Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

Chapter 171 Wild Boar's Worry

Yu Qiutang saw that his sister was carrying a large bulging bag on her back. He didn’t know what was in it, but it was very heavy and made her waist slightly bent.

"Second sister, why are you here in Qingquan for the market? How did you get here? Where is my brother-in-law? Didn't he send you here?"

Yu Qiutang had a lot of questions to ask.

Mainly because it's too weird.

If he remembered correctly, it was about 160 to 170 miles from his sister's house to Qingquan, and even if he rode a bicycle, it would take more than a day.

A long stretch of road was mountainous, so it was impossible to ride the bike and I had to push it.

If you don't ride a bike and just walk, it will probably take several days to get here.

"Oh, your brother-in-law has something to do here, so I followed the tractor from the village. I thought I hadn't been back to see my father for a long time, so I went back to see him.

How are you... Hey, I noticed that you seem to have gained weight?"

Yu Chuntao didn't know that the Yu Qiutang in front of her was no longer her introverted brother.

In her consciousness, she hadn't seen her brother for a year, and she tried hard to overlap the spirited young man in front of her with the boy in her memory.

But she soon discovered that there was a huge difference between the two people.

She had an illusion that the young man in front of her just looked very similar to Yu Qiutang, but was not her real brother.

"Maybe I gained some weight. We haven't seen each other for over a year. Isn't it normal to gain some weight? Here, give me something. What's so heavy?"

When Yu Qiutang heard Yu Chuntao say that she wanted to go home to visit, he was naturally very happy and took off his sister's backpack.

This one was even heavier than I had imagined, at least 40 to 50 kilograms. It was only because my sister had been doing farm work since she was young that she had developed a lot of strength, otherwise she really couldn't have lifted it.

Yu Chuntao was also slightly surprised when she saw Yu Qiutang casually carrying the bag. "Hey, Tangtang, why are you so strong?"

She remembered that Yu Qiutang had very little strength before. Not to mention that he was powerless, he was definitely not very good at doing work.

Because of this, she was often scolded by her father. If it weren't for her sisters protecting her, she might have been beaten even more.

Yu Qiutang smiled.

Yu Chuntao saw that Yu Qiutang's clothes were pulled up at an angle because of the backpack, so she carefully helped her brother to pull them up and patted his shoulders and stomach.

"You need to stand up straight. A man should not hunch his back. You are already tall. If you hunch your back, how will you find a wife in the future?"

Yu Qiutang hadn't received such care for a long time and felt indescribably happy. He immediately straightened his body, as straight as a poplar tree.

"Sister, if you want to buy anything else, I'll go shopping with you, and then we'll go home together."

"It's almost done. I mainly need to buy some notebooks and pens for school. It's inconvenient to do anything where I am now.

It’s not like here, even though the conditions are not that good, at least we can go to the street to buy things. Alas, it’s hard for children in the mountains.”

Yu Qiutang was a little confused when he heard this. He didn't understand what his sister meant. It was only later that he realized that she was talking about the small, shabby school where his brother-in-law taught.

My second brother-in-law is named Yang Dawei, and he is a hired teacher in the community.

What does it mean for a society to hire a teacher?
They are teachers with a little bit of education who are invited to teach children temporarily. They are not on the payroll and only earn 20 or 30 yuan a month. It is a special period and a special profession.

After the education reform, some teachers were hired as regular teachers, while others were directly eliminated because of their low level.

Yu Qiutang remembers that his second brother-in-law is now teaching in a three-year primary school. He is very skilled and is well-liked by parents and classmates. Later, he was promoted to a full-time primary school teacher and seems to be doing very well.

He is not very clear about how many years he has been teaching.

To be honest, he and his second sister had a good relationship when they were at home, but since she got married and moved there, they have had less contact and some things have become unfamiliar.

As they got older, they might not see each other for a year or two. Both of their mothers had passed away, and after their father also passed away, there was no meaning or reason for the second sister to come back.

As for keeping in touch, it is indeed difficult in that era without things like mobile phones. Gradually, if we don't visit each other or keep in touch, the relationship will fade.

The second sister doesn't know what's going on on his side, and he isn't particularly clear about her side either.

If this kind of thing happened in later generations, it might be hard to understand. How could this happen between siblings?
But it is very normal in this era.

Many brothers and sisters are simply far away from each other and may not see each other for decades, and even later on they no longer have the kind of blood-thicker-than-water relationship.

Teachers in a three-year program often have to take on many functions, not just teaching. Thinking about it this way, my second sister should be helping her and her husband buy things, which is really responsible.

However, this also shows that my second sister and her husband have a good relationship and they live a good life.

In this way, Yu Qiutang felt relieved.

There are many brothers and sisters in the family and many things to do, so it is difficult to consider everyone.

It is often only when something happens suddenly that we think about solving the problem together. Under normal circumstances, everyone lives their own life and it is difficult for everyone to keep each other in mind.

That would be too tiring and I wouldn't be able to worry about it.

Especially after everyone has started a family, they all have their own troubles. As long as they know that each other is doing well, they will generally feel at ease.

"Then you all come over here, where's Yangyang?"

Yu Chuntao was stunned, "Yangyang?"

"Yes, don't you feel bad for leaving your child at home?"

Yu Chuntao still looked confused, "Who is Yangyang you are talking about?"

"It's not you...ah!"

Yu Qiutang then realized that his second sister and brother-in-law had not yet given birth to their son Yangyang, and he felt very embarrassed.

He scratched his head and smiled awkwardly: "I was wrong, I was wrong."

Yu Chuntao didn't take it to heart and said with a smile: "He's crazy. He still hasn't changed his bad habits."

"Then Second Sister, should we wait for Second Brother-in-law or..."

"No need to wait for him. He will go back by himself after he finishes his work. I will stay here for two or three days."

"Is that so? That's great. I'll take you there when the time comes."

"Row."

Yu Chuntao patted Yu Qiutang on the back again.

She was very happy to see that her younger brother seemed to have become more sensible, considerate and caring about others than before.

After leaving this family, she knew all kinds of things in the family. She originally thought that this brother had been honest and introverted since childhood. He would suffer more in the future.

Seeing that he looked so refreshed, I was truly happy.

"By the way, sister, you said my brother-in-law is here to do something. What is he doing?"

Since Yu Chuntao didn't have anything to buy, Yu Qiutang planned to take her for a motorcycle ride, so that his sister could also ride a motorcycle and have some fun.

Yu Qiutang's three sisters have different personalities.

The eldest sister is a typical good wife and mother. In Yu Qiutang's opinion, she is like a mother. She is very virtuous and considerate, and knows how to take care of people.

But it's a bit nagging and long-winded.

There are not too many people or too many things in my eldest sister’s world. She puts all her energy on her family and silently gives everything for them.

The second sister, Yu Chuntao, is relatively more cheerful and responsible.

She and her second brother-in-law were introduced to each other for a blind date. Her father Yu Dejin did not agree at first, but she heard that her second brother-in-law was a teacher and taught many students.

She became interested, even if it meant marrying into a place deep in the mountains.

Because of this incident, my father was actually very conflicted and was not very happy about receiving a decent betrothal gift.

She often complains and nags, saying that it was her own fault for wanting to go to the mountains. I didn't agree at the time. It makes her act as if I was only interested in the betrothal gifts, but I don't lack that little money.

"It's all because of those pig eggs."

When Yu Chuntao mentioned what her brother-in-law came to do, she became obviously emotional and seemed quite indignant.

"Zhu lanzi" is the local dialect here, and actually refers to wild boar.

But sometimes, people also call sows with bad tempers this way.

Judging from the tone of my second sister’s voice, it’s definitely not a sow.

"What's the matter?"

Yu Chuntao shook her head. "I won't say it anymore. It's annoying to talk about it."

Yu Qiutang insisted that she speak, so she had no choice but to give a brief account.

It turned out that the school where my second brother-in-law taught was located in a remote area, halfway up a mountain. The students were all from the surrounding mountains and generally lived far away from the school.

For the ones that live the farthest away, it takes several hours to walk over the mountains and hills, so the children basically don’t go home for lunch.

But they can't starve, and eating steamed buns all the time is not good for their health.

So, my second brother-in-law and many parents opened a piece of mountain land behind the school and planted some radishes, potatoes, corn and other crops. This helped improve the children's meals at noon every day so that at least they could have some vegetables.

Unexpectedly, although everything was fine in the past, this year a few wild boars suddenly came down from somewhere and have been harassing us from autumn to winter.

It was okay in the fall because there was food to eat and they would eat and run away. But it wasn’t the case in the winter. They almost hurt the children several times.

For this reason, many parents are worried and do not allow their children to go to school. The Education Bureau has also issued a notice that if this is not possible, teaching will be temporarily suspended and learning will resume after the wild boars leave.

This made my second brother-in-law very anxious.

It is a critical time for children to go to school, so how can we delay? If we don’t catch up quickly, a group of third grade students will not be able to go to the fourth grade in other places.

This will delay the children's time!

As a responsible teacher, he couldn't and would not allow this to happen.

After asking around, I heard that there was a very good hunter here who was very good at hunting wild boars, so I came here specifically to ask for help.

It turned out to be the case.

Yu Qiutang suddenly realized.

It's not surprising that they come here for help. They are close to the Qinling Mountains, and there are more hunters with guns and more solid skills.

Unlike my second brother-in-law's place, it is called a mountain, but in fact it is a valley. There should not be wild animals like wild boars there on a normal day.

The ones they were talking about must have escaped from other places and were unable to return to their original places for a while, so they were causing trouble everywhere.

"Hey, don't we go that way home? Why are you going this way? Do you want to buy anything else?"

Yu Chuntao saw that Yu Qiutang was going in the wrong direction.

Yu Qiutang smiled and said, "You'll know in a minute. I'll give you a surprise!"

"What's the surprise? It's so mysterious."

"No hurry, no hurry."

Yu Qiutang still wanted to keep it a secret, so he didn't say anything and walked towards West Street with his sister.

When they arrived outside the alley, he asked Yu Chuntao to wait, put the things outside, and went in alone to ride his bike.

It was obvious that the place where Wu Meifen lived was not an ordinary place, and he couldn't just take his sister there without other people's permission.

This rule cannot be broken.

Wu Meifen treats her well because she loves her family.

I may not be that enthusiastic about other people.

After all, one can easily figure out that Wu Meifen has been able to build such a big business, so she is not just a simple woman on the surface.

Yu Qiutang knew that people must maintain a sense of propriety at all times.

Don't think that just because others are nice to you, you can do whatever you want without restraint.

Unexpectedly, when he went in, he saw Wu Meifen rushing in and out. It turned out that his brother-in-law had suddenly fallen ill.

He rarely saw Wu Meifen so panicked. Even the last time some gangsters came into her store, she was very brave.

But today he seemed very helpless, running in and out as if the sky was about to fall.

Seeing Yu Qiutang coming, she didn't care and threw the key to him directly, "I've filled the gas for you, the bike is fine, you can ride it away. Be careful on the road when you first start riding."

Having said that, he went back to taking care of his children.

Only then did Yu Qiutang notice that besides her and the child, there was an elderly lady in the house, who was at least eighty or ninety years old, with yellow hair.

While she was busy, the old lady stood under the eaves with her cane, mumbling something.

Yu Qiutang sighed softly and rode away on his bike.

He also didn't want to know too much about others, especially about their vulnerable appearance.

The power of Honda 125 is quite fierce.

Yu Qiutang hadn't ridden a bike for a long time. Although he was very careful, he was still startled by the sudden speed. He braked sharply several times before he could barely adapt to the "urgent" push of the bike.

This old car is still awesome!
The rumbling sound of the engine awakened his dormant passion for many years. He couldn't help but rush out and become a young man as fast as the wind.

"Squeak!"

The car kicked up a cloud of dust and stopped in front of Yu Chuntao.

Yu Chuntao was so scared that she shivered.

When Yu Qiutang took off his helmet and revealed a smirk on his face, Yu Chuntao was stunned for a moment. She looked at the car and then at Yu Qiutang, and could not believe her eyes for a moment.

"What's the matter? You suddenly don't recognize your brother?"

"what!!"

Yu Chuntao hit him lightly on the shoulder, "You... whose motorcycle are you riding? How do you know how to ride a bike?"

"It's a long story. I'll tell you when we get back. Shall we go home first?"

Yu Chuntao took a long time to recover from her shock. She almost mechanically watched Yu Qiutang tie the things to the car and then pull her to sit in the car.

"Hold on to me, second sister, I don't want you to fly out."

Yu Qiutang was just joking.

Yu Chuntao hurriedly pulled in Yu Qiutang's clothes. She had never ridden a motorcycle before, but when she saw other people riding them at such a fast speed and rushing past them all of a sudden, she felt it was very dangerous.

"boom!"

On the wide road, Yu Qiutang was no longer reserved. He stepped on the accelerator lightly, and the car roared and rushed several meters in an instant.

(End of this chapter)