Mom listened, wanting to stop him, but Su Hang had already slipped into the house, grabbed a flashlight, and rushed out.
"It's dangerous in the mountains at night," Mom reminded him.
"Relax!" Su Hang only managed to say two words.
At that moment, his younger sister ran out with a kitchen knife, "Bro, take the knife with you."
Su Hang couldn't help but laugh, and just as he took the knife, a sound of voices came from the mountain path. The three of them turned to look. The lights flickered, and faintly, two figures were seen coming down the mountain path. Su Hang, with his good eyesight, immediately relaxed upon recognizing his dad, Su Youhua, and his uncle, Su Youqiang.
"Dad, Uncle Three," Su Hang called out.
The two seemed to be engrossed in conversation, but they were brought back to reality by Su Hang's call. Dad nodded at Su Hang, and Uncle Three looked at Su Hang with a smile, "Little Hang, you've grown quite a bit after staying in the provincial capital for a few days."
In Su Hang's memory, Uncle Three was not as strict as Dad and had a more active mind. Unlike Dad, who was rather rigid, Uncle Three had set up a chicken farm in recent years, which was quite profitable. Su Hang's family had also benefited from his support.
"Why are you back so late? Didn't you go hunting for game? Where's the game?" Mom asked at this point.
Both of them had hunting rifles slung over their shoulders, but their hands were empty, not even a bird feather. If someone didn't know, they might think they were just about to enter the mountains.
"Ah, don't mention it. We encountered something strange today. What game? Let's eat first, and we'll talk while eating," Dad waved his hand, put down the rifle, and led Uncle Three into the house.
---
At the dinner table, the family had prepared tofu pudding. Uncle Three also called Aunt Three, and Su Hang had a younger cousin, Su Jun, who was two years younger than him. Su Jun had passed the entrance exam for a second-tier university in Yuzhou two years ago and was now in his second year, one year ahead of Su Hang. Due to the long distance, he rarely came back.
"Dad, what strange thing did you encounter in the mountains?" While eating the steaming tofu pudding, Su Hang and Dad and Uncle Three clinked beer glasses, and Su Xi asked curiously from the side.
Dad put down his wine glass and tapped his chopsticks lightly on the table, "To tell you the truth, something really strange happened today. You won't believe it if I tell you."
"I think even if you tell us, we won't necessarily believe it," Mom shot a glance at Dad, not giving him any face.
Dad sweated, speechless from the rebuke, and turned to give Uncle Three a look, signaling him to continue.
Uncle Three cleared his throat and said to Su Hang and his sister, "Here's what happened. Today, your dad and I went into the mountains to hunt. We didn't have much luck on the outskirts, so we decided to go deeper since it was still early. At Black Bear Gorge, we encountered a few bamboo pheasants. I couldn't resist and fired a shot, hitting two of them. They fell into the grass, but when we went to retrieve them, we couldn't find a single feather."
"Uncle Three, I think you missed the shot," Su Hang couldn't help but laugh, doubting his uncle's marksmanship.
"You little brat, what do you know!" Uncle Three shot a glance at Su Hang, "With my marksmanship, even at fifteen meters, I can hit them one by one!"
"Ha ha!" Su Hang was speechless, fifteen meters, that's quite far!
"Besides, my rifle can hit a large area. At such a distance, how could I miss?" Uncle Three shook his head, "Your dad saw it too. We hit two, but when we went into the grass to look, we only saw two bloodstains, not a single feather. We didn't pay much attention at the time and continued deeper into the mountains, firing a few more shots. But you say it's strange?"
"Did you lose them again?" Seeing Uncle Three's mysterious look, Aunt Three, Hu Xiulian, asked.
It must be said that Uncle Three was a good storyteller, and his use of suspense was quite effective, but even Aunt Three wasn't fooled.
As soon as Aunt Three spoke, Uncle Three slapped the table lightly, "You got it right. Your dad and I must have hit at least five or six animals, but we didn't get a single one. Sometimes we clearly saw one hit, but when we went to retrieve it, there was nothing, as if it had vanished into thin air. It was really strange."
"Didn't hit, didn't hit, why make up stories?" The younger sister listened with interest, but Mom and Aunt Three didn't believe it, thinking the two men were just making excuses for not getting any game. They might have just gone to sleep somewhere in the mountains like Zhu Bajie.
"Big Sister, I'm not making it up. My brother said maybe some wild animal was following us and taking the game. It wasn't that we were afraid, but it was getting dark, and it wasn't safe in the mountains, so we didn't go further and came back," Uncle Three said.
"I think you were just scared," Aunt Three shot a glance at Uncle Three.
Uncle Three, either stung by Aunt Three's words or drunk, blushed, "How could I be scared? I often go into the mountains, and I have a gun. Even if a tiger came, I wouldn't be afraid, right, Su Hang?"
"Right, right, right," Su Hang nodded, "Uncle Three, are you telling the truth?"
"If I lie, may my son be born without a butt hole!" Uncle Three said.
"What nonsense are you spouting?" As soon as he finished, Aunt Three's sharp claws reached out and grabbed the soft flesh on Uncle Three's waist, "You old rascal, do you have any shame?"
Uncle Three winced and begged for mercy, but Dad and Mom laughed. After a while, Dad's smile faded, "Don't disbelieve it. I saw a flash of light zip by. It was so fast. It was a bit dark, and I couldn't see clearly. I think either my eyes were playing tricks on me, or it was a fierce animal. If it wasn't a fierce animal, it must have been a ghost."
"Spit, spit, spit, what ghost?" Mom spat, as in the countryside, they were somewhat superstitious about such things.
Su Xi took a few bites of rice and looked up, "Mom, don't the old folks in the village say there are mountain ghosts in the mountains? Do you think Dad and Uncle Three encountered a mountain ghost?"