Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 270 Old Mountain Dog (Part )

An old man with a white beard half a foot long was sitting on a wooden stool, holding a pipe in his mouth and shaking his pipe pouch.

"It's over. This little bit of cigarettes is not enough for me to smoke for two days. Xiao Meng, did you bring me some tobacco leaves?"

The old man looked up and glanced at Old Meng and the other two who came in from outside.

This cellar has no windows and no light comes in. There is an oil lamp lit in the room, which is made of some unknown oil.

With the light of the oil lamp, Qu Shaoyang could clearly see the cigarette pouch in the old man's hand.

Wow, this cigarette pouch is actually made of deer leg skin, with a silver ear spoon and a milky white toothpick hanging on it.

That toothpick is not simple. It is said to be made from the stem of a male weasel. It can not only strengthen teeth, but also ward off evil spirits.

On the wall, there was a clothes hanger made of eight-pronged deer antlers, with a bearskin coat hanging on it.

Although this cellar hut looks simple, it is not simple in every aspect.

Old Meng laughed when he heard this, "How can I not bring it to you?

Well, the best Guandong cigarettes and wine are all brought to you by this young man." Old Meng pointed at Qu Shaoyang and said with a smile.

The old man then noticed that there was also a young man coming with Old Meng and his grandson.

"Xiao Meng, why are you bringing strangers here? Have you forgotten my rules?" The old man seemed a little displeased.

“Look at you, the young man is going into the mountains to collect hides, mountain products, and medicinal herbs.

Wouldn't it be nice to sell those old things you have here and exchange them for some food and daily necessities? Otherwise, when you die, you won't know who benefited from it."

Old Meng didn't care about that. He curled his lips and said.

The old man glanced at Qu Shaoyang, and as soon as he saw the way he was dressed, he knew that he was not an ordinary person.

"Young man, the things I have here are not something you can buy with money.

Besides, I am an old mountain dog who has lived in the mountains all my life. I don’t have much to spend, so there is no point in asking for money.”

The old man shook his head and smiled.

Qu Shaoyang was choked and felt a bit amused and helpless.

"Old man, then tell me what you want and I'll find a way to get it for you. Is that okay?"

In fact, Qu Shaoyang followed him mainly because he was interested in Laoshan Gouzi's life.

Now looking at it, I have to admit, although they live in the mountains and don’t have a big house or luxurious furniture, their self-sufficient and leisurely life is really enviable.

The old man looked at Qu Shaoyang, thought for a while, and then nodded.

"Okay, then I want 20 kilograms of salt, a kitchen knife, an axe, a kilogram of gunpowder, and two kilograms of gun sand..."

The old man talked a lot and said a lot of things.

Qu Shaoyang quickly wrote down everything, "Grandpa, I didn't bring enough things with me today.

There are two jars of wine, two catties of Guandong tobacco, and five catties of salt here.

As for the rest, I will go to Shuangdianzi to buy them for you later and send them up the mountain, okay?"

Qu Shaoyang had never dealt with these old mountain dogs before, so he really didn't know what these people needed.

The things he brought today were actually for Qu Shaoyang and his companions to use on the road. Old Mengtou reminded him of this and brought them up the mountain.

"Well, okay. With Xiao Meng here, I'm not afraid that you will default on your debt." Old Man Cong was quite straightforward and nodded in agreement.

"Well, have you eaten yet? Why don't you eat something from me?
There is roe deer meat stewing in the pot, I just need to add some seasonings and it will be ready to eat.”

As the old man spoke, he took down a cloth bag from the beam.

When he opened the cloth bag, he saw that there were thick ginseng inside. However, the ginseng had been cut, otherwise it would be worth a lot of money.

The old man ignored all that and chopped off a few slices of ginseng with a kitchen knife and threw them into the pot.

Then, he took out a thick root of astragalus from the side, chopped it with a kitchen knife, and threw it into the pot. Qu Shaoyang stared at the old man in amazement, throwing good things that many people outside would never see in their lifetime into the pot one by one.

The already delicious broth has even more medicinal aroma with the addition of herbs such as ginseng, astragalus, wolfberry, and lily of the valley.

No wonder this old man is so energetic even though his beard is all white. It turns out that he usually eats ginseng as if it were a radish. That's not good, right?

"How about it? Stay and have a bite together. We have some wine. Xiao Meng, have a drink with me."

Old Man Cong ignored Qu Shaoyang's surprised look and just asked Old Meng with a smile.

"No, no, we still have to go check on Lao Liu.

I haven't seen him for a while, so I went to take a look and felt relieved when I saw he was not dead."

Old Meng waved his hand and said that they had a lot of things to do and had no time to waste with Old Cong.

"Oh, I met him the other day.

It’s okay. It’s not that easy for people like us to kick our legs.
Go ahead, he has a lot of good stuff there.

Young man, you can just ask Lao Liu what he wants and then bring it up to both of us.

Don't worry, you won't lose money."

Old Meng said he didn't want to stay, and Old Cong didn't say anything else. He just waved his hand and let the three of them leave.

After bidding farewell to Lao Congtou's cellar, Lao Mengtou led Qu Shaoyang in another direction.

The three of them walked a long way over mountains and hills, and came to a horse shed, where they met an old man who was also quite old.

The stable room is much more spacious than the cellar. It has a stove, a kang, a table, boxes and so on.

The old man surnamed Liu is not young anymore and has a weird temper. If it weren't for Old Meng's repeated persuasion, Qu Shaoyang would have been beaten out by him.

Later, after learning that Lao Cong asked Qu Shaoyang to bring a lot of things.

The old man also spoke and said a lot of things, asking Qu Shaoyang to bring it to him when he had time.

He took out the things he had saved over the years and exchanged them with Qu Shaoyang.

With Old Meng's guarantee, Qu Shaoyang naturally didn't worry that the old man was bragging, so he agreed.

Afterwards, the three men did not stay with Old Liu. They just left the salt, cigarettes, wine and other things they brought to him and set off back.

This is also the way the old mountain dogs get along with each other.

The two old mountain dogs often met each other by traveling dozens or even hundreds of miles. After trekking through mountains and rivers to their neighbor's house, most of the time they would just sit down and smoke a pack of cigarettes, and then get up and rush back.

The purpose of this meeting was not for anything else but to confirm whether the old neighbor was still alive. I felt relieved when I saw that he was still alive.

The old mountain dog actively seeks solitude and also enjoys this solitude.

Their lives may seem strange to outsiders, and some even say they are savages, but in fact, they enjoy this kind of life very much.

There is no pressure living in the mountains for a long time.

Their biggest worry might be that the melons they planted were eaten by hedgehogs, leaving not a single one.

Or maybe the cornmeal pancakes in the morning were not pasted properly and they all slipped to the bottom of the pot.

The generous Changbai Mountain can provide Laoshan Gouzi with endless high-quality food ingredients, such as flying dragons, pheasants, roe deer, toads, etc.

Even if you don’t have enough food stored for winter, don’t worry.

There are often stupid roe deer that come and fumble in front of the cellar. You can skin them and eat their meat with a single hit of a stick.

Stew the delicious roe deer meat in the pot, smoke Kanto cigarettes in the warm house, and listen quietly to the sound of wind and snow outside.

This is the life of the old mountain dog in winter.

(End of this chapter)