sbdcsierra Chapter 1649 The New Bride's First Day: The Young Couple Fights
Chapter 1649 The New Bride's First Day: The Young Couple Fights
Chapter 1649 The New Bride's First Day: The Couple's Fight
"Dongdagou?" Zhao Jun and Wang Meilan were both taken aback when they heard this. Neither of them could understand why the child was making such a fuss.
Today is March 21, 1988. The Dongdagou River hasn't been dredged yet, so it's difficult for Ma Dafu to escape danger.
But neither the mother nor the daughter noticed that Ma Ling, who was standing next to them, also looked very unwell.
“I’m going to find my dad,” Ma Ling said, but Zhao Jun stopped her, saying, “Don’t go, Ling’er. You stay home. I’ll go with Xiao Yang.”
"Then you two go ahead." Wang Meilan waved to Zhao Jun, then turned back to comfort Ma Ling, "It's alright, my dear, let them find my in-laws. Mom will stay home with you."
Zhao Jun and Ma Yang set off without hesitation. Ma Yang walked hurriedly along the way, leaving Zhao Jun completely bewildered.
Zhao Jun didn't have much interaction with Ma Dafu in this life, but they were father-in-law and son-in-law in their past life, so Zhao Jun still knew Ma Dafu well.
Zhao Jun said impartially that Ma Dafu was much more honest than Zhao Youcai. Although Ma Dafu didn't earn much money, he was an honest and upright man who avoided trouble and wouldn't risk his life. He was good at hiding some money, but what man doesn't have some secret stash?
The key issue is that Ma Dafu hid his private savings not for idle money, but to support his married daughter.
Therefore, Zhao Jun has always held his father-in-law in the highest esteem in both his lives.
In the short time that Zhao Jun was slightly stunned, Ma Yang had already fallen twenty or thirty meters away.
"Little brother! Little brother!" Zhao Jun caught up with Ma Yang, grabbed him, and asked, "What are you doing? Why are you in such a hurry?"
"You don't know what's going on, so don't get involved with us!" Ma Yang said, shaking off Zhao Jun's hand and continuing to walk quickly forward.
"Huh?" Zhao Jun looked at the back of Ma Yang's head in surprise and muttered, "You little brat! How dare you talk to your brother-in-law like that?"
After saying that, Zhao Jun caught up with Ma Yang and asked, "Did Dad and Mom have a fight?"
"Huh?" Upon hearing Zhao Jun's words, Ma Yang abruptly stopped and turned to look at Zhao Jun, asking, "How did you know?"
"Ouch!" Zhao Jun bumped into Ma Yang before he could stop. He steadied Ma Yang by helping him up and then asked, "Why else would Dad come out?"
Upon hearing this, Ma Yang pursed his lips. Seeing this, Zhao Jun comforted him, saying, "But don't worry about it. Nothing's wrong with Dad. He's just taking a stroll..."
"Hey, brother-in-law!" Ma Yang interrupted Zhao Jun, saying, "This is none of your business, you can go back now."
After saying that, Ma Yang added, "If you don't know what's going on, then don't get involved."
After saying that, Ma Yang quickly walked towards the east end of the village.
"That brat!" Zhao Jun sensed something was amiss, so he followed Ma Yang out of the village.
Ma Yang walked faster and faster, sometimes even running a short distance, with Zhao Jun always following behind.
And so, the two of them arrived at Dongdagou one after the other.
The river hasn't thawed yet, and the ice on the surface is still passable for people and vehicles. However, the ice isn't as hard as it used to be; if a vehicle crosses the river, the wheels will leave a ditch.
Ma Yang didn't go onto the ice, but continued walking eastward along the riverbank.
Zhao Jun followed for another five minutes, and saw a birch forest ahead.
Zhao Jun knew that area very well. South of the birch forest, between the mountain and the open field, was a reclaimed area. When Zhao Jun was thirteen or fourteen, he often brought Li Baoyu there. The two of them would use slingshots to shoot pheasants in the soybean fields, and they would also "pick up" the medicinal beans used to poison pheasants from other people's fields.
When autumn came, the two brothers also plucked two unripe bean stalks from someone else and then threw them on the fire to roast.
In rural areas, this behavior isn't considered stealing. You can eat whatever you want, as long as you don't damage other people's crops or bring sacks home, no one will care.
The unripe soybeans have green skins and are covered in hairs, so they are also called edamame. They are perfect for cooking and drinking with alcohol.
If you throw edamame beans, still attached to the vines, onto a fire to roast them, it's called roasting beans. Once the edamame beans are charred black, you pluck them off the vines and eat them.
To the east of the birch forest, there are two large ponds. In the past, every spring, Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu would take out a roll of wire, a small knife, and a tin can.
When they arrived at the birch forest, the two brothers found a suitable tree, hung the bottle in a suitable position, and waited until they cut the bark with a knife, at which point sap would flow out and into the jar.
This sap is birch sap. Only in early spring, when birch trees recover from winter, do they absorb water from the ground. As the water is supplied upwards through the tree trunk, it, along with some inorganic substances, is transformed into birch sap.
It is said that birch sap has many health benefits. But Zhao Jun drank it when he was a child simply because it was sweet.
Collecting birch sap is a very long process. The thin lines of varying lengths on the cross-section of the tree are the tree's vascular bundles.
The sap comes out of such a thin tube that it comes out drop by drop, so it takes a lot of patience to collect enough birch sap to fill a jar.
Children are the least patient, so after Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu hung the bottle on the tree, they went to the river to the east to catch fish and shrimp.
After catching fish and shrimp, the birch sap was almost collected. The two brothers drank it, taking turns, and then skewered the fish and shrimp they had caught on twigs and grilled them.
Back then, Zhao Jun didn't go to school and just played around all day. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so clueless about the meaning of "a person becomes famous when they are immortal".
But all of that is in his past life. After his rebirth, Zhao Jun is quite busy, busy making money and changing his life. There are times when he feels at ease, but he rarely experiences the carefree days of his youth.
As Zhao Jun walked, he thought that when spring came, he would bring Ma Ling to enjoy the spring scenery and drink birch sap.
As Zhao Jun was thinking, Ma Yang, who was walking ahead, had already passed through the birch forest.
Because of the angle, Zhao Jun's view was blocked by a tree, and he could not see Ma Yang for the time being.
Zhao Jun wasn't in a hurry and followed him out of the woods. But just as he was about to leave the woods, Zhao Jun heard Ma Yang shout "Dad!" His voice was urgent and panicked.
Zhao Jun was stunned. For a moment, he thought something had happened to his father-in-law, so he quickly ran out of the woods.
Once outside the birch forest, Zhao Jun saw Ma Yang and Ma Dafu struggling not far ahead.
No one knows what Ma Dafu said, but all that was heard was Ma Yang constantly calling out, "Dad, come home."
At this moment, Ma Dafu did not seem to be contemplating suicide; he was working on the ice with Liu Hanshan from his village.
This Liu Hanshan is from Yong'an Village, and his name differs from Liu Renshan's in Yongsheng by only one character. However, Liu Renshan is the production manager, while Liu Hanshan is unemployed.
Two years ago, Liu Hanshan was working as a swindler at Du Chunjiang's farm. This old bastard was close to Du Chunlin, and the two of them wanted to steal the three dogs of the Green Wolf that Wang Dalong had killed in battle to take home and eat. They were almost shot by Lao Xu Pao.
Last year, through Zhao Jun's introduction, Liu Hanshan worked at Jiezhong Lengchang for the entire winter. Now that the winter production season is over, Liu Hanshan is free again.
They all lived in Yong'an Village, so they were bound to run into each other. Ma Dafu and Liu Hanshan didn't have any conflicts, so it was normal for them to go out fishing together when they met.
At this point, Ma Dafu and Liu Renshan each had a shovel and a pickaxe, but influenced by Ma Yang, neither of them continued to dig through the ice.
As Zhao Jun walked forward, he sensed something was wrong, because Ma Dafu and Liu Renshan were digging at the edge of the pond. The water was shallow there, and although it was easy to dig in this season, they wouldn't be able to catch any fish.
Just then, Zhao Jun heard Ma Yang shout, "Dad, what are you digging that thing up for? It stinks!"
Upon hearing Ma Yang's words, Zhao Jun knew what Ma Dafu was up to.
The four northeastern provinces are vast and rich in resources, with a large population, yet customs and traditions vary from place to place.
In Northeast China, things like instant noodles and black nightshade have dozens of different names.
Moreover, when a Northeasterner says "We Northeasterners are like this and that," there will definitely be other Northeasterners who will jump out and say "We're not like that," or "You don't represent the Northeast," and so on.
At this moment, Ma Dafu and Liu Hanshan were digging up a type of food in Northeast China that has received mixed reviews—stinky fish.
There's an old saying about rotten fish and shrimp, but the rotten fish in Northeast China is produced under special conditions.
The Northeast is covered in ice and snow for five or six months, during which time rivers, lakes and seas are frozen.
In this way, some fish will die in the water due to lack of oxygen. In the cold water, some dead fish carcasses are preserved, and as time goes by and the temperature rises, these fish carcasses will ferment and smell bad.
When the rivers thaw, the carcasses of these fish float on the surface, and people scoop them up and take them home—this is what is known as "collecting rotten fish."
These rotten fish must be collected right after the river thaws, because they haven't been in prolonged contact with air. The stench is simply due to low-temperature fermentation; there are no bacteria, and they don't rot. Otherwise, they will truly become rotten fish over time.
It is said that stinky fish has a unique aroma after cooking. Therefore, some people use the same saying as stinky tofu, "smells bad, tastes good," to describe stinky fish.
This has led to a situation in Northeast China where some people consider rotten fish a rare delicacy, while others believe that Northeasterners picking up rotten fish is a shameful thing.
Unfortunately, it seems that, apart from eastern Inner Mongolia, there are also some areas in Heilongjiang, Jilin and Liaoning provinces where people are keen on collecting rotten fish.
When Ma Dafu was three months old, he was brought over from the interior by Ma Ling's grandmother. It is said that Ma Ling's two aunts died on the way when they fled the country.
After they escaped to Yong'an and settled down, Old Mrs. Ma thought of her two daughters and would cry all the time. She cried and cried until she went blind.
After he grew up, Ma Dafu became very filial, always giving his mother the best food.
Grandma Ma liked a local delicacy called stir-fried fish hair. Last year, when Wang Cuihua accidentally burned her foot, Zhao Jun went to deliver badger oil to her and had the opportunity to see Ma Dafu poking at that thing.
In his past life, Zhao Jun often watched Ma Dafu stir-fry fish hair and stew rotten fish. Although he was always scolded by Wang Cuihua and disliked by Ma Yang, Ma Dafu never changed his original intention.
At first, Zhao Jun didn't understand. But then one time, when Ma Dafu was drunk, Zhao Jun heard Ma Dafu say that every time he ate fried fish hair, he would think of his mother.
It was because of this fried fish hair that Ma Dafu developed an inextricable bond with rotten fish.
It was springtime, a weekend, and the chimney, which had been burning brightly all winter, was a bit clogged.
When Wang Cuihua, who cooked over a wood-fired stove, saw the smoke being poured into the house, she told Ma Dafu to call Ma Shenglai so the two of them could unclog the chimney today.
Ma Dafu suggested they finish this meal first and then cook, which made sense, but the smoke from the cooking was choking, so Wang Cuiyu had no choice but to cook with the door open.
At that moment, a foul odor drifted into the house on the wind, so bad that Wang Cuihua would rather be choked by the smoke than close the door.
Ma Dafu, who was in the inner room, jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed), slipped on his shoes, and went out.
Then Ma Dafu followed the stench and found Liu Hanshan's house.
At that time, Liu Hanshan was stewing rotten fish in the yard.
You can't cook rotten fish indoors, especially if you live in an apartment building. If someone cooks it, none of the neighbors will be able to entertain anyone.
Liu Hanshan heard from a villager in a shack that this fish was edible when he was pulling fish traps in the mountains during the winter. Today, he saw the fish floating on the water as he passed by the river and picked them up. In fact, he picked up quite a few.
Upon hearing that Ma Dafu wanted rotten fish, Liu Hanshan's wife immediately took out a sack and told Ma Dafu to take away all the rotten fish that Liu Hanshan had picked up.
Ma Dafu happily carried the stinky fish home, but just as he reached his doorstep, he heard a loud bang coming from his direction.
Ma Dafu looked up and saw a plume of black smoke billowing from his chimney.
Ma Dafu was taken aback, then hurriedly ran home.
It turned out that after Ma Dafu left, Wang Cuihua didn't want to smell the stench, so she closed the door.
But as soon as the door was closed, the smoke became choking, and seeing Wang Cuihua coughing and tearing up, Ma Yang, who had just returned, turned around and went out again.
Then, Ma Yang lit the double-bang cigarettes he had saved up over the New Year and threw them into the chimney.
This trick really worked; the chimney was cleared instantly. The problem was, the kang (heated brick bed) in the east room also collapsed.
When Ma Dafu got home, he didn't have time to clean up the rotten fish; he started by dealing with Ma Yang.
Normally, Ma Ling would try to intervene if she saw Ma Yang getting beaten. But that day, Ma Ling ignored her brother and, despite feeling unwell, went out of the house and dragged the sack of rotten fish out the door.
Fearing that Ma Dafu would find the rotten fish again by following the smell, Ma Ling threw it into the latrine.
But while Ma Ling could outmaneuver Ma Dafu for a time, she couldn't hold him back forever. From then on, Ma Dafu picked up rotten fish every year, so Ma Ling, Wang Cuihua, and Ma Yang united to fight against him, which resulted in the three of them arguing with Ma Dafu for several days every year.
Since the forest farm normally rests one day a week, and the rotten fish are only good on the two days when the river thaws, sometimes Ma Dafu, who collects rotten fish, can't catch up with him, so he learned to dig holes in the ice.
In Zhao Jun's area, the river usually thaws around mid-April each year. Today is March 21st, and there's still some time before the river thaws, but with the temperature stabilizing above zero, the fermented fish under the ice have already finished fermenting.
In some shallow waters with thin ice, you can see fish floating on the surface of the water under the ice; that's what Ma Dafu and Liu Hanshan were digging for.
Seeing that his father-in-law was alright, Zhao Jun didn't go up to greet him, but instead turned around and headed home.
When Zhao Jun arrived home, Wang Meilan was chatting with Ma Ling in the house.
Seeing Zhao Jun return, Ma Ling anxiously asked him, "Where's my dad? Have you found him?"
"I found it," Zhao Jun said. Ma Ling pressed, "Where did you find it? What was my dad doing?"
“His…” Zhao Jun hesitated for a moment, then looked at Wang Meilan and said, “Mom, you haven’t eaten yet. You should go home and eat.”
As he spoke, Zhao Jun gave Wang Meilan two winks.
Wang Meilan knew that her son was asking her to leave because there must be something wrong, so she quickly agreed and got up to leave.
Zhao Jun and Ma Ling saw Wang Meilan off from the compound. On their way back, Zhao Jun told Ma Ling about Ma Dafu picking rotten fish.
After hearing this, Ma Ling's expression seemed a little unpleasant. Once inside the house and sitting on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), Ma Ling said to Zhao Jun with a serious face and stern tone, "Let me tell you, from now on, when Dad stews rotten fish or stir-fries fish hair, you stay away from him. Whatever you say, you can't eat it."
This was the first time in her life that Ma Ling had spoken to Zhao Jun in this tone.
Zhao Jun was taken aback, then laughed and said, "Don't worry, I definitely won't eat it."
Hearing Zhao Jun say this, Ma Ling nodded. But just then, Zhao Jun suddenly said, "You stinky Ling'er."
"What?" Ma Ling's big eyes widened instantly as she looked at Zhao Jun with anger.
In rural areas, adults and children all have nicknames. Ma Ling's nickname when she was a child was "Stinky Ling'er". This was because when she was eight years old, she ate some fish floss fried by Ma Dafu.
At that time, when Wang Cuihua was scolding Ma Dafu, Ma Ling even spoke up for her father, saying that the food was delicious.
Ma Ling ate with relish, and after finishing, she wiped her mouth and went out to play.
There was a saying back then: "I'll come find you to play after I finish eating."
These days, kids aren't that fussy. Some kids can run off anywhere after eating garlic eggplant and still have friends to play with, which is fine.
But what Ma Ling ate was different from scallions and garlic. When she went outside to talk to her friends, the smell made them cover their noses.
Children don't know how to watch what they say, and within two minutes, the rumor had spread among the children. They said Ma Ling ate shit, which made Ma Ling so angry that she ran home crying.
Upon learning of this, Wang Cuihua first argued with Ma Dafu, and then made a scene in the village.
This has to be done, otherwise the villagers will really think they fed their child excrement.
After Wang Cuihua finished her tantrum, the matter passed in the village. The children continued to play with Ma Ling as usual, and the children's parents strictly forbade their children from mentioning the matter in front of Ma Ling again.
More than ten years have passed in the blink of an eye, and the past has faded away with the wind. In recent years, the nickname "Stinky Ling'er" has been forgotten for a long time.
Today, someone brought up the old story again, and it was her husband. Enraged, Ma Ling clenched her fists and lunged at Zhao Jun.
Zhao Jun laughed and grabbed Ma Ling's wrists. The young couple pushed each other up a couple of times and then fell onto the kang (a heated brick bed)...
(End of this chapter)