Phi-Fic Chapter 183 The Female Educated Youth Surnamed Qin
Chapter 183 The Female Educated Youth Surnamed Qin
The location of Xiongcang that Sun Hao gave him was in a ravine west of Wangxing Village. He said that he had followed Sun Weimin for a while that day, wanting to see how the adults hunted in the mountains, but before they even reached the place, Sun Weimin scolded him and told him to run away. But he was clever for his age and had taken a detour to come back and follow them again, which is how he found the location of Xiongcang.
But he was afraid, and because he was far away, he could only get a general idea. After Sun Weimin's group suffered the consequences, he ran even faster, quickly making his way back down the mountain.
Li Ju'an led Song Desheng and Lu Zhiqiang into the mountains.
Along the way, Lu Zhiqiang kept muttering to himself, complaining that Li Ju'an had made several trips to the county town but hadn't thought to bring back a mule. The previous mule had been killed by a tiger, and they needed to get a new one.
Li Ju'an said he could talk the talk, but good mules aren't so easy to find. Wasn't that mule Song Desheng got through connections at the production brigade last time?
Song Desheng was also unconvinced, saying that now that the land has been distributed to individual households, the production team leader no longer cares about anything. Forget about good mules, even water buffaloes and other livestock have been distributed to each household, and he couldn't get one even if he tried to pull some strings.
The three men led their hunting dogs into the mountains, following the bark-picking marks, and entered the ravine west of Wangxing Village.
Li Ju'an glanced around and saw that almost all the trees in this ravine had been cut down. He cursed, "Those bastards from Wangxing Village, they've got some nerve. So many trees, and they've cut them all down."
The hunting dogs were barking, and Little Cannon was already following Big Tiger, learning to smell the air. He looked like he would grow up to be a handsome young man with a head full of fragrance.
Along the bushes and tree roots in the ravine, there were many snares of varying sizes. Some small snares were half a meter long, while the larger ones were over a meter tall. Song Desheng looked on in amazement and said, "The hunters of Wangxing Village all want to challenge the snare king of Changbai Mountain. Old Qin is starting to feel threatened."
Suddenly, he turned his head and saw a house that was half demolished at the foot of the mountain.
The house was half demolished, so naturally no one lived there. He got an idea and went over to take a closer look. He found a chestnut horse tied to the half of the demolished house, nibbling on the weeds in the corner.
Song Desheng immediately woke up, full of energy, and carefully walked around the chestnut horse, holding his pump-action shotgun. He said cautiously, "I'm sorry to offend the master, but since no one lives here and this horse is unclaimed, I'll borrow it for a bit."
The team was short of a large animal to pull the sled, and this chestnut horse was a ready-made source of labor.
Lu Zhiqiang stopped and called out to him, "Don't move, there's something there."
Li Ju'an followed Lu Zhiqiang's gaze and saw a small beast warily watching in one direction. It had black eyes, a brown nose, and glossy yellow-brown fur that was light and shiny in winter. Its tail, limbs, and back formed a streamlined shape, making it very agile and alert.
The two whispered in unison, "Wong Tai Sin."
In the folklore of the Xing'an Mountains, weasels are not large, but the older generation respectfully calls them "Grand Immortal Huang" or "Old Master Huang." They believe that accidentally angering a weasel may bring misfortune. Some elders also claim that "Grand Immortal Huang" can control the limbs and minds of others, causing those controlled to behave strangely.
The weasel leaped a few times in the snow and disappeared. Big Tiger, along with the white mastiff and Little Cannon's pack of helpers, were about to give chase.
Li Ju'an glanced around and saw that the snowfield was full of snares of all sizes. He shouted, "Big Tiger, don't chase! Come back!"
The good dogs obeyed. Da Hu was a little unwilling, but he still bared his teeth and led the pack of dogs back. Only Tie Chui disobeyed the organization and excitedly followed Huang Pizi as they ran wildly into the distance.
Slippery Hammer was used to disobeying orders, and even the lead dog couldn't be commanded. If a newcomer saw this, they would definitely think that Li Ju'an wasn't commanding Hammer to teach the hunting dog a lesson. But it wasn't that Li Ju'an didn't want to command him; he simply couldn't control him. Even the puppy Little Cannon was unruly under his control, so he could only let Hammer do as it pleased.
Lu Zhiqiang stared at Song Desheng for a while, not daring to approach the half-demolished house. The sudden appearance of half a house in this ravine, along with a chestnut horse grazing, was truly bizarre.
Li Ju'an stepped forward and shouted, "Song Desheng, that horse is so fat it's practically dripping with oil, it must have an owner. If you steal it, be careful you don't get a reprimand from the local brigade leader, or it'll get back to your workplace, which wouldn't be worth it."
His shout startled the chestnut horse, which snorted. Only then did Song Desheng realize that the chestnut horse was tethered and indeed had an owner.
"This is really weird. The houses have all been demolished, how can anyone still live here?"
Li Ju'an, having lived two lives, had committed countless evil deeds. More than being terrified by tales of supernatural beings and demons, he was horrified of human nature. Ghosts were frightening, but people were not; the betrayal of those closest to one was the most deadly.
He stepped forward and knocked on the door. The chestnut horse was not startled and did not run away; it just flicked its tail.
No one answered from inside, but it was clear the house had been demolished. Song Desheng was still thinking about the chestnut horse, and Lu Zhiqiang didn't dare to go forward.
Li Ju'an knocked on the door but received no answer. He pushed the door open and went inside, finding that the stove fire had long since gone out. The room was not cold, indicating that someone had lit the stove that morning and that someone was living there. The bedding on the kang (a heated brick bed) was neatly arranged, and the room was not messy. Beside the wooden stool in front of the stove, there were two buckets of soaking bean cakes.
Lu Zhiqiang was still hesitant to go in when Li Ju'an called out to him, "There are loggers and forest clearing people around here. Who knows, this might be someone's duty room."
Suddenly, someone entered through the door. The woman paused for a moment as she came in; Li Ju'an and the others hadn't expected it to be a woman. She looked quite young, with slightly disheveled hair, and carried a baby wrapped in a padded jacket in a basket on her back. But one could still tell that she had pretty features and was very beautiful.
The woman has a pretty face, but her figure is thin and bony. If she were a hunter's wife, there's no reason she'd be this thin; she'd definitely have more flesh on her bones and be properly nourished.
Song Desheng cursed, and Lu Zhiqiang cautiously moved closer to Li Ju'an, whispering, "Could it be that Huang Daxian has transformed? This is strange."
Li Ju'an chuckled and scolded him for reading too many ghost stories and spirit tales, warning him to be careful not to get reported and taken away. He looked the woman and the baby behind her up and down, then suddenly said, "Is this the Qin family's daughter?"
The woman carrying the baby paused, also sizing him up, as well as the many hunting dogs at her feet. A light flickered in her eyes, then dimmed again. She said, "Did Zhang the Madman talk about me with you?"
She didn't speak with the local village accent; she spoke with a genuine Central Plains accent, making it clear she wasn't a local.
Li Ju'an was even more convinced that the female educated youth Zhang Fengzi and Lu Zhiqiang had mentioned was surnamed Qin. She had been sent to the countryside in Wangxingtun and, after some ideological work by Secretary Xiong, she had stayed and married a miner. The miner hadn't returned home for three years, and his fate was unknown. She had to live with her father-in-law, who was over 50 years old, and gave birth to a one-year-old baby.