Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 425: A high level of gratitude
In the outer room, Third Aunt was putting food into an aluminum lunch box. Second Mother put the remaining buns into the lunch box and put it in a cloth bag. She turned her head and told Sun Jiye to roast them and eat them at noon. She also packed six extra boxes of rice because there were quite a lot of people going into the mountains today. There were five people from Old Sun's family, plus Xu Ning and four others, a total of nine people and a dog named Lao Hei.

Wang Hu tied his leggings and checked Lao Juebazi, then walked to the outer room and was about to pick up the cloth bag containing the lunch box when Sun Lianjun snatched it away and carried it on his back with a smile. Wang Hu felt his shoulders a little relieved and felt a little uncomfortable. In the past, when he and Xu Ning went hiking in the mountains, he was the one who carried the lunch box and dry food.

Xu Ning was wearing a cowhide belt and carrying a canteen across his shoulder. He raised his hand and put it on Wang Hu's shoulder, indicating that there was a cloth bag with ropes under the stove. Wang Hu saw it and grinned, then he put it on his back, and then a crowd of people rushed to the gate of the courtyard.

You still have to wear long pants and tie your legs when hiking in this season. There is a lot of dew in the mountains, and it is easy to get wet when walking through the forests. There is no way around it.

Mountain running is just two words. It sounds easy, but it is really difficult to run. Now the bushes and flowers are growing vigorously. It is extremely difficult for people to walk in the mountains, let alone run. However, Sun Jiye often strolls in the mountains on the Sandaohe side. He must know where the bushes are sparse...

The group of people carried five marching canteens and two cowhide water bags. Although the weight was a bit heavy, they were more in number. Sun Jiye and Sun Lianfang were carrying 56-and-a-half rifles, Sun Liansheng was carrying an old rifle, Lian Jun and Lian Xu did not carry guns, but turned their swords into spears on the elm stumps as thick as two fingers, while Sun Lianjun held a three-edged scraper from a lathe, which he converted into a lance!

This spear was similar to the two spears Li Fuqiang had. Li Fuqiang became interested in it at first sight and exchanged his old spear with Sun Lianjun.

"Brother Qiang, how can this thing be as good as a gun?" Sun Lianjun was puzzled.

Li Fuqiang sat in the back of the car, took off the gun sheath made of logs, and said with a smile while getting familiar with the feel of the gun: "You don't understand? Whenever I hunt with my brother, we hardly ever use our guns. Sometimes when Huzi and I kill an animal, my brother has already killed two! The gun is the good thing..."

Wang Hu sat next to him and said with a smile: "Your brother Qiang often practices spear skills in his dreams, and now he has mastered it. Remember what I told you before, Brother Qiang can pick up yellow-haired pigs with his spear? He uses the spear to pierce!"

Sun Lianxu admired him from the bottom of his heart. He was relatively young and often read martial arts novels. He also had a dream of becoming a martial arts hero. He said, "Brother Qiang, teach me a few moves."

"No problem!" Li Fuqiang said proudly, cigarette in his mouth.

When the Dongfeng 140 was driving on the road, Lao Hei was not in a high mood. But when the car drove to a road section that it was familiar with, it suddenly jumped up, put its two front feet on the railing, opened its eyes and looked at the familiar environment, groaning at the top of its voice.

Li Fuqiang, Sun Liansheng and others were obviously stunned, but they did not dare to hug Lao Hei. Why? They were afraid that it would go crazy and bite people.

Before getting on the car, Lao Hei would not let anyone else lead the way except Sun Jieye. When others approached it, it would hum and make a warning sound. Sun Lianxu even scolded it for being ungrateful and a dog that could never be tamed, because Sun Lianxu usually fed it good things, such as sausages, meat buns, etc. Lao Hei would sometimes eat a few bites to give him face, and sometimes he would just go back to his nest if Sun Lianxu ignored him.

This road was the one that Lao Hei and his previous owner often took to go home from the mountains. It was normal for Lao Hei to have some mood swings. Fortunately, Sun Jiye tied Lao Hei's rope shorter, otherwise Lao Hei could jump off the car...

After driving two miles forward, Lao Hei's emotions became more and more intense, and he kept humming. After the car turned into a village, Lao Hei opened his mouth and barked twice. Sun Jiye, who was holding the steering wheel with both hands, heard it, turned his head to glance at Xu Ning and asked what was going on.

Xu Ning shook his head and urged Sun Jiye to drive quickly to the door of Lao Hei's former owner. In less than two minutes, the car stopped in front of a house. Before everyone got out of the car, two people came out of the house.

"Oh my god, Third Brother!" The old man had poor legs and feet, and he walked with a limp.

Sun Jiye opened the car door and said, "Hey, Guo'er, my aunt is not home?"

"I'm not home yet. I'm staying at my aunt's house for two days. Come in quickly..."

Sun Jiye got out of the car and said, "I won't go into the house. I just want to go to your father's grave to take a look and talk to Lao Hei. Lao Hei has been a little irritated at my house recently and doesn't like to eat. Look how thin he is!"

Guo Er said, "Yes, I have lost weight, Third Brother, then I will go with you?"

"No, we're just going for a hike, and I know where he is... Hey, was there a torn mattress in the nest where Lao Hei used to live?"

"Yes! I haven't even demolished the doghouse. I was thinking of going to Old Wang's house to get a puppy to guard the house."

Sun Jiye said: "Then give me..."

At this time, Xu Ning leaned over from the passenger seat and said, "Uncle San! Help Lao Hei get out of the car first and let him go to the doghouse to sniff."

"Hey," Sun Jiye turned to Guo'er and said, "This is my friend. I won't introduce him to you yet. Tell your wife to go back to the house and cook. Don't let this matter delay her."

Guo's daughter-in-law said, "Third brother, why don't you go into the house and have a drink of water?"

"You can drink anytime." Sun Jiye climbed up to the back of the car and untied Lao Hei's rope. He looked at Guo'er and said, "Have the parents of the two children your father rescued come over?"

"I came here several times and delivered five bags of rice, noodles and soybean oil..."

Sun Jiye nodded: "You still have some conscience. How about you stay in the forest farm?"

"It's good. My boss takes good care of me. I don't have much to do during normal times. He even found me a companion during the night shift. He's the second kid from Old Wang's family."

"Well, that's fine. If you have anything, come find me in the village."

"I know, Third Brother. You've helped me a lot since my father passed away..."

"That's just the beginning. Your father saved me in the mountains before. Of course, I saved him too, but I didn't expect him to be so worthless. Oh, let's not talk about this anymore."

A man who often hiked in the mountains drowned in a reservoir while trying to save two children. Mountains and water complement each other, but the hiker did not die in the mountains but in the water. How can I put it? It's really fucking aggrieved.

"Well, Third Brother, don't worry about it. My family is doing well now. We have enough food and clothes. My child only needs to pay some textbook fees at school, and the rest of the fees are waived. I also have a stable job at the forest farm..."

Sun Jiye took Lao Hei for a walk in the yard, and Lao Hei walked to the doghouse by himself. He sniffed the mattress and the aluminum basin next to the doghouse. Lao Hei opened his mouth and stuck out his tongue to pant. It was not because he was hot, but it was a way of expressing his happiness.

"Uncle San, bring the dog bowl too!"

After hearing this, Sun Jiye first pulled out the torn mattress, then reached out to pick up the dog bowl, stood up and led Black Wolf to the door, stopped and turned around and said, "Guo'er, I'll take these two things. When are you free to go to the village office? The village has opened up two plots of land on the north mountain. I've talked to the secretary and left three acres for your child."

"Ah! Third brother, thank you."

"Don't be polite."

After Sun Jiye threw the torn mattress and dog bowl into the back of the car and tied Lao Hei to the railing, he got into the cab, nodded and waved to Guo Er, and drove away. Just now, Xu Ning had been paying attention to Sun Jiye and Guo Er chatting. In just two or three sentences, they were full of social etiquette.

Why can the Sun family stand firm in Sandaohe and win the support of the people? The reason is that the Sun family is easy to convince people, strives for benefits for the people, does not covet the people's needles and threads, and does good things for their hometown. This is why they win the support of the people!

In his previous life, Xu Ning had seen some large families in the south that were quite united. If young people in the village had a quarrel or a fight, their parents would hardly care. But if young people from two villages had a quarrel, it would basically end up as a conflict between the two villages.

There were even cases of village wars being organized over water issues, and killing two or three people was completely normal...

So why are there so few major conflicts between villages in the Northeast? One reason is that there are very few people with the same surname and blood relationship in the village. This is because of the 14-year war, many people died on the battlefield, and most of the people in the Northeast today came here later.

The second reason is that this place is indeed rich in resources, with no shortage of water and food. Xu Ning has heard of people freezing to death, but has rarely heard of anyone starving to death.

Third, the people here know that life is not easy, so they are kind to outsiders and are willing to help as much as they can. So when they encounter problems, they often make big things small and small things nothing. If they are pushed to a certain point, then there is no other way...

Don't be stubborn about whether there are people who starve to death, whether there are bad people, or whether there are cowards. There are good people and bad people everywhere, and there are people who starve to death everywhere.

The Sun family is a genuine Northeasterner. Sun Jiye's parents both participated in the Anti-Japanese United Army. His grandfather and second grandfather followed the old commander to fight against the gangsters on Wolong Mountain. If you trace back their ancestors, they can go all the way back to the Ming Dynasty...

The Dongfeng 140 was driving along the path. Due to the slope and the bumpy road, Wang Hu, who had just eaten tofu pudding, felt a little carsick. He held the railing and retched repeatedly, but nothing came out.

Xu Ning looked at the old forests on both sides of the road and asked, "This forest was planted later, right?"

"Yeah! They said they were going to build an airport here, but it never happened. All the trees were cut down. What should we do? We had to organize people to plant new trees. My eldest brother found two villagers to plant the trees, and they worked for more than three months."

Sun Lianfang said with a smile: "It was because of this that my uncle was transferred to the city's Forestry Bureau."

Xu Ning thought that Sun Jishan must have helped his leader to solve his problems, otherwise such a small matter would not have led to his promotion.

"This reservoir in front was also built by my uncle, who mobilized people from several villages, right, Uncle San?"

"Well, we are building a reservoir... Erning, just remember that in our current conditions, no matter what we build or construct, we will definitely have to shed blood and sweat. Sweating is fine, but we can't forget the contributions of others even if we shed blood. My eldest brother has studied for so many years, and he has only taught me four words: be grateful and repay kindness!"

Xu Ning said with a smile: "My uncle is really good!"

Why not repay a drop of kindness with a spring of water, why not repay kindness with kindness? Although the meanings are similar, there are still subtle differences.

To repay a favor means that if you receive help from others, you must find ways to repay them.

That is to say, by exchanging gifts in various ways, your character will gradually be recognized by the public, and it will be much easier to do other things.

Leaving the woods, it felt like seeing light through the clouds. Ahead was a concrete dam with the gates open, allowing water to gush out.

"During the rainy season, the gates are opened and the water in the Sandao River accumulates seriously. If this reservoir hadn't been built, the surrounding area would have been flooded every year. I remember when I was a child, the water level rose to the edge of the kang one year. My eldest brother carried me to the roof, and the three of us squatted on the roof all night..."

"See this gap? Originally, water flowed down the mountain from here. The materials used when the reservoir was built were quite solid, but it still broke last year. Fortunately, there was a phone call and the people down the mountain made preparations in advance, otherwise the consequences would be disastrous."

The gap is a ditch between two mountains. Before the reservoir was built, when the water level rose to a certain height, the water would flow down the ditch. Therefore, the construction of this reservoir in Sandaohe was very useful. It not only solved the problem of field irrigation, but also solved the problem of floods. It was a good project that benefited the people.

The Dongfeng 140 sped along the road to the dam, heading straight for the mountain opposite. The mountain was a little majestic, with dense red pines and fir trees on it, and it was full of green at the moment...

Sun Jiye seemed to be in a bad mood, and he talked more. He said, "Erning, there is something that has been bothering me. I am quite impressed by my elder brother's work over the years, but I am not satisfied with some things in Qing'an Forest Farm. But my elder brother said that since he is from Sandaohe, he has to think about Sandaohe. Therefore, he basically doesn't care about some problems in Qing'an, and only cares about taking work for Sandaohe..."

Xu Ning said: "I don't know much about this matter, but I know that he is getting along well with my third uncle now. I heard that he allocated a batch of equipment to Qing'an Forest Farm last month."

His meaning was very clear. What happened before was in the past. There was no point in arguing about who was right or wrong in this matter, so he only said that Sun Jishan had secured benefits for Qing'an Forest Farm at the moment.

Sun Jiye heard it and said with a smile, "Yes, he called me a few days ago and said that a batch of logging tractors and chain saws would arrive in August or September, and he was thinking of giving more to Qing'an Forest Farm."

"No problem! I really didn't expect that he could get along with my Third Uncle."

"I didn't expect that. When I heard that the Municipal Bureau had a new second-in-command, my eldest brother was quite hesitant."

It wasn't hesitation at all; he was very unhappy, because Sun Jishan was the most likely person to be promoted to second in command, and Yang Yusheng suddenly appeared and put out the fire for him.

Sun Jiye asked: "Hey, after your house is built, you should get married, right?"

"Well, the date hasn't been set yet, but I estimate it will be August or September. If it's two months later, it will be cold."

"Yes, August or September is perfect! Will you send me a letter then?"

"I will definitely send a letter. My uncle told me when we went to the city a few days ago that he would come with my uncle."

"That's it! It's settled."

The reason why Sun Jiye talked about this matter with Xu Ning was that Sun Jiye had to open his heart to Xu Ning, and to have a heart-to-heart talk he had to speak his mind. Besides, the relationship between Xu Ning and Yang Yusheng was there, so Sun Jiye had to express the attitude on behalf of the Sun family.

Ah, the things Sun Jishan did had nothing to do with the Sun family. He arranged everything on his own. My second brother and I were quite opposed to it, but we didn’t have much say…

This kind of thing was too easy for Xu Ning to understand. He understood what Sun Jiye meant immediately. However, he was not going to tell Yang Yusheng about it. He was not a child. If he told Yang Yusheng about this, he would be a fool!
While the two of them were chatting, Sun Lianfang and Guan Lei were also not quiet. They sat near the car door, rubbing their hands on their thighs, with their eyebrows raised...

(End of this chapter)