Reborn in 80: Starting with hunting in the mountains to get rich

Sun Quande glared fiercely at Sun Weimin, then called his son and turned to go into the mountains.

The Lu family hurriedly followed behind, carrying their hunting rifles as they went into the mountains. Everyone in the village knew how much the Lu family uncles doted on Dahuang.

Li Ju'an watched the group of people enter the mountains, and heard Lao Tao shake his head and sneer twice.

"I lent my dog ​​to someone else, and they lost it and now they want to borrow another one from me? Dream on! This big yellow dog is definitely dead!"

Li Ju'an's heart skipped a beat. Was Da Huang really dead?

When he called the widow of the Chen family to come to the Li family for dinner, the Lu family and the Sun family had already found Dahuang on the hilltop about a mile away from the Sow Gully.

The big yellow dog is dead.

Big Yellow's death was gruesome. It had been in a fight before it died. There were wild boar footprints all around, and its intestines looked like they had been ripped out by the wild boar's tusks.

As the big yellow dog rejoined the group, its intestines got caught on pine needles along the old path. With each step it took, the entire intestine became tangled in the needles and was pulled outwards. The dog was in pain and lay down, silent. No matter how much the hunters shouted, a dog in extreme pain would shut its mouth and utter a sound. Moreover, since Sun Weimin wasn't the dog's owner, the big yellow dog could only lie in the snow on the ridge, writhing in agony.

The Lu family also found human footprints at the hilltop. Sun Weimin was still stubbornly insisting: "I came back to check, I shouted and yelled many times, but I didn't see Dahuang."

Sun Weimin still felt wronged, but then Uncle Lu beat him mercilessly, making his head throb with pain.

Uncle Lu was furious. His eyes widened like a wild bull's as he roared, "You've reached the top of the hill and you're not going any further? You fucking took just two more steps and you'd see my dog. Why are you stopping now?"

Sun Weimin could still whisper his defense: "This road is all icy, it's not easy to go down and come back up."

Knowing he was in the wrong, he spoke even softer. This time, not only Uncle Lu, but also the two Lu brothers raised their fists and gave him a good beating.

"It won't go down once it freezes?"

"Our dog, Dahuang, just died like that, without any explanation? Even if you had taken just two or three more steps, you would have seen the dog!"

The big yellow dog deliberately lay down by the old ginseng road, enduring the pain of its intestines being pulled and pulled, waiting for the hunter to come looking for it. But it waited for nothing, and could only endure the pain of being disemboweled and dying of hypothermia in the icy snow.

When Uncle Lu saw his beloved dog frozen solid in the snow, its intestines still hanging from pine needles, he was overwhelmed with grief. The sight of his dog's tragic death, which had brought him pride for most of his life, now filled him with sorrow, and tears streamed down his face.

Those who are not hunters cannot truly understand the pain of a hunter losing his hound; it is like losing a close ally or right-hand man suddenly.

The Lu family and the Sun family got into a fight.

The two families fought their way from Muzhugou to Jiarentun. Eventually, even their relatives couldn't stop them and started fighting themselves. Even the village head, Yang Dezheng, got involved.

With his face bruised and swollen, Sun Weimin shouted angrily, "Isn't this all Lu Zhiqiang's doing! Lu Zhiqiang wanted to trade malted milk powder for the dog!"

Uncle Lu glared at Lu Zhiqiang in shock and anger.

Lu Zhiqiang was so frightened that he could barely speak. Trembling with anger, he pointed at Sun Weimin and shouted, "Bullshit! You said you'd borrow my dog ​​for three cans of malted milk powder, but you only gave me two! You'd better bring me the third can today, or this isn't over!"

Sun Weimin and Lu Zhiqiang couldn't get through to each other. Young people are naturally hot-tempered, and they were so angry that veins were popping out on their foreheads. They were throwing punches at each other.

Uncle Lu was trembling with rage, his finger shaking as he pointed at Lu Zhiqiang: "You bastard! How dare you sell my dog?"

When Lu Jinyang saw that the old man was determined to kill him, even raising his hunting rifle, he was so frightened that he abandoned Lu Zhiqiang and ran away. Lu Zhiqiang was also scared to death; this was a real hunting rifle! If the old man shot him, he would surely die, and the old man would be executed as well.

Lu Zhiqiang was truly terrified, utterly terrified. He clung tightly to the leg of Yang Dezheng, the village head, as if he were a family member, crying out, "Uncle Yang, save me!"

The village was noisy and chaotic, filled with cries and the terrified sobs of the women, including their sisters-in-law and wives.

Aunt Lu couldn't persuade the old man. She thought the child was going to die under the hunting rifle, and she collapsed to the ground and cried.

Aunt Lu was helped up by Aunt Zhang and sat down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed). Before she could even scold the brat, she started crying, and as a result, Lu's two younger sisters also started crying.

The whole village was filled with the sound of women crying, and all the men were in a terrible predicament.

In the end, it was Captain Yang Dezheng who intervened and prevented Uncle Lu from impulsively shooting Lu Zhiqiang and Sun Weimin in a fit of rage. These days, hunters had guns, but if they killed someone in a fight, they would be taken away and executed.

But after this incident, the Lu and Sun families became enemies and never had any contact again.

Li Ju'an heard about this. He was sitting on the kang table, eating heartily the radish stewed with wild boar that his mother had cooked. Besides the widow Chen, who had also been invited in for dinner, his neighbor, Aunt Zhang, was also there. Aunt Zhang hadn't come empty-handed either; she brought her pickled cabbage, spicy cabbage, and eggs from her own yard—a whole basket full of things.

Mother Song Lanhua and Aunt Zhang had a good relationship. Aunt Zhang had helped the Li family a lot in the past, so they ate meat together around the kang table to replenish their energy.

Now, the Lu and Sun families are arguing outside, but the Li family doesn't go out to see what's going on. They continue to eat heartily around the steaming kang table, enjoying braised pork knuckle, pickled cabbage and radish stew with vermicelli, radish stew with wild boar, and stir-fried roe deer meat.

Aunt Zhang listened intently and muttered, "Why are the Lu family men fighting with Sun Quande again?"

After finishing her work, Song Lanhua, the mother, sat down. She first picked up a piece of pork with her chopsticks and gave it to Li Ju'an, then told Li Xiao to eat quickly. After that, she picked up a large mouthful of stir-fried roe deer meat and put it in her bowl, saying, "That's how it is among men. They're just competing with each other."

Aunt Zhang shook her head and said, "No, it doesn't sound like a competition. My husband is the same way after we got married. We bicker almost every day, neither of us willing to back down, but we've never really gotten into a fight. On the contrary, the more we bicker, the deeper our feelings for each other become. But the way the Lu family patriarchs curse, oh my, they've practically cursed Sun Quande's ancestors."

The people at the Li family's kang table were eating steaming hot, hearty dishes while listening intently to any sounds, none of them willing to put down their chopsticks and leave the table.

With so many hearty dishes, just the aroma of meat wafts into your nose. Who would be willing to go out to watch a show without eating meat?

After listening for a while, Widow Chen finally understood what was going on, exclaimed "Hey!" and said.

"If you ask me, the Sun family is in the wrong. The Sun family borrowed a dog from the Lu family, but the dog disappeared, and the Sun family didn't even go back to look for it. In the freezing cold, if the hunting dog had its belly cut open, they could have found it sooner, stuffed its intestines back in, bandaged the wound, and brought it down the mountain, and the hunting dog wouldn't have died. Now look what happened, the Lu family's dog is frozen solid. This feud is definitely now in the making."

Song Lanhua, Li Ju'an's mother, added worriedly, "Son, we can't lend our dog to anyone, not even if you offer money."

Li Ju'an took a bite of his cornbread and assured her, "Don't worry, Mom. Da Hu is my lifeline. I absolutely won't lend him any money, let alone anyone else. They definitely have ulterior motives."

Hunting dogs were absolutely indispensable to hunters. Although small in size, they were extremely loyal. Some hunters would take their dogs hunting, and if a dog was injured, it was a matter of luck; there weren't many medicines available for dogs back then. Let alone dogs, even humans hadn't had intravenous drips, so dogs were even more likely to be injured while hunting. Therefore, hunters wouldn't lend their own dogs to hunt.

In situations like Sun Weimin's, if he wants to find a dog, he'll have to find someone to haul it away. Alternatively, he could buy a dog at the market. Selling a dog also involves a certain process: first, the price is agreed upon, then the person takes the dog away, with a one-week trial period. If, during the trial period, the dog is chosen by a pig, the buyer, seller, and middleman will go up the mountain together to check the location of the incident.

If it's a dangerous forest and the dog can't escape in time, and the pig catches it, then the buyer only pays half the money. If it's a clear forest and the hunting dog is killed by the pig because the hunter didn't follow, then the buyer bears all the responsibility. If the dog is lost, the buyer also bears all the responsibility.

In the past, hunting wasn't a hobby; it was a livelihood, a way to support one's family. Leading dogs often died from exhaustion, biting pigs or being gored to death by them, which shows how precious they were.

Given Sun Weimin's situation, he absolutely has to take full responsibility; there's no question about it.