Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 744 Nonsense and Argumentation After the Laba Festival comes the New Year

Du Shoucai appeared anxious, but he only wanted to avoid Li Feng running around. He first told Chang Lihong to wash her face and clean off the blood. Xu Feng and Li Tong, who were outside the door, welcomed Sun Cuiping. After they entered the house, Sun Cuiping took the child from Chang Lihong's arms and asked a few questions in a low voice. She was relieved to learn that Chang Lihong was alright.

Chang Lihong's forehead wound was small, just a minor scrape. After a quick treatment, she went to the east room and brought over a tea tray.

"Uncle Du, brother, have some water."

Du Shoucai nodded: "Stop busying yourself, sit down and chat. Feng'er, take Xiaotong outside to play, Cuiping, take the child to the west room for a while, there's smoke in this room, don't let the child choke."

After Xu Feng, Li Tong, and Sun Cuiping left, Chang Lihong began to recount the whole story and the grudges that had accumulated over the years. She talked for more than half an hour in the room before gritting her teeth and saying, "I will definitely not acknowledge either of them anymore, and I will never come to their door even after I die!"

Du Shoucai squinted and asked with a smile, "It couldn't have been just something said in anger, could it?"

“I’m not saying this out of anger, Uncle… Li Feng and I are only getting better off thanks to Er Ning’s help. They’ve been coming here because they’re so lucky. I’ve given them a lot of money these days, more than 30 yuan here and there, but they’re still not satisfied! They come to me every few days trying to squeeze some money out of me. I’ve driven them to the point where I have no other choice.”

Li Feng, sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), heard this and only glanced at Chang Lihong without interrupting. He only knew that she had given the Chang brothers more than 10 yuan. He never expected that Chang Lihong would tell the truth: more than 30 yuan and 10 yuan are not the same thing. 30 yuan can buy two piglets!

Du Shoucai turned to ask, "What does Li Feng mean?"

Li Feng cleverly said, "Let's just listen to Li Hong. She's not my brother, so I can't say anything."

Feeling guilty, Chang Lihong lowered her head and said softly, "Feng, I was wrong to do this. I was too soft-hearted."

"Oh, it's such a small thing, why would I get angry with you? Don't overthink it. They just didn't attack you today. If they had, I would have definitely killed them!"

"No, please! We're living a good life, we can't let them pay with their lives like this..."

The reason Chang Lihong and Li Feng were able to get together is that their fates and personalities are somewhat similar. They are both very clear about right and wrong. They are like a ray of light in two dysfunctional families, except that they have little say in their dysfunctional families.

Leaving aside Li Feng, why is Chang Lihong so soft-hearted? It's just that her parents are gone, and her two older brothers raised her. She feels grateful, otherwise she wouldn't have forgiven her two brothers time and time again.

When the Chang brothers wanted to seize Chang Danian's property, she was still a minor. She spent her days at home cooking, washing clothes, and cleaning, and had no say in the matter. Whenever she tried to persuade them, Chang Xifeng would say, "You're still so young, you don't understand anything. You'll know what's going on later."

Later, Gao Yanhong and Zhang Yan joined the family and stopped letting Chang Lihong do much work. The two sisters-in-law would take care of anything that happened, and the two brothers-in-law were also taken care of, so they were no longer so unruly and heartless in their dealings.

Xu Ning jokingly said, "Sister-in-law Lihong, I'm not just talking nonsense as a younger brother. These days, my brother Feng has been quite frustrated. He's been frowning all the time and hasn't even come to visit me. He went out with my older brother to buy livestock and even made a mistake in the accounts, almost losing several yuan."

Chang Lihong nodded and said, "I must have lost my mind. I won't do it again."

Du Shoucai smiled at the couple, then looked around the house and said, "You two should move to the old house quickly. This house is for Yang Jun and Cuiping. I'll have Yang Jun give you some money."

“Ah, okay! I already told Brother Jun that I was thinking of spending the New Year here and moving over next spring.”

Chang Lihong stepped forward and poured two cups of tea, saying with a smile, "His father just passed away, and there's still a lingering smell in the house. My child is so young, and I'm afraid that moving there this year might scare him."

Du Shoucai nodded: "You two should live your lives well. I'll go talk to them later."

"Oh, thank you for your trouble, Uncle Du."

Du Shoucai waved his hand and stood up: "Alright, you two chat with Erning and the others. I'm going back first. Don't see me off, it's just a short walk."

Hearing this, Li Feng couldn't possibly stand still. He and Chang Lihong escorted him to the gate of the courtyard before returning inside.

Xu Ning took a sip of tea and said, "These two brothers got a good beating from the villagers, so they're probably sulking. The reason my uncle asked you two to move back to your old house was to let you hide there. Your old house isn't far from the village office, so they can take care of you if anything happens."

Li Feng was taken aback and said, "That's because I didn't understand. If they were angry, would they come here to cause trouble?"

"Who knows, this time they've really angered the public, and it might all be your fault."

Chang Lihong frowned and said, "If those two dare to cause trouble, I'm really going to risk everything..."

"Come on, it's not that big of a deal."

Li Feng asked, "Er Ning, do you have any ideas?"

"There's not much we can do. We'll just have to hide. In a couple of days, this will reach Gao Yanhong and Zhang Yan's families. When they come back to haunt us, those two brothers will definitely be in big trouble!"

Chang Lihong immediately stated, "Even if the two of them come looking for me, I will not acknowledge them."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "Then I'll head back. You two chat."

"Okay, I won't keep you any longer."

Xu Ning, Li Fuqiang, and Wang Hu went out and saw Xu Feng and a group of children, including Li Tong, Baozhu, Chang Xiaobao, Jiang Qiuer, and Huang Xiaomei, playing jump rope on the street.

"Second brother, how is it?"

Xu Ning patted Xu Feng's head and said, "Don't go wherever there's trouble. Just do your thing."

"Oh, I was just asking..."

There are more than 10 children in this group, all of them teenagers from the village. They usually fight and bicker, but they make up in a few days. For example, Xu Feng and Li Tong didn't get along at school, but now they're playing jump rope together. So as long as it's not a lifelong feud, they can basically resolve it.

The conflict between Chang Lihong and the Chang brothers was irreconcilable because Chang Lihong harbored resentment and even used a knife. If it weren't for someone outside the door today, and Chang Lihong stopping him at a crucial moment, Li Feng would have chopped up the Chang brothers, and those three families would have been torn apart.

Xu Ning was reluctant to get involved, but he had no choice. Li Feng was close to him, and if he stepped forward to intervene, he would lose all sense of righteousness.

Fame can make or break a person; everything has its advantages and disadvantages.

After returning home, I told Liu Lizhen and the others about it. They made a few remarks and then stopped mentioning it.

Du Shoucai also took some time to visit the Chang family. After seeing the Chang brothers, who had been beaten beyond recognition, Du Shoucai explained his purpose.

"I won't go into how you two handle things. I only have one request: stop causing trouble in the village. The fact that so many people dared to lay a hand on you two today shows that you're already notorious in our village, and nobody wants to deal with you anymore. If you two are going to continue living in the village, then you'd better behave yourselves, otherwise I can't control you."

Upon hearing this, Chang Beifeng asked with a dark face, "Uncle Du, is this our fault? A bunch of them beat us up, why didn't you say a word?"

Du Shoucai frowned: "Aren't you being a little unreasonable? Are you trying to argue with me? Fine, I'm not going to talk to you two anymore. Do whatever you want."

Chang Xifeng was taken aback and stopped Du Shoucai, saying, "Uncle Du, Beifeng isn't very bright. Don't be like him."

Du Shoucai ignored him, got up and walked towards the door. Chang Xifeng saw that he couldn't stop him, so he could only see him to the door, and said with a smile, "Uncle Du, take care, come over for a visit when you have time."

Then she turned around and went back into the house, raising her hand directly at Chang Beifeng and slapping him twice, leaving Chang Beifeng stunned.

"Why did you hit me?"

"Are you fucking brainless?! Who the hell is Du Shoucai? How dare you talk to him like that? I'd rather slap you to death!" "You're all talk and no action. Why didn't you fight back when you got hit earlier?"

The Chang brothers started fighting inside the house, and after they finished, they sat on the kang (a heated brick bed) and silently smoked.

Where should we eat tonight?

Chang Xifeng glanced up at his underling, pondered for a while, and said, "Can't you do something yourself? You're always being waited on hand and foot."

Two days passed in the blink of an eye. Xu Ning went up the mountain to hunt livestock for two days. He sent all the wild boars he hunted to the ranch. During this time, he had a drink with Ma Liu and Chang Danian.

That evening, as dusk fell and a heavy snowfall was imminent, Xu Ning received a phone call.

He sat in front of the village telephone, the receiver pressed to his ear, listening to the firewood soldier speaking.

"Your grandpa was thinking of inviting you over for a meal on Laba Festival, because he misses you."

Xu Ning laughed and said, "Third Brother, I also miss my uncle. I was planning to visit him in the next couple of days, but something came up at home and I couldn't make it. So, after the Laba Festival, I'll go and stay with him for a while."

“That works too. Why don’t you bring your sister-in-law over? Hongyan is bored at home by herself. The two sisters are good at talking. If Huzi, Qiangzi, and Leizi have time, bring them over too. Let’s all have a good time together.”

"Cheng... Third Brother, are you getting restless from being cooped up at home?"

Upon hearing this, Chai Bing burst into laughter: "Haha, how did you know? Hey, I heard you killed a 'headed ox' a few days ago? Come over here! We have some here too."

"Yeah, I know. It'll be over after Laba Festival. Tell my grandpa not to worry."

"Oh my god, my old man has been so anxious these past few days that his lips have gotten blisters. He was thinking of having a drink with you."

"I'll definitely drink when I get there, don't worry about my uncle."

"Okay, then that's settled."

After hanging up the phone, Du Shoucai laughed and said, "The people here are really nice."

"Absolutely. Hey, sir, have the Chang brothers been causing any trouble these past few days?"

"No, they're gambling with Wang Changhai."

He chatted with Du Shoucai for a while, then noticed snowflakes falling outside the window and hurriedly went home.

Snowflakes fell softly, quickly covering the ground with a two-finger-thick silver blanket.

Looking at the big snowflakes, Xu Laonian was overjoyed; he could earn 5 yuan for shoveling snow once.

After shoveling the snow, Old Xu was exhausted, looking like a big green caterpillar. He lay on the sofa, only able to move his head, his arms almost dislocated from exhaustion.

When he saw the five yuan his second daughter-in-law handed him, and heard her say, "Dad must be exhausted, take this to perk yourself up," Xu Laonian immediately jumped up, grinning and saying, "Oh, my daughter-in-law is the best! Dad isn't tired at all, this little chore is nothing!"
Now Meng Ziyan has completely integrated into the Xu family. She dares to joke around with her father-in-law and is very filial to her parents-in-law. Some people may say that she does not respect her father-in-law, but given Xu Laonian's attitude as a father-in-law, it is difficult for his daughter-in-law to treat him with the same respect as his own daughter.

The next day, Xu Ning went to Shuangfengling and set off all the traps. The area had been covered with pesticides before, but now it was covered by heavy snow, so the environment had improved. He worked for half a day before returning home with Li Fuqiang and Wang Hu.

1985 1 Month 28 Day.

Today is Laba Festival, and it is said that once Laba Festival is over, the New Year is just around the corner. So today, Old Xu is busy preparing to slaughter the roe deer in the pen.

Xu Ning went up the mountain as soon as he got up in the morning and brought Chang Danian, Ma Liu and others down the mountain. After they helped him skin the roe deer, he sat down to drink tea and chat.

Seeing Chang Danian's expressionless face, Chang Juan and Li Baoquan felt a little uneasy. They walked up to him shakily and said, "Dad, Baoquan and I have made up. You can come back and stay here."

"I'm not going back! I'd be driven crazy by having to put up with your attitudes all the time!"

"Oh, Dad, you've really made up. Um, the security guard told me everything..."

Chang Danian glanced at him sideways and asked, "What are you saying?"

"It's about the fact that his family used to have the surname Chang."

Chang Danian nodded: "Go help your aunt start the fire, we'll talk about it later."

"Hey..."

"Stop dawdling! If you keep dawdling, I'll never go back."

Chang Juan and Li Baoquan exchanged a glance, and she said, "Then you tell Dad I'll go start the fire."

After she left, Chang Danian asked with a smile, "Are you really back together?"

"Yeah, Dad, Erning gave us a good talking-to the other day, saying you don't need to worry anymore. Um, Juan'er and I told each other we wanted to raise cattle, and Erning was right there. After he heard us, he said, 'If you're going to raise them, raise a lot!' He even said he'd find me someone who specializes in raising livestock so I could learn from them..."

Upon hearing this, Chang Danian nodded and said softly, "Er Ning is quite resourceful and smarter than you. You are obedient, but you are also very methodical in your work. This kind of personality is indeed quite suitable for raising cattle. Since he has spoken, you should just follow his lead."

"I'm afraid that if we keep raising it, we'll end up losing money, and that's no small amount of money..."

Chang Danian frowned and said, "You're so afraid of everything, what can you accomplish? Look at Er Ning, he does whatever he wants. What if he loses money? Besides, with Er Ning's help, what's there to be afraid of? I'll cover for you if anything goes wrong, just go for it."

"Okay, I understand, Dad."

Xu Ning leaned closer and said, "What are you chatting about, grandpa?"

"He said you were going to find him a job raising cattle..."

Xu Ning nodded: "Yes, the person has been found. I'll send my brother-in-law there after the New Year. He'll be studying for about half a year."

"You found one so quickly?"

"Isn't it quick to find someone? I asked my brother's friend. His third uncle works as an accountant at the herbarium. He used to work at the ranch. The place where my brother-in-law is studying isn't far away."

Chang Danian nodded: "Okay, since you've arranged everything, I'm saved some trouble. Otherwise, I would have been worried to death."

"What's there to worry about? Just do whatever makes you comfortable. Hey, my third brother called a few days ago. Why don't you come with me to Wangxing for a couple of days?"

"Come on, I can't meet with Lao Chai and Lao Yang anymore. The more we meet, the more we miss them. It's fine as it is now."

Chang Danian was unwilling to go, so Xu Ning didn't try to persuade him anymore. It wasn't that he and Chai Liangyu had a bad relationship, but rather that he expressed his feelings rather reservedly. He didn't want to shed tears when they parted, and he was even less willing to admit that he was getting old.

(End of this chapter)