Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 495: The Price of Musk from the Donkey in the Fragrant Deer Mountain
Sun Lianfang drove the donkey into the yard and stopped it. Xu Ning squatted in front of the doghouse and teased Qinglang. He stood up and greeted Liu Fenfang. Just as he turned around and was about to call Hu Zi and Shi Tou, he saw the two men rushing out of the house, running to both sides of the donkey, each carrying a radish and going into the house.

These two bags are spring radishes. The seeds are planted and germinated in mid-to-late April. They will mature in late June. After pulling them out, summer radishes will be planted immediately, which will mature in late September...

Liu Fenfang walked into the outer room and asked with a smile, "Are the dishes almost ready?"

Liu Lizhen nodded and asked, "Well, your second brother left?"

"I'm gone. I just left for a short while."

Wu Qiuxia said: "Why didn't you leave him here to eat?"

"Hey, he had a drink with his brother-in-law at noon, and he said he was afraid he would go back home to eat too late at night, so he said he would not eat here no matter what."

Xu Ning looked at the two bags of radishes and said, "Let's make some radish vermicelli stuffed buns tomorrow, otherwise we won't be able to eat all these old radishes until then."

"Yeah, you and Yinhe are thinking alike."

"..."

In the evening, before the afterglow of the setting sun faded away, the forestry workers had already returned home from get off work and were sitting on the kang, heating a pot of wine.

But Xu Laonian did not come back. He still had to work overtime today. After settling the salary accounts, he also had to calculate the output value of the forest farm that month.

Wang Erli, Liu Daming, Yu Kaihe and others entered the yard one after another. Under the eaves were washbasins prepared by Meng Ziyan, Guan Hua and Sun Lianfang.

The weather is no longer cold now, so all the water used is cold. There is a soap basin between the two washbasins, and two buckets of water at the edge. Everyone lines up to wash their faces and hands. After washing, they go into the east room together, sit down and smoke a cigarette and rest for a while.

After washing his hands, Da Laba did not go into the house, but squatted under the window of the main room, watching Xu Ning playing with the dog, while chatting with him with a cigarette in his mouth. Even though he worked in Old Xu's house all day, he was still a mobile information intelligence station.

"Brother, I heard that the three brothers of the Li family in Tai'an are raising a donkey on the northern mountain."

Xu Ning turned his head when he heard this, and while stroking the blue wolf's hair, he asked with shining eyes, "Have you prepared the musk?"

Dababa exhaled a puff of smoke and said, "I think it should be done, but it can't be too much. The three brothers didn't shout it everywhere. I just heard it from Lan Dadan."

Both mountain donkeys and musk deer are called musk deer, but only male musk deer produce musk, while female musk deer do not, because musk is formed by the drying of the secretions of the glandular sac between the musk deer's navel and reproductive organs.

Xu Ning frowned and asked, "How did Lan Dadan know? Did he go to Tai'an?"

"I don't know. I asked him how he met the three brothers from the Li family, but he didn't explain clearly."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "I revealed it to you on purpose. You, my uncle, and Uncle Jiang are selling meat and other things. These three brothers must want you to take the musk meat."

Da Loudspeaker curled his lips and waved his hands: "Oh my god, forget it, these three brothers are evil. At that time, I did want to buy some musk meat to sell, but when I asked the price, guess what? Hey, that blue bold guy directly asked for two yuan per catty! When I heard this price, I didn't say anything else. I won't argue with them."

Xu Ning rubbed the wolf's neck, turned around and said with a smile: "Bargaining is necessary in business. Since musk meat is expensive, then you should focus on musk!"

The loud speaker looked up and listened carefully. Xu Ning continued, "You can't think like that. Our goal is not just meat. Meat and incense are both consumables, but a handful of incense can be worth the meat of a musk deer, right?"

"So musk is the most important thing. If the other three want to sell it at the price of a pharmacy or supply and marketing cooperative, then you can give them more money and buy the musk back home first. When I go to the provincial capital at the end of August, we can sell it directly to the pharmaceutical factory. How much more money can we make from this round trip?"

Hearing this, Dababa clapped his hands and said, "That's great! Then I'll go to Tai'an after dinner..."

Xu Ning waved his hand and said, "Don't worry. If you go to Tai'an on a black day, they will definitely think that you are here for the musk and will raise the price. Wait until tomorrow afternoon and let Shitou drive you there."

"That's fine... bro, but I can't afford musk."

Xu Ning looked up at him and said with a smile, "It's not that you can't afford it, you want me to buy it. Then run an errand and I'll buy the musk."

"Okay! Brother, I'm not afraid of losing money. I just think that we've made a lot of money these days selling pork and bear meat. You always give us advice, but you don't make a penny. I'm so embarrassed."

"What's there to be embarrassed about? Didn't you help build my house?"

The loud speaker said bluntly: "Isn't this providing three meals a day? Ask others, who wouldn't want to come and help build the house? If you provide three meals a day, how much food rations can be saved at home? Others don't even have the chance to come."

"Isn't this the condition of our family?"

Xu Ning and Da Laba looked at each other and then burst into laughter.

"Go buy some musk meat tomorrow so we can try it."

"Okay, how do you sell musk in pharmacies?"

徐宁皱眉思索道：“现在的价格好像是7、8块钱1克，你就按照底价8块5收，他仨整的香囊能有20克么？”

"I'll ask tomorrow."

The musk sac of a musk deer can produce about 10 grams of scent, and up to 60 grams, depending on the age, personality and environment of the musk deer.

而麝香的价格基本每年都有变化，1950年初是5毛5一克，57年是1块3毛4，到了1985年就涨到了10块钱，现在麝香的价格就是7块多，不到8块钱的样子。

The two walked into the house with their shoulders linked. Everyone in the house had already taken their seats. Old Zhang looked at Xu Ning and said, "Er Ning, come and get something done?"

"You guys drink, Uncle Zhang, I have to go walk the dog later."

Yu Kaihe said with a smile: "Then let's wait until the day of the beam raising before drinking."

"to make."

More than forty people filled up the two rooms. Wang Biao, Huang Lin, Xu Feng, Jiang Qiuer and others all went to Old Wang's house, and these children could just form a table.

Today, Xu Feng has been very well behaved since she got home. She climbed over the wall to Lao Wang's house without making any noise, then took out her homework book and started doing her homework. Xu Ning asked her mother what was wrong with her. Her mother said that her test scores at the end of the month had dropped, from the top five to seventh. So Xu Feng stopped playing and making noises on her own initiative, and was a little depressed.

When asked how Li Jinyu did in the exam, she said that the math questions at the end of the month were quite difficult and her score was lower than before, but her ranking did not drop and she was still in the top three.

After dinner, Xu Ning went to Lao Wang's house to counsel his sister. As soon as he opened his mouth, Xu Feng hugged him and burst into tears. His poor appearance made people feel sorry for him. Xu Ning comforted him and said, "You are very self-conscious. I am very pleased with this. But you should study and not keep things in your heart, otherwise everyone in the family will be worried, understand?"

Xu Feng nodded heavily, and said with tears and snot: "I didn't expect that I can answer that question... I'm so angry!"

"Okay, pack up and come walk the dog with me. We'll continue learning tomorrow."

Wang Biao raised his hand and said, "Second brother, I'm going too!"

"Just go for a walk. What effect will studying like this all day have? You need to balance work and rest."

Jiang Qiuer said, "Second brother, I have to go home to heat the kang, you guys go ahead."

"Your dad has already gone home, let's go for a walk together."

It was now dark. Xu Ning found three flashlights, and he and Li Fuqiang took the dog and the children to the west entrance of the village. When they reached the fork in the road, they ran into Lan Dabing and Li Mazi.

"Hey, walking the dog?"

"Ah, it's been a while since we last took a walk. Did you two go hiking in the mountains?"

"Well, let's prepare some mushrooms and vegetables." said Li Mazi.

Lan Dadan said, "Hey, did you know that there are donkeys in our northern mountain? The three brothers of the Li family in Tai'an have one."

Xu Ning pretended not to know and asked in confusion: "What happened?"

"They used the same method you used to catch the old leopard. They set down six or seven nets in the mountains..." "Then they are quite smart."

Li Mazi laughed and said, "Haha, didn't I learn this from you?"

Xu Ning said: "I also learned it from others. You guys should go home quickly. I still have to walk the dog."

Lan Dabao swallowed back the words that were about to come out of his throat and nodded: "Okay, we'll go first."

"Slow down."

When the two walked more than fifty meters away, Li Fuqiang turned around and asked, "Brother, do you believe that they are going to pick mushrooms and wild vegetables?"

"I don't believe it. Since the three brothers of the Li family are training donkeys in the North Mountain, they must be a group. They may come to our South Mountain."

Li Fuqiang's eyes lit up: "Shall we go into the mountains tomorrow?"

"We can't catch them even if we go into the mountains. Mountain donkeys run so fast. We'd better just build a house."

"Yeah, I just feel itchy inside."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "I feel itchy too, but it's not suitable to go hiking now. There's no vision inside the mountains, and there's only woods all around. It's too difficult to track down the donkey."

……

At around 9 o'clock that evening, Xu Laonian came in exhausted, his face a little pale. Liu Lizhen prepared some food for him and he just ate a few bites.

In fact, he had eaten dinner at the forest farm, but he was counting the bills at the time, so he just ate a few bites. After he got home and completely relaxed, his stomach was empty.

"Oh, don't rush me like this next time. You've made me exhausted!"

Xu Ning sat on the edge of the kang and frowned, asking, "What do your apprentices do for a living? Don't they understand?"

Xu Laonian raised his head and frowned: "How can you talk like that? No matter how bad you are, you are still my disciple, you should call me brother!"

Liu Lizhen rushed over to him, pinched his arm, and said, "Why don't you understand what I'm saying? I'm your son and I care about you, but you're like a dog, biting me as soon as I raise my head."

Xu Laonian's tone softened: "You can't say that. There was a mistake in the account book before. The three of us recalculated it and finally figured it out."

After saying that, he lowered his head and took a few bites of rice. Seeing that Xu Ning didn't say anything, he continued, "Today, your uncle Guo said that the procedures for the Lengchang will be delivered to the forest farm tomorrow. You should go and sign when you have time."

"I know. My brother Bin told me."

"Hu Zhibin? Why did you see him?"

"I had lunch with them at a big restaurant this afternoon. He, Lao Qian, and Brother Liu sent a truckload of gifts to our family."

Liu Lizhen clapped her hands excitedly and said, "Yeah! They gave me a lot. There were five bags of rice and flour each, as well as soybean oil, peanut oil and so on..."

"So many?" Xu Laonian was a little surprised and asked, "Why so many?"

"Why else? They are making money by riding the donkey."

Xu Laonian raised his head and blinked, and asked, "How much do you earn?"

"Fifteen thousand! Pure cash. I earned this much in less than two weeks."

This time Xu Laonian was really shocked. He said, "Oh my god! Earning 15,000 in less than two weeks?... This is fucking robbery. I can't earn this much money even if I am given ten years. This little bastard, why didn't he let our family get involved in this good thing?"

Xu Ning leaned against the wall, put his legs on the edge of the kang and said, "Take a long-term view and stop staring at the flesh in front of your eyes."

Xu Laonian stretched out his chopsticks to pick up the slice of meat on the edge of the plate, paused, turned his head and said, "Who are you being sarcastic with?"

"No, that's what I meant. Why are you taking the blame for it?"

"piss off!"

Liu Lizhen patted him on the back and said, "Can't you speak properly? Why are you so anxious? Hurry up and put it in!"

Xu Ning stood up and walked to the west room: "You two can chat, I'm going back to sleep."

After he left, Xu Laonian lowered his head and whispered, "Zhen, did they really make 15,000?"

"Yes, they gave us something worth three hundred yuan, and they treated my old son to a meal at noon, which cost nearly a hundred yuan. The meal was paid for by Lao Jin, the maintenance master at the agricultural machinery station."

Xu Laonian pouted and said, "This kid is really able to keep his composure. He let others earn 15,000 yuan without even getting jealous."

"Your eyes are red. Look in the mirror and look at your face." Liu Lizhen said unhappily.

Xu Laonian put down his chopsticks and said, "Oh, I am a little anxious. Building a house is almost using up all the money we have saved. What will we do when this little bastard gets married? We still have to give a dowry to Old Meng."

"My old son said he has a solution. Why are you worrying so much?"

"I'm a father, how can I not worry?"

Liu Lizhen took off her shoes, got on the kang and covered herself with the quilt, but didn't continue the conversation: "Take it down quickly after you finish eating, don't leave it on the table, where are you offering it as an offering?"

"Hey, I was thinking of taking a break for a cigarette..."

The next day, Xu Laonian, Wang Erli and others went to the Beitou construction site. Liu Fenfang, Zhang Guifang, Chang Juan and other old ladies gathered at Old Xu's house, each chopping radishes, while vermicelli was soaking in a large aluminum basin on the stove.

The vermicelli made from sweet potatoes and potatoes by the Xu family last year had already been eaten up, and now the vermicelli is bought. Liu Lizhen said that they have to make more vermicelli this year, and they have to prepare some sticky bean curd when winter comes, otherwise they don’t know what to eat for breakfast...

At the construction site, Xu Ning was telling a loudspeaker how to buy musk. Just as he looked up, he saw two people riding a motorcycle towards him. When he got closer, he saw that they were Hu Zhibin and Hu Zhiyong.

"Hey, Bin! Yong! How come you are free today?"

Hu Zhibin turned off the engine and got out of the car, saying with a smile: "Uncle Xu, I have a day off today, so I brought Zhiyong here for a walk."

"Ah, Erning is over there, go find him."

"Okay, Uncle Xu, you guys are busy."

"Since you're here, don't leave at noon, understand?"

"You definitely can't leave. I just came here to eat!" Hu Zhibin said bluntly.

Then, Xu Ning walked towards the two of them and said, "Brother Bin, didn't I tell you to come back at noon? Why are you here so early?"

"Well, I'm just sitting around doing nothing, so I thought I'd come over and help with some work."

"There's no way you can do this, just forget it."

Hu Zhibin said with a smile: "Of course I didn't. I drove a tractor to the mountain to pull stones. Yong, why don't you say anything?"

Hu Zhiyong's left hand was tucked into his pocket. He had a limp in his legs and walked with one leg higher than the other. Some old ladies in Taiping Village nicknamed him the Shorty. His wife Zhao Yuefang was so angry that she blocked the old ladies in the store and scolded them, but no matter how they scolded, the nickname was out, and how could she stop other people from talking about it?

"I'm listening to you." He straightened his face and said with a smile: "Erning, you can arrange any work. I can do anything now. Just treat me as a normal person."

(End of this chapter)