Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 496 The Three Brothers of the Li Family Buy Musk

After two and a half months of recuperation, Hu Zhiyong's mental state was not bad. Xu Ning looked at his cloudy eyes and said with a smile: "You are a normal person. So, how about this? You go to the back mountain and get those big bluestones from the mountainside..."

Hu Zhiyong was stunned when he heard this, then laughed heartily: "Hahaha, get out of here, I can't do it by myself."

Li Fuqiang rushed over after hearing the news, nodded to Hu Zhibin, and said, "Let's go and fix it together."

Hu Zhibin said with a smile: "Okay! Can't you see that we are both wearing work clothes? We are here to work."

Xu Ning raised his hand and glanced at his watch. It was only a little after 8 o'clock. He called Wang Hu and Guan Lei over and called them "brother". Dababa put down his work and came over. "What's up, brother?"

Xu Ning first said to Li Fuqiang: "Brother, you and Huzi go drive the four-wheeler and find some ropes and crowbars. Brother Bin, you all go ahead. I want to talk to my brother."

Hu Zhibin and Hu Zhiyong followed Li Fuqiang and Wang Hu to the four-wheeled vehicle and started it by cranking the handlebars.

Then, Xu Ning waved Guan Lei and Da Laba to come closer. He took out three hundred yuan from his pocket and said, "Take this money first and go to Tai'an to buy musk meat from the three brothers of the Li family. The remaining money should be enough to buy musk. Let Shitou drive you there. Go quickly and come back quickly. When you come back, give the meat and musk to my mother and tell her that the Hu Zhibin brothers are here."

Da Laba took the money and put it in his pocket, saying, "Okay, we'll go to Tai'an right now, but I'm afraid the three brothers of the Li family haven't found their home yet."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "It must be at home. Don't worry, you won't miss it."

The three brothers of the Li family would definitely not wander around at this time. One of them would definitely stay at home because the news of the three of them hunting mountain donkeys had spread out. As for how many families in the surrounding villages could afford musk meat, apart from the Hu, Du and Xu families, there were only the Tang, Deng, Xue and others.

So they have to wait at home for people to come, otherwise how can they sell the musk meat?

The three hundred yuan that Xu Ning gave to Da Laba was the money that Liu Lizhen gave to Xu Ning to buy things the day before. Originally, Xu Ning wanted to give the money to his mother, but Da Laba told him about the mountain donkey, so he kept the money, and it came in handy today.

Guan Lei took the car keys and listened to Xu Ning's instructions, saying, "You don't have to chat with them when you get there. Just listen to what I say. If they ask you who you are, just say you're my brother's relative, okay?"

Guan Lei nodded and said, "I know. I won't say anything when I get there."

The loud speaker smiled and said, "I understand what you mean. Don't worry, brother."

If the three brothers of the Li family knew that Guan Lei was Xu Ning's sworn brother, they would certainly think that Xu Ning wanted to buy the musk and musk meat. Then could the price still be negotiated?
Xu Ning does have face in the Wangxing Chai family, the Sandaohe Sun family, and the Taiping Hu family, but does the Taian Li family know him? Yes, but it is impossible for them to give him face.

Why? Because it is a matter of interest. Rich families may not care about the difference of 20 or 30 yuan, but poorer families will pay much attention to the difference of 10 cents or 20 cents!

Therefore, Xu Ning's face is of no use in the Li family. Only money can make the three brothers of the Li family happy.

As Guan Lei and Da Laba got into the car and left, Xu Ning also quickly walked to the four-wheeler. Hu Zhibin reached out and pulled him into the truck, and Li Fuqiang drove the tractor towards the mountain.

Listening to the tractor's thumping sound, Xu Ning shouted at the top of his voice: "Brother Bin, have you done this job before?"

Hu Zhibin grinned and waved his hands: "Oh, what kind of work haven't I done? When I was five or six years old, I followed my mother to farm. When I was eight or nine years old, I swung an axe to chop wood. When I was in my teens, I followed my father and others to build houses... It was only in the past two years that I worked as a clerk in the county court. I didn't do much hard work, and my body is not as strong as before, but I also ran errands in the county court..."

"Then you have quite a lot of experience."

"It has to be rich. My grandfather passed away a while ago, so Yong lives in my house. I have two younger brothers and sisters. I have to take care of the three of them and help my mother with work. Otherwise, I would not be able to handle it."

"..."

There are four or five large bluestones standing on the mountain behind the new house. Master Li, who made the iron gate, once reminded Xu Ning that these large bluestones looked like monuments when they were standing on the mountain behind. It would be better to knock them down and use them as decorations in the courtyard. It would be best if they were facing the gate to ward off evil spirits, thus having the best of two worlds.

For something as mysterious as this, it is better to believe it than not, so Xu Ning had long thought about bringing these large bluestones down the mountain. Unfortunately, everyone was busy laying bricks and no one had time to do this little job.

Li Fuqiang parked the tractor in reverse at the side of the mountain, with the bed facing the large bluestone. Then Xu Ning and Hu Zhiyong took the rope, and Li Fuqiang, Hu Zhibin, and Wang Hu carried the crowbars and walked more than 30 meters up the mountain.

Standing on the slope and looking down, Hu Zhibin said, "The four wheels are parked too straight. If we pry the rocks down, they might hit the four wheels."

"Then I'll go down the mountain and drive to the side..." After saying that, Wang Hu rushed down the mountain.

Xu Ning said with a smile: "My brother Bin has done the work before, and he can tell what the problem is at a glance."

"Then what else is there to say..."

Afterwards, the five of them chatted while working, and finally, sweating profusely, they loaded several large bluestones into the truck bed and unloaded them into a corner of the courtyard of Old Xu's new house that would not get in the way.

Tai'antun is located to the west of Qing'antun, with the railway, main road and Ant River to its north and a mountain to its south. Taihetun is located on the slope behind the mountain. Mountain runners from these two villages basically do not like to come to Ximaduozi, Shuangfengling, Dongbeicha and other places in Nanshan because the distance is too far.

Even though they were next to the mountains, they could not hunt. There were many traps in the South Mountain behind Tai'antun, just like the East Mountain of Qing'antun. Therefore, the mountain runners from these two villages and Yonghetun liked to go to the mountains in the north, where the mountains were shorter, closer to rivers and reservoirs, and there were more livestock.

Guided by the loudspeaker, Guan Lei drove into Tai'an Village, where there were more people than Qing'an Village. As soon as he entered the village, Guan Lei saw a newly built family with four red brick houses.

"Whose house is this? Look at them standing at attention."

"The Yan family and the Yan family of Qingantun are uncles and cousins..."

"His family is quite rich."

Dababa curled his lips and said, "What kind of money does he have? You think the house is new? But there is nothing in it. The money for building the house was borrowed from relatives. Even the money for the kang is gone. Now his three boys are working as lumberjacks in the 57th yard, and Old Yan seems to be working at the train station..."

Guan Lei was stunned when he heard this: "What is this for?"

"To fill his stomach. I'm not saying anything bad, but Old Yan is such a good pretentious person. He has no money but still pretends to be poor. Why did he build this house? It's because the previous house leaked and people said his family was poor and arrogant... Hey, at the beginning I came to help him build the house for two days, but he didn't even provide a meal. I was hungry for a day and I stopped talking to him."

"Then we can't argue with him. His house also has 72 walls?"

"Do you think everyone looks like my brother? His house is 36... Hey, the fourth house on the left is Lao Li's house."

Guan Lei stopped talking, turned the steering wheel, and stopped in front of the gate of Old Li's house.

The two men pushed the door open and got out of the car. A loud speaker stood at the door and shouted, "Can't Li Er stay at home?"

"Who is it? Hey! Big brother!"

In the east room, there was an old man leaning against the head of the kang, with a crooked mouth and slanted eyes. There were three people sitting or lying on the edge and end of the kang. When they heard the roar of the car, they stood up and looked out the window at the same time.

Hearing someone shouting, Li Er, who was near the door, rushed out of the house first. When he saw the loud speaker, he smiled and said, "Come in quickly! This is..."

"Ah, my relatives, where are you three brothers at home?"

"Well, I have nothing to do, so I'll just stay at home and rest for two days."

Li Lao Da and Li Lao San stood under the eaves and greeted him with a smile, "Brother, it's been a while since you came."

"Hey, aren't you helping my brother build a house? It just so happens that my brother is here today, so I have time to come over."

"Brother, let's go to the west room. My dad is discussing something in the east room." "Oh, okay..."

What does Li's father do? Don't be fooled by his crooked mouth and slanted eyes, as if he had suffered a stroke. In fact, he was brought up by his mother since he was a child. Later, he loved to dream. In his dreams, he learned some skills from Uncle Huang Er, which changed the family's conditions. But there was a time when they were so poor that they could not even afford to eat. His wife was a mute, and she passed away in order to leave her things to the four of them.

Li Lao Da was married, but his wife died unexpectedly less than three months after she got married. What was the accident? It was winter and the ground was icy. His wife went to the toilet in the middle of the night and slipped. Her head hit the ground and her whole body was stiff. No one knew about it, so when she was found the next day, she was already hard.

Since then, there have been rumors in Tai'an Village that it is difficult to enter Old Li's house. If a young girl wants to enter his house, she must get Mr. Huang's approval...

Therefore, no one has found a matchmaker to find wives for the three brothers of the Li family.

As soon as he entered the house, Li Laosan poured two teacups of hot water. Da Laba glanced at the dirty teacups without touching them, and asked bluntly: "I heard that you three brothers are raising a donkey on the northern mountain?"

The three brothers of the Li family looked at each other, and the eldest brother Li laughed and said, "Yeah, it's also our three good ideas. We just put down the net and caught one in less than three days."

Li Laosan said: "The main thing is that it is a male and has two fangs."

"How many pounds?"

Li Er said: "I weighed it at home, and the skin and meat are less than 20 kilograms. How much is it exactly..."

Boss Li remembered it clearly: "18 jin 6 liang."

"You know what I'm doing now. I want to buy your musk deer meat. I wonder if you three brothers are willing to sell it."

Li Er smiled and said, "Of course we have to sell it. How can we eat it ourselves if we don't sell it?"

At this time, Guan Lei took out a Yingchun cigarette from his pocket and handed it to the three people, but Li Er didn't smoke, so only the eldest and the third brother took it. The two of them glanced at the cigarette box in Guan Lei's hand, took out matches from their pockets and lit it.

Boss Li said, "Brother, to be honest with you, Old Xue came over yesterday and bought three pounds of meat, so now there are only a little over 15 pounds left."

"How are they selling?" asked Dababa with a smile.

"2 yuan..."

Hearing this, Daba shook his head and said, "You three brothers are not sincere in selling. I buy the meat first and then sell it. Don't you leave me some profit margin? If you do business like this, how can you keep the main customers?"

"Brother, you see, we three don't look like we're cut out for business..."

Li Er interrupted Lao San and said, "Brother, do you want to take away all the remaining meat?"

The loud speaker smiled and said, "If you can give me a suitable price, I will accept both the meat and the incense."

"Can you collect incense?"

"I take it! That's what I do. I didn't take the roe deer you three trapped a few months ago? Did I underprice you? I do business based on my conscience. I can't let others call me Huang Guoxing a dog basket, right?"

The three brothers of the Li family laughed along, and Li Er said, "Yes! Big brother, how much do you want?"

"You think meat is still delicious?"

Li Laosan said, "Just talk about it. If the price is right, it doesn't matter who you sell it to."

“肉，我最多能给1块2，你们给老薛头肯定不能按照2块钱卖的，我估摸应该是1块到1块5之间。”

Li Laosan was surprised and said, "Oh my god, how did you know that?"

Hearing this, Li Lao Da and Li Er's faces darkened and they raised their hands to hit Li Lao San with a stick.

"Haha, don't say the third brother is stupid, he is the smartest one. Think about how much I sell roe deer and venison for. Mountain donkeys are hard to eat, but their meat is about the same as roe deer. I can give 1 yuan for them, which is pretty good."

Boss Li said unwillingly, "Can't you give me a little more?"

"If I can't give it to you, you have to let me earn some."

Li Er asked: "How do you collect the incense?"

"How much money will the street supply and marketing cooperative and drugstore give?"

Boss Li said truthfully: "I went to the pharmacy yesterday and asked, and they gave 37 yuan for one penny."

1钱等于5克，37除以5等于7块2，1克7块2毛钱不算贵，因为药店也得要利润。

The loud speaker frowned and asked, "How much is the sachet?"

"Almost 3 cents, estimated to be 2 cents..."

The loud speaker counted with his fingers, "According to three cents, the total is 111 yuan. Do you three want to divide it equally?"

"Yes, we three brothers will share it equally."

"111 yuan, 37 yuan each for the three of you, how about it, will you sell it?"

Li Laoda laughed and said, "Brother, please give me more. I heard that the prices of medicinal materials are rising. The three of us are mainly looking for a wife."

"I'll give you three hundred yuan, do you dare to take it? I'm not complaining, the main thing is that you said the price of medicinal materials is rising, what if the price drops? I won't sell it to anyone, you guys should think about it yourself."

Boss Li turned around and glanced at his two brothers, then said with a smile, "Brother, give me a little more! I'll give you the meat and the incense, how much do you want in total?"

The loudspeaker glanced at the three people, but he never looked at Guan Lei from beginning to end, and the three Li brothers also ignored him.

"Let's say there are 16 pounds of meat, and at 1 yuan per pound, that's 2 yuan. The incense is 19 yuan, so the total is 2 yuan. I'll give you 111 yuan, so the three of you can split it equally, and each of you will get 130 yuan. How do you think? If that's not enough, I'll get up and leave."

The three brothers looked at each other, and finally Li Er nodded: "Okay! No problem, big brother, it's very comfortable to do business with you, and the price is fair! Then I'll sell it to our big brother for 132 yuan."

Li Laosan said with a smile: "Big brother is really particular! We have to be quick with him to do things. Old Xue has so much money at home but he is still haggling and bargaining over even two cents."

Boss Li turned around and said, "Brother, why are you talking about this? Go to the cellar and get the donkey...Brother, I don't have a scale at home. I borrowed it from Old Xue."

"It's okay, I brought a scale with me."

Upon hearing this, Guan Lei went out, got into the car, took down the scale bar with the weight, and grabbed an arc-shaped wooden box on the passenger seat. The object in the box was called a scale, most people call it a scale, it is a small scale used in pharmacies and gold and silver shops, which can weigh out two cents and a few cents.

(End of this chapter)