Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 422: The only child cannot marry into the family. This dog is sick.
In the west room, only Xu Ning, Li Fuqiang and Sun Lianfang did not drink at the round table. The others, including Fang's mother and Third Aunt, had two drinks. However, Guan Lei's alcohol tolerance was really average. After he drank two taels of wine, his face turned red and his head felt a little dizzy, because he drank the glass of wine too quickly and had no food in his stomach.

But Sun Jiwei's health was not very good. He could only drink three cups at most. If he drank more, he would get sick. So he did not chase Guan Lei to drink. He just took him for a walk, sipped small amounts, and chatted while drinking. He was quite happy.

Guan Lei is usually a taciturn person, but here he blurted out what he learned from Xu Ning, making Sun Jiwei, Fang's mother and others laugh. They said Guan Lei has a good personality and a sense of humor...

Sun Lianfang saw everything clearly at the round table. She knew that Guan Lei was chatting with her parents and trying every way to make them happy. She felt strangely touched in her heart. After all, this was also a kind of invisible contribution.

The meal ended at around 4:30. Fang's mother, Third Aunt, Sun Lianfang, Jun, and Xu cleared the table, while the rest of the people moved to the east room, where they sat on the edge of the kang, on the kang, or on stools, smoking and chatting.

So many people drank four bottles of Wuliangye, but no one was drunk. Even though Guan Lei's head was dizzy, he was still sober. He leaned against the wall at the head of the kang, holding a cigarette in his hand, and talked to Sun Jiwei with smiling eyes.

Sun Lianxu brought the tea tray into the room and poured tea to everyone. Xu Ning smiled and said, "My brother Xu is so steady, Third Uncle, you have taught him well."

"Oh, now you've grown up and become sensible. You were pretty badass when you were little."

"No matter how fucked up it is, it's over. Adults should just talk about adult things! No, Xudier!"

Sun Lianxu grinned and said, "Of course! Brother Ning, try this tea. I heard that this genuine high mountain green tea comes from Jiaodong."

"Really? Then I have to try it. Third Uncle, isn't it time for my brother Xu to find a partner?"

"Well, it's time to look for it. Your third aunt is shaking her head."

Yaogahuala is a Northeastern dialect, which means: looking everywhere.

Sun Lianxu said: "I'm not in a hurry, my brother Jun hasn't found a girlfriend yet."

Li Fuqiang asked, "Hey, didn't Jun go on a blind date a while ago? Why didn't it work out?"

Sun Jiwei continued: "It didn't work out. He disliked the girl's uneven teeth... Oh, I told him eight hundred times that when choosing a wife, you can't look at her appearance, but you have to look at her character. If she's good, you can live well. If she's not good, it's all in vain!"

Xu Ning smiled and said, "Take a look at more things! It will help you gain experience."

At this time, Fang's mother lifted the door curtain and walked into the room, saying, "Erning, do you know any girls? Please introduce them to your brother Xu."

Sun Lianfang said, "Oh my god! You are making things difficult for my brother. I have looked all over Qing'an, but there is no one who is of the right age for our army."

Xu Ning said with a smile: "Girls in our village usually get engaged when they are 18 or 19 years old. There are only a few girls my age left. My partner and I are both considered to be late in marriage."

Fang's mother said with a worried look on her face: "Hey, it's so difficult to find a partner for the child now. Your third aunt and I went to Beigou a few days ago and talked to two matchmakers. They all said that you have to know the background of the person to find a partner, but there is no such thing in our village. There are more than 40 households outside, and they are all relatives..."

"Yes, my sister-in-law's younger brother has been dating since he was discharged from the army last year, but he hasn't met the right one. Besides, marriage is a lifelong event, so we must be cautious. Otherwise, if we make a mistake, how will we live in the future? Will our family be in chaos?"

Sun Jiwei nodded: "Erning's words make sense! We must be cautious... Shall we go fishing on the boat tomorrow?"

"Second brother, we were just discussing whether to go hiking tomorrow or wait until we finish our work before going fishing?"

"What are you going to do next?"

Sun Jiye said, "It's a small matter. We have to go to Daling and we will be back before noon."

"That's fine. It's warm in the afternoon."

Sun Jiye nodded and said, "Let Erning and the others stay at my place that night."

Fang's mother was unhappy and said, "Why should I live with you? We have room at home!"

"Second sister-in-law, we have to get up early tomorrow to go hiking..."

"What's wrong with getting up early? We have ready-made meals at home. We can just heat them up in the morning and leave after eating. Just stay here! The day Lianfang called me, I took out the bedding to dry. The quilt covers were all newly made. I asked Erning and the others to live in the next room, and Leizi and Jun to live in the west room."

Sun Jiye looked at Xu Ning and saw him nod, "Okay! I'll go to Uncle San's place first to check on the dog."

"Then let's go quickly. Lao Hei only ate a few bites of food today, and he hasn't been fed yet in the evening."

Guan Lei sat up and moved to the edge of the kang with his arms, and said with his shoes on: "Second uncle, Third uncle and I are going out for a walk."

"Hey, let's go."

Then, Sun Jiwei stood up and walked them to the door, then he and Fang's mother turned around and went back into the house. As soon as they sat down, they looked at each other.

Fang's mother spoke first: "I think Lei Zi is pretty good, just like what her uncle said."

"Well, she is poor but ambitious, which makes her worthy of trust... But what I am afraid of is that Lianfang will suffer if she leaves home. You know our daughter, she is kind-hearted and likes to meddle in other people's affairs. If she and Leizi are together, she may be dragged down if she can't control herself..."

Fang's mother frowned and asked, "What do you mean?"

Sun Jiwei said, "I was thinking about what my elder brother said to me a few days ago. We can't force a couple to break up. Lianfang's personality is likely to backfire. If things go wrong, she will hate me for the rest of her life. So when we were having dinner, I thought, if they can really get together, I will give them a whole house in our village. After they get married, they can come back and live there if they want. They can go to Qing'an if they want. Anyway, they can have a place to stay anywhere. What do you think?"

"This arrangement is fine. My eldest brother is right. Even though he has no parents, he can't marry into the Guan family. He is the only child in the Guan family! We will understand it if we change our perspective and think about it."

"Oh, oh, when you say that, I feel like the sky is falling!"

"Get lost! My daughter has already chosen him. What can I do?"

Sun Jiwei spread his hands: "I can't help it..."

The old couple was really helpless, but there was a cause. If the old Sun family didn't dote on Sun Lianfang so much, would she be so bold and stubborn to do such a thing? So there must be a result, and the old couple had to bear the result. As long as they figured out the cause, they would be able to accept Guan Lei, because Sun Lianfang dared to do such a thing, and they were half responsible.

These words came from Sun Jishan's mouth when he was talking to him on the phone that day. Who did he hear them from? Yang Yusheng! He and Sun Jishan had been drinking together almost all day recently. Yang Yusheng analyzed it for him and said that of the remaining 50%, Sun Jishan and his wife and Sun Jiye and his wife accounted for 20% of the responsibility, and the other relatives of the old Sun family also accounted for 10%, while Sun Lianfang herself only accounted for 20%...

This was quite insightful and Sun Jishan understood it as soon as it was spoken, so he called Sun Jiwei to communicate.

...After going out, walk east for more than 30 meters, then walk north for three houses, and the second house on the west is Sun Jiye's house. His house was built just three years ago. The five tiled houses look quite imposing. The outer walls are covered with stone. The gatehouse is three meters high, but the outer wall is only more than two meters. When you walk into the door, you can see the doghouse. When they saw the stranger, five dogs jumped out and barked wildly.

"Go inside and wait a moment."

"No, just stand here for a while and let the dog get familiar with it. Aunt San, you can go back to the house first."

"Okay, Xu, go move some stools into the house."

"okay!"

After Sun Lianxu and Sun Lianjun brought out the stools, everyone sat next to the doghouse, eating melon seeds and chatting.

At first, several dogs made buzzing sounds from their mouths. After a while, they went back to their kennels. However, one black dog kept lying at the door of the kennel, staring at Li Fuqiang and Wang Hu with lowered eyebrows, because the two of them were strolling in the yard, touching the stone roller and swinging the hoe.

This black dog is so skinny that you can see its ribs. It is really skinny. There is a long tear mark in the corner of its eye, and there are big eye mucus. Its ears are drooping, and it looks very depressed...

Xu Ning turned around and said, "Brother Huzi, you two should stop. These dogs are familiar with us."

Sun Lianfang sat against the wall of the lower house and asked, "Brother, how did you figure that out?"

"I saw it with my eyes! Uncle San, those four dogs were brought back from their owners, right?"

"Yeah! They were thrown into the village office at that time, and I thought I would gather a group of dogs and bring them back."

At this time, Third Aunt came out of the door with a bowl of dog food. Sun Lianxu saw it and hurriedly got up to take it and put it at Sun Jiye's feet.

Sun Jiye stood up and held the dog bowl and said, "Look, I usually feed these things, and I feed them all by myself. Huabang and the others are getting closer and closer to me, but Laohei is not so close. It's been more than three weeks, and no matter how I feed him, he still won't get familiar with me."

Xu Ning glanced at the batter in the dog's food bowl. It was mainly cornmeal, cabbage and meat slices. This meal was already quite luxurious for a dog.

"You feed the dogs first, and I'll see how they eat."

Sun Jiye stepped into the doghouse, and before he could knock on the flower stick, four dogs jumped out. As there were chains around the dogs' necks, when they jumped to the point where the chains were stretched straight, the four dogs stood on their hind legs and bowed with their front paws in the air!
Then Sun Jiye used a spoon to scoop two large spoonfuls of food into their bowls one by one. The four dogs were wolfing down the food, but Lao Hei was indifferent. Sun Jiye had no choice but to call him twice. Lao Hei then slowly walked out of his den with his head lowered. He looked up at Sun Jiye and squatted in front of the dog bowl. Sun Jishan scooped three spoonfuls of food for him, but he still lowered his head and glanced at them, and his mouth didn't move at all...

At this time, Sun Jiye turned around and asked, "Erning, did you see that? It's usually like this. When I'm here, it can eat a few bites. But when I leave, the flower sticks eat this bowl of food. What's going on?"

"It must be suffering from a heart disease. Where is its previous owner buried?"

"It's in the back hills. His family is not from our village, but from Huadianzi in the west. What's the matter?"

Xu Ning said: "I think it misses its former owner. If all else fails, I'll take it to the grave to have a look."

"Can it be done?"

"We have to try it to know if it works. Does he still have the mattress that the dog used to sleep on?"

"How would I know? Why would I need the mattress that Lao Hei used to sleep on?"

Xu Ning explained: "Putting the mattress it slept on before in its nest will make it feel more secure and help it adapt to the new environment faster. Look at the tear marks in the corners of its eyes, and the eye mucus is burnt yellow. It must be because of getting irritated. Take it to the grave of its previous owner and talk to it about what's going on..."

Sun Jiye left the doghouse, put down the dog food bowl and said, "Is this going to fix it?"

"I can't guarantee it. Some dogs have strong personalities and will follow one owner for their entire lives. In Lao Hei's case, he probably missed his previous owner too much and wanted to go on a hunger strike. But you usually treat him well, so he has a little more hope of survival when he's around you, so he only eats a few bites when you're around."

"Are there so many reasons for raising a dog? Well, I brought it home because I wanted it to run around in the mountains with me. I didn't really hunt dogs before, but when I saw you raising so many dogs, I started to think about it. So tomorrow we're going to run around in the mountains, so why don't you lead it?"

"Hold it, and you need to chat with it often, especially about its previous owner. I heard that Lao Hei had a good life before?"

"Not bad! It hunted a black bear alone. Although the black bear was not big, weighing only about 300 kilograms, it fought with the black bear for a while. Except for a scratch on its belly by the bear's claws, nothing else happened..."

Li Fuqiang continued, "That's really amazing. If this dog can get better, we won't have to track it when we go hiking in the mountains. We can kill a lot of animals by following the dog."

"That's what I was thinking! Hey, Erning, how about the flower stick?"

"It's old, with white hair on its head, but there's a saying that goes 'old but strong', it definitely doesn't want to be guarding the door at home."

Sun Jiye opened his mouth and said, "You mean, it's better for it to die in the mountains than to die of old age at home?"

"Yes! As long as they are hunting dogs, no matter they are good or bad, their final destination is the mountain. However, when hunting dogs, you must prevent the dogs from getting hurt. Once you get scared, you have to follow the dog's trail quickly, because the prey is likely to be a big digger!"

"I see. Old Liu told me about this. He used to raise a group of dogs when he was hunting. Later, he encountered a big cat in the mountains. The dogs fought twice with the big cat, and all of them were killed by the big cat. At that time, Old Liu was holding a Zhongzheng rifle with five bullets in total. He fired four and didn't dare to fire the last one. Do you know why?"

Xu Ning smiled and said, "He wanted to keep it for himself."

Sun Jiye clapped his hands and said, "That's right! That's what he told me. He also said there was an important reason, which was that this bullet could save lives at a critical moment. In the end, this bullet didn't fire."

Wang Hu asked: "How is Old Liu now?"

"He is lying on the bed. He is already 79 years old this year. There used to be an old gangster in Wolong Mountain here. Do you know him?"

"You know, a mountain eagle?"

"Old Liu participated in the operation to wipe out the mountain eagles. I remember he taught me two tricks when I was a kid, both of which were dirty tricks... Hey, no matter what kind of hero, he has to admit that he is old..."

Xu Ning said: "Of course you have to admit your age, then he also taught you how to hunt?"

"Well, a little while ago, our family was poor, my second brother was in poor health, my eldest brother was devoted to studying, and my parents passed away early. What could I do? I could only shamelessly follow Old Liu and beg him to take me hunting..."

(End of this chapter)