Chapter 101: Hang in there!!

In the evening, Ming Dai not only made braised roe deer meat but also set up a campfire in the yard to roast meat.

Zhou Sinian busied himself alongside her, extremely happy!

Freshly marinated roe deer meat was skewered on metal wires and hung over the rack. Zhou Sinian turned the rack while Ming Dai brushed honey on the meat. The two worked in perfect harmony.

The sweet fragrance of honey mixed with the savory scent of roasted meat floated through the air. The foolish roe deer on the grass were attracted to the smell, stretching their necks and curiously gazing at the scene.

They had no idea that Zhou Sinian was already planning to choose one of them as the next lucky one for dinner.

Ming Dai asked Zhou Sinian to take down the cooked meat and put a new batch on. They roasted and ate together, with a bubbling hot pot of mushroom soup simmering in the charcoal pot.

Thin slices of pink meat were placed in the pot, curling up after a few seconds of cooking.

After taking it out, they dipped the meat in sauce, and Zhou Sinian happily exclaimed, “This is delicious!”

He pointed at the hot pot, his eyes shining, indicating he wanted to have it again next time.

Ming Dai also liked it. She blanched some fresh sweet potato vines, which were crisp when she bit into them. “When you’re better, we’ll have a spicy hot pot. The best part is dipping the meat. Too bad we don’t have beef—I really want to eat some, but there’s none in the storage.”

Zhou Sinian tilted his head. “Beef? I think I’ve seen some.”

Ming Dai flipped the grilled meat. “You must have seen it in one of the villages before. Cattle are usually used for plowing fields.”

Zhou Sinian shook his head. “I saw them in the mountains.”

Ming Dai paused in the middle of picking up food. “In the mountains? That’s impossible. There are no wild cattle in the mountains of Hei Province.”

Zhou Sinian thought for a moment. “It was when I went up the mountain before. There were wild boars trying to attack them, so I locked them up.”

Ming Dai was shocked. “You locked them up? What do you mean? Wait, them? How many are there?”

Zhou Sinian raised his chin proudly. “I just locked them up, like our home, so the wild boars couldn’t bite them. There are two of them. They were brought here on a big truck, but the truck overturned, and they ran into the mountains—not this one, the other one.

A lot of people went up the mountain looking for them, but they were too clumsy to find them. Later, I found them!

When the old man brought me over here, I brought them too and put them in this mountain.”

Ming Dai was dumbfounded. “You locked them up? Wouldn’t they starve to death?”

Zhou Sinian chewed on his grilled meat, the juices glistening and the flavor sweet. “No, they won’t. I went to check—they’re alive. I left a lot of grass for them. They can eat that.”

“When did you check on them? How come I didn’t know about it?”

Zhou Sinian glanced at her. “As soon as you fell asleep, you knew nothing. I went at night.”

Ming Dai swallowed. “Where exactly on the mountain? Do you remember?”

Zhou Sinian arrogantly nodded. “Of course, I know where I hid them!”

“Did you hide other things too?”

Zhou Sinian’s face darkened. “Yeah! They kept stealing my stuff, so I hid it!”

Ming Dai, who had barely gotten used to Zhou Sinian suddenly talking more, was now bombarded with this new revelation.

The impact of the information left her a bit dazed, and she didn’t even notice that the roasted meat had burned.

It was Zhou Sinian who grabbed the burnt piece of meat, glanced at it regretfully, but couldn’t bring himself to throw it away. He put it in his mouth, chewed a couple of times, and swallowed it.

Ming Dai looked at him. “Zhou Sinian, should we go see the cows tomorrow?”

Zhou Sinian nodded. “Sure.”

In his eyes, Ming Dai wasn’t a stranger. He was willing to share everything with her, and the reason he hadn’t mentioned it before was simply because he had forgotten.

Ming Dai felt reassured and began to look forward to the next day.

The next morning, before dawn, Ming Dai called out for Zhou Sinian to wake up. She was a little excited.

Zhou Sinian was roused from his sleep, but he wasn’t angry. He quickly washed up, ate a few of the steamed red bean buns that Ming Dai had heated up, and the two of them left the space. They avoided the people and hurried towards the mountain.

Once they reached the foot of the mountain and confirmed no one was around, Ming Dai took out a pair of non-slip rain boots and helped Zhou Sinian put them on.

At Ming Dai’s request, Zhou Sinian carried her on his back and began climbing Wild Boar Ridge. The snow on the mountain was thick, and Zhou Sinian had to work hard to make his way through, carefully avoiding the snow pits that appeared from time to time.

After stumbling a few times, they finally arrived at a cliff face.

Ming Dai looked at the bare cliff and thick snow, then turned to Zhou Sinian. “There’s nothing here.”

Zhou Sinian didn’t answer. He broke off a branch and started sweeping away the snow on the ground. Slowly, a pile of stones was revealed.

Ming Dai watched as he moved the stones, revealing a small cave.

She looked at the large rocks on the ground and then at Zhou Sinian, who was standing next to her. “Is this where you said you locked them up?”

Zhou Sinian nodded. “Yep!”

Ming Dai thought to herself, This is it. The cows must have starved to death!

She felt a deep sense of regret and pulled out a flashlight, handing it to Zhou Sinian. Then she followed him into the cave.

The deeper they went, the stranger it felt. This didn’t look like a naturally formed cave.

The ceiling of the cave grew higher as they went further, and once they passed through the uneven cave top and the scattered rocks on the ground, they saw cement walls. Ming Dai was sure now—this was an artificially dug cave.

Ming Dai started to feel anxious. There were only two kinds of people who could dig out such caves in the deep mountains, and she worried that they might have encountered the kind of people who were living in difficult circumstances.

Zhou Sinian, however, was very familiar with the cave. After they entered, he led Ming Dai deeper inside.

The rooms inside confirmed Ming Dai’s suspicion. However, the rooms had been emptied out, leaving only some mutilated tables and chairs with missing legs and arms.

After walking for a few minutes, Ming Dai noticed a strong odor in the air, and soon, she spotted dry cow dung scattered on the ground.

A growing sense of unease crept over her.

After turning a couple of corners, Zhou Sinian led her into a room.

In one corner, two large yet gaunt cows lay on the ground, their ribs jutting out sharply beneath their hide.

Ming Dai forced a bitter smile—so this was truly a “ribs cow.”

The animals’ skeletal frames were painfully visible, each rib clearly outlined.

The ground was littered with piles of cow dung, and traces of hay were scattered nearby—likely left by Zhou Sinian earlier. But it had already been eaten clean.

“When was the last time you fed them?” Ming Dai asked.

Zhou Sinian answered nonchalantly, “Last time.”

Ming Dai sighed. “Was it before we started fixing the reservoir, or after?”

Zhou Sinian thought for a moment. “Before we fixed the reservoir. I didn’t come after it snowed. I thought they wouldn’t eat during the snow, but then… I forgot.”

He said it with such confidence that Ming Dai couldn’t find a way to argue.

She glanced at him, then looked back at the emaciated cows on the ground.

“Well, I guess it’s just bad luck for you guys.”

Zhou Sinian showed clear disdain for the cows lying in the dung pile, giving one of them a kick. “Get up!”

Ming Dai quickly grabbed his arm. “Don’t kick them! They’re dead.”

Zhou Sinian shook his head in confusion. “No, they’re not! Look.”

He then pried open the eye of one cow and shone the flashlight into it.

Ming Dai looked over, and although the cow’s eyes were rolled back, the pupils still reacted. She jumped back in surprise. “They’re not dead?!”

The cows were really tough!

Ming Dai immediately checked the other cow, and it also had a pupil reaction. She quickly moved both cows into the space.

Zhou Sinian followed her inside, looking at the emaciated cows on the grass, their bodies so thin that their original shape was hard to tell. He asked worriedly, “Ming Dai, there’s no meat left. Do you think the bones will be any good?”

Ming Dai was already flipping through her veterinary book in her head. “Bones aren’t good to eat. Let me try and see if I can save them!”

She quickly selected a recipe and rushed off to the warehouse to prepare the medicine.

Meanwhile, Zhou Sinian stood in place, frowning as he looked at the two skeletal animals on the ground. He grabbed a handful of grass, pried open the mouth of a cow with brute force, and shoved the grass inside. The poor cow choked so badly that its eyes rolled back.

Ming Dai came out with the medicine just in time and quickly stopped him!

“Can you stop causing trouble?!”

Zhou Sinian sheepishly let go and discreetly tossed the grass aside.

Ming Dai took out a funnel and inserted it into the cow’s mouth. She asked Zhou Sinian to hold the cow’s head steady while she poured the nutritional fluid into it.

The poor rib cows couldn’t swallow on their own. Ming Dai was getting frantic, but it was Zhou Sinian who pressed gently on the cow’s neck, and only then did it start to show signs of swallowing.

After both cows had been fed, they finally had the strength to open their eyes, though their dry and dull eyes stared blankly, as if they were on the verge of passing away.

Ming Dai prepared some milk and fed it to them in the same way. This time, the cows began swallowing on their own, albeit very slowly. After they were done, both of them were covered in sweat from the effort.

They had done everything they could. Now, it all came down to the cows’ luck.

Ming Dai led Zhou Sinian out and continued to explore the cave.