Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 416: Better Than a Dog's Nose - Gold Claws Xu Er

The lush branches and leaves cause the air in the mountains to flow slowly. Standing on the hillside in the dense forest, the air you smell is not fresh, but rather has a strange smell of decay. Although there are birds singing, flowers blooming, and occasional insects chirping, the forest in Liushugou is still very quiet. At least there is no noise from the hustle and bustle of cars coming and going and people quarreling and lighting fires in later cities!

Sun Lianfang drained the blood of the six wild boars and waited for two or three minutes while Wang Hu, Guan Lei and Li Fuqiang began to open their stomachs and take out the lanterns. Originally, Xu Ning didn't want to dig out the eggs, but they had already been killed. It would be useless to leave them in the mountains. It would be better to take some effort to drag them home and send them to the village headquarters as a favor to Du Shoucai.

Sun Liansheng squatted on top of the big egg's head and used his hand to dig at the place where it was shot. The two shots were fired by Wang Hu and Li Fuqiang, and they were quite accurate. While Wang Hu and Li Fuqiang were hanging lanterns, he kept asking Wang Hu how long he had been running in the mountains. When he heard that he had only been running in the mountains for half a year, he was surprised.

While they were chatting here, Xu Ning sat on the relatively dry ground, held Hualang in his arms with both hands, turned over and saw the wound on Hualang's abdomen, which was indeed a cut as long as a little finger.

But the wound was not cut by the fangs of the egg-scraper, so it was not deep, just a little skin scratch.

Xu Ning took out some tobacco crumbs from his pocket and sprinkled them on the wolf's wound. He patted its butt with a smile and told it to go play with the blue wolf.

But after the wolf ran two or three meters, it turned around, wagged its tail and dived into Xu Ning's arms again, raised its head and licked his face and hands with its tongue, humming...

At this time, the six wild boars had been gutted, and Wang Hu hung lanterns on the willow trees one by one. After smelling the scent, the dog gang squatted, lay or stood around the wild boar carcasses two meters away, staring at the wild boars with bright eyes.

Every time we go into the mountains to hunt dogs, the dog team has to be hungry. Maybe someone will ask, if this is the case, can the dogs still be strong? Yes! And they are stronger than when they are full. It can be seen from the three idiots digging the yellow pig's neck that if the dog lives a carefree life, the fierceness in its bones will be hidden. If it is extremely hungry, the dog can burst out with great strength...

Then Li Fuqiang asked Xu Ning whether he wanted to feed the dogs. Of course the dogs had to be fed, and they had to be fed well, because six wild boars had been harvested. Even if the big wild boars were sent to the village headquarters and Du Shoucai distributed them to poor households as a favor, there would still be five pigs left. These pigs were enough to feed the people who worked for Old Xu's family for ten days.

While Li Fuqiang and Wang Hu were chopping pork livers to feed the dog, Guan Lei was also cutting meat from the sow's belly. Six pork livers were definitely not enough to feed the dog, and if they gave the dog a little less meat, it would probably only be about 80% full.

Sun Lianfang looked at Sun Liansheng's watch and asked in confusion: "Brother, why don't you play? It's not even eleven o'clock yet!"

Xu Ning said, "It's enough to kill these old pigs. We will go to Xiaoshi River first and find an open space to cook some rice. After noon, we will go to get some wild vegetables."

"Oh, but I didn't even fire the gun! I was thinking of firing a couple of rounds for fun."

Guan Lei turned around and said, "I'll give you the entire target, just stand still and shoot."

"Who hit the target dead? Who are you looking down on?" Sun Lianfang curled her lips.

Five minutes later, Li Fuqiang tied up the six pigs, and then he and Wang Hu dragged the big egg-digger and the old sow down the mountain. Guan Lei dragged the yellow-haired pig, and Xu Ning, Sun Lianfang and Sun Liansheng each dragged a small yellow-haired pig.

Xu Ning whistled to call the dog gang to follow him, and then walked towards the north of Liushugou.

After walking about two miles, the group came to a pool of water. The water here was not stagnant, but running water that had flowed from the pond in the past.

There were lush flowers and plants growing around the pond. Xu Ning used his feet to clear a piece of ground. Everyone left the wild boar behind and went to collect firewood and lunch boxes...

"Oh my god, these branches are all wet, I can't burn them..." Sun Lianfang muttered.

Guan Lei frowned and said, "Why don't you have some common sense? The branches on the ground are damp, isn't this a dead tree? Can't we just break it with a kick and burn it?"

Sun Liansheng smiled and said, "Leizi, she has never worked at home. She used to come to the mountains to wander with a group of people. What kind of work can she be used for?"

"Ah, then...then sit down and take a rest. Look, I didn't say anything, why are you pouting?"

Sun Lianfang curled her lips and said, "You dislike me!"

"Hey, stop making trouble and find some rocks. Let's sit down and find some rocks, okay?"

"Yes!" Hearing that she had work to do, Sun Lianfang grinned and went to look for stones.

After Li Fuqiang found a dead tree and brought it back, Guan Lei used an axe to chop some wood chips so that they could start a fire quickly. Wang Hu placed the lunch box next to the fire, looked at the dogs drinking water, and said with a smile: "Second brother, will these dogs follow us to pick wild vegetables later?"

Xu Ning sat on the stone that Sun Lianfang had brought over and said, "I was thinking of asking you and Big Brother to bring back a few wild boars first, and take the dog gang with you as well. I will wander around the mountains with Shitou, Brother Sheng, and Lianfang."

Before anyone else could say anything, Sun Lianfang said, "Hey! Brother, how did you know I'm good at picking wild vegetables? The aunties and grandmas in our village all praised me for my ability and gave me a nickname, the First Eye-Seeer of Sandaohe."

"Ah, so your eyesight is pretty good?"

"Not at all! I can smell the scent of wild vegetables from 50 to 60 meters away."

Guan Lei said with a smile: "You are better than a dog's nose!"

"Hey, what are you talking about? I'm going to strangle you to death..."

Sun Lianfang pounced on Guan Lei, and then the two of them started fighting on the spot. The grass was a little damp, and their clothes were soaked. However, Sun Liansheng, Xu Ning and the other three did not try to persuade them, because they were used to it.

After lunch, the group packed up their things and continued to drag the wild boar northward. They saw a patch of prickly ash buds on the hillside on the right, but they did not pick them. Instead, they dragged the wild boar directly to the foot of the west peak of Ximaduozi.

Xu Ning carried the blue wolf and the spotted wolf, and sent the dogs to the car while cursing. Finally, when he carried the gray wolf, he slapped its butt hard, because when they were still six miles away from the West Peak, Xu Ning asked the dog gang to follow Li Fuqiang and Wang Hu, but the dog gang was indifferent. Even if Xu Ning drove them away, they kept following Xu Ning. There was really no other way, so he sent the dog gang to the car, just in time to drag the wild boar down the mountain, saving Li Fuqiang and Wang Hu the trouble of doing it twice.

This hassle made Xu Ning waste an hour and a half of picking wild vegetables. He raised his hand to look at the watch. It was already past one in the afternoon. If he turned back, it would probably be after two o'clock.

"Brother, you two should hurry up and let my mother roast the meat today so that we can have it in the evening!"

"Okay, you guys be more careful! Leizi, you take this bag of maggots."

Guan Lei took the Ma Leizi, and Xu Ning said, "When we get back, we'll go directly to the place where we pick day lilies. There's a lot of mountain celery there..."

"OK!"

Li Fuqiang waved goodbye and drove away. Xu Ning, Guan Lei, Sun Lianfang and Sun Liansheng climbed to the top of the hill again, went down the ditch and ran towards the large wilderness upstream of the Xiaoshi River. Time was a bit tight, so the four of them ran and bumped without stopping halfway.

The purpose of their trip was not to pick day lilies, because it was not yet the season to pick them. They mainly picked them from late June to early August, and the best time to pick them was in the morning. Anyway, they could pick them after taking a break and smoking a cigarette. If they were hungry after picking, they would go home...

"Oh my god, this piece of celery is so old..."

"Well, put it in the sack quickly."

Mountain celery is also called big leaf celery, and water celery is also called small leaf celery. They look a bit similar, but they grow in different environments. So how do you eat them? Chop stuffing into dumplings, scramble eggs! In Northeast China, eggs can be fried with many mountain things, such as prickly ash, Chinese toon, Acanthopanax senticosus, Artemisia selengensis, Shepherd's purse, etc. It didn't take long for Xu Ning and his four companions to fill a sack of mountain celery, which was definitely enough for two or three meals. Then they threw the sacks where they were, went over the mountain and down the ditch to pick prickly ash and Acanthopanax senticosus on the opposite hillside. Sun Lianfang's eyesight was indeed good, and she saw a patch of small garlic roots more than 30 meters away.

It was not until after four o'clock that Li Fuqiang and Wang Hu found the four people. Seeing that they had picked a sack of mountain celery, a bag of old prickly ash shoots, half a basket of small garlic roots and a bag of acanthopanax senticosus, they smiled and carried the mountain celery and said, "Brother, you have done a lot today! Huzi is looking at two basils at the foot of the mountain. Are you going to pick them when we go back?"

"Pick them! If we don't eat them now, they will get old. Let's just go back and pick whatever we see!"

"OK!"

Sun Lianfang took credit and said, "Brother, my eyesight is okay, right? I picked all the garlic sprouts by myself."

Xu Ning said with a smile: "Not really, my sister-in-law has put in a lot of effort today."

"Of course I have to!" Sun Lianfang bared her teeth and glared at Guan Lei, but Guan Lei curled his lips and ignored her.

Six people went down to the West Peak and gathered around two perilla leaves. The side of the perilla that was exposed to the light was green, and the other side was purple. The Korean people like to pickle the perilla and wrap it with rice, barbecue, and eat it as lettuce...

But perilla can also be used to scramble eggs, mix with noodles, and make soup, and it has a certain effect of clearing away heat and relieving summer heat.

When they walked to the side of the car, Wang Hu said, "It would be great if we could see roe deer or deer, but unfortunately we are not so lucky."

Li Fuqiang nodded: "What else is there to say? Hey, brother, have you noticed? Ever since we strangled the leopard, although we can get something every time we go up the mountain, the value is not very high."

Xu Ning looked back at the top of the mountain and said, "It's a good thing that it didn't work. Maybe we can find something better in the future!"

"Yeah! Brother Sheng, you drive, I'll go to the back and rest for a while."

Sun Liansheng said: "Go to the passenger seat and take a rest."

"No, we'll be home soon, let's go home quickly."

At around six o'clock, the two rooms of Old Xu's house were full of people. It was very lively and the noise from the quarrels and fire almost blew off the roof.

Xu Laonian, his colleagues from Qing'an Forest Farm, and Yu Kaihe and others sat at three tables. Liu Lizhen had no choice but to put a table in the east wing and let the children eat first. They were all college students and could not be neglected easily. Besides, in addition to Xu Feng, Wang Biao and others, other children eating at Old Xu's house included Jiang Qiuer, Huang Lin, and Meng Yinhe.

Xu Laonian poured wine into Meng Quezi's glass and shouted, "This is my brother! From now on, we are relatives. It won't be a problem for us to go alone! Come on, brother, I don't have much to say today, I'm just happy, drink!"

In fact, Liu Lizhen was quite annoyed by what Xu Laonian did, but she was not particularly disgusted today, because today, Xu Laonian, together with his colleagues from the forest farm, Yu Kaihe and others, had finished digging the foundations of both families. The cellar of Old Xu's family had also been almost dug, and they could do waterproofing and cover it tomorrow.

Moreover, the wood that Xu Laonian had stored in the Lengchang was also brought back, a total of five large trucks! Meng Quezi went to the north end in the afternoon and picked up a few logs to make beams for the house. As for the pillars, they were not needed because the house was built with a concrete structure, not a brick-concrete structure...

Xu Long was drinking in the west room with Li Feng, Da Laba and others. He was a little surprised when he first saw Li Feng, because the quarrel between Li San and his family had become irreconcilable. But after Liu Lizhen's explanation, Xu Long understood the reason and no longer had any prejudice against Li Feng.

He came back today and brought back a lot of vegetables, mainly the same ones, onions, garlic sprouts, beans, eggplants... Beans and eggplants are cheaper now than in winter. Due to weather reasons, the cost of using the greenhouse has been reduced.

He also bought two big roosters and a big goose, and brought them back in sacks. Now they are jumping around and squealing in the small shed in the backyard.

"This is the blueprint? My oldest son designed it! What do you think of it? Hey, they say this thing should be a reception room, but why would we need a reception room if we live in the countryside? This is ridiculous!"

Xu Laonian got drunk and took out the blueprint designed by Xu Ning to show off. Xiao Liu in the reception room was quite clever and said, "Accountant Xu, there is nothing wrong with my brother's design! I see that all the houses in our city are designed like this. When the house is finished, put a sofa here. Hey, just enjoy it!"

"Hahaha, that's not great!" Everyone laughed in agreement.

"Yes, I was thinking of letting him do whatever he wants. He can live in whatever style it is built in. Look at this house now. There is no room for all of us to sit. When the house over there is finished, we can go there to eat and drink."

"Okay! Old Xu, we have to drink one."

"We must drink!" Old Xu clapped his hands, picked up the wine glass, tilted his head back and drank up the rest of the glass.

Liu Lizhen stood in the outer room, listening to the noise inside, and said with a smile, "Your elder brother is a man who deserves praise."

"You have someone to support you, so just drink it." Han Fengjiao said.

Wu Qiuxia looked at the door and said, "I think I heard a car moving. Is it Erning and the others who are back?"

As soon as he finished speaking, a Dongfeng 140 stopped at the gate of the courtyard. There were three other cars on the street, two owned by Dazhuang and Lao Li, and one belonged to Lao Lin. The Dongfeng 140 stopped in front of the Lao Jiefang. When Xu Ning jumped out of the car, Liu Lizhen came out to greet him.

"Lian Sheng Lian Fang, you've worked hard today!"

Sun Lianfang grinned and said, "Auntie, it's not hard at all. We went into the mountains to have fun! By the way, we brought back a sack of mountain celery..."

"Oh my god, why are you so old? Come, let's go to this room first. The upper room is full of people."

Xu Ning got out of the car carrying the cloth bag and asked, "Is my brother back?"

"I'm back. I'm sitting at the table in the west room. You guys must be hungry too. Hurry up and wash up. The dishes in the pot are ready..."

It was understandable that Sun Lianfang and Sun Liansheng did not enter the main room, but Xu Ning and Wang Hu had to go in. The room was full of relatives and friends, and it would seem tactless if they did not go in to say hello.

As soon as Xu Ning entered the house, Lao Li saw him, pointed at him and said, "Hey! Is my nephew back? Hahaha, my nephew is pretty amazing. He brought back so many old wild boars. It seems like we can't be short of meat these days."

Xu Laonian blushed and drooped his eyes, saying, "It's definitely necessary! Brother Li, do you know that my oldest son has a nickname?"

Old Li was stunned: "Isn't it Xiao Xupao from Qing'an?"

"No! He has another nickname! He's called Gold Claw Xu Er. Do you know why he's called Gold Claw?"

Xu Laonian's words stunned everyone in the room, even Xu Ning, Wang Hu and Li Fuqiang were confused.

Golden claws? Where did that come from?

(End of this chapter)