Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 327: Bullet Bag Belt Free of Charge, Just Take Some Meat

1984 3 Month 26 Day.

In the early afternoon, around 9:30.

Xu Ning and Wang Hu were chopping firewood in the yard. They were swinging axes enthusiastically and sweating profusely. Ever since Le Baozi stretched his arm that day, Xu Ning had been recuperating at home for a full half month.

Since Xu Laonian, Xu Long, Wang Erli and others all worked in the forest farm, there was a lot of work to do at home, such as chopping firewood, clearing chimneys, cleaning doghouses, and shoveling poop...

Even if Xu Ning is a lazy person, he has to do it. He can't let Liu Lizhen and Wang Shujuan do all the dirty and tiring work. What's the point of raising a son?

At this moment, Wang Hu was stacking firewood. Xu Ning took a break and was playing with Qinglang and Hualang in front of the doghouse. He was shoveling dog poop with a shovel and muttered, "Come on, you guys have to poop all over the ground. Why can't you just poop in one pile?"

Wang Hu smiled and said, "Second brother, how about we build a toilet for the dog gang?"

"Come on, you are even more capable of bullshitting!"

"Ha ha……"

At this time, a man appeared at the gate of the courtyard. He was wearing a gray cotton jacket, black cotton trousers, a red cloth strip around his waist, and a marmot hat.

"Erning!"

Hearing the voice, Xu Ning took two steps to the left, looked out, and immediately said with a smile: "Hey! Uncle Yu! Come in quickly."

Wang Hu turned his head and raised his hand to greet him: "Uncle Yu."

"Hey!" Yu Kaihe responded and walked towards the courtyard.

Xu Ning quickly threw down the shovel, turned around and shouted into the house: "Sister-in-law, make some tea, Uncle Yu is here."

"Okay!" Wang Shujuan ran out from the east room, opened the door, and smiled at Yu Kaihe: "Uncle Yu is here, come in quickly, I'll make some tea."

Yu Kaihe waved his hand and said, "Don't bother. I'll just chat with Er Ning and leave."

Xu Ning walked over quickly, grabbed Yu Kaihe's arm, and said, "We have to chat and drink some tea. You don't have anything to do anyway, so come in and wait for a while."

Yu Kaihe smiled and nodded, raising the cloth bag in his hand, "Okay, do you know what this is?"

Xu Ning's eyes lit up and he grinned, "Pants belt? Oh my god! Uncle, did you really figure it out?"

At this time, Wang Hu lifted the curtain of the east room door and let Yu Kaihe enter first. Xu Ning supported his arm and let Yu Kaihe sit on the edge of the kang. He nodded and said, "Well! This toy is really hard to make. It took me nearly a month to make it. I only finished it last night. Take a look."

After that, Yu Kaihe opened the cloth bag. Xu Ning looked inside the bag and asked, "Uncle, did you make this?"

Yu Kaihe nodded: "Well, I went to Old Zhang's house after the New Year. After Old Zhang passed away, he left behind a toolbox. His son's skills were not well developed, so I borrowed the toolbox and tinkered with it myself. You can see how it turned out and whether it suits your taste."

Xu Ning took out four belts from his cloth bag. The belts were made of pure cowhide, about 16 meters long and 56 centimeters wide. All four belts were riveted. There were also small pockets for bullets, just enough to hold -gauge single-headed bullets and -and-a-half-caliber bullets...

"it is good!"

At the side, Wang Hu stretched out his hand and pulled one over to examine it carefully, saying, "Second brother, this belt is well made! It has twenty bullet pockets, which is enough for everything!"

Xu Ning nodded, "Master, it's hard to fix these four belts, right?"

"It was really hard. I haven't worked on leather for so many years, so I was a little unfamiliar with it at first. I practiced with fine cloth twice, and only after I felt I was familiar with it did I dare to try."

Xu Ning tied a belt around his waist and asked Wang Hu to find No. 16 single-barreled bullets and No. 56 semi-bullets. Then he pressed the bullets into the bullet pocket of the cowhide belt. He stretched out two fingers and pinched it to take out the single-barreled bullet. It was quite convenient.

At this time, Wang Shujuan came into the room with a tea tray, placed it on the edge of the kang, poured a cup of tea, placed it next to Yu Kaihe, and said, "Uncle, have some tea."

"Eh."

After Wang Shujuan left the room, Yu Kaihe grabbed the cloth bag and took out a small leather bag similar to a wallet from it. He shook it in front of Xu Ning and asked, "Do you know what this is?"

Xu Ning took it, looked at it carefully, and said with a smile: "Uncle, you really thought it through! Isn't this a small pocket for a 56 half-magazine?"

"That's right, this small pocket can be inserted into the belt. There is a hole here, and the pocket cover is also very tight. No matter how you run and jump in the mountains, you can't lose the bullets. When you need to use it, just open the pocket cover and take out the magazine."

Xu Ning gestured twice and said with a smile: "Uncle! Tell me how I should thank you. With this thing, it will be much more convenient for me to go into the mountains. Uncle, how much is it in total?"

Yu Kaihe waved his hand: "It doesn't matter what the money is, just forget it."

"How can that work? Even if you don't want the labor fee, won't the leather and rivets cost money?"

Yu Kaihe said: "I didn't spend any money on the cowhide and the rivets. The cowhide was originally owned by my family, and the rivets were given to me by Lao Zhang's son..."

Xu Ning put down his belt and said, "Uncle, whether you spent money or not, you helped me. If you don't take something, I will feel bad."

Yu Kaihe raised his hand to take the cigarette handed over by Wang Hu, and said with a smile: "You have helped me a lot, why should I feel guilty? I am not short of money at my age, and making a few belts for you is just something to do. Otherwise, it would be boring to stay at home all day."

Xu Ning listened to him talking to this extent and didn't argue. He thought for a moment and said, "Uncle, I'll get some meat for you and my aunt. You don't have to refuse it... ok?"

Yu Kaihe smiled and nodded when he heard this: "Okay! I heard that you strangled a leopard to death a few days ago? What happened? It's spreading like a weird rumor in the village now..."

Then, Xu Ning sat on the edge of the kang and chatted with Yu Kaihe about strangling the old leopard. He didn't deliberately brag, but was just being realistic. That made Yu Kaihe slap his thigh and give a thumbs up, praising Xu Ning for his brains, no wonder he was able to kill the old leopard.

Then Yu Kaihe told him about Chang Beifeng being beaten, Li Feng moving, and Niu Li falling in love with Sun Cuiping.

"Niu Li is quite imaginative. Li Shan has only been dead for less than a hundred days. Why is he thinking so much..."

Yu Kaihe pinched his cigarette and said, "He's old and in a hurry to find a wife. I talked to his father about this matter, and Baotian was also confused and followed his son's idea."

Wang Hu asked, "Uncle, can Li Feng live in Lao Dong's shabby house?"

"It's habitable. Li Feng and his friends have cleaned it up. It's not the rainy season yet, so the roof can't leak. But there's a little wind leaking through the windows. Chang Xifeng found some plastic sheets and covered them up."

Wang Hu nodded: "Sun Cuiping also lives with my brother-in-law?"

"What if we don't live together? She doesn't have any family. Li San has been making more trouble recently. He sits on the eaves of the house and performs a big show all day long. Li Feng doesn't want to go back..."

"Yeah, this Li San is really annoying. I don't know if he is pretending or is really crazy."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "He's crazy, so what? He's not a joke. If he really is crazy, our village will be spared a disaster. Huzi, you chat with me for a while, I'm going to go out for a while."

"Eh!"

When Xu Ning came back, Yu Kaihe just stood up and said, "I'm going back first."

"Wait a little longer, sir."

"I won't stay any longer. I have to feed the donkeys when I get home." After saying that, Yu Kaihe walked out of the house. Xu Ning followed him and pointed at a pot of meat on the stove, saying, "Master, take this meat."

"Oh my god, why did you give me something so old? How long will it take for your aunt and I to finish eating it?"

Xu Ning said, "It's still a little too cold to keep, so you two can just eat it at home. I didn't bring anything special with me, but I can only take about one pound of leopard meat, two pounds of mutton, five pounds of bear meat, and a few pieces of mutton and bear bones. If you go home and make some soup and some pancakes, you can have a meal!"

Yu Kaihe said with a smile: "Okay! Then I won't be polite with you."

"Why are you being so polite? You've helped me so much..."

"I didn't help much, just did it for the sake of convenience."

Wang Hu put the meat in the basin into a cloth bag. Yu Kaihe waved his hand and took it, then walked out with the cloth bag. Xu Ning sent him to the gate of the courtyard and watched him walk about thirty or forty meters before turning back to the house.

After the two entered the room, they picked up the ammunition bag belts with a smile and tried two in a row. They both felt good. Xu Ning chose a softer belt and buckled the ammunition bag on the belt. He stretched out his hand to open the bag cover and put his hand into the ammunition bag to take out the magazine...

"Very good! Huzi, what do you think? Is it convenient to take out the bullets?"

Wang Hu grinned and said, "It's so convenient! I can just stretch my hand down and pinch one out. I don't have to reach into my pocket any more. Second brother, Uncle Yu's craftsmanship is very good, and the leather is also very good..."

Xu Ning nodded: "Yeah, just these four belts, it would cost at least 20 yuan to go to the street. With these belts, we will have a place to put our swords in the future. The more I look at them, the more precious they are."

"Not good!"

Just as the two were admiring each other in the room, Liu Lizhen's voice was heard from the yard.

"This little jerk is really hard to deal with. He just finished a few tasks and then he went back to the house to slack off. Look at the mess he made in the yard. Why doesn't he clean it up?"

Han Fengjiao smiled and said, "Maybe you are tired from working, so you should go inside and drink some water."

At this time, the two walked into the outer room, and Xu Ning and Wang Hu rushed out from the east room. Xu Ning smiled and pointed at the leather belt on his waist, showing off: "Mom, Second Aunt, how is it? Does it look good?"

Liu Lizhen's eyelids drooped, she was too lazy to look, and waved her hand, "Go aside! Don't stand there to get in the way."

Han Fengjiao was quite considerate. Seeing that the two men were wearing leather belts, she exclaimed, "Oh my god, where did they get belts?"

"Haha, it was made by Old Master Yu. Second Aunt, look at the leather. It's really good."

Han Fengjiao nodded: "Yeah, it looks good on you two."

Liu Lizhen turned her head and took a look, saying, "I thought Xu Feng was back... Why did you come here, Uncle Yu?"

"A little after nine-thirty? He had just left. I wanted to give him money but he refused. Before he left, I brought him some meat. What did my uncle eat yesterday?"

"Kill two roe deer."

"Oh my god, I beat him a lot, how did he beat me?"

"That's how they fought..."

Although she spoke in such a casual manner, Liu Lizhen also narrated what had happened.

A few days ago, Xu Ning gathered Lao Jiang, Liu Daming and Da Laba to go hiking in the mountains. At noon that day, Xu Ning took Lao Jiang and Liu Daming to Da Laba's house. After introducing Lao Jiang to Da Laba, he listened to the three of them chatting.

They mainly chatted, and only got down to business after drinking, and finally decided how to divide the shares. The three of them belonged to a small gang, and Xu Ning was the link in the middle, so they couldn't do the 'boss' thing, and could only divide the shares equally.

For example, if they hunt a wild boar, three people will shave off the meat, estimate the weight and divide it into three equal piles. Is there anything valuable on the wild boar?

If we talk about the most valuable thing, it is the pig stomach, but this thing can't be sold at a high price. Now the pig stomach is dried and ground into powder and it only costs three yuan per catty. Two pig stomachs ground into powder only cost eight ounces...

But Lao Jiang was a man who knew how to live. He suggested saving the pig tripes first, and then selling them on the street when a certain amount had been accumulated. Then the three of them would split the money equally.

After the three of them decided to go into the mountains almost every day, they were in the adjustment period at first and did not dare to go deep into the mountains. After getting to know each other for a few days, the three of them unanimously agreed to go for a walk in the mountains.

During the period, they killed two old sows and a yellow-haired pig. The coordination was good because Liu Daming was very good at tracking. He followed the trail for half a day. After seeing the herd of pigs, Lao Jiang and Dala fired their guns. First, they shot and killed a yellow-haired pig. Although the remaining sow was hit by a bullet, it was not dead. The three followed the blood trail for half a point and finally pinned it down in the ravine.

When Da Laba went home last time, he suddenly had a stomachache, so he squatted down in a place sheltered from the wind.

While he was looking for leaves to wipe his butt, he suddenly saw a trail at the bottom of the hill.

He pulled up his trousers and called Liu Daming and Lao Jiang. They walked over and found a trail of new roe deer. They wanted to catch up and take a look, but it was already past four o'clock, so the three of them agreed to go home and have a sleep first.

The three of them went into the mountains before dawn yesterday morning and chased them until around three o'clock in the afternoon before they saw a group of roe deer. There were six roe deer in total. Lao Jiang suggested that he first feel their sides, and then he and the loudspeaker fired two shots.

The two shots just happened to injure two roe deer. After the roe deer herd scattered, the three men followed the blood trail. Nearly an hour later, they saw two dead roe deer at the foot of the hillside. The three men were overjoyed and felt that the trip was not in vain, so they dragged the two roe deer home.

It was already past nine in the evening when the three of them got home, so Da Laba asked Lao Jiang and Liu Daming to take the two roe deer home first, and he would come back tomorrow to get them...

After listening to Liu Lizhen's words, Xu Ning asked in doubt, "Brother Huang didn't come to get the roe deer? What's going on?"

"How would I know? Maybe something happened."

Xu Ning nodded and asked, "My uncle won't come over at noon?"

"He is at home cutting meat. I want Shuhua to prepare some pork in the afternoon."

"Ah... my uncle and his two friends are pretty good. They were able to catch a roe deer when they first went hiking together..."

Liu Lizhen put a bowl of leftover rice in the pot, covered it and said, "Your uncle said that Lao Jiang is quite resourceful. It was Lao Jiang who came up with the ideas for hunting wild boars and roe deer. Lao Jiang is also a good marksman."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "Then it would be a good idea for the three of them to team up together."

"Well, your uncle is relieved. You have handled this matter very well."

"Of course! When have I failed to do something clearly?"

Liu Lizhen looked at her oldest son and pointed at the pile of firewood in the yard with an expressionless face. "Look at this. I asked you to do it. Do you understand?"

Xu Ning was stunned, smacked his lips and said, "Then I'll do it now! Just now, Uncle Yu came..."

Liu Lizhen snorted coldly, "Whatever you say is reasonable."

Seeing Xu Ning and Wang Hu walking towards the courtyard, Han Fengjiao said, "Hurry up and finish, we'll have dinner after you're done!"

"Eh!"

(End of this chapter)