth. But his trembling voice betrayed his fear.

“Don’t come back here again,” Li Feng warned, narrowing his eyes. “If I see you bullying Ah Lin again, I’ll break your legs.”

The boy flinched at Li Feng’s threat. Only then did Li Feng set him back on the ground, watching as the boy scrambled to his feet and ran away. After some distance, the boy stopped and glanced back, only to flinch again when he saw Li Feng still standing there. Trying to muster some false bravado, the boy spat in Li Feng’s direction and shouted, “You’re just like them, a bunch of wild men! Wild men are all scum!” Then he darted off into the distance.

Li Feng heard every word clearly with his sharp hearing, his brow furrowing deeper. In the past, he might have been interested in disciplining a kid like this, but this boy’s hostility toward Ah Lin was evident. There was no way Li Feng would allow a stranger to bring even the slightest risk to Ah Lin’s safety.

As for the meaning behind the boy’s parting words, Li Feng didn’t quite understand and didn’t bother trying to figure it out.

By next year, the problem of outsiders wandering into the mountains should improve significantly. The thorny bushes planted around the perimeter would be fully grown by then, at least enough to keep out kids like this one.

After instructing Uncle Tie and the others, Li Feng pushed the incident out of his mind and focused entirely on the upcoming wedding with Ming Ge’er. While others might see this as Ming Ge’er’s second marriage, Li Feng knew it was his partner’s first real experience, just like himself. He wanted to ensure that Tang Chunming would remember their wedding fondly.

“The twelfth day of the twelfth lunar month—it’s not far off. Did you send word to Yu Mu and the others? Will they have time to come? It’s not easy to travel back and forth in this cold weather,” Tang Chunming asked as he jotted down important details for the wedding. This task could only be left to him since, despite Li Feng’s years as a soldier learning to read, his handwriting still left much to be desired.

“It’s the end of the year, so they shouldn’t be too busy in their camp. They’ll probably come,” Li Feng replied. The current cold was nothing compared to the harsh climate they’d endured in the northern regions. To him, weather wasn’t an excuse. “But Ming Ge’er, there’s something you need to take care of before then.”

“Huh? What is it?” Tang Chunming asked curiously, looking up. He racked his brain, trying to recall if there was anything important he needed to do before the wedding. Personally, he would have preferred a springtime wedding, when everything was in bloom, instead of during the cold winter when everyone just wanted to stay indoors. But some people simply couldn’t wait.

Li Feng chuckled, gently taking Ming Ge’er’s not-so-cold hand in his own and explained, “Since we waited for you to finish your mourning period before getting married, you’ll need to formally complete the mourning rites first. Otherwise, someone might use it as an excuse to stir up trouble.”

Tang Chunming smacked his forehead. “Of course! We’re at the final step, and I nearly overlooked that. If I don’t get this sorted out, everything we’ve done so far will be wasted.” He quickly added, “I’d better figure out exactly how to handle this properly.”

Li Feng understood this matter more clearly than Tang Chunming. There were two ways to complete the mourning rites: one was to do it with the Zhao family, and the other, of course, was for Tang Chunming to handle it on his own. There was no doubt that Tang Chunming chose the second option. Who would want to be involved with the Zhao family again?

For this reason, Li Feng specifically made a trip to the town to buy all the necessary items, waiting for the appointed day to arrive.

The weather grew colder, and after several days of northern winds, one morning Tang Chunming opened the door to find the world outside covered in silver-white snow. “It’s snowing! Ah Lin, wake up, it’s snowing outside!”

“Mother, Little Brother peed again.” Ah Lin, however, was less enthusiastic, reminding Tang Chunming of the unfeeling reality.

Tang Chunming helplessly turned back and saw Little Ah Sen frowning, looking like he was about to cry. If Tang Chunming didn’t act soon, the tears would surely come. With a resigned expression, Tang Chunming pinched Little Ah Sen’s nose, then went to the box where they kept the clean diapers. Ah Lin sat beside his little brother, gently touching his small face and cooing, “Don’t worry, Little Brother isn’t hurt. Mother is playing with him.” Tang Chunming could only sweat at this.

Li Feng swept the snow in the yard before coming inside. As he stomped his feet at the door to shake off the cold, he began talking to Tang Chunming about the situation in the back mountains. He had already been there and checked. Several families had taken up residence in the mountains, and they had set up stoves, so staying inside during this weather wouldn’t be a problem. Because they had been supplying both Tingjing Pavilion and Tang Ji with chickens and sheep, the numbers had decreased a lot compared to the autumn, which had eased the burden on the caretakers.

There was more good news from the county town. After Tang Ji’s full-sheep restaurant opened, the aroma wafting out attracted a steady stream of customers. Thanks to word-of-mouth promotion from this group of customers, Tang Ji’s reputation quickly spread. Some wealthy families from neighboring counties even traveled all the way to Anping County just to taste the new food. As the weather grew colder, Tang Ji’s business only became more packed. This news made Tang Chunming smile from ear to ear, and even Teng Yu was very pleased. Business at Tingjing Pavilion had also not slowed down despite the cold.

Initially, the villagers didn’t know much about Tang Chunming running the ice shop or what kind of business he had done with a few households from the village to make a profit. But now, news of his full-sheep restaurant spread quickly. After all, the back mountains regularly supplied sheep to the county, and those with even a slight connection to the county would be curious and ask around. This led to people also learning about the kind of business Xia Mo and the others had been running.

Some families had been skeptical about Tang Chunming’s large sheep venture, but now he had become the envy of the entire village.

“Who was it that said the kid Li Feng was throwing money away when he bought the mountain for Ming Ge’er? Now look, his business in the city is booming, making more money than we can count. Even Zhang Changming has benefited from it, running errands for him in the city. Zhang Changming’s really riding on his Ge’er’s coattails.” Everyone knew that it was because Wang Mo got along well with Ming Ge’er that Zhang Changming had the chance to run to the city. Of course, there were people who went to Zhang Xiu to ask why Ming Ge’er hadn’t given this money-making opportunity to his husband, Dashan. Zhang Xiu angrily snapped at those people, saying, “Don’t you see what kind of person Dashan is? Do you think he could handle those tasks? Besides, Dashan has been busy with the work in the back mountains. Who said there were no opportunities to make money? These people are just jealous of others’ success and want to stir up trouble.”

Li Feng vaguely heard some of the rumors, but since even Ming Ge’er didn’t care, he didn’t pay them any mind. After discussing the situation in the mountains, he said, “I’ll go and bring down a couple of sheep to slaughter later. Half will stay at home for us to eat, and the rest will go to Ma’s place. Having some lamb in this snowy weather will warm us up a bit.” Actually, it was because Tang Chunming had mentioned yesterday that it had been a few days since they last had hot pot with lamb, and Li Feng had remembered. In this snowy weather, having everyone gather together to enjoy a warm meal of lamb hot pot seemed like a good idea.

“Sounds good. You decide what to do,” Tang Chunming said, without any objections. Li Feng always took care of things with more thoughtfulness and attention than he did. He picked up Little Ah Sen and said, “Let’s go see if Grandpa He is awake.”

After breakfast, Da Mao and Er Mao ran over to play in the snow with Ah Lin. The children had an even greater fondness for the snow, especially since it was a break from school. Tang Chunming saw that Ah Lin was dressed warmly and allowed him to go out and play. Er Mao excitedly grabbed Ah Lin’s hand and led him out to play.

In the morning, Dashan brought a few young men from the village to see Li Feng. At first, Tang Chunming found it a bit odd, as it didn’t seem like the usual kind of casual visit. Aside from Dashan, the men stood awkwardly in the yard, not quite sure how to greet Tang Chunming.

“Ming Ge’er, we wanted to ask if Ah Feng would join us for a hunt in the mountains,” Dashan explained, and Tang Chunming’s eyes immediately lit up. He also wanted to go, but what should he do?

In this weather, aside from those working outdoors, most of the villagers stayed home, especially the men, who had little to do. The thought of hunting in the mountains again, like the time they had gone together previously, made them itch with desire. However, they knew that with just the few of them, it was impossible to make a successful hunt. Even if they managed to find something, there was no guarantee they could return safely, especially if they encountered large animals. So, they had gone to Dashan to ask if Li Feng was interested in going.

Dashan, however, had heard Li Feng mention wanting to go back to the mountains. Now, with sheep, chickens, and ducks raised on the back mountains, they were worried that the wild animals would come down from the mountains looking for food. But this trip wouldn’t be a one-day affair, so Dashan hadn’t mentioned it to Tang Chunming. He had only talked about it with Li Feng when they had crossed paths during a mountain patrol, which was also why Dashan brought the others here.

When Li Feng came out and explained, Tang Chunming immediately understood. He couldn’t join them, not if it was going to take overnight. If it was a day trip, he might have been able to, just like in the fall when the weather was just turning cold, but now with two children at home, it wasn’t possible. He couldn’t just leave them with Grandpa He, so he said, “You all figure it out. I’ll take Ah Sen to Grandpa He’s place.” Grandpa He’s house was warmer, with a kang to keep them comfortable.

After lunch, Li Feng left with Dashan and the others to the mountains. He brought along quite a few things, like strong liquor and medicinal herbs, both of which were more important than other items in such cold weather. Before he left, he was still worried about Tang Chunming and Grandpa He staying at home, so he had originally planned to go to Zhen Mountain Village to deliver some lamb to Wang Ying and Tang Chunrong. But now, he changed plans and decided to bring Wang Ying over instead, so he and Tang Chunrong could stay here for a few days.

Da Mao and Er Mao stared longingly as they watched them leave, wishing they could quickly grow up and join the hunting trip. Ah Lin also stared wistfully, not wanting to part with Uncle Feng. Thankfully, his maternal grandmother arrived to distract him.