Before 4 p.m., Zhang Jingdong and their caravan had already arrived at Lushan Mountain first.
Zhang Jingdong said a word to Liang Feng, then directly took Long Yue to go hunting.
Seeing Zhang Jingdong relentlessly heading towards the denser part of the forest, Long Yue couldn’t help but say, "It seems like there aren’t many animals around here, are we going in the wrong direction?"
Zhang Jingdong curled his lips: "I’m presenting you with an intelligence test question, see. It usually takes a man 10 minutes to shower, and a woman typically takes 20 minutes. So, how many minutes do you think it would take if they showered together?"
Long Yue caught the mischievous smile at the corner of Zhang Jingdong’s mouth and immediately blushed: "I... I don’t know."
Zhang Jingdong wrapped his arm around her fragrant shoulders: "Actually, I don’t know the correct answer either, but we happen to be in a similar situation right now, so we can conduct an experiment."
"I take about half an hour to hunt by myself, excluding the time walking back and forth, and you probably need one hour by yourself. Now that we’re hunting together, just pay attention to the time in a bit."
It felt like a long time before Zhang Jingdong straightened his clothes and then asked, "How long was that?"
Long Yue glanced at him with a mix of embarrassment and delight: "25 minutes and 18 seconds!"
Zhang Jingdong curled his lips: "Ah, it’s just because we were both hung up on hunting, so we were kind of in a rush. Otherwise, it should have taken at least half an hour."
"Huh? It seems like you don’t believe me. Alright then, let me demonstrate it to you again right now..."
Long Yue quickly said: "I believe, I believe..."
Zhang Jingdong pinched her chin with his hand: "You seem to have no lingering affection for my lesson, so it appears that the points I covered just now didn’t satisfy you. Well, let me give you a little extension of the lesson."
Long Yue knew she couldn’t escape this lesson and honestly said: "No, it’s just that I’m worried it’s not a good spot for hunting here and we might not catch up later. Actually... I really enjoy your lessons, I just don’t want you to be held up because of me, otherwise, Sister Feng and Sister Shu would certainly blame me."
Zhang Jingdong immediately realized, then joked with a laugh: "Relax, your man teaches like ten to eight lessons a day as if it’s nothing, they definitely won’t get angry with you..."
By the time the lesson ended, it was nearly 6 p.m.
Zhang Jingdong didn’t dare to be too confident now, after all, apart from needing to catch food for his own team, last night he had also promised to handle the food for the other teams today, and it might not be possible to encounter wild boars like yesterday again.
After swiftly packing up, he directly wrapped his arm around Long Yue and quickly left the dense forest.
Because no rivers were found nearby, unable to fish, they could only hunt the most primitive way in the forest.
But fortunately, since this forest was rather untouched, the animals were still quite plentiful.
In the following hour, they caught 17 wild chickens and 8 wild rabbits, but it still wasn’t quite enough.
It was nearing 7 p.m. and the sun was about to set, both of them were getting anxious.
At this moment, Zhang Jingdong suddenly saw a cluster of white dots down the hillside and instantly knew what it was. He promptly signaled Long Yue with his eyes: "Let’s go, our dinner is settled!"
Long Yue looked in the direction he indicated and then put down her things and dashed toward that direction, just like him.
Anyone with wilderness experience knows that sometimes when you’re halfway up a mountain, you think a location is very close, but when you actually get there, it turns out to have been a half-day journey.
Zhang Jingdong and she went at full speed, and it still took them a solid 40 minutes to catch up to the flock of sheep they had seen before.
Zhang Jingdong approached the shepherd, adjusted his breath, and then said, "Grandpa, are you heading home?"
The grandpa turned his head to glance at Zhang Jingdong, and when he saw his camouflage uniform, a spark flashed through his eyes.
He replied warmly, "Yes."
"Grandpa, here’s the thing: we’re a group of people out camping, and now we have nothing to eat. Could you sell a few of your sheep to us?"
Zhang Jingdong shook his head: "No, we’re just out playing. We wear these clothes as a disguise to prevent wild animal attacks."
"How many do you want?"
Zhang Jingdong directly gestured: "Eight."
"That will be... 400 yuan then."
Zhang Jingdong took out his wallet, counted 3200 yuan, and handed it over to the grandpa: "Here you go!"
The grandpa looked at the money Zhang Jingdong handed him and directly waved his hand: "I was saying 400 yuan in total."
Zhang Jingdong was momentarily stunned, then instantly thought of something: "Grandpa, we really aren’t soldiers, and the price of mutton is rather expensive nowadays, each sheep should cost at least three to five hundred."
"Moreover, we are fortunate to have met you today or else we would have had nowhere to find dinner. Consider the extra money as thanks."
But grandpa, because of what Zhang Jingdong said, became even more convinced they were surely soldiers and insisted: "Whether you are soldiers or not, this is my price. My son is also in the military, and you resemble him. It’s fate that we met today."
"I’m old, just listen to me!"
This was the first time in Zhang Jingdong’s two lives that he had encountered such a situation.
However, grandpa’s expression made it clear he had already made up his mind.
Therefore, Zhang Jingdong could only say: "Alright, since you’ve said so, we’ll listen to you."
"But since you are so generous, I feel a bit embarrassed. So... I won’t give you more money but let me give you a small gift instead!"
Zhang Jingdong said this and took out the Swiss pocketknife, handing it to the grandpa along with its sheath: "I give you this knife, grandpa. You might find it useful."