Seeing that all the villagers had returned, Ye Hao assigned tasks to everyone.
"Huang Su Su, Niu Jianwu, I'll have to trouble you two today. Go and knead the dough first, make more two-grain steamed buns. I'll go hunting in the mountains. When I come back, you can clean the game. Chao Shu and Bingsheng, you two, prepare the sweet potatoes. We'll cook more sweet potatoes today. Everyone else, go and tidy up the warehouse. The house that was just repaired today definitely can't be lived in, so tonight's dinner will have to be in the warehouse. All right, let's get to it."
"Brother Hao, let me go hunting with you in the mountains." Sun Chaoshu wanted to go too when he heard Ye Hao was going hunting again.
"No, with your aim, you wouldn't be hunting, you'd be wasting time. We're in a hurry today, so I'll go by myself. I'll take you hunting in the mountains another day when I'm free." Ye Hao finished speaking, grabbed his knife and crossbow, and headed into the mountains.
"Alright." Sun Chaoshu watched Ye Hao's receding back with a resentful expression.
Ye Hao didn't see Sun Chaoshu's expression. If he had, he might have beaten Sun Chaoshu until he couldn't take care of himself.
After wandering around the mountain for a bit, Ye Hao came down with two pheasants and three wild rabbits.
"Wow, Brother Hao, you're too amazing! You caught so much game in such a short time. Next time, you must take me with you, I want to hunt too." This excited and thrilled person must be Sun Chaoshu.
"Niu Jianwu, clean these game animals." Ye Hao ignored the clowning Sun Chaoshu and handed the game to Niu Jianwu.
"Huang Su Su, how are your preparations coming along?"
"The steamed buns are already in the steamer. We're just waiting for Niu Jianwu to clean the game. Oh, Brother Hao, how should we cook these game animals?"
"Stew both pheasants. Braise the rabbits with potatoes. There are many people today, so this might not be enough. You can start cooking, and I'll go back into the mountains to see. No matter what, these villagers have helped for so many days, so we must make sure they eat their fill today." Ye Hao wandered into the mountains again, and this time, he was lucky enough to encounter a group of roe deer. There were about fourteen or fifteen of them, big and small.
Ye Hao quietly approached the group of roe deer. Since there were many bushes, Ye Hao could hide in them, and the roe deer didn't notice his approach.
Ye Hao came within four or five meters of the roe deer, leaped, and flew into the middle of the group. Before the roe deer could react, Ye Hao's mind moved, and five roe deer were taken into his space.
The other roe deer then reacted, immediately scattering and fleeing. Ye Hao raised the crossbow in his hand and shot at the closest roe deer. With a thud, the crossbow bolt pierced into the roe deer's neck, but the roe deer didn't die immediately. Blood flowed from its neck, and it continued to run forward.
Ye Hao put the crossbow into his space, accelerated, and chased after the injured roe deer. Ye Hao's physical fitness was now at the peak of human ability, and the roe deer was injured and bleeding, becoming weaker and weaker. It didn't run far before it started to slow down.
Ye Hao caught up and pressed the roe deer to the ground, directly striking its head with his fists. With two thuds, the roe deer stopped breathing.
Looking at this roe deer, which weighed about fifty to sixty jin, Ye Hao was very satisfied. This thing would definitely allow all the guests today to eat their fill.
Ye Hao's consciousness entered his space and found that the five roe deer he had taken in were now leisurely eating grass, not at all panicked by the new environment. They truly were roe deer.
Ye Hao put the dead roe deer into his space and walked back. There was no need to prepare any other game; this one roe deer was enough for everyone to eat.
Before entering the village, he took out the crossbow and the roe deer, and carrying the roe deer, Ye Hao returned to the warehouse.
"Holy cow, Brother Hao, this is a bit unreasonable, isn't it? How long has it been, and you've already caught another roe deer? How did you catch this thing? Such a large animal, can your crossbow really hunt it? The crossbow bolt probably can't even penetrate its hide." Sun Chaoshu was the first to see Ye Hao return again, and his chatterbox started up.
Sun Chaoshu's exclamation attracted everyone's attention (of course, Niu Jianwen didn't come out; he was still lying in bed).
"Brother Hao, you're too amazing! ₍₍Ϡ(੭•̀ω•́)੭✧⃛" Zuo Lei was astonished to see Ye Hao carrying such a large game animal.
"Brother Hao, you're the best." Lu Bingsheng gave a thumbs-up. He knew very well how powerful the crossbow he made was. At close range, it could penetrate the roe deer's fur, but at a slightly longer distance, it definitely couldn't. The roe deer Ye Hao carried back clearly had a crossbow bolt stuck in its neck, which indicated that Ye Hao hunted this roe deer at close range.
"Alright, stop staring, everyone. Come and help clean this roe deer. Tonight, we'll eat meat until we're stuffed." Ye Hao was still a little proud seeing everyone's surprised and admiring looks.
None of the young people had cooked roe deer meat before and didn't know how to make it delicious, so they went to Captain Li's house to invite Zhao Shenr to help. Zhao Shenr was also surprised to see the roe deer and the other game animals, and when she learned that Ye Hao had caught them in such a short time, she was even more astonished, exclaiming, "The Mountain God has blessed us with food!"
With Zhao Shenr's help, the meal was quickly prepared. It wasn't dark yet, so everyone decided to eat outside, as the kerosene lamp inside wasn't as bright as the outdoors.
They moved the tables and chairs out of the room. Since there weren't enough tables, they improvised one with wooden boards. For chairs, they borrowed some from the villagers.
Two tables laden with a sumptuous meal were ready. Not to mention in this era of famine, even forty or fifty years later, it would still be considered a rich feast.
There was a large basin of stewed chicken with mushrooms, a large basin of braised wild rabbit with potatoes, a large basin of braised roe deer meat, a large basin of roe deer stewed with vermicelli, and a large basin of cold mixed wild vegetables.
With these dishes, even during the New Year in this era, one couldn't enjoy such a lavish spread. Everyone's mouths watered at the sight.
When Captain Li, Third Uncle, and Fourth Uncle arrived, each carried a bottle of liquor. Captain Li also carried an extra bag of peanuts. As soon as they arrived, they asked Zhao Shenr to fry the peanuts.
"Xiao Hao, your spread today is truly extraordinary. Even during our New Year's, we've never had such a lavish meal. We brought a few bottles of liquor with us, I hope you don't mind."
"Uncle Li, what are you saying? We should have prepared the liquor. It's our oversight today that we had you bring your own. The main reason is that none of us here drink, and time was a bit tight today. Otherwise, I would have definitely gone to the city to buy some liquor."
"Haha, no need for such trouble. The dishes are already very plentiful. We'll just bring our own liquor. We've already taken a great advantage of you. These dishes aren't something you can eat whenever you want."
"Captain Li, what you're saying... we should be thanking you for your help. Otherwise, how could we have built the houses so quickly?"
"Alright, stop staring, everyone. Let's dig in. Eat your fill today. If it's not enough, we'll keep making more. There's still half a roe deer left."
The young people heartily devoured the meat dishes, while Captain Li, Third Uncle, and Fourth Uncle savored the delicious food and sipped their liquor, enjoying themselves immensely.