Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 333 If You Don’t Act Like a Father, You’re Not My Dog

It was already half past six when I got home and it was pitch dark.

A strong wind blew in the street, blowing straw and corn leaves into the air.

There was definitely not enough room for 18 dogs tied up in the kennels and at the gate. When Xu Ning and others had finished tying up the dogs, there were indeed two left.

He looked at how crowded the kennel was, shook his head, and asked Wang Hu to take Xiao Huang, Da Bai, Dapang and Erpang to Lao Wang's house, tied them at the gate of the yard, and specifically instructed them not to feed the three of them tomorrow morning.

In fact, it could be put down if he squeezed a little, but Xu Ning couldn't do that.

Because dogs also need space to move around. Once a group of dogs are crowded in a small space, they are prone to conflict and fight. If the wolf's puppies bite them to death, Xu Ning will have no time to regret.

After entering the house, my mother and sister-in-law hurriedly served them food and asked why they came back empty-handed today. Xu Ning explained slowly and while eating, they each told the story of Da Laba buying three slippery dogs.

After hearing this, Xu Laonian crossed his legs, held a cigarette in his mouth, and squinted his eyes and said, "Isn't this obviously a trap? There's no way there's so much to take advantage of! As for Guoxing, I'll have to talk to him when I get back."

"Brother-in-law, please stop it. Guoxing is also very upset today. Ever since he found out that you are a slippery dog, he has been scolding you from the mountain to the village..."

Liu Lizhen gave Xu Laonian a blank look, and when she heard her younger brother speaking, the words on the tip of her tongue stopped coming out.

"Uncle, go take a look on the street tomorrow and come back. I don't think we can find him."

Liu Daming nodded: "Well, sister and brother-in-law, do you want to buy anything?"

Xu Laonian, Wang Erli and others all shook their heads. Xu Ning had bought everything that needed to be bought before the New Year, just like buying in wholesale. He brought them home in boxes and bundles, and used them for more than half a year.

It's been less than two months, so the family must have everything they need.

"Buy a ruler for Xu Feng... Feng'er! Call Jin Yu Man Tang, Biao, and Tian En over here."

Xu Ning turned and shouted towards the door. In less than three seconds, Xu Feng came running over in slippers, lifted the door curtain and walked into the room, grinning: "Haha, second brother."

She knew what was going on in her mind, but she had to pretend because there were so many people around.

Immediately, Wang Biao, Liu Tianen and Jin Yumantang also came into the room, and Xu Ning asked the same question again.

"Uncle, Tianen and I are not very good at studying, so it would be useless to buy anything for us... But I am thinking, it would be great if you could buy me a book, so that I can learn from it. I think I have a talent for writing."

Wang Hu waved his hands helplessly: "Just stop it, your handwriting is so lame that it makes me angry just looking at it!"

"Hahaha……"

Wang Biao stiffened his neck and said, "Why do you look down on others?"

Han Fengjiao said appropriately: "You two should stop talking here. Your uncle doesn't know how to buy books. Let's wait until your second brother goes to the street someday."

Xu Laonian said: "Biao, it's a good thing that you want to learn. I will definitely support you."

"Yes, thank you, sir... How much support fee do you want?"

Wang Biao deliberately brought up this topic, which aroused Xu Feng's inspiration. She rushed into Xu Laonian's arms and started to torture him, but Xu Laonian seemed to enjoy it.

"Dad, give me some money to buy a ruler, oh dad..."

Xu Laonian narrowed his eyes and smiled: "Dad doesn't have any money, it would be better to let your second brother pay for it."

"My second brother has no money!" Xu Feng said bluntly: "Buy it for me and I'll kiss you twice."

"Oh... Hit!" This touched Xu Laonian's heart, and he turned around and said, "Daming, buy it tomorrow, and I'll give it to you when you come back."

Liu Daming had just finished eating, put down his bowl and chopsticks and waved his hands: "Give me what? I want money to buy something for my niece? If you tell others, I will be laughed at."

Xu Laonian waved his hand: "No, that won't do. My daughter is asking me to do something for her, so how can I let you pay for it?"

"Hey, brother-in-law..."

Then Xu Laonian changed the subject: "Hey, what's the matter? It's settled. If you're willing to pay, go ahead!"

After these words were spoken, the room was silent for two or three seconds, and then everyone burst into laughter, almost blowing the roof off.

After laughing, Xu Ning looked at Jin Yu Man Tang standing at the door and asked, "Don't you two have anything to buy?"

Li Jinyu and Li Mantang shook their heads: "There's nothing to buy, Uncle."

Yang Shuhua said, "You bought everything before the New Year. I think they can use the homework books and pencils that are not used at home until the end of the semester."

Xu Ning nodded, and then he heard Xu Laonian say, "Daming, ask the price of bear gall tomorrow, and then sell it in the spring."

"What can we sell in the spring? We can sell it when the money for building the house is almost used up and the family is short of money. Digging the foundation will take ten days and a half months."

Xu Laonian frowned and said, "You little bastard, you always contradict me no matter what I say. What's wrong? Are you the boss?"

"Last time at the dinner table, didn't you tell me to be the boss?"

"I...I agree. Has your mother agreed? I am the boss outside, but your mother is the boss at home. Do you understand?"

Liu Lizhen stood up and pulled the table down, saying, "Come on, stop it. You're getting excited when you use me."

“Hahahaha…” Everyone was laughing so hard that they fell over.

After the old women cleared the table, Liu Daming and Li Fuqiang drank two bowls of tea and left with their wives and children.

However, Liu Tianen did not go home, but went to live with Lao Wang and Wang Biao, under the pretext of making it convenient for school!
Li Fuqiang has to go to work tomorrow. Actually, Lao Lin went there by himself after repairing his car in the afternoon. What is the purpose of maintaining a car? Isn't it just to make money? So he doesn't want to waste any time.

Many people in the village said that Xu, Wang, Liu and Li were like a family, or in the words of later generations, there was no sense of boundaries.

But Old Xu’s family doesn’t care about this. If there really is a sense of boundaries, it would be too difficult to get along with each other. It’s better to treat this as their own home and live comfortably!

After everyone left, Liu Lizhen swept the kang while Xu Laonian covered himself with the quilt, and the old couple chatted for a while.

"How much money do we have? We can use it to build a house."

Liu Lizhen said casually: "It's not enough, go and borrow 20,000."

"Twenty thousand? Oh my god, you can kill me...Jane, are you short of money?"

"No, why are you asking this?"

Xu Laonian muttered, "I want to ask what's going on. This kid keeps talking to me in sarcastic terms all day long, and you don't even know how to talk to him."

Liu Lizhen threw the kang broom to the end of the kang, which frightened Xu Laonian so much that he shivered. He said in a cold voice: "Do you think you are doing well? You don't act like a father at all. You have said it, can you take it back?"

"Oh, I forgot about it! Why do you only know how to criticize me?"

At this time, Xu Feng rushed into the room wearing striped long johns, climbed onto the kang, and said, "Mom, can you buy me a fountain pen when I go to junior high school in the next six months?"

"What to buy?" Liu Lizhen frowned.

"pen!"

"You look like a pen to me."

Xu Feng didn't care when she heard that. She crawled to Xu Laonian and tilted her head to look at him quietly. Xu Laonian couldn't stand his daughter's pitiful look and said, "Buy it!"

"Yeah, thanks, mom!"

Xu Laonian was stunned, "Dad bought it for you..."

"Hey, if you buy it for me, it has to be my mom who pays for it, haha..."

……

The next day, the breeze was a bit cool.

After breakfast, Xu Laonian, Xu Feng and others left, Xu Ning fed the dog gang some food, then went into the house and lay down for a nap. When he opened his eyes, he saw Wang Hu sitting at the end of the kang cleaning his gun. He got up and went to the outer room to wash his face, then went back to the room and glanced at the wall clock. It was only half past eight...

He and Wang Hu loaded their hunting rifles and 56 semi-automatic rifles, and came to the gate of Old Wang's courtyard. Seeing the three slippery dogs wagging their tails at them, Xu Ning grinned and said, "No need to wag your tails and act like a coward, you will suffer in the future!"

"Brother, do you need anything else?"

"You don't need to do anything. Just take the three of them over and lock them up in the barn. I just don't know if the yellow-haired pigs in the barn are dead or not..."

"It's not dead. I went to take a look after breakfast, but it probably doesn't have much energy left."

Xu Ning nodded, walked over to untie the dog leash, and asked, "Where did your aunt go?"

"I went to my brother Qiang's house to pick beans."

"Why are you picking beans again? Aren't we already making the soybean paste?"

The two of them walked out the door with the three dogs. When they stepped out of the door, Wang Hu replied, "I heard from my mother that she wanted to grind her own tofu..."

"Oh my god, why are you so busy? It would be great if you could take the time to work on the machine at Old Qin's house. Why don't you take a break?"

Wang Hu said with a smile: "They can't sit still. They are planning to go up to the mountain to pick old thorn buds before the spring comes."

Xu Ning frowned and said, "You can go with them when the time comes. Before the beginning of spring, the black bears are out of the warehouse."

"OK."

The door of Lao Jiang's house was open, and the two of them walked into the yard without seeing anyone.

Jiang Qiuer went to school, and Lao Jiang went to the street early in the morning with Liu Daming and Dalabao.

The two men led the dogs straight to the backyard and came to the warehouse. Xu Ning stood there and observed. Apart from a door, there were no ventilation windows on the three walls of the warehouse. So it would be quite difficult for the two of them to throw the three dogs in.

Perhaps they smelled the livestock, the three dogs became restless and kept circling in the same place, making humming sounds, as if they were very afraid of the livestock in the barn.

Wang Hu bent down to take a look and asked, "What should we do, second brother?"

Xu Ning frowned and said, "Go find a ladder and take a look at what's on the roof of the warehouse. I'm going to pee first."

"okay!"

The two men tied the dogs in front of the warehouse, and without paying any attention to how the three dogs whined, they went about their business.

After Wang Hu came back with the ladder, he climbed up and took a look. At this moment, Xu Ning was wandering around the back of the warehouse.

"Brother, there's straw on top and mud underneath..."

Xu Ning hummed softly, raised his head and looked at the wooden planks under the eaves, muttering, "How come this old man works so carefully?"

This is not sarcasm, I am just praising Lao Jiang.

This warehouse is specially used for drying leather. It is best to dry the leather in the shade. After processing, the fur will be brighter and softer. If exposed to the sun, it will appear dull.

Because the leather is moistened by the blood of the animal when it is peeled off, it will easily become dry and rough without the blood to nourish it.

There is naturally a reason for making such a sigh.

Xu Ning turned around and called out, "Huzi, come down first and bring the ladder to the back."

"Eh."

After Wang Hu came over with the ladder, he looked up in the direction Xu Ning was looking and saw a wooden board under the eaves. It was more than 30 centimeters wide and about 1.2 meters long, with three hinges between the board and the beam.

Wang Hu climbed up with a ladder, then grabbed the bottom edge of the wooden board and pushed it upwards. The board was lifted up. This design was similar to a skylight.

Of course, there were also such scenes in ancient times, such as the scene where Ximen Qing first met Pan Jinlian, commonly known as "the evil fate caused by a bamboo pole."

"Second brother, Uncle Jiang is quite good at research."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "Of course, look to see if there are any small sticks on the eaves."

"Yes, I'll support it."

"Let's see how the pigs are doing."

Wang Hu propped a 40-centimeter-long stick on the edge of the board, looked inside, and said with a smile, "It's lying in the corner!"

"Then put it there and don't move. I'll go get the dog."

"Eh."

Xu Ning walked to the door of the warehouse, untied the ropes of the three dogs, and led them to the back. He wanted to throw them inside, but he certainly couldn't tie them up with ropes, otherwise their mobility would be affected.

But you can't just throw the dog in alone, because if the dog enters the barn it will attract the wild boar's attention, and the two sides may end up fighting.

"This shouldn't work. Does he have a ladder at home?"

"Yes, it's standing in the woodshed, second brother, can I get it?"

"No, I'll go."

Xu Ning went to the woodshed, carried the ladder to the eaves, climbed up, and peeked inside through the window. The yellow pig looked a little tired, probably because it had been tossing and turning all night, otherwise it would have definitely been crying out now.

"We each take a dog. Untie the ropes first and throw the dog's butt in. Don't let them see the pig inside."

"Okay, second brother." Wang Hu was a little worried and said, "The dog can't give us a bite, right? It will taste very bad."

"No, just pinch their mouths. Or just throw them in. They won't break from this height."

Then, the two of them carried the dog up the ladder, untied the dog leash, and put the dog's butt into the ventilation window. Dabai and Dapang felt that their four feet had no support, and they were so scared that they trembled with their tails between their legs...

"This dog is too timid. Second brother, can't the three of them be killed by the yellow-haired pig? If it dies, it will be a disaster."

Xu Ning shook his head: "It's okay. If I don't act tough now, I'll be beaten to a pulp when I get home."

Da Laba is a rare dog, but he prefers dogs that have made contributions to the family, such as Lao Fei.

This is not snobbery, because he has a clear purpose in keeping a dog. A dog that he buys with money cannot be a gatekeeper dog. If it eats and drinks for free at home and does nothing, what is the point of keeping it?
What's more, Da Laba's family is not rich and they have to make ends meet. One more mouth to feed means one more penny.

Maybe someone will say, why spend money to raise a dog in the countryside, just give it leftovers to eat.

You know, leftovers are good things these days. How many families dare to waste them like this?
Basically none, every household spends every penny wisely.

So just talking about dog food, cornmeal, corn grits, cabbage, salt...

These are things people eat frequently, and they are bought with real money. If you want to get them for free, who would give them to you?

Like Lao Jiang, after two vicious dogs in his family died in a fight, he no longer thought about raising dogs. He couldn't take care of himself and his daughter, so how could he raise one?

At this moment, Xu Ning and Wang Hu put the two dogs on the ventilation window. They pinched the dogs' mouths with one hand, looked at each other, and threw them into the warehouse while the two dogs struggled.

The next moment, the yellow-haired pig jumped up fiercely, and was frightened by the two dogs that fell from the sky, and a warning sound came from its mouth.

The two dogs rolled over and stood up. Seeing the yellow-haired pig with its eyes open, they were also a little dazed. They stood on their four legs in an "eight" position, stretched their necks to observe the yellow-haired pig, and did not dare to act rashly...

"Second brother, these two dogs are such losers. Why don't they even dare to move?"

Xu Ning stepped down the ladder and said, "It's normal. Go ahead and call Erpang. The dog peed here. Oh no..."

He was also a little helpless. Since he came back, the dogs he had come into contact with were at best Big Yellow, Little Yellow, or Gray Wolf. Dogs like these were really fucked up, and it made him want to curse them.

But Xu Ning held back, muttering in his heart: It's not my dog, it's not my dog, it's not my dog...

(End of this chapter)