Back to 1984: Hunting in the Mountains

Chapter 70: Grandma, a mess

The three of them returned to the village entrance. Yu Qiutang put the steel fork at Yu Qiujiang's place, and said goodbye to Wang Haofeng at the intersection and went home.

On the way back, the strong smell of blood on his body attracted the guard dogs along the way to bark non-stop, but the dogs at that time were all tied up, and they could not run around like in later generations.

The worry is not about dogs biting people, but about people eating dogs.

When people are poor, they will think about whether they can eat anything they see, except other people. This habit gradually becomes a sense of hunger imprinted deep in their souls.

As a result, people in later generations no longer worry about not having enough food to eat, nor do they consider eating meat difficult. However, when people see various species they have never seen before, they will wonder "What does it taste like?"

It is called food culture, but in fact the formation of all food cultures is often full of helplessness. How many of them are really spread because of the desire to eat better?

Because of the barking dogs, the neighbors naturally came out to check. When they saw Yu Qiutang covered in blood, they were surprised and frightened at first, wondering what the bloody thing in his bag was.

After finding out that it was wild boar meat, they were all envious. Although wild boar meat is relatively hard and tastes slightly fishy, ​​it is still meat.

Many people cannot even feel full with just white steamed buns, let alone meat. They are so greedy that they start drooling just by hearing the word meat.

"I didn't expect you to have this ability, Tangtang."

"That's right. Look at how big this pig is. It must weigh more than 100 kilograms, right?"

"More than that, at least two hundred."

"How long will it take to finish this? It's really amazing. Those brats in my family were asked to go to the mountains to chop firewood, but they were chased by a badger and one of their shoes ran away. What a loser."

Yu Qiutang has good hearing and can hear even the most subtle conversations clearly.

Although it is close to the mountains, there are not many hunters nearby. There are only two or three at most in each village, and some villages even have none.

Hunter is not a romantic job. If you just want to hunt pheasants and rabbits in the periphery, there will generally be no big problems. But once you go deep into the mountains and forests, targeting jackals, tigers, leopards, bears and blind men, the situation will be unpredictable.

It's no different than going out to war.

His head is also tied to his belt. If he is not careful, he will go out upright and come back sideways.

The main reason is that hunters not only need to practice hard, but also need to have talent and physical strength.

Some people are born with good endurance, can run fast and have great strength. So even if they don't use guns, they will have room for maneuver at critical moments as long as they don't encounter bears or a pack of jackals.

On the contrary, a person with a weak body will find it difficult to become a hunter even if you give him a gun.

Many times, when facing a ferocious prey, you actually only have one chance to shoot it. The prey will not stand still and let you shoot it. If you encounter a ferocious beast, you may not be able to kill it with one shot.

As long as they don't die, you're in danger.

If you don’t stay calm and prepared for the next stage of hunting, you might become a snack for the wild beast.

"Hey, Qiutang, do you want to sell this wild boar meat? I want to get some for the kids to taste."

Yu Qiutang stopped walking, turned around and said to the neighbor who asked the question with a smile: "Auntie, if you want it, fine, I'll sell you some, and you can come to our house later."

"Then...how much per pound do you want to pay me?"

Yu Qiutang smiled and said, "I can still ask you for more. How about this? I can't lose money, so I'll just charge one yuan per pound. The pork raised at home is more than two yuan per pound. Isn't my price fair?"

The neighbor thought about it, followed Yu Qiutang and walked towards Yu's house. "Not expensive, not expensive. It's very cheap. I'll buy three pounds."

"At this price, I want two kilograms."

"I want five pounds. Give me something a little fatter. My family likes fatter ones."

"I……"

Yu Qiutang was walking in front, and more and more people were following him. At first they were just watching the fun, but when they heard that a pound of wild boar meat only cost one dollar, they saw others buying it and wanted to try the taste themselves.

As he was walking, Yu Qiutang saw a familiar figure. Just as he was about to say hello, the other person also saw him, waved hurriedly and ran over.

"Tangtang, you are..."

The man who came was a young man a few years older than Yu Qiutang. His name was Yu Qiushan. He was also Yu Qiutang's cousin, but he was the son of Yu Qiutang's second uncle.

Yu Qiutang's father, Yu Dejin, had five brothers, namely, gold, wood, water, fire and earth, and two sisters. Yu Dejin was the eldest, and there were originally four more brothers under him.

The youngest brother, Yu Detu, died young, leaving four brothers behind.

The second brother is called Yu Demu. He is the most successful among the five brothers. Now he is doing business in the city, dealing in all kinds of things. He can be said to have seized the first wave of opportunities after the environment was liberalized.

Later on, he built a very big business.

Yu Demu and his wife are both very nice people, and their children are also very good. Although they have lived in the city for a long time, as soon as they return home, they will bring a lot of delicious food for everyone and toys for the children.

Cousins ​​Yu Qiutang and Yu Qiushan have a fairly close relationship.

"I went to the mountains with Brother Jiang to catch a wild boar," Yu Qiutang shook the wild boar bag on his back, "Brother Shan, why are you back?"

Yu Qiushan patted Yu Qiutang's wild boar bag and said with a smile: "I didn't expect you to have this ability. By the way, how is Brother Jiang? I haven't seen him for a while."

Yu Qiutang was about to answer, but when he thought of the many people following him, he didn't rush to say, "Brother Shan, let's go back to our house together?"

"Let's talk about it later. I have to go to my third uncle's house first. I'll come to see you after I'm done. By the way, I'll go talk to Brother Jiang." Yu Qiushan immediately understood what Yu Qiutang meant and took the opportunity to change the subject.

"That's great. You go ahead and do your work." Yu Qiutang did not insist. He understood Yu Qiushan's thoughts. If he was not involved, Yu Qiujiang would probably not be willing to chat with Yu Qiushan.

Yu Qiujiang harbored hatred towards most of the family, even though it had nothing to do with his cousins. But as long as he thought about his parents, it was difficult for him to forgive these uncles.

This historical legacy issue was a mess, and Yu Qiutang had no way to deal with it for the time being. He had to figure it out step by step. He returned home covered in blood and with a bunch of people, which scared everyone in his family.

Yu Xiaowei and Yu Xiaoyun hurriedly retreated into the kitchen and were reluctant to come out. Chen Meidi was sewing shoe soles in the yard, and when she saw so many people, she was confused at first, but had to ask the reason.

When she heard that everyone came to Yu Qiutang to buy meat, she suddenly felt unhappy, but she couldn't show it on her face. She just felt very uncomfortable.

The neighbors were very discerning and naturally knew the family's situation. They would not deliberately mention Yu Qiutang in front of Chen Meidi, but some of them were unaware of their separation and kept praising Yu Qiutang for his abilities.

Chen Meidi could only endure it, but she became even more annoyed.

The troglodyte courtyard finally became quiet after everyone had finished their work and took their wild boar meat back home.

Yu Qiutang sat on a stool, slowly counting the money, and found that he had sold a total of 97 yuan. There was only a little left of the originally one and a half pigs of wild boar meat, and in total, there was less than kilograms.

He took the remaining meat in, cut a small piece and asked Yu Xiaowei to give it to Chen Meidi.

It’s not that he is particularly good to Chen Meidi’s family, but his father is there. He can’t enjoy eating meat here while his father is eating radishes over there.

Of course, if Chen Meidi refused, he would not force her. After sending it over, Chen Meidi did not refuse. It was probably because no matter how reserved she was, she could not stand the aroma of meat. Chen Meidi still sent back four buns. Although the value was not comparable to that of meat, it was still a return gift.

Yu Qiutang was very satisfied with this.

He really didn't want to make things too awkward with Chen Meidi. When he was young, he always thought in black and white, and was decisive in killing people, as if he must kill them if they offended him.

But after he matured, he realized that the relationship between him and Chen Meidi, although seemingly simple, was actually very complicated, with his father sandwiched between them.

There is no need to live his life again, but instead he is very unhappy with his father. He and his father have different ideas, but they are not enemies. In fact, deep down, they still care about each other.

As for Chen Meidi, he is now living under her roof and they are maintaining a superficial relationship for the time being. After the house is built, he will move out immediately. Out of sight, out of mind, there won't be so many troubles.

In the evening, my father came back from work. After entering the house for a while, he came out and saw Yu Qiutang sorting out jackals in the yard. He reminded him lightly to be careful when going into the mountains in the future, because in autumn, the wild animals in the mountains are about to give birth and their temperaments are quite fierce.

Yu Qiutang was accustomed to his father's seemingly plain but actually caring way of expressing himself, so he nodded in agreement.

Later, around eight o'clock, there was a knock on the door. When we opened the door, we saw that it was Yu Qiushan and his third uncle's cousin Yu Qiuyuan.

"Tangtang, is my uncle at home?"

After welcoming the two cousins ​​in, his father had already gone to bed and the kerosene lamp inside had been blown out. But when he heard that Yu Qiushan was coming, the light in the cave came on again.

After a rustling sound, Yu Dejin opened the door and walked out of the yard, closing the cave door casually.

"When did Akiyama come back?"

There were two stools against the wall in the yard. Yu Dejin sat on them while Yu Qiushan squatted in front of him.

Yu Qiutang and Yu Qiuyuan stood against the wall.

Yu Qiyuan was a simple and honest young man, short and sturdy, looking very much like his mother, with thick eyebrows and big eyes, and a face big enough to hold a table full of Manchu and Han banquets.

His relationship with Yu Qiutang is okay, but not as close as that with Yu Qiujiang. Probably about the same as that with Yu Qiushan.

In fact, except for Yu Qiujiang, the relationship between the other seven cousins ​​of the Yu family is pretty good, which is quite rare in this era where brothers can quarrel over a grain of rice.

"Why are you in such a hurry so late?"

Yu Dejin took out a half-smoked cigarette from his jacket pocket and pinched off the empty paper on the broken end. Yu Qiushan hurriedly took out a match to help him light it.

"laugh!"

The flame lit up in the darkness, then went out again, leaving only a little bit of bright red.

"Uncle, I came back to my hometown this time, firstly to see you, and secondly, to talk about my grandma."

Yu Dejin was stunned. With the faint red light of the cigarette, he looked at the hazy Yu Qiushan and asked, "Is your grandma sick?"

"No, she's not sick. She's in good health," Yu Qiushan shook his hand hurriedly. "She's just been making a fuss about wanting to go home these past few days. She said the house in the city is too small and she's not used to it. It's like being locked up in a prison. It's just not comfortable at all."

"It's not comfortable in the city. I told your father a few days ago that if it doesn't work, send your milk back. Your father insisted that it was okay." Yu Dejin relaxed when he heard that his mother was fine.

Yu Qiutang was listening on the side and felt as if he was listening to something very far away.

Yu Qiutang's grandmother didn't like Yu Qiutang.

Even though he is the eldest grandson of the Yu family.

In this era, the family atmosphere is quite strong, and the eldest grandson has very important significance.

When alive, one should be the first to be written in the family tree, and when an elder passes away, one should stand in the front row, carry the coffin for the elder, and hold the ashes for the elder...

Similarly, the eldest grandson also has a very important say in the handling of the affairs of the new generation.

Logically speaking, Yu Qiutang should be liked by the old lady.

But this is not the case.

Because Yu Qiutang's mother was remarried and brought a son with her when she came. Although he had no blood relationship with Yu Dejin, he also called Yu Dejin "Dad".

This made the old lady feel very unlucky.

He could not tolerate the fact that the first child of his eldest son was not a descendant of the Yu family, and he was very unhappy with Yu Dejin for a while.

To the extent that, after Yu Qiutang was born, his grandmother ignored him and was not as nice to him as she was to her other grandchildren.

Only slightly better than Yu Qiujiang.

The most favored grandchildren are the children from my second uncle and third uncle.

As for my fourth uncle Yu Dehuo, he was working in the next village. He fell in love with a widow in the village and ended up becoming a son-in-law, which made the old lady very angry.

Although her fourth uncle and aunt were both very nice and filial to the old lady, she still couldn't accept it. The child she had raised with great difficulty was taken away like that. It was hard for her to accept it.

To the extent that, since her fourth uncle's children did not have the surname Yu, she did not consider them her grandchildren at all.

My grandmother was very capable when she was young. My grandfather died early, and my brothers and sisters were raised almost entirely by my grandmother.

When she was seventy-three years old, my grandmother accidentally slipped while using the toilet and injured her spine, becoming completely disabled from then on.

She was so strong-willed that she started to refuse to eat or drink, and was determined to starve herself to death so as not to affect the children and become a burden to everyone.

Later, he was persuaded in every possible way.

After discussion, they decided that the sons would take turns to take care of their mother, staying in each family for three months and then moving to the next family. The daughters would just wash their mother's hair regularly.

The custom here is that once a girl gets married, she belongs to another family and, in principle, does not need to take care of her parents' affairs. As a result, in later generations, not only is the bride price incredibly high, but forty years later, when people in the countryside talk about marrying off their daughters, they still talk about how much money their daughters were "sold" for.

When everyone discussed it, the two sisters were not included in the plan.

But planning is one thing, but when it comes to actual execution, we find that the idea is simple, but it is quite difficult to do.

Yu Qiutang's aunt has settled in Xi'an for a long time. Although she wants to take care of her mother, she is unable to do so. She wants to give some money regularly, but she doesn't have much money. She can only feel guilty and put the pressure on other people.

The youngest son died young, and the fourth son became a son-in-law. But his mother was so stubborn that she would never live with him.

The only ones left were three sons.

There was no problem with the three sons, but the old lady looked down on Chen Meidi. She lived in Yu Dejin's house and had a big fight with Chen Meidi every now and then.

Yu Dejin's family was also eliminated.

(End of this chapter)