Time passes quickly, and in the blink of an eye, the New Year is approaching.

As the saying goes, "Rely on the mountains for food, rely on the water for drink!" We rely on the vast primitive mountains for sustenance from the Mountain God.

Before the New Year arrives, every household begins to prepare New Year goods.

Where do these New Year goods come from? Of course, they come from the mountains.

Each family sends out manpower, forming a mighty hunting army, heading into the depths of the mountains.

This is also the liveliest time of the year in the mountains, with voices echoing, the sound of guns reverberating, and cheers erupting from those who have caught prey.

There are many animals in the mountains. There are small ones like roe deer, muntjacs, wild rabbits, and even mountain rats, while larger ones include wild boars, deer, and so on. These are all our "New Year goods."

The custom here is to make preserved meat. After skinning and cleaning the prey, special spices are added, then salted and hung under the eaves to air-dry. When it's time to eat, they are taken down and boiled in boiling water. The aroma is irresistibly tempting.

Not to boast, but the wild game that children in our mountains eat is something city children have never even seen. Despite them dining out and going to restaurants for the New Year, when it comes to food, there's no comparison to the delicious and abundant food we have in the mountains.

I'm not very fond of eating roe deer or muntjacs; they have a strong, pungent taste. My taste is quite unique; I prefer mountain rats.

Mountain rats are actually field mice, unlike the dirty rats in the city. Mountain rats live in the mountains, feeding on plant roots or crops. They are quite large and have a lot of meat, with no strange odor.

Every time Grandpa cleans the mountain rats, he turns them into preserved meat and hangs them on the door.

As long as it's New Year's at our house, you can see dried mountain rats hanging on the door at a glance.

Grandpa slung his hunting rifle over his shoulder and took me out the door.

Originally, Grandpa didn't want to take me with him, but I insisted on going. How could I miss such a fun opportunity?

My parents repeatedly reminded me to be safe, then let me carry provisions.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

Hunting in the mountains takes a long time, sometimes ten days or more. When we go up the mountain, the kids go wild.

Many people have already gathered at the village entrance, the cold wind is biting, and everyone is wrapped in thick coats.

Although we are located in the southwest, because we are on the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau, winters are still quite cold, and sometimes it even snows.

The snow here is different from the snow in the north. The snow in the north is dry and comfortable; you can roll around in the snow. But the snow here is wet and cold, soaking into your bones.

I looked up at the overcast sky, and snowflakes began to drift down.

Fatty was also in the crowd. When he saw me, he took the initiative to come over and greet me.

After the incident with Yin Hongyi was resolved, Fatty and I resumed our previous friendship.

Of course, when I say "resumed," I mean superficially. Deep down, I still feel a certain barrier towards Fatty. Betraying a friend is something I can never fully forgive.

Now when Fatty sees me, he treats me with great respect, as if I were his big brother, because he thinks I'm a person with "abilities." He can never forget the scene of a group of snakes coming out to save my life. Perhaps he thinks I have some kind of special power to control those snakes, so he doesn't dare to offend me again.

Of course, they don't know that I don't actually have any special abilities. The reason those snakes came out to save me was because they responded to the call of Liu Qingqing, my beautiful snake wife. Except for my family, no one else knows about her.

According to tradition, the villagers are divided into several groups, each heading into the mountains.

Usually, grouping is done freely, with several people who have good relationships forming groups to hunt together.

If it's small prey like wild rabbits or roe deer, they usually keep what they catch for themselves.

If they encounter big prey like wild boars or bears, everyone will work together to capture them and then share the spoils together.

I remember last year, Grandpa and some others teamed up to hunt down a big wild boar, and every household in the village received a portion of the wild boar meat. For people living in poverty and scarcity like us in the mountains, that was definitely the best New Year's gift.

Life in the mountains is relatively barren. It may sound laughable, but the happiest thing we can think of is being able to eat meat every day.

So a piece of wild boar meat is truly a treasure for us. When the family gathers around, we set up a big pot, bring the soup to a boil, then cut the wild boar meat into chunks and cook it in the soup. Paired with some aged white liquor, taking a bite of meat followed by a sip of liquor, the taste is indescribably wonderful.

Soon, everyone divided into groups. Our group consisted of six adults and two children, a total of eight people.

The two children were me and Fatty. Among the six adults, the leader was Qi Lao'er, whom we call Uncle Qi.

This Uncle Qi is an old hunter in the village, not because he's old in age, but because he's experienced in hunting. He's in his forties now, but he has nearly forty years of hunting experience. It's no exaggeration to say that even when he was wearing open-crotch pants, he was already going hunting with the adults in the family.

The Qi family has been hunters for generations, relying on hunting for a living. With Uncle Qi leading the way, we felt very reassured.

Due to years of hunting in the deep mountains and forests, Uncle Qi is thin and dark-skinned, looking like a piece of dried-up cured meat. Over the years of hunting, he has experienced countless dangers and is covered in scars. His hands, when stretched out, look like dried bark, with cracks everywhere.

What's most special is that Uncle Qi wears a small felt hat all year round. It's understandable in winter, but doesn't he feel hot wearing it in the middle of summer?

I once asked Grandpa about this, and he told me that Uncle Qi encountered a bear during hunting one year and got a slap on the back of his head from the bear. He was lucky to survive, but a piece of scalp the size of a slap was torn off, and ever since then, he couldn't grow hair on that part of his head. He looked like a bald man and was very unsightly. To cover up, Uncle Qi wears a hat all year round.

Although Uncle Qi is thin, he is spirited, especially his eyes, which are sharp like an eagle's, as if they could still emit light.

Pointing at me and Fatty, he said, "You two kids, follow me into the mountain. You must obey orders and not run around randomly. There are many strange things in the mountains. If anything happens to you, don't blame me for not warning you!"

Fatty and I were already lost in thoughts of the old forest. Naturally, Uncle Qi's admonition didn't weigh heavily on our minds. We just kept nodding vigorously, solemnly promising that we would absolutely obey orders.

Uncle Qi waved his hand, leading us out of the village and slowly making our way up the mountain.