Republic of China: Guandong Ginseng King

Chapter 44 Chicken Thief

Qu Shaoyang and Shui Laowu traveled from dawn to dusk, and finally arrived at a small village on the bank of the Songhua River in the evening of the third day, and found Zhao Da Kui's mother and brother.

"Sister-in-law, I'm really sorry.

Da Kui followed us to raft, and when we were at the Yanwangbizi whistle, the old raft was set up, and Da Kui was unable to return.

Shui Laowu took out a few silver ingots from his bag with a heavy heart and placed them on the table on the kang.

"This is Da Kui's salary. I was entrusted by the second cabinet to deliver it to my sister-in-law.

This is a small gift from me, please don’t think it’s too little, old sister-in-law.”

Upon learning that her son died at the Yanwang Nose Whistle while rafting, Zhao Dagui's mother Wang burst into tears.

"I told him not to go out and to stay at home and farm, but he wouldn't listen.

This child has the same temper as his father.

When his father was working as a night watchman for others, I didn't allow him to do it, but he didn't listen at all and eventually died in the river.

Why is my life so miserable? My husband is gone, and my eldest son is gone before he even started a family."

The old lady cried so hard that she almost died. Zhao Da Kui's younger brother Zhao Er Kui stood beside her and also cried.

"Uncle, let me ask you, where is my brother's body buried?

If I have the chance in the future, I will go and move my brother's body back. I can't let him become a wandering ghost out there."

Shui Laowu sighed, "Not far from entering Kuandian, there is a big river bay called Yanwang Nose.

Follow the path from the King of Hell’s Nose whistle and go down about two miles, and you’ll find it buried there.”

Zhao Erkui nodded and said, "Thank you uncle for taking the trouble to come all the way here.

Well, you guys sit here for a while, I'll go get some fish.

Mom, don’t cry anymore. My brother chose this path in the first place, and sooner or later something bad was bound to happen.

Go catch a chicken and kill it and stew it so we can treat Uncle Liu and Brother Qu well."

Since they came from far away to give them money, they should at least prepare something delicious to treat them.

At first, Zhao Da Kui's father worked as a night ranger on the Songhua River. He earned a lot of money and bought some land for the family.

Zhao Da Kui spent half of the money he earned from logging and rafting in recent years on himself, and gave the rest to his family.

The Zhao family farmed the land and raised some livestock, and their home was next to the Songhua River, so they could go fishing and so on, so their life was pretty good.

That's why Zhao Erkui asked his mother Wang to catch a chicken and kill it to entertain the guests.

"Oh, please don't, please don't, there's no need, just eat whatever you have at home, don't kill the chicken."

When the old crow heard this, he was shocked. How could he let people kill chickens during a festival like this? So he hurriedly stopped them.

“Sister-in-law, Erkui, please don’t kill the chickens, and don’t do anything else.

Otherwise, we will both leave and never eat here again."

"Yes, yes, Auntie, Erkui, if you insist on killing the chicken, then we will turn around and leave."

Life is hard for everyone these days, and a chicken costs a lot of money, so how can we just kill it and eat it? This is absolutely not allowed.

Seeing this, the Zhao mother and son decided not to insist on killing the chicken anymore.

Wang sent Erkui to the river to catch some fish and took out a piece of salted pork from home. There happened to be some late beans in the vegetable garden, so she picked some and stewed them in a pot.

It turns out that Zhao Erkui is quite capable. Not long after going to the river, he came back with two fish.

For dinner, we had stewed fish, bacon and beans, and the staple food was white sorghum rice.

Shui Laowu and Qu Shaoyang had been eating nothing but cold pancakes and pickles during the past few days while on the road. It was a rare opportunity for them to have a hot meal, so they were quite happy.

Zhao Erkui also heated a pot of wine and poured it for Shui Laowu and Qu Shaoyang. The three of them ate and drank while chatting.

At night, Zhao's mother and son left Shui Laowu and Qu Shaoyang to live in the east room, while Wang went to sleep in the west room. Qu Shaoyang and his friends had been very tired from traveling these days, and they drank a little wine at night, so they fell asleep almost as soon as they lay on the kang.

In the middle of the night, the big black dog in the yard suddenly started barking.

At first, Qu Shaoyang didn't pay attention, but the dog kept barking, and the barking became more and more fierce, so Qu Shaoyang couldn't lie down anymore.

"Erkui, Erkui? Wake up, why is your dog barking all the time? I think something is wrong."

Qu Shaoyang reached out and pushed Zhao Erkui who was lying next to him.

Zhao Erkui drank a little wine in the evening and slept very soundly. Qu Shaoyang pushed him several times before he woke up.

Zhao Erkui was puzzled when he heard the loud barking of the big black dog outside, so he reached out, opened the upper half of the window, and looked out.

Qu Shaoyang also went over to take a look.

At the beginning of the month, the moon in the sky was only a thin hook, shining dimly in the yard.

Qu Shaoyang could only see the Zhao family's big black dog rushing towards the opposite hillside, biting it and pulling the iron chain, which made a rattling sound.

"Did this dog see something? Why does it keep barking?" Qu Shaoyang asked in a low voice.

"Maybe he saw a fox on the opposite hillside? There are many wild animals in the mountains, and it might be a fox or something else."

Zhao Erkui looked around the yard carefully and found nothing unusual, so he simply lowered the window.

"Go to sleep. Dahei will stop barking after a while."

After Zhao Erkui said this, Qu Shaoyang didn't dare to ask any more questions, so the two of them went back to bed, thinking that they would be able to fall asleep after Dahei stopped barking.

But unexpectedly, the big black cat showed no intention of stopping, but instead barked more and more intensely.

This time, even Water Crow was awakened by the barking of the dog, "No, this dog's barking doesn't sound like a good thing, there must be something outside.

Shaoyang, get up and put on your clothes, let's go out and take a look." Shui Laowu listened carefully to the sound of the dog barking, and then came out of the quilt.

When Qu Shaoyang heard this, he immediately got out of bed, put on his shoes and went out.

On the other side, Zhao Erkui also got up and lit the lantern with a tinder.

With the help of the light, Qu Shaoyang and Shui Laowu came to the outer room and reached out to take down the two guns hanging on the wall.

The gun was filled with gunpowder, but there was no primer.

This is mainly for safety. After all, if it is placed at home, it may easily cause an accident if someone accidentally touches it.

Qu Shaoyang took out two percussion caps from his bag and handed one to Shui Laowu. The master and disciple pushed the door and came out of the house.

At the beginning of September in the lunar calendar, it was already very cold in the mountains, especially at night. As soon as you go out, the cold wind blows in your face, making you shiver.

The big black dog heard the noise, turned around to look at Qu Shaoyang and the others, then started roaring towards the opposite hillside.

After barking a few times, it would turn around in circles, looking very anxious.

"Erkui, check if there are any missing livestock or anything else at home, especially the chicken coop. Make sure no fox or weasel has gotten into the chicken coop."

Qu Shaoyang seemed to be thinking about something, and hurriedly urged Zhao Erkui to check everywhere.

Zhao Erkui hurriedly carried the lantern and walked around his yard.

The Zhao family raised two pigs and six or seven chickens. The chicken coop was on the east side of the yard near the garden stick.

Zhao Erkui went to check on the pigs first, and saw two pigs sleeping in their kennel, so he turned around and went to the chicken coop again.

As soon as I arrived at the chicken coop, I found something wrong: there was a pile of chicken feathers on the ground.

There were a total of seven chickens in my house, but now there are only two left, fluttering on the ground, as if they were bitten by something.

"Oh my chicken." Zhao Erkui exclaimed.

(End of this chapter)