Chapter 157 Smooth, good dog
"Uncle Xiong, this is Master Du. He's going to stay in the village for a few days. Where's the house you arranged for him?"
As soon as Xing Anming got out of the car, he hurriedly walked to the old man, without any nonsense, and handed the old man a cigarette while talking, and he looked very familiar with him.
"You said you wanted to stay temporarily for a while, but you didn't say anything else. Any house here is fine, but they may not have electricity. It's fine for any house you like. I can just give them a call when the time comes.
If you don't like living in these owned houses, you can walk further along the road. There is a wooden house by the forest river at the end of the village. It used to be a public house. Except that it is a bit remote and has no electricity, everything else is good.
Of course, if you don't mind, you can just stay at my house. Apart from anything else, electricity and meals are not a problem. It's just a matter of having an extra pair of chopsticks."
The old man didn't say much. He took Xing Anming's cigarette and pointed a way. It was obvious that Xing Anming greeted him. As for Du Ruo, he just nodded and smiled without saying anything more.
"What do you think?"
Xing Anming did not make a decision on his own, but looked at Du Ruo.
"Then I won't bother you, Uncle Xiong, and I'll just live in the cabin. Thanks to you for buying me the solar charging panels and daily necessities just now, otherwise it would be really troublesome."
Du Ruo didn't hesitate too much and decided immediately. He might have to stay in the mountains for a long time, and it would not be good to trouble the old man.
"Okay, Uncle Xiong, let's go over there then."
Xing Anming nodded, said hello to Uncle Xiong, and prepared to drive Du Ruo over.
"Come down to eat, I'll ask your aunt to kill a goose."
Uncle Xiong saw the two men were about to leave and quickly said something.
"No, Uncle Xiong. I have something else to do right now. Come back for dinner next time. I'll be leaving right now."
Xing Anming waved his hand, took Du Ruo into the car, and drove in the direction Uncle Xiong pointed.
"The uncle Xiong just mentioned is the village chief here. I used to come here often. Uncle Xiong is called the village chief, but in fact there are only a few families left here. There are only some elderly people who are reluctant to leave here, and most of the others have moved to the town.
The houses here are not worth much anymore. If you need anything, just go find Uncle Xiong and his friends. They rarely see outsiders and won’t refuse. And you can ask Uncle Xiong about the tigers. He has lived here all his life and is very familiar with the place.”
Xing Anming introduced everything to Du Ruo while driving.
Not long after we drove, we saw the wooden house that Uncle Xiong mentioned.
Xing Anming helped to move some things and didn't look around the place for long. Then he added Du Ruo's contact information and drove away in a hurry.
He spent half a day helping to arrange Du Ruo today, so he will probably have to work overtime tonight. He will have no leisure time until the case is solved. There hasn't been a criminal case in Heihe for a long time, so he must pay attention to it.
So when Du Ruo saw Xing Anming in a hurry, he didn't stay long, as he also had to clean up the wooden house.
The wooden house was a little shabby and covered with dust, but overall it was enough to shelter from the wind and rain. There was an earthen stove, a big iron pot, a wooden bed, and even a simple table and benches, plus the things Du Ruo bought, so there was no problem living here.
By the time Du Ruo finished everything, it was already dark, but fortunately he had followed Xing Anming's advice and bought a small battery and solar charging, so it was no problem to use it for lighting and charging the phone at night.
This has to be said about the amazing infrastructure. In such a place, Du Ruo found that his mobile phone actually had 4G signal. It was a bit slow, but for some people, there was nothing to complain about.
After almost finishing cleaning, Du Ruo had a video chat with Xiang Yuanyuan for a while, asked Xiang Yuanyuan to look around, and then hung up.
"Boy! Boy!"
Du Ruo had just hung up the video when a shout came from outside the wooden door.
"Uncle Xiong, why are you here? Come in and sit down."
Du Ruo pushed open the door and saw Uncle Xiong outside with a flashlight in one hand and a basin in the other. He hurried out to greet him and welcomed him in.
"Hey, young man, you haven't eaten yet, right? Here, this is a freshly killed goose. Take it and eat it first. I won't sit down. If you need anything, or if you need anything, please come and close the door at night. Try not to go out. Sometimes blind bears come here."
Uncle Xiong walked into the room, put the basin in his hand on the table, and then looked around the room. Seeing that Du Ruo had almost finished cleaning up, he had no intention of sitting down. After saying a few words, he turned around and wanted to leave.
"Uncle Xiong, wait a moment."
Du Ruo just took a quick glance and quickly called Uncle Xiong. The basin was full of goose meat. Judging from the amount, it must be a whole goose, at least three-quarters of it. In addition, there were also hot pot stickers in it. An ordinary southerner might be able to eat it for three days.
"Uncle Xiong, I didn't bring any gifts. Here is a bottle of wine that my girlfriend made at home. You can have it."
Du Ruo really didn't have anything good to give, but she was too embarrassed to just accept Uncle Xiong's enthusiasm, so she took out a small bottle of wine from her luggage and handed it to Uncle Xiong. These wines were all tiger bone wines, which Du Ruo packed in mineral water bottles before leaving, weighing one pound, and Du Ruo brought seven bottles.
Neither Xing Anming nor Du Ruo were willing to send anything, but looking at the full pot of goose meat, Du Ruo felt that he would not be able to eat with peace of mind if he didn't send something.
"Homemade brew? Then I have to try it."
Uncle Xiong originally wanted to leave, but when he heard Du Ruo say that this was homemade wine and that he must be a wine lover, Uncle Xiong immediately couldn't walk anymore. He took the bottle, not minding its simplicity, opened the lid and took a sip.
"Yes! Tiger bone wine. I haven't had this stuff for nearly 40 years. My boy, this wine is hard to come by now. I won't be polite. Come to my house to eat in the next few days. If not, I can bring you food."
After Uncle Xiong finished drinking it, he savoured it carefully, his eyes immediately lit up, and his voice tone rose a level. After he finished speaking, he carefully closed the lid, then held it in his hand and said something to Du Ruo with a serious face.
"Uncle Xiong, there's no need to eat. I'm going up the mountain early tomorrow morning and I don't know when I'll be back. You don't have to worry about me. But from what you said, Uncle Xiong, have you ever drunk tiger bone wine?"
Du Ruo quickly refused. He didn't like to cause trouble for others, but the other party happened to mention tiger bone wine, so he asked a few more questions.
"Hey, let me tell you, forty years ago, there was no ban on guns or hunting. At that time, I was a good hunter in the village. I could hunt a blind bear in the mountains every year. In fact, our village was the only one in the surrounding area that had hunted a tiger."
As soon as Uncle Xiong talked about this, he immediately became interested. He didn't rush to leave. He sat on the bench and started talking to Du Ruo.
"Bear gall used to be very valuable, and bear oil was very fragrant.
At that time, a big claw (tiger) broke into the village. It took four or five semi-automatic rifles in our village to capture it. Later, we asked someone to make wine. The tiger bone wine tasted like this, but the wine had a bit of a fishy smell. After so many years, I still remember the taste. "
Uncle Xiong was quite proud when he talked about these past events, especially when he mentioned bear oil, he even licked his lips.
"Uncle Xiong, do you know where to find tigers here now? I came here to observe tigers. I heard that there are tigers near your place, so I came here."
Du Ruo hurriedly asked. Du Ruo was not interested in what happened thirty or forty years ago. He just wanted to know the current situation.
"Looking for a tiger? You can't look for it, man. I have seen tigers before. They are so fast that they can jump more than ten feet high. We had to use four or five semi-automatic rifles to shoot them down. If we encounter one, we can't defeat it and it's hard to escape."
Uncle Xiong was shocked by what Du Ruo said and waved his hands repeatedly.
"It's okay, Uncle Bear. I know what's going on. I won't get close. I'll just observe from a distance. Besides tigers, I also want to see bears."
Du Ruo smiled, with a strong sense of confidence on his face.
"Hiss, how about this? If you don't have to rush up the mountain tomorrow, I'll borrow a good dog for you early in the morning. If you want to find tigers and bears in this mountain, you still have to rely on hunting dogs. You can't find them by humans alone."
Uncle Xiong stared at Du Ruo for a long time. Perhaps he was infected by Du Ruo's confidence, or perhaps it was because of Xing Anming, but he finally gritted his teeth, took a look at the tiger bone wine in his arms, and decided to help Du Ruo.
"Okay, Uncle Xiong, I'll leave it to you. Don't worry, the dog will be fine if he follows me up the mountain."
Du Ruo was immediately overjoyed and nodded repeatedly. This was really going so smoothly. If Du Ruo just wandered around the mountains trying to find a tiger or a bear, it would be a really laborious and time-consuming task.
Now with the information provided by Xing Anming, it was confirmed that there was a tiger nearby, and Uncle Xiong agreed to lend him a hunting dog. If he still couldn't find it, then Du Ruo had nothing to say, because it was just his fate.
"Okay, I'll bring the dog to you tomorrow morning."
Since the decision had been made, Uncle Xiong didn't waste any time and went out with the tiger bone wine in his pocket.
Sending goose meat is the enthusiasm of northerners, and they are worried that Du Ruo has nothing to eat. Borrowing the hunting dog is mainly due to the tiger bone wine. People who have never drunk tiger bone wine really don't know how amazing the effect of this tiger bone wine brewed with traditional craftsmanship is, especially for elderly people like them.
After seeing Uncle Xiong off, Du Ruo did some boxing, then filled a basin with water and took a bath. It was August, when the weather was warm enough to wear short sleeves, but the water from the river was bone-chillingly cold.
Fortunately, Du Ruo didn't care. With his physique, he could completely ignore this little bit of coolness.
After washing, Du Ruo meditated and then went straight to sleep. He began to look forward to the next day's trip up the mountain. He just didn't know if the mountains here were as interesting as those in Huangshan, and whether he could find new "friends".
……
"Its name is Dahua, and it is the most powerful hunting dog in this area. Its owner specially prepared bear meat to feed it. It also bit a bear two years ago, so it knows the smell of a bear and will chase after it when it smells it.
As for tigers, it has never encountered one, but no hound is not afraid of tigers. When you see it tuck its tail between its legs and not daring to move forward, it is most likely that it has encountered a tiger. "
The next morning, Uncle Xiong came over with a dog and handed the leash to Du Ruo.
This dog is gray, white and black, and is called Dahua. However, it is huge in size. Du Ruo estimates that the dog may weigh about 80 or 90 kilograms and is very strong. One can tell at first glance that it is a good dog.
(End of this chapter)
