Back to 1978

Chapter 201: The Weirdos of the Old Generation in Zhongping

Kou Donghan looked at Xie Hushan who was hanging his head, then looked at Xie Laoliu who was angry at Xie Hushan, and finally raised his hand and patted the back of his nephew's head:
"I can tell from the first glance that you are causing trouble for your Sixth Master again. Tell me, what has happened?"

"Nothing, I just caught up with him today. Otherwise, I would have come to my Sixth Master in a few days to make things clear." Xie Hushan said with an awkward chuckle when he saw Xie Laoliu coming out of the wing room.

"You don't need to explain clearly. What else is there to say? It's very clear. Everyone knows that I, your Sixth Master, have only three hobbies in my life: wine, horses, and guns. You almost made me quit them all!" Xie Laoliu said unhappily:

"Uncle, I'm not angry with you, nor did I pick the day you came to visit to get mad at him. I've been doing this for months. Normally, when my uncle comes to visit, I, as a grandfather, shouldn't get mad at my grandson in front of you, but I feel so upset! I've been feeling aggrieved for months, and I'm going to avoid seeing him if I can."

Although Xie Laoliu has been herding livestock all year round and looks unkempt and not like a good person, he still knows the social etiquette. When Xie Hushan's uncle came to see him, he should not lose his temper. He had to pretend to be nice so as not to let his uncle laugh at the Xie family. But he really didn't want to see Xie Hushan.

"Tell me, what did this kid do? You, the Xie family, love him, but I, as his uncle, won't spoil him. I'll take care of him." Kou Donghan said with a smile, "Don't make yourself angry."

Then he glared at Xie Hushan and said, "What's the matter? Why have you, Sixth Master, been upset for several months? You are so cruel at your age."

"Why is he feeling aggrieved? It's nothing. I just want to lend him his horse to equip some livestock." Xie Hushan said in a mosquito-like voice.

Knowing that my uncle was coming, my aunt, my second uncle, and my second aunt hurried back to greet him and just happened to hear what Xie Hushan said. My second uncle and my second aunt didn't say anything, but my aunt was straightforward and immediately said to Xie Hushan:
"You're using his Yizhangqing to mate with those animals, which is more uncomfortable for him than forcing him to mate with animals with a gun! Hurry up and leave, hurry up and leave, don't wait for him to drink some wine and get more angry, then he will scold you."

Xiaobao followed nearby and when he heard the aunt talking about the Yizhangqing being paired with an animal, he got so excited that he started to sing a jingle:

"A good horse is a foot long, and wives are like a group of donkeys. Six donkeys have seven eyes, and two of them have lame front hooves."

These rhymes were easy to understand, so Kou Donghan and Zhang Cheng didn't have to ask any more questions. They could get a general idea from the rhymes.

Xie Hushan is really fucked up.

Xie Laoliu, a living bandit, was bullied and oppressed by his grandson.

Kou Donghan was still a little bit unfamiliar and didn't know much about Xie Laoliu, but Zhang Cheng had heard of Xie Laoliu's name since he was a child from the local legends told by the elders in his family.

Xie Kefu used to be a personal bodyguard for the second young master of the Feng family, a well-known wealthy family in Bingyang County. Later, he followed the second young master Feng to form a team of local militia, and recruited several bandits and thieves in the nearby West Mountain. Relying on his family's wealth, he equipped them with good horses and fast guns.

Later, when the four eastern provinces fell, the second young master Feng took him out of Shanhaiguan and went to Rehe Province to become a bandit. He specialized in kidnapping Japanese businessmen or traitors as hostages. Occasionally, he would sneak attack Japanese transport teams, steal some supplies and sell them to the national army in Zhili Province at a low price.

If you go and ask around in Rehe Province, which has been incorporated into Zhili Province, you will find that some elderly people there may still remember Feng Ershao's bandit nickname Dayangqian and Xie Laoliu's bandit nickname Laozamao.

The fact that he fought against the Japanese was definitely true, otherwise Xie Laoliu would have been shot long ago. He refused to die despite being sentenced to death twice. The government found out that there were more than a dozen Japanese soldiers who died at his hands. He was indeed fighting against the Japanese, not just being a bandit.

He was a bandit second in command who was very powerful and famous when he was young, but when he got old, he was beaten by his grandson and felt depressed for several months.

It seems that there were some things about Xie Laoliu before he became a bodyguard for the Feng family. It seems that he had served in the army, but the Xie family kept it a secret and never let it out. Anyway, now when people mention Xie Laoliu, they think of him as a bandit.

After liberation, he worked as a rickshaw driver in the team for decades. Even though it took more than ten days to travel long distances that ordinary rickshaw drivers dared not to, Xie Laoliu dared to go alone, driving the animals without blinking an eye.

Although he was not the leader of the carriage and horse team, when the 19 production teams in Zhongping Brigade asked which carriage driver ranked first, they all recognized Xie Laoliu.

Zhongping’s first handlebar head, live map.

It's a pity that the hero has grown old. No matter how powerful a bandit is, he will be subdued by his children and grandchildren when he is old.

Now that his children, grandchildren, and daughter-in-law have all returned, Xie Laoliu was too lazy to waste time talking to Xie Hushan. He did not ask them to leave and turned back to his own room.

Although the east room of the main house was empty, Xie Laoliu did not live there, but only lived in the wing room. The east room was the room of Xie Hushan's grandmother, so even if she did not live there, it had to be left empty.

Aunt, second uncle, and second aunt invited Kou Donghan and Zhang Cheng into the house. When they entered Xie Laoliu's room, there was a smell of cigarette smoke and animal fodder, but the room was relatively clean because aunt helped to clean it every day. Xie Laoliu sat on the kang with one leg raised, rubbing the dried tobacco leaves with his hands on the kang table.

"Sixth uncle, don't be angry. Minister Zhang and I will help you have a few drinks to calm down. Ask that kid to pour wine and serve you. If you feel unhappy, kick him a few times." Kou Donghan put the wine on the kang table and said loudly.

Xie Laoliu looked at Xie Hushan and said, "I won't kick him. I am upset and his grandmother won't take it to heart. If I kick him, his grandmother will be furious with me."

Although he disliked Xie Hushan, he did not continue to drive people out.

While the aunt was helping them set up the table and cook, Kou Donghan and Zhang Cheng accompanied Xie Laoliu to smoke a pack of cigarettes and learned the whole story from the old man.

This story started during the autumn harvest last year. Last year, Xie Hushan became the leader of the sideline business group of the third production team. He set up a stewed pork stall at the market, and then he met the veterinarian from Lijiazhai. The two sides got to know each other. At that time, Xie Hushan asked the veterinarian to help him find out if there were any disabled mares or donkeys that the production team was planning to abandon for stewing.

The veterinarians in Lijiazhai are not very good at treating livestock, but they are quite good at helping to get information about buying and selling livestock. By the end of last year, they had collected information from various veterinary stations in Bingyang County for Xie Hushan and bought six adult female donkeys.

In Bingyang County, a newborn female donkey costs only 30 yuan, but an adult, healthy, strong-framed, young, docile female donkey that can pull a cart at any time will cost at least 2,000 yuan. If you buy donkeys normally, six donkeys will cost more than 13,000 yuan.

The six donkeys that Xie Hushan bought only cost a total of more than 3,000 yuan.

An adult female donkey is so cheap, so of course she has some minor health problems.

Two of the cows had broken front hooves and were not healed, becoming paralyzed. The production team was ready to take them back to be cooked, but they were stopped by the veterinarian of Lijiazhai, who then sold them to the sideline group of the third production team of Zhongping.

Of the remaining five, four were female donkeys that became blind due to excessive use of veterinary drugs during medical treatment, and one had one eye blinded by a whip. They were all reduced to being used for grinding mills by the production team. But now most production brigades have steel mills and rarely use animal power. Even if they do use animal power, they do not raise animals simply for grinding mills, as it consumes too much food and is not as good as using human power to grind the mill. Therefore, they were also sold to Production Team 3.

Moreover, after the six donkeys were purchased, they never dared to send them to the barn of Team Three, for fear that Xie Laoliu would notice something, so they had been kept in foster care in other teams.

In the words of Xie Hushan, these were all wives found for Xie Laoliu's beloved horse Yizhangqing.

Yizhangqing is a blue stallion trained by Liu Ye himself. He is only four years old this year. He was picked out by the old master Xie Laoliu himself at the livestock market four years ago when the production team was purchasing new livestock for the team.

He has been raising the pony from a pony to the present, and is responsible for all the tasks such as brushing, feeding, and walking the horse. Even his own grandson Xiaobao has never received such meticulous care from him.

Moreover, Yizhangqing was not like other stallions that pulled carts in the eight villages, all of which had their balls castrated. It had never been castrated.

Therefore, it has a very bad temper. Coupled with Xie Laoliu's training, this big blue horse only listens to Xie Laoliu.

Others wouldn't even have the chance to get close to it, let alone put a bridle on it. If Xie Laoliu wasn't there, if anyone dared to take a few steps towards Yizhangqing, Yizhangqing would neigh and raise its hooves to remind the other party to keep away.

Xie Laoliu had to feed him four meals of fodder and water a day himself. He would rather starve than eat a bite fed by others.

Previously, there was a coachman who was good at mixing fodder and made a bet with Xie Laoliu using Yizhangqing. The other party had to feed Xie Laoliu's horse. If Yizhangqing opened its mouth and ate the fodder he fed, Xie Laoliu would lose two bottles of wine to the other party.

As a result, Yizhangqing really made fun of Xie Laoliu. No matter how the other party prepared the fodder, or how delicious the fodder smelled, he didn't drink a sip of water or eat a bite of grass. He would kick anyone who came to challenge him.

He knows when to say something and when not to say it. He is much more principled than Dahei.

This horse is also the face of Xie Laoliu. When he goes out to drive a carriage, any coachman who sees this uncastrated big blue horse driving the carriage docilely will bow down in admiration. Being able to drive a wild horse is the skill of an old coachman, and he is respected as a master in the industry.

But such a good horse, on a dark and windy night, Xie Hushan got two bottles of good wine for Xie Laoliu and got him drunk. Even when he was drunk, the old man did not forget to add some food to Yizhangqing at night.

However, Xie Laoliu had drunk too much and was careless. He did not smell the medicinal smell in the fodder and personally fed the fodder that Xie Hushan had mixed with medicine to his beloved horse Yizhangqing, who trusted him completely.

Yi Zhang Qing did not suspect anything and ate the food obediently. After Xie Laoliu fed the animals and left, Xie Hushan had already sent the lame and blind donkeys that were stored in the barn of another team to Yi Zhang Qing, and asked Yi Zhang Qing to consummate his marriage with these six donkeys.

Normally, Yizhangqing was trained by Xie Laoliu so well that it would never let other animals get close to it. But this time, after taking the medicine and the effect of the medicine took effect, the lame donkey was as beautiful as Diao Chan in its eyes.

So that night a female donkey was favored. Similarly, after spending a few bottles of wine, Xie Hushan had these donkeys carry the best stallion calves in the Zhongping area. It is estimated that by the beginning of next spring, the production team will have six more mules.

The main thing is sustainability. These six female donkeys are not too old. They get pregnant once a year and can still conceive for a few years at least.

Xie Laoliu discovered this problem only after Yizhangqing became depressed and there were a few blind and lame donkeys in the barn of Team 3.

Although Yizhangqing is a mute animal, animals also have emotions and intelligence.

Not to mention stallions being depressed, men would also be depressed.

Imagine a handsome, majestic young man being drugged by his most trusted father, and then forced to sleep with six ugly paralyzed and blind women under the effect of the drug.

After having sex, those six women became your neighbors, were pregnant with your children, and stimulated you to recall those unpleasant nights every day.

Xie Hushan had seen men with depression, but he had never seen a stallion with depression.

Yizhangqing's depressed reaction was a bit like a walking corpse. His eyes had lost their spirit and pride. He was very slow to react to Xie Laoliu's slogans, always a beat behind. When he was in the stable, he stretched his neck, lowered his head and looked forward, with no focus.

I have no appetite and eat less than usual.

His attitude towards Xie Laoliu gradually became irritable.

It was because Xie Laoliu was experienced that he sent Yizhangqing to a single room at the veterinary station for a month and a half. He let it go to the open space to play and bask in the sun every day. He also separated it from the six female donkeys to ensure that it could not see the six donkeys. Only then did he slowly cure it.

"I'm not saying anything, this horse is just like a human being. If it continues to be so depressed, if I drive it out one day, it will be so upset that it will see a deep pit on the side of the road and rush down to commit suicide. This horse is smarter than a dog and more like a human being." After drinking a bowl of white wine, Xie Laoliu started to talk more. He naggled to Kou Donghan and Zhang Cheng:

"A fool looking for a wife would know to look for a pretty one. The same thing goes for horses. This horse is almost like my son. I raised it with my own hands. You say, he got six female donkeys and ruined it. Although it has recovered now, Yizhangqing is not as close to me as before. It used to do whatever I told it to do, but now it sniffs the grass first when I feed it, to be on guard against me."

"I'm old now, and I could die any day. Yizhangqing may be the last horse I raise in my life. How can I feel good about raising it like this? To be honest, I was expecting this horse to be buried with me. Before the breeding, if I were to die, Yizhangqing would go with me without eating or drinking. Now I think that with some effort, it may come to its senses. Our eldest brother and Daxiu feed it, and it can eat a little now."

"Sixth uncle, you've been drinking a lot, how can you bury a man with a horse together? If you do this, Sixth aunt will be furious." Kou Donghan smiled and reminded him after hearing what Xie Laoliu said.

Xie Laoliu opened his mouth and said, "She wished that I didn't even have a grave so that she could bury me..."

"Don't talk nonsense just because you drink a little bit of wine!" The aunt came in with a plate of scrambled eggs, and when she heard what her father-in-law Xie Laoliu said, she started scolding.

Xie Laoliu was not angry when his daughter-in-law confronted him. He lowered his head and said "Hey" without saying anything else.

Xie Hushan was helping Xie Laoliu pour wine: "Sixth Master... As for me, I am the production team leader now, and I will breed next year..."

"You are not the captain anymore? And next year? If you dare to drug Yizhangqing again next year, I will drug you and throw you into the pigpen!" Xie Laoliu glared at Xie Hushan.

"No, I mean, we won't do it this way next year. It's not very decent of me to do this, but the mules born from the six donkeys in the sideline group next spring will be of Yizhangqing breed, and the skeletons must be correct. Whether we keep them and raise them to pull carts or sell them, there will be people vying for them."

"Nonsense, I picked Yizhangqing. I felt out its skeleton inch by inch. If it wasn't a good horse, I wouldn't let the team buy it." Xie Laoliu snorted when he heard Xie Hushan praising Yizhangqing.

Xie Hushan smiled and said, "Yes, yes, yes. But if Yizhangqing wants to breed next year, I won't use it. First, I'm afraid you will really get angry with me, Sixth Master. Second, I don't like it."

"What the hell? Who do you look down on?" Xie Laoliu was a little confused by Xie Hushan's words. He stared at Xie Hushan with cloudy eyes, suspecting that he had heard it wrong.

Not to mention Zhongping, even in Bingyang County, leaving aside the military horses of the army, his Yizhangqing would undoubtedly rank among the top five. He has always boasted to outsiders that this Yizhangqing is a Sanhe horse. Although it is bragging, it is indeed a hybrid of a Bohai draft horse and a Sanhe horse. Relying on the large frame of the Sanhe horse, it is enough to stand out among a group of Bohai draft horses in Bingyang.

"I wanted to tell you after the New Year. The team is planning to raise dairy cows. After the New Year, the County Animal Husbandry Bureau will send technicians to help us build the breeding ground and purchase all the supporting equipment. I thought you would believe me if I told you. I was afraid that you would think I was bragging."

"Firstly."

"According to the county's requirements for raising dairy cows and building a breeding farm, the farm should be able to accommodate 30 cows. We won't need them in the early stage, so we plan to get five dairy cows first. The county has to grit its teeth to solve this problem. Otherwise, we can't buy them. What should we do with such a large area? The people from the county animal husbandry bureau gave me an idea during dinner. They said that if you have a place, capital, people, and railway connections, it would be best to trade in a batch of Ili horses."

"Ili horses are easy to raise. We have mature breeding experience here, and they can adapt to the soil and water in Bingyang. It is best to buy them in Ili. The price of an adult horse there is more than half cheaper than here. If someone in the team is not afraid of hard work, dares to travel far, and knows how to choose horses, he can go to XJ and buy more than 20 horses. After deducting the travel expenses, he can sell them and make a profit of 30% to 40%. It won't be a problem."

"The County Animal Husbandry Bureau told me this out of respect for you. Most people wouldn't tell me, and even if I told them, they couldn't afford it. Three or five horses aren't worth the trip. The County Animal Husbandry Bureau has connections with the animal husbandry units there, and they are planning to bring Ili horses to North China. So if you can buy at least 20, the County Animal Husbandry Bureau will send technicians and cadres to go with you. It's a political achievement after all."

"I have connections on the railway, so I know I can do this. So I plan to build a breeding farm after the New Year. I'll ask Ma Laowu to pick a few drivers to follow the county animal husbandry bureau to buy horses in Yili. When we bring them back, I'll pair the Yili horses with those donkeys. They're more suitable than your Yizhangqing, which is a purebred Yili horse."

"The Ili horse is indeed a good horse. I can't lie about this. It is indeed good. I have ridden it. It is better than the Don River horse I rode before and second only to the Sanhe horse I rode at the beginning." When talking about horses, Xie Laoliu's expression was very serious. He would not brag against his will that his Sanhe horse was better than the Ili horse.

Xie Hushan said to Xie Laoliu with a smile:

"Sixth Master, if you are willing and feel that you are still strong enough to travel far, I will arrange for you to take a train to Yili with me. I will select the horses and bring them back. Whichever one you like will be assigned to you to raise. If you like all of them, the horse farm will be yours to manage. Isn't that considerate of me?"

"Ili horse...Ili horse...Did you hear that bicycles were distributed to everyone?" Xie Laoliu muttered the word "Ili horse" a few times, then glanced at Xie Hushan from the side and asked a question out of the blue.

Xie Hushan nodded: "Yes, one for each family. The one the auntie is pushing is the one issued by the team."

Xie Laoliu asked again, "I like that Ili horse. Can you not give it drugs to breed it?"

"If the six blind donkeys and Ili horses in our team don't have a match, who else will?" Xie Hushan asked Xie Laoliu.

Xie Laoliu said without thinking: "Yi Zhang Qing, since it has come to this, let it be abused by a female animal, and don't destroy the purebred horse."

The last few days of the last month of 1979 passed by so easily.

The Gregorian calendar passed quietly, and people in Bingyang County paid more attention to the lunar calendar. The so-called New Year's Day was just something that everyone mentioned, and it was not worth making dumplings for.

A few days after the New Year, technicians from the County Animal Husbandry Bureau came to the Zhongping Agricultural Technology Station to do on-site work. These days, supporting rural areas is not just about issuing a policy or shouting a slogan.

Instead, there should be relevant professionals to teach. After all, the farmers may be illiterate and may not understand the policies, so someone must come down to interpret them.

The technicians have already started field investigations on the planned open space, and inside the headquarters of Team 3, Xie Hushan is still doing ideological work for people.

He is not good at this. Lao Yang is suitable for it, but the matter of Team Three is not worth Lao Yang's special trip. Besides, he does not understand the inside story and does not know how to start.

This old guy's experience is also very legendary. He is a household name in Zhongping and a notorious figure. He is a talent of the old Ma family among the older generation. He is as famous as his peers in Zhongping, such as Xie Laosan, Xie Laoliu, Han Mangong, Chen Shouwang and other legendary figures.

Let’s not talk about what he did before. As soon as Yaoshan was liberated, the old guy ran away and went all the way to Inner Mongolia, where he became a herdsman, herding cattle and sheep for others.

But he definitely did not die, because during the interrogation he confessed that he had made significant contributions. Fortunately, the person handling his case at that time was very responsible, otherwise he would have thought he was talking nonsense and shot him to death. As a result, it was found that he had indeed made contributions, and the person involved was still alive, and even went to Inner Mongolia to testify for him in person.

But no one made things difficult for him. He just farmed the land as usual. He had no children or grandchildren, and was a widower. No one knew where to bury him when he died.

This old landlord has been raising cattle and sheep for twenty years, herding cattle and milking milk for other herdsmen, so he must be rich in experience.

When the technician asked Xie Hushan who was in charge of the dairy farm, Xie Hushan's first reaction was him.

"If you can raise cattle for others in Inner Mongolia, you can raise cattle for the team in Zhongping. You said that when you were shot, the herdsmen kept pleading for you, saying that you raised cattle well and worked tirelessly, risking your life to find lost cattle and sheep in heavy winds and snow. This shows that you can definitely do it. Let me tell you, I am not discussing with you. After I take charge of the third team, there will be no democracy, only dictatorship. I have the final say, do you understand?" Xie Hushan looked at the hunchbacked old man in front of him and said a lot of good things. The old man refused to agree. Xie Hushan simply exposed his true nature and knocked on the table:

"Old man, let me tell you, as long as you treat the herders with the same attitude as before, and don't use the attitude that fooled the guerrillas first and then fooled the Japanese, I believe you can definitely raise them well. But let me be frank, if the cow can't produce milk, I'll let the technicians milk you."

(End of this chapter)