Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 594: It's hard to worry about Li San

At this moment, the room was very quiet. Du Shoucai was sitting on the edge of the kang, looking out the window with a sad face. Xu Ning was leaning against the edge of the kang, holding a piece of paper in one hand. Guan Lei was leaning against his shoulder, scanning the words on the paper.

Du Manzhi entered the room and saw this scene. He immediately sat on the bench and slapped his thigh in anger, saying, "Oh my God! Dad! I really don't know anything. Can you please stop accusing me of something that doesn't exist? I don't even have a motive! If you use so-called evidence that you don't know whether it is true or not to sentence me to death, I will be so frustrated!"

Du Shoucai turned his head and glared at him, "Stand up! Did I tell you to sit down? It's good enough that I didn't tell you to kneel down, but you still f*cking banged on!"

Du Manzhi didn't dare to resist. He left the bench and stood up obediently. He didn't dare to look around, let alone move an inch.

At this time, Xu Ning, who was sitting on the edge of the kang reading the small note, suddenly smiled, attracting Du Shoucai's attention. He asked, "What's the matter, Er Ning, what are you laughing at?"

Xu Ning spread the note on the edge of the kang and said, "Uncle, look at this. My elder brother's name is not written on it, and the other party is not mentioned. Although the handwriting is neat and the sentence is quite euphemistic, it does not say that they want to date my elder brother."

"Isn't that what she meant when she wrote this? Look at what he said. You are like rain and wind, and he is like a dog! And he is like wind. I think he is going to have a seizure!"

Xu Ning said with a smile: "Uncle, you must have wronged my elder brother. First, my elder brother is not that kind of person. Second, you must ask where this note came from, right?"

Du Shoucai clapped his hands and said, "Why didn't you ask? The note was stuffed into the mooncake box. It was given by an old lady in his unit! You said that the unit would give out gifts during the Chinese New Year and other festivals. What did the female comrade give him?"

Du Manzhi's eyes lit up and he said, "Unfair! Dad, that old woman not only gave it to me, but also to other people in our team. If you don't believe me, let's go to my unit and ask! Besides, that old woman is 35 years old, and I usually call her Big Sister. My own wife is so pretty and so young, how can I mess with her?"

Xu Ning nodded: "Yes, uncle, there must be some misunderstanding. Besides, why would you argue about this at home? The children are at home. It would be bad for them to see it."

Zhao Yue'e brought the tea tray into the room and placed it on the edge of the kang. As she poured tea, Xu Ning said, "Sister-in-law, you should trust my elder brother. Don't you know what kind of person he is?"

Zhao Yue'e said: "I didn't say anything..."

Du Manzhi pouted and said, "You didn't say anything, but you cried when you saw the note. When Dad saw it, he wondered what was wrong with me!"

"Shut up! Do you know this bitch's home phone number? I'm going to call her, or I'm going to have a rough time this class!"

"I know! How could we not know this as we are in the same team? I just told you to talk to me properly and not to wrongly accuse me... It's all thanks to Er Ning coming over, otherwise I would never be able to clear myself even if I jumped into the Yellow River."

"Brother, that's not the case. You have no guilty conscience, so what are you afraid of?"

"I'm not afraid that your uncle will cut me. You kicked me several times before you came..."

"Hahaha!" Everyone laughed.

Zhao Yue'e asked, "Did Sister Zhou give you this mooncake?"

"That's right! Sister Zhou always takes care of me. Now you said you did this. Oh, I can't even say anything."

Du Shoucai said, "You're still not happy. Wasn't it you who caused the trouble? Why are you blaming Yue'e?"

"How can I blame her..."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "Brother, your colleague lives on his own?"

"Yeah, she lives on her own. She had a husband before, but he died of electric shock when I first joined the company. She doesn't have any children yet. I heard that she has some health problems."

Zhao Yue'e nodded: "Yes, your elder brother told me before."

Seeing that his daughter-in-law was no longer angry, Du Shoucai smiled and said, "Then give her a call later and don't delay her work any longer."

"Ah! That's right! She must have written this note to send to someone else. Maybe she took the wrong note. I heard that she met a man before the spring, but I didn't ask what happened. I just heard it from the old ladies in the unit."

Xu Ning finished the tea in the cup, stood up and said, "Let's go, I was just thinking of giving Wang Xing a call."

"Hu Zi and the others haven't come back yet?" Du Shoucai asked.

"No……"

After that, everyone stood up and walked towards the outer room. Zhao Yue'e went to the west room to coax the child and did not follow them. She already knew that the note was a misunderstanding, so she didn't worry about it anymore.

When they arrived at the courtyard of the military camp, when Du Shoucai was unlocking the door, they heard the phone ringing in the house.

After opening the door, Du Shoucai stepped in, picked up the phone, and said, "Hello? Qing'an Tunbu."

"Uncle Du, right? I'm Zhou Hui, a colleague at Manzhi's workplace."

"Hey, Xiao Zhou, Manzhi and I were just talking about you."

Du Manzhi approached the microphone and was about to speak when he heard Zhou Hui hurriedly say, "Uncle Du! Is there a note in the mooncake box? Oh, it's none of Manzhi's business! Please don't misunderstand Manzhi."

"No misunderstanding, no misunderstanding, we just talked it all out."

"Oh my god, I'm so embarrassed. I'm sorry, Uncle Du, for causing you trouble."

Du Manzhi said, "Sister Zhou, who did you write that note to? Why is there no signature on it?"

"How could it be written by me? My younger sister was just worrying about it. She wrote it. I only heard about it when I got home. After that, I called you several times but you didn't answer..."

"I thought you wrote it to someone else. I was just chatting with my wife in the room. It's nothing, Sister Zhou. What do you do with this note?"

"Just light the fire. Manzhi should talk to your wife. Don't start a fight over this."

"No, don't you know who my wife is?"

After hanging up the phone, Du Shoucai patted him on the shoulder and said, "Stay aside!"

He handed the phone to Xu Ning, dialed the number and waited for the call to be transferred. Soon the call was connected.

"Brother? I'm Xu Ning."

"Oh my god, you finally have a message. I've called your village six times, but no one answered."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "There was no one in the village just now. My uncle had something going on at home."

"Ah, Qiangzi, Huzi and Guoxing will go back after lunch, but my uncle Xu and uncle Chang will not go back. The three brothers want to celebrate the festival together. The dogs will stay too. My uncle Xu said he will take care of them first, otherwise they will cause trouble when you get married. What do you think?"

"No problem! Then he will be home in the afternoon?"

"Well, I found a car for the three of them, which is just enough to take them home. I think you will get married in two or three days, so I won't bother your third brother for now."

"Not at all. That's what I thought too. Why are they going through all this trouble? How about the three of them just hunting over there?"

"I've killed five pigs in the past few days. One pig's mouth was smashed by a ground gun, and then it was eaten by Guoxing's three stupid dogs. Oh, these three dogs are such beasts! It was bleeding..."

"Hahaha, those three stupid dogs are really beasts. They only eat living things and are not happy to eat dead things."

The two chatted on the phone for five or six minutes before hanging up. Du Manzhi whispered, "She used to live in Jinfeng Village, but later moved back to her parents' home in Yongping. People say she is a stingy woman who brings bad luck to her husband. She has a weird look on her face. It's better to move to Yongping."

Du Shoucai nodded, looked at Xu Ning and smiled, "Are they coming back?"

"I came back in the afternoon..."

For a widowed, childless middle-aged woman like Zhou Hui, the gossip in the village could kill her, so she returned to her parents' home, but she could not avoid being talked about. However, there was one good thing about her own village, that is, people would not talk loudly. At most, they would mutter a few words to their spouses at home with the door closed, and the words would not reach her ears.

Xu Ning stayed in the village for about 10 minutes and then went home with Guan Lei.

At home, Liu Lizhen and others did not prepare any meals. Originally, they wanted to let the two of them have two mooncakes to fill their stomachs. However, Xu Ning disliked the sugary taste of mooncakes, so Yang Shuhua prepared some egg fried rice for them, which they simply dipped in pickles and salted vegetables, and just made do with it.

"What are we going to cook for all these people back home tonight? You can't cook too much. We have to prepare several dishes for the festival tomorrow. If they can't finish it, they'll have to leave it all."

Yang Shuhua said, "How about making some pancakes? Stir-fry some potato shreds and bean sprouts, or something like that? Make four dishes and make some egg and persimmon soup, isn't that OK?"

Xu Ning swallowed the fried rice and said, "Okay! I'd just be happy to eat some burritos."

"What are you not happy to eat? When I was a kid, I licked chicken poop..."

"Ha ha……"

Xu Ning's face darkened and he said, "Mom, that was my brother's doing, right? Don't blame me for it."

"Come on, your brother was very obedient a little while ago."

"Is he obedient? It's not time to stand on the stove and pee in the water tank."

"Go to the side and eat quickly."

Zhang Guifang said with a smile: "Aunt, I'll go back and heat up the kang first. I haven't heated it for two or three days."

"Okay, just ride the donkey back upside down. Didn't Lianfang teach you?"

"Well, I'll ride slower then."

The new house looked very clean because Liu Lizhen and others would sweep the floor, wipe the cabinet surfaces, and wipe the stove when they had nothing to do. They even swept away the broken firewood and dust around the stove door.

Liu Lizhen would complain like any other housewife, for example: "Oh, this house is too big, it's hard to sweep the floor. I didn't do anything else today except cleaning the house..."

In fact, these words are not complaints, but a subtle way of showing off. Other people don’t even have the chance to clean up such a big house.

After dinner, Xu Ning took three bags of mooncakes and went to Chang's, Jiang's and Li Feng's homes respectively. Needless to say, as for the former, Chang Xiaobao was quite popular. He would always hang around Xu Ning with a sweet mouth. He would sit in the house for a while and before leaving, he told Chang Juan that his father would not be back and asked the three of them to go to Old Xu's home to celebrate the festival tomorrow.

The reason for going to Lao Jiang's house was that he and Liu Daming were collecting meat to sell, and today was Sunday, so Jiang Qiu'er was left alone at home. Besides, his younger brother Wang Biao was very supportive of Jiang Qiu'er, so as an elder brother he could not do him a bad job. Even though 10 mooncakes were not worth much, giving something had one meaning, and not giving it had another.

When they arrived at the door of Old Jiang's house, Jiang Qiuer came out to let him in, but Xu Ning did not take a step. He just chatted with her for a few words at the gate and left. What topics could he and Jiang Qiuer have in common? Basically nothing. He only asked if she had any difficulties in learning. Although Jiang Qiuer was not particularly smart, she could endure hardships and study day and night. Even if it was a bit hard, she was better than most people in the same grade.

Jiang Qiuer mentioned that there was an English teacher in the school who taught English very well. Xu Ning then remembered this English teacher and wanted to warn him, but he didn't say it in the end. It was no use telling Jiang Qiuer about this unless he met the English teacher in person.

After leaving, he went to Li Feng's house to give him mooncakes. Chang Lihong warmly invited him in. He waved his hand and asked, "How is my brother Feng's father?"

"Oh, I'm so skinny, I don't even know if I can make it through the New Year. My sister-in-law is taking care of me. I could scold her before, but now it's hard to do so."

"That's almost enough."

"Well, your brother Feng went to see Old Tang a few days ago, and now Old Tang is preparing funeral supplies and other things..."

On the way home, Xu Ning thought that Li San's life was really a joke. He had no favors in the village, and his reputation was getting worse and worse.

Thinking carefully, his past life seemed to be no different. No one was close to him until he was old. There was nothing he could do. It was all his own fault! It was what he deserved!
When he reached the fork in the road, he saw Guan Lei waiting for him on a donkey. He sat on the guardrail and waved, and the two of them drove towards Dongshan.

The reason why Guan Lei didn't go with him just now was that he was waiting for Zhang Guifang to come back home. Otherwise, if they walked to Dongshan, how long would it take?
When he reached the foot of East Mountain, he hid the donkey he was riding upside down in a grass nest, and then walked towards the cellar.

"Brother, do you think Uncle Ma can live at home?"

Xu Ning said with a smile: "If we ask him to live in the new house, he will definitely not want to live there, so let him live in the old house. When the three of us are married, the Lengchang will be opened up, and it will be too late for him to go back to the underground cellar. Besides, didn't I talk to him about this before?"

"Yeah, I guess he just couldn't bear to part with the bees."

"Well, bees are really good. Let's try to get some in the back hill next year."

It didn't take long for them to chat and arrive at the cellar. Xu Ning shouted, "Master!"

"Hey! It's right here!"

Ma Liu turned around and stood in the open space in front of the cellar, covering the beehive with a straw mat in his hand.

Now the temperature difference between day and night is large. The temperature during the day is acceptable to bees, but once night falls, they will feel cold, so some measures need to be taken to keep the bees warm.

"Why are you still messing with bees?"

"It's cold now, keep them warm. Why did you two go up the mountain?"

Xu Ning smiled and said, "I'll pick you up from the mountain. Tomorrow is the festival, and I'll get married after everything is done. You can go down the mountain in advance to get familiar with the place."

"Fuck, what's there to be familiar with in advance? I'm not dumb, how can I not chat with others? You two don't just stand there, help quickly, build two layers, and press down the surrounding with stones..."

Then, Xu Ning and Guan Lei reached out and picked up the straw curtain. Xu Ning said, "After we put up the straw curtain, we don't have to worry about the bees, right?"

"Why not? You have to do it several times before winter, otherwise all the bees will die. You still have a lot to learn. It's only because you're busy lately, otherwise I would have scolded you for learning something but not doing it for two days."

Ma Liu said unhappily.

"Hahaha, then try raising a swarm of bees in the hills behind my house next year. You don't have to stay in the east hill anymore."

Ma Liu did not refuse immediately and said, "Let's talk about it later. Are we going down the mountain soon? I haven't prepared anything yet, and I haven't packed my things yet. Have you brought my clothes?"

"Here you go! Wear this slightly thinner one."

"Well...then you two can put up the straw curtains. I'll go into the house and clean up."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "Master, you are having a good time today, aren't you?"

"How can I not be happy about what I promised?"

(End of this chapter)