The whole mountain is my hunting ground

Li Baoyu took the dog home, went into the courtyard and tied the little flower dog in the corner, and then went into the house to report to Jin Xiaomei.

As soon as he entered the house, he heard Li Ruhai complaining to Jin Xiaomei.

Just listen to Li Ruhai say: "Mom, my eldest brother dares to steal thirty yuan from me today, and he will steal three hundred from you tomorrow!"

"Then he doesn't dare." Jin Xiaomei was taking Li Xiaoqiao to pick soybeans, preparing to go to the tofu shop to exchange for tofu tomorrow.

"Why don't you dare." Li Ruhai continued: "On the day of Laba, if you lost 50 cents, he was the one who stole it."

"Your dad took that." Jin Xiaomei said, "He took it to buy cigarettes."

Li Ruhai rolled his eyes and said, "Then last year during the August Festival, you lost thirty cents, and my brother stole it."

"What did your brother take?" Jin Xiaomei turned to Li Xiaoqiao, stretched out her hand to touch Li Xiaoqiao's little head, and scolded: "It's this girl's picture, take it to buy peach cakes to eat."

Li Xiaoqiao smiled sweetly at Jin Xiaomei and opened her small arms to hug Jin Xiaomei.

Seeing the unkind glances secretly cast by his sister, Li Ruhai didn't care and continued to talk to Jin Xiaomei: "Then last May Day..."

"You're done!" Li Baoyu couldn't stand listening, so he came in from the outer room, took out 30 yuan from his pocket and gave it to Li Ruhai, saying, "I'll just borrow it for use. Look at how stingy you are."

Li Ruhai took the money and glared at Li Baoyu. Then without saying a word, he got off the kang and ran to his room. He wanted to hide the money in a secret place before Li Baoyu returned to the room.

Seeing Li Ruhai running away, Li Baoyu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. On May Day last year, it was indeed him who took Jin Xiaomei's 20 cents and bought two rice dumplings.

This case has not been solved yet.

"Son, where is the dog?" Jin Xiaomei asked Li Baoyu, then changed from sitting cross-legged to kneeling on the kang, straightened up and looked out the window.

Li Baoyu explained everything to Jin Xiaomei and took out the remaining thirty-five yuan, "Mom, Wang Dalong said that he will pay back the money he lent us tomorrow."

"Yes." Jin Xiaomei responded, but did not take the money. She only said to Li Baoyu: "Son, you can keep this money in your pocket."

"What?"

The three brothers and sisters of the Li family were all shocked when they heard this. Li Ruhai even trotted over from the opposite room, wanting to see if he could get any benefits.

But Jin Xiaomei didn't even look at the two younger ones. She only said to Li Baoyu: "Wang Dalong is here to pay back the money, and the fifty is yours too. You can keep it and buy it back if you find a dog you like."

"Okay, okay." Li Baoyu's face beamed with joy, and he excitedly counted the thirty-five yuan in his hand.

"Brother!" Li Xiaoqiao rushed towards Li Baoyu, grabbed the sleeve of Li Baoyu's cotton-padded jacket, and said, "I'm going to the big market tomorrow, buy me honey fruits to eat."

…

When Zhao Jun returned home, he ate a bowl of porridge that Wang Meilan had heated for him, and took two painkillers. After a while, he felt sleepy, so he got into bed and slept until dark.

When he woke up, he still felt light-headed and light-headed, so Zhao Jun huddled in the bed and refused to come out at all.

At this time, the door of the room was pushed open from the outside, and Zhao Youcai walked in with a big bowl in his hand. He came to the Kang and said to Zhao Jun: "Come on, get up and drink while it's hot."

Zhao Jun sat up and took a look and saw what kind of soup was in the bowl. It was very light in color and the clear soup was not watery.

Zhao Jun took the bowl and smelled it. He didn't smell any strange smell, so he asked Zhao Youcai, "Dad, what are you cooking?"

Zhao Youcai said: "White radish skin boiled with cabbage root."

Zhao Jun put the bowl on the kang and said to Zhao Youcai: "Dad, you can't just feed the pigs with this."

"Stop making ink marks and drink it quickly." Zhao Youcai smiled and said: "This is the recipe you brought from her mother's family. After drinking it, you will be in charge."

"Then why didn't you cook it for me yesterday?" Zhao Jun picked up the bowl and took two big gulps.

Zhao Youcai said: "How can we have white radish at home? I got this from the market today."

These days, there are no vegetable greenhouses in the Northeast, so you can’t grow vegetables in winter.

Vegetables from the south cannot be transported, so every winter, farmers in mountain villages can only see a few kinds of vegetables.

Radish, cabbage and scallions.

Radishes, including all kinds of radishes, can be stored in cellars together with cabbage for a long time.

Just throw the green onions outside. Green onions are not afraid of freezing. Just bring them inside before eating and let them cool down.

Zhao Jun finished the radish skin and cabbage root soup and when he handed the bowl to Zhao Youcai, he said, "Dad, cut a piece of radish for me to eat."

These days, if there is no fruit, we use radishes instead.

"It's gone." Zhao Youcai said, "Let your mother use it to stew badgers."

In the evening, Zhao Jun's family ate badger meat stewed with white radish, and Wang Meilan's cornmeal pancakes stuck to the side of the pot.

Zhao Jun was feeling unwell and couldn't eat meat, so he filled some vegetable soup with big pancakes to eat.

After he finished eating, he asked Zhao Youcai, "Dad, have those two shipments come back?"

"The shipment has come back." Zhao Youcai said: "You are really good at it. A blind bear and an egg cooker are enough to entertain our two families."

As Zhao Youcai talked, he thought to himself, this guy is so lucky, he never misses his chance every time he goes up the mountain.

The next day is the twenty-fifth day of the twelfth lunar month.

When Zhao Jun woke up early in the morning, he heard the chirping voices of two younger sisters coming from the room opposite, as if they were shouting to go to the market.

Zhao Jun stood up and suddenly felt very relaxed and comfortable, not feeling uncomfortable at all.

"The earthworks my grandma brought are fine." Zhao Jun muttered, got off the kang, and went to the opposite room.

Wang Meilan saw Zhao Jun coming out and asked him: "Son, are you at home by yourself?"

"Mom, I'll go with you." Zhao Jun said, "I'm fine now."

Wang Meilan looked at Zhao Jun and saw that his face was normal. She hurriedly walked to the outhouse and said as she walked: "Then eat quickly, don't waste your time."

After Zhao Jun finished eating, he and Wang Meilan took the two little ones out of the house. As soon as they shouted in the yard, Jin Xiaomei and the three brothers and sisters of the Li family walked out of the neighboring house.

"Brother, are you okay?"

"Okay." Zhao Jun didn't climb over the wall, but looked into Li's courtyard with his hands on the wall, and asked, "How is the little flower dog doing when he gets home?"

"It's pretty good." Li Baoyu said, "You can eat and drink."

"That's fine." Zhao Jun stopped and walked out of the courtyard gate. The two families met and walked towards the entrance of the village together.

The group of people walked more than five miles talking and laughing until they arrived at the market.

When they arrived at the market, Wang Meilan asked Zhao Jun to take care of her younger brothers and sisters, and then she and Jin Xiaomei left the team and went to buy cotton cloth.

At this time, the three little girls were clamoring to go to the fried mahua and fried candied fruit stalls.

Zhao Jun took out ten yuan and handed it to Li Baoyu and said, "Baoyu, you and Ruhai lead them there, and be careful not to get lost or get too close to the oil pan."

"I know." Li Baoyu took the money and went north amidst the cheers of the three little girls.

Zhao Jun was walking around the market alone, with his hands behind his back. What surprised him was that when he came to the market today, he also saw rabbits and pheasants selling.

You must know that this is a forest farm in a mountainous area, and there is no shortage of rabbits and pheasants. Usually no one comes to sell them.

Zhao Jun watched for a while and found that there were actually people buying it, but there were very few people buying it and the price was very cheap.

Zhao Jun walked forward again, but was even more surprised to find that there was actually a wild boar seller in this episode.

Wild boar meat cut into eight pieces was placed on the ground piece by piece. Next to the wild boar meat, there was a basket filled with wild boar hooves.

This is not the key. The key is that the person setting up the stall is actually an acquaintance of Zhao Jun.

"Second brother-in-law!" Looking at Xing Zhiyong, who was facing away from him and still limping when walking, Zhao Jun went over and patted him on the shoulder.

"Hey, Zhao Jun!" Xing Zhiyong, who had just finished changing the money, turned around and couldn't help but smile when he saw it was Zhao Jun.

Zhao Jun asked: "Second brother-in-law, what are you doing?"

Xing Zhiyong smiled and said: "Brother, you still can't tell, they are selling wild boar meat."

"Does anyone buy this thing?" Zhao Jun asked suspiciously.

"Yes." Xing Zhiyong replied: "It's cheaper than pork, only 20 cents per catty, and can be sold."

"That's fine, then it's not in vain." Zhao Jun said, looked Xing Zhiyong up and down, and asked him: "Second brother-in-law, how are your legs?"

That day, Xing Zhiyong caught a black bear with his bare hands, and was bitten through the inside of his thigh by the little black bear. Although no bones were hurt, it still had to last for a while.

Xing Zhiyong said: "I came here on the sledge of Lao San from our village. I don't have to walk very far to get here. When I sell out, I will go find him and he will take it back to me."

When Zhao Jun heard this, he knew that this was all because of lack of money.

But what made Zhao Jun curious was where the wild boar meat came from. In other words, where did that basket of wild boar hooves come from.

You should know that there are at least thirty hooves in that basket. If a pig has four hooves, these hooves must come from eight or nine pigs.

Zhao Jun had some guesses and asked Xing Zhiyong.

And Xing Zhiyong told him: "My father set this all up."

"Sure enough!" Zhao Jun knew that Xing Zhiyong's father was a man in the mountains, trapping wild boars and roe deer all year round.

It must have been that the old man saw his son's difficulties and supported Xing Zhiyong.

After saying goodbye to Xing Zhiyong, Zhao Jun moved forward again.

In previous collections, wild products and game were rarely seen on collections.

But I don’t know what happened today. There are wild boars, roe deer, rabbits, and pheasants.

Zhao Jun even saw half of a black bear, but he didn't know how it was transported.

This black bear jelly is very hard, and the stall owner is cutting it with a saw.

Not to mention, there are actually people buying these game meats.

Zhao Jun asked the prices one by one and found that they were all relatively cheap. Wild boar was not as expensive as domestic pork, and pheasant meat was not as expensive as domestic chicken.

Bear meat is the most expensive, costing less than 50 cents per kilogram.

Zhao Jun thought about it and felt that it was because people had no money these days and it was difficult to buy pork, so they bought wild boar meat.

After all, this is a mountain, and there is no shortage of wild boars, but domestic pigs.

At this time, Li Baoyu squeezed through the crowd to Zhao Jun and whispered to him: "Brother, have you seen brother-in-law Xing selling wild boar meat?"

"Um."

"Shall we sell it too?" Li Baoyu was now focused on making money.

Zhao Jun said: "The fight is not enough for our family to eat. If you sell it, what will we eat?"