bookrebus Chapter 13 Sun Weimin is discharged from the hospital and takes over his assigned role.
Chapter 13 Sun Weimin is discharged from the hospital and takes over his assigned role.
Many hunters come to the hardware section of the supply and marketing cooperative to buy guns, but the sight of someone pulling out such a large wad of ten-yuan notes at once still makes everyone around stare in disbelief.
In his previous life, Li Ju'an would have blushed with embarrassment at being stared at by so many fellow villagers. But now, having lived a second life, he had seen all sorts of storms. He counted out a stack of ten-yuan notes and gestured with his chin towards the young female clerk.
"Issue the invoice."
The young receiving clerk was named Jiang Man, a new recruit to the supply and marketing cooperative.
From the moment Li Ju'an entered the hardware section, she had paid some attention to him, finding him quite different from the others. If you called him mature, his fear of being robbed, his furtive hiding of the large sum of money inside his underwear, and his awkward struggle made him seem like a young man. If you called him immature, he showed no fear despite being stared at by so many people; instead, he remained composed.
With such a contradictory temperament, she had seen so many people come and go at the supply and marketing cooperative, and she really couldn't find another one like her.
Jiang Man, the receiving clerk, tossed her two thick braids behind her head, glanced up at Li Ju'an, buried herself in the abacus, quickly finished calculating the accounts, and handed him a slip of paper.
"Young man, all done. If you have anything you need to exchange for money, you can take this slip of paper to the finance area in the middle to get the money."
She manages the checkout in the hardware section and also oversees the acquisition of spare parts.
Li Ju'an thanked him naturally, took the receipt, turned around and left. Before leaving, he casually replied, "Okay, if the price is negotiable, I'll come back to you to exchange it."
Jiang Man, the receiving clerk, watched him leave expressionlessly until his figure disappeared from the hardware section, then she chuckled softly.
The woman collecting the money nearby saw everything clearly and jokingly asked with a smile, "Little Jiang, you've got your eye on someone?"
Jiang Man lowered her head and spat, "Sister Wang, what nonsense are you talking about? He's just a young man who came to buy a gun."
The older sister-in-law also teased, "This young man looks honest and kind, and he even has some skills. That's great! Xiao Jiang, listen to my advice. What era are we living in? We can't follow those old ways anymore. If you like him, just say so. I'll find someone to help you find him. Isn't that better than a matchmaker scrambling around to find you a blind date?"
Jiang Man lowered her head, smiled, and remained silent.
She secretly wondered if the young man would come to the supply and marketing cooperative again.
……
Li Ju'an wrapped the nearly new Mosin-Nagant in oiled paper, his excitement evident.
The local hunters in the Xingan Mountains make their own bullets by collecting empty shell casings. He thought he would find some time to go to Lao Tao's place to make some bullets that were specially made for the local hunters.
He had never held a gun so carefully before; he always felt as if he were holding a treasure, which made his heart fly to the hunting grounds in the Xing'an Mountains.
But he knew that the hunting expeditions organized by the forestry bureau involved experienced forestry workers, security personnel, and veteran hunters from the local villages. As a novice entering the mountains, even a slight mistake, like just carrying a staff, could lead to the failure of the entire hunt and enrage the hunter.
The local weather forecast was playing on the radio at the supply and marketing cooperative.
The "big smoke cannon" is coming in the next few days.
The "Big Smoke Cannon" of the Xing'an Mountains, also known as the "White Hair Wind," is a blizzard that God uses to intimidate the villagers. The blizzard roars in with overwhelming force, the ever-growing northwest wind carrying large snowflakes that tumble and swirl with a monstrous howl, turning the sky, mountains, and fields into a vast expanse of white. Its sheer force makes it seem as if the entire mountaintop has been swallowed up by the snowstorm.
With the heavy rain approaching, the forestry operation will likely be postponed. The forestry leaders will only organize the operation after the blizzard passes; they still have a few days.
He thought for a moment, took out the remaining change from his pocket, counted it, and found that he had just enough to make one ten-yuan note.
After hunting and selling the meat, he had money in hand, and since he worked at the supply and marketing cooperative, he had to buy some things to take back with him.
He took advantage of the time he had to wander around the supply and marketing cooperative's living area again.
A bottle of canned fruit costs 1.45 yuan without a coupon, making it an absolute luxury item.
buy!
Malted milk powder costs 2.85 yuan a can without a coupon; it's a luxury item among luxury goods.
buy!
Soda is 20 cents a bottle, no ticket required, and the bottle deposit is 5 cents. You need a whole bundle of these, tied with thin hemp rope.
buy!
All sugar required coupons; you couldn't buy it without one. Biscuits cost 6 cents a pound with a coupon, and 9 cents a pound without one—you could buy them!
In addition, there were 15 jin of refined grains, 10 jin of refined white flour, 5 jin of rice, white flour at 18 cents a jin, rice at 20 cents a jin... so many daily necessities could be bought as long as you had refined grain coupons.
The clerk in the residential area was an older woman. She looked at the overflowing package he brought, paused for a moment, and then expressionlessly began calculating the bill using an abacus.
Li Ju'an finally brought two cans of fruit, one can of malted milk powder, a bundle of soda, all tied with thin hemp rope and wrapped in a cotton coat to keep inside his stomach, otherwise they would all freeze and explode before he got home. He also brought two pounds of biscuits.
In the past, Li Xiao, the younger sister, and her mother had never seen these luxury items.
He brought so many luxury goods back with the intention of improving his family's living conditions. He wanted his sister, Li Xiao, to enjoy the same things the daughters of the Sun and Lu families could eat. He couldn't let his own family suffer.
He took the forest farm's small train back on time.
He couldn't find Lao Tao on the forest farm shuttle bus; Lao Tao had already gone home ahead of time.
He decided that since Lao Tao definitely wouldn't be able to go hunting during the "smoky storm," it was time to get a well-trained Qingchuan dog. Once the blizzard was over, he could lead the Qingchuan dog into the mountains to hunt with the forest farm.
Hunting, collecting furs, exchanging furs for money in the county town, and then using the money to buy necessities.
The Li family's life will surely get better and better, and they will live a wonderful life.
……
At this moment, Sun Weimin woke up in the hospital ward.
Because of Lin Mei, Sun Weimin got into a fight with Li Ju'an and was punched hard in the ribs, which made him faint. When he woke up again, he was in the hospital.
The Lu brothers happened to be passing by the hospital and came to see him. They also told him that the brigade leader, Yang Dezheng, had agreed to let Li Ju'an take his place as a helper.
Upon hearing this, Sun Weimin glared anxiously, so angry that his illness seemed to disappear and his rib pain vanished. He roared furiously, sat up with bloodshot eyes, threw off his mask, and stared with wide, red eyes.
"That bastard Li Ju'an is just a head full of corn cob, he thinks he can argue with me? And he even wants to help me out? With his skills?"
“We don’t have anyone like him in our area! What right does this country bumpkin have to go? Don’t cause any trouble for me!”
Sun Weimin still had bandages wrapped around his ribs and wished he could rush back and fight Li Ju'an again.
He lost face in front of Lin Mei, getting punched in the face by Li Ju'an and ending up in the hospital. He accepted the embarrassment. But he absolutely couldn't swallow the fact that Li Ju'an had taken his place as his ally.
He yelled and tried to get out of bed by pulling off the hospital sheets, which frightened his mother so much that she kept calling for a nurse.
"Don't stop me! I'm all better now, I've been better for a long time. I'm going to go and help out. That bastard surnamed Li can't take advantage of me and try to push me aside."
That day, Sun Weimin, filled with anger and carrying a breath of immortality, endured the pain and went straight to the forest farm. He found the assistant of the forest farm leader, smiled broadly, and offered him a small bribe, asking him to tell the leader that he was healed and that after the white blizzard passed, he could go to the forest farm to help out without any trouble.
To convince the forestry assistant that he had indeed recovered, he even showed him his discharge certificate. His voice was loud as a bell, clear as a young wild ox.
The forestry assistant immediately said, "Okay, I'll report to the leadership. There's just one problem: while you were in the hospital, someone already took your place driving the cane."
"Hey, Brother Chen, this is nothing. I'm back, so that guy can get lost. My Sun family has been hunters for three generations. Don't you think the boss trusts me?"
The assistant thought about it and agreed that it made sense, so he told Sun Weimin to go back and wait for news.
Upon hearing this, the forestry leader, an experienced veteran, readily agreed: "An experienced veteran is definitely more reliable, and the cooperation will be more dependable. So, the newcomer is the name recommended by Yang Dezheng, and Pao Tou'er is a tough guy. Go tell Yang Dezheng to discuss with Pao Tou'er who to use, and let Pao Tou'er decide for himself."
The assistant nodded in agreement.
As expected of a leader, his thinking is thorough. If this isn't handled well, it will offend people either way. It's better to let the battalion commander and the gunner discuss it themselves and let the gunner make the final decision. Even if Sun Weimin's injuries haven't fully healed, if the gunner chooses Sun Weimin, the forestry station won't offend anyone. If the gunner chooses the novice Li Ju'an, and something goes wrong, it will be his own choice that causes the forestry station to be blamed, and they'll be clean.
"Yes, sir, I'll take care of it right away."