Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 269 Old Mountain Dog (Part )

After dinner, it was already late, so it was time to tidy up and get ready for bed.

Qu Shaoyang asked Xingye to lead seven people to live in the north kang of Zheng's house, and Fugui to lead seven people to live in Wang Chun's house.

The remaining four people followed Qu Shaoyang to live in Meng's house.

The Zheng family is at the west end of the village, and the Meng family is at the east end of the village. They also have two houses, and both are very clean inside and out.

In the evening, Meng Lanjun came home to heat the kang and added a lot of firewood into the stove, so the room was not cold.

The Meng family has few people, and only the grandparents and grandchildren live together, so there is only one kang on the southern bed.

Old Meng was very hospitable. He insisted that Qu Shaoyang and others sleep at the head of the kang, while he took his grandson to sleep at the side of the kang.

Qu Shaoyang naturally refused, but after refusing for a long time, he still couldn't prevail over Old Mengtou. Qu Shaoyang had no choice but to agree.

How could a family in the mountains have so many unused quilts? Old Meng took down all the quilts from the pile, but he was still short of three sets.

There was no other way, so we had to deal with it. We shared one quilt, or covered ourselves with our own cloaks, coats, etc.

Qu Shaoyang didn't sleep on the kang. He lay down next to Old Mengtou and listened to him continue telling stories.

Before, when he was at the Zheng family, Qu Shaoyang listened to Old Meng talking about past events, especially the stories about Old Mountain Dog. He was fascinated by what he heard. Otherwise, would he have come to live with him at the Meng family?
This old man Mengtou used to live near Nurhaci's hunting ground. He was a livestock hunter in the Dashengwula Yamen, responsible for hunting various rare animals and sending them as tribute to the capital.

Old Mengtou has learned martial arts since he was young and has outstanding archery skills. He can always hit the target when shooting prey.

Old Meng got married and had a child when he was in his early twenties. His wife died of illness three years after giving birth to their son.

He raised his son alone, taught him martial arts, and became the best hunter in Nurhaci's hunting grounds.

The son grew up and got married, and soon his wife became pregnant.

At this time, an order came from the imperial court that a noble in the palace was seriously ill and needed ram blood for treatment, so the soldiers from the Dashen Ula Yamen were ordered to kill rams.

This task was assigned to Lao Meng's son.

As a result, Lao Meng's son went into Zhuque Mountain to hunt day sheep, but he never came back. In the end, only the bones eaten by wild beasts were found.

The daughter-in-law cried so much that she fainted several times. If she hadn’t been pregnant with Meng’s flesh and blood, she would have died as well.

But after this blow, the daughter-in-law's health was not very good. She gave birth to Meng Lanjun at the risk of her life and then passed away.

Old Meng had been a slave all his life, and ended up like this.

He didn't want his grandson to continue to be a livestock when he grew up, so he secretly left Nurhaci's hunting ground with the newborn Meng Lanjun in his arms.

Meng Lanjun was lucky. He met a kind-hearted family on the road, who fed him some milk, or if that didn't work, they made some rice porridge. At least he didn't starve to death.

It was just a coincidence that when Old Mengtou carried his grandson into the mountains, he unexpectedly encountered a tigress with her cubs fighting with a blind bear.

Old Meng was a man of great skill and courage. He shot the blind bear to death with three arrows, rescued the tigress and her cubs, and treated their wounds.

The tigress was very spiritual. She smelled the scent of the baby and actually used her own milk to feed Xiao Lanjun.

From then on, Xiao Lanjun had a tiger nanny and grew up day by day. Old Mengtou also settled down in Sandaimiaoling.

Sixteen years passed in the blink of an eye. Meng Lanjun had grown up. Under the guidance of his grandfather, he became good at martial arts and marksmanship.

“Alas, I am getting older and older, and I don’t know how long I can stay with my children.

Now, I just hope he can get married and start a family soon, so I can close my eyes in peace."

As he spoke, Old Meng began to sigh again.

"Master, what are you talking about? You will definitely live a hundred years."

Meng Lanjun, who was lying on the kang, coughed twice uncomfortably and said.

"It's quite late. Brother Qu and the others have things to do tomorrow. Let's go to bed." The guys on the kang were all asleep, snoring loudly.

Qu Shaoyang didn't get enough rest these days. Listening to the old man chatting, his eyelids became heavier and heavier, and he didn't know when he fell asleep.

Meng Lanjun slept very soundly. The next morning, he got up, made breakfast, and asked everyone to get up.

After breakfast, Zheng Qingshan sent the brothers Zheng Tieniu and Zheng Tiezhu to notify every household.

It was said that merchants came to the village to buy mountain products and furs, especially pig bristles.

When the villagers heard this, they quickly searched for their belongings and waited for the merchants to come and collect them.

Qu Shaoyang left Xingye and Fugui in the village to lead people to collect the goods, while he followed the old Mengtou and his grandson, bringing a lot of wine, salt, sugar and other daily necessities into the mountains to visit those old mountain dogs.

The Changbai Mountains, stretching for thousands of miles, are vast and undulating, and the northwest wind whistles through the forest like a knife.

There is a lot of snow on the mountain. As far as the eye can see, there is nothing but white snow. In some places, the snow is almost waist-deep.

Even in broad daylight, the temperature in the mountains is so low that water turns to ice.

In this kind of weather, even the wild animals in the mountains, unless they are extremely hungry, will find a place to hide and try not to go out.

Qu Shaoyang followed Old Mengtou and Meng Lanjun, the grandfather and grandson, carrying a lot of things on their backs, and walked into the mountains panting.

After walking for about an hour and a half, Old Meng suddenly raised his hand and pointed not far ahead.

"See that chimney up ahead? We're there."

Upon hearing this, Qu Shaoyang looked in the direction pointed by Old Mengtou, and saw a stone wall in front of him that was sheltered from the wind and faced the sun.

Under the stone wall, a chimney made from a whole tree protruded from the ground, emitting wisps of green smoke.

It is obvious that there is a cellar here and people live in it.

"Lao Cong, are you at home? I'll bring someone to see you." Old Mengtou stood outside the cellar and shouted loudly.

"Come in, I'm in the room."

There was an old noise coming from inside, and it sounded like the man was older than Old Mengtou.

"Come on, let's go in and take a look at Old Deng. We haven't seen him for a while. At least he's not dead in there."

Old Mengtou has a good relationship with several old mountain dogs in the mountains. If he didn't have his grandson by his side, the old man would probably have gone into the mountains to become a mountain dog.

As he spoke, Old Meng pushed open the door of the cellar, lifted the curtain and walked in.

Qu Shaoyang followed behind Old Mengtou, raised his hand to open the curtain and was about to walk in, when he suddenly felt that something was wrong with the curtain.

Upon closer inspection, I was surprised to find that the curtain hanging inside the wooden door of the cellar was actually made of several mink skins.

The sable fur, which was being fought over by countless dignitaries at huge prices, was actually being sewn into door curtains.

Qu Shaoyang felt that he had broadened his horizons today. This small cellar might actually contain treasures.

Lift the door curtain and go in. There are stairs leading down inside. Walk down the stairs.

Instead of feeling damp and cold inside, it was warm and dry.

The cellar is not big, and there is no distinction between the inner and outer rooms. There is a simple stove with an iron pot on it. Behind the stove is a brick bed.

Other people put kang mats on the kang, but we just put animal skins on it.

Under the pot, the wood was crackling and the food in the pot seemed to be roe deer meat, which smelled fresh and fragrant.

(End of this chapter)