"Hurry, there is an exit over there!" Before Zhou Huaian finished speaking, a big wild hog badger jumped out from a very hidden cave.
Lai Fu and Wang Cai pounced on it and bit it. Zhou Yiding was quick to raise his gun and shot. With a "bang", the badger fell down.
"Kill the big one, I'll go over there and guard it. There must be more inside!" Zhou Yiding ran over with a gun in his hand.
At this time, short "jie, jie" sounds came from the cave.
"Here it comes!" Zhou Huaian raised his gun and pointed it at the cave entrance. A wild hog badger with a big head and thick neck jumped out of the cave. He pulled the trigger and "bang" the wild hog badger fell to the ground.
The sound of gunfire was still echoing in the forest when another badger jumped out from the cave guarded by Zhang Laoer.
"Run away, horse head!"
Zhang Laoer swung the wooden stick and hit the badger on the neck. The badger howled and ran away in pain. Zhou Huaian shot it again, and the badger twitched twice and died.
At the entrance of the cave, Zhou Yiding shot and killed another one, and Zhou Huaian killed a half-grown wild boar.
The three men and two dogs waited for a while, and when no more badgers came out of the hole, they picked up the dead badgers and put them in a backpack.
Zhang Laoer mentioned a big wild hog badger, "This thing is very annoying, it likes to steal crops from the fields and eat them. Every year, a lot of peanuts, sweet potatoes, and corn in the fields are destroyed by them.
After we stopped raising silkworms, few adults came to the mulberry forest, and I don’t know when these little ones dug holes and settled here.”
Zhou Huaian put the wild hog in the backpack. "We didn't find it either. It was Gouzi who found it." He took out the Coriolus versicolor from the bag and said, "When we were blocking the wild hog hole, we also found two Coriolus versicolor. Did Brother Zhang find them?"
Zhang Laoer grinned and said, "You are talking about mistletoe! Last year, a drug dealer came to buy it. The good ones are valuable, but the bad ones are worthless."
And you said you didn't know me! And you treated me like a treasure!
After hearing this, Zhou Yiding forced a smile and glanced at Zhou Huaian, then picked up the backpack and said, "Let's go!"
Zhou Huaian looked at the Coriolus polyphylla in his hand and thought that these two flowers should be top-quality goods. He thought that Zhang Laoer must have been cheated by those drug dealers.
"The best mulberry fungus grows only on mulberry trees. Did you find it on mulberry trees, too?"
Zhang Laoer took it and looked at it. "I picked them from the tree, but the ones I picked are not as good as yours. Three flowers weigh more than a pound, and I sold them for fifty yuan."
Zhou Huaian thought about what he had said to Wang Zhen last time: the authentic mulberry coriolus fungus, which was of high quality, could be sold for two to three hundred yuan per catty. If it was authentic mulberry coriolus fungus, and it was only sold for fifty yuan, they must have been ripped off by the drug dealers.
"Brother Zhang, if you believe me, keep the mistletoe you pick for me in the future. I guarantee that the price I'll get will be higher than what you sell to those drug dealers."
Zhang Laoer nodded repeatedly after hearing this, "Believe me, my old man has always said that you are good people. In the future, when I pick good herbs, I will keep them for you to collect, and I will not sell them to drug dealers."
The three people and two dogs walked leisurely down the mountain. When they came to the edge of a rapeseed field, Zhou Huaian pointed at the rapeseed that was obviously shorter than the rapeseed in the field next to it and said with a smile: "This family must be lazy. Look at these rapeseeds, they are obviously malnourished."
Zhang Laoer curled his lips and said, "This is Li Laoer's family. His land is cultivated by the women in the family, and the man can only get a wife by selling his daughter or exchanging her for a wife!"
He looked at Zhou Yiding and said, "A few days ago, Li Er's wife was asking about you!"
"Ask about me?" Zhou Yiding pointed at his nose.
Zhang Laoer nodded, "I heard my wife and sister-in-law say that she might have taken a fancy to you!"
"Oh my god~" Zhou Yiding turned his head and looked at Zhou Huaian, "Youngest brother, Li Laoer's family is the family of your third brother's second brother-in-law, right?"
Zhou Huaian nodded, "It's his house."
Zhang Lao Er said a little embarrassedly after hearing this: "Yes, yes, yes! Qiuyue hasn't been back for several years. I forgot that she married into your family."
"It's okay, they haven't been in contact for a long time."
"It's right not to have any contact with them. That family is just blood-sucking worms. I heard that Li Lao Er sold his daughter Meizhen for a good price..."
Zhang Laoer looked at Li Meizhen walking over with a basket on her back, and quickly stopped talking. He turned back and glanced at Zhou Huaian and the others awkwardly, "Sichuan people are stubborn!"
Zhou Huaian suppressed his laughter and turned his head, pretending to look at the dog following behind him.
At this time, Li Meizhen also saw the three people, "Uncle Zhang, where are you going?" Then she looked at Zhou Yiding, "Brother Zhou, you didn't go back to Fu Niu?"
Zhang Laoer corrected her with a smile, "Meizhen, you got the generation wrong. The youngest is your uncle's brother, you should call him uncle."
Li Meizhen blushed and looked at Zhou Huaian, "Uncle Yao, if you guys haven't gone home yet, come to my house for dinner later."
"..." Zhou Huaian was speechless. He pretended not to hear and went to tie the dog with the leash.
Zhang Laoer said hurriedly: "Meizhen, no need, they are eating at my house."
"Oh!" Li Meizhen was too embarrassed to say anything more and walked away quickly with her basket on her back.
Zhou Yiding nudged Zhou Huaian and blinked a few times, "Uncle!"
"Brother Zhou!" Zhou Huaian shouted in a shrill voice, jokingly saying, "If Chaotianjiao finds out, she'll be really jealous!"
"It's none of my business!" Zhou Yiding rolled his eyes and went to chase Zhang Laoer.
…
Li Meizhen hurried back home and said to Li Er's wife, who was sitting at the door of the main room eating melon seeds, "Mom, Zhou Laoyao and the others didn't leave. I met them in the back hills."
After hearing this, Li Er's wife's eyes lit up, she stood up and clapped her hands, went to the main room and said to Li Er, "Did you hear that? Let Meizhen kill a chicken and stew it. We will invite them to have a meal to improve our relationship. Next year, we can ask the third brother-in-law to give us the job of collecting truffles."
Li Lao Er raised his eyelids and sneered, "I'm too lazy to go. Qiuyue and his wife are more evil than jackals. It's useless even if you go to beg them. Don't ruin my chicken."
"Let's try it. If they don't come, we can eat it ourselves."
When Li Lao Er heard that he could eat by himself, he nodded and stood up, "Okay, I'll go with you!"
"Let's go catch the chickens first, in case someone comes and we don't have anything prepared."
Li Laoer waved his hand and sat back lazily, "You and Meizhen go catch it, I'll wait for you here!"
"Meizhen, let's go catch some chickens."
Over there, Zhou Huaian and the other two also came down the mountain. Secretary Zhang saw the badgers in the basket and said in surprise, "They are quite fat. Where did you get them?"
Zhou Huaian smiled and said, "In the mulberry forest." He then brought out a large wild hog badger and said, "Second Brother Zhang, this one is for you."
Zhang Laoer waved his hands quickly, "I didn't do anything..."
Zhou Yiding smiled and said, "Brother Zhang, do you think it's too little?"
After hearing this, Secretary Zhang patted Zhang Laoer on the shoulder and said, "Laoer, Huai'an and the others are giving it to you sincerely, so just accept it!"
"Okay, I won't be polite then!" Zhang Laoer mentioned the badger, "Skin it while it's fresh and marinate it with some salt."
Zhou Huaian nodded and said, "Okay! Let's go to the agency store and buy a pack of cigarettes."
After they left Zhang's house, Zhou Yiding looked at him in confusion, "Did you finish your cigarette so quickly?"
"Three wild hog badgers, even if they use less salt, they will weigh two kilograms. How can we have the nerve to use them?"
Zhou Yiding nodded after hearing this and said, "You're right. I didn't expect that at all. I'll cut ours in half and give it to Secretary Zhou to stew at his home."
"Um!"
As soon as the two of them arrived at the brigade headquarters, they saw Li Laoer and his wife walking towards them. It seemed that Li Meizhen went back to tell them, so these two people came.
"Youngest!" Li Laoer called out affectionately, "We have prepared two delicious dishes, let's go to my house and have a drink!"
"I'm not familiar with you!" Zhou Huaian glanced at him indifferently and walked straight over.
Li Lao Er was slapped in the face and immediately got angry, "What's so great about that? Just because you made a few bucks, you look down on us poor relatives."
"If you think we are poor, then don't come to Baicaoping to collect truffles if you have the ability!" After saying this, Li Er's wife hurriedly ran up the slope, fearing that if she ran too slowly the chickens would be killed.
Zhou Huaian turned a deaf ear and strode towards the agency store.
Zhou Yiding looked at the two of them, then looked up and saw Li Meizhen standing on the slope looking at him. He couldn't help but feel a little annoyed, "Youngest, we've found Coriolus versicolor, and we've also caught a few wild hog badgers. Let's go back tomorrow morning."
"Okay!" Zhou Huaian also saw Li Meizhen on the slope, "Leave early, so you don't get stuck with the dog-skin plaster."
"Get lost!" Zhou Yiding kicked him, but Zhou Huaian dodged sideways. "Why are you kicking me? It was Second Brother Zhang who said so. I didn't say anything nonsense!"
Zhou Yiding gave him a look and followed him into the agency store. The two of them weighed two kilograms of fruit candy, bought two bottles of wine, and weighed two kilograms of salt and carried them back.
"Youngest, how can there be such a shameless person? They know clearly that we don't like them, but they still insist on trying to make friends with us?"
"Brother Zhang said that his family has taken a fancy to you. If he can marry a fat sheep like you, his family will have a brick and tile house, and his son won't have to worry about finding a wife."
"I'd rather be single than be related to a family like this." Zhou Yiding hugged him, "Luckily your third sister-in-law is clear-headed, otherwise your third brother would be in trouble."
"Yes! Otherwise my third brother will be in trouble."
When the two returned to Zhang's house, Zhang Laoer had already started skinning the badger.
Zhou Huaian grabbed some candies and gave them to the children who were watching the skinning. He turned around and saw the eldest son of Zhang Laoer's family, who was sitting on the steps watching his brothers and sisters playing and jumping. He gave all the remaining candies to him.
The child happily took the paper bag and said softly, "Thank you, uncle!"
Zhou Yiding rubbed his head and said, "Eat two candies a day, otherwise your teeth will get worms."
"Yes! I left it for my mother." The child took the paper bag and went to the kitchen to find his mother.
Secretary Zhang said distressedly: "He is the smartest among all the grandchildren, but the disease has made him suffer. He can't run or jump, and he can't even go to school."
He often thought that although he had some selfish motives during his years as the brigade secretary and had sought some benefits for his family, compared with other cadres, he could be considered an honest official!
I have never done anything harmful in my life, so why did my grandson suffer the consequences? Maybe I owed him something in my previous life!
Zhang Laoer turned around and said, "Old man, stop talking. Junjun might hear it later."
"Well! No more talking!" Secretary Zhang took a knife and cut open the badger's stomach, taking out the oil inside. "Youngest brother, the oil is not easy to carry on the road, so put it back and boil it again." (End of this chapter)
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