Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 516 Xu Laonian: Jane, give me a cannon...

When Liu Lizhen saw these things, she was a little surprised: "Why do you have so many things?"

"Isn't it a holiday tomorrow? My family hasn't cooked much these days, so I thought I could just bring them here and stew them."

"Ah, just in time! I was just wondering what to cook for the festival. Come in quickly."

Liu Lizhen did not quarrel with her mother-in-law. After living together for so many years, they already knew each other's personalities well. If she were to be polite, it would seem awkward.

Li Fengxia took his arm and walked into the house, saying, "Auntie, thanks to you guys for helping my aunt make the quilts, otherwise they would have to work so hard. You said I would have to stay at home to take care of the children and would have no time to come here..."

"It's not a big deal. Besides, marriage is a matter between two people. We shouldn't be so picky."

"Well, my uncle is not at home?"

"It's still at the new house. Didn't they just install the gate this afternoon? After lunch, they went to get sand to pad the ground. They should be back by lunchtime."

Li Fengxia rolled up her sleeves and said, "Is there anything else to do? I'm just sitting around doing nothing..."

Liu Lizhen pushed her and said, "Hey, you don't need to do anything. Just go into the house and eat as soon as you open the pot. Shuhua will cook for you."

Li Fengxia looked at Yang Shuhua standing in front of the stove, and Xu Ning stepped forward to explain: "Sister, this is my brother's eldest brother's family, my sister-in-law!"

"Ah, why haven't I seen you before?" She looked at Sun Lianfang and Guan Hua again.

Xu Ning introduced them with a smile: "This is Hu Zi's girlfriend Guan Hua, and this is my other sworn brother's girlfriend Sun Lianfang..."

After both sides shouted out their names and greeted each other, they went into the east room.

Meng Ziyan held Guan Hua and Sun Lianfang's hands and chatted with Li Fengxia. She talked a lot, and someone with Guan Hua's personality couldn't get a word in, so she could only listen silently.

Sun Lianfang and Li Fengxia were very engaged in their conversation. She was telling the story of how she met Guan Lei. When she talked about how she ran away from home and drove half the night to find Guan Lei, Li Fengxia was startled and Meng Ziyan was laughing beside her...

A moment later, Xu Feng and Jin Yumantang ran in first, followed by Xu Laonian, Yu Kaihe and others. Li Fengxia walked out to greet them, and then saw a figure running over and shouted, "Big sister! I'm Feng'er!"

"Oh my god, Feng'er has grown taller."

"Hahaha, of course! Is my eldest nephew here?"

"Here he is, playing with his grandfather in the room."

Just as Xu Feng was about to enter, a Jeep 212 stopped at the door. Xu Long pushed the door open and got out of the car, greeting everyone in the yard.

Xu Ning went out to greet him and asked, "Why didn't Third Uncle come?"

"His eldest son drove over to pick him up. There were two lamb legs and lamb offal in the back seat, which were distributed by the company. The cigarettes and alcohol were left for Uncle San. I took all the meat back. Who came over?"

"Brother Bao's wife, we have to call her Big Sister."

"I've seen it, how could I not know it? When I went to Uncle Meng's house to pay New Year's greetings, you stood at the door and left, not daring to enter the house..."

"Hey, stop bringing up the past. How many days can you stay at home?"

"I should be able to stay for three or four days this time. After the holidays, my uncle will go directly to the province and won't be back until the 16th."

The two of them carried lamb legs and offal as well as rice, flour, oil and sugar into the yard. Xu Long smiled and said to Li Fengxia, "Sister, what happened to you?"

"I've just been here for a short time. Are you on vacation?"

"Well, isn't this a holiday?"

Xu Feng rushed over quickly, took the bag of mutton offal from Xu Ning, and said, "What the hell is this? Why is it so heavy and bloody?"

"Sheep offal, don't you like drinking mutton soup? Why don't you flatter your big brother?" Xu Ning said with a smile.

Xu Feng turned his head and grinned, "Brother, you are so nice..."

"Come on, you're not sincere at all. Why didn't you take the thing from my hand just now?"

"Look, you're still being picky. My second brother is younger than you, so what if you take more things? Isn't that right, second brother?"

Xu Ning laughed: "Hahaha, just go inside, you are so ruthless."

Xu Long didn't care that Xu Feng favored Xu Ning, because Xu Laonian favored him more, and Liu Lizhen was in the middle and didn't help either side, so there would be no emotional problems at all.

Then, the two brothers worked together to deliver vegetables, lamb legs and other things into the cellar, and took out two bowls of soybean paste from the cellar.

Now we have plenty of pickled vegetables and we can eat all the vegetables from the back garden, but after eating anything for a long time, we get a little tired of it. We want to change the taste, but we don’t know what to eat.

Entering the east room, Li Mantang was setting the table, Guan Hua and Meng Ziyan were wiping the table with rags, Sun Lianfang and others were taking the dishes and chopsticks, and the people in the room were sitting on stools, smoking and chatting.

Ever since Wang Biao and Liu Tianen went to the city, Li Mantang has lost interest. When Biao and Tianen were at home, they could take him out to play, but now that they are gone, he can only play near home. He usually plays skipping rubber rope with little girls like Xu Feng, and he feels a little annoyed. After all, he is a young man. How can he skip rubber rope with little girls all day long?
It has been mentioned before that because of Li Fuqiang's reputation in the village, he and Li Jinyu had few playmates in the village, so they were rather dull. It was only after they met Xu Feng that things got much better. Now Li Mantang is unwilling to play with the kids in the village. He once secretly told Li Fuqiang that all the kids in the village were bad.

Why? Last time, Yang Shuhua made him a new set of clothes. When the children in the village saw it, they threw dirt and mud on his clothes in various ways...

Xu Laonian carried the wine jug and poured wine into the jar, chatting with Zhang Jinbao, Meng Quezi and others about the new house.

There is not much work left now because the main structure has been built, and only some tedious tasks such as plastering, roofing, and laying electrical wires are left.

Zhang Jinbao stamped out his cigarette butt and said, "Use wooden slats to cover the roof. Many people in the city do this!"

Wang Zhongcai nodded: "Yeah, I was just thinking about it. After brushing the wood with oil, it becomes shiny and bright, and it looks particularly bright."

Wang Erli turned around and asked, "Isn't this too much effort?"

Zhang Jinbao said with a smile: "What's the harm in putting in some effort? Besides, we have a cutting machine, it's almost the same as cutting purlins, we just need to grind the edges and corners. Yinhe is learning how to use a plane now, let him use the plane to grind it smooth..."

Meng Yinhe pouted and muttered softly: "It really tortures me."

Meng Quezi glared at him fiercely, but did not say anything to him in front of everyone. He turned around and said, "If we put putty on the wall, do we have to lay wires first? This is a new house, and the wires cannot be exposed outside."

"That's right! Second uncle, the wire that connects us to the village is made of aluminum. I'm thinking of getting copper wire for the house. It's a bit more expensive, but copper wire can be used."

Wang Erli nodded: "Okay, go ahead and do it. Is there a place to buy copper wire?"

Xu Long continued, "Let me go back to the city and look for it. How much rice do we need?"

Yu Kaihe said: "It should be at least 40 meters."

"Then you can buy fifty meters, and the rest of the offline house can be used."

"..."

After dinner, everyone left.

Sun Lianfang and Guan Hua climbed over the wall and moved into the west room of Old Wang's house, while Wang Hu came to live in the west room with Xu Ning and Guan Lei. They had to make room for Xu Long and Wang Shujuan, otherwise they would never be able to have a child.

Xu Long was sitting in the east room and didn't move. Xu Laonian frowned and asked, "Are you going to sleep in this room?" "No, I'm just wondering if I should tell you something."

Liu Lizhen, who was covering herself with the blanket, stopped what she was doing and asked, "What's the matter?"

"This is what happened. My file has been transferred and I've officially joined a city unit, so my uncle is going to give me the whole house. He wants Juan'er to go to the city when the time comes..."

Liu Lizhen resumed her actions after hearing this and said, "Isn't this a good thing? Why shouldn't we say this?"

"If Juan'er goes to the city with me, who will help you cook?"

"Oh, so many people are at home, who wouldn't help? These days, Shuhua is the one who prepares our meals, and I just cook the food. Your second aunt and uncle cut the dishes... It's good for Juan'er to go to the city, she can cook, wash clothes, etc. Otherwise, wouldn't you and your third uncle be at work all the time, or eat out?"

Xu Laonian nodded: "Go ahead, your mother is worried about how to have a grandson. So when are you going?"

Xu Long said: "It has not been decided yet. I have to wait for my uncle to come back to study it. There are not many vacant houses in the unit. I guess we will have to wait in line."

At this time, Xu Ning, who had just finished washing his feet, lifted the door curtain and entered the room, saying, "Why are we queuing? Third Uncle is the second-in-command after all, so everyone should give him some face. It's good for my sister-in-law to go. My brother Bin has been transferred to the education department. I'll ask in a few days if Feng'er and the others can also go to the city to study..."

"What? You want to move Feng'er to the city? I don't agree! What nonsense!" Xu Laonian said angrily when he heard it.

Liu Lizhen rushed over, patted Xu Laonian on the back of his neck, and said, "Why are you shouting? Didn't you hear what my old son said, that you have no idea what's going on?"

The two brothers ignored their parents' affection. Xu Long turned around and said, "Hu Zhibin has indeed transferred to the education department. Did he tell you about it?"

"Well, if he hadn't mentioned it to me, how could I have said anything? He said he wanted to transfer his child to another school, and take Feng'er and Jin Yu Mantang with him. The educational environment in the city is much better than this shabby place, and my sister-in-law can also take care of it if she goes there..."

Xu Long nodded: "Indeed, I was thinking of transferring Feng'er to a city school after she enters junior high school."

"It will be too late then. She will graduate from the sixth grade and will enter the first grade in the second half of the year. Don't talk to Uncle San about this for now. Wait until it's done and Jin Yu Man Tang can go away, then you can talk about it."

"know."

Xu Laonian, who was sitting on the edge of the kang, said angrily, "Look, these two have figured it out and are treating us like decorations!"

Liu Lizhen glared and said, "If you have the ability, why don't you do this for Feng'er?"

"How am I incompetent? I just don't want Feng'er to leave home so early! If she doesn't stay home, what's the point of me? By then, only you and that little jerk will be left at home, and you two will team up to bully me..."

Liu Lizhen stretched out her hand and pinched his tender flesh, saying, "How can you be so shameless as to say such things? Do you have any conscience? How can my son treat you badly? You have no money in your pocket, who gave you pocket money? You have no cigarettes or alcohol, who bought them for you? How can you think of saying such things?"

"Oh, I was wrong, I was wrong..." Xu Laonian twisted his body and grimaced in pain.

At this time, Xu Ning and Xu Long had already gone out and returned to their rooms to sleep.

After turning off the lights, Xu Laonian tossed and turned and couldn't sleep. He suddenly said, "I can't bear to leave my eldest daughter!"

Liu Lizhen turned sideways, propped up her arm with one hand, and clenched her other fist into Xu Laonian's eyes, gritting her teeth and saying, "If you dare to act like a demon, I'll twist your head off!"

Xu Laonian covered his eyes and said with tears in his eyes: "Oh my god, are you really going to hit me? I got hit by this cannon, and my eyes are full of stars..."

"Go to sleep now! If you dare to say another word, I'll blast you with a cannon!"

August 1984, 8, Ghost Festival.

In the early morning, smoke from cooking rises and sparrows chirp.

In the outer room, Meng Ziyan put the leftovers from last night into the pot, then turned and walked to the front of the stove door, squatted down and stuffed a handful of branches into it.

We can’t burn wood indoors in this weather, otherwise the temperature in the room will reach about 35 degrees after two logs are burned.

There was a floor table on the open space next to the kitchen. At this moment, Liu Lizhen, Liu Fenfang, Li Fengxia, Yang Shuhua and others were making dumplings stuffed with mutton and onions.

The mutton was shaved from the mutton leg that Xu Long brought back yesterday and was chopped last night.

Wu Qiuxia was cutting vegetables such as bell peppers and green onions, preparing to make a tiger dish.

In the east room, Xu Laonian sat alone on the edge of the kang, looking out the window with resentment, while Wang Erli tilted his head to look at his blue left eye and laughed unconsciously.

"What are you laughing at?"

"Hahaha..." Wang Erli couldn't help laughing even louder.

Xu Laonian gritted his teeth and said, "You don't have to laugh. Sooner or later, this day will come to you."

"My Jiao'er has never laid hands on me."

"How can we be called a couple without fighting? You make me sick, get out of here!"

Wang Erli was still laughing, and his laughter was like a sharp knife, piercing Xu Laonian's little heart full of holes.

At this time, Xu Ning walked into the outer room with a relaxed pace and went straight to the east room. At first glance, he saw that his father's left eye was blue.

He was a little dazed, then he clapped his hands and said, "Oh my god! Who is it? Who gave my dad a tinea in the eyes? Hahahaha..."

"Fuck, you little bastard, I'll make you laugh!"

Xu Laonian showed a ferocious face, gritted his teeth and ran towards Xu Ning. He quickly retreated to the outer room and quickly hung the curtain on the door. He turned his head to look at Liu Lizhen and others and said, "Look at my dad's eyes..."

A group of old ladies lowered their heads, squinted their eyes, and raised their arms to cover their mouths while laughing. They were just talking about this matter, but Liu Lizhen did not say the specific reason.

"What are you doing, little bastard?"

Wang Erli stood up and pulled Xu Laonian, saying, "Brother, calm down! Why are you so angry so early in the morning? Look at how angry you are, your eyes are swollen... Hey, let's not talk anymore, just sit down."

Pushing Xu Laonian to the edge of the kang, Wang Erli lit a cigarette for him. At this time, Meng Quezi and others came to the door. Xu Laonian said helplessly: "What should I do? Isn't this a joke?"

Xu Ning said with a smile: "Hey, Dad, I have a trick, do you want to hear it?"

"What tricks do you have? Tell me now." Xu Laonian raised his hand and said unhappily.

"Is this your attitude to ask someone to do something for you? Can't you ask me properly?"

In the courtyard, Xu Long just walked out of the east wing and ran into Meng Quezi and others passing cigarettes to them. Xu Laonian patted the edge of the kang and said anxiously: "Hurry up and tell me! Daddy begs you, dear daddy begs you, is that not enough?"

Xu Ning rolled his eyes and said, "If I had this attitude earlier, I would have said it earlier."

"Then hurry up and tell me!"

"Just tell me that my mom had a dream last night that she was fighting with someone, and then she shot you a cannon..."

Wang Erli clapped his hands and cheered: "That's right! Big brother, this trick will definitely work!"

Xu Laonian nodded: "Yeah..."

(End of this chapter)