The Little Life of a Big Landlord

Chapter 91 Father-in-law and Son-in-law

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The four sat on the floor in the wooden house. Xue Hua was happily drinking a carton of milk. The milk was exceptionally fragrant and delicious. Xue Hua, who was not usually a big fan of milk, drank carton after carton, and soon a pile of cardboard boxes were left beside him.

"Is it really that delicious?" Wei Jianguo wasn't originally interested in this stuff, but seeing his wife drinking it with such relish, he couldn't help but swallow hard.

"It doesn't taste good, it doesn't taste good at all," Xue Hua said.

"When we bought it, the milk seller said it was about to expire and we should drink it quickly. We've been drinking it for several days and haven't even finished half of it. Dad, can you help us get rid of it?" Yang Ming said.

Yang Ming was quite aware of Wei Jianguo's stubborn personality. Giving in wouldn't work, and begging him to give in directly wouldn't work either. You had to beg him indirectly, making him treat it as a task or a mission.

"How should we handle this?" Wei Jianguo frowned.

"Of course we drank it, right? Actually, we can drink it ourselves, but some of the milk has turned a bit sour. Our tongues are numb from drinking so much milk these past two days, so we can't taste the sourness anymore. So, could you please taste it for us and see if it's sour?" Yang Ming said, handing Wei Jianguo a carton of milk.

"As your elder, I can't refuse this request..." Wei Jianguo sighed, took the milk and started drinking it.

"Hehehe..." Xue Hua and Wei Qingqing, mother and daughter, both laughed.

"What's so funny? I was just helping you deal with some milk that was about to spoil..." Wei Jianguo blushed, but he didn't stop talking, muttering to himself as he drank.

It was already noon. Xue Hua and Wei Jianguo were soaking in the hot springs together, while Yang Ming and Wei Qingqing went home to cook.

The lunch was very lavish. First, there were drinks: several cartons of milk and a few bottles of liquor. Then there was the food: a few of the large fish raised in the farm space were caught, killed, and either braised or steamed. Vegetables from the farm space were stir-fried with the large tofu ground by Aunt Liu in a hot pan. If it weren't for the fact that a meal must have meat, we wouldn't have even bothered with the fish. Wei Jianguo and Xue Hua, that couple, ate seafood every day when they were in Beidaihe. They were already tired of eating so much meat and fish.

Finally, I cooked a pot of rice.

Once the food was served, Yang Ming went to call Wei Jianguo and Xue Hua to eat.

At the dinner table...

"Yang Ming, the environment here is quite nice, with mountains and rivers, giving me a feeling of returning to nature. It reminds me of the days I spent in my hometown. I heard that there are fish in the streams here?" Wei Jianguo said, picking up a piece of fish.

"Yes! There are quite a few. Zhang Yang even grabbed a lot of them with small jars back then," Yang Ming said.

"Oh? Zhang Yang was arrested?" Wei Jianguo asked curiously.

"Yes!" Yang Ming nodded.

"What's the principle behind it?" Wei Jianguo pressed.

"Don't you know what a small jar is? If you want to catch fish, just say so." Xue Hua couldn't stand her husband's act of pretending to be crazy anymore.

Wei Jianguo's face flushed red, and he said with dissatisfaction, "When did I know about 'little jar'? We don't call it 'little jar' where I'm from, we call it..." He stopped halfway through his sentence, damn it, he almost let it slip.

Yang Ming and Wei Qingqing exchanged a glance, both able to see a smile in each other's eyes. In fact, they were both secretly laughing their heads off, but they held it in so as not to embarrass Wei Jianguo.

"Dad, if you're curious, we can go catch some this afternoon," Yang Ming said.

"What do I have to be curious about? I've lived this long, what haven't I tried?" Wei Jianguo glared at him, his face full of dissatisfaction.

"Yes, yes, it's not that you're curious, but I want to catch a couple of fish this afternoon, but I don't know how to use a small jar, so I'd like to ask you for some guidance." Yang Ming immediately changed his tune.

"We're teachers by profession, after all. We're here to impart knowledge, teach skills, and resolve doubts. If there's anything you don't understand, just tell Dad. If Dad knows the answer, he'll definitely be happy to guide you," Wei Jianguo said, patting his chest.

"Yes, yes, yes..." Yang Ming nodded repeatedly, and the mother and son almost burst out laughing.

"Yang Ming, I heard from Zhang Yang that there are wild wolves and bears in the mountains around here?" Wei Jianguo slurped down a mouthful of wine.

"Yes! Zhang Yang and I even killed six wolves," Yang Ming said.

"Really?... " Wei Jianguo looked 'curious' again.

"Let me tell you! Catching fish is fine, but if you dare to come into the mountains, you'll be in for a world of trouble." Before Yang Ming could say anything, Xue Hua issued the highest-level red alert.

Wei Jianguo immediately wilted.

The afternoon sun wasn't too intense, after all, it's already autumn.

The clear stream at the edge of the field flows gently, and Wei Jianguo sits quietly on the bank like a statue, holding a fishing rod in his hand.

The fishing rod was made of bamboo, the fishing line was made of silk, the float was made of goose feathers, the pendant was made of nuts, and the hook was made of steel needles... This fishing tackle was extremely simple.

"Dad, it's time to scoop up the jars..." Yang Ming was also fishing on the shore with a similarly simple fishing rod.

"Is it time to get up? It's only been twenty minutes..." Wei Jianguo said.

"Yes! There are plenty of fish here, so it usually only takes about twenty minutes," Yang Ming said.

"Alright, let's haul up the jar." Wei Jianguo put down his fishing rod, went to a large rock nearby, found a rope, and gently pulled it up, bringing up a small jar full of fish splashing around inside.

"Heh...that's quite a lot..." Wei Jianguo's eyes gleamed.

Yang Ming quickly brought over the bucket he had prepared in advance to hold the fish.

Splashing and thumping...

Wei Jianguo excitedly poured the fish from the small jar into the bucket. These fish were a bunch of small, miscellaneous fish, several different kinds of different sizes. The small fish were still struggling in the bucket, swimming around anxiously. They probably already realized their fate.

"Back then... I remember when we were kids, there was a big pond at the entrance of our village. We were so poor back then. If we could eat cornbread once a day, that was considered good. We couldn't smell any meat at all. Only during the New Year would the team slaughter a pig, and everyone would stare at the fatty meat with envy..." Wei Jianguo threw the small jar back into the water and continued fishing with his rod, but his gaze was distant as he recalled the golden years of the past.

"Looking at the fatty meat and feeling envious? Fatty meat is too greasy, right? It should be lean meat, right?" Actually, Yang Ming had already heard his parents talk about what happened back then, so he was just being a straight man now.

"You silly boy, don't you understand?" Wei Jianguo glanced at Yang Ming. "Back then, people were short of oil and fat, so fatty meat slices tasted better. Besides, fatty meat could also render oil. A small basin of oil could last for many days. You could make a wild vegetable soup, add some oil, and it would taste delicious. If it were lean meat, it would be gone in one meal."

"I see..." Yang Ming said, feigning sudden realization.

"Hmph, back then, besides slaughtering pigs, a bunch of us kids would go naked to the big pond at the village entrance to catch fish and shrimp. But we couldn't afford small jars back then, and who would let the kids waste their cold cloth?" Wei Jianguo smiled slightly. "We just made a cloth bag and put some fried oil residue inside..."

"Dad, you're really bold! You even dared to steal the oil residue. Did Grandma beat you up?" Yang Ming asked in shock.

"We definitely had to beat them up! But we didn't hit them too hard." Wei Jianguo said this with an extremely smug expression.

"Why?" Yang Ming asked, playing along at the opportune moment.

"Hehe, because I caught three large carp that were a foot long and a black carp that was half a meter long." Wei Jianguo said, beaming with pride as he talked about his superhuman feat back then.

"Dad, I really admire you. Even when you were a child, you were already able to share the burden of the family." Yang Ming kept flattering him, making Wei Jianguo grin from ear to ear.

"Of course, back then, our children were all the breadwinners for their families," Wei Jianguo said proudly.

"Hey, Dad! There's a fish..." Yang Ming shouted as he saw the float on Wei Jianguo's fishing rod suddenly sink.

"Lift..." Wei Jianguo swung the fishing rod upwards sharply, and a half-foot-long crucian carp was pulled out of the water. However, since the fishing hook had no barb, the fish could easily get off the hook, so Wei Jianguo did not dare to linger and directly threw the fish onto the shore. As soon as the fish was on the shore, it got off the hook and jumped on the ground.

"Amazing..." Yang Ming quickly stepped forward, held the crucian carp seeds down, and put them into the bucket.

"No, I haven't practiced in years, my skills have gotten rusty. If it were back in the day, I could throw the fish into the bucket in one go," Wei Jianguo said with proud humility.

"Hehe, Dad's an old hand..." Yang Ming complimented.

"Of course..." Wei Jianguo rebaited the fishing hook. "Back then, we were all tough as nails, rolling around in the mud. We were experts at catching fish in the river and stealing birds from trees." With that, he cast the fishing hook into the water.

"You're quite agile now..." Yang Ming said.

"No good! No good! I'm too old..." Wei Jianguo shook his head and laughed.

"Dad doesn't look old at all..."

"You...you little rascal, why do I feel like you're so fake?" Wei Jianguo glanced at Yang Ming and laughed.

"Hehe, fake? I don't think so." Yang Ming chuckled awkwardly, but thought to himself: With your stubborn temper, what else can I say but this?

To be honest, Wei Jianguo's personality wasn't that strange, but he always had a grudge against the guy who kidnapped his precious daughter.

The father-in-law and son-in-law fell silent for a moment.

"Yang Ming, I saw your ship. Although I didn't understand it, your ship is eye-catching..." Wei Jianguo said with a solemn expression.

"Is it too conspicuous?" Yang Ming turned his head in confusion.

"Leaving aside the LCD screens, your freezing technology alone is enough to cause a huge uproar..." Wei Jianguo frowned. "Just a few days ago, I saw a post online about frozen seafood, but it's been deleted in the last couple of days..."

"Oh... what are you talking about?" Yang Ming asked, feigning confusion.

Wei Jianguo gave Yang Ming a deep look, then turned back to stare at the fishing float on the water. "It's nothing, just be careful. You need to know that you have a family, parents to take care of, and no children yet..."

Wei Jianguo's words were somewhat ambiguous, and Yang Ming didn't quite understand them. However, he couldn't ask for details, so he could only nod in agreement to avoid contradicting Wei Jianguo and revealing any flaws.

The father-in-law and son-in-law fell silent again.

Uh...

Suddenly, the little yellow dog that had been playing nearby suddenly stood on end, growled, and quickly darted to Wei Jianguo's side.

"What's going on?" Wei Jianguo was a little confused.

"There must be some kind of wild beast..." Yang Ming frowned, his expression slightly solemn. This little yellow dog had also spent some time in the farm space and was extremely supernatural. It would never make an attacking gesture unless there was a reason.

"A wild beast???" Wei Jianguo was startled and quickly stood up to check the surrounding situation.

"Dad, no need to bother..." Yang Ming remained calm and didn't move at all. "If Xiao Huang can't solve it, it will call for its companions. The fact that it's like this shows that it can still solve it."

"Oh?" Hearing his son-in-law's certainty, Wei Jianguo felt less flustered and steadily sat back down. "In that case, let's continue..."

"Hehe, that's what they say, old ginger is spicier, isn't it? Just based on your mental fortitude, we really admire you." Yang Ming gave his father-in-law a thumbs up.

"Hahaha..." Wei Jianguo burst into laughter, "What kind of mental fortitude do you have? I only stopped panicking because you were sitting so steadily..."

Uh...

Suddenly, a large dog slowly strolled out from a ravine on one side. The dog was grayish-brown, extremely fat, with a fierce glint in its eyes and sharp teeth that gleamed coldly in the sunlight, but its tails hung straight down.

"This is... a wolf?" Wei Jianguo raised an eyebrow as he looked at the large dog that had suddenly appeared.

"Yes, it's a wolf..." Yang Ming's heart suddenly panicked. At first, he thought it was a wild animal like a weasel, a fox, or a hedgehog. He never expected it to be a wolf. This was right on his own land. The appearance of a wolf here meant that the wolf had already managed to cross the old forest. In that case, the safety of the greenhouse workers would no longer be guaranteed, and even the safety of the villagers would be at risk.

"Do wolves often appear here?" Wei Jianguo asked casually.

"There used to be a ditch here, so the wild animals in the old forest couldn't get across. But now... things are getting a bit complicated." Yang Ming said worriedly. You see, this place is also part of his backyard. His backyard only faces the old forest. Because of the ditch and some of Yang Ming's ideas, he didn't put up a wall. But then, a wolf appeared here.

"You mean..." Upon hearing Yang Ming's words, Wei Jianguo was startled. His son-in-law's words implied that the wild animals from the old forest couldn't enter the village due to the ditch, but this wolf was here. What did that mean? It meant that these wolves could now cross the ditch and enter human society. Now it was a wolf; what would come next? A bear? A tiger?

"Maybe... something went wrong?" Yang Ming was somewhat uncertain.

"I think we should still check it carefully..." Wei Jianguo said.

"We definitely need to find out how the wolves got here, otherwise, if wolves appear in the backyard, we can forget about sleeping soundly in the future." Yang Ming frowned.

"Isn't that a bit much? I heard from Zhang Yang that your dog, Dahei, killed six wolves. You have so many dogs guarding your house, so you don't need to worry. But other people's houses..." Wei Jianguo pondered for a moment.

"If the passage is only in the backyard, then there's no need to worry. Our backyard completely encloses Huagushan and Caomaoshan, and that gate is the only passage into the village," Yang Ming said.

Yang Ming was afraid that his backyard was not the only way for wolves to enter the village. If wolves could enter the village from other places, it would be dangerous. Adults would be fine; if they couldn't fight back, they could run away, and if they couldn't run away, they could grab a weapon and call for help. But what about children... wouldn't they be carried off by wolves?

"That's good. You're new here, and the locals in the mountains all have ways to protect themselves from wolves, but I still want to remind you..." Wei Jianguo breathed a sigh of relief, his attention returning to the standoff between the wolfhounds, "Why aren't they fighting yet?"

"...Hmm, I think..." Before Yang Ming could finish speaking, Little Yellow suddenly started barking wildly. "Oh no, Little Yellow is calling for its companions..."

Yang Ming's expression changed.

At the same time, two more wolves appeared from the spot where the first wolf had appeared.

"A pack of wolves? This is the first time I've ever seen a real pack of wolves. I've only ever seen them on TV before..." Wei Jianguo stared at the two wolves that had suddenly appeared, sweat beading on his forehead. He slowly moved closer to Yang Ming, thinking that if they were together, at least they could look out for each other.

"Don't worry, Xiao Huang has already called for its companions." Yang Ming said solemnly.

After waiting for a while, more and more wolves gathered, and ten had already appeared, but the puppies had not yet appeared. However, the wolves seemed a little impatient, looking around from time to time.

"Didn't Xiao Huang already call for its companions? Why hasn't it responded for so long?" Wei Jianguo was a little worried.

"Of course you won't find out, because our puppies work together so well that they've already outflanked us." Yang Ming laughed as he watched the wolf grow increasingly agitated.

"A flanking maneuver? An encirclement?" Wei Jianguo's eyes widened. You see, these were a bunch of puppies. They might be smart, but they shouldn't be this smart. In the end, these puppies were still dogs.

"Not bad..." Yang Ming didn't explain further, but quietly watched the situation unfold.

More and more wolves emerged. Yang Ming roughly counted them; there were about twenty. However, the once ferocious wolves did not show their claws to them. Instead, they were like bandits who had fallen into a government trap, with their tails between their legs, cautiously scanning their surroundings.

"Woo..." Suddenly, a low growl came, and Big Yellow's figure emerged from behind a mountain.

As soon as Da Huang appeared, the twenty or so wolves became even more nervous. They all huddled together, backside to back, staring at Da Huang and baring their teeth in an attempt to intimidate him.

"Woo..." Another low growl came, and the chubby little bear emerged, baring its teeth at the wolf pack.

The wolves weren't stupid. Although the little creature that had just emerged didn't look very big and seemed a bit dazed, they sensed a dangerous odor emanating from it, a danger that far surpassed that of the big yellow dog.

Then, a dozen or so spotted dogs emerged from all directions, surrounding the wolf pack and slowly closing in...

"Awooo..." The wolves let out a low warning growl as the puppies approached, but the puppies were not easily frightened. These guys were unruly at heart, and in response to the wolves' low warning growl, the puppies gathered around even faster.

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(End of this chapter)