Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 619: Yang Jun, the old turtle, is ashamed
The autumn wind is blowing and the chill is biting.

The grass and trees growing on the mountains are colorful and gorgeous. Under the caress of the wind, the yellow leaves fall to the ground, and the withered flowers and plants gradually wither, but many fungi are still breathing.

Since the autumnal equinox, the temperature in Qing'an area has dropped by 4-8 degrees. Now the temperature difference between day and night is huge. Although the highest temperature during the day can barely reach 17 degrees, the lowest temperature at night can reach about 3 degrees.

At this temperature, even if you wear a thin coat at noon, you can still feel the cold entering your body, so people put on long johns or woolen pants, and some even wear thin cotton pants when going out.

Xu Ning was wearing the woolen trousers his wife bought for him under his trousers. He was also wearing a shirt, a thin sweater and a coat over his body. This outfit did not make him look bulky, but rather energetic and decent.

In the morning, my mother took the two daughters-in-law to Lao Wang's house to make dumplings. There were three kinds of dumplings with fillings, one was leek and egg, the second was beans and meat, and the third was green onions and meat. Now is the last batch of leeks. After this batch is harvested, you will have to wait until next year if you want to eat leeks.

When the old ladies were making dumplings in the north kitchen, they talked about stocking up on vegetables for this winter. However, the vegetables grown by Old Xu's family are late maturing. For example, potatoes have to wait two or three days before they can be harvested, and cabbage and radishes have to wait until the end of the month. So they can only pickle some pickles or pick some mushrooms and wild vegetables in the mountains.

However, Liu Lizhen was very good at finding work. She said there were a lot of beans planted in the back garden, so she picked them all, cut them into strips and dried them. There were also early-ripening radishes in the back garden of the old house, which also needed to be cut into strips and dried.

After hearing this, the old women became more talkative. Wu Qiuxia said that there were eggplants in her backyard, which could also be cut into strips and dried.

The eggplants, radishes, etc. they mentioned were all planted in mid-June, so they will mature by mid-October at the latest. In fact, they can be picked now, but they want to let the eggplants, potatoes, cabbages, etc. grow a little bigger. After all, the bigger they grow, the more they can eat.

As the dumplings were put into the pot, Han Fengjiao mixed two cold dishes and fished out salted eggs and cucumber pickles from her cellar...

After Guan Hua finished sweeping the floor, Xu Long, who had gone to Taiping to pick up Xu Pao and others, also came back. Everyone sat at four tables. Since the Chai, Sun and Wu families left after finishing their meal, the meal was eaten quite slowly.

It was not until 7: that everyone put down their chopsticks, but they looked at each other and chatted reluctantly. However, all good things must come to an end, so after just drinking some dumpling soup, Chai Bing, Sun Jiwei, Wu Zhouquan and others got on the bus.

The people who stayed in Old Xu's house included Yang Yusheng, Chai Liangyu and Chai Baotong, as well as Xu Pao, Xu He, brother-in-law and others.

Xu Feng led Xu He and Xu He's children to jump rope in the yard, while everyone gathered in the west room to watch the military parade replay on TV.

Seeing the equipment and the cold eyes of the soldiers on TV, they all clapped their hands and cheered, and were all sighing at the strength of the country and the prosperity of the people's livelihood...

Xu Ning did not get involved in the topic of middle-aged and elderly people, but only led Guan Lei, Wang Hu and others to Lengchang. Now Lengchang has been almost prepared, and they are just waiting to choose a good day to officially open the mountain!

When they arrived at the 28th floor, they saw Yang Jun chopping firewood. Xu Ning said with a smile, "Why is Yang Jun chopping firewood by himself?"

"Oh, don't mention it. My uncle has a sprained back and I have to do it myself! The shacks are already built. When will the workers be allowed to come in?"

"Start working on the 7th. Let the experienced workers guide the inexperienced workers. Once they are familiar with the work, we will officially start working!"

"Okay! There's one more thing. I have a lot of yellow pineapple and walnut wood piled up in the 17th and 28th yards. When can I send them to your brother Bao?"

"Don't worry about it. I need to call him. Also, my brother Bao may not be able to give you the money right away, but don't worry, I'll pay for it first."

Yang Jun struggled, and said, "Brother, it's not that you are a snob, I am really in trouble now, otherwise I can't sell this thing. I definitely believe you, but there must be rules for everything, what's the matter with you paying first... I'm not stubborn, I just feel that you have suffered a loss in this matter."

"Why should I suffer any loss? My brother Bao is having trouble making ends meet, so I'll help him out first. It has nothing to do with you. Besides, how are the wood from the 28-leng yard divided? Don't I also make money?"

"Okay, then I won't be polite with you. I'll drive you to the city when the time comes."

"Packing and unloading?"

Yang Jun leaned back and clapped his hands, saying, "We have to pack and unload! It's just a small job that requires a bit of bending over!"

"Okay, then I'll go with you and pick up your car to pick up the workers."

The two hit it off immediately, and after talking about this, everyone squatted next to the shack in Lengchang, smoking and chatting about the precautions after the opening of Lengchang and how to manage the workers.

Until noon, Xu Ning dragged Yang Jun down the mountain and went home to drink. At the table, Yang Jun drank a little too much, and took Xu Ning's arm to pour out his heart, saying that his wife was not a good person, and that of the two children in his family, only the second boy was his biological child...

Everyone at the table sobered up after hearing this, and stretched their necks or pricked up their ears to listen, afraid of missing a word.

There were two lines of tears on Yang Jun's face, and snot was hanging on the side of his mouth. He raised his arm and wiped it with his sleeve, sniffed and said, "Why should I know? Fucking beaker..."

"My neighbor Aunt Gu said it! The old ladies who always gather in the shop in our village also said it... I just heard it when I went back a few days ago!"

"Before Beaker married me, he was still dating someone else. He sneaked into the cornfield with her, and two years ago he went to the mountains to pick mushrooms. All the big heads in our village were watching him!"

"Fuck, that guy is in Shengfengtun. I'll go find him after this. The dog basket is gone. I heard from his relatives that he went to the south to make a fortune..."

"Brother, people in the village have been calling me a bastard for years, and I don't know what it means. I thought it was because I made some money by running a business and people were jealous of me. What an idiot I am!"

Yang Jun raised his left hand and slapped himself. He stopped only after Xu Ning and Chen Hedong tried to stop him. Xu Laonian, Yang Yusheng, Chai Liangyu and others looked at each other in bewilderment.

At first glance, Yang Jun looked quite pitiful. Wu Qiuxia asked curiously, "Jun, how do you know that your eldest son is not your own?"

"I asked someone to calculate the date for me! Just eight months after we got married, she gave birth to our first child. At first, my mother said that the first child didn't look like me or his grandfather, but I didn't take it seriously.

This woman said that the eldest child was born prematurely. The midwife was from her mother’s family and she also said that it was premature. She said it weighed only 6 pounds. It must have lacked nutrition in her mother’s belly and came out prematurely…”

Xu Ning felt quite helpless when he heard this. He never expected that Yang Jun, such a proud and image-conscious man, would actually encounter such a thing. This undoubtedly made Yang Jun lose face and feel ashamed.

"Brother Jun, since it has already happened, you have to find a way to get over it."

"Erning, I really treat you as a brother. I'm not afraid of you laughing at me. I don't have any tricks right now! I really have no other choice but to blurt this out. Otherwise, with my reputation, how could I keep talking nonsense to myself... Is there a loud speaker in the house..."

Yang Jun opened his red and swollen eyes, raised his head and looked around. His action made everyone laugh, but they stopped laughing after two or three seconds because Yang Jun was in such a miserable state and it would be inappropriate for them to laugh any longer.

Xu Laonian said, "He didn't come today. He went out to sell meat with your uncle. Don't worry."

Yang Jun smoked a cigarette and muttered, "I'm not afraid that he will tell others, I'm just afraid that others will laugh at me..."

"Brother Jun, don't worry. Since you've told me about this, no matter what you say, no one can tell anyone about it."

After Xu Ning persuaded him, he asked, "What do you think now?"

"What are you thinking... I want a divorce now! I'm not going to live with this old woman named Beaker anymore. Erning, if you have a solution, please help me, okay?"

"Don't worry, listen to what my uncles have to say. After all, they have experienced more and seen more than us."

At this time, Xu Laonian, Xu Pao, Chang Danian and others looked at each other in bewilderment, while Chai Liangyu asked with narrowed eyes while smoking a cigarette, "Are you sure that the eldest and the second kid are not your children?"

"The eldest one is definitely not me! He doesn't look like me at all. The second one must be my child. He looks exactly like me when I was a child..." Chai Liangyu turned his head and asked, "Brother Yang, what can you do?"

"Do you two have a marriage certificate?" Yang Yusheng asked.

"Marriage certificate? No..."

Yang Yusheng said with a straight face, "Then why are you panicking? Just find the team leader and team members of your village and her mother's village and ask them to bear witness for you. Give the eldest to her and the second one to you. If your family has spare money, you can give it if you are willing. If you are not willing to give it, forget it."

"How could she have any spare money? When she left with the kids, she borrowed nearly 1000 yuan from people in our village, and I paid it all back. I was almost mad at her!"

Yang Jun said hurriedly, "Thank you, Uncle Yang, for showing me a way! Otherwise, I don't know what to do..."

Liu Lizhen advised: "Jun, don't get angry, hurry up and get your son back, and get this done as soon as possible, so that she won't come looking for you again in the future."

"You can't even bother with her even if she comes to me! Auntie, can you help me see if there are any vacant houses in this village? I want to take my children to live somewhere else."

"So what do you do with your land?"

"The land is there and I can't lose it. Anyway, I don't want to live in the village anymore. As soon as I enter the village, I feel like someone is gossiping about me. I can't stand it."

Xu Laonian nodded and said, "Zhen, then let's find a house for Jun in our village. Jun'er, let me tell you, the news of the 12 villages in our forest farm is interconnected, and it may spread to Qing'an Village one day."

"Just spread it, I should have figured it out by then. Aunt, I'm sorry to bother you with this."

"Why are you being so polite, kid? I don't have much to do normally, and you call me aunt, that's only natural!"

Yang Jun didn't drink any more after that, but the middle-aged and elderly group took advantage of Yang Jun's talk and drank another two or three liang of wine...

It was past 3 o'clock, and everyone had finished their tea and were eating melon seeds and chatting.

Seeing that it was getting late, Yang Jun stood up and said goodbye. At this time, Xu Ning took a roll of banknotes from Meng Ziyan and chased out the door.

At the foot of the wall on the left side of the courtyard gate, Xu Ning took Yang Jun's arm, stuffed a roll of banknotes into his hand, and said, "Brother Jun, I know you're having a hard time right now, so take this 200 yuan first, and give it to me later if you have anything."

Yang Jun looked down at the 200 yuan, choked up, and said, "Erning, I have been considerate of others for so many years, but I didn't surround them at all, and they all ran away at the critical moment. I didn't even dare to say anything to you, and you..."

"Brother Jun, why are you saying that? We are brothers for each other. Since we met, you have no complaints about me. When I hunted wild boars, it was Lengchang who offered to give me a bonus, but I didn't respond to you. You still sent me money. Now you are helping Lengchang, and I know everything..."

"I won't say anything. I've remembered it all. I'm going home to get a divorce in the next two days. You keep an eye on the place."

"Okay, that's easy. Also, when you do things, buy some things for your village leader and team members in advance. Don't buy fake stuff, buy practical things, such as eggs, salt, MSG, rice, flour, etc...."

"Yeah, I know. Okay, you can go back..."

Xu Ning waved his hand: "Drive slower."

Seeing Yang Jun leaving, he turned back to the house, and people in the house started talking about Yang Jun's experience.

"This kid is much better than Yang Dong. I've lived in Taiping for so many years and never saw Yang Dong send me anything. But since Yang Jun opened his business, he has sent me something almost every year. I'm not after anything from him, but mainly because this kid is so thoughtful..."

After Xu Pao finished speaking, Xu He nodded: "Yeah, every time I saw him before, he was smiling, he was a nice guy, how come he met such a wife."

"Everyone has his own destiny..." said Chang Danian.

Liu Lizhen took Xu Ning's arm and said, "Son, if you can help him, please help him. This child is so pitiful. His parents just passed away a few years ago, and now his wife is causing trouble again."

"How can I help? At most I can give him some money and let him figure it out on his own. I won't get involved."

Xu Laonian glared and said, "How can this little bastard be so cruel!"

Yang Yusheng smiled and said, "Er Ning is right to do this. We shouldn't get involved in this matter."

"Look how insightful my Third Uncle is!"

At this time, an old Jiefang car stopped outside the door. Xu Ning stepped out of the door and saw that it was Lao Qian.

"Hey, isn't sister-in-law on vacation? Why are you here instead of staying at home with your wife?"

Old Qian said with a smile: "Your sister-in-law took the child back to her parents' home. I came here just after dinner. Didn't Hedong tell you?"

Xu Ning nodded and was stunned for a moment: "What are you talking about?"

Chen Hedong said behind him: "I want to take your sister-in-law to the city to find Lao Qian."

"Ah? Why are you going to the city? I'll go there when I have time."

Su Yawen smiled and said, "You've been very busy lately. We'll go to the city and then return to the provincial capital. We can take the train back directly, so you don't have to worry about it."

"No, it's only the second day of National Day. Why are you two in such a hurry to leave? I was thinking of taking Dong Ge out for a couple of days of hiking."

Chen Hedong smiled and waved his hands: "Forget it, I can't enjoy the blessing of running in the mountains. You guys have fun. I will bring your sister-in-law over to play in winter."

"That's fine. Come in and have a drink of water first. How about you guys finish your meal before leaving?"

Old Qian shook his head: "It's terrible, let's go now, otherwise it will be dark when we get to the city."

However, Lao Qian still went into the house to say hello to Xu Laonian and others. Then everyone sent the three of them out the door and only returned to the house after watching Lao Jiefang disappear around the corner.

As soon as he entered the house, Yang Yusheng asked, "Erning, your grandpa Sun's grandson is one month old. Are you going to the city, or are you going to Sandaohe after a hundred days?"

"I told my grandpa Sun about this. When the child is 100 days old, I will go directly to Sandaohe. He will hold the event in the city. He mainly wants to invite colleagues to join in the fun. I don't have a position to join in the fun."

"Okay, I'll take your brother there."

The next day, Yan He drove Jeep 212 to Old Xu's house and took Yang Yusheng and Xu Long away. Sun Jishan's eldest grandson was to celebrate his full moon on the evening of the 3rd, and the 12th day would have to wait until December 12th, which was the th day of the tenth month in the leap lunar calendar.

(End of this chapter)