Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 377 I am not wronged by this little brat who made me poor

Liu Lizhen scooped up the fermented dough and carried the basin to the east room. Wang Shujuan put the board on the kang, Yang Shuhua put the mixed stuffing on the left, Han Fengjiao and Wu Qiuxia took off their shoes and got on the kang, wrapping buns and chatting.

Xu Ning, Wang Hu and Liu Daming were picking prickly ash buds in the outer room. They were picked from the mountains today and were not small. Xu Ning was telling his uncle how to open up the market, but Liu Daming only half understood what he was saying and would ask questions whenever he didn't understand something.

"Erning, if you go to the provincial capital to do business, you will definitely make a lot of money."

Xu Ning did make a lot of money, but he squandered it all. He said with a smile, "Now my brother has gone to the city. If I leave again, what will happen to my family? In the future, my brother will settle down in the city, and I will stay at home to take care of my parents."

Liu Daming opened his mouth as if he had just met his second nephew for the first time, then paused for a moment and said, "Your idea is quite reasonable. What did you figure out the other day?"

"Last year, my mother woke me up with a broom. Uncle, our family is considered well-off in the village, but if you go to the streets, the city, and the province, you will know that this is nothing. Compared with people in the provincial capital, our family is poor!"

Wang Hu asked, "Second brother, if the people in the provincial capital have money, why don't we sell bear meat to the provincial capital?"

Xu Ning said with a smile: "Who wants this toy? We have come a long way and the money we earn is not enough to cover the travel expenses.

Besides, they all have special channels for purchasing goods. Even small restaurants have people who deliver goods to them. The vegetables are fresh from the greenhouses and the meat is slaughtered in the morning.

The transportation is also convenient. Do you know the Harbin-Dalian Railway? This is the only railway line in the entire Northeast, and it feeds so many people. "

The Harbin-Dalian Railway was built in 1898 and opened to traffic in 1903. It starts from Heilongjiang in the north and ends in Liaodong in the south. It is 946.5 kilometers long and has a total of 108 stations.

However, due to its long history, this railway line is not well maintained even with careful maintenance. Last year, a steam freight train derailed on a section of the railway in Liaoning Province, causing damage to 240 meters of track and directly causing economic losses of up to 252 million yuan! This is undoubtedly an astronomical figure for ordinary workers who earn less than 40 yuan a month.

This incident was reported in the newspapers at the time and caused quite a stir because not only was there an accident, but a flight attendant also died in the line of duty.

The locomotive is still a steam engine, and it will take until 94 for it to be electrified. At that time, the Shenyang General Administration will introduce advanced traction power supply technology and equipment from Germany. It was not until November 2001, 11 that the electrification transformation of the Harbin-Dalian Railway was completed and officially opened to traffic.

Liu Daming said: "It's hard to make money in our small place. A while ago, I heard the head of the 28 Lengchang say that his younger brother worked as a waiter in a hotel in the provincial capital, earning 25 yuan a month, and a 10 yuan subsidy."

Xu Ning shook his head: "Uncle, you can't think like that. Is there a future for being a waiter? He will be a waiter all his life. His current salary can solve the current problems, but can he support his family after getting married and having children?
Haven’t you noticed that the prices of bear bile and bear skin have gone up? In the future, the prices of our food, clothing and daily necessities will also go up. What can we do with our monthly salary? Just enough to keep us from starving to death.”

"That makes sense. Do you support me in doing this kind of speculative work?"

Xu Ning smiled and said, "I definitely support it."

"Then your father will say that I..."

"I'll help you talk to him! Uncle, you can't keep doing this business forever. We still have a business to open."

"Ah, what should we do then?"

"We'll talk about it when the time comes."

Xu Ning had already thought about what to do next, but he couldn't say it now.

In the east room, Liu Lizhen felt very comfortable when she heard Xu Ning say, "My brother is going to settle down in the city, and I will stay at home to take care of my parents." A warm current burst out from her heart and filled her whole body. For a moment, her eyes turned red and she seemed to be about to cry.

Han Fengjiao, Wu Qiuxia and others were also deeply touched. They all thought that Xu Ning was a true prodigal son who had returned home, and such a good son would be hard to find even with a lantern.

At this time, you can't think about Xu Ning's past mischief, as it will easily ruin the atmosphere.

"Sister-in-law, our family will have Erning in the future, which will give us an extra backbone."

Wu Qiuxia nodded: "Not bad, sister, Erning is smart enough, we will definitely get better and better."

Liu Lizhen rolled out the dough and said, "He just has a lot of tricks..."

Although she said that, everyone could see that she had an unstoppable smile on her face and was quite proud of herself.

"It's not good to be too cunning, but at least you can't be bullied by others."

"..."

When Xu Laonian and others learned that Liu Daming, Laojiu and Dalaba had earned about 50 yuan each by selling bear meat, they were all surprised. After Xu Ning's explanation the day before, Xu Laonian and Wang Erli are no longer worried about getting into trouble due to speculation.

After Liu Daming expressed his idea of ​​asking Li Feng to collect the meat, Xu Laonian did not say anything to him, but only reminded him to be more careful, as the world is a bit chaotic now and it is best not to show off one's wealth.

Xu Laonian's worries were justified. Qing'an was located in the mountains. Going to the city and the provincial capital required passing through a large area of ​​mountains. In the mountains, there were many people who stopped people on the road and demanded money. These people basically did not stop jeeps or trucks carrying wood, but only stopped empty trucks, donkey and horse carts, or walking mountain people...

For dinner, the old ladies worked all afternoon and steamed three pots of buns stuffed with prickly ash and bear oil. Everyone gathered in the east room and ate enthusiastically. Xu Ning specially mixed a bowl of garlic sauce. The garlic sauce was not the same as the big paste, but the minced garlic cloves with soy sauce poured into it. In addition, Wang Shujuan likes to eat vinegar, and Xu Laonian likes to eat chili oil, so you can mix them into the garlic sauce and dip the buns in it. It tastes extremely delicious!

Such fragrant buns whetted people's appetite. At this moment, only half a pot of buns was left out of the three pots. Everyone ate a lot. Xu Ning alone ate eight, and the others ate six or seven. Even Xu Feng and Li Jinyu, who had small appetites, ate six. It can be seen how popular the buns with prickly ash filling are.

As the saying goes, a young boy can eat his father out of house and door. Compared with Li Mantang, Wang Biao and Liu Tianen, Xu Ning is nothing. Each of the three of them ordered at least ten buns. You should know that these buns are not small, they are as big as a fist, and they are made of leavened dough.

Xu Laonian was very happy to see the three young men working so hard. He said with a smile, "Eat more! Eat more! Eat until you are full."

Li Fuqiang said, "Uncle, don't let Mantang eat so much. He has already eaten so much."

"What do you know? Now is the time to eat. Don't listen to your father and eat more! Help the master with some work during the holidays."

"Yeah!" Li Mantang nodded with a smile.

Normally he had a big appetite, three bowls of rice at a meal, but Li Fuqiang didn't pay much attention to him. Today, Li Mantang ate as much as he could, which really scared Li Fuqiang.

Xu Ning put down his bowl and chopsticks and said, "You guys take your time eating. I have to go to Taiping to give Hu Zhibin some bear paws."

"Let's go tomorrow. It's already so late." Liu Lizhen said.

"We have to go up the mountain tomorrow."

Li Fuqiang quickly wiped his mouth and said, "Brother, I'll go with you."

"I'm going too!" Wang Hu swallowed the bun and stood up.

"Second brother, I want to go too." Wang Biao said.

Liu Tianen also looked up and looked at Xu Ning eagerly, while Xu Feng honestly moved closer to Xu Ning and stretched out his hand to grab his arm, his meaning was very clear.

Xu Ning said, "Brother and I will go there. Huzi, you take Biao and Tianen home to clean the guns."

"Yeah, that's fine." Wang Hu responded, then sat down and picked up a bun.

Xu Ning walked to the outer room and took out the bear paw from the basket above the kitchen. Li Fuqiang took it and weighed it in his hand. He said, "Brother, it doesn't look good to leave the bear paw exposed outside. How about finding a cloth bag to put it in?"

"No, I'm not going there to give you a gift, so I don't care if it looks good or not."

Liu Lizhen stepped down in her slippers, lifted the door curtain and said, "Old man, it would be great if you could give your uncle Hu some prickly ash buds. Don't go there empty-handed."

Xu Ning thought, the last time he went to Old Hu's house, he went empty-handed. Although he was going to deliver bear paws this time, so he was not empty-handed, but wouldn't it be better to take something?

"Then find a cloth bag to put it in."

Liu Lizhen took out a cloth bag made from a rice bag from the gap behind the kitchen, went to the stove and grabbed several handfuls of prickly ash buds from the large aluminum basin, weighed them and found they weighed about five or six kilograms.

"Come back early." "I know."

Xu Ning took the cloth bag and walked towards the courtyard with Li Fuqiang. They went out and headed straight for the west entrance of the village, turned a corner and followed the path to Taiping.

The moon is very small tonight and it is pitch black all around. It looks creepy when looking into the distance, but Xu Ning and Li Fuqiang are not afraid. It is not because they are as brave as a leopard, but because they are confident. Besides, there are very few ferocious beasts around the villages of Qing'an and Taiping. The last time the old leopard stayed in the old forest was purely an accident.

Li Fuqiang held a cigarette in his mouth, looked up at the sky, and said, "Brother, should we still buy the four-wheeler from cousin Lao Lin?"

"When you have time, go to the farm machinery station on the street and take a look. Lao Lin told me in the car the other day that we don't have to buy his cousin's four-wheeler. It's not appropriate to spend three thousand yuan to buy a five or six-year-old engine head and then weld the trailer by yourself."

"I don't think it's appropriate, but I'm too embarrassed to tell Lao Lin. Lao Lin is really good to me. He buys me cigarettes when I run out of cigarettes. He also treats me to meals when we go to the city railway station."

"Well, Lao Lin is a really good guy, a very honest person. Don't talk to Lao Lin before buying a four-wheeler. He has an average relationship with his cousin, so don't let him get involved. If we want to buy one, we can go directly to the agricultural machinery station. There are many second-hand four-wheelers on consignment there."

"OK!"

Taiping, Lao Hu’s family.

The door light and the lights in the house were on. The child was doing homework in the west room, Liu Shu'e was tidying up the floor in the outer room, and Lao Hu and Hu Zhibin were listening to the news on the radio in the east room.

"This old mountain is about to be recaptured, I wonder what's happening with your little brother..."

Old Hu sighed, grabbed the cigarette box in a gloomy mood, tore off a piece of grid paper covered with words, and rolled a cigarette.

Hu Zhibin rubbed his face and said, "Dad, my younger brother wrote to me half a month ago and said he was doing well."

"Come on, stop trying to fool me with this. Why don't you let me take a look at your letter? You always make it up on the spot..."

Hu Zhibin said: "I was afraid that you would worry."

Old Hu waved his hand and was about to speak when he heard a shout from outside the courtyard gate.

"Can't Uncle Hu stay at home?"

Lao Hu and Hu Zhibin looked out the window at the same time, but it was pitch black outside and they could only see an outline.

In the outer room, Liu Shu'e pushed open the door and asked, "Who is it?"

"I'm Xu Ning."

"Oh my god! Erning! Dad, Dad, Erning is here."

As soon as Liu Shu'e finished speaking, she hurried towards the courtyard, while Lao Hu and Hu Zhibin also jumped down, turned off the radio, and walked briskly outside.

"Come in, come in!"

Xu Ning and Li Fuqiang stepped over the threshold and walked into the courtyard.

"Sister-in-law." The two greeted each other.

"Hey, come in!"

Old Hu greeted them and said with a smile, "Erning, Qiangzi, why are you here at this time? Have you eaten?"

"I just came here after eating."

Hu Zhibin said, "Wife, hurry up and prepare some tea. Use the tea leaves I brought back today."

Xu Ning turned around and took the bear paw from Li Fuqiang, lifted it up, showed it off in front of Lao Hu and Hu Zhibin, and said with a smile: "Brother Bin, I'll get you four bear paws first, and I'll go find the rest later."

"Hey, how come you got it done so quickly? Did you just get it done today?"

Xu Ning smiled bitterly and said, "How could I have caught a black bear? I have been in the mountains for several days and I didn't even see any bear hair. This was caught by a man from our village. I bought it from him."

While chatting, Xu Ning walked into the east room, took off the cloth bag on his back, and said, "These are the prickly ash buds I picked from the mountains. I'll give you some to try."

Lao Hu clapped his hands and laughed, "Haha, this stuff is great! I was just talking to your brother Bin today, it's time to eat the prickly ash buds."

Hu Zhibin nodded: "Erning, it's a good thing you brought it here, otherwise no one in my family would go into the mountains to pick them. Usually it was Zhiyong who went up the mountain to pick the mountain products, but now there are really no people..."

Even though Hu Zhiyong was recuperating at home, the Hu family had no shortage of mountain products to eat.

Why? Because when Lao Han, Lan Guodong and others knew that Hu Zhiyong was injured, they would definitely give some of the mountain products they brought back to Lao Hu. Moreover, Li Ye's injury was not serious and he would be fine after a few days of rest. He could do any work in the mountains or in the fields.

Liu Shu'e entered the room carrying a tea tray. The teapot smelled of jasmine. She put down the tea tray and said, "Erning, did you buy this bear paw from the two brothers from the Chang family in your village?"

Xu Ning was stunned and asked, "Ah, sister-in-law, how did you know?"

"I just hang around in the village, how could I not know anything? Today, many people in our village bought bear meat. After asking around, I found out that the Chang brothers from the two villages hunted and brought back a black bear these days."

Hu Zhibin frowned and said, "Erning, I've kept this in mind. Did you suffer any injustice?"

Xu Ning smiled and said, "Why would I suffer such an injustice? I went there just to buy bear paws. They said the price and I just paid the money."

Old Hu nodded: "How much does it cost? Shu'e, go get the money."

"Ten dollars each, forty dollars in total."

Hu Zhibin poured two cups of tea and brought them to Xu Ning and Li Fuqiang, and asked, "You asked for a lot, didn't you? Er Ning, don't play dumb with me."

"Why are you pretending? It's really only forty! This price is quite reasonable."

"Then I'll ask the butchers on the street. What do they say about the fifteenth?"

Xu Ning took a sip of tea and said, "You have a demand, so the price is high. The Chang brothers are eager to sell it, so the price they give me is a little lower than the street price."

Old Hu turned his head and smiled: "That makes sense."

Hu Zhibin digested his words and nodded silently: "That's right. Things I don't want must be sold at a low price."

Liu Shu'e took out four big unity notes and handed them to Xu Ning with a smile. Xu Ning took them, rubbed them open, and put them directly into his pocket when he saw the four big unity notes.

"You care too much about your brother Bin's affairs. It's only been a few days and you've already got four bear paws back."

Xu Ning said, "I just want to feel at ease when I get it back sooner. I've already promised my brother Bin, so I don't want to be caught off guard when the time comes."

"Yes! Now that I have four, I feel more at ease."

Hu Zhibin smiled and said, "There is still more than a month left. There is no need to rush for the remaining palm. If you can beat Hei Xia Zi, keep all four palms for me."

"Okay."

(End of this chapter)