Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 632: Treating Guests with Honor
The sky was dimly lit. Xu Ning put on his long-sleeved shirt and long trousers, then put on thick pants and a coat, and hurried to the toilet.

When he entered the room, the food was already on the table. He grabbed the chopsticks and started eating quickly.

Meng Ziyan placed the cloth bag containing the lunch box on the table and whispered, "There are three boxes of lunch and two boxes of vegetables in here. If you are tired from driving, find a place to take a nap. Don't force yourself..."

Xu Ning chewed his food and nodded at her with a smile. In fact, Meng Ziyan often told him so in his previous life, but he was extremely impatient at that time and even thought she was sick, as if an old maid was always nagging in his ear.

However, Xu Ning is enjoying it now. What is the purpose of life? Although this is a philosophical question, as long as people have a goal, they will be motivated to do anything! He just wants his wife to live a good life, so sometimes his wife's repeated instructions are also a kind of happiness.

"Or I can go with you. I can chat with you and save you from getting sleepy."

Xu Ning looked at his wife's concerned expression, took her hand and said, "No need, if I feel sleepy I will just lie down in the car and sleep, you don't have to worry about me."

Liu Lizhen brought him a small bowl of egg cake and asked, "When will you be back? The next day or the day after?"

"Then I have to talk to the people in Shuangfu Village. Mom, what do we have left at home? The last time I went to Shuangfu, I left with nothing. I just threw some money to the kids before I left. Don't do anything this time."

Liu Lizhen said, "There shouldn't be anything left in the cellar. Why don't you take a box of wine?"

"Let's talk after I finish eating."

Liu Lizhen did not stand in the restaurant. Instead, seeing the couple's fiery eyes, she hurried back to the east room.

Xu Ning and Meng Ziyan sat next to each other for a long time. When it was light and the sun had not yet risen, Meng Ziyan reluctantly let go of his arm.

Xu Ning moved out two boxes of bagged Daqu from the cellar. This kind of wine is no longer drunk by Xu Laonian and others. According to him, if you have good wine and don't drink it, who would drink this stuff?

Since they don't drink it, just give it as a gift. This thing is nothing to the current Xu family, but it is a good thing for the five brothers of the Liu family.

Why not Fengcheng Laojiao, Wuliangye or Shenjiu? Xu Ning naturally had some ideas. To put it bluntly, he just treated people differently.

Besides, if you give them too expensive wine, the Liu brothers would definitely not dare to accept it, so giving them some wine that an ordinary family can drink would just touch the hearts of the Liu brothers!

Xu Ning took five more packs of economical cigarettes. Meng Ziyan sent him out of the hospital gate and looked up to give him some instructions.

"Please drive carefully..."

"I know. You can go home and stay for two days."

"Ah, that's fine...but my sister-in-law is pregnant, can I leave?"

"Why can't you leave? Usually my brother and sister-in-law are not at home, so you don't have time to go back and live there."

"Then I'll talk to Mom later."

Xu Ning nodded, closed the car door, stepped on the accelerator and drove across the bridge.

He drove the steering wheel out of Tundong Exit and glanced sideways at the things placed on the passenger seat.

A Type 56 semi-automatic rifle and a bullet bag, an iron biscuit box containing 1800 yuan, a cloth bag containing food, two barrels of oil under the passenger seat, and three barrels in the trunk, which is enough for the car to run 900 miles, or kilometers!

Driving alone is indeed boring, but the bumpy road adds a bit of driving fun.

It was not until noon that he felt his stomach was empty and he found an open space to stop. He quickly replenished some energy and continued driving towards Wanye.

Along the way, you can see many farmers carrying baskets on their backs picking up fallen soybeans in the fields, or sitting on the fields breaking corn. Only a few people are driving donkey and horse carts...

Farmers are the most tired at this stage. They have endless work to do when they open their eyes every day, such as screening beans, husking corn kernels, straightening corn stalks in the fields, etc.

The money left from farming throughout the year was barely enough to cover the expenses of a family of five, just enough to keep from starving to death.

Xu Ning felt that he was very lucky. He had a chance to start over. Although he could not change the environment, he could influence the people around him and achieve his goal of becoming rich!

It was a little after 4: in the afternoon. He was driving along the dirt road along the bank of the Mudanjiang River. After passing the Shitou Temple, he could see the boundary of Malian Township.

Two hours later, we arrived at Shuangfu Village safely.

As soon as he entered the village, he saw Liu Eryin and Liu Sitie sitting on a rock rolling their cigarettes, and he honked the horn twice.

When they looked up and saw that it was Xu Ning, smiles immediately appeared on their faces. They waved and shouted, "Oh my god! Finally you're here!"

Xu Ning stopped the car and said with a smile: "Second brother, fourth brother, you must be anxious waiting, right? Get in the car!"

"Well, I'm not in a hurry. I'm just worried that something might happen to you along the way. Are you hungry? Come home quickly. Your sister-in-law has prepared the meal."

Xu Ning put the biscuit box on the passenger seat next to the oil drum to make room for the two of them, and asked Liu Eryin to hold the wine box and the cloth bag containing five packs of cigarettes.

Liu Sitie sat down and closed the door, then asked with a smile, "What time did you leave?"

"Before six."

Liu Eryin exclaimed: "Hey, you've been driving all day, right? Go home and take a rest."

"I'm fine. I'm young and have a strong body!"

"No matter how hard you try, you can't do this..."

"My family members are busy at home. They were tidying up the field before and are now working in the fields to harvest crops. I am the only one who is free."

"You haven't finished cleaning up your land yet?"

"It will be soon. We will start harvesting today and we will finish it in two days."

Liu Sitie said: "It is faster to harvest with a truck. The grain from my small piece of land was carried back by my brothers and nephew one bag at a time. It took a lot of effort."

"When you have done well in Lengchang this year, go home and buy a donkey. You can also make money by raising a donkey cart."

"Hahaha...it would be really nice if I could raise a donkey!"

The car drove to the door of Liu Eryin's house, and before it stopped, the three Liu brothers, their sisters-in-law, and their children quickly ran out of the door and greeted them at the gate.

The family was very welcoming and started asking about Xu Ning's well-being as soon as they met him, fearing that he might not have anything to eat or drink during the journey.

Xu Ning said with a smile: "I had a full lunch, so I made three boxes of rice and two boxes of vegetables. I am not that hungry now."

"That's fine. Your fourth sister-in-law was worried that you didn't have lunch, so she prepared the food early."

At this time, Liu Eryin introduced: "Erning, this is our eldest brother and eldest sister-in-law. You have met three of our five brothers. This is your third brother and his wife."

Xu Ning smiled and said hello to him. Liu Da's leg injury had not yet fully healed. He probably had some underlying problems. In the future, the villagers might call him Liu the Lame...

Liu Da said, "Let's not just stand there, come in! The eldest brother's wife will go get some water so that your uncle Xu can wash his face or something."

The eldest son he mentioned is his oldest son Liu Guosheng, who is 21 years old this year. He also has a younger son named Liu Guosheng, who is 19 years old this year. Both brothers are married.

Liu San smiled and said, "We don't have any special skills, but we have a lot of people, so we work together. Erning, this time we five brothers have to thank you for finding a way for us to make money!"

"Third brother, stop talking like that. We each have our own needs. I'm short of people, and you just happen to have someone."

"That's true, but who are you looking for? Why did you drive all the way here to pick us up? You're just remembering the kindness of my second brother, so we should remember it too!"

Liu Er said, "San'er, don't say these polite words. Since Er Ning can come here, he must treat us as brothers. You seem so unfaithful by chatting like this."

Xu Ning waved his hands and smiled, "It's okay, it's okay. We've only met twice. Let's spend more time together in the future."

After Guosheng's wife finished fetching water, the second sister-in-law said, "Erning, hurry up and wash up... After you wash up, we'll have dinner."

"Got it."

Xu Ning looked at the washbasin that had been polished to a shine and the new towel placed on the wooden rack, and he knew that the Liu family had put in a lot of thought. Because they were in a hurry when they came back last time, he saw a circle of black rust in the washbasin, and although the towel was clean, it had several holes rubbed out of it.

After he finished washing, Liu Sitie pulled him into the east room. There was only a table on the kang in the room, with two dishes on the table: stewed beans with potatoes and some meat, and two carps stewed with sauce... "Erning, come sit on the kang, can you drink less?"

Xu Ning was stunned when he heard this, and clapped his hands, "Oh! Look at my head... I'm going to go out for a while."

After saying this, without waiting for a reply from the Liu brothers, he quickly rushed to the courtyard, opened the passenger door, and stepped on the pedal to take out a box of wine and five packs of cigarettes.

He came into the house with cigarettes and alcohol in his arms, and said with a smile, "I don't have anything to give you guys, so I'll just give you some cigarettes and alcohol."

"Oh my god, why are you being so polite?"

"That's right, just come, what do you want to get?"

Xu Ning said: "Last time I came here in a hurry, so I didn't bring anything. Today is the official entry, so why don't I bring something? This is not fun..."

Liu Sitie clapped his hands and said, "Hey! Isn't this wine interesting? I saw Uncle Zhang drinking it before. It's called Daqu, right?"

"Not bad! It even has a packaging bag... Erning, this thing must have cost a lot of money, right? Why are you buying this? It would be better to buy some loose bottles, which are much more economical to drink."

“This is a good cigarette!”

"I have to save it for work. How much is this cigarette in our village store? I think it's 9 cents?"

"It should be 9 points. I usually don't want to buy this thing."

Liu San looked at Xu Ning and said, "Er Ning, don't laugh at the five of us brothers. We usually don't dare to buy it."

I really don't dare to buy it. Economy cigarettes cost 9 cents a pack, and if each person smokes a pack a day, that would be 2 yuan a month. It would be better to use this money to buy eggs for the whole family to improve their lives.

"My pockets were cleaner than my face before, and I didn't even know where to get my next meal. Besides, as long as we work together, there's nothing wrong with smoking this every day!"

"Hahaha, that's right!"

Afterwards, a few more dishes appeared on the table, including fried bean sprouts, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, young mushrooms mixed with prickly ash, fungus and peanuts, and pheasant stewed with hazel mushrooms.

Xu Ning stared at the prickly ash buds on the table and asked, "Are there any prickly ash buds at this time?"

Liu Eryin said with a smile: "Your fourth brother did it. He brought some old thorny shoots from the mountains home and planted them. He placed them on the kang and grew them. I never thought they would really sprout!"

Liu Si shook his head and said, "But they don't grow as well as those in the mountains. I need to grow several pots to make one dish."

"That's enough! There's not much to eat since winter, so it's delicious to have a bite of this out of the blue!"

"Yes! Come on up to the bed, let's have a good drink!"

Xu Ning nodded: "Okay, but I have to go out tomorrow."

"We'll leave tomorrow... so we'll leave later?"

"Yes, have them pack up tomorrow. We will leave at 5 o'clock the next morning. We need to bring dry food and other things with us. We also need to bring luggage, bedding, lunch boxes, washbasins, etc. when we go to work in the field."

"Then I'll go and tell them again tomorrow."

Liu laughed and said, "Come on, Erning, hurry up and start eating."

"Eh……"

When Xu Ning saw that the old woman and children in the house had all hidden in the west room, and that there was only a kang table in the east room, he knew that they would definitely not be able to sit at the table to eat.

He did not say anything to persuade them, because he was a guest and when he came to Shuangfu Village, he just had to listen to the arrangements made by the five brothers of the Liu family. If he worried too much, it would only make things worse for the five brothers of the Liu family!

It's easy to understand. For the Liu family, this table of six dishes is really expensive! The eggs alone cost 6 cents, and there were also tomatoes and meat, which all had to be bought at that time.

When Xu Ning asked, Liu Da revealed the origin of the foreign tomatoes.

Malian Township is a designated experimental field for tomato cultivation, and its main purpose is to produce tomatoes. No wonder Xu Ning saw many plastic sheds on the roadside when he came here.

"Last year, the township came to our village and asked if anyone was growing tomatoes and eggplants. But when I asked, I found out that it would cost 300 yuan to build a plastic shed, which we don't have."

Xu Ning said: "Greenhouse farming is really useful, and it's not a matter of luck. As long as you take good care of it, you can make a lot of money throughout the year. I have a buddy who is building a greenhouse at home. He just finished building it last year and is going to plant this year..."

"When can I get my money back?" Liu San asked.

"It depends on the market conditions. If everyone builds greenhouses, the profit will be small, or even a loss! If not many people build greenhouses around us, then you can make money, because it doesn't matter how much you sell it for."

"..."

Xu Ning and the five Liu brothers were drinking and chatting. When he spoke, the five brothers listened very carefully.

It was almost 9 o'clock when Xu Ning waved his hand and said, "Brother, stop drinking. Let's chat for a while and then go to bed."

"Okay! Eat some more... Mom, come and serve some rice to our brother and heat up these dishes."

"Don't serve more, I've almost finished eating."

"Hey, you can have another half bowl. I went to the village chief's house and got two bowls of rice. I steamed them especially for you. Try it..."

After Liu Eryin finished speaking, Xu Ning smiled and said, "Then I'll give you half a bowl less."

While the second sister-in-law was serving the rice, the third, fourth and fifth sisters-in-law were also heating up the dishes, and the children had already run to the next house to play.

When the food was served on the table again, Xu Ning said as he picked at the food, "Who among our family members will go over?"

"Except for my eldest brother, there are four of us brothers, plus Guosheng and Guosheng, a total of six people, and there are also a few neighbors and cousins."

Liu San said, "They are basically all our relatives. Erning, I hope I can't cause you any trouble, right?"

"What kind of trouble can it cause, Third Brother? You are here to make money, not to cause trouble."

"That's for sure. If others don't mess with us, we definitely won't mess with others..."

Xu Ning put down his bowl and chopsticks, looked up and said with a smile: "Lengchang has its own rules. Although I have shares in Lengchang and have the right to recruit people, Lengchang is not under my control."

"Ah, it's not you who's in charge."

"Well, none of you have done any work in the field, so when you get there you have to separate and find someone with experience to lead you."

"Of course, if you don't know how to do it, just learn it."

After talking about this, they all put down their chopsticks and the old woman cleared the table. Xu Ning took the teacup handed to him by Guosheng's wife and rinsed his mouth. Guosheng's wife was three years younger than him and was only eighteen this year.

She looked at Xu Ning with a somewhat coquettish look in her eyes. She didn't know if it was an illusion or intuition, but she always felt that she was secretly looking at her.

After the Liu brothers took their wives and children away, Liu Eryin and his wife arranged Xu Ning to live in the west room. The bedding was newly changed, and even the pillowcases smelled of starch.

What is starch? This starch is a paste made from flour. It is brushed on the edge of the quilt. This can make the quilt harder, extend the service life of the quilt cover, and also fold the quilt into a tofu block.

The second sister-in-law came into the room and saw Xu Ning soaking his feet. She smiled and said, "Er Ning, being handsome is popular. My second nephew's wife even asked if you were married. She wanted to introduce her younger sister to you."

"Haha, what do you eat smell so good? I don't dare to look in the mirror every morning when I wake up."

"Why?"

"Because I'm afraid you'll get confused just by looking at my face."

"Hahaha……"

(End of this chapter)