The village was quiet. With coal burning, there was hardly any cooking smoke to be seen. Now and then, a dog from one or two households barked a few times, breaking the silence before everything grew quiet again.
By the time Li Long arrived at Old Ma's Place in the horse-drawn cart, the sun was already sinking in the west. He could hear the wild boars grunting in the yard.
It was time to slaughter another couple of these fellows.
They really hadn't put on any fat all winter. What a waste of grain.
Once he brought the cart into the yard, Uncle Lao Luo came out. Seeing Li Long, he smiled and said,
"You're back, Xiao Long. Your second older brother and the others have gone over to your eldest brother's."
"Right. Nothing happened these past few days, did it, Uncle Lao Luo?"
"Nothing much. Just heard the team will be holding militia training soon, in the next few days. Yesterday, your second older brother and the others were wondering whether you'd make it back in time."
"I'm definitely taking part. I've got a gun, and this is the only time I can get some ammunition," Li Long said with a smile. "I want to get some extra for hunting in winter."
"That's easy enough. Just tell Jun Wazi to set some extra aside." Uncle Lao Luo had fought on the battlefield and had carried a gun after the village was founded, too. His generation, including Li Jianguo, had no particular awe of guns and ammunition. They used to handle them often, even detonators and explosives, so they didn't consider them anything special.
Even when the country introduced its strictest gun-control laws in the nineties, they could still collect heavy weapons like Maxims. Just imagine how frightening the firepower