Upon hearing this, Liu Changde nodded, "Yes, that's right, we should be more cautious."
"Alright, then take Erlang Shen and the Black General back with you."
Erlang Shen and the Black General were dogs raised by Sheng Xiping. Now that the dog-beating trend has subsided, they should be taken back.
We can bring them back when we need to go hunting in the mountains; it's not much trouble.
"By the way, do you remember Old Wu's family in our team? His dog had puppies, and Erlang Shen arranged for them to be born."
I've already made arrangements with their family; they'll give us two puppies when the puppies are a month old."
Liu Changde suddenly remembered this matter and mentioned it casually.
The Wu family were also hunters, and their dogs were all quite skilled.
Back in the spring, when his family had a female dog that had started to sprout rice seedlings, he specially brought Erlang Shen over to mate with her.
Erlang Shen is known for his excellent dog, and every hunter cherishes him.
There was no chance to perform the ritual while I was up in the mountains for the past two years, but this year when I came back, several families went to find Erlang Shen.
"And the Jin family, I heard they'll be here soon too, then they can give it to our little dog."
"Really? That's great."
Their dogs are quite formidable, and our Erlang Shen goes without saying; I reckon their puppies are all pretty good too.
"Leave two for me when the time comes, I'll take them back and raise them. Erlang Shen can take care of them; they'll definitely be fine dogs."
Sheng Xiping was delighted to hear this. He had been thinking about getting a few more dogs.
In another two or three years, these educated youth will either be recruited for jobs, take exams for further education, or remain unemployed and go their separate ways.
When he has free time, he'll take the dogs into the mountains to hunt, so he needs to have a few good hunting dogs.
Just then, Liu Yujiang came in from outside and smiled as soon as he saw Sheng Xiping.
"Xiping is here. How's your house construction going? I've been busy with the team these past few days and haven't had time to go help."
When are you going to raise the roof beam? My second son and I will be there.
"The roof beam will be raised the day after tomorrow," Sheng Xiping said with a smile.
"I set a few snares up the mountain today, thinking I'd take them out for a walk tomorrow morning, it'll be safer to bring Erlang Shen and the others with me."
"Yes, yes, we should be careful."
"Oh, by the way, I sold that bear gall bladder from last time. Wait a moment, I'll go get the money for you."
After Liu Yujiang finished speaking, he turned around and went to the backyard. He returned shortly afterward with a stack of money.
"Grass gall is not as valuable as copper gall. It sold for a total of three hundred yuan. Here's one hundred for you."
"Hey, brother, why are you giving me so much?"
The three of us went into the mountains, and I took quite a bit of meat with me that day. Just give me fifty, I don't want the rest.
Why would Sheng Xiping ask for so much money? His two dogs have always been kept by the Liu family, and they haven't asked him for any fees.
In the end, we got a bear gall bladder, and we even gave him an extra portion. Isn't that a bad thing?
"Look at you, you're family, why are you being so formal? Your family needs money to build a house."
When winter comes, we brothers will go into the mountains again when we have time. We'll hunt whatever we find, and we can make a few hundred yuan over the winter.
"You're getting married next year anyway, so save up some money."
Liu Yujiang wasn't the type to haggle over every penny, so he simply stuffed the money into Sheng Xiping's hand.
"Brother, how about this, could you do me a favor and buy some grain from someone in your team?"
Recently, when the house was being built, Wang Jianshe and others took time out of their busy schedules to help out. Since they were helping out, they were expected to be provided with meals.
The Sheng family's meager grain rations are usually not enough to feed them, let alone now.
This morning, Sheng Xiping heard his mother worrying that the family didn't have enough food and didn't know how to prepare meals for the day of the roof-raising ceremony.
"If anyone has any millet, please help me share ten or twenty catties."
Give us another 40 to 50 catties of corn grits and cornmeal, or even better if we have more.
"As you know, we have a large family, and we really don't have enough food." Sheng Xiping stuffed another fifty yuan into Liu Yujiang's hand.
There is a lot of arable land in the Dajianchang area, with an average of more than two mu per person.
Moreover, since the area is far from the emperor's reach and the authorities are not strict, each household secretly cultivates a small patch of wasteland.
Some families even have three or four acres of land, including small plots of wasteland and their own private plots, so every household here has a surplus of grain.
Like the Sheng family, many families in the forest farm secretly bought expensive grain from the Dajianchang (a type of salt field), otherwise the rations they received would not be enough.
"At this time, it is not easy to find grain."
Okay, I'll take care of it for you. I'll deliver it to your house tomorrow night.
This time, Liu Yujiang didn't refuse and accepted the money.
No matter whose grain he buys from, he has to pay. His good relationship with the Sheng family is one thing, but he can't possibly pay extra to buy grain.
"Master, elder brother, I'll head home now."
"I'll take Erlang Shen and the Black General back to raise them for now. I'll go get them later when my elder brothers need to go up the mountain."
It was getting late, so Sheng Xiping got up to say goodbye.
Liu Yujiang followed them out and led Erlang Shen and General Hei out of the doghouse, handing the rope to Sheng Xiping.
Both Erlang Shen and Black General's dogs are very intelligent. As soon as they saw Sheng Xiping leading them, their tails wagged so hard they were almost like windmills.
Sheng Xiping reached out and patted the two dogs' heads. "Come on, let's go home."
Upon hearing that they were going home, the two dogs dashed out in a flash. Sheng Xiping almost couldn't hold them back and could only jog after them.
And so, the man and the two dogs trotted back to the forest farm. Just as they reached their doorstep, Sheng Xitai, who was playing outside, called out to them.
"Erlang Shen, Black General, you're back!" he called out as he ran towards the two dogs.
Erlang Shen and the Black General were taken to the mountain when they were about three years old. They were gone for more than two years and never returned.
However, they still recognized Sheng Xitai. When the two dogs saw Sheng Xitai running over, they couldn't stop kissing him. They stood up, put their paws on Sheng Xitai's shoulders, and stuck out their tongues to lick him.
Sheng Xitai didn't mind that the dogs were dirty. He just hugged the two dogs, patted one's head, and then patted the other's head.
"I've missed you all so much! I have to tell you, we have a new house now."
"There's more space over there than here, so I'll get you two a bigger doghouse later."
How could the two dogs understand what Sheng Xitai was saying? They were just overjoyed to see family.
"Alright, hurry up and go into the yard."
Although the wave of dog-beating has passed, no one in the forest farm dares to keep a dog yet.
That "Dog King Yama" is still in the forest farm, so we need to be careful.
If it weren't for the fact that he's going up the mountain tomorrow, Sheng Xiping still wouldn't really want to bring the dog back.
So we have to be careful now and try not to attract attention.
Sheng Xiping pulled the leash, and the two dogs lowered their front paws from Sheng Xitai's body. Then the two men and two dogs went into the yard.
The two girls, Sheng Yunfang and Sheng Yunfei, who were helping in the kitchen, were overjoyed to see the dog and ran out to hug and kiss it for a long time.
"Can we bring it back now?"
Sheng Liancheng and Zhang Shuzhen also came out. Seeing the children playing so happily with the two dogs, the couple asked with some concern.
"It's okay. If someone asks, I'll just say it's so I can see the green earth in the fall."
Last year, black bears and wild boars wreaked havoc over there, and Uncle Hu was still complaining, saying it would be nice to have a few dogs.”
Sheng Xiping is no longer the same person he was two years ago; he believes he can protect these two dogs.
If that "Dog King Yama" dares to harm dogs again, I'll beat him to death.
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