Chapter 9: A Conversation Under the Lamp at Night

  On Tuesday, the second day, our steward bought a few pig bones from the local area. I carried two of them back to the breeding department, looked around and saw no one, then with a "ka cha" sound, directly chopped one half into pieces and put them in a feed bag. The remaining half was chopped into smaller pieces and thrown into the pot to cook. I picked up the feed bag and ran to the wall, throwing it into the woods outside.

  After returning, I pulled the blower and desperately added firewood to the bottom of the pot. When it was almost done, I told the squad leader that I was going to the service company. I changed my shirt and went around the wall outside, carrying a pig's head bone and running towards the electric net. This time, I didn't rush out, but first walked along the wall for a distance, throwing some of the thicker tree trunks we usually cut down while repairing the electric net.

  As the surrounding mountains were all enclosed by us, firewood was a good thing for people in the outer villages. Our troops often had locals from the upper places drill holes through the wall to chop firewood.

  I used my old trick again, propping up the electric net and jumping out, carrying a bag with me, using packing ropes to drag tree trunks into the village. To be honest, we didn't have any money at that time, our second-year allowance was only 35 yuan, there was no way, we could only get some things for people, otherwise how could we show our face.

  When I knocked on the old man's door with sweat dripping down my face, I gave the old couple a fright. I said I came to deliver some firewood for them to burn, and the old man and his wife thanked me profusely before letting me in. Then I took out the bones from the bag.

  The old man was stunned and asked me what I meant.

  "It doesn't matter, this is for you, you eat the ribs, and I'll stew the big bones to feed the dog!" I lifted my sleeve to wipe away sweat.

  "Feed the dog?" The old man looked at me with a puzzled expression.

  "Ah, feed the dog, good for milk." I pulled out a cigarette and handed one to the old man, lit one myself, and went to the kennel to see my puppy.

  I pulled out a handful of feed from my pocket and threw it to the mother dog, and the little Haba dog wagged its tail and got up to eat. Seeing that little thing lying in the nest with its belly bulging, I felt relieved.

  Two elderly people invited me into their house with great enthusiasm. The house was very small and the light bulb probably didn't exceed 15 watts. I sat down at the edge of the kang (heated bed) and started chatting with the two old folks about everyday life.

  "Hey young man, are you a soldier?" The old man's first sentence gave me quite a fright.

  "Oh? Why do you say that?" I stammered, unwilling to admit it.

  "Hehe, I'm over 80 years old. You can tell at a glance when someone has been in the army just by the way they walk and talk." The old man said with a smile.

  "Your eyes are really sharp!" I sighed and patted the horse's buttocks.

  After the small talk, it was all bland and tasteless, stuff like "May you live a long life?" or "Was being a soldier tough?". Just as I thought of getting up to leave, the old man suddenly said "Young fellow, when serving in the army here, try to avoid going to the east slope as much as possible."

  "Why?" I came with interest, does this old man know something? Thinking back to my thrilling encounter a few days ago, now he won't make it clear, even if he beats me with a stick, I won't leave.

  The old man didn't say a word, lowered his head and started rolling cigarettes. I quickly took out one and handed it to him, helping him light it up.

  The old man slowly spoke while smoking "Do you know what this mountain is called? What's our village called? And what's the name of that river in front of our village?"

  "The mountain is called Qinglong Mountain, but I don't know about those two behind it," I shook my head and replied.

  "Yes, the mountain is called Qinglong Mountain, our village is called Qinglong Village, and the river in front of our village is called Qinglong Bay"

  "How can all of them have green dragons? Old master, do you think there really are dragons?" I asked tentatively.

  "Yes, I've seen it too!" The old man surprisingly gave me a definite answer.

  "What's going on?" I became even more interested, last time I didn't even see a shadow and was scared off.

  "It's a long story, I was still a young man at that time, and my wife, when did we get engaged?"

  "In '29, you were 13 and I was 12. Your birthday is earlier than mine, but actually I'm only three months younger than you." The old lady in the outer room responded while washing dishes, old people talk too much.

  "That's right, it was that year, when the wall hadn't been built yet. I remember wearing a small jacket at the time. We had several sheep at home then. Don't underestimate those few sheep, whoever had a few grass-eating and milk-squeezing sheep in the village back then, their life wasn't difficult. That year when we got engaged with the old lady, her father insisted on taking two of them away. Oh dear, it pained my father so much that he didn't sleep for several days..."

  "What's wrong, are you regretting now?" The old lady wiped her hands and brought up half a scoop of fried peanuts onto the kang, grabbing a handful for me.

  "What's there to regret? Back then, I even snuck into your village to see you. You and your sister were washing clothes by the river, and I couldn't tell which one was you, so I took a good look at both of you... and you both looked really pretty..."

  Damn, this old man can run a topic better than me. He started talking about dragons and ended up talking about sheep. At this rate, he'll be reminiscing about his romantic escapades in his youth next. I quickly lit another cigarette and handed one to him.

  The old man probably felt that he had said too much and hurriedly continued to say "Our sheep at home, we all treat them as treasures..."

  Good grief, why are you still talking about your sheep? I couldn't help but smile wryly, luckily the old man didn't take the conversation further.

  "Every morning I hurry to take the sheep to the mountain to graze, and in the afternoon I hurry back to drink. I don't dare leave them alone, or they'll be chased away and that would be a disaster for me. That day, I took my family's sheep up the mountain again, there were several of them... I thought about it, originally we had six, but his father took two away, and then another one was born..."

  Good heavens, I'm getting old, but don't say it like that.

  I hastily interrupted him "What happened next, old man?"

  "I drove the sheep to the south slope to graze and met Zhang chopping firewood. Old lady, do you remember Zhang?"

  "How could you forget? Wasn't it that cripple who was hiding under our bed on the night of our wedding and was dragged out by you?" The old lady seemed to blush a bit.