Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 379: Wife, stop making trouble! Give Guan Lei the whole house?

Liu Lizhen found two sets of autumn clothes and trousers, thin cotton trousers and a cotton jacket for her son, and also found two raincoats. I have to say that the mother is really thoughtful, for fear that Xu Ning would not be well dressed or sleep well when he went to Dongshan...

But Xu Ning had already prepared himself mentally that life in the mountains was no better or more comfortable than at the foot of the mountain. When the leaves were lush and green, the mountain would become stuffy because the branches and leaves were too dense and thick, making it impossible to ventilate.

Sometimes it is foggy in the mountains and it is impossible to stay there. It is common to find your bedding soaked after waking up from a sleep. After walking around in the mountains, your pants will be soaked.

The body is also prone to red bumps, or rashes, which are extremely itchy, not to mention ticks, small bites, mosquitoes and flies.

In short, if you want to make money in the mountains in spring and summer, you have to endure what ordinary people cannot endure. What's the harm in suffering a little? As long as you can make money, that's fine!
Xu Ning piled the prepared things on two sleds. Although the snow on Dongshan Mountain had melted, it was still relatively easy to pull the sled because the mountain was covered with fallen leaves, which also served as lubrication.

He asked Wang Hu to pull the sled to the west room of his house and prepare to leave after breakfast the next morning to build a shack in the mountains early, otherwise where would the two of them sleep at night?

At around 1 o'clock, Wang Hu leaned against the wall and turned to watch Xu Ning playing with Qinglang and Hualang. He had sent Lao Fei and Sansha to Lao Jiang's house in the morning, and it would be just right to take Lao Jiang, Da Laba and Liu Daming with him when he went up the mountain the next day.

Black Wolf, Second Wolf and Third Wolf were also sent back to Old Chang's home. During this time, Xu Ning took good care of the three dogs. Their fur became shiny and they looked visibly fatter, which made Chang Danian very happy. He chatted with them for a while and then went home.

Liu Lizhen stepped out of the house, tilted her head to look at Xu Ning's actions, and asked in confusion: "Old man, are you going to take the dog up the mountain?"

Xu Ning turned around and smiled, "Don't lead them. There's nothing to feed them on the whole mountain. Let them stay at home."

"Ah, your sister-in-law is steaming cakes at home, you two can take them tomorrow."

"What was steamed the day before yesterday? If I had known my sister-in-law steamed cakes, I wouldn't have bought trough cakes."

"Here's what you're eating, Uncle Ma. Bring some more dry food so that you don't run out of food. I can get you two more cans of pickles."

"Oh, no need. My uncle has a lot of pickles. If you don't eat them, they will get maggots."

Ma Liu pickled a lot of wild vegetables. It was impossible for maggots to grow in the current weather. Xu Ning just said that there were too many pickled vegetables to eat.

At this time, Han Fengjiao stood in front of the low wall holding a fan of pork ribs and a piece of meat, and shouted, "Huzi, take it quickly."

Wang Hu walked quickly to the low wall and raised his hand to take the ribs and meat from the top of the wall. The meat was hunted two days ago and was placed in the cellar of Old Wang's house because it could not be eaten. The reason why Han Fengjiao took it out was to let Xu Ning take it to Old Meng's house.

Xu Ning has been running in the mountains almost all day recently. He hasn't visited Old Meng's house for half a month. He will be going to Dongshan tomorrow, so he has to go and say hello before leaving, otherwise it would be too embarrassing.

Xu Ning stood up and walked towards the outer room. The blue wolf lying on its back on the ground was stunned, and quickly turned over, whimpering. Xu Ning turned around and smiled at it, waved his hands and shushed it twice, then walked to the washbasin rack and rubbed his hands.

Then he took the meat from Wang Hu and was about to leave when Liu Lizhen called out to him. She pointed at the cloth bag on the stove with a stern face and said, "Give it to Ci Lao Ya. Why are you in such a hurry?"

Wang Hu said with a smile: "Auntie, my second brother is anxious to find my sister-in-law."

"Hahaha……"

Liu Lizhen raised her head and laughed when she heard this. This was not funny originally, but it was quite funny coming from Wang Hu's mouth. Liu Lizhen watched Wang Hu grow up, and she knew exactly what kind of person he was. Now that Wang Hu made a joke out loud, Liu Lizhen was very surprised, but also somewhat relieved.

Han Fengjiao climbed over the wall and heard this, she smiled and pursed her lips: "Now you are learning how to be smooth-talking from your second brother, you are talking nonsense!"

"Haha..." Wang Hu grinned dryly.

Liu Lizhen said: "It's good to be smooth-talking! You must not suffer any loss in the future, Huzi, you must also be more careful."

"Well, don't worry, ma'am."

Xu Ning said unyieldingly, "Hu Zi is becoming more and more of a bad person. A few days ago, he said he was going to Wanye to pick up Hua Er to stay with him for two days. How can he be a good person?"

"Ah? Second brother, what did I say before?" Wang Hu blinked in surprise.

"Two days ago, didn't you say you missed Huaer? You even had a dream about it that night..."

"Oh my god! Second brother, don't say it, don't say it."

Wang Hu was a little nervous. He had indeed dreamed of Guan Hua a few days ago and even kissed her in the dream. He was very excited. He even washed his underwear by himself when he changed it. He didn't dare let Han Fengjiao see it for fear of embarrassment!
"Hahaha, you deserve it! I let you show off to me." Xu Ning gritted his teeth.

Han Fengjiao didn't pay any attention to the brothers' jokes, but she cared about Xu Ning's words. She said, "Sister-in-law, do you think it's okay to bring Xiaohua over to stay for two days?"

"Why not? We have room at home."

Hearing that his mother and second aunt had started discussing this, Xu Ning hurriedly stopped them, "Mom, second aunt, you two should stop worrying about this. If you come to live here before you get engaged, won't you attract gossip?"

My mother was a little unhappy and waved her hand to drive him away: "You can leave quickly! You are everywhere. Jiao'er, let's go into the house and chat. Huzi, go to the lower room to find sticky rice dumplings. Clean up the remaining rice dumplings in the evening."

To clean up in this sentence means to eat up the leftovers.

"okay."

Xu Ning and Wang Hu went their separate ways upon hearing this. Liu Lizhen and Han Fengjiao watched the two men leave, then closed the door and spoke in low voice.

"Sister-in-law, I've been thinking about giving it to Xiaohua after the New Year, but Erning is right. Now that they're not engaged, they have no status, and taking her in will easily lead to gossip."

"The Lengchang will have to shut down soon, and Lei Zi won't be able to work, right?"

"Yeah." Han Fengjiao didn't understand what she meant.

Liu Lizhen rolled her eyes and said, "What do you think about us giving Leizi a whole house in the village? Either let him settle down here, or find him a place to live. When Xiaohua comes over, wouldn't it be convenient for him to live there?"

Han Fengjiao clapped her hands upon hearing this, "Sister-in-law! It has to be you. I can't think of it in my place. A cheap house will definitely do. When Hu Zi and Xiao Hua get married, it will be convenient to pick up the bride! If we go to Wanye to pick up the bride, how many cars will we need to prepare? It will also waste time on the road..."

It will definitely waste time. From Qing'an to Wanye, it will take an entire day even if you step on the accelerator to the bottom. That way, it will be impossible to pick up the bride in time.

Liu Lizhen smiled and said, "Tell Erli about it in the evening."

"Why don't you discuss this with Lei Zi?"

"Let's discuss it after Er Ning comes back..."

"OK."

Old Meng’s house, east room.

Meng Ziyan and Liu Fenfang sat at the end of the kang, holding a shoe insole in their left hands, a needle in their right hands, and a thimble on their middle fingers, and were sewing the shoe insole.

Both mother and daughter have deft hands. They embroidered a carp and lotus pattern on the insole and four words - good luck and good fortune - on the heel.

"Mom, did you tell my dad about setting a date the other day?"

Liu Fenfang said with a smile: "Are you so anxious to enter Old Xu's house?"

"Hey, isn't it the beginning of spring? It's almost autumn."

"Wait until the house is almost finished before booking. Our two families haven't found a matchmaker yet, so we'll have to find your Uncle Du when the time comes..."

Before she finished her words, she heard a shout coming from the gate. The mother and daughter turned their heads and saw Meng Ziyan's face filled with joy. Liu Fenfang smiled slightly, "This person can't help but nag."

Meng Ziyan hurriedly threw down her insoles and needle and thread, leaned on the kang with both hands, turned around, her legs fell on the edge of the kang, moved her buttocks outward, and her feet fell on her shoes. She quickly put on her shoes and ran out of the house.

Liu Fenfang was already used to this and quickly followed behind. When Meng Ziyan opened the door and let her go out first, she saw Xu Ning coming in and smiled, "Er Ning, come in quickly!"

"Auntie!"

Meng Ziyan said crisply, "Second brother."

"Hey, auntie, my mom asked me to bring this. This is the meat I cut yesterday, and there are prickly ash sprouts in this bag."

"Oh my, there are prickly buds at this time?" Liu Fenfang asked in surprise.

"Yes, but they are not very big, so I picked them as soon as they sprouted."

Xu Ning went into the house and put it on the stove, then walked to the east room. Seeing that Meng Quezi was not at home, he asked, "My uncle Meng is not at home?"

"Yeah, I went to work and haven't come back these days."

Meng Ziyan didn't need to say anything to her mother, and she took the teapot to make tea. "This job is quite urgent? Where did you do it?"

"In the street, the employer's house was renovated. All the doors, windows and furniture needed to be redone. It was too far from home and inconvenient to go back and forth, so the employer found a place for your uncle to live in the street."

"What about meals?"

"Free meals! The food is pretty good. I guess I'll be back in another week."

At this time, Meng Ziyan came into the room carrying a tea tray. She put down the tray, poured a cup of tea for Xu Ning, and then blinked her almond eyes at Liu Fenfang.

When Liu Fenfang was about to get up, Xu Ning said with a smile: "Aunt, I have to go to Dongshan tomorrow. It will take at least half a month before I can come down the mountain. I thought I would come here to tell you and Uncle Meng, so that you won't lose me when the time comes."

"Why are you going to Dongshan at this time...you are going to stay in Dongshan for half a month?"

Xu Ning nodded: "Yes, didn't I ask Uncle Meng to make a few beehives last time? This time I went to Dongshan to learn beekeeping."

"Beekeeping is a good thing, but it's always a pain to live in Dongshan these days."

"It's okay. If you can't even bear this little bit of suffering, then you won't be able to do anything in the future."

Liu Fenfang said with a smile: "It's a good thing that you have your own ideas. Who would follow you?"

"Huzi, let's build a shack on the East Mountain so we can have some company."

"Okay, then you stay in the room for a while, I'll go out for a while."

After Liu Fenfang finished speaking, she lifted the door curtain and walked out. Then there was the sound of a door closing. Xu Ning turned his head and looked towards the courtyard, and saw Liu Fenfang walking quickly out of the gate and heading towards the military headquarters.

There were only two people left in the room. Meng Ziyan pouted and was about to pounce on Xu Ning's face, scaring him so much that he quickly leaned back and shouted, "What are you doing! Be quiet, or I'll leave if you do this again."

Meng Ziyan pouted and said, "You are going to Dongshan soon, why can't I give you a kiss?"

"No, I won't let you take advantage of me before we get married. Give up on this idea!"

What Xu Ning said sounded so righteous that it made people laugh.

Meng Ziyan knew Xu Ning was teasing her, but she couldn't help laughing out loud.

"Hahaha……"

Xu Ning calmly picked up the teacup and took a sip of water to moisten his throat. He looked up and said, "What are you laughing at? Suppress it!"

Meng Ziyan really stopped laughing. She sat down next to Xu Ning, raised her hand to grab his arm, rubbed her chest against his, and said, "Second brother, when you come back from Dongshan, we should build a house, right?"

"Well, are you anxious?"

"A bit..."

Xu Ning raised his hand and hooked her chin, saying with a smile: "Why are you in such a hurry? Won't I be yours sooner or later?"

"Haha, then why don't you let me kiss you?"

Xu Ning said with a straight face, "I am a man you can't get easily, do you know that?"

Meng Ziyan raised her red lips, and seeing that he looked serious, she tilted her head forward and pressed her lips together.

Xu Ning opened his eyes and deliberately relaxed his tone, allowing Meng Ziyan to speak freely. It was a long time before they separated.

"Oh my god, how come I let you take advantage of me again? You have to pay me back with your spit!"

When he was done, he leaned his head forward and started another round.

After a long time, they separated. Meng Ziyan pointed at the spider silk on her chin in a daze and said, "Second brother, look at it, it's like a candied sweet potato, it's all stringy!"

"Oh, you really don't mind being ugly."

Xu Ning raised his hand to wipe his mouth, but saw Meng Ziyan licking it with her lips.

She grinned and said, "Why bother knocking on the door? There's no one else in the room."

"You take advantage of me all the time. You are really cunning."

"Then you can occupy it every day from now on!"

This girl is really aggressive. If you hand her a bamboo pole, she will climb up along the pole.

Suddenly, she jumped to the ground, and Xu Ning was so scared that he thought Liu Fenfang had come back. He quickly turned his head to look towards the courtyard while tidying up his clothes, but he didn't see anyone. He turned around and saw Meng Ziyan with her big butt sticking out, searching for something in the cabinet.

"What are you looking for?"

Meng Ziyan straightened up, turned around and waved the things in her hand, which were two pairs of insoles and a pair of cloth shoes.

"Brother, what do you think?"

Xu Ning took the insole and cloth shoes and took a look. The cloth shoes were made of lantern core fabric, with several layers of cotton cloth on the bottom. The style was similar to the old Beijing cloth shoes. The pattern on the insole was squares and plum blossoms, but under the plum blossom pattern was embroidered a word - love, and there was a small red heart next to it.

"Hey, why is there a word here? Who would dare to wear this insole outside? If I take off my shoes, I will be laughed at."

Meng Ziyan pouted and said, "What a nice word."

"What's so good about it? Which gentleman would wear this insole? I feel embarrassed when I take off my shoes!"

Meng Ziyan's eyes turned red when she heard that. When she was about to cry, Xu Ning suddenly laughed: "Hahaha, I'm just teasing you. Look at you, why are you so ignorant of teasing?"

"I embroidered it without my parents' knowledge, and you still say it's not good..."

Meng Ziyan just felt aggrieved. She had read many newspapers and unstitched many times before she embroidered this pattern and words, but when it came to Xu Ning, she said that she was afraid of being laughed at. It was really sad.

"I'm just teasing you. Your little mouth is pouting like a big carp!"

"You are more like a big carp, so do you want it?"

"Yes, I didn't say no."

Meng Ziyan shrugged her shoulders and said, "Are you afraid of being laughed at if you wear this outside?"

"What's there to be afraid of? My wife embroidered it for me. I'll wear it and show it off. I'll walk from our village to Taiping and show it off to every household..."

Meng Ziyan only heard "my wife" and didn't listen to the words that followed. At this moment, her head was buzzing, as if bees were hovering in her ears.

Her heart was pounding and she raised her hand to cover her chest. She just felt happy and put aside the matter of Xu Ning teasing her just now and forgot it completely.

"…What did you call me just now?"

Xu Ning was stunned and blinked: "Nothing."

"Impossible, I heard you calling me wife!"

Xu Ning immediately rejected it, "That's just your imagination, I didn't shout."

"Shout, shout, just shout! Shout me again."

"Stop torturing me, okay? Why are you making things up?"

Meng Ziyan came forward and looked at Xu Ning who was sitting on the edge of the kang. Suddenly, she grabbed his shoulders with both hands and pouted again. This time, she almost made Xu Ning choke...

"Don't make trouble, wife!"

(End of this chapter)