pjbooks Chapter 16 Buying a Dog
Chapter 16 Buying a Dog
After returning home, Zhao Laosan felt increasingly uneasy. He was certain that Shan Laoer had a secret, but unfortunately, he couldn't find out about it.
Going up this mountain is indeed quite difficult; if you follow, you'll be discovered in no time.
We need to come up with another idea.
After thinking for a moment, Zhao Laosan suddenly had a flash of inspiration.
"Your second brother is difficult to deal with, but I don't believe that idiot Lin Hao is so shrewd."
Once he figured out a way out, Zhao Laosan didn't hesitate any longer and immediately ran out the door.
However, he did not go to find Lin Hao himself. He knew his reputation in the village, and given his two conflicts with Shan Lao Er, Lin Hao and Shan Lao Er's gang would definitely be wary of him.
After leaving the house, Zhao Laosan went straight to the "secret stronghold".
"Spotted Dog, open the door."
Not long after Zhao Laosan knocked on the courtyard gate, a shifty-eyed face appeared behind it. Upon recognizing Zhao Laosan, the man opened the door. "Hey, Laosan, you've made some money these past few days?"
"Hey, is Lai Zi here?"
"Yes, come in."
After letting the people in, Zhao Laosan saw several tables of people bustling about inside the room.
Dice, playing cards, mahjong, and more are all available.
This is Hua Gou's house, and it's also where they usually play cards.
The people inside greeted Zhao Laosan warmly.
"San'er, long time no see. I heard you lost everything last time, down to just your pants?"
"New clothes? Which store stole these this time?"
"We've made some money. Come on, I'm just one short. Let's get this on the table."
"..."
Zhao Laosan chuckled as he walked through the mahjong tables in the main room. In the past, he would have immediately sat down and played a few rounds.
But now he's penniless and owes a lot of money, so he's afraid that as soon as he sits down, debt collectors will come.
Led by Hua Gou, Zhao Laosan saw Lai Zi, who had just finished losing, in the inner room. This guy's addiction was extraordinary; he had lost all his own money and still wanted to watch others play.
"Hey, the third brother's here." Lai Zi greeted him warmly when he saw him.
"Lai Zi, come here, I need to talk to you."
Lai Zi originally wanted to watch Zhao Laosan play cards, but he didn't expect that the guy would come looking for him right away.
"What's wrong? Why are you playing mysterious games instead of playing cards here?" Lai Zi complained, but still followed along.
After all, he had lost all his money, and there was nothing he could do but watch from here. He might as well listen to what the third brother wanted to talk to him about.
"Do you know Lin Hao?"
Lai Zi was taken aback. "You mean Gou Dan?"
"Yes, I remember you and him are relatives?"
"Yes, what's wrong? His mother is my cousin."
"He had money; he went with Shan Lao Er to hunt wild boars and roe deer, earning several hundred yuan."
Lai Zi's eyes lit up when he heard this. "Money! That's great!"
As for relatives, they only cheat relatives out of their own money; they can't cheat outsiders.
……
Dan Yaowen dug for licorice root methodically for a few days, and now he is preparing to change his target. He has basically visited all the places where he knows there is a lot of licorice root, and he does not plan to go to the remaining small places, as it is time-consuming and laborious and he will not be able to dig up much.
"I remember there's astragalus in the Sandao Lake area..."
Dan Yaowen was driving his horse-drawn carriage, carrying the licorice he had been harvesting for the past few days, preparing to sell it at the purchasing station, and also thinking about what to dig up next, when a voice from the side interrupted his thoughts.
"Mosquitoes, mosquitoes!"
Shan Yaowen pulled on the reins and looked at Gou Dan beside him, "What are you doing?"
These days, Shan Yaowen has been going up the mountain to dig for medicinal herbs. At first, Gou Dan was curious and went with him twice, but he soon couldn't stand the hardship of digging for herbs and stopped going.
I don't know what he's been doing all this time, but suddenly he ran over and stopped my carriage.
"I made money." After saying that, Gou Dan smiled and waved the pile of loose change in his hand.
Shan Yaowen looked at the guy in surprise, "What did you do? Did you go hunting in the mountains?"
He remembered that ever since this guy hunted wild boar and roe deer with him, he had fallen in love with hunting and often went into the mountains to wander around.
However, he had no experience, no hunting dogs, and no one to guide him, so he always came out of the mountains empty-handed.
"No, I won it playing cards."
"Playing cards?" Shan Yaowen instinctively associated it with gambling. "With whom?"
"A relative, kind of like a cousin, his uncle's son." Gou Dan tossed a handful of change over. "Buy me two bags of Da Qingshan cigarettes, and you can use the rest to buy candy."
"Damn it!"
Shan Yaowen immediately tried to teach the boy a lesson, but he ran away so fast that he disappeared in the blink of an eye.
He could only grumble as he picked up the loose change from the carriage, put it away, and then continue driving away.
After arriving at the supply and marketing cooperative, Shan Yaowen found the employee in charge of purchasing.
Unlike state-run hotels and Deng Jianguo's place where you can talk, there's no room for bargaining here. The prices at the purchasing stations are all set by higher authorities. No matter how much you plead, they won't budge. They're not in business.
After grading, the entire truckload of licorice was sold to the purchasing station for two cents a pound.
"A total of 307.83 jin, or 61.566 pieces."
After seven or eight days of hard work, he can earn 61 yuan, which makes his hard work from dawn till dusk worthwhile.
However, compared to the money earned from hunting, this is still too little.
"I hope I can save up a hundred before I take over the contract." Rubbing his sore shoulders, Shan Yaowen bought some other things, including Gou Dan's cigarettes, needles and thread, and fabric.
These days, Mr. Shan, who used to lie on the kang (a heated brick bed), can now sit up and does handicrafts when he has nothing to do.
We've used up quite a lot of these things.
"Hey, why aren't you keeping your big dog on a leash? What if it bites someone?"
"Why isn't this purchasing station keeping an eye on things?"
"Oh, this big dog, it's practically skin and bones!"
"You're afraid this dog will bite? Do you live in a village? Who's afraid of dogs, especially such a skinny one?"
Just as Shan Yaowen finished buying his things and was about to head back, he heard a commotion coming from the purchasing station.
Following the principle of "why not watch the excitement if you can't afford to," Shan Yaowen glanced at the scene as he led his horse out.
It turned out that the dog had escaped from the recycling center.
A large female dog and three puppies.
However, this dog was so thin it was practically skin and bones.
The large female dog was barking wildly at the surrounding crowd. After the staff of the purchasing station came out, they grabbed a wooden stick from the side and hit the female dog on the head.
The mother dog staggered a few steps and finally collapsed to the ground, a pool of blood slowly seeping from under her head.
Ouch!
This person is really strong; he killed such a big dog with just one blow.
Dog meat restaurants need people like you.
"Brothers, you just beat up the dogs you got like this?" someone clicked their tongue after seeing it.
It wasn't that I felt sorry for the dog, but rather that I was surprised by the ruthlessness of the purchasing station employees—the dog ran out and barked a few times before being beaten to death on the spot. Wasn't that a waste of money?
"Anyway, we're buying it at the price of dog meat, not to raise it." The employee at the purchasing station poked the dog on the ground with a stick again, and only put the stick away when there was no more movement.
Only three puppies remained, huddled together, shivering.
Dan Yaowen looked at the three puppies, one gray and two black, all of which showed signs of malnutrition, especially the gray one, whose fur looked like dry hay. All three puppies were small and thin.
Shan Yaowen became interested in the three puppies. Although they were not mixed-breed dogs, they were genuine local sheepdogs.
"Brother, if you're going to hunt dog meat, these three little pups don't have much meat left. Why don't you give them to me?"
The acquisition agent, who was preparing to pack up, looked at Shan Yaowen strangely. "You want to buy a bastard?"
"Yes." Shan Yaowen casually handed over a pack of cigarettes. "We're just about to open a ranch and need a few guard dogs."
The staff member put away his cigarette and weighed it in his hand. "Sure, but this isn't a livestock station. Don't come looking for me if the dog has any problems."
Shan Yaowen laughed heartily, "Don't worry."
In the end, Shan Yaowen spent three yuan to get three puppies.
When he held the three little ones in his arms, he touched them and realized that they were really just skeletons.
Feeling the three little ones still trembling, Shan Yaowen simply stuffed them into his arms, otherwise he doubted whether they would make it home alive.