Xing'an Mountains 1984: Starting from climbing mountains to support the family

Chapter 39: Zaozi Cake

After finishing his noodles, Chen Weidong came to the supply and marketing cooperative next to the street.

The supply and marketing cooperative in the county town was several times larger than that in the township. There were three or four more salespeople inside, and the goods were very complete, ranging from farm tools to cloth, cotton, toys, oil, salt, sauce, vinegar, and sugar cubes...

Everything is available.

Chen Weidong immediately bought some cloth and cotton. Considering that it was too troublesome to drink water every time he went into the mountains, he also bought an old-fashioned green military water bottle with a shoulder strap.

There were also nails, wires, and other tools. Because the tables and chairs at home were a bit damaged, it was more convenient to fix the prey skins with nails, and the price was also cheap, so Chen Weidong bought some of them.

Since the way back was too far, Chen Weidong planned to find someone in the village to buy the rice and noodles.

Thinking of his six daughters at home who were waiting for him to return home hungry, Chen Weidong bought half a pound of candy and ordered 50 cents worth of glutinous rice cake. The 50 cents worth of glutinous rice cake filled a whole bag.

Zaozigao, which is actually egg cake, is the most profound delicacy in Chen Weidong's memory. The little ones in the family have never tasted it.

By the time Chen Weidong came out of the supply and marketing cooperative, his original salary of more than 50 yuan had shrunk to 32.2 yuan.

When I was about to leave,
Chen Weidong suddenly saw a middle-aged man selling vegetables across the street, packing up his vegetable stall with a dejected look on his face.

The middle-aged man was about forty years old, with an untidy beard. There was an old dog tied up next to the vegetable stall, and there was a wooden sign hanging on the dog - Dog for sale.

Chen Weidong's eyes lit up immediately. When he went to the end of the street just now, the dog was hiding behind the vegetable stall and he didn't see it.

"You want to sell this dog?"

Chen Weidong walked forward, looked at the dishes, and asked another question seemingly unintentionally.

Hearing Chen Weidong's question, the man who was busy tidying up the vegetable stall next to him sighed, smoked a cigarette, slowly stood up, reached out his hand and gently stroked the old dog's head a few times.

The old dog seemed to have a premonition of something. It crawled at the man's feet, whimpering, wagging its tail vigorously and looking at the man with an extremely humble, pitiful and flattering look.

The man turned his head away reluctantly, took a deep breath, and said:
"Sell!"

"How much does it cost?"

The man looked at Chen Weidong and asked tentatively: "Thirty dollars?"

Chen Weidong turned and left. This dog looked good, but he was too old.

The reason why Chen Weidong was willing to buy it was because the dog looked quite strong and had been active in the mountains.

It can also be used for hunting. You should know that the price of hunting dogs is not low, ranging from a few dozen to hundreds of dollars.

But those dogs were carefully selected, good in appearance, strong in ability, and trained to be very obedient.
After raising it for a while and getting familiar with it, you can take it into the mountains to help hunters chase rabbits and pigs.

As for other defective products, some were either sold at a low price or directly turned into food.

The dog the man has is, first of all, not young at all and already looks old. This is the factor that most affects the price of the dog.

Before Chen Weidong came over, there were people who asked about it, but when they saw the dog's age, they just shook their heads and left.

Why spend a lot of money to buy an old dog?

Do you think it is old and eats a lot?
Besides, the tip of this dog's nose is a little white, which is not a good sign. You can't tell whether it is sick. Don't spend money to buy it back, because it will die in a few days.

As for the fact that the dog has a bent back, that was made up by Chen Weidong simply to lower the price.

Although old dogs can have a hump, it only appears after they are ten years old. This dog's back hair and back are arched simply because he is too nervous.

"Don't, don't!"

The man said that when he saw Chen Weidong was about to leave, he quickly grabbed his hand, laughed awkwardly, and said, "Brother, people who do business always bargain, why don't you bargain for a price!"

Chen Weidong looked at the middle-aged man with amusement and said nothing.

The middle-aged man swallowed his saliva and said quickly: "Brother, I won't lie to you. My dog ​​is very smart. He can learn anything you teach him. He runs fast and is especially good at chasing rabbits. He often runs to the back mountain to catch rabbits and dares to fight wild boars." "And with this hand, you point it and it will understand what you want it to do."

"Today, as soon as I led it to the entrance of South Street, it knew it was going to be sold, and it stuck its neck out and refused to go in! It's so smart!"

Chen Weidong curled his lips, looking as if he didn't believe you.

"Twenty-five, it can't be any lower, brother!"

"This dog is my most beloved dog that I have raised since childhood!"

“The price really couldn’t be any lower!”

Seeing that Chen Weidong refused to budge, the man immediately became angry and grabbed his arm, refusing to let him leave.

Chen Weidong turned around, pointed at the old dog lying at the man's feet, and said calmly:
"People's fine dogs that are specially used for hunting, all young and strong, are only sold for thirty or forty."

"Your dog has gray fur, a shallow nose, and a bent back. It must be at least seven or eight years old. How dare you sell it for twenty-five dollars?"

"Do you think I'm a sucker?"

The middle-aged man didn't dare to continue arguing, and said with a smile: "Then how about you, brother, tell me the number?"

Chen Weidong thought about it and stretched out two fingers.

"Twenty dollars at most."

"If you want to sell, then sell. If you don't, I'll be put down."

"Think about it carefully."

Before Chen Weidong could finish his words, the man untied the dog rope in a flash and put it in Chen Weidong's hand.

"make a deal!"

Chen Weidong: “…”

Chen Weidong counted out two big unity notes and handed them to the man. After the man took them, he looked at the old dog reluctantly, then turned to Chen Weidong and said:

"Little brother, what I told you before was not a lie."

"I'm not educated enough to describe what kind of spiritual method it is. You'll know after you raise it for a while."

"To be honest, if it weren't for that old woman at home who kept making trouble for me and forbidding me to keep it, I would not be willing to sell it."

The man sighed and wanted to touch the old dog's head again, but as soon as he raised his hand, he put it back.

The money and goods were exchanged, and from the moment he took the money, the dog had nothing to do with him anymore. This was the rule of the Northeast Market.

"This dog has been suffering a lot around me. He eats leftovers all day and lives in a leaky shed. Yet he still follows me around every day."

"You're still praising it for being smart, but it's just a stupid dog!"

The man grinned bitterly, sighed and packed up his stall.
"Young man, twenty dollars is not expensive."

"Except for you, no one knows what it is."

The man sighed, shook his head, packed up his stall, and disappeared dejectedly around the corner of the market.

The old dog whined and chased after him until he was violently restrained by the straight dog leash.

If it were another big dog, seeing its owner getting further and further away, it would either bark anxiously or pull the leash with all its strength to chase after him.

(End of this chapter)