Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 680: Family Meeting of the Xu Family
Inside the house, the lights were dim, and the two hearts were pounding. They looked at each other for a moment and then avoided each other's eyes. Pan Xiao put his hands into his sleeves, lowered his head and whispered, "Don't look at me, go back quickly."

Wu Haitao stood there in a daze. He had seen many young girls' hands, but when he saw Pan Xiao's hands, he felt something strange inside.

She was clearly only 29 years old, but her palms were full of traces of time...

"I didn't see it clearly just now. Can you stretch it out again so I can take a look?" Wu Haitao said unwillingly.

Pan Xiao raised his arm and pushed him, saying, "Stop looking at me and leave."

Wu Haitao was pushed and shoved twice, feeling unhappy. He wondered if this woman didn't like him and why she kept chasing him away.

He was also straightforward and said, "Are you annoying me?"

Pan Xiao was stunned for a moment and shook his head: "No, it's just that it's a bit uncomfortable for us to be alone in the room."

"What's wrong with that? If others want to gossip about me, you can just say I'm your girlfriend."

Pan Xiao looked at this person and felt that Wu Haitao was a bit frivolous. He shook his head and said, "That's really bad..."

"It's okay. I'll take another look and help you figure out when your brothers can get married and have children."

Seeing his serious expression, Pan Xiao finally couldn't stand him and could only take his hands out of his sleeves and spread them in front of Wu Haitao.

Afterwards, Wu Haitao raised both hands, supported the back of her hand with one hand, and drew a line on the palm of her hand with his index finger of the other hand, which made Pan Xiao's palm feel itchy. Just as she was about to pull back, Wu Haitao held her hand.

"Did you figure it out?"

Wu Haitao frowned and said, "I can't tell who your brother is. The lines on your hand are a bit messy. I'll take a look at it for you tomorrow, but I can tell when you'll get married."

Pan Xiao pulled his hand back and said, "No need..."

"Why don't you ask when you're getting married?"

Pan Xiao looked up and stared into his eyes, and said seriously: "I can see what you mean, but my family is not well off. I have no parents, a disabled brother, and two younger brothers..."

Wu Haitao said nonchalantly, "I've heard about it. My family is just average. My brother got married and has a child. Now I'm the only one missing from the family. I've been dating a lot of people this year, but either I didn't like them or they didn't like me.

At home, my parents kept nagging me, and I had no other choice but to follow my brother Lei and sister-in-law to Qing'an. I didn't expect to see you as soon as I walked in. Since you can see my thoughts, I won't hesitate. I really like you. I also heard my brother talk about your situation. I think there is no problem. I won't say much about your appearance. You must be good-looking!
The most important thing is your personality. I see that you are very hardworking, you can do any job, you don’t talk much, you look like a lady from a noble family.”

Pan Xiao's heart was stirred when she heard this. She had heard others praise her pretty appearance before, but this was the first time she heard the words "lady from a noble family".

Moreover, Wu Haitao opened his heart right away, which made her defensive heart slowly open up. She said, "Thank you, but I'm not a lady from a wealthy family. Usually at home, my brother and two younger brothers listen to me..."

"Oh, what a coincidence! I just need a guiding light! If you have a strong personality, you can urge me to do more work. Otherwise, I will just lie on the kang and not be willing to do anything."

Pan Xiao was amused by this and shook her head slightly: "Why are you like this?"

"I'm just lazy!"

Wu Haitao said very straightforwardly that when he and Xu Ning were chatting, in addition to remembering to read palms, he also remembered one thing, that is, don't be too shameless, as the saying goes, a good woman is afraid of clinging men.

"You're quite interesting. Do you usually just lie down at home?"

"That's not the case. We usually go to the mine to transport coal to the boiler rooms of various units in the city. This year, my brother doesn't have to take care of the children, so he and my father go..."

After they started talking, the relationship between the two became much closer. They sat on the edge of the kang and chatted while drinking water.

It was not until after 9 o'clock when Yang Jun led Yang Yi into the house that Wu Haitao and Pan Xiao suddenly came to their senses. They quickly looked up at the clock and saw that it was already 9:26. They stood up and said, "Then I'll go back. I'll come to see you tomorrow."

Yang Jun carried Yang Yi into the room, and seeing Wu Haitao coming out of the east room, he said with a smile: "Why don't you chat for a while? You two can chat, I'll take Baozhu to live next door."

At this time, Pan Xiao was stunned and said with his head down: "Brother Jun, I forgot to heat the kang."

"Oh my god, you're talking so attentively! Haha, it's okay, it's time to get a fever now, Haitao is staying here? There's room."

"I'd better go back, otherwise my brother and the others will have to look for me later, so I'm leaving..."

Yang Jun threw Baozhu to the edge of the kang and said, "I'll see you off. Let's go!"

The two of them came to the courtyard, and Yang Jun asked, "How was the chat?"

"That's great. Otherwise, how could I forget to heat the kang? Brother Jun, I'm thinking of going to work in the field in a couple of days. Can you arrange for me to work with her brother?"

"Okay! This is easy. You two should get to know each other better first. This girl is very hardworking and has a good personality."

After sending Wu Haitao out the door and watching him walk away, Yang Jun turned back to the house and saw Pan Xiao squatting in front of the stove adding firewood. He smiled and said, "How was your chat with Haitao?"

The firelight from the stove made her face red. She said in a muffled voice, "Not bad. He's quite good at chatting."

"You guys start by getting in touch slowly. Give Baozhu some calcium tablets later. Then you can go to sleep. You don't need to light a fire tomorrow morning. You can go directly to my brother's place to eat."

After 9:, the originally bustling old Xu's house had become quiet. Chai Bing, Chai Baotong, Lao Qian and others had already returned to their rooms to sleep.

Only Xu Laonian, Liu Lizhen, Xu Ning, Xu Long, Wang Shujuan, Xu Feng, and Meng Ziyan were left in the east room of Old Xu's house. They sat at the head, end, or edge of the kang, eating melon seeds and smoking...

As the mainstay of the family, Xu Laonian had to speak first. He said, "Let's have a family meeting today. The main content is to discuss how we will divide the money and the house in the future."

Liu Lizhen looked at Xu Ning who was leaning against the wall at the end of the kang and said, "Don't be so careless! Can't you sit still?"

"That's not the case! You have no spine and can't stand up straight?" Xu Laonian took the opportunity to make a few sarcastic remarks.

Xu Ning didn't feel anything. He had been living like this since he was a child. Even after his parents said so, he still did what he wanted.

Xu Feng grinned and said, "Why do you always criticize my second brother? He must be tired from running in the mountains all day long."

"My daughter is right, but my daughter, who isn't tired in our family? The most tired one is your mother!"

Xu Ning continued, "Of course! This family will fall apart without my mom, but it will be difficult to rely on my dad."

"piss off……"

Liu Lizhen patted the kang mat and said, "Can you guys be more serious? We're discussing something here, and you're talking nonsense again."

"Okay, this is what happened. Ever since that little bastard started running away from the mountains last year, our family has been getting better. By the way, we also helped your second uncle, Qiangzi, and your uncle's family. Do you know how much money our family has now?"

Xu Long said: "What does it matter how much money you have? You still have to live your life as usual."

Wang Shujuan patted him and shook her head. Xu Ning said with a smile, "If you ask me, it's really unnecessary. It's just a small amount of money. Do you really need to hold a meeting?"

"Shut up! No one will think you're dumb if you don't speak!"

Liu Lizhen glared at him angrily and said, "It cost us nearly 6000 yuan to build our house. In the past year, we bought two donkeys, a tractor, and a car. Basically, all of them were obtained by Erning through his face and favors..."

Xu Long straightened up and said, "I know what you two are worried about. Aren't you afraid that Er Ning and I will have a quarrel over money? How is that possible? I'm the eldest and I'm in the city now. I can only go home once every ten days or half a month. Er Ning is in charge of the whole family. To be honest, I do feel a little guilty as the older brother..." Xu Ning said while eating melon seeds, "Let's not talk about the father's love and the son's filial piety, the brother's respect and the younger brother's respect. Let's just say what's on our mind. Now Yan and I can be said to be the richest in our village with our private money. Yan and I don't want any money from our parents."

Meng Ziyan nodded: "Yeah!"

Xu Long said: "It's even more impossible for me to accept it. I haven't paid you two any salary yet. Now you don't have to worry about food and drink..."

Xu Laonian waved his hand and said, "What do you two mean? You don't plan to support me and your mother anymore."

Xu Feng raised her hand and said, "Mom and Dad, I will support you two!"

"Hey, look! It's my daughter again!" Xu Laonian smiled.

Liu Lizhen said with a smile: "We are not dividing the family, but whoever earns the money will own it, so that it will be easier to settle accounts later."

"Okay! That's settled then. Now let's go back to the room and sleep."

Just as Xu Ning was about to stand up, Liu Lizhen grabbed him and said, "Why are you in such a hurry? Just sit down."

Xu Laonian pursed his lips and said, "Let me make it clear that Dalong will definitely settle down in the city in the future, and your mother and I will have to let the little calf take care of us. If Feng'er gets married, your mother and I can give her some dowry..."

Xu Ning said helplessly: "Dad, it's too early to talk about this now. Feng is just a little old. Brother, what's your attitude?"

Xu Long rubbed his chin and said, "What other attitude can you have? We are all family, why do you have to do this to split the family..."

Wang Shujuan said with a smile: "My parents want to settle it as soon as possible to avoid misunderstandings in the future."

"What misunderstanding could there be? I've already said it was unnecessary. Why did you have to get together and do something stupid? We haven't figured it out yet..."

Liu Lizhen waved her hand and said, "Then you all go back to your room and sleep."

This informal family meeting ended up with nothing being made clear.

In fact, when Xu Ning heard Liu Lizhen's idea, he felt it was unrealistic, because the family situation of the Xu family was different from that of other families. Their family was quite harmonious, with no conflicts at all, and no one had any complaints in their hearts.

Besides, the wives of Xu Long and Xu Ning are both very considerate and sensible. The sisters-in-law get along well with each other, not to mention the relationship between the aunts and sisters-in-law.

If they quarrel over money, the image of the entire Xu family will be ruined.

The next day, morning.

At around 6 o'clock, the old women got up and started making fire and cooking.

Xu Ning, Chai Bing, Lao Qian and others sat on the sofa and chatted. After breakfast, Lao Qian, Zhao Lan and others left first.

Xu Laonian and Liu Daming caught a roe deer and put it into Chai Bing's car. After Xu Ning watched them leave, he turned and went into the house to drink tea with Xu Long.

Normally, the two brothers have nothing to talk about when they sit together, mostly just family matters, but today they talked about the future.

"You have to study hard..."

Xu Long rolled his eyes when he heard this. Xu Ning said, "Don't be unhappy to hear this. I'm doing this for your own good."

"Just get out of here, okay?"

"Hey, why don't you understand my good intentions? As long as you pass the exam, your uncle can arrange a job for you in the future! And you are a veteran, where can I arrange you?"

"Police station?" Xu Long was stunned. He had just thought of this.

"Yeah! You can hang out with Brother Bin more often in the city. He's in the Ministry of Education now, and he might be transferred to the Department of Political Science and Law in the future."

"…How do you know that?"

"How should I know? I have better vision than you!"

Xu Long waved his hands and said, "I'm not going to bullshit you, but Brother Bin and I often get together, sometimes at his house, sometimes at a restaurant, and I ran into Director Lin before."

"Lin Dongliang? It will work if you mention me." Xu Ning boasted.

Xu Long put down his teacup and stood up to leave. He didn't want to chat with Xu Ning. This kid always yelled at him and didn't treat him as his elder brother at all.

"Hey, look, why are you so angry when I say something to you?"

Xu Ning shook his head and smiled. They had been getting along like this since they were young. To outsiders, it was hard to tell who was the older brother and who was the younger brother, but Xu Long really acted like a brother. He never fought with Xu Ning for things. In the past, their family was relatively poor, and there were only three slices of meat in the dish. Xu Ning ate two slices, and the remaining one was fed to Xu Feng, who had just learned to speak...

At this time, Wu Haitao and Sun Lianfang came in, and Xu Ning asked, "Did Shitou go up the mountain?"

"Yeah, I just walked with Jun for a short while."

Xu Ning looked at Wu Haitao's eager eyes and said with a smile, "Lianfang, call your sister-in-law and Huaer, and take Haitao to play with Baozhu."

Everyone gathered together to eat this morning, and Wu Haitao had no chance to be alone with Pan Xiao at all. Moreover, Pan Xiao took Baozhu away after dinner, which made Wu Haitao feel itchy.

"Okay, Haitao, sister-in-law will take you out to play!"

Wu Haitao smiled and said, "Okay, brother, I'll go over first then."

Xu Feng jumped out of the east room and jumped onto the sofa, sitting down next to Xu Ning. He grinned at him and said happily, "Second brother, shall we go for a walk in the mountains? I want to catch some frogs to bring to school."

"Catch a frog and bring it to school? What for?"

"My teacher is quite fond of Toad, so I want to give him some."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "Okay! Now you can do something, go call your brother Tiger."

"Okay! Shall we drive there?"

"Don't drive. It's snowing so hard that the car can't get in..."

"Then how about taking the dog for a leash?" Xu Feng said hesitantly.

"Are you going or not? If not, I'm going back to my room to sleep."

"Go!" After saying that, Xu Feng rushed out of the plastic shed and went to find Wang Hu next door.

By the time Wang Hu had prepared the tools to catch the toad, Xu Ning had already changed into running clothes and carried the 56-and-a-half on his back.

Catching toads is a rather tedious job. In addition to calling Wang Hu, Xu Ning also asked Xu Feng to go to Lao Jiang's house to call Wang Biao and Liu Tianen, and then when they reached the fork in the road, they ran into Da Laba, Zhang Guifang and Huang Lin.

Hearing that they were going to catch toads, Da Laba and Huang Lin became excited. They asked Zhang Guifang to go to Old Xu's house first. The two of them turned back home to change clothes and followed Xu Ning and others, running towards Xiaoshi River.

(End of this chapter)