Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 527: Box Cannon Ready to Go and Raise the Hammer

The more diligent families would use the bark of mountains trees to make shoes and weave baskets, and go to the mountains to pick wild cotton, Ula grass, and oak leaves to survive the winter. If they could pick up dead livestock, they would be able to have full meals for a few days.

So how do they survive? Relying on the mountains to avoid starvation, the people of Mangliutun would go into the mountains to pick wild vegetables, especially cow hair, and merchants would come to collect them...

Those who are more diligent can do odd jobs, such as working as a weed weed worker or a weed collector in various weed fields. They can definitely earn enough money to support their families.

Therefore, the residents of Mangliutun are not having a hard time as imagined. They have furniture, clothes to wear, and quilts to cover themselves. A few months ago, Liu Daming and others came to sell wild boar meat. Seeing that wild boar meat was cheap, they were willing to spend money to buy two or three kilograms.

Even though the house looks shabby from the outside, it won't leak when it rains, just a few drops of water at most...

Xu Ning asked Li Fuqiang to park the donkey at the door according to the place he remembered that Lao Deng had told him. The donkey made a buzzing sound, and some children and residents went out to observe. When they saw that it was not someone from their gang, they turned their heads and whispered to each other.

After the donkey came to a stop, Xu Ning got off the donkey and stood at the door, calling out, "Zhao Shengmin, can't Mr. Zhao stay at home?"

The outside of this thatched house is covered with black mud, and you can see pine needles and straw mixed in the mud. The yard is quite clean because there is nothing inside. Farm tools, for example, are all placed inside the house. To put it bluntly, this is because they are afraid that others will steal them.

There was an old man cutting leeks in the garden behind the thatched house. He was startled when he heard the noise, stood up, grabbed a knife for thinning out the seedlings and walked out.

He walked to the front yard and saw four young men frowning but saying nothing, staring straight at Xu Ning who was standing at the door.

Xu Ning smiled and said, "Is this Uncle Zhao Shengmin? I am Xu Ning from Qing'an Village. Old Deng from Taiping Village asked me to come here. I wanted to ask if you are free in the winter to work as a night watchman in our Lengchang."

Zhao Shengmin relaxed his brows when he heard this, opened the gate, raised his hand and said, "Come in."

"Okay..." Xu Ning turned around and said, "Brother, you three wait outside."

Zhao Shengmin glanced at Li Fuqiang and the other two, but did not ask them to go in. He turned around and walked into the house, leading Xu Ning into the east room.

The room was very empty. There was a wooden box at the end of the kang with bedding piled on top. It should be filled with clothes. He picked up the bowl on the kang table, scooped it in the water jar, and placed it in front of Xu Ning.

"Drink of water."

"Hey." Xu Ning glanced at the bowl and saw that it was quite clean, so he didn't dislike it. He took a sip from the bowl and said, "Quench your thirst! Did my uncle Deng tell you about going to Lengchang to be the night watchman?"

Zhao Shengmin shook his head: "No."

He was about 1 meters tall, a little thin, with a highland red face and thick lips.

"Ah, now you know, don't you? How about coming to our Lengchang to be the night watchman? There is a separate hut, and it won't be cold in winter because of the stove. I usually go hunting in the mountains, and I can also catch wild boars and roe deer, etc., and I guarantee that I can eat meat at least twice a week!"

Seeing that he didn't say anything, Xu Ning continued, "The salary is 30 yuan per month. The usual work is to patrol the mountains and watch the field to make sure that wood, machines, tools, etc. are not lost."

Zhao Shengmin looked up at him and said, "Can I have a drink?"

"It's fine to drink, who doesn't drink in winter? But you can't drink too much. The wood and tools in the field are all under your control. If you get drunk and can't walk, what will happen if things are lost, right?"

Zhao Shengmin nodded and asked, "With free food and accommodation and a salary, why would you choose an old man like me for such a good job?"

This question really confused Xu Ning. He smiled and said, "Why did I look for you? There are two reasons. One is that my uncle Deng has spoken, and the other is that you can continue to work in the Lengchang on your own. Besides, the Lengchang where you work as a night watchman has shares owned by my uncle Deng's nephew."

"Ah, then when should I go?"

"I think it will be late autumn. I'll come pick you up then. How about that?"

"Okay..." Zhao Shengmin nodded and continued, "You know how to hunt in the mountains. Did you kill that 700-pound pig a few days ago?"

"Well, this didn't hurt people. We went there and came back the same day."

“Very impressive…”

Zhao Shengmin took the initiative to ask about this matter, which showed that he wanted to talk to Xu Ning, but Xu Ning didn't talk to him too much. He just said, "Then you go ahead and do your work. I'll go back first."

"Eh."

He sent Xu Ning out of the house, then stood at the door and watched the four men ride away on their donkeys. Scratching his hair with a little confusion, he walked into the house, walked to the wooden box, removed the bedding on it, opened the lid, and took out a box gun wrapped in oil paper from inside.

This box gun was a German-made Mauser pistol. He glanced at the three remaining bullets in the oil paper, shook his head, and muttered, "It probably won't be used."

The four men who were riding donkeys backwards on the dirt road were talking about Zhao Shengmin whom they had just seen.

"I see his face is all red, is it because of drinking?" Li Fuqiang said.

"Maybe he's sick. Hey, brother, this old man looks a little dazed."

Wang Hu said: "He just doesn't like to talk much and always has a stern face."

"It's normal. He came from eastern Meng to look for his relatives. His daughter and son-in-law are both gone. It must be difficult for him to be here alone. Uncle Deng was right."

"What are you talking about?"

Xu Ning said: "He was indeed a soldier. I saw that his left hand was covered with calluses. They were not caused by working, but by handling guns."

"Oh my god, he must have been really cruel in the past."

They threw the donkey into the haystack on the south side of Dongshan Mountain, then rushed into the forest with guns in hand and headed straight for No. 28 Corner. It was already past 28 o'clock when they arrived at No. 3 Corner. Xu Ning found No. 2 and No. 3 Corners and took a look around.

We discovered that there were more than ten yellow pineapple trees in the area to be cleared, as well as a number of mature walnut trees, elm trees, lime trees, etc. If all these trees were cut down, they could be made into furniture by simply waiting for them to dry in the shade.

Xu Ning planned the route of the road and the location of the gate of the 28th ridge field. It must be connected to the main road of the th ridge field. Otherwise, the forest farm would definitely not agree, because building the road would cost money...

After wandering around the area for half an hour, the four of them headed home.

When I got home, it was exactly 4:.

Today, Xu Laonian and Wang Erli went to work, Xu Feng and Jin Yumantang went to play with Huang Xiaomei and Jiang Qiuer, and Xu Long went to chat with Zhang Jinbao. Only a group of old ladies were making dumplings in the house.

Xu Ning came into the house carrying some honey and asked, "Is it stuffed with beans?"

"Well, what do you have?"

"I have some honey from my uncle Ma's bees, and a few boxes of beeswax. You can drink some with water."

Liu Lizhen said, "Put it on the cabinet in the west room first, and let your aunt and the others take some home later."

"Oh, I won't take it. I haven't finished the honey Fengxia brought me last time."

Xu Ning put the aluminum lunch box on the stove and said, "Aunt, then you can eat some beeswax. It tastes crunchy when you chew it, but you can't swallow the skin. You have to spit it out."

Liu Lizhen said: "Let's go find some small bowls and mix them together to see how they taste."

Meng Ziyan saw Xu Ning enter the room, put down the honey and was about to leave, and asked, "Where are you going? Don't you want to eat something?"

"We have finished eating in the mountains, you guys eat. I'll go downstairs to clean up..."

They will go to Wanye tomorrow, so they have to prepare their travel items in advance. Xu Ning went to the lower room and looked for tarpaulin. This thing can be used as a tent in the mountains. It can be placed on the ground to prevent moisture and is quite practical.

"Brother, what is this thing?" Li Fuqiang pinched a piece of gauze.

"Gauze, put it on your head to keep out flying insects."

Other things include ladle, cauldron, flashlight, battery, deer antler key for lifting ginseng, copper coin and red rope, rope stick, canteen, water can, backpack, rain boots, raincoat, etc.

After sorting everything out, Li Fuqiang said, "There are so many of these things."

"We also need to get some rice, flour and oil, and put them in the wine flask to prevent moisture."

Guan Lei asked, "Brother, are you going to Wanye to visit my uncle's house?"

"Let's not go yet. What are we going to say when we get to Uncle Wu's house?"

"That's right." "Brother, can you take all the remaining Ma Lei Zi and Shuang Xiang Zi when I get home?"

"Don't take too much. If it gets wet, it will all be wasted."

After placing all these things at the door of the lower house, they went back into the house to clean their guns and counted the remaining bullets. There were 48 single-headed bullets left and 56 29 semi-bullets left.

Xu Ning felt that this amount of 56 bullets was definitely not enough, so he rode his donkey upside down to find Du Shoucai and borrowed the only remaining 56 bullet, and also took 50 bullets.

When he came back, Liu Lizhen said, "Go to your second aunt's backyard and pick some cucumbers and tomatoes. Don't you have to eat them when you go into the mountains?"

"That's fine. Just add some seasoning for me later."

Then, Xu Ning and others went to the back garden of Lao Wang's house to pick vegetables.

Not long after, Xu Laonian and Wang Erli came back. Seeing the things piled up at the door of the lower house, they shouted, "Old man, smash them!"

Xu Ning poked his head out from the low wall next door and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Dad will find a car for you, and your uncle Zhang will bring it over later."

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"My uncle Zhang's car? Did you ask him to find a few more oil drums? Our round trip is more than 1000 miles, and there are mountains over there, so there is no place to refuel."

"Is that necessary? How can your father be bad at doing things?" Xu Laonian said with a grin.

Wang Erli reminded him, "Brother, you need to bring some cigarettes and alcohol. It's so boring in the mountains, isn't it?"

"That's right, we have to take some."

Xu Ning heard this from behind the wall and said, "No alcohol allowed. Bring some cigarettes."

"Fuck, I'm your father, right? Why can't I get cigarettes and alcohol?"

"I am the leader, my words are the imperial decree! If you don't obey, I won't take you with me."

Hearing this, Xu Laonian's eyes widened, and then he immediately ran over and said, "Hey, if you are not allowed to take it, then don't take it. I don't have to drink it. Good or bad, I am your father."

"You have to listen to me, both your biological father and stepfather. Who am I when I leave this door tomorrow?" Xu Ning asked with a smile with narrowed eyes.

"Aren't you my son?"

Xu Ning shook his head: "I am the leader! You have to serve me, otherwise I won't take you with me."

"Fuck! You are threatening me, aren't you?" Xu Laonian said with gritted teeth.

"Do you want to go? It's at least 200 yuan. Do you think you can earn that much money?"

"Struggle! I'm obedient. I'll do whatever you tell me to do. Why don't you keep threatening me by not taking me with you..."

Xu Laonian turned around, put his hands behind his back, glanced at the grinning Wang Erli, and said with his neck stiff, "What are you looking at? Your son is so arrogant and chatting with you, are you happy?"

"Great! If Huzi and Biao were so capable, they could both be fathers."

"Get lost! Your chatter is even more unacceptable."

There was laughter from inside the house, and the old woman making dumplings picked up the laugh.

In the evening, around 7 o'clock, after everyone finished their meal, they went home.

Li Fuqiang was the most anxious. He hadn't seen Yang Shuhua for more than ten days and was sure that he would do something useless.

After they finished, they lay flat on the kang. Yang Shuhua said, "Go out with me, brother. Don't show off your wealth. There are all kinds of things in the mountains..."

"I know. I definitely can't let my brother get hurt, but I have a feeling I can get a lot of good things out of this."

"What good thing is this? Isn't it just a hammer?"

"Yes, from what you said, there are good and bad mallets. The ones as big as the tip of your finger are not valuable, but the ones as big as your index finger are valuable. I estimate that I can make a lot of money this time."

Yang Shuhua turned around and said, "It's been less than a year, and our family has benefited a lot from you, otherwise we wouldn't have gotten the shares this time."

Li Fuqiang sighed and said helplessly: "My brother took me with him, it's obvious that he wants to give me some money. I said no, what about Leizi, my uncle and Huzi? Our family hasn't built a house yet, so the pressure is not that great. But how much pressure will Huzi, Leizi and my uncle have? Tianen and Biao will also get married in two years. Don't look at my second uncle working in the forest farm. He won't have much money after the house is built."

"Besides, we have to work together in the Lengchang later, why didn't you mention the division of shares in the Lengchang? He knows that my family, my second uncle, my uncle and Lei Zi don't have much money. After this trip, we will buy bear gall and other things, so my brother will definitely mention the division of shares in the Lengchang."

Yang Shuhua nodded as if she understood, and said, "So when my brother gets married, should we buy him a washing machine or a TV?"

"Washing machine. I talked to my third uncle about it when we were drinking together a few days ago. He happened to be going back to the provincial capital, so he should be able to buy me a washing machine. I'll give some money as a gift when my brother gets married."

"How much is appropriate?"

Li Fuqiang scratched his head and said, "I was thinking that we should take as much as my second uncle gave us. We can't compare with the Sun family and the Chai family. What they earn in a month is as much as what we earn in a year."

Yang Shuhua nodded: "I think Third Uncle should follow me."

"That's for sure. Third Uncle is looking at us two. He is almost the same as the Sun family and the Chai family."

"..."

At Old Liu's house, Liu Daming and Wu Qiuxia were lying on the cold kang. They certainly couldn't do anything useless, after all, they were a bit old and had limited energy.

"You have to listen to Erning when you enter the mountains, understand?"

"Well, that's for sure. Brother-in-law is not the leader. You didn't see Erning and Qiangzi fighting the big pig king that day. Those guys rushed up and were not afraid of the big pig king at all. I was a little confused at the time."

"If this happened to my brother-in-law, something bad would happen."

Liu Daming nodded with a pursed mouth: "Not bad, I won't get involved if Erning and the others go hunting animals in the future."

"It's better not to get involved. I can earn 60 yuan from this trip. I'm an uncle, how can I share the money with my child? Besides, Erning also took our share when he opened the business, and sent Tianen to learn a craft. You should be content with having such a nephew."

"How can you be so ungrateful? People say that nephews are like dogs who eat and leave immediately. My three nephews are very good to their uncle!"

Liu Daming said with a smile: "I didn't get involved. It was simply because they were hunting the animals too fast and I couldn't keep up. I only fired one shot at the big pig king, but I didn't hit it..."

"Hey, I was chatting with Shuhua today, and she said she wanted to buy Erning a washing machine, or a TV. What should we buy?"

Liu Daming scratched his head and said, "How would I know? We can't even afford a TV. How about buying a sewing machine?"

"Juan'er and Dalong said they would buy a sewing machine for us."

"What to buy then?"

Wu Qiuxia said: "Buy a radio or a rice cooker? Erning doesn't like to eat stewed rice, he likes to eat steamed rice, I think a rice cooker is suitable."

"Then buy a rice cooker. It doesn't seem to cost much, but you have to buy a large one, otherwise there won't be enough food for so many people."

"Okay, I'll let you have a baby in a few days..."

The son was Liu Daming's brother-in-law. He waved his hands and said, "Forget it. What can he accomplish? Tell Guoxing tomorrow."

"Can Guoxing do it?"

"Let him go to the street to find Liu Xuemin from the Agricultural Machinery Station. Then don't tell Er Ning and that'll be the end of it."

"Okay, I'll tell him tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)