sjar Chapter 105 Specimen Making is a Good Job, Everyone Wants It
Chapter 105 Specimen Making is a Good Job, Everyone Wants It
There's a custom in the Xingan Mountains: if a child is frightened by something unclean, a piece of black iron is placed under their pillow. The Lu family didn't have any black iron, so when Second Aunt saw Lu Zhiqiang's absent-minded appearance, she put a kitchen knife wrapped in cloth under his pillow.
Lu Zhiqiang went into the mountains and was truly terrified by the roar of the tiger king. It wasn't just the tiger king's low-frequency roar, but also the howling of the wolf pack at night. Ever since he came down the mountain, he had been in a daze and couldn't sleep well for the past few nights, his mind filled with the roars of beasts.
When the old master of the Lu family returned home, he saw Lu Zhiqiang, who had been missing for many days. His cowardly and timid appearance made the old master even angrier. He picked up a rattan whip and started whipping him around the kang (a heated brick bed), cursing as he did so: "How could our Lu family produce such a good-for-nothing as you? Look at Li Ju'an of the Li family, who doesn't give him a thumbs up?"
Lu Zhiqiang was furious and dodged the whip while circling the kang (a heated brick bed), shouting, "Why is it like this? Li Ju'an was such a scoundrel in the past, and he's only been doing something decent for a few days, so why is everyone praising him? But nobody mentions the scum he did in the past? Are you being biased?"
When the old master of the Lu family saw that he still dared to talk back, he became even angrier and chased after him, shouting, "Who's being biased? We all have a ladder in our hearts, don't you know who's at the top?"
Lu Zhiqiang was overjoyed, and his eyes lit up with a rare excitement as he asked expectantly, "Who's at the top?"
The old man of the Lu family pointed to Lu Jinyang beside him: "Jinyang has always had good grades and a strong sense of responsibility. It's definitely Jinyang. Wenqian, let's go back to our room and study. It's too late to waste the whole night with this uncultured guy."
Lu Wenqian obediently agreed and went inside to study.
Lu Zhiqiang's eyes dimmed, but he still held onto a sliver of hope and asked, "Jin Yang is at the top, so we're second, right? Second place isn't bad either."
The old man of the Lu family shook his head: "Wenqian is the second one. As for you, you're the one holding the ladder."
Lu Zhiqiang: "..."
As a kind-hearted person, Lu Jinyang helped to smooth things over and offered a way out, saying, "Alright, brother, Grandpa asked you to hold the ladder, which shows how much he trusts you."
Lu Zhiqiang stared at him, his eyes losing all light. The old man, thinking that he was his grandson after all, gave him a suggestion, telling him that there was a specimen-taking job at the forest farm recently. He happened to be a temporary worker at the forest farm, so he should be able to find work more easily than outsiders. Moreover, he could take paid leave during the month he spent taking specimens.
Lu Zhiqiang perked up immediately and quickly asked the section chief in charge of the forest farm, offering his services. The Lu family was a renowned hunting family, and the old man had connections in both buying guns and dogs. The old man said, "These next few days, find a good gun, and then go and acquire a few hunting dogs that other families are looking to form a pack, including the lead dog. Then we'll introduce you to Leader Chen."
Lu Zhiqiang was overjoyed and exclaimed, "Grandpa! You're going to personally teach me how to hunt?"
The old man of the Lu family bristled, glared, snorted coldly, and turned away, ignoring everyone. Lu Jinyang, seeing this, quickly grabbed Lu Zhiqiang and said happily, "Stop talking! Grandpa has already agreed. Go and get the dog. With Grandpa teaching you, I guarantee you'll get a specimen."
The previously somber atmosphere in the Lu family lifted. He was very keen on taking specimens, and he was determined to do it.
……
At this moment, Grandpa and Grandma Li stared wide-eyed at the television set Li Ju'an had brought back. They lived in the county town and often heard people say how great televisions were and how entertaining the programs were. Their monthly salary was only a little over 38 yuan, and even if they saved every penny for a year, they couldn't afford a television set that cost over 400 yuan. But Li Ju'an's family was the first to have one.
The old man was about to look some more when the old woman glared at him, grabbed his ear, and pulled him back, asking as she did so, "Did you give Song Lanhua the money? Otherwise, how could Song Lanhua afford a TV?"
The old man realized his wife had misunderstood and cried out in pain, but the old woman, seething with anger, wouldn't listen to a word he said. She continued, "Ever since your third brother, that consumptive devil, fell into bed, you've been running to his room all the time. You have a lot of secret money, huh? You've given it all to Song Lanhua, haven't you?"
The old man, feeling misunderstood, was also a little angry. He retorted, "What nonsense are you talking about! Am I such a scoundrel? First of all, I didn't hide any money from others, and secondly, I didn't help my third brother's family. Besides, even if we did help Ju'an buy a TV, so what? We're all family, what's wrong with helping each other out?"
Along the way, the old woman pinched his flesh in anger, gritting her teeth: "You, Li Junqiang, you finally admitted it! You gave your secret stash of money to Song Lanhua! You shameless bastard."
"What nonsense are you spouting, you old hag? I can't argue with you! Ju'an is a member of our Li family. Besides, we really don't have any hidden money. You have the pay slips, and you're the one who keeps the accounts."
The old woman thought about it and realized that since she was in charge of the household accounts and kept track of the money, where would her husband get the money to help others? That made perfect sense. Feeling guilty and in the wrong, she refused to back down, and in the end, they only made up after sleeping on the kang (a heated brick bed).
"If you ask me, the Li family got dry land in the land distribution, and it was in such a remote place. This time, our family got the better deal."
“I think so too. The location of the irrigated land is so good. The three acres we got are in a better location than your second brother’s. When we build a house, no matter how much grain we grow, it will all be our own. Having land gives us peace of mind.”
“Alright, let’s go and contact the master craftsmen who build houses. We’ll build the house with adobe bricks and blue bricks, and use all the timber from the production team’s timber yard. We can’t afford to build it from one brick to the top, but once the new house is built, it will be the envy of everyone wherever we go.”
The two men looked at each other and smiled, which calmed them down a bit. The thought that although Li Ju'an's family wanted a black-and-white television, they could build a new house made them feel much more at peace.
The second uncle and aunt's family also had the same plan, thinking of finding someone they knew in the production team to dismantle the timber from the livestock shed and use it to build a house next to their three mu of irrigated land.
The third brother's family had always been the worst off. Now that the third brother was gone and Li Ju'an was in charge, they couldn't let a junior outdo them. The Li Ju'an family received five mu of remote, dry land, which made them increasingly grateful. They were thankful they hadn't taken the dry land; otherwise, they would have had nowhere to turn. In their eyes, five mu of remote, dry land was practically useless. Even if they built houses in that remote area, the compensation for demolition wouldn't be much.
……
The wind picked up, and the TV antenna wasn't receiving a good signal, so Li Ju'an turned off the TV, and the villagers left one after another.
He brought home the wild vegetables that the Niu family had sent, and his mother, Song Lanhua, made vegetable dumplings. Being able to drink a bowl of hot dumpling soup and eat his mother's big, plump vegetable dumplings in the dead of winter was truly satisfying.
The filling for the vegetable dumplings is pickled mustard greens, cat's paw (a type of wild vegetable), wild aralia shoots, and wild celery—wild vegetables that the Niu family collects in the mountains in autumn and stores in their cellars. This fragrant vegetable filling, combined with the white dumpling filling made with deer fat, brings out a delightful and subtle flavor.
It was freezing cold outside, but the area around the kang table was warm and cozy.
Li Ju'an, his sister Li Xiao, and their mother Song Lanhua sat together around the warm kang (a heated brick bed), eating vegetable dumplings with hearty bites and laughing happily. He picked out interesting things from the mountains to amuse his family, and the feeling of satisfaction was indescribable.
Suddenly, Li Xiao asked, "Brother, are you really going to go into the mountains to collect specimens? Lu Wenqian said her brother wants to go too."