After lunch, because An Dashan drank a lot of wine, he did not help An Ning clean up the dishes, but went back to his room to rest.
Gao wanted to help An Ning clean up the dishes, but An Ning refused. An Ning helped Gao back to the room and said, "Mom, your task now is to give birth to a brother or sister smoothly. Don't worry about other things in the meantime."
Gao knew that this was An Ning's filial piety, and nodded with satisfaction, saying, "Okay, I'll listen to my daughter."
After An Ning finished talking to Gao, she returned to the main room, cleaned up the dishes, and then went back to her room to rest.
In the evening, An Ning rolled some noodles, heated up the leftover dishes from lunch, and had a simple dinner.
The next morning, Gensheng's mother came to make breakfast, while An Ning continued to practice martial arts with An Dashan. After more than a month of hard work, An Ning could squat for an hour, and now he is learning archery with An Dashan. An Dashan made a dummy out of hay in the backyard, made a smaller bow for An Ning, and made some wooden arrows with sharpened wood, and let An Ning practice with them first. An Ning was very excited.
After practicing for about half an hour, Gensheng's mother prepared breakfast, said goodbye to Gao, and went home.
An Ning washed up, sat at the table and started to eat. An Ning drank a mouthful of porridge first, and then said: "Dad, the butcher will come to deliver pork later. How about we make bacon today and go hunting in the mountains tomorrow? I want to see if I have made any progress recently."
An Dashan looked up at Gao and saw that she didn't disagree, so he nodded and said, "Okay, we'll go after breakfast tomorrow."
Not long after breakfast, the butcher came to deliver pork. An Ning and An Dashan, father and daughter, began to make bacon and sausages skillfully.
Just as he finished stuffing the sausages, Uncle Gao came over. After they greeted each other, Uncle Gao put down the backpack, took out a black puppy from inside, and said to An Dashan, "This is the puppy you asked me to buy. It has just been weaned."
An Dashan stroked the puppy and said, "Yes, it is a real hunting dog. How much did it cost? I'll give it to you."
Uncle Gao said, "It's not a lot of money. Dogs in the countryside aren't worth much, right?"
An Dashan shook his head and said disapprovingly: "If this was your dog, I would definitely not pay for it, but this is bought from someone else, so I should pay the right price."
After hearing what An Dashan said, Uncle Gao didn't say anything else. He just said, "This dog is the biggest among the puppies. The family asked for five hundred coins for it."
An Dashan nodded and said, "This price is fair. Let's go inside and I'll get the copper coins." Then he took Uncle Gao into the house.
An Ning touched the little black dog. Unexpectedly, the puppy was not shy. It stretched out its pink tongue to lick An Ning's hand, and then started to hum. An Ning thought it must be hungry, so she quickly carried it into the kitchen, found a bowl, put some leftover porridge from the morning in the bowl, and added a little bit of broth.
An Ning put the bowl on the ground, and the little black dog smelled the fragrance and lay down beside the bowl to eat. In a short while, more than half of the bowl of porridge was eaten up. The little dog licked the rice grains on the edge of its mouth with its tongue, walked to An Ning's feet and rubbed against them.
An Ning reached out and touched the little black dog's head and said, "You are so black, just call you Xiao Hei!" The little dog seemed to understand and barked twice at An Ning.
An Dashan and Uncle Gao had a conversation in the main hall. Uncle Gao saw that it was getting late and wanted to go home. An Dashan and Gao Shi hurriedly asked Uncle Gao to stay for dinner. Gao Shi said, "Brother, you haven't been here for a long time. Come and have dinner at home!"
Uncle Gao shook his head and said, "No, there are still many things to do at home!"
Seeing this, An Dashan and Gao Shi did not try to persuade him to stay. They sent Uncle Gao out the door and said, "Brother, drive slowly."
Uncle Gao said, "I understand, let's go back!" Then he turned and left.
Gao and An Dashan watched Uncle Gao walk away before returning to the main hall. An Ning also came over and asked, "Has Uncle Gao left?"
Gao nodded and said, "Well, I just left. What happened?"
An Ning shook her head and said, "It's okay." Then she turned to An Dashan and said, "Dad, build a nest for Xiao Hei in the backyard!"
An Dashan nodded and said, "Okay, I'll go right away. I think it can be finished before dark." Then he got up and went to the backyard.
An Ning also followed An Dashan to the backyard to help. There were some blue bricks left over from building a house last time in the corner of the backyard. An Dashan and An Ning moved the blue bricks over and turned it into a doghouse next to the mule shed. An Ning also took out her worn-out cotton-padded clothes and put them in the doghouse.
By the time the father and daughter had finished their work, it was already dark and Gensheng's mother had already prepared dinner. After dinner, An Ning fed Xiao Hei once more before returning to her room to rest.
The next morning, An Ning and An Da Shan had breakfast and prepared to set off. An Da Shan and An Ning each took a bow and a machete and went into the mountain. There was a layer of snow on the mountain, and everything was white. Since there were not many people entering the mountain, the road was almost invisible.
An Dashan was very familiar with the mountain, so he led the way in front, and An Ning followed in An Dashan's footsteps and walked forward.
Before they had walked far, they saw a hare jumping not far ahead. An Dashan whispered, "Ningning, you shoot this one."
An Ning nodded, drew his bow and shot an arrow, but the arrow didn't even hit the rabbit's hair. The rabbit was frightened and ran away quickly.
An Dashan was afraid that An Ning might be in danger, so he didn't chase her. He just comforted An Ning and said, "Don't be discouraged. This is always the case when you hunt for the first time. Your elder brother didn't get the shot the first time either. Just practice a few more times and you'll be fine."
After that, he told An Ning some key points. An Ning listened carefully to An Dashan's words, and then the two continued to walk forward.
After walking for a while, An Ning saw a gray hare in front of him. This time, An Ning thought about the key points of An Dashan and aimed. Seeing that the aim was almost right, he let go of his hand and the wooden arrow flew out at once. This time, he made some progress and the wooden arrow hit the hare's hind leg, but the force was not enough and it only penetrated a little.
Seeing that the hare was about to escape, An Dashan quickly shot another arrow, and this time the hare did not even struggle and stopped moving.
An Dashan walked over, picked up the rabbit, weighed it, and said, "This rabbit is quite fat. I'll stew it when I get home."
An Ning nodded and said in agreement: "Okay, I will cook a dish of braised rabbit meat myself."
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