Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 689: The Snow in the Mountains is Too Thick, Donkey Traces

The night was foggy and the moon and stars in the sky were covered by thick clouds. In the second half of the night, heavy snow fell and continued until dawn.

Early in the morning, Xu Laonian was humming a little tune while clearing snow in the yard with a snow shovel. He seemed to be in a very good mood. Even though Xu Ning hadn't gotten up yet, he didn't tell Liu Lizhen about it. Instead, he said to Liu Lizhen: Let the little bastard sleep a little longer.

Liu Lizhen seemed very surprised. This was totally out of character for Xu Laonian. After asking carefully, she realized that Xu Laonian didn't sleep much last night, not to mention Xu Ning who was about to become a father.

At around 7 o'clock, Xu Ning lifted his quilt and saw snow outside the window. He heard the conversation between Meng Ziyan and Liu Lizhen from the north kitchen. He hurriedly put on his clothes and ran out of the house in his cotton shoes, saying, "When did it snow?"

"I heard from your father that it was around three o'clock last night."

"How can he know so clearly?"

"I'm not asleep. When did you fall asleep?"

"It seems to be around two o'clock. I'm going out first..."

After saying that, Xu Ning crouched down and ran quickly to the toilet to deal with the waste that had accumulated overnight. When he pulled up his pants and stepped out of the toilet, he saw Xu Laonian standing next to him, which scared him immediately.

"Dad, what are you doing?"

Xu Laonian stretched out his hand with a proud look on his face, saying, "I cleared all the snow in the yard myself, give me the money!"

"Go with your daughter-in-law. I don't have any money."

Xu Laonian said with a straight face, "I can't open my mouth, so just pay quickly, five dollars a time."

"Can you open your mouth just by following me?"

Xu Laonian said confidently: "You are my son, why can't you open your mouth?"

Xu Ning waved his hand helplessly: "I'll give it to you when you come into the house. If you clean the doghouse later, I'll give you an extra three dollars."

"Okay! Keep your word, or I'll kick you."

Xu Ning said nonchalantly: "It's not worth it for such a small amount of money."

Ever since he learned that he was going to be a father, Xu Ning's mood and spirit had changed. He could feel it himself and seemed to be calmer than before.

This is not a calmness in words and deeds, but a calmness in temperament...

At the dining table, Xu Laonian took out half a bottle of Wuliangye with great interest, glanced at Liu Lizhen who was picking up noodles with chopsticks but said nothing. Xu Ning and Meng Ziyan were sitting next to them and smiled. Liu Lizhen had rolled some noodles this morning, which went perfectly with the leftover chicken soup from last night. She also cooked an extra goose egg for Meng Ziyan, and they simply ate it with some pickled vegetables.

After Xu Laonian and Wang Erli went to the forest farm, Wang Hu, Li Fuqiang and others came to Old Xu's house, sat on the sofa in the reception room and boasted and joked. At around 8 o'clock, Da Laba, Li Fuqiang, Lao Jiang, Lao Wei and others all came. They had nothing else to do, they just wanted to chat with Xu Ning.

Originally, they wanted to chat, but what good things could these people come up with when they got together? After chatting for only half an hour, Xu Ning hurriedly changed into a worn cotton-padded jacket and trousers, tied his leggings, carried his gun, and went out with Wang Hu.

It all started when Lao Wei casually said that with such heavy snow, there must be a lot of pheasants and catfishes in Shuangfeng Ridge, and it would be a good time to pick them up and enjoy them fresh.

Everyone gathered at the fork in the road and walked along the narrow path towards Shuangfeng Ridge. The snow along the way was almost above the knees, but it could not stop everyone from moving forward.

"Hey, is there any news about the big cat that Li Feng encountered last time?" asked Lao Wei.

Xu Ning shook his head: "No news. Did you look for tigers when you went up the mountain?"

"I didn't see it. Even if I did, I can't just call. I have to wait for the approval."

Li Fuqiang said: "Why are we waiting for the approval? By the time the approval is done, the daylily will be cold! Brother, if we encounter it, we can just peel it directly."

"We have to cut it! We have to avenge Brother Feng. Besides, it was the big cat that attacked us first. We are acting in self-defense. What is there to be afraid of?"

After saying that, Xu Ning lowered his head to look at the snow shell and fell into deep thought. Last night, he and Meng Ziyan had a private chat in bed. Hearing his wife say that she was worried all day long, he said a few words of comfort but did not immediately say that he would not go to the mountains to hunt animals in the future.

First, he made his fortune by hunting animals in the mountains. This is the foundation and cannot be easily shaken.

Secondly, hunting animals in the mountains has changed from a way to make money to a hobby. Just like a fisherman who is not satisfied with catching a 30-centimeter-long mackerel and must catch a meter-long mackerel!

Xu Ning had hunted black bears, brown bears, roe deer, and deer, and caught old leopards, pheasants, sand chickens, jumping cats, and greyhounds, but he had never hunted elk, big cats, or mountain donkeys. As for hanging sheep? That was wild goats, which had no appeal to Xu Ning at all.

Walking in the snow in the mountains and forests, every step was a bit difficult, but it was this feeling of difficulty that made Xu Ning's heart beat fast.

They walked around Shuangfengling twice and picked up 7 pheasants and 5 jumping cats. Lao Wei also took out three greyhounds from a tree hole. Lao Jiang and Li Fuqiang went to Mangtou Mountain to take a look at the black bear warehouse, but did not see any black bears in the warehouse. Although the harvest was not big, these old men were in a good mood looking at the prey in their hands.

In Lao Jiang's words, when you get home, all you have to do is cook two dishes of side dishes for drinking, so why do you need peanuts?

The next day, Xu Ning did not run around, but drove to Lengchang. When he saw Wu Haitao, he found that he looked haggard and worked slowly. Xu Ning smiled and asked, "What happened to you? I haven't seen you for a few days, how come you have become hunchbacked?"

When Wu Haitao saw Xu Ning, he quickly straightened up and said, "Hey, it's easier for me to walk this way, why did you go up the mountain?"

"I just wanted to come over to see you. How are you? Are you adapting to the work?"

Wu Haitao had a thousand drums in his heart, wanting to beat back, but when he heard Xu Ning's words, he nodded and smiled, "That's good! I'll work here, and go back to the shack to sleep when I'm done. Brother Yan is teaching me how to return to my home, and we get along well."

Xu Ning took out a cigarette from his pocket and said, "Take it and use it first. When you have nothing to do, give them cigarettes. It's sweet to talk to them. No matter what you do in the future, your mouth will be a stepping stone, don't you understand?"

"I know. Uncle Ma takes good care of me. He even invites me to his shack to cook in the evening..."

Xu Ning nodded and asked, "Did you talk to Pan Xiao's brother?"

"Nothing. I'm just getting to know him gradually. He seems to have a good impression of me, but I didn't tell him what my family does. I just said I wanted to earn some money to get married."

"If you want to develop a relationship with Pan Xiao, don't hide it from her brother. Tell the truth as soon as possible. The longer you delay, the easier it will be for misunderstandings to arise. Do you understand?"

"Ah, then I'll just tell him straight tonight. I'm afraid he'll think I'm after his little sister and turn his back on me again."

"Why are you being so cold to me? First, tell me about your family's conditions, and then tell me what you think of his little sister. How can he still be cold to you?"

"Row!"

Then, Wu Haitao continued to work, while Xu Ning came to the shack carrying two pots of wine and five kilograms of tobacco leaves. Ma Liu looked up and smiled at him.

"How come you have time to come here?"

Xu Ning smiled and said, "I came here specially to tell you the good news."

"Good news? You have a wife? Oh! Don't tease me, you two have only been married for a short time."

Xu Ning put down the east room, sat on the edge of the kang and said, "It's true. I went to the city for a checkup the other day and the doctor said it was twins." "Eh... twins?"

Ma Liu stared, and then said, "Then my four bear gallbladders are gone."

"Hahaha! I don't want your gallbladder, just keep it for yourself."

Ma Liu rolled a cigarette and shook his head: "Why should I keep it? To have a baby? We promised it before, we have to do it! When the baby is one month old, I will give you four... or not four, that doesn't sound good, let's give you five, two for each of the two children, and one for your wife, she can buy whatever she wants."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "Okay, then I'll agree on her behalf. What are you going to do here? If you don't find it interesting, just come down the mountain with me and live in the village for a few days."

Ma Liu lit up a cigarette and waved his hand: "I won't go down the mountain. Living in the village is not as comfortable as it is here. I still have Lao Yang and Lao Zhao here to chat with me and drink some wine to relieve my boredom. It's even more boring to go down the mountain."

"Okay, come however you feel comfortable, but you must come down the mountain during the New Year and other holidays."

"Of course. We have to go down to the mountains to raise bees in spring and autumn. Hey, the beehives your father-in-law made last time were pretty good. Did you ask him to get more?"

"I've been so busy these days that I forgot. I'll tell him when I have time."

"Well, don't be too anxious. Just make it before the spring. Raise more bees after the New Year, and the children will be happy to drink sweet drinks."

December 12, the first day of the eleventh lunar month, is the Winter Solstice.

Two days ago, Xu Ning, Li Fuqiang, Wang Hu, Guan Lei and Da Laba took dogs into the mountains and killed 8 wild boars.

Yesterday afternoon, Li Fuqiang and Wang Hu drove to each of the five farms and delivered a wild boar. The workers were very happy when they saw the wild boars. It was a festival, and although they couldn't reunite with their families, they could still eat meat and drink some wine, and their homesickness was much lessened.

As soon as they got up this morning, Liu Lizhen, Han Fengjiao and other old ladies started to knead the dough and chop the stuffing. They had dumplings stuffed with oily cabbage in the morning, two bites of glutinous rice cake and tea at noon, and the big feast was set in the evening!
They prepared a total of ten dishes, symbolizing perfection and reunion.

Liu Daming, Guan Lei, and Yang Jun from Lengchang, as well as Lao Jiang and his daughter from the village, Da Laba and Zhang Guifang from Taiping Village, all came to Lao Xu's house. With so many people, two tables were set up, and everyone drank happily...

When Yang Jun and Sun Cuiping were about to get married, Yang Jun suddenly became excited and said, "I've asked Dalong to go to the city to buy vegetables and meat. Aunt, should I get married here or in my second uncle's old house?"

Liu Lizhen said, "You can do it wherever you like. We'll just have these people to chat. You have to figure out how many tables we can set up so I can prepare the food."

Yang Jun counted on his fingers and said, "With just the number of us, plus a few of our friends in the hall, my uncle and Uncle Ma, I think we can probably set up four tables."

Xu Laonian said, "Then prepare five tables. You've been hanging around out there for so many years, how can you attract people?"

"Not many people gathered around me. They all thought I was too proud and boastful..."

Xu Ning smiled and changed the subject, asking, "Uncle Jiang needs to set up more than 10 tables, right?"

Lao Jiang nodded: "Yes, more than 40 people from our village will come, and her family will have to set up two tables. There will also be more than 40 people from Taiping and Taian villages."

"Okay, let your sister-in-law arrange it then."

"Okay!"

The next day, around 8 o'clock.

Xu Ning had drunk a lot of wine last night, so he got up late. After drinking two cups of tea, he saw Li Fuqiang and Wang Hu coming in wearing hiking clothes.

"You two are going up the mountain?"

"Ah, didn't you say last night that we were going to the mountains this afternoon? You also said you wanted to hunt mountain donkeys!"

Wang Hu nodded and said, "Yeah, last night Brother Huang said there were donkeys in the South Mountain, and you said you wanted to go take a look."

"Really? I don't remember that... Then you two should drink some water first. I'll go change my clothes."

Xu Ning hurriedly got up and went into the house to change his clothes. He carefully recalled what he had said last night and remembered that Da Laba had said last night that there were traces of mountain donkeys at Tiaoshitang in Nanshan. He heard it from a mountain runner in Shengfeng.

"Huzi, come with me to lead the dog. Big brother, go warm up the car."

"Can you drive into Nanshan?"

Xu Ning nodded: "You can go in. Old Tang and his friends went to clear the snow on the narrow road with snow shovels."

After saying that, the three of them split up and in just a few moments they got the dog into the back of the car. After the three of them got into the car, Li Fuqiang stepped on the accelerator and drove towards Nanshan.

It was nearly 9 o'clock when they arrived at Nanshan. After putting the dog down in the car, the three of them walked up the mountain along the West Peak of Ximaduozi.

The blue wolf led the way, the dog gang formed a line, and finally Xu Ning, Wang Hu and Li Fuqiang.

There have been six or seven snowfalls this year, so the snow on the mountains is getting thicker and thicker. The dog gang can't run very fast in the mountains and forests, and they get a mouthful of snow while running, which makes them very unhappy.

"The snow in Ximaduo is much thicker than that in Shuangfengling. Look at them, they can't even run."

Li Fuqiang nodded: "Well, I won't take them when I come to Ximaduozi again."

Xu Ning said, "I didn't expect the snow on the West Peak to be so thick. The strong wind blew the snow here. Last night my brother said there were no traces of mountain donkeys at Tiaoshitang."

"It's the pine forest northeast of Tiaoshitang..."

"Then let's head straight for the pine forest."

They didn't walk fast in the mountains, and it was already noon when they arrived at Tiaoshitang.

When Xu Ning saw the blue wolf moving its nose to rush forward, he suddenly called out to the blue wolf twice, called it over to his side, tied it up with a leash, and said, "Tie them all up, don't let them ruin the trail ahead."

"okay!"

After all the dogs were tied up, Wang Hu and Li Fuqiang followed Xu Ning, holding the dog leashes, and walked forward into the pine forest northeast of Tiaoshitang. Xu Ning saw a trail of them, bent down to take a closer look, and said with a smile: "It's really a mountain donkey..."

"Brother, how many are there?"

Xu Ning glanced at the chaotic traces and said, "There should be two of them. It might be a male and a female because it is their mating season now."

"Second brother, shall we chase him away?"

Xu Ning stared at the tracks and shook his head: "Let's not chase them for now. The two donkeys have already run far away. The tracks were found after the snow fell. How many days have passed since then? Besides, the blue wolves can't stand it either. Let's go home."

Li Fuqiang and Wang Hu felt it was a pity. If they killed the two donkeys, they could cook a delicious meal when they got home.

(End of this chapter)