sinovels Chapter 1891 Tiger Seizes Water Source
Chapter 1891 Tiger Seizes Water Source
Chapter 1891 Tiger Seizes Water Source
Zhao Jun knew Wang Meilan well. Throughout the afternoon, Wang Meilan had been on tenterhooks, worried about everyone who went into the mountains.
Her worries, like a virus, quickly spread to everyone.
Everyone was restless and had no desire to cook dinner.
Children are different from adults. Once it was past five o'clock, Zhao Hong came out from the inner room and asked Wang Meilan why she hadn't cooked yet.
Coming to her senses, Wang Meilan started a fire and boiled water, saying she would cook noodles for dinner that night.
Boiled noodles were indeed a makeshift meal for the Zhao family, who usually ate hand-pulled noodles.
As soon as Wang Meilan finished speaking, Ma Ling said that there were no noodles left at home, because Zhao Jun had taken all the noodles up the mountain.
Upon hearing this, Wang Meilan immediately took the people and dough and started rolling out the dough.
At 5:30, the commuter train stopped outside Yong'an Village. Li Dayong and his three companions arrived home, but Zhao Youcai and the others had not yet returned.
"Sister-in-law!" When Li Dayong and his three companions entered the courtyard, Wang Meilan was picking cilantro in the vegetable garden. Li Dayong called out to Wang Meilan and asked, "My older brother and the others haven't come back yet?"
"No!" Wang Meilan sighed when Li Dayong asked about Zhao Youcai. "It was raining heavily and thundering this afternoon. I wonder how they are doing in the mountains."
As luck would have it, just as Wang Meilan finished speaking, the sound of dogs barking came from the backyard. Wang Meilan craned her neck to look towards the gate and saw a jeep parked outside the gate.
Under Wang Meilan's expectant gaze, Zhao Youcai, Zhao Weipeng, Wang Qiang, and Li Baoyu entered the courtyard. Xie Chen was a step behind. He had gotten off a Liberation truck, indicating that the group had apparently visited Yongsheng Village after descending the mountain.
Seeing Zhao Youcai and the others return, Wang Meilan's heart was still heavy; instead, she was even more worried about Zhao Jun, who was living in a makeshift shelter in the mountains.
"Big brother, you're back? How was today?" Li Dayong asked. Zhao Youcai replied, "Not bad. I managed to touch Big Claw today. If it weren't for the threatening rain and the fear of thunder, I would have pinched and smacked it."
Hearing Zhao Youcai's words, Wang Meilan glared at him, thinking to herself, "So you know you're afraid of thunder? Why didn't you think about your son when you were in the mountains?"
Wang Meilan couldn't drive and didn't know exactly where Zhao Jun had set up the shack; otherwise, she would have gone into the mountains to look for her son when the rain stopped in the afternoon.
At this moment, Wang Qiang said to Wang Meilan, "Sister, my nephew and the others are all fine, so you don't need to worry about them."
"Huh?" Upon hearing this, Wang Meilan looked at Wang Qiang in a daze.
“Those people are really clever.” Wang Qiang explained to Wang Meilan with a smile, “They sensed that it was going to rain, so they quickly put up lightning rods behind the shed.”
"Really?" Hearing Wang Qiang's words, Wang Meilan exclaimed in surprise, "They are amazing!"
As she spoke, Wang Meilan saw Ma Ling, Yang Yufeng, and the others come out of the house. Wang Meilan smiled and said, "No need to ask, this matter must have been arranged by Yuanmin."
"What's wrong, Auntie?" Yang Yufeng asked hurriedly when she heard Wang Meilan mention Zhang Yuanmin.
"Your uncle said that Yuanmin and his team set up lightning rods in the mountains," Wang Meilan said. Yang Yufeng asked Wang Qiang, "Uncle, did you go up to their shack again?"
"Ah!" Wang Qiang responded, then glanced at Zhao Youcai and said, "This is my brother-in-law. We hadn't been in the mountains long when he said it was going to rain heavily, and there might even be thunder. After that, he told Baoyu to drive towards the shack, saying that even if they didn't want the ginseng, they had to bring it down for them!"
Upon hearing Wang Qiang's words, everyone's eyes turned to Zhao Youcai.
"You're something else!" Wang Meilan said happily, giving Zhao Youcai a light nudge across the wall. "I was thinking you only knew how to hit big hands and didn't care about your son!"
"The way you're talking makes it sound like I'm a stepfather!" Zhao Youcai glanced at Wang Meilan and laughed, "I only have that one son, how could I not care about him?"
Zhao Youcai's words made everyone laugh heartily. After the laughter subsided, Li Dayong asked Zhao Youcai curiously, "Brother, when did you find Big Claw's tracks at Xiaojun's shack?"
"What a coincidence!" Zhao Youcai said excitedly, "Right under their shack, on the second rib of the mountain, I saw the poop that big paws left, and the marks it made on the tree, they were really shiny."
Wang Meilan didn't want to hear Zhao Youcai say these things. She picked up a handful of cilantro and said to the others, "Alright, let's not talk about this outside. Let's go inside, clean up, and eat."
As soon as Wang Meilan finished speaking, Ma Ling said, "Mom, I'm going back to give my parents a message, otherwise I'm afraid they'll worry about me."
Wang Cuihua came both before and after the rain stopped in the afternoon, as she was worried about the safety of Zhao Jun, Ma Yang, and the others in the mountains.
"Go on, my dear daughter," Wang Meilan said understandingly. "Tell my in-laws not to worry about it, and come back for dinner when you're done."
Ma Ling agreed and quickly walked towards the gate.
When Ma Ling returned to the Ma family home, Ma Dafu and his wife were sitting on the kang (a heated brick bed) looking worried.
Wang Cuihua had stewed tofu and steamed buns laid out on the table, but neither of them touched them, worried that Ma Yang would be struck by lightning in the mountains.
It wasn't until Ma Ling returned and told them about Zhao Jun and the others setting up the lightning rods that Ma Dafu and Wang Cuihua's worries turned to joy.
"Oh!" Wang Cuihua finally smiled and said to Ma Ling, "Girl, come on, eat at home before you go back."
As she spoke, Wang Cuihua got up to go to the outer room to get another set of bowls and chopsticks.
Ma Ling stopped Wang Cuihua. Before leaving the Zhao family home, she had promised Wang Meilan that she would go back for dinner. Having been married into the family for some time, Ma Ling had come to understand Wang Meilan's personality. She couldn't speak for others, but her mother-in-law would definitely be waiting for her to come back for dinner.
When Ma Ling told Wang Meilan that she would be waiting for her to eat, Wang Cuihua not only didn't mind, but was actually quite happy, because it meant that Ma Ling was valued in her husband's family.
"Alright, if our daughter doesn't want to eat, then the two of us will eat." Wang Cuihua said to Ma Dafu with a smile, and then said to Ma Ling, "Daughter, you should have told us when you came back, otherwise your dad and I wouldn't be able to eat tonight."
"You bastard!" Wang Cuihua had barely finished speaking when Ma Dafu cursed at her. The smile on Wang Cuihua's face instantly froze, and she turned to Ma Dafu and asked, "What are you doing? Who are you cursing?"
"Your son!" Ma Dafu looked at Wang Cuihua and said irritably, "What kind of person is he? We've both been thinking about him for nothing! That little wolf!"
Knowing that his youngest son was alright, Ma Dafu, relieved, was now on the verge of a heart attack.
"What's wrong?" Wang Cuihua asked, frowning. "Xiao Yang isn't home either, what could he possibly do to you?"
Ma Ling looked at Ma Dafu with a puzzled expression, and then Ma Dafu pointed his chin toward the door, which was the room where Ma Yang lived in the west wing, and said, "Your son resents us, saying that we're holding onto the money and not building him a house. So when he gets married and has children, he'll live in this room."
When he said the words "this room," Ma Dafu patted the kang tabletop, meaning "this east room."
Immediately afterwards, Ma Dafu pointed to the door and said angrily, "It's over, his child is sleeping in the west room."
When he mentioned the words "west room," Ma Dafu looked at Wang Cuihua and said, "We'll put a small room in the back for us to live in."
Ma Dafu's words left Wang Cuihua and Ma Ling speechless.
These days, it's the elderly who live in the east-facing rooms, and the rooms attached to the back are the north-facing rooms. The north side is shady and never gets any sunlight; who would let the elderly live there?
If the family had no means of support, that would be one thing, but if the family had means and still acted that way, Ma Dafu and Wang Cuihua would never be able to hold their heads high in this village, even in their old age.
Seeing Wang Cuihua's increasingly pale face, Ma Ling hurriedly asked Ma Dafu, "Dad, who told you this? My younger brother isn't that kind of person!"
“Why isn’t it that person?” Ma Dafu said with a sneer, “He was drinking some forced alcohol in the shack, he said it himself.”
After saying this, Ma Dafu paused for a moment, then added, "Then Ru Hai learned from me, how could it be fake?"
"Dad." Ma Ling still wanted to make amends for Ma Yang, so she asked Ma Dafu, "When did Ru Hai tell you that?"
“Yesterday, yesterday afternoon in the workshop he told me.” Ma Dafu said. Wang Cuihua suddenly realized and said, “Ah, that explains why you weren’t happy when you came back yesterday. I asked you, but you wouldn’t tell me.”
"Sigh!" Ma Dafu sighed, then cursed, "Keeping this piece of trash on my mind is disheartening. I was afraid of what you might do, so I didn't tell you."
Parents' hearts are always full of love and worry. Ma Dafu was heartbroken by Ma Yang. He had been so worried about him that he couldn't eat.
"His father?" Wang Cuihua said to Ma Dafu, somewhat reluctant to believe it, "Could it be Ru Hai...?"
Wang Cuihua hesitated halfway through her sentence.
"Ha! You raised that son yourself, don't you know?" Ma Dafu sneered. "Besides, as for that kid Ru Hai, people never lie. And Ru Hai has no grudge against him, so how could he be wronged?"
Upon hearing Ma Dafu's words, Ma Ling and Wang Cuihua fell silent. Li Ruhai may be a loose talker and a chatterbox, but he never lies, a fact well-known throughout the Yong'an forest area.
But the mother and daughter didn't expect that Ma Dafu was right about something.
Li Ruhai cannot falsely accuse Ma Yang if there is no enmity or grudge between them, but there is a grudge between them.
Ma Yang said that he would add a second floor to his old house so that the elderly couple could also live in an apartment building.
This child is still filial, but he has been causing trouble lately. With Li Ruhai's reputation to back him up, even if he tells the truth, Ma Dafu and Wang Cuihua will not believe him!
The couple was upset again and couldn't eat. But Wang Cuihua didn't want Ma Ling to be upset with them; instead, she sent Ma Ling back to the Zhao family home.
When Ma Ling returned to the Zhao family home, the atmosphere she experienced was completely different from that of her own family home.
Although there wasn't much food tonight, her father-in-law was still drinking. And her usually taciturn father-in-law was excitedly recounting at the dinner table his glorious deeds of killing two tigers and intercepting a black tiger.
……
Inside the shack, Zhao Jun and his four companions went to bed early. Life in these mountains was incredibly boring, so they figured it was better to sleep early and get up early to work the next day.
The night after the rain was filled with the chirping of insects, but the five people, two dogs, and a bear in the shack slept soundly.
There were fewer people today, and there was room on the kang (heated brick bed), so Zhao Jun allowed Qinglong, Heilong, and Xiao Heixiong to sleep on the kang.
The three of them occupied the space of two people. The Azure Dragon and the Black Dragon were lying on their sides, while the little black bear was sprawled out on its back with its belly up.
I slept until the middle of the night when a mountain wind suddenly rose, and all the chirping of insects disappeared as the wind passed.
The little black bear, sprawled out on its back, suddenly awoke with a start. Its keen sense of smell detected a scent that made it uneasy. The startled bear instinctively tried to get up, but it was too fat and its belly too large to sit up on the heated brick bed.
As the little black bear rolled over, the Azure Dragon and the Black Dragon simultaneously raised their heads, and the two dogs nimbly jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed).
Older people are more sensitive, and Xing San, noticing this, immediately opened his eyes.
Thankfully, the old man woke up. If he had been still asleep, the sounds the Azure Dragon and Black Dragon made would have given him a heart attack.
"Wang Wang Wang..."
The barking of the dog startled Zhao Jun and the others awake. Zhao Jun's first reaction upon waking was to grab the semi-automatic dog beside him.
A kerosene lamp hung in the shack. Under its dim light, the Azure Dragon and the Black Dragon roared wildly at the door. After Zhao Jun got off the kang (a heated brick bed), the little black bear stood upright like a human and paced restlessly in circles on the ground. Zhao Jun picked up his gun and went to the lookout hole, pulling out the wooden board that was blocking it.
Eight lanterns were hung outside the shack, four in front and four in the back, all of which Li Baoyu had obtained from the logistics team yesterday.
The light from the four lanterns didn't cover very far, but it was enough for Zhao Jun to see the area in front of the shack.
Zhao Jun deactivated the semi-automatic safety, then stood firmly with his feet apart. He thrust the gun out, and without a second thought, fired a shot into the darkness.
"Oh!"
Gunshots echoed through the mountains and forests, carrying far and wide. Inside the shack, the two dogs barked even more fiercely, while the little black bear timidly leaped onto the heated brick bed.
After firing his first shot, Zhao Jun immediately withdrew his gun and retreated, standing in front of the kang (a heated brick bed). He held the gun with both hands, the muzzle pointing diagonally upwards at the hanging kerosene lamp.
Just then, Zhang Yuanmin, who was kneeling on the kang (a heated brick bed) and observing the lookout hole in the back room, shouted, "Brother! It's through!"
In the dim light, Zhao Jun's eyes widened as he shouted, "What the hell went by?"
"I don't know what it was!" Zhang Yuanmin turned around, looking terrified. "I just saw a dark shadow pass by where we parked our stroller!"
Four lanterns were also hung behind the shack, which could only illuminate a small area.
Although Zhang Yuanmin said he didn't know what had passed, a gloomy atmosphere settled over everyone's hearts.
"Brother-in-law!" Ma Yang asked Zhao Jun, his voice trembling, "It can't be Big Claw, can it?"
Ma Yang wanted to hear a negative answer from Zhao Jun, but Zhao Jun ignored him and instead asked Zhang Yuanmin, "Brother, where did it go?"
"They went to the other side of the river." As soon as Zhang Yuanmin said this, Xing San exclaimed, "Damn it! We only have half a body of water left. We have to fetch water tomorrow morning!"
Even if a few people don't pay attention to hygiene and don't wash up, they still need to drink water.
"It's alright, Uncle San," Zhao Jun said to Xing San. "Let's go to sleep first, and we'll talk about it tomorrow morning."
After saying that, Zhao Jun first locked the safety on his gun, and then got onto the kang (a heated brick bed).
Seeing Zhao Jun get onto the kang (heated brick bed), Qinglong and Heilong also jumped onto it. But the little black bear beat them to it and snuggled into Zhao Jun's arms.
Seeing the trembling little black bear, Zhao Jun touched its ears and gently comforted it, "Hei Zi, don't be afraid."
As he spoke, Zhao Jun laughed, then asked the little black bear, "I heard that its big paws only weigh about 200 pounds. Can you try to bump into it?"
The little black bear looked at Zhao Jun with a blank expression, while at that moment, under the cover of night, a sub-adult Siberian tiger was limping along the stone path leading out of the forest.
It wasn't lame because of a leg injury, but because of a gunshot wound in its buttock. The wound wasn't serious, but it affected its mobility.
When it's hot, flies flock to its wounds to bite and lay eggs; locally, this is called "grasshoppers."
In less than two days, not only were fly eggs tightly attached to the tiger's wound tissue, but also many maggots burrowed into the wound.
This caused the Siberian tiger great discomfort, and its wounds did not heal well.
It walked to the riverbank, sat upside down in the cold river water, and let the upstream water wash over its wounds. This would not only relieve the pain but also wash away some maggots and fly eggs.