Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 576 Back to the old pickled man, I must give him a beating

If Xu Ning knew that his mother was suffering from panic, he would definitely not go to Wanye in the dark. After all, his parents' health is the most important thing. Chen Hedong must be able to understand this.

However, in his previous life, he had never heard that his mother had a bad heart. He only heard that his mother was prone to palpitations and hot flashes, which are typical symptoms of menopause. It stands to reason that menopause is a disease that is more common in women between 40 and 60 years old. His mother was only 40 years old. Did the symptoms come so early?
Moreover, in her previous life, my mother went into the mountains to pick mushrooms in the autumn of 1990 and died accidentally when she was attacked by a black bear. She had always been in good health before that. Besides, she worried too much in her previous life, but now she lives a happy and harmonious life. What disease could she have?
After Chai Bing got up, he was about to go and pick up Xu Pao. When he heard that Li Fuqiang had already gone to pick him up, he smiled and waved his hand, then turned and went to the toilet. When he came out, he just saw Xu Pao, Chang Danian and others entering the house. Da Laba tied Lao Fei and San Sha at the door, and Li Baoquan tied Heilang and his three dogs in the lower room. The dog gang had not been together for a long time, so they had to meet and communicate first.

The gang of 18 dogs is undoubtedly dominated by the blue wolves, assisted by the black wolves. Dogs have their own ethnic characteristics, and those with outstanding abilities are the leaders in any ethnic group.

For breakfast, Liu Lizhen and others did not mess around. In addition to last night's leftovers, she and Han Fengjiao and others specially made dumplings stuffed with leeks and eggs.

Originally, Xu Laonian wanted to arrange some morning drinks, but Xu Pao and the others had to take a car later, so they had a quiet meal. At the same time, they talked about Xu Ning and where they were. The mother muttered that she didn't know whether these children had eaten...

At around 8 o'clock, Li Fuqiang, Wang Hu and Da Laba got on the bus carrying 18 dogs. The dog gang had not eaten anything in the morning. Xu Ning had specifically instructed them yesterday that the dogs such as Qinglang and Heilang felt a little carsick when they went back to Wangxing last time. They thought they would feel better if they didn't eat this time. They would also rest for two days in Wangxing before taking the dogs to patrol the fields.

Xu Pao and Aunt Gao sat in the passenger seat, Chang Danian, Li Fuqiang and others sat in the back car. Before leaving, Liu Lizhen, Yang Shuhua and others carried out two bags of things from the house, which contained mung bean cakes, red sausages and other things that were not common in the countryside. These things were brought by Chen Hedong yesterday, but now the Xu family has no children, and the remaining adults usually can't bear to eat them. It happened that the Chai family had many children, so they could be considered as offering some gifts.

After they left, Xu Laonian and Wang Erli also drove away. This car belonged to Lao Zhang and had been lent to Xu Ning for nearly a month, which meant that Lao Zhang had not worked for a whole month. What he lost was not time, but the income to support his family! Although Xu Laonian had treated Lao Zhang to dinner several times, could such a thing be justified by treating him to dinner?
But Xu Laonian was not too worried. After all, his own farm was about to be opened. He could ask Lao Zhang to come to the farm to pull a few more trucks of goods, and this month's income would be able to be made up. But there was one thing that could not be made up, and that was Lao Zhang's wife's nagging...

Although the men in the family had all left, the women were also busy. Liu Lizhen first let Zhang Guifang and Yang Shuhua stay at home, because Da Laba and Li Fuqiang had both left, leaving them alone at home, which was a bit scary. Zhang Guifang smiled and nodded, and said that she would go back home and lock the door later. Yang Shuhua also had to go back, after all, there were several stacks of money stuffed behind the cabinet door at home.

It was past 10 o'clock and Liu Daming did not go to sell the meat because Li Feng and Lao Jiang went to Beitun to collect the meat. When she saw him coming back, she took some time off to clean up the new house with the water sprayer, washbasin and rag.

"Sister-in-law, if you're still worried, why don't we go look for Mrs. Zhang?"

Liu Lizhen shook her head: "I'm not panicking when I woke up this morning... I don't know where Erning and the others are."

Last night, Xu Ning, Xu He and Guan Lei took turns driving all the way to Wanye. At around 6 o'clock in the morning, they parked the car at the small restaurant where they bought fried rice last time. They had a simple hot meal, but the proprietress did not recognize Xu Ning, so he did not bring it up. There was almost no benefit in bringing up this kind of thing where they had only met once, except that it would leave a deep impression on the proprietress.

Arriving at Yanwangkanzi at around 8 o'clock, Xu Ning didn't think too much about it, so he asked Guan Lei to build a small temple with stones in the woods and inserted three branches in front of it. Just as he was about to lead everyone to bow, he heard Chen Heshuang mutter, "What's the point of all the fancy things?"

Xu Ning turned his head and stared at him. Seeing Chen Hedong pulling his eldest brother's arm, he glared and said, "If you don't understand, don't talk nonsense!"

"Cats have their own ways, mice have their own ways, and every industry has its own rules. Boss, I told you at home that if you don't understand something, try to say as little as possible. Why don't you listen?"

Chen Jinlong gave Xu Ning a few words of pretentious teaching. Xu Ning frowned and said, "Let's kowtow."

Guan Lei, Xu He and Chen Hedong knelt down and kowtowed three times with Xu Ning without hesitation, but Chen Jinlong and Chen Heshuang were hesitant. When they saw that they were almost done knelt down, they bent over reluctantly twice, but their heads did not touch the ground.

When Xu Ning saw this, he said nothing. He turned around and waved to everyone to get in the car. He drove forward three or four miles and hid the car in the place where he had hidden the car last time. He covered the rear of the car with branches. Then he packed his things and walked into the mountains with baskets and cloth bags on their backs.

Since there were only two 56-and-a-half rifles in the hands of Xu Ning and Xu He, Guan Lei and Chen Hedong took a slashing knife and a hand axe, while Chen Jinlong and Chen Heshuang only tied a small meat knife on their ankles.

After crossing Yanwangkanzi, they went straight to Sandaokanzi. According to Xu Ning's pace, there was no need to rest in the cave at all. Besides, it was just noon. Each of them was carrying more than 20 kilograms. However, the temperature was much better than last month, and it was not hot and stuffy in the mountains.

But it was a little damp. As they walked in the mountains, they saw several fallen trees covered with elm yellow mushrooms and two depressions with hazel mushrooms. However, they had no time to pick them, so they could only pluck a few handfuls and save them for making a pot of mushroom soup in the evening.

After a short rest at noon, they set off again. Chen Heshuang complained in a low voice, saying that they had walked such a long way and only had to rest for a short while. Even though Chen Jinlong was a good-for-nothing, he knew that he was working for his family, so he smiled and told Xu Ning not to be like him.

Xu Ning really didn't bother to pay attention to him. He just had to be obedient and not make mistakes in the mountains. When he was done and out of the mountains, who did he know Chen Heshuang? This was just to give Chen Hedong face!

"Erning, I'll give him a beating after we're done, don't be angry."

"What are you talking about, Brother Dong? I'm doing this for your sake. How can I do the same as him? Let's go quickly. Let's try to reach the Gaya River before dark."

Xu He smiled and said, "I usually don't look carefully when I go into the mountains, but there are many good things in this mountain. Look at the big pine cones on the tree, there are more than a dozen underneath..."

"Brother He, do you like to eat pine nuts? When I have time, I will go into the mountains and bring two bags to the provincial capital for you."

"Oh, come on, it's dangerous to play pine cones. I might as well buy some."

"No matter how dangerous it is, can it be as dangerous as beating a black bear? It's okay, my uncle is also proud of this thing."

The best time to pick pine cones is after the end of September, depending on weather changes. The pine cones in this mountain are big and fleshy, and taste very good to eat.

Guan Lei said: "Brother, there are a lot of mushrooms in the mountains here. Can we pick some when we go back?"

"Not many people come to this mountain, so there must be a lot of mushrooms. The quality of this stuff varies from year to year. If you want to eat it, just pick some. Don't waste time picking it. Go home early!"

It was past 4 o'clock and the sun was setting. Xu Ning found a place to camp, had a simple meal of oil cakes wrapped with green onions and some mushroom soup, and then took turns to rest as he did last time.

Xu Ning did not have bad habits. He went to bed at around 6 o'clock and slept until 2: in the morning. When he got up, he found Chen Hedong and Guan Lei sitting in front of the fire and chatting in low voices. The two of them were laughing with their heads tilted back. It was obvious that they were chatting happily, so Xu Ning did not go over to interfere. He waited until the two of them felt a little sleepy before he went out to take their place in bed.

At around 6 o'clock in the morning, everyone got up, drank some porridge made from mung bean cakes, ate a few bites of fried cakes, and then set off again.

The journey was safe and sound, except that the Chen father and his two sons all felt a little tired. Chen Hedong had four or five blisters on the soles of his feet, but he did not say a word. Instead, Chen Heshuang whimpered and said that his calves were stiff and his toes had several big blisters. Chen Jinlong wanted to persuade him, but stopped talking after a moment's thought.

We have walked nearly 100 miles in the past two days. How can an ordinary person endure that?

Unexpectedly, Xu Ning ignored them completely. He just let Guan Lei support Chen Hedong and walk forward, leaving the two behind and ignoring them.

The two hurriedly ran after him, but they dared not say anything. They could only whisper to each other, saying some bad words...

"Dad, big brother, what are you two grumbling about? This is for our family! I invited Erning here, not hired him. How come you two don't have any sense at all?"

Logically speaking, Chen Jinlong has been doing business for so many years that he would not be unable to understand this principle. There is indeed a cause for every effect. Previously, Chen Hedong teamed up with Xu Ning and others to extort 1 yuan from the Chen father and son. The two of them only realized the situation after they got home, so naturally they didn't have a good impression of Xu Ning. In addition, he was Chen Hedong's friend. Given the personalities of the Chen father and son, the closer the person was to Chen Hedong, the more they would look down on him and his son.

"My legs hurt and I can't walk, but you don't allow me to complain? I didn't say anything bad about your friend." Chen Hedong frowned and said, "When I was at home, I told you not to come, but you insisted on coming. Now your inability to walk is an excuse? Then just wait here! Let the wolf dig it out for you."

"Dong, no matter how bad he is, he is still your brother. Why are you nagging him? Come on, let's go quickly. I'll support you." Chen Jinlong said something fair.

Chen Hedong turned his head with a dark face and muttered, "I have to give him a beating!"

Xu Ning immediately said happily: "Why do you want to scold him? No matter how bad he is, he is still your brother."

"Haha, please stop making fun of me. I'm feeling really bad."

Chen Hedong is not really stupid, he just has no brains, so he was fooled by his family. He knows everything. For example, Su Yawen fooled him, how could he not know? He just enjoyed it. In addition, Su Yawen was indeed more tactful than him.

Being willing to believe in people is not a shortcoming, but a weakness of character. Others say he is stupid, or that he is very smart, but Xu Ning doesn't think so. He thinks Chen Hedong just hasn't met a good person.

After noon, everyone finally reached the red pine forest. The shack not far away had not collapsed yet. Xu Ning took a look from a distance and led everyone straight to Lao Yanzi.

It was no big deal for Xu Ning that the old man was exposed in front of Chen's father and son. Only the palm and the three flowers were left of the goods inside. The big goods had been taken away. What could it do even if Chen Jinlong and his son saw it?

"Oh my god, this old guy has so much stuff!"

Chen Jinlong nodded silently and glanced at the pits in the old pickled vegetables. These pits with exposed black soil were all left by the mallet. There were more than thirty of them in the area before him.

It is indeed shocking, but the big goods were taken away by Xu Ning, so how much are the remaining three flowers and palms worth?

After everyone finished observing the old man, Xu Ning pointed to Liupiye's pit and said, "This is Liupiye's nest. Where is your great-grandfather buried?"

Chen Hedong said: "My grandfather said it seems to be buried under the six batches of leaves before. I don't know exactly where it is."

Xu He frowned and said, "That's hard to find, Erning, how about we stay here for a few nights? Let's dig up the area nearby and have a look?"

Xu Ning waved his hand: "No need, Shitou, go stand in front of the old omen and pay attention to the direction."

"okay."

The omens are not carved randomly. Generally, when cutting omens, one faces the big hammer. So Guan Lei walked to the big tree with the old omens carved on it and stood with his back to the old omens. Then Xu Ning moved to the left and stopped only when he was face to face with Guan Lei.

Chen Heshuang pouted and said, "What kind of mysterious thing is this?"

"Just watch, why are you talking so much?" Chen Jinlong glared at him.

Xu He looked at them coldly with his gun in hand, then chased after Xu Ning, and Chen Hedong also walked over there.

At this moment, Xu Ning had already gone around to the small back slope on the left, about thirty meters away from Guan Lei. Then he took small steps forward, his eyes fixed on the ground.

After walking about ten meters forward, he pointed to a small mound of earth and said, "Maybe it's underneath."

Although it has gone through a hundred years of wind and rain, when his great-grandfather buried his great-grandfather, he must have built a tomb, which means there is a big mound of earth. After a hundred years of wind and rain, the mound of earth will be washed away and become smaller, but it will not disappear completely because flowers and plants will grow in it, and the roots of the plants will fix the soil.

The highest point of this small mound is only about 20 centimeters. If you don’t look carefully, you can’t tell that it is a mound.

Chen Hedong rushed over and asked, "Did you find it?"

"Maybe it's here, I'm not sure, start from here and dig down little by little."

Guan Lei came over and took out the engineer shovel from his backpack and handed it to Chen Hedong. Chen Hedong took it and turned around and shouted, "What are you two looking at? Hurry up and work! You don't even take the time to do your own housework..."

"Really? Don't waste your time..." Chen Heshuang muttered.

"You! You! Dad, hurry up and get the shovel."

"Hey, your big brother can't walk anymore, let's dig and let your little brothers rest for a while."

Chen Jinlong took out an engineer shovel, walked up to the small mound and said.

Xu Ning and the other two looked at each other in silence. Xu He and Guan Lei lit a cigarette, while Xu Ning ate mung bean cake and took a few sips of water.

Chen Heshuang leaned against a tree, smoking one cigarette after another.

After a moment, Chen Hedong glared and shouted, "That's it! Hey... Erning, how did you find it? I thought it would take two days."

"I have my own tricks. You push the soil to the side, spread it flat, put a red cloth on it, put on gloves and take it piece by piece..."

"Eh!"

Xu Ning and others could not do this, so Chen father and son had to deal with it themselves. Moreover, after a hundred years of wind and rain, and buried directly in the soil, there was almost nothing left except the bones. Even the bones were not complete, with only a few large bones visible, and the rest of the small bones had been decomposed.

Xu Ning said: "Brother Dong, please mumble a few words."

"Ah, Grandpa, I'm Chen Hedong, I'm here to take you home..."

He was not particularly scared because they were his family members and his elders, so what was there to be afraid of?

(End of this chapter)