Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 474 He is always afraid of you and is missing

Li Tielin and the others sat on the edge of the kang. Xu Ning poured a cup of tea for the three of them. Li Tielin said, "How could I not come? I made a mistake when I asked you to do something before. It almost caused a misunderstanding. I definitely can't do it that way this time."

Xu Ning raised his head and smiled, then asked, "Have you finished dealing with all the family matters?"

"Well, my sister-in-law was buried. The funeral was just held yesterday. The old man's family gave us some compensation. Thanks to your connections in the province, my family wouldn't have gotten the money. Her boyfriend also returned the betrothal gift. So it's all over."

"That's fine. There's nothing we can do about this. Are both of your injuries healed?"

"I'm fine now. I had the surgery in Sandaohe, and then I went to the provincial capital to have another checkup at the hospital..."

Li Tielin came here mainly to express his feelings, so he only chatted for half an hour and then got up to leave.

Xu Ning stopped him and said, "You've come all this way, you have to stay and have a meal before you leave."

"That's not good. You have to stay and have a meal before leaving, otherwise you can take your things back." Liu Lizhen said pretending to be angry.

"Aunt, we really won't stay for dinner. The main reason is that my mother-in-law and father-in-law have been in a bad state these days. There's no one to cook at home at night, so we have to go back to cook. Well, Erning, I'm thinking of coming over to help build the house tomorrow. What time should I come?"

Xu Ning was stunned when he heard this, and said with a smile: "If you don't stay for dinner, I won't let you come to help. To be honest, I thought if you stayed, we could still talk about hauling wood in winter. I want to open a workshop, did you know that?"

"what……"

Li Tielin obviously didn't know. His eyes were empty and dull, but they suddenly brightened up after hearing this. He said, "Then can I pull wood in your yard in winter?"

Xu Ning said calmly: "If you want to stay for dinner, then you can. If you don't want to eat, then there's no point in talking about anything. Are you thinking of giving you a special meal? There are more than 40 people at the north end. Let's eat together and have a few drinks..."

Li Tielin knew Xu Ning didn't treat him as an outsider after hearing this, so he smiled and said, "Okay, I'll eat here tonight. Wang, you drive your sister back first."

Zhao Wang took the car keys and nodded, "Well, I'll pick you up that night."

"No, let your brother-in-law take my uncle Zhang's car in the evening. He is also going back to Yongfeng."

Why did they have to invite Li Tielin to dinner? There were two reasons. First, he brought so many things to the door, which showed that he was a man of some social skills. Although the first meeting was a little unpleasant, it was all in the past.

Secondly, Xu Ning had to open two timber yards, and he urgently needed cars to transport the timber. Because the timber yards had just been built, there was relatively little timber, and it was too slow to move the timber with oxen, horses, and donkey carts. If he had cars, it would be faster. Now Lao Lin had agreed to help him move the timber, and he also had a tractor, but he still lacked a means of transportation.

There are many ways to move wood down the mountain in winter. The dumbest way is to use horses or donkeys to drag it, but this method can easily injure the animals' hind hooves. Because there is snow on the mountain, the wood will slide down and easily hit the animals' feet. If the animals' feet are injured, there is only one outcome: death!
Anyone who has raised horses knows that once this animal injures its foot, it will not lie down and heal quietly, but will stand up and jump around. The wound will not heal easily, and the horse will continue to consume fodder, losing its ability to work. The result is predictable.

Another method is to make a slide with water on the mountain, put the wood on the slide, let it slide down the mountain by itself, and then pile the wood on the car to be transported away...

After seeing Zhao Wang and Zhao Yu off, Li Tielin stood at the gate and turned around and asked hurriedly, "What did you say just now about pulling wood to the yard?"

"Just tell me if you can do it. There's a lot of work at Xinlengchang, and you can earn more than you can hauling wood from the lumberyard to the train station."

Li Tielin rubbed his face and said, "Can I earn five more dollars?"

"Five dollars? Are you trying to embarrass me? You only haul wood for the lumberyard twice a day, and for the yard seven or eight times a day. Although the price per trip is not as high as at the lumberyard, you haul more times, so you can earn at least six dollars more!"

Li Tielin grinned: "Hahaha...Okay, then I'll follow you this winter. To be honest, my family's situation is a bit stressful, and both families are counting on me."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "I saw it at a glance. If you hadn't come today, I would have waited to meet you to talk about the Lengchang again. A newly opened Lengchang needs to recruit woodcutters and returnees, right? Is there anyone at your place?"

"Yes! Let's talk while we walk to the new house."

"Aren't you going to take a break?"

"Why are you still resting? I came here to help with the work. I can't play tricks on you. You can see through my skills at a glance."

"Haha, that's right, we have to be honest when making friends and dealing with brothers."

If Li Tielin hadn't come today, could Xu Ning have asked him to bring timber to the mill? Of course not. The Xu family knew a lot of people, so they could have gotten a group of people.

But the fact that Li Tielin came here shows that he is a good person. Besides, Xu Ning and Li Fuqiang went into the mountains and killed Lao Ba and Li Quan, which completely convinced Li Tielin.

"Usually my brother-in-law follows me in my sports car. If you need any help felling trees or collecting trees, just let him go."

"Can he endure the hardship?"

"If he can't bear the hardship, I'll beat him to death! And you're better at talking than I am, don't you feel that he's afraid of you?"

"Afraid of me? Oh, I really didn't notice."

Li Tielin laughed and said, "He's always been afraid of you. When he was in the provincial capital, he had nightmares for two consecutive days, saying that you were chasing him with a gun..."

"Hahahaha, what a bullshit."

The two chatted and laughed as they came to the Beitou construction site. After introducing Li Tielin to Xu Laonian and the others, he really didn't hesitate. He put on labor protection gloves and helped Zhang Jinbao lift the wood together with Li Fuqiang and Wang Hu. Because the wood was too heavy, the cutting machine could only cut half of it, so three or four people were needed to support it in the middle and at both ends, otherwise it would easily deviate...

Many of the foresters who worked for the Xu family were from the transport team. They had all seen Li Tielin, but they didn't talk to him much. They were a little surprised that he could meet Xu Ning, but when they heard that there was the body of his sister-in-law in the cellar in Sandaohe, they immediately understood why he came to give Xu Ning a gift to express his gratitude.

Since they had met before, Li Tielin quickly became friends with Lao Zhang and the others. Lao Zhang and the others did not laugh at Li Tielin, nor did they make fun of his sister-in-law. This kind of thing should not be done by pointing at someone's forehead and poking his heart.

The bricks of the new house have been piled up to as high as the knees. From a distance, they are straight and even. Old Xu's family built 72 walls. The walls are thick and warm in winter and cool in summer, but the number of red bricks required has also increased exponentially. Xu Ning thinks that he will need four more trucks of red bricks, otherwise he will not be able to build the house. Anyway, red bricks are cheap, so he can buy a few more trucks as a reserve, so that he can use them in the future if he doesn't have enough.

Under Yu Kaihe's command, the house was built in an orderly manner. At around 3:30 in the afternoon, Lao Wei's well-drilling team also arrived.

Originally, Lao Wei wanted to chat with Xu Laonian, but Lao Nian directly handed it over to Xu Ning. Lao Wei came over and said with a smile: "Erning, your father asked me to ask you where you dug the well."

Master Li who made the iron gate last time did a feng shui survey and learned that there are two locations for digging a well, one is in the northwest behind the house outside, and the other is in the north direction indoors. In the words of Master Li: there is a jade wrapped around the waist in front, and a tiger lying on the mountain behind, and there must be a hole in the middle.

The north is the outer room, which is the kitchen. There are two big pots on the left and right, and a spring in the middle, which is good for people's wealth...

"Uncle Wei, can we drill a hole in the outer room?" Old Wei's eyes narrowed, and the man holding a pipe next to him said in surprise: "Oh, that will cost money."

"Erning, a large well is dug outside for easy digging of soil and sand. If we dig a well inside, we have to dig a small well. We have to drill it little by little by hand, which is more troublesome."

"Uncle Wei, just tell me how much money it is. We are all relatives."

"Brother, how much money are you talking about?" Lao Wei was not the captain of the well-drilling team. He was considered a helper, the one who did the hard work, while the well-drilling equipment belonged to the pipe-smoking people.

"The normal price is 40 yuan for five meters, so you can give me 30 yuan. I cover the pipes, but not the pressure wells. The pressure wells from me are 50 yuan. If you know someone, you can get them for 40 yuan."

This old man was quite honest when chatting. You could tell he was older and understood the ways of the world. However, he had no connection with the Xu family, so giving him a ten-dollar discount was already quite a courtesy.

Xu Ning smiled and said, "I do know someone, but I can't tell anyone about this, so I'll just have to trouble you."

Old Wei continued, "Brother, this is my eldest nephew. The reason my three children were able to eat meat last year was because my eldest nephew brought it back from the mountains!"

"Ah... this guy is quite honest in his chatter, so I won't pretend either. Digging this kind of small well is the most labor-intensive. If water comes out after six or seven meters, it's fine. But if water comes out after more than ten meters, the person will be too tired to get up from the kang. Let's charge 40 yuan for a well according to the purchase price. If water comes out after the first five meters of digging a small well, you will give me 20 yuan, and if water comes out after ten meters, you will give me 50 yuan. But if you catch black bears or deer in the mountains, you have to leave some meat for me. What do you think?"

Xu Ning smiled and said, "It's no big deal! Leave me your address, and I'll have someone send some black bears and venison to you when they're available. That's it, let's get started tomorrow?"

The elder brother was a very capable person. He knocked the pipe against the sole of his shoe twice and said, "Okay, I'll open a hole now. There is water in front of your house. I guess the underground water can't be too deep."

He walked to the well site, dug two shovels with a shovel, bent down and rubbed the sand, and said, "This well is not easy to dig, it's all sand, but I estimate that water will come out after six or seven meters."

"Okay, I'll trouble you with this well. How many of you will be working on it?"

"Three people, your well is cheap to begin with, you won't make any money if there are too many people."

"Hahaha, you are so honest, bro! Let's do this for today and stay here for dinner tonight."

The elder brother waved his hand: "If you don't work, you won't eat. I'll go home and take care of it first..."

"No, how can we miss this little bite of food, Uncle Wei?"

Lao Wei said with a smile: "Brother, you can stay here. Erning is kind and righteous. You will know it if you often meet him. We are not in a hurry to work. We can finish it in the next two days."

The elder brother frowned doubtfully and said, "Then I'll help you with some work, otherwise I won't be able to eat."

Most people these days are very particular, and old bastards like Li San are relatively rare. This is because some people's badness is only directed at their own family members, and some people's kindness is shown to outsiders. So unless you get in touch with them in depth, no one knows what is wrapped in the skin of the person standing in front of you.

Old Wei secretly told Xu Ning that this guy was very nice to outsiders, but very stingy to his friends and relatives. The last time he went to his house for dinner, his daughter accidentally broke a bowl, and he slapped her twice in front of five or six people, causing her lips to bleed.

Especially after he drank, he would be very open with his heart to outsiders and scold his family members. If anyone dared to talk back to him, he would slap them in the face...

So, you can ask such a person to do things for you, but he is definitely not a good friend.

After hearing this, Xu Ning understood what Lao Wei meant. No wonder Lao Wei spoke to him so politely. It turned out that they were not close friends.

In the evening, everyone returned to Old Xu's house for dinner. The old man didn't even touch his wine glass. He probably knew that he would easily become a bad person after drinking. It was also his first time to have dinner at Old Xu's house, so he had to leave a good impression. Even Liu Lizhen said that he was considerate, because after dinner, when the old man went to the toilet, he swept the ground around the toilet clean.

Zhang Jinbao and Li Tielin drank two glasses of wine, and Zhang Jinbao made more than fifty purlins in two or three hours in the afternoon, which was quite efficient.

Meng Quezi said that we still need a cutting machine, which is much better than manual cutting...

That is definitely better than manual cutting. The machine can keep working as long as there is electricity. But when you pull a big saw manually, your arms will always get sore.

The next day, just after noon, Sun Jiye and Sun Lianjun drove over. There were a lot of things in the back of the car, including plastic film, a broken axe, a pickaxe, a shovel, a large saw, and three rusty chain saws. However, the chains of the three chain saws were rusted, and the gear of one of the chain saws was buckled. The small gear inside turned, but the large gear connected to the chain kept slipping...

"San'er, Lianjun, let Erning and the others do the work, and you guys go wash your hands and have an meal." Liu Lizhen said.

"Hey! Qiangzi, there are six new chains in the car, think of taking them to the house."

Li Fuqiang waved his hand: "Well, you two should go inside and have dinner. Brother, you should go inside too."

Xu Ning nodded: "Unload the things and throw them under the eaves of the house."

In the outer room, Sun Jiye and Sun Lianjun had just washed their hands. Sun Lianfang and Wang Shujuan were carrying dishes into the house. Liu Lizhen stood at the door and asked, "How was Uncle Chai's visit to Sandaohe? How was your chat?"

"Very good! Mr. Chai was very happy. They stayed in Sanda River for two days and went fishing on the boat. They caught two carps weighing seven or eight kilograms..."

Xu Ning walked in and asked, "Has my Grandpa Sun gone home yet?"

"How could he not come back? He came back specially to stay overnight and had a good chat with Mr. Chai."

After entering the house, the two sat at the table and picked up chopsticks. Xu Ning sat down on the edge of the kang, resting his hands on the kang, and said with a smile: "You two are staying here tonight?"

"No, I called you last time and wanted to stay here so that I could go to Sandaohe with Lei Zi, but something happened in our village and I was thinking of asking you for help."

Xu Ning was stunned and asked anxiously: "What's the matter?"

Sun Jiye waved his hand and said, "Don't worry, this is not our family's business, this is my uncle's brother's family's business. His third son is called Sun Lianyu, and in our village he is a liar and a money-grubber..."

Xu Ning had met Sun Lianyu before. He had gone to Dahe Village to buy things from a store on his way to visit the captain of Dalingtun. At that time, it was Sun Lianyu and his wife who were selling the things, and they gave him a lot of discounts.

"The night before, he had finished playing at Xiaohetou and was walking home in the middle of the night. He made a bet with two people who were traveling with him, saying that whoever could stay in the mountain for one night would get thirty yuan. The other two people stayed at the edge of the mountain for one night, but this idiot didn't take it seriously and went straight into the mountain!"

Xu Ning tilted his head and asked, "Is the person missing?"

(End of this chapter)