In the evening, the family sat in the room, warming themselves by the fire and watching TV.
The little girl was reading English on TV, and Lin Xiuqin was watching quietly, knitting a sweater with her hands.
Chen Wang was cracking melon seeds and looking at the heartwarming scene in front of him. He suddenly thought of the old man fishing by the river, and also of the dirty and messy scene in the small house when he went to the old man's house to buy fish last time.
"Wife, I'm going out for a while."
He suddenly stood up and said something.
Lin Xiuqin and the little girl looked at him in surprise.
"The old man taught me how to fish this afternoon, so I thought I should send something over."
Chen Wang began to explain.
Lin Xiuqin nodded in agreement.
She had already heard the little girl's animated account of what had happened in the afternoon.
"I'll take a wild boar leg."
"Brother, brother, I will go with you."
The little girl suggested with a smile.
"No, it's too late, just stay at home with your sister-in-law!"
"All right!"
"Then I'm leaving. I'll be back soon."
Chen Wang said this and walked out of the room.
The two men did not go to town to sell the wild boar they had hunted earlier, but each took half.
The meat that was not eaten at home was placed on the firewood pile in front of the stove in the back room, or hung in the air with a hook. This way, the meat could be smoked every time a fire was lit to cook, preventing it from spoiling easily.
Chen Wang chopped off a wild boar leg and carried it out the door.
When I arrived at the entrance of the village, I saw that Lao Qian’s store was still open and the lights were on inside.
Chen Wang walked straight in.
Lao Qian was sitting behind the counter, eating melon seeds and reading a magazine. When he heard the footsteps, he looked up at him.
"Hey, Awang, you saw that I haven't eaten meat for a few days, so you came to give me a wild boar leg?"
"You think too much."
Chen Wang denied it calmly.
"Tsk...then what are you doing here?"
Old Qian had a look of disgust on his face.
"Give me ten kilograms of loose liquor, not too good."
Chen Wang replied with a smile.
Old Qian got up reluctantly, took a wine jug, and poured him ten kilograms of wine.
"Here, three dollars!"
"Give me those two more packs of Daqianmen."
"Here, seventy cents. That's three dollars and seventy cents in total. Just give me three dollars and fifty cents."
"Thank you then!"
Chen Wang thanked him with a smile, took out the change from his pocket, counted out three dollars and fifty cents and gave it to him.
After putting the cigarette in his pocket and picking up the wine jug, Chen Wang said goodbye to Lao Qian and turned to leave.
"This kid, who are you giving gifts to so late at night?"
Old Qian watched him leave, muttered something in a low voice with some confusion and envy, shook his head, picked up the magazine and continued reading.
Chen Wang still remembered the route he took last time. After arriving at the next village, he quickly found the door of Old Man Lu's house.
It seemed that the old man had returned. The door was closed, but there was a candlelight inside.
Although the village has electricity, many elderly people are still reluctant to use it and instead use candles or kerosene lamps at night.
Chen Wang walked forward, put down the wine jug and knocked on the door.
"Who is it?"
The old man's voice came from inside.
"It's me. We went fishing together this afternoon. I bought fish from you before."
Chen Wang replied.
After the room was quiet for a moment, the door opened.
The old man looked at him, glanced at the pork leg in his hand, and asked with a slightly puzzled tone: "What are you doing here?"
"Can we talk inside? It's a bit cold outside."
Chen Wang asked with a smile.
"Come in!"
The old man nodded and stepped aside to let him in.
Chen Wang picked up the wine jug and walked into the house. He looked around and explained, "You taught me fishing this afternoon, which helped me master a new skill. Logically, you should be my master. I brought you some meat and wine."
"No, I didn't teach you anything. I just saw that the little girl was smart, so I gave you some corn kernels. It's not worth it for you to come here specially to give her a gift. Take them all back."
The old man refused directly.
"Since I have brought it here, there is no reason to send it back. I hunted this wild boar myself in the mountains. It is not worth much."
As Chen Wang spoke, he placed the things on the table that was already covered with patina.
"I don't care whether it's worth money or not, just take it back, I don't want it!"
The old man said expressionlessly.
"Don't be so stubborn. Come on, have a cigarette."
Chen Wang took out a pack of cigarettes he had just bought from his pocket, tore open the package, took out a cigarette and handed it over.
The old man subconsciously wanted to refuse, but he was also an old smoker and usually rolled his own cigarettes.
At this moment, a fine cigarette with a filter tip was handed to him, and with Chen Wang's hearty smile, the words on his lips could not be said.
"I want the cigarettes, you can take the rest back!"
The old man took the cigarette, picked up an unused box of matches on the table, and lit himself.
Chen Wang did not respond to the old man's words, but looked around the room on his own.
It was almost the same as the last time he came, but a large water tank in the room caught his attention.
"So the fish in the new tank are also the ones you caught?"
Chen Wang pursed his lips and asked.
The old man glanced at it, slowly exhaled smoke, nodded and said, "Winter is coming soon. If it gets any colder, it will be difficult for my old bones to go out. So I got a new water tank and put some fish in it."
"So you don't get tired of eating fish every day?"
Chen Wang looked at the wood stove and didn't see any other food.
"And some roughage."
"That won't work. How are we going to get through the winter with just this little food?"
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com