Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 113 Buying a Dog
There was nothing to do in the winter, and since they were not going hunting with Wang Jiaxiang and the others, Qu Shaoyang and Liu Dongshan decided to form their own hunting gang.

Anyway, a hunting gang doesn't need everyone. Liu Dongshan has experience, Qu Shaoyang is a good shooter, and it would be enough to have three or four more people to follow his orders.

They have four guns. Nowadays, ordinary hunting gangs can't catch up with them.

The only drawback is that there are fewer dogs and no mature big-headed dogs.

But this did not pose a problem for Qu Shaoyang. He asked someone to ask around to see who had hunting dogs to sell.

What the hell, a few days later, there was news.

Just over there at Wangjiang Tower, there lived a hunter who was not young anymore. He had four dogs which he was selling.

When Qu Shaoyang learned the news, he immediately led his men to the village near Wangjiang Tower.

After entering the village, he asked people about Zhao Pao. Everyone in the village knew about Zhao Pao. Qu Shaoyang followed their instructions and successfully found the family.

Zhao Pao's house is not in the village, but at the west end of the village, quite a distance away, it is just an isolated courtyard.

As Qu Shaoyang led his men to the gate of the courtyard, he heard a dog barking in the yard.

"Uncle Zhao, are you home?" Qu Shaoyang didn't go into the yard, but just stood at the gate and shouted.

The people in the room heard the noise and pushed the door open. "Who are you looking for?"

A little old man, not particularly tall, slightly hunchbacked, wearing a tattered sheepskin coat and a wolfskin hat on his head, but he walked quite briskly.

The old man came out of the house, called his dog, then looked up and asked.

"Uncle, are you Mr. Zhao Pao? I heard that you have four hunting dogs that you want to sell?"

Qu Shaoyang looked at the old man and asked respectfully.

"It's me. You want to buy a dog? Come in, sit inside."

The old man nodded towards Qu Shaoyang, turned around and led everyone into the yard.

Hunting dogs are not annoying. They were barking just now because they were guarding the house.

At this time, the owner appeared, and the dogs turned around and went back to their den to lie down.

Qu Shaoyang led the group and followed the old man into the yard.

The yard of this house is not too big, with three mud and thatched houses, and it looks a bit shabby.

After entering the room, a strong smell of medicine hit my nose. In the east room, someone was coughing.

"Old lady, are you coughing again? Come on, there's some honey water on the table, drink a sip to calm the cough."

When Zhao Pao heard someone in the room coughing, he couldn't help but become anxious and no longer cared about Qu Shaoyang.

He walked into the house, picked up the honey water on the table, helped his old wife who was lying on the kang, and fed her a few sips of water.

"Young man, you can see that we have no children, and now my wife is sick, and we have to spend money to buy medicine.

I'm old and I don't have the energy to go into the mountains to hunt anymore.

The four dogs at home are all good at hunting. The big-headed dog in my house is called Qinglang.

Its father is the offspring of a dog and a wolf. That dog has a good smell and can be eaten by both snow-loving and land-loving people.

It has a fierce mouth. It can knock down any prey in our mountain, no matter it is wild boar, black bear, roe deer or deer.

The dog still has a long way to go, six or seven miles is no problem.

The other three dogs are also good hunters. If these four dogs go out, they will just kill any wild boar."

When someone comes to buy a dog, it is natural to introduce the dog in detail.

When Zhao Pao talked about his four dogs, his eyes lit up. It can be seen that he really likes dogs.

"My dear, you won't suffer any loss if you buy these dogs of mine. If they don't work, you can return them to me.

To be honest, I really don't want to let them go, but I really can't go up the mountain now, and it's useless for them to follow me." At this point, Zhao Pao sighed, what is a hero in his twilight years, maybe he is like this.

Before Qu Shaoyang came, he had heard about the deeds of this old man Zhao Pao.

The old man was a famous hunter in his day, otherwise he would not have been called Zhao Pao.

In the Northeast, only people with excellent marksmanship and superb hunting skills are called Paotou.

Unfortunately, the old man has a bad life.

Originally, the couple had three sons. When the eldest was ten years old, he went to the Yalu River to take a bath, but somehow he drowned.

The second child got sick one year and died without any help.

The third son was finally raised to the age of twenty. Just when he was told that he had been engaged to a wife, he died of a sudden illness before the wedding took place, causing the girl to become a widow.

The loss of three sons was a huge blow to the old couple. Mrs. Zhao became ill from then on and had been treated on and off for several years but her condition did not improve.

The money Zhao Pao earned from hunting over the years has been almost spent on his wife's medical treatment and medicine in recent years. Otherwise, how could Zhao Pao be willing to sell the dog?

As for the dogs of the Zhao family, they are indeed famous for their abilities, and everyone nearby knows it.

"Grandpa, just tell me how much you want for these four dogs." Qu Shaoyang nodded and said directly.

Zhao Pao looked at Qu Shaoyang and saw that he was dressed very elegantly, so he knew that he was not from an ordinary family.

"Twenty taels, these dogs are worth that price." Zhao Pao made up his mind and asked for twenty taels.

Qu Shaoyang brought Jiang Chunfu, Xingjia, Xingye and others with him today. As soon as Mr. Zhao Pao mentioned the price, he immediately gave the three people at the back a big bet.

Xingjia was choked by his saliva and his face turned red from coughing.

How much does a horse cost these days? A horse used for farm work costs only a little over ten taels of silver.

You know, horses are big animals. I've never heard anyone say that dogs are big animals.

Four dogs cost twenty taels. How dare this old man ask for that? No wonder no one dared to buy these dogs after they were sold for quite some time. They were too expensive.

"Okay, twenty taels is twenty taels."

However, something even more surprising happened to everyone. Their boss actually agreed directly without even talking about the money?
No, what kind of operation is this? Are you just showing off your money?

Even if you have money, you can't do this. No one wants to take advantage of a mountain of gold and silver. If you spend it like this, your family business will go bankrupt sooner or later.

The three of them complained in their hearts, but dared not say a word.

They are the bosses, they spend their own money, what does it have to do with them? Huabei, if you have money, just make it.

Qu Shaoyang agreed without hesitation, which also scared Zhao Pao on the opposite side.

"No, sir, I said twenty taels, not two taels." The old man couldn't help but repeated it.

“Don’t worry, old man, I understand, twenty taels.

I trust the old man, and I also trust Qinglang's dogs. We are both dog lovers, so twenty taels is twenty taels. I'll give it to you right away."

Qu Shaoyang could actually guess what Zhao Pao was thinking.

One reason was that the old lady of the Zhao family was ill and the expenses were not low. The four dogs were his last resort, and too little money would be useless.

Another thing is that Zhao Pao also wants to make people who buy dogs feel distressed. Only by spending more money can they cherish and raise the dog well.

How to say it, money can’t buy what you love.

Qu Shaoyang has liked dogs since he was a child. He had just seen the dogs of the Zhao family and they were indeed good.

Twenty taels is a bit expensive, but Qu Shaoyang likes it very much.

Besides, Qu Shaoyang helped the old man at that time when he was in such a situation.

(End of this chapter)