The whole mountain is my hunting ground.

Chapter 1185: Over a Thousand Pigs, Over a Ten Thousand Cows, and Corn Costs One and a Half Dollars Per Pound
As Wang Meilan lit the beacon tower, the diners in the village rushed to the Zhao family.

There is strength in numbers. The women skinned the bears, cut the bear meat, and boiled bear oil.

All three steps are carried out outdoors, otherwise there will be too much smoke in the house, making the hair and bodies of adults and children smell of smoke.

When the oil was being heated, smoke came out of the two earthen stoves in the Zhao family yard, and Jin Xiaomei and Xu Chunyan were heating the oil outside.

In the outer room, Zhao Ling and Liu Lanying were each chopping beef filling on a chopping board, while Xie Sun was peeling onions in the corner.

The Zhao family had pie tonight, stuffed with beef and green onions and fried in bear fat.

As it was getting dark, Xie Chen, who was watching TV in the east room, glanced outside. Then, without Wang Meilan's instructions, he stood up, went to the cupboard, opened the first drawer on the right, took out two candles, and then walked quickly out of the house.

While Xie Chen was lighting lanterns in the yard, Jin Xiaomei and Xu Chunyan began to skim oil into the jars.

Suddenly, the black tiger let out a "wow", causing the dogs of the Zhao and Li families to start barking.

The children are back from school.

When the children entered the courtyard, they greeted Jie Chen, Jin Xiaomei and Xu Chunyan. At this time, Jin Xiaomei found that Zhao Hong, Zhao Na, Xiao Lingdang and Wang Tian were all there, but her own Li Xiaoqiao was missing.

"Lingdang." Jin Xiaomei asked Xiao Lingdang hurriedly, "How about my Xiaoqiao?"

Just as Jin Xiaomei finished speaking, Li Xiaoqiao's voice came from the west wall: "Mom, I'm here."

"Ah?" Jin Xiaomei looked and vaguely saw a small hand reaching out from the west wall. Jin Xiaomei breathed a sigh of relief and said, "You kid! What are you going home for?"

"I'm going to see my little brother." Li Xiaoqiao had just given the answer when Jin Xiaomei said unhappily, "What are you going to see him do?"

Jin Xiaomei just said this, but she didn't stop Li Xiaoqiao from going home.

Li Xiaoqiao opened the door and entered his home. He walked to the door of the west room in the dark and called out softly, "Brother, I'm back to see you!"

"Little sister!" Li Ruhai in the room almost cried. These days, Jin Xiaomei not only did not give him hot meals, but also restricted his movements. He could only go to the toilet every day, and there was a time limit.

If you need to relieve yourself, it should not take more than five minutes from the time you leave the house to the time you return home. If you need to relieve yourself, it should not take more than ten minutes.

With such limited time, Li Ruhai could only solve personal problems in a toilet near his home, and it was difficult for him to communicate with outsiders.

This made Li Ruhai very uncomfortable, and sometimes he felt that he could not hold on any longer. But thinking of the fierce looks of Li Dayong and Jin Xiaomei waving the triangle belts, Li Ruhai gritted his teeth and persevered.

Li Ruhai felt uncomfortable because he hadn't spoken a few words all day. Now that his younger sister came back to see him, how could Li Ruhai not be happy?
When Li Xiaoqiao came in, Li Ruhai turned on the light in the room. Seeing the dishevelled Li Ruhai, Li Xiaoqiao paused and said, "Brother, why are you like this?"

"Little sister." Li Ruhai said painfully, "I finally see my relatives!"

"Young man!" Li Xiaoqiao took a few steps forward but avoided the hand that Li Ruhai extended.

When Li Ruhai was stunned, the little girl reached into her pocket, looked at Li Ruhai and asked with a smile: "Guess what I bought for you?"

"Hmm?" Li Ruhai's eyes lit up, then dimmed again, and he said perfunctorily: "You have no money, what can you buy for me?"

"Who said I don't have money?" Li Xiaoqiao turned around and glanced at the door furtively, then said to Li Ruhai, "That day, my dad came back from my uncle's house after drinking too much, and a five-cent coin fell out of his pocket. I picked it up and asked for it, so my dad gave it to me."

Li Ruhai twitched his lips. It was only five cents. After his heyday, although he had no money in his pocket now, Li Ruhai still looked down on this little money.

"Little brother, look!" Li Xiaoqiao said, and took her little hand out of her pocket and spread it in front of Li Ruhai. She could be seen holding two candy balls in her palm.

"Is this what you bought for your brother?" Li Ruhai smiled, picked up a candy ball and put it into Li Xiaoqiao's mouth first.

The sugar ball entered her mouth, and Li Xiaoqiao flicked it with the tip of her tongue, causing her right cheek to bulge.

Li Xiaoqiao's eyes narrowed into slits as she smiled, and she took a step forward and put the other candy ball in her hand into Li Ruhai's mouth.

Li Ruhai smiled sweetly at his younger sister, and the cold room was instantly filled with warmth.

"Brother, is it sweet?" Li Xiaoqiao asked. Li Ruhai nodded heavily and said, "Sweet, very sweet!"

"Hehe." Li Xiaoqiao smiled, took out another handful of candy from his pocket, and then placed three candy balls on the mattress where Li Ruhai slept.

"Brother, I'll give them all to you!" Li Xiaoqiao said, and took out his pocket to tell Li Ruhai that he had no money left.

"My little sister is still the best!" Li Ruhai knew that several children had been eating Little Prank in the past six months, and no one cared about this candy ball. But this was bought by his sister, which contained his sister's love for him.

"Hey?" Li Ruhai suddenly thought of something and asked Li Xiaoqiao, "Little sister, how much are these five candies? How did Uncle Wang Fu charge you?"

The candy balls are cheap, half a pound for two cents, and five of them are two cents? Li Xiaoqiao wants to use five cents to buy the candy balls, but Wang Fu can't make the change.

"Aunt Wang didn't ask me for money." Li Xiaoqiao said, "She gave each of us a handful and told us to eat it."

Li Ruhai was startled when he heard this, then smiled and said, "That's also a token of my little sister's love. I'm touched."

The brother and sister smiled at each other again, and then Li Xiaoqiao asked Li Ruhai, "Brother, you promised to buy me a down jacket that day..."

As soon as Li Xiaoqiao said this, the smile on Li Ruhai's face froze instantly.

Li Ruhai did promise to buy a down jacket for Li Xiaoqiao after he was elected as the director of the Women's Department.

But then, all his efforts over the past few months were confiscated by Jin Xiaomei, without even leaving him an IOU.

At the moment, Li Ruhai is not as rich as Li Xiaoqiao. He can’t even afford a duck feather, so how can he buy a down jacket?
"Um..." Li Ruhai laughed dryly and said, "Little sister, um...don't worry, I'm short of money recently, just wait for me to earn two months' salary."

"Ah?" Li Xiaoqiao was stunned, eyes widened, and said, "Brother, I have to wait for you for two months, and winter is over. Can I still wear it?"

"Yes! Why not?" Li Ruhai said, "It's cold in our forest area. Don't we have to wear cotton jackets in the spring?"

Li Xiaoqiao pursed her lips when she heard that, then stretched out her little hand and opened it wide, grabbing all three candy balls on the mattress.

Li Ruhai: "..."

……

When the brother and sister were having a ruthless quarrel, a group of people from the Zhao family next door surrounded Wang Tian. Zhao Ling loudly asked Wang Tian, ​​"What's going on? Tell me."

Today is Wang Tian's first day attending kindergarten. Zhao Ling took him there in the morning and he came back with Zhao Hong and the others in the evening.

After arriving home, Wang Meilan and Zhao Ling wanted to ask the child how his first day at kindergarten went, but when the two women saw Wang Tian's face, there were black marks from top to bottom.

These are the marks left by tears flowing down the cheeks. It is obvious that the child has cried.

Wang Tian was the only child in the Wang family, so Wang Meilan and Zhao Ling had to ask him the reason. But Wang Tian didn't know what was going on, and the more they asked, the less they answered, until Zhao Ling got really upset.

"Old girl!" Wang Meilan suddenly remembered that her nephew was in the same class as her daughter, so she called Zhao Na and asked, "Why is Wang Tian crying?"

"He's such a bad boy!" Zhao Na pointed at Wang Tian and said, "He wanted to hit Youyou, but Wei Dapeng didn't let him, so he just stood aside and cried."

Playing yoyo is like swinging on a swing. Wang Meilan's mouth twitched, and at this time Wang Qiang asked Zhao Na: "Na, did that boy hit us?"

"No, I didn't hit him." Zhao Na said, "I didn't hit him, so he cried."

Wang Qiang tilted his head when he heard that, and quickly turned back to look at Wang Tian, ​​shouting, "This is a loser! Damn it!"

"What are you doing, Qiangzi?" Wang Meilan pulled Wang Qiang down to defend him, saying, "Hasn't my nephew never been to kindergarten? How could he not be scared when he suddenly saw those kids?"

After talking to Wang Qiang, Wang Meilan said to Zhao Na, "Look at you, kid. Your little brother went to school the day before, and you just watched others bully him?"

Wang Tian is older than Zhao Na, but the child is a little spoiled and started kindergarten later than other children.

"I helped him!" Zhao Na gestured with her hands and said, "I went up and pulled Wei Dapeng down, and knocked him down!"

Wang Meilan: “…”

Everyone: "..."

"You little brat!" Wang Meilan, who had just complained about her daughter not helping her nephew, grabbed Zhao Na and slapped the little girl on the butt, saying, "Why are you fighting too?"

"I didn't fight." Zhao Na seemed to have been wronged and shouted, "I just knocked him down."

In the middle of winter, it is normal for children to fight, fall down and get up. It's not like Zhao Hong, who hit her nose and made it bleed.

"Sister!" This time it was Wang Qiang's turn to defend his younger brother. He took Zhao Na from Wang Meilan and said, "My little niece is helping her little brother. How great is that?"

At this point, Wang Qiang paused for a moment and asked, "Whose child is Wei Dapeng?"

"The people in our village are surnamed Wei..." Zhao Ling pondered as she said, "Wei Jin, Wei Tie..."

"No way?" Xu Chunyan interrupted Zhao Ling and said, "The boys from both families are in elementary school, right?"

"Oh!" Zhao Jun sighed and said, "That's the child of Yongli Wei Yongjun."

"Wei Yongjun?" Wang Meilan frowned slightly and said, "I haven't seen that man for many years."

"Not bad at all." Wang Qiang replied, and then asked Zhao Jun: "Nephew, how do you know it's his child? What is he doing in the forest farm now?"

Zhao Jun curled his lips slightly and said, "He is in the canteen of the forest farm."

After saying this, Zhao Jun added: "In the second cafeteria, he is Teacher Song's male."

"Ah?" Wang Meilan was stunned and muttered softly, "What's going on?"

Zhao Jun was also speechless. Yesterday, the second sister beat the second brother-in-law, and today the eldest sister knocked down the eldest brother-in-law.

But as the saying goes, these days children's fighting is not a big deal and adults don't care. After Wang Meilan comforted her eldest nephew, she organized people to start making pancakes.

The wheat ground at home is really fragrant. When the cakes are fried in the oil pan, the fragrance fills the house.

As the four people who went to work came back, the baked pies were stacked on a large plate and served on the table, accompanied by sauerkraut and wild boar meat. Everyone ate with oil in their mouths and sweat on their foreheads.

After eating and drinking, the diners went back to their homes, and the lights in the east and west rooms of the Zhao family were turned off one after another.

As the three little girls became silent, Wang Meilan slowly closed her eyes and prepared to sleep.

But at this moment, a sigh came from the side.

"Oh!" Zhao Youcai was rather depressed tonight. He didn't say much during the meal, and after the meal he just smoked and drank water. He seldom communicated with others.

Wang Meilan knew that Zhao Youcai was unlucky again today, but after a busy day, Wang Meilan was also sleepy, so she continued to try to fall asleep.

"Ugh!"

But then, another long sigh sounded in my ears.

"What are you doing?" Wang Meilan said unhappily, "You keep making these noises every night. If you keep bothering me, I'll throw you out."

"Lan!" Zhao Youcai suddenly turned to Wang Meilan and said, "I won't go up the mountain anymore."

"I think so," Wang Meilan said, "You shouldn't have gone up the mountain a long time ago."

Zhao Youcai twitched his lips and whispered, "A tiger in troubled waters..."

"What did you say?" Wang Meilan is not Zhang Guoqing. Hearing Zhao Youcai muttering, she lifted the quilt and sat up.

"Nothing, nothing." Zhao Youcai got up quickly, hugged Wang Meilan and lay down again, pulled the quilt over Wang Meilan and covered her, then said, "Lan, I want to discuss something with you."

"What's the matter?" Wang Meilan said, "Anyway, let me tell you first, I can't return a single cent of the 200 yuan to you!"

Although it was hard to see clearly in the dark, Zhao Youcai still glanced at Wang Meilan and said, "I'm not going up the mountain. This is still a bit messy."

"What? Pile up?" Wang Meilan couldn't lie still when she heard that. She asked Zhao Youcai hurriedly, "What did you beat him to death again?"

"No!" Zhao Youcai said angrily, "Can you please listen to me?"

"I don't want to listen to you at all." Wang Meilan said, "I want to sleep, and you are lying there sighing."

Zhao Youcai said, "I promised to catch wild boars for them, but now I won't go up the mountain, so I can't do what I promised."

The frequency of accidents in the past few days was too high, which really exhausted Zhao Baotou. He really didn't want to go up the mountain in the short term.

"What a day!" Wang Meilan said, "If it can't be completed, then it can't be completed. Who can force us to go?"

"No, they wanted the wild boar as a gift." Zhao Youcai said, "I messed up and delayed their work."

"Oh!" Wang Meilan sighed and asked, "What do you mean? Let your son do it for you?"

"Yeah!" Zhao Youcai nodded and said, "Let my son catch it."

Zhao Youcai had already planned to let Zhao Jun catch pigs for his father, but he was too embarrassed to tell Zhao Jun, so he turned his attention to Wang Meilan.

"Hey?" Wang Meilan was about to complain, but suddenly her eyes lit up and she asked, "They have to pay us for catching pigs for them, right?"

"Ah..." Zhao Youcai just opened his mouth when Wang Meilan asked, "How many pigs do you want?"

"Three..." Zhao Youcai just reported the number when Wang Meilan said, "Okay, then don't worry about it. I'll talk to my son tomorrow."

"Alas!" Zhao Youcai sighed again after hearing Wang Meilan's words. But then, Wang Meilan hit him on the shoulder.

"Stop sighing!" Wang Meilan said, "Go to bed quickly!"

……

The next day was December 1987, 12.

Wang Meilan got up early to make dumplings. The dough was fermented yesterday, and the filling was the beef that was chopped yesterday. But unlike steamed buns, the filling of the dumplings was mixed with large radishes.

At around six o'clock, Zhao Youcai took the basin out to feed the dog, while Zhao Jun and Zhao Weipeng put on their clothes and got off the kang.

As soon as he got off the kang, Zhao Weipeng ran to the toilet with toilet paper in his hand.

When Zhao Jun came out of the room and was about to pour water to wash his face, Wang Meilan was about to talk to Zhao Jun about catching the wild boar, but Zhao Jun seemed to remember something and moved closer to Wang Meilan.

"Mom." Zhao Jun called Wang Meilan and asked, "We have a relative who sells knives on credit. My uncle said he has been to our house. My grandmother calls him Uncle Six. Did you know?"

"I'm selling knives on credit..." Wang Meilan stopped kneading the dough abruptly, her eyes widened as she muttered, "Over a thousand pigs, over ten thousand cows, and a pound of corn for one dollar and a half!"

(End of this chapter)