Rebirth in the 50s: The Couple with the Hidden Space-Chapter 761 - 636: Patient Guidance

A shadow darted quickly through the deep mountain wilderness, moving so fast that it was hard to tell if he was carrying a child.

Ping’an held tightly to his neck with one hand and gripped the stone in the cloth bag hanging on his chest with the other. If an animal appeared, he could help.

The expressions on the father and son’s serious faces were identical. When they heard a rustling sound not far away, both their eyes lit up, and they looked in that direction.

Zhang Guoqing didn’t rush to act and asked softly, "What is it?"

Ping’an made a funny face — pig!

Zhang Guoqing gave him a thumbs up, "At least five hundred meters away. We’re not in a hurry; let’s listen for other animal sounds first. Before hunting, you need to survey the surroundings. Some directions have cliffs, those areas are dead zones. Even if you are confident, you can’t go there.

If there are other dangerous animals at the target location, you also have to detour. Animals are actually quite intelligent, similar to people. They understand ’the mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind’.

Ping’an nodded seriously.

"This hunt is secondary. Dad will first teach you how to use the trees around you to navigate without a compass, how to escape when in the Mist Forest, and if injured, how to use materials at hand to treat your wounds. There are many first aid skills you must learn well. Once you’ve learned, you’ll be the master of the forest."

"Dad, you’re incredible! Teach me everything."

Zhang Guoqing patted him, "Haste makes waste. Take it slow; when there’s time, Dad will take you to the mountains. Once you’ve learned enough, we father and son will find someone to accompany us deep into the mountains."

Ping’an nodded seriously. His dad mentioned finding Grandpa Wang and the others.

"Once you’re familiar with the forest in the North, next time we’ll take you to the South. The weather there is humid, and the miasma and venomous insects can easily take your life if you’re not careful. So even if you’ve learned some skills, you can’t be careless."

"I understand."

Zhang Guoqing looked worriedly at the child he was carrying. Where would his child’s path lead in the future? He was still young, first let him learn survival skills, and later, when he grows up, they can reassess.

Setting aside these worries, Zhang Guoqing began meticulously pointing out the surrounding environment, the land underfoot, trees, and weeds, imparting his teachings carefully.

This time, the training went beyond just hunting knowledge; it included special forces wilderness survival skills he learned in his past life and crisis self-rescue methods suggested by hired mercenaries.

Zhou Jiao spared no effort for this trip to the Northeast with the child, aiming for him to be able to self-rescue in crises. Relying on Zhang Guoqing’s memories and her translations of various military magazines, she meticulously compiled a thick stack of manuals. If she weren’t concerned about the target being too large, she would have given them to Zhou Xiaozheng earlier, but the timing was still not right, so she had to wait.

After repeated deliberations, the couple concluded that a high IQ does not guarantee their son could easily cope with ubiquitous crises. Their son still needed to learn essential skills, particularly self-rescue techniques.

Zhang Guoqing was busy, while inside the cabin, Zhou Jiao wasn’t relaxed either. The large rusty iron pot on the cabin’s stove had long been stolen by someone, now replaced by a clay pot, probably added by some old hunter for convenience when staying over.

But these challenges didn’t stump Zhou Jiao, as she didn’t lack iron pots. The small stone-built mouth on top did need cleaning, or else she couldn’t place the pot.

Since she had to clean it, Zhou Jiao decided to use the stones from the top and those from the wall corners to build a large stove in front of the cabin. Soon she had two iron pots set up, and the flames rendered fat into oil, filling the air around the cabin with a delicious aroma. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

After extinguishing the flames, she poured the rendered oil into a ceramic jar, carefully watching for potential heat-induced explosions from the jar. After a moment with no anomalies, she smiled brightly and quickly transferred the warm oil from both pots into a large ceramic jar, setting it inside the cabin on the earthen bed to cool.

The enamel basin decorated with large red flowers was filled with aromatic, crispy pork lard bits. Zhou Jiao quickly grabbed a handful and put it in her mouth, the heat making her pinch her earlobe with her fingers.

Her eyes scanned the mountain trails, noting no human figures. Narrowing her eyes, she checked material supplies in her space and picked out fresh seafood items, placing them in the pot for steaming.

After considering the cabin roof atop the bed once more, Zhou Jiao, feeling uneasy, returned the items to her space. Left with little to do, aiming to keep out others, she didn’t bother making dumplings and instead set up a charcoal stove outside, multitasking with cooking and chopping vegetables, sweating profusely.

Once the sun was high overhead, she worriedly glanced at the path to the mountain’s end. It was now noon, surely the father and son wouldn’t have played to the point of forgetting hunger?

Time ticked away as Zhou Jiao finished steaming four large pots of seafood and cooked a lot of dishes, so much that her hands cramped, yet Zhang Guoqing and her son hadn’t returned.

She lost patience and threw the three pots of stewed potato beef into a large rough bowl. This required little effort; once stewed soft, she simply stacked bowls in a plastic container atop each other. Convenient and delicious, they could serve as noodle toppings or be mixed with rice easily.

The beef aroma hadn’t spread when, from afar, Zhang Guoqing and Ping’an finally appeared in Zhou Jiao’s view.

While delighted, she was speechless as well. What were these father and son carrying, shouldering, and lugging? Could she manage to cook it all?

"Mom..."

The closer they got to the cabin, the more excited Ping’an became, proudly showing off the small wild pig he was carrying.

Even though Zhou Jiao was already used to her son’s strength, seeing him wave the little pig around playfully, especially with his small, fair hands contrasting with the black pig, amused her greatly.

Upon reaching the cabin, Zhang Guoqing unloaded his burden with a smile, "This is the first trophy from our son’s hunt; once roasted, we can bring it home for him to show off to his dad."

"It’s not about showing off. I have an agreement with Grandpa."

"Alright, after lunch, Dad will handle it. Let’s go for a wash in the front first."

Zhou Jiao hurriedly set the table with food and took out clean clothes while they headed to the river.

Zhang Guoqing and his son casually stripped off their clothes, jumped into the pond for a quick wash. Zhang Guoqing, wearing wet shorts, carried his naked son back home running.

Zhou Jiao dressed her son in clean clothes while drying his hair.

Zhang Guoqing remarked regretfully, "This pond water is really cold, if only you could have joined us."

"There are fish too."

"Yeah. But son, remember not to go to the middle of the pond; it’s full of silt, very dangerous. The big stone we stood on earlier is one Dad placed there when he was young; otherwise, I wouldn’t dare enter the water."

Ping’an nodded vigorously, reminder still in hand, "Mom, there are lots of stone snails near the stone. This place is great, you don’t need tickets or money for anything."

Sure enough! He really was her son, his thinking contrasting with her man’s. Zhou Jiao teased with a smile aimed at Zhang Guoqing. Don’t think she didn’t grasp his intentions.