Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 356: In Name Only, Go Find Xu Erning

The house of Old Hu was filled with smoke.

Da Laba sat on the edge of the kang, holding a teacup in his left hand and pinching a spring cigarette in his right hand.

He glanced at Lao Han, Lan Guodong and Li Mazi, nodded and said, “Uncle Hu, even if you didn’t specifically look for me, I heard that this matter had to move forward.”

Old Hu looked at him and nodded. He knew that what Da Loudspeaker said was the truth. Apart from his bad mouth, there was nothing wrong with his character and kindness.

Old Han put out the cigarette in his hand and said, "Brother, I must take care of this matter, but it is not easy to find people in the mountains. I have to go to Li Ye to ask where they met the black bear."

Lan Guodong said: "Well, if you want to find someone, you have to be fully prepared. You can't just go into the mountains and look for them with your eyes closed."

Everyone looked at Li Mazi, who scratched his head and said, "Why are you looking at me? If you accompany me, I will definitely dare to go deep into the mountains."

Old Hu clasped his fists and bowed to the group, saying, "Then I thank you."

Da Laba quickly stood up and said, "Uncle Hu, what are you doing! Zhiyong and I have a good relationship. Although he has slapped us both in the face, don't you know me? I just have a bad mouth..."

"Hey, stop talking about this. Just blame yourself, not Zhiyong for cutting you."

Lao Han said: "Didn't you fight back at that time? No one suffered any loss."

The loud speaker waved his hand and said, "Don't mention it. You are blaming me."

The fight between him and Hu Zhiyong happened last fall, and the two never spoke to each other after the fight. So when they temporarily formed a hunting gang, Lao Fang listened to the advice of Lan Guodong and Lao Han and did not call Hu Zhiyong, but only called through the loudspeaker.

Lao Hu said: "No matter what, I thank you."

Lao Deng took a sip of tea and said, "I'll go into the mountains with them, carrying the medicine box, so I can take care of them."

"Brother! Stop it..."

Old Deng waved his hand and said, "My Li Ye is back. We can't just leave Zhiyong on the mountain by himself."

Old Hu was a reasonable person, and said, "Li Ye was lucky to survive. Didn't he faint several times during the journey? Brother, I really can't blame him."

"Don't be stubborn, it's settled."

Old Deng waved his hand and said, "Huang'er, don't you want to go find Li Ye? I'll take you there."

"Eh!"

As everyone was walking towards the door, Lao Hu said from behind: "After you finish asking, go home and get your stuff, then come back. I'll ask Fang to prepare some food for you to eat in the mountains."

"Okay!"

Old Hu has two sons and one daughter. His daughter married a man from the street, and her boyfriend was transferred to the provincial capital two years ago. His eldest son works in the county compound, and his daughter-in-law is a team leader in the village, responsible for communicating with the residents. His youngest son has never married and has been serving in the army. I heard that he carries a salary of 1.2 yuan.

The eldest son Hu Zhibin gets up early and goes to work on the street every day. Last year, Old Hu heard that there was a broken motorcycle for sale in the county compound, so he bought it directly for one thousand yuan. Since then, Hu Zhibin has ridden his motorcycle to and from get off work every day.

Old Hu sent them out the door, then turned back and went into the house and said to Hu Zhiyong's wife, "Fang, go to the village office to find your sister-in-law and come back. You two should hurry up and prepare the meal, and make more!"

"Well! Uncle, you said Zhiyong..."

Lao Hu waved his hand and said, "Don't think about those things for now, just do the things in front of you."

"Eh……"

Old Hu sat on the edge of the kang, smoking a cigarette with a sad face, staring at the photo clamped on the cabinet mirror and sighing repeatedly.

……

Da Laba, Lan Guodong and other three followed Lao Deng to Li Ye's house, and heard from him that the black bear was actually a brown bear, and they encountered it in the back garden.

Hearing this, Da La Ba couldn't help but wonder in his heart. He stretched his neck and asked, "Does this brown bear have a scar on its eye?"

Li Ye was stunned and shook his head: "I was a little confused at the time and didn't pay attention at all..."

Old Han stood at the door and asked, "Huang'er, why are you asking this?"

The loud speaker said, "Do you remember how Li Shan from Qing'an died a few years ago? He was killed by a brown bear with a scar on its eye! My brother tracked it down and said it ran to Baishilazi."

Li Mazi frowned and said, "Don't talk nonsense... Baishilazi is so far away from here. It went to Baishilazi and didn't even wait for the spring. Why is it back?"

The loud speaker said, "What is there to eat in Baishilazi? Brown bears love to eat fish, so they must go back to Tiaoshitang! Besides, Baishilazi is full of deep mountains and old forests, and the dead leaves on the ground are half a meter thick. It is impossible for it to move around with its big body, so it is normal for it to come back."

This statement alone is a bit ridiculous. Can he calculate the brown bear's route? It's impossible, but the loud speaker has already formed a preconceived idea. After hearing Li Ye say that the brown bear weighed more than 600 kilograms, he determined that this brown bear was the same brown bear that killed Li Shan!
Old Han frowned and said, "If it is really that brown bear, Hu Zhiyong will not be able to prepare for it..."

A brown bear that has eaten meat must be more aggressive than a green bear. The brown bear that killed Li Shan must have had very agile movements and agile brains. Otherwise, why couldn't Xu Ning catch it? Of course, there are other unknown possibilities.

Lan Guodong waved his hand and said, "Don't talk nonsense, let's go home and get our things first."

"Okay, bring some more clothes, maybe we can stay in the mountains tonight."

Several people returned home, holding their hunting rifles and cloth bags, and told their wives that Lao Hu asked them for help. When their wives heard that it was Lao Hu who had something to do, they did not ask any further questions. After all, Lao Hu was the secretary of the village and his prestige was still very high.

Da Laba stuffed a thick cotton jacket into his cloth bag and hurried to Lao Hu's house. When he entered the house, Lan Guodong and others had not arrived yet.

So he sat on the edge of the kang in the east room, and seeing that Old Hu was frowning, he said, "Uncle Hu, there is something I feel I must tell you."

"You said."

"You should have heard about our team hunting the old leopard. To be honest, it seems that we have never accomplished anything when we work together! Besides, I can only hunt dogs, but I don't know how to track them. My shooting skills are also average..."

Lao Hu pinched his cigarette and nodded: "Well, just tell me, I know you mean well."

Da Loudspeaker said bluntly: "It is very likely that we will not be able to find him if we go into the mountains. Li Ye is lying on the kang and cannot move. The one who can track him down is Li Mazi, but you know how courageous he is... So we are going to the back garden to look for Zhiyong, which is like looking for sesame seeds in two acres of land."

Old Hu looked up at him and said, "Then find a few more groups of people? Go into the mountains in batches? Otherwise, I'll call Zhibin and ask him to find a few more people on the street and drive back when the time comes..."

Loudspeaker shook his head: "When will Brother Bin come back from the street? Besides, it's better to find someone with a strong enough hand than to find too many people."

Old Hu frowned: "Handle is hard enough? We have moved Xu Pao to the provincial capital, how can we find a handle that is hard enough?"

"My brother!"

"Your brother?" Lao Hu was a little confused.

"Xu Ning!"

"Ah! Oh my god, that's right! How could I forget about Xu Erning?"

Old Hu clapped his hands and stood up: "You said that when there was something wrong in our village before, why did we need to go to Qing'an to find someone? What can't my brother Xu solve? Oh... Is he at home?"

Dababa said, "He and I have been running in the mountains for six consecutive days. Today I will stay at home for a day and he should not be able to go into the mountains."

"You guys ran for six days straight?"

"Well, the dog took a day off, but we didn't dare to take a break. We also went to the Little Stone River to catch some fish."

Lao Hu nodded: "Okay, I'll go to Qing'an to find Lao Du later. I think he'll be able to get your help."

At this time, Lan Guodong and Li Mazi came in together, and less than half a minute after they followed in, Lao Deng and Lao Han also came in. Lao Hu asked the two daughters-in-law in the outer room to set the table first and serve the food.

"There's nothing to prepare. Just make do with what you have and eat. I'll take all the dry food in the pot later."

Old Han looked at the dishes on the table and said, "Brother, this dish is very good, much better than the old Fang's!"

"Haha, Brother Han, you are just disparaging my Uncle Hu by comparing a good person to my Uncle Hu."

There were four dishes on the table: sauerkraut stewed with pork slices and vermicelli, scrambled eggs with black fungus and cabbage, fried pickles, and home-cooked tofu. The rice was two kinds of rice and cornmeal steamed buns.

After Lao Hu dragged Lao Deng to sit down, he said, "Brother, you guys eat first. I have to go to Qing'an to find Xu Erning. If I'm not back, you guys can just leave."

Old Deng nodded: "Okay! Xu Erning has a strong hand. He killed two roe deer a few days ago. I also bought some meat."

"Yes, I know about this. Um...Guodong, don't worry about it."

Lan Guodong waved his hand: "Why worry about this? There is strength in numbers. Just go ahead."

"Row."

Old Hu walked to the outer room and said, "Fang, find all our lunch boxes and fill them up. Don't let your brother Huang and the others go hungry when they go into the mountains."

"Hey, I know."

After he left, he didn't say a word against Hu Zhiyong's wife. Why? Because she was his niece's wife. Even if she was his son's wife, he couldn't say anything. Besides, Hu Zhiyong loved his wife, so he wanted to go into the mountains to fish for her. It wasn't a problem. He just had bad luck...

Old Hu first went to the Qing'an village headquarters, found Du Shoucai, and told him what had happened. Du Shoucai then dragged him to Old Xu's house.

When he went to Old Xu's house to ask, he found out that Xu Erning had gone to the mountains early in the morning. This made Old Hu a little confused. The loudspeaker was not working, so why did he go to the mountains? He really couldn't stop for a day.

But Lao Hu did not complain. He was asking for help, not collecting a debt.

When Liu Lizhen heard what happened, she said, "Brother Hu, how about I wait for Erning to come back and ask him to go to Taiping to find you?"

Du Shoucai said nothing, only looked at Lao Hu, and when he saw him nod, he said, "Okay! When will he be back?"

"He usually goes into the mountains and comes home around 3 or 4 in the afternoon. He rarely comes back after dark. If he does, he won't be back until 11 or 12."

"Oh, then I'll come back at half past three!"

Du Shoucai said, "Sister-in-law, didn't Erning go to Nanshan? If they come back, they must take the narrow road. Lao Deng and the others should go south, maybe they can run into them halfway."

"That's right, Brother Hu, go back and tell Guoxing to ask him to ask Erning for help."

Lao Hu clasped his fists and said, "Okay! Thank you, old sister."

"It's okay, otherwise he would run to the mountains all day long."

Du Shoucai said, "Stop being polite and go back quickly."

When Lao Hu rode his bicycle back home, Da Laba, Lao Deng and others had already left, and he didn't see anyone at the fork in the road, which meant they had all walked a long way.

Hu Zhiyong's wife's eyes were red, and she said, "Uncle, why don't we find the militia?"

Old Hu shook his head: "Girl, you don't understand. We can't ask the militia for help in this matter. Remember the incident two years ago when the son of the Qu family got lost in the mountains? More than 40 militiamen went into the mountains and completely wiped out all the traces. Even someone who knows how to track people would not be able to find out how many there were..."

There are also tough guys among the militia who are not only good at tracking animals, but can also observe the weather and identify the health status of livestock by looking at their feces.

But these militias were from before 83, and now it is 84. Each village can only send one person to the street for training.

Therefore, the militia is in name only, and the villages have long lost their former appeal. After all, if you are no longer a militia member, you have to find other jobs to support your life, and you can't just sit there doing nothing.

"Go home and wait. Come over for dinner in the evening. Don't tell the children yet."

"Yes, I know……"

Old Hu watched his niece-in-law leave and sighed. In fact, he was very worried that Hu Zhiyong would die in the mountains. Just like what Da Loudspeaker said, even if you find a hundred people to go into the mountains, it would be like looking for sesame seeds in two acres of land. It would be better to find someone with a strong hand.

Why didn't he ride his bicycle to catch up? It was almost twelve o'clock when he got home. Even if he rode a bicycle, he couldn't catch up. After all, the narrow road was a slippery ice surface, and it would be easy to slip on a bicycle.

And he had other things to do.

……

At the fork in the road between Shuangfengling and Ximaduozi, the loudspeaker recounted what had happened.

Hearing this, Xu Ning asked, "Li Ye said it was a brown bear?"

Lao Deng said, "Yes, it must be a brown bear."

Da Loudspeaker glanced at Wang Hu and said, "Brother, I asked him about this, and he said he was too busy at the time and didn't pay attention to see if there was a scar on the brown bear's eye."

Xu Ning nodded: "It has been a whole day since Hu Zhiyong and Li Ye encountered the brown bear, right?"

"Of course they did! They were going to have lunch, otherwise how could they have encountered a brown bear?"

The loud speaker whispered, "Brother, why don't you come with us? I have to call Lao Hu Uncle Hu. He is usually very nice to me and always thinks of me when there is anything good."

Xu Ning nodded: "It's OK, but Hu Zi can't pull three wild boars back by himself, not to mention there are five dogs."

Although the sound was not loud, everyone present heard it.

Lan Guodong wanted to speak, but opened his mouth and held it back.

Old Han said bluntly: "If it doesn't work, just leave it to the pigs and let your brother take the dog back..."

Xu Ning looked up at him but didn't say anything. At this time, Li Mazi said, "Why don't I go back with your brother? You're better at tracking than I am. If you're with me, I won't be needed. I can just go back and tell Old Hu."

Xu Ning turned around and said, "Huzi, you and Brother Li drag the pig back and tell your aunt."

"Yeah, I know." Wang Hu responded.

Li Mazi put the cloth bag on the ground, took out his thick cotton-padded jacket, three lunch boxes and six cornmeal buns from it, and handed them to Xu Ning, who then took them over from Da Laba.

Da Loudspeaker said with a smile: "Just put it in my cloth bag. I'll have to rely on my brother later. Let him be light..."

Xu Ning smiled at him, took out a dog leash from his cloth bag and handed it to Wang Hu, saying, "Tie the five of them to your house. Don't tie them together with the blue wolf first, otherwise they will definitely be bullied.

After we get home, you chop half a yellow-haired roe for me, then go to the fork in the road and wait for my elder brother. You give the other half to Lao Lin, and then let my elder brother borrow a car from Lao Lin. You two drive here to wait for us at night. If we are not waiting for you at 12 o'clock, you two should hurry home, understand?"

"I know, second brother. How about I call my uncle?"

"Just forget it, let him stay at home and rest."

"Okay, then I'm going back."

"Well, feed them five less at night, don't let them eat too much!"

"okay!"

(End of this chapter)