The small mountain village lay shrouded in tranquility beneath the night sky. With little in the way of evening entertainment for the mountain folk, most retired to their heated brick beds after supper, taking a few puffs of dry tobacco and falling asleep early, accompanied only by the occasional bark of a dog.

In the gravelly expanse at the village edge, Young Master Liu crouched low, his back hunched, hands stuffed deep into his sleeves, stamping his feet against the biting cold.

"Damn it, didn't we agree to meet here at midnight? Why hasn't a single shadow shown up?"

He stretched onto his tiptoes, staring at the distant, ink-black mountain range, where only the occasional faint, eerie green sphere flickered—the wandering ghost lights from the opposite graveyard.

The wind was fierce, slicing against the skin of his face like a knife, howling directly down his collar. It finally forced Young Master Liu to unleash the first sneeze of early winter, complete with a bonus double stream of snot. After finally dealing with the mucus clinging to his face, Young Master Liu began to grumble, "Could those three brats actually be playing a trick on me?"

"Ah, don't rule it out; it's entirely possible!" As the saying goes, good people are few, but bad ones stick together in a nest. Recalling the rotten things they had pulled before, Young Master Liu's resolve wavered.

"Hell, Tian Guoqiang, if you actually stand me up tonight, I swear I’ll tell your father tomorrow about you sneaking a peek at your older sister bathing last year." Tian Guoqiang, being the village chief’s son, hadn't inherited much from his father, but he had certainly mastered the art of petty cunning. He usually acted as the chief strategist among the four notorious young rascals of Xiushui Village, responsible for eighty percent of their terrible ideas. Tricking a blind man into walking into a wall, or directing the new postman toward the mass graves—those were minor offenses. When they truly went for the big schemes, they were capable of anything, spanning heaven and earth. Because of this, the four of them often earned dirty looks from the villagers.

Still, at this moment, Young Master Liu decided to wait a little longer. It was fine; nothing much was happening at home tonight. Having already left the house, returning now meant he’d be forced to sleep obediently under his parents' watchful eyes.

Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye, but for Young Master Liu, shivering in the cold wind, it felt like an age.

Finally, movement sounded in the distance.

Along the narrow path winding toward the valley, several figures slowly emerged. They were all clad in coarse cloth. The one in the lead, tall and skinny, kept sweeping the kerosene lamp he held across the stones by the path, as if scouting the way ahead. Following him were two others: one of average height, and the other a chubby fellow resembling a freshly harvested winter melon plucked from a field. They trotted with small steps, faces beaming with glee, carrying a frantically struggling speckled pheasant in hand. Perhaps having walked a long distance on the mountain trails, the fat boy occasionally wiped sweat from his cheeks with his sleeve.

"They're here!" Seeing them, Young Master Liu was instantly overjoyed and rushed forward with a laugh. These three boys were indeed the companions Young Master Liu had been waiting for. The skinny tall one was Tian Guoqiang, the village chief’s son; the medium-built one with a face full of freckles was Chen Xiaomazi; and the plumper one was Gou Dan.

Approaching them, Young Master Liu’s first action was to deliver a heavy punch to Tian Guoqiang’s shoulder: "Damn it, why are you guys so late? You made me wait until almost dawn."

"Don't give me that. It’s only a quarter past twelve. Roosters don't crow until at least six, so it’s hardly dawn…" Tian Guoqiang held up the mechanical watch on his wrist, brought it close to the kerosene lamp, and thrust it under Young Master Liu's nose.

"So what if your village chief dad bought you a watch? Stop showing off your damn thing every day." Young Master Liu hadn't been angry, but seeing the watch immediately irritated him.

"You wouldn't understand. It’s foreign-made; it’s precise!" Tian Guoqiang declared with great seriousness.

"I don't care where it's from. By the way, where were the three of you messing around? You look like you came down from the mountains," Young Master Liu asked.

"Smart thinking," Tian Guoqiang gave him a thumbs-up, then took the pheasant from Gou Dan’s grip and waved it in front of Young Master Liu: "Look, what's this?"

"A wild chicken?" Young Master Liu’s eyes immediately lit up, and his stomach, which had mostly digested dinner, began to rumble.

"Actually, the three of us got here ages ago, but we were all starving. You know the rules for card playing—an empty stomach makes your head foggy, and a foggy head clouds your judgment, right? It affects our ability to get things done. So, we thought we’d try our luck up the mountain and find some wild grub. We didn’t expect to be like a blind cat stumbling upon a dead mouse and catching a foolish mountain chicken."

"Heh heh, Da Shao, my dad says the brighter the snake’s color, the more venomous it is. But for pheasants, the brighter the color, the tastier it is. I wonder if that’s true?" Gou Dan’s drool had already stretched from the corner of his mouth to the ground.

"That’s all you’ve got, isn't it? You can't move when you see food. Look at your frame; if you keep developing like that, no girl will want you!" Young Master Liu pinched the fat on Gou Dan’s cheek to test the texture, then scolded him with disappointment.

"Alright, alright. Time is precious. Let's find a spot and finish this thing off first!" Tian Guoqiang interrupted their banter.

"Now that’s what I’m talking about!"

The mountains here weren't high or steep, resembling large mounds of earth. So, after a brief search, the group found a spot sheltered from the wind. Then, like seasoned cooks, they each began preparing their midnight snack in their own distinct way.

In the Northeast region, one could scrape up a large amount of black soil almost anywhere. Since it was called black soil, it was naturally very dark and quite hard, making it the perfect cooking implement for the four of them tonight.

Setting down the kerosene lamp, Tian Guoqiang had already taken the pheasant to a nearby stream to clean and dress it. Surprisingly, Young Master Liu returned with some water and proceeded to dissolve the pile of dug-up black earth, kneading it repeatedly and meticulously, much like mixing dough, though no one knew what he was doing.

Moments later, the plucked and cleaned pheasant was brought over. Young Master Liu reached into his chest pocket and pulled out a small bundle. A closer look revealed salt, chili powder, powdered soy sauce, and other seasonings. He took a pinch and carefully sprinkled it inside and over the pheasant’s exterior. He then plucked the largest leaves from a cabbage Gou Dan had pilfered from a vegetable patch and wrapped the entirely leaf-enshrouded pheasant inside the newly constructed black-earth pot. On the mountain, there were dry corn stalks and some leftover bricks from old constructions—natural fuel and hearth for the group.

Lifting the shield of the kerosene lamp, Tian Guoqiang lit a wheat stalk and set the pile of firewood ablaze. The fire burned brighter and hotter. The earthy scent rose first, soon mingling with the fragrance of roasted fowl. The aroma was intoxicating, making mouths water uncontrollably. Once enough heat was generated and the moisture in the soil had evaporated, the black earth cracked open. Young Master Liu ignored the heat, immediately extinguished the fire, and used a wooden stick to break apart the dried, cracked earth. And there it was—the fragrant, perfectly cooked chicken, exposed to view.

Poultry in the sixties was entirely natural, fed on millet and grain, utterly pollution-free, so the meat was naturally tender and succulent. This was even more true for wild game caught in the mountains! The taste when chewed—oh, it was indescribable; saliva was practically dripping. Young Master Liu didn't stand on ceremony with Tian Guoqiang and the others; he pressed down, tore off a whole leg, and began devouring it heartily. Because it had been roasted, the skin was crispy. And since it was wild game that had been running and hopping around all day, the meat was slightly rougher than farm chicken but far chewier—truly a delight for the tongue. Tian Guoqiang also snatched a leg to gnaw on, and the rest was quickly divided between Gou Dan and Xiaomazi, who had been eyeing it the entire time.

After finishing the chicken and kicking apart the embers, the group patted their bulging stomachs, still feeling a lingering sense of wanting more.

Wiping the grease from his mouth, Young Master Liu turned to Tian Guoqiang, "Qiangzi, did you bring the cards? It's time for us to get moving."

"Don't worry!" Tian Guoqiang pulled out two brand-new decks of playing cards from his small satchel: "I snagged these from home this afternoon; they're fresh, still sealed! Enough for us to play Landlord."

"Alright then. Gou Dan, Mazi, are you done? That’s all the ambition you have! Hurry up; don't be like a bunch of girls," Young Master Liu chuckled, turning back to see the other two still licking their fingers, and scolded them playfully.

And so, the four of them, carrying two bright kerosene lamps, followed the small mountain path, bracing against the cold wind, and quietly set off toward the Wu Xian Ling Guan Temple. After all, on a night this cold, lighting a fire in the derelict temple and gathering around to play cards was a hundred times better than being out in the open air.