Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 715 Cultivating Morality and Self-Discipline: Old Xu Doesn't Care About Conditions

The children, influenced by their parents, naturally felt a desire to rid the Chang brothers of evil deeds. However, being only teenagers, they couldn't afford to cause trouble for the Chang brothers, so they only picked on the weakest ones. As a result, the Chang brothers' children suffered.

Don't doubt the ambition of today's children. Even in rural mountain villages, they have extracurricular books to read, such as comic books of Water Margin and Romance of the Three Kingdoms. Some of these books even contain educational scenes. They learn from Lu Zhishen, and while they may not be able to uproot a willow tree, they are more than capable of defeating the bully of Zhenguanxi. This embodies the saying "roaming the world and upholding justice." Who didn't dream of wandering the world with a sword when they were young?

Li Feng, being the uncle, didn't mention anything wrong with the child; the grudges between the adults had nothing to do with the child.

Although the Chang brothers' reputation in Qing'an is getting worse and worse, the two brothers seem not to care at all and continue to do things their own way. This time, the things they did were even more degrading!

After hearing Li Feng finish speaking, Xu Ning thought to himself: Maybe the Chang brothers wanted to ease their relationship with Li Feng, so they came up with this terrible idea. As long as Chang Lihong softens her heart, the two families will definitely have to keep in touch in the future. After all, Li Feng is an outsider, and blood relatives are the ones who are truly connected.

Everyone chatted at Lao Xu's house until after 9 o'clock, and then went home to sleep. Before leaving, Lao Jiang, Da Laba, and Li Feng made an agreement with Xu Ning that they would go hiking together the next day, and they would definitely bring their dogs and have a good dog fight.

One great thing about hunting in Nanshan is that you won't encounter any outsiders in the mountains. Why? Because the area around Nanshan is mostly uninhabited deep mountains, so you won't have to worry about people. However, in Beishan, where there are more surrounding villages and smaller mountains, you have to be careful.

Now Li Feng's back injury has fully healed, and he can run and jump again. As long as he takes it easy, there's basically nothing to worry about. A few days ago, he was recuperating at home, and Da Laba did the meat-collecting work. Da Laba didn't forget to leave Li Feng some money. Li Feng felt a little uncomfortable holding this money, but since Lao Jiang and Da Laba had brought it to him, he couldn't refuse it.

This business was run by four people from the beginning. Although Liu Daming went to Lengchang to become the foreman, his share of the money was always saved for him. So Liu Daming received three shares of money: one was the salary of the foreman of Lengchang, one was the salary of the city's mountain patrol hunter team, and one was the money to buy meat scraps.

Sometimes Xu Laonian would mutter that Liu Daming was capable, earning more than him. Whenever this happened, Liu Lizhen would praise Xu Ning without reservation, and then belittle Xu Laonian, saying that his younger brother had followed his brother-in-law for more than ten years and hadn't saved anything, and that it was his nephew who had arranged things for him in the end.

An ordinary man would not have been able to stand such an insult and would have fought with his wife. But Xu Laonian was no ordinary man. He just laughed and said, "Oh, my youngest son is capable. The capable should do more."

The next day, instead of rushing into the mountains, everyone drove two cars, one for people and the other for dogs, and all went into Lengchang.

After arriving at Lengchang, Xu Ning first delivered some supplies to Ma Liu, and then had Yang Jun call Wu Haitao over. The young men sat in the small shack and had a heart-to-heart talk.

The initial discussion focused on how Wu Haitao explained the situation to his family, because Pan Xiao's family was truly poor and not a good match for the Wu family. In Xu Ning's mind, matching social status was very important. It wasn't about discrimination, but rather based on his experience from two lifetimes. Of course, you could say that he wasn't even human in his previous life, but at most an animal...

Xu Ning felt that phrases like "childhood sweethearts" and "golden boy and jade girl" all implied "marrying someone of equal social standing." Don't believe me? Think about it carefully.

Are there families with vastly different backgrounds who live exceptionally well? Yes! Definitely! But the probability is extremely low, and the risk is extremely high.

So, after Xu Ning explained the situation to Wu Haitao, Wu Haitao said, "Brother, I understand everything, but I'm set on her."

Li Fuqiang clapped his hands and said, "Then there's no other way."

Looking at Wu Haitao's expression, Guan Lei felt that he was genuinely moved. He turned to Wu Haitao and said, "Brother, can you think of a way for Haitao? If you suddenly tell my grandparents, they definitely won't accept it. The families we introduced to Haitao before were all well-off, with either eldest daughters or eldest granddaughters, all the darlings of their families."

Xu Ning looked at Wu Haitao and said, "I'm not worried about you two not doing well, I'm worried about your parents not being happy. Look at your brother Lei, before your sister-in-law's family even met him, she had already sent word to her family. Only after your brother Lei went there did they agree..."

Besides, can Sun Lianfang and Wu Haitao be compared? Sun Lianfang has a personality that's fearless; she'd do anything, even defy her parents. Wu Haitao wouldn't dare…

Wu Haitao scratched his head and said, "Brother, just give me a straight answer, do you support me or not?"

"branch……"

"Hey bro, please stop messing with me, just help me out, I get along really well with her brother..."

Li Fuqiang and the others smiled when they heard this. Wu Haitao was still young. They couldn't say that he was ignorant or naive. They could only say that there was a difference between boys and girls.

"The problem now is not what her family's financial situation is like, but how you tell your family. If you act first and then inform them, your parents will definitely be angry."

Why do I say that? Wu Zhouquan and Han Fang are typical older generation parents who believe in arranged marriages. Otherwise, Han Fang wouldn't have asked Xu Ning to help introduce her to a potential partner. If Wu Haitao were to date someone on his own and bring her home, Han Fang would definitely feel uncomfortable.

Ah, the people your parents introduced you to weren't good, but the ones you found yourself were good? Look at what you've found! Not a single house, not a single plot of land.

Even the smallest thing becomes a huge deal in the eyes of these parents.

Xu Ning stared at Wu Haitao's sullen face and said, "I'll call your parents tomorrow and tell them there's a girl in the village who's getting along well with Lianfang. The girl's family isn't very well-off, but she's a really nice person and can do any kind of work. I'd like to introduce her to you."

"Ah, isn't this the same thing?"

Li Fuqiang waved his hand: "That's different! It depends on how the words are said and who says them."

Guan Lei said, "Brother, shall Lianfang and I make the call tomorrow?"

“The three of us will go together. We’re all family on the phone, so let’s be honest. Anyway, I don’t really agree. Lianfang said the girl is virtuous, but you should consider the family’s situation and the circumstances of her three brothers. Let me decide for myself.”

These words sounded a bit harsh, but Guan Lei understood what they meant. Xu Ning clearly didn't want to get involved, much less act as a matchmaker. If Han Fang took a liking to her, she would naturally have to thank Sun Lianfang and Guan Lei; if she didn't, there was nothing she could do.

Wu Haitao blinked and said, "Brother, you're someone my parents value. If you put in a good word for them, they'll definitely agree."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "I will definitely say what I should say, don't worry."

Guan Lei waved his hand: "Go get to work, we still have to go up the mountain to hunt livestock."

"okay!"

After Wu Haitao left, Xu Ning greeted Ma Liu and then went out of the house with Li Fuqiang, Wang Hu and others. They met up with Lao Jiang and others in the open space of Lengchang, and then led the dog south from Lengchang.

It was a little past 8 o'clock, the sun was high in the sky, and although the cold wind was still biting, it was blowing with the wind, only blowing against my back.

They moved very quickly. Because the snow crust had hardened, the dog gang darted through the snow quite rapidly and soon reached the vicinity of Black Stone Pond.

Guan Lei couldn't hold back any longer and asked, "Brother, why don't you like the woman Haitao found?"

“It’s not that I don’t like them, it’s that I’m afraid his parents won’t approve. What kind of families did I introduce to Haitao before? They were all families with guaranteed income, don’t you understand? And don’t talk about Lianfang or anything like that. Can Haitao compare to her? I don’t want to get involved, but now that things have come to this, I can’t lie to his parents.”

After the deception, once there's a mother-in-law/daughter-in-law relationship, it's all Xu Ning's doing... Even if the words don't reach his ears, he can guess what others are thinking.

"Hey, Haitao is really stubborn."

Guan Lei knew Han Fang's personality, so he didn't say anything more. Anyway, her sister was doing well at Lao Wu's house. After all, the two families were old friends and the relationship was there. Han Fang had watched Guan Mei grow up since she was a child, so she was naturally very satisfied.

After running around in the mountains all day, the blue wolf, the black wolf, the spotted wolf, and the fat old man all got going. They caught two yellow-haired pigs and hunted four wild boars. These wild boars looked much thinner than in autumn, but they still weighed about 150 pounds on average.

One of the old sows had its neck torn open by the three idiots' bite. The loudmouth chuckled and cursed helplessly, wondering which dog could be as fierce as the three idiots. He was both proud and speechless, but the loudmouth still really liked these three dogs. After all, they were the only ones in Qing'an, which gave them a lot of face!
It was already dark when they dragged the wild boar back to the farm. After throwing it off, the group took the dog, got into the car, and went home.

Speaking of today's catch, Xu Laonian pursed his lips and said, "Aren't you always hunting black bears and shrews, or at the very least, tigers and leopards? Why did you lower yourself to hunt wild boars?"

Liu Lizhen glared at him, annoyed. Xu Ning laughed and said, "Dad, how can I be as unrealistic as you? So many workers in the factory are waiting to eat meat, of course I have to satisfy them."

"Who are you calling arrogant and incompetent?" Liu Lizhen couldn't help but retort, "I'm talking about you! What's wrong with you? You always have to stir up trouble..."

"I'm not going to argue with you two. I'm focusing on self-cultivation now."

Everyone at the table burst into laughter. Wang Erli clapped his hands and said, "Brother, how do you cultivate your character? I'd like to learn from you."

"That must mean he's chanting spells all the time, brother. Do you even know how to chant these spells?"

Seeing his brother's expression, Li Fuqiang immediately understood. He slapped the table and chanted, "I know, the crescent moon hasn't appeared yet, Diao Chan..."

"That's right! I went to the moon to find Diao Chan and cultivate my mind."

"Hahaha……"

The laughter inside was deafening, making Old Xu blush with embarrassment.

He picked up his wine glass, waved it away, and said coldly, "I have nothing in common with you!"

The next day, right after they finished eating, Xu Ning, Guan Lei, and Sun Lianfang went to the garrison headquarters.

On the way, Xu Ning gave Sun Lianfang a few special instructions, and Sun Lianfang nodded and said, "Brother, I can't interfere with your introduction of other people, but Pan Xiao is really good. She keeps the house clean and tidy, can cook all kinds of dishes, and her family used to be quite educated. She's so virtuous."

"Let's not talk about the educated people in the family, understand?"

Sun Lianfang seemed to understand and nodded: "Okay, I knew this girl was quite virtuous and could do all kinds of chores."

After arriving at the village headquarters and greeting Du Shoucai, I dialed the phone number for Wanye Village.

After the call was connected, Guan Lei chatted with the village chief for a few minutes. After learning the purpose of the call, the village chief personally went to Old Wu's house.

After waiting for more than 10 minutes, Wu Zhouquan finally answered the phone and said, "Shitou?"

"Well, sir, um... my brother and Lianfang are right here, but is my aunt here?"

"I'm listening right here, so speak quickly if you have something to say."

Lianfang answered the phone and said with a smile, "Grandpa and Grandma, this is Lianfang."

"Oh, Lianfang! You're talking, your grandpa and grandma are listening."

"Here's the thing, I'm currently in Qing'an Village, and there's a girl here I get along with quite well. I think she has a good personality, looks, and height, so I was thinking of introducing her to Haitao, but my brother and Shitou are both unwilling..."

Han Fang's voice came through the microphone: "Oh my god, this is great news! Lian Fang, you're so thoughtful!"

Wu Zhouquan remained quite calm and asked, "Why are Erning and Shitou unhappy?"

Lianfang handed the phone to Guan Lei, who said, "Uncle, it's not that I'm unwilling. This girl is quite nice. She can do all kinds of chores at home and keeps things tidy. It's just that her family's conditions aren't very good."

"Your family isn't well-off?" Han Fang frowned.

Wu Zhouquan laughed and said, "So what does Haitao mean now?"

"Oh my god, I haven't introduced Haitao yet. He works at the farm and doesn't usually come down the mountain."

Xu Ning took the microphone and said, "Grandpa, you and my aunt need to agree on this. Besides, Lianfang told me before that firstly, this girl's brothers all work in our farm; secondly, this girl has no parents; and thirdly... Shi Tou just said that her circumstances aren't very good."

Han Fang grabbed the microphone and said, "Er Ning, our family doesn't care about conditions. As long as she marries into our family, we just need her to live a good life, right? So what are her family's conditions?"

Xu Ning smiled and said that although she didn't care, she still pressed for details.

After stating his conditions, he added, "Her brother and two younger brothers are quite hardworking, and they get along well with Haitao in Lengchang."

Upon hearing this, Wu Zhouquan laughed and said, "Er Ning, tell me the truth, have they met?"

"Of course I've seen him! Yang Jun, the head of our village, got married a few days ago. I think I've seen him there."

Han Fang smiled and asked, "So, how tall is this girl?"

"He's probably around 1.6 meters tall?"

"Wow, it's really big..."

Wu Zhouquan nodded and said, "Our family doesn't really care about the girl's family's conditions. Erning, could you help arrange this? Your aunt and I will definitely support you! I was originally thinking of asking you to help introduce me to someone, but who would have thought this would happen?"

Xu Ning said, "Oh dear, sir, please don't embarrass me. I am a bit of a snob, unlike Lianfang."

"Haha, you're thinking of our family too, okay! This is a good thing. Oh dear, your aunt and I have been worried these past few days, but this time we've finally found someone we like."

Han Fang snatched the phone and said, "Er Ning, Hai Tao wants to find someone good-looking. When they officially meet, have Lian Fang help the girl get ready. Hai Tao will definitely take a liking to her."

"Okay, Auntie, I'm listening."

"Oh, thank you so much, Lianfang."

"Oh my god, ma'am, don't be so polite. We're all family."

Wu Zhouquan said, "Once they've both chosen their favorites, they can call home, and your aunt and I will feel at ease."

"Okay!"

After hanging up the phone, Xu Ning smiled at Guan Lei and Sun Lianfang and said, "The old folks must have realized that our story has too many loopholes."

Guan Lei laughed and said, "Yeah, but I was very considerate of you and Lianfang, and didn't expose you..."

"Just pretend you don't know. You've already agreed, so what's there to be afraid of? Bro, should we have Little Stone tell Haitao about it later?"

"Go ahead and say it, let him be happy first."

(End of this chapter)