Chapter 44 Entering the Back Mountain, It's Too Eerie

When they gathered at the entrance to the back mountain, the other children from the village who had been waiting there witnessed this scene:

Walking at the front was Qiao Xu, who was carrying a military green satchel that was bulging and it was unclear what was inside.

Following behind him was Qiao Kun.

Qiao Kun wasn't satisfied with carrying a military water bottle; he also carried a... small stool in each hand?

Next up is Qiao Jing.

Aside from a cylindrical object they had never seen before hanging on him, he wasn't carrying anything else, but he was holding a little girl in his arms!

The little girl was extremely cute, wearing a pretty dress, red leather shoes, and a little yellow chick sun hat on her head. Her exposed skin was so white it almost glowed.

The village children had seen Qiao Qiao before.

Their village is called Qiaojia Village. As the name suggests, everyone in the village has the surname Qiao. If you go back a few generations, they are all relatives and related to each other.

They had all met Qiao Qiao and knew that Qiao Qiao was adopted by Qiao Changdong from outside.

Everyone knows she's beautiful.

But how should I put it? I thought she was pretty before, but never like this. She's so pretty that it's like she's glowing, and once you see her, you can't take your eyes off her.

Qiao Hai and Meng Zihuan were at the very back.

Qiao Hai carried a bamboo basket on his back and held Meng Zihuan's hand with one hand.

As he walked, he didn't forget to say to Qiao Qiao, who was being carried by Qiao Jing, "Little sister, how about I carry you on my back later? I'm very strong."

When his words came to his senses, his friends all looked away from Qiao Qiao and gazed at the Qiao brothers with a mixture of curiosity and hesitation.

so--

What are they doing?

Going on a trip to the mountains?

They admitted that the Qiao family's younger sister was beautiful, so beautiful that it was hard to look away, and they liked her very much. They would often play with and hug her when they saw her, but—

They're going hunting in the mountains now!

How could you bring a little girl along!

This is such a nuisance!

Faced with the incomprehension looks from the young men.

The Qiao brothers are nothing like the cowardly people at home.

The group remained completely calm and composed, without blushing or skipping a beat.

Qiao Kun waved his hand and made an extremely domineering statement.

“This is our sister. You don’t need to worry about her. We will take good care of her. You all go about your business.”

The group of friends were all boys, and they were all around the same age as the Qiao brothers, between twelve and fifteen years old.

Upon hearing Qiao Kun's words, they swallowed back the hesitation that was about to come out.

After all, that's what they said; if they actually intervened, it would seem like they were meddling in other people's business.

The group marched into the mountains in a grand procession.

Qiao Qiao was held in Qiao Jing's arms, her arms wrapped around his neck, her little head propped up, looking around curiously.

In her previous life, she had never been to the back mountain of their village; the adults wouldn't allow it, and she herself had no interest.

I heard that this mountain behind the house supported many hunters before the reform and opening up.

There are many good things hidden inside.

If you have the ability, eating meat every day is not difficult.

However, by their father's generation, most people made a living by farming, and few went into the mountains to hunt. Gradually, some hunting skills were lost.

These days, when the young men in the village go into the mountains, it's just small-scale stuff; they just play around on the edge of the forest.

It can't really be considered hunting.

This was Qiao Qiao's first time in the mountains, and everything was new and exciting.

Moreover, she discovered that what Qiao Changdong had told her before was true: the back mountain was overgrown with weeds, some of which were taller than her!

She had originally planned not to tire her brothers out too much, and to let them carry her only if they were too tired to walk.

But now she knows that if she gets down and walks around, getting scratched by weeds and branches a few times, her brothers might really get a beating when she goes out.

"Little sister, here you go."

Qiao Qiao looked in the direction of the sound and saw that Qiao Xu had picked a branch of osmanthus at some point, rubbed the leaves clean, leaving only a bunch of small yellow flowers, and handed it to her.

"Thank you, brother." Qiao Qiao took it and sniffed it.

The rich floral fragrance made her momentarily intoxicated.

"If you like, we can pick more when we go out," Qiao Xu said with a smile, seeing that she liked it.

There were two osmanthus trees in the Qiao family courtyard, but the flowers had all fallen by mid-October. I didn't expect that there would still be some in the mountains in November.

Qiao Qiao smiled sweetly: "Okay."

Seeing that his brother had made his sister happy, Qiao Hai also wanted to find something to make her happy, but after searching around, he couldn't find anything good.

Finally, he focused his gaze on a tree that had lost all its leaves.

He walked over for half a minute and brought Qiao Qiao his gift.

He tried to raise his hand so that his gift could be seen by his sister: "Look, sister, a big caterpillar."

"..." Qiao Qiao.

Thanks, but she won't look!

Qiao Qiao turned her head and buried her face in Qiao Jing's neck.

"Xiao Hai, are you stupid?" Qiao Kun sneered, looking at his little cousin with mockery: "Your sister is most afraid of these things, and you still showed them to her."

Qiao Kun remembered clearly that his younger sister used to be so scared when she saw a cabbage worm that she would breakdance, let alone a caterpillar.

Qiao Kun, who thought he knew his sister very well, proudly puffed out his chest and made a solemn pledge to her.

"Little sister, just you wait. Big brother will definitely get you a little rabbit today. It'll be fluffy and very cute. After you play with it until it dies, we can even have Grandma make spicy rabbit for you."

"Okay." Qiao Qiao really likes spicy rabbit.

People in Hongfeng Town also love spicy food. She started eating spicy food with her family when she was very young, and she can handle most levels of spiciness.

She's been injured in the head lately, so the food at home has been a bit lighter; otherwise, she usually loves spicy food.

However, after entering the mountains, the group wandered around for half an hour, but they didn't manage to catch a single rabbit, or even a single bird feather.

The young men were a bit frustrated. They sat down on the ground, looking up at the birds on the nearby branches that they had scared away with the slingshots they had made from tree branches.

A series of complaints.

"I couldn't shoot a single bird today."

"That's right, at this time in the past, we would have caught several of them."

"And we didn't even see a single mountain rat."

The young men had practiced their slingshot skills since they were young. While they wouldn't say they hit the target every time, they could usually catch a few sparrows on each trip into the mountains.

With a bit more luck, you might even be able to catch a pheasant.

Unfortunately, today, I didn't catch a single bird feather!

There wasn't even a single mountain rat, which usually roams freely across the mountains.

That's really weird.