Tianhu walked around the west room, smelled the meat and squatted there. Li Muwu threw a piece of venison to it and said, "Go to the east room and find Hongzhong. Where is his pot of meat?"
Although Tianhu is stupid and can't understand other words, he actually understood this sentence, picked up the meat on the ground and swallowed it, then ran away happily. Li Musen couldn't bear to look at his dog, clinked glasses with Li Muwu, took a sip of sorghum wine and sighed: "Second brother, you are really good to Hongzhong, you can even give it a pot of meat to eat, I would not be willing to do that."
Li Muwu put down his wine cup with a smile: "In the past few years, except for the New Year pig killed in winter, the meat we eat at other times is basically hunted by his siblings and Hongzhong. Hongzhong is loyal and capable, and we must let him enjoy the meat when we have it at home. We brought him home when he was little and raised him to this age. In fact, he is just like a family member."
Li Musen was envious after hearing this: "They are all from the same litter, but you raise them better. My Tianhu has not been able to catch any pheasants or rabbits in all these years, and he hasn't even brought back a single chicken feather. If I let my Tianhu and Hongzhong spend more time together, maybe he will become smart."
"Tianhu?" Li Musen was stunned for a moment: "You have another dog?"
"No, I changed the name of Dashazi. Mingbei said that I gave a bad name and made a good dog stupid." Li Musen ate a piece of meat and raised his glass again: "Let's make a deal. I will put Tianhu in your house tonight. Let Tianhu and your Hongzhong live together. Maybe he will learn to be smarter."
"Okay, as long as you feel at ease." Li Muwu agreed immediately.
In the east room, Tianhu didn't know that the owner was going to leave him here. He was sticking out his tongue and watching Hongzhong eat the delicious venison. Thinking of the delicious venison he had just tasted, he wanted to go over and have a bite, but he was afraid to go near Hongzhong because he could feel his powerful aura.
Hongzhong was sensitive to Tianhu's gaze and immediately looked back at him alertly. Tianhu quickly wagged his tail in a flattering manner and tilted his head to look at Hongzhong in a self-taught way. Hongzhong looked at him with disdain, turned his head away with disdain, walked slowly to the kang, and lay down next to Zhenzhen's shoes.
Zhenzhen used her bare feet to smooth Hongzhong's fur and looked at him with amusement: "Are you full? This doesn't seem like your appetite."
"That stupid dog is drooling on me. It really affects my appetite. I'm not going to eat anymore!" Hongzhong's usually silly and cute face actually revealed a hint of cold and arrogant look. He lay awkwardly under Zhenzhen's feet, pretending to not care about Tianhu.
"You're such a good pretender!" Zhenzhen stepped on Hongzhong. "How could you possibly hide that from me?" Hongzhong covered his face with his two front paws, pretending to be asleep and heard nothing.
Tianhu looked at Hongzhong cautiously, and saw that Hongzhong didn't care that he was getting closer and closer to the food bowl, so he boldly approached the food bowl, took a bite, and quickly looked up at Hongzhong. When he found that Hongzhong didn't get up to chase him, he felt relieved and started eating.
Hongzhong heard the swallowing sound, secretly raised his head to glance at Tianhu, and then lazily closed his eyes.
Mingnan and Mingbei didn't notice Hongzhong's weird thoughts. Mingnan kept teasing Mingbei and asked him if he had a crush on the girl. The cheeky Mingbei blushed for the first time, not because of anger, but because of shame!
Mingbei, who was caught by Mingnan, scratched his ears and cheeks and wanted to find an excuse to slip away, but he was afraid of being laughed at by Mingnan. Just then, he saw Tianhu licking the rice bowl again and again after eating the meat, and finally found an excuse to change the subject: "Let me tell you, this stupid dog is so stupid. He can't even catch a rabbit. He chases grasshoppers every day. Fourth uncle is almost mad at him to death. Hahaha!" After Mingbei finished speaking, he laughed a few times and then realized that Mingnan and Zhenzhen didn't even move their lips.
“Isn’t it funny?” Mingnan scratched his face awkwardly: “Third Uncle also said to change his name to Tianhu, saying that he would be smarter after the name was changed, but Silly Dog doesn’t recognize this name.”
Mingnan grabbed a handful of Galahas on the kang and threw them into the air, catching them one by one: "This dog is already four years old and will definitely not recognize it if you change its name. Not all dogs are as smart as our Hongzhong and know that they have a full name or nickname, right, Hongzhong?"
When Hongzhong heard Mingnan praising him, he stopped pretending to sleep and immediately raised his head and called out to Mingnan. He looked so proud as if he was afraid that others didn't know how smart he was.
Zhenzhen stepped on Hongzhong's head again and tried to communicate with Tianhu who was wandering around the house with a food bowl in his mouth, but she found that there was really not much in Tianhu's brain. Apart from thinking about eating and catching grasshoppers and butterflies, he didn't even have the consciousness to guard the house. He was as simple as Hongzhong when he was a few months old, and not even as smart as the braised chicken nuggets.
Zhen Zhen sighed in amazement: "This is what we call growing taller but not smarter. I always said this to my fourth brother before, but I really wronged him. Compared with Tian Hu, my fourth brother is far behind. Hong Zhong, Tian Hu is a dog from the same nest as you, do you want to teach him a lesson? He is your brother after all, right?"
Hongzhong opened his eyes and rolled his eyes disdainfully at Tianhu who was wagging his tail at him, as if he didn't want to pay attention to him. Zhenzhen nodded helplessly at Hongzhong's head: "You are just a dog. If you were a human, you would have been beaten to death eight hundred times just by the look in your eyes just now."
When Li Musen returned home at night, he really didn't take Tianhu with him. Li Muwu was worried about him drinking and walking at night, so he asked Hongzhong to take Li Musen home. Half an hour later, Hongzhong ran back, holding Tianhu's broken sleeping mat in his mouth, and threw it in the kitchen with disgust, and then dragged his thick mat next to Tianhu's mat.
Mingbei followed to the kitchen and was amazed after seeing this scene: "Don't think that our Hongzhong dislikes Tianhu, but he really takes care of him. After all, he is a brother from the same mother." Mingnan patted Mingbei's shoulder with a smirk on his face: "Brother also takes good care of you and even paid for you to watch a movie. Are you touched?"
Thinking about the big fat pig in the backyard, Mingbei felt heartbroken: "I always feel that my third brother doesn't have any good intentions."
Mingxi heard the whole story from Mingnan. Seeing that Mingbei could vaguely sense that something was wrong, he immediately gave him a thumbs up and praised him, "Being greedy can make people smart. If it weren't for eating, you would never have become so smart."
Although he couldn't figure out what it meant, Mingbei could still tell that he was stupid. He jumped onto Mingxi's back in a rage and shook his neck hard: "Who are you calling stupid? Who are you calling stupid?"
Mingxi had trained well in the past few years in the military academy, and he had no pressure at all carrying Mingbei on his back. He ran to the west room laughing, and threw Mingbei onto the kang with a shoulder throw.
Old Lady Li was in the east room, listening to her grandchildren making a scene in the west room. She had a loving smile on her face, but she was unforgiving: "They are all grown-up boys, but they are still so troublesome." She knocked on the pipe on the kang and added: "Stop making noises and go to bed!"
The people next door didn't hear Old Lady Li's shouting at all. Mingbei's occasional wailing and Mingnan's laughter were still heard. Zhenzhen smiled and helped Old Lady Li spread the kang: "I just like my fourth brother's silly look. He always succeeds in fooling people."
When it found out that Zhenzhen was going to sleep, the braised chicken nuggets that had been hiding since Tianhu came in finally came out with courage. It looked left and right but didn't see Li Mingzhong, so it walked to the side of Zhenzhen's footbath and called out softly twice: "Where is Li Mingzhong?"
Zhenzhen playfully threw some hot water on its head: "Don't look for him anymore. Li Mingzhong and his brother Tianhu are sleeping in the kitchen. You're a rooster, if you're bored, just go to the chicken coop outside to look for your hens. Why are you following Hongzhong all day long?"
The braised chicken shook off the water on its head. In a moment, the anger of having its companion taken away made it no longer afraid of the tall and strong Tianhu. The braised chicken stared with yellow eyes and angrily went out through the crack of the door. After a while, there was a sound of chickens and dogs flying around in the kitchen. It was not until the noise outside died down that Zhenzhen went out to take a look. Tianhu was lying in the corner with a wronged look on his face. The braised chicken stepped on Hongzhong's back and looked at Tianhu proudly. There were a few dog hairs in his mouth. He looked so proud that Zhenzhen wanted to hit him with a basin.
Zhenzhen slept until dawn. When she woke up, Mingbei had already washed his hair. He looked at himself in the only mirror in the house with his wet head.
Zhenzhen sat up hugging the quilt and yawned: "Why are you being so conceited so early in the morning? If someone knows you, they will think you are watching a movie, but if someone doesn't know you, they will think you are dating."
Ming Bei's ears turned red. He wiped his hair carelessly and said stubbornly, "I don't care about Third Brother. It's not easy for him to bleed after so many years. I have to wash his hair to show my respect."
Mingnan stood at the door with a pancake in his mouth and replied lazily: "Don't use me as an excuse. I had to urge you to wash your feet at night, but now you are clean. Who would believe it?"
Mingbei pretended not to hear anything at all. He even picked up a pair of big scissors and trimmed his hair himself. Then he walked out with a smug look on his face.
Zhen Zhen was shocked when she saw Ming Bei cut her hair to look like it was chewed by a dog. "Third brother, do you think my fourth brother is blind?"
Mingnan was silent for a moment: "I think it might be a little bit. Why don't we not go to the movie? I always feel that the girl Mingbei likes won't be very pretty."
Zhenzhen hesitated for a moment, but couldn't help but say something good on Mingbei's behalf: "Maybe this is the only time my fourth brother's eyesight works well."
In order to make up for the regret of not having meat for lunch, Mingbei got up in the morning and ate half a bowl of leftover venison from last night with a large pancake. After a burp, he quickly changed his cotton-padded jacket into a clean Zhongshan suit, which was given to him by Mingdong because it was too small. Although it was a little old, the material was good and it was very straight and had no patches.
Mingxi and Mingnan stared at him and laughed, but Mingbei didn't notice anything wrong. It was not until he was about to go out that he realized that no matter how smart he was wearing inside, he didn't look smart at all. With a big black fur coat and a fur hat on the outside, even the most energetic guy looked like an uncle from a distance.
Mingbei immediately lost his temper. Looking at the thick snow outside, he didn't want to go out anymore. "Why don't we wait until spring to watch a movie?"
"That's fine." Mingnan agreed immediately: "I can save money anyway." Mingnan sat on the kang and pulled Mingxi to say: "Several students in our class said they want to find a partner during this winter vacation."
Mingxi nodded along with the topic: "It's late to date in the third year of high school. I remember that there were many people dating when we were in the third year of junior high school, right Mingbei? Is there anyone in your class who said they were planning to get married during the winter vacation?"
Mingbei was stunned. The temperature in the room, which was nearly 30 degrees, had already made him sweat profusely. He silently put on the fur coat that he had just taken off halfway: "Well, Third Brother, why don't we go to the movies? Maybe we can see a new movie."
Mingnan and Mingxi looked at each other with sly smiles in their eyes: "That's right, come on, come on, I'll treat you to lunch at noon."
Mingxi himself had a high allowance in the army, and he also had food coupons for the entire province. He packed up his money and food coupons and followed to join in the fun: "Mingnan doesn't need to pay today. I'll treat you three. Spend as much as you want."
Mingbei immediately took out a large sled from the warehouse and put a cotton mat on the wooden board. After Zhenzhen sat on it, Mingxi and Mingnan pulled it out.
Now the snow was thick and compacted, Mingxi and Mingnan were pulling the sled very fast, Mingbei was thinking about something, he looked like he was wandering in space, and he would smile foolishly from time to time. It was because there were no cars in this era, if it was in the future, there would definitely be a traffic accident.
The four siblings came to the hydrolysis plant. When they passed by the family building where Yu Wanqiu lived, Mingbei hesitated and couldn't move forward. Zhenzhen used her consciousness to look around and happened to see Yu Wanqiu leading her brother not far ahead.
Mingbei saw that he was about to reach the back of Yu Wanqiu's house. He couldn't help but sit down under a tree root and wiped his forehead exaggeratedly: "Oh, I'm so tired. I have to sit down and rest my feet."
Mingnan couldn't help but kick the snow at him: "My second brother and I have been holding Zhenzhen all the way. You are not tired at all, hurry up and get up?"
"I really can't walk anymore, Third Brother." Mingbei sat on the ground and smacked his lips: "I'm a little thirsty, how about going to someone's house to get a bowl of water."
Zhenzhen silently handed over her water bottle: "This is the honey water that my grandmother gave me. How about you drink some?"
"I don't like drinking that stuff, it's too sweet." Mingbei lied with his eyes open, completely forgetting that he had been chasing after Old Lady Li to ask for honey water to drink all day.
Mingxi looked at him with disdain: "Why are you being so pretentious? Didn't you eat snow when you were thirsty before?" He looked around and found a clean place where no one had touched it: "There's clean snow over there, go and have a bite."
"It's too cold, my teeth are freezing." Mingbei looked reluctant and couldn't help but glance up at the building next door. Unfortunately, the windows were closed tightly and there seemed to be plastic sheeting nailed inside. It was all gray and he couldn't see anything.
"Why didn't you feel your teeth cracking when you ate the frozen pear last night?" Zhen Zhen said to him unhappily. Seeing Yu Wanqiu walking further and further away, she couldn't help but remind him, "Brother, I just saw Sister Wanqiu walking by. Why don't we ask her where we can get some water?"
Mingbei jumped up from the ground, not caring about the snow on his butt, and stretched his neck to look forward: "Where is it? Why can't I see it?"
Zhenzhen pointed forward with an innocent look on her face: "It's been a long time, and I saw that your feet hurt, so I didn't tell you."
Mingnan and Mingxi burst into laughter. Mingbei didn't care about anything else and kept chasing after them: "Hurry up and don't delay anything. The movie will start soon."
Mingxi looked at Mingbei's extremely nimble legs and feet and couldn't help but tease him: "Oh, you're not tired now, you recover really quickly."
Mingnan squinted his eyes and smiled at Mingbei: "I think our fourth child is not tired in the legs, but in the heart."
Mingxi nodded repeatedly: "That's right, I've thought about a lot even though I'm still young. I've been thinking about finding a partner before I even graduated from junior high school."
Seeing Mingbei almost disappearing step by step, while Mingnan and Mingxi were still pulling the sled forward slowly, Zhenzhen rolled a snowball and threw it on Mingxi's legs: "Second brother, why aren't you anxious? I remember that my eldest brother had a big belly when he was your age, but how come you don't even have a partner?"
Mingxi's face changed, and he turned around with a wry smile: "In the military school I attend, dating is not allowed."
"It's okay. I told grandma to keep an eye on you. I guarantee you'll find a wife as soon as you graduate." Zhenzhen looked at Mingnan who was laughing loudly, and added slowly, "Third brother, don't laugh at second brother. You graduated earlier than him. Next summer, grandma will bring a girl home for you."
Mingnan stopped laughing with a "cackle" sound, like an old hen being strangled by the neck. His face was red and embarrassed, and he didn't know what to say. Mingxi smiled and patted Mingnan's shoulder, and knocked on Zhenzhen's thick hat on his head: "Little girl, are you venting your anger for your fourth brother?"
"That's not the case." Zhen Zhen wrinkled her nose. "It's mainly because you two walked too slowly. I was worried when I couldn't see Fourth Brother trying to curry favor with Sister Yu."
Mingbei walked for a kilometer or two in long and short steps before he saw Yu Wanqiu in the distance. He did not care that the snow was deep and difficult to walk, and he finally caught up with Yu Wanqiu and her brother by jumping and hopping, and called her breathlessly.
Yu Wanqiu turned around in surprise, and smiled slightly when he saw Mingbei: "What a coincidence, how come you come to the hydrolysis plant in such a heavy snow?"
Mingbei wiped the sweat off his nose with his hand, turned around and pointed with a silly smile: "My second and third brothers came back and wanted to watch a movie, so I followed them." He saw that Yu Wanqiu's ears were starting to turn red again, and asked boldly: "Where are you going?"
"We went to the movies, too. My dad gave us a few extra tickets at the end of the year, and my brother was bored at home so he insisted on going to the movies." Yu Wanqiu smiled and pulled his brother forward, "It's just that there haven't been any new movies recently, so they're all the ones we've seen before, and I feel a little bored."
"That's right." Mingbei laughed innocently and pointed to the empty back: "I was watching with my brother and sister as well."
Yu Wanqiu looked back and didn't see Zhenzhen. She asked curiously, "Where is Mingzhen? Why can't I see her?"
Mingbei looked back belatedly and found that Mingxi and the other two had not caught up. He rubbed his nose and his face almost froze with laughter: "My second and third brothers were pulling my sister's sled, so I was running to buy the tickets first."
Yu Wanqiu nodded and continued walking forward with her brother. Mingbei followed her closely. He wanted to speak but didn't know what to say. He could only look at Yu Wanqiu's back and smile foolishly.
Mingnan and Mingxi dragged Zhenzhen along and chased after him. They almost reached the cinema before they saw Mingbei. Mingxi pulled Mingnan and winked: "Don't worry, give Mingbei a chance to perform."
Zhenzhen couldn't see Mingbei's expression from a distance, so she used her consciousness to see. Mingbei looked at the words "20 cents a ticket" at the ticket window and was a little dumbfounded. The blush on his ears instantly faded and turned white. "The price of movie tickets has increased?"
"Yeah." Yu Wanqiu nodded. "There are so many people outside watching the movie that some employees have complained. So the price has been raised to 20 cents a ticket."
Mingbei originally wanted to wait for Mingxi to come over to buy tickets, but he just said in front of Yu Wanqiu that he ran to the front to buy tickets. Seeing that Yu Wanqiu wanted Zhenzhen to go in first and refused to go in first, he could only pretend to be rich. He took out a handful of change from his pocket with a painful look on his face. After counting for a long time, he counted out 80 cents. He trembled and handed the money to the ticket office, his face twitching with heartache: "Buy four movie tickets."
The man inside quickly took the money, counted it, and threw out four bills. Mingbei put the remaining five cents in his pocket, holding the bills and put on his glove again.
Mingxi had good eyesight from shooting practice in the army. Although he couldn't see Mingbei's expression clearly because of the distance, he could guess something from Mingbei's actions. Pulling the rope in his hand, Mingxi smiled with his eyes curved: "Let's go to the movies."
After waiting for two or three minutes, Mingxi and the other two came over. Zhenzhen jumped off the sled and took Yu Wanqiu's arm: "Sister Wanqiu, it's been a long time since we last met. You've become more and more beautiful."
"You're such a smooth talker." Yu Wanqiu pinched Zhenzhen's chubby little face and handed the ticket in her hand to the ticket inspector. Mingbei hurriedly followed.
Zhenzhen didn't like to go to the front when watching a movie, firstly because she found it dizzy and secondly because she felt it was quieter in the back. Yu Wanqiu and Zhenzhen had watched movies several times before and were familiar with her preferences, so he took her hand and sat in the last row.
Mingbei watched helplessly as Yu Wanqiu's seats were taken by Zhenzhen and the boy from the Yu family, so he had to settle for the next best thing and sit next to Zhenzhen.
Mingxi put the sled under his feet. Before he sat down, Mingbei reached out his hand stealthily and whispered in a low voice: "Brother, give me the money for the movie ticket, 80 cents."
Mingxi smiled and slapped his hand away: "You've already bought the tickets, so why are you asking me for money?"
Mingbei was immediately anxious, but he didn't dare to speak loudly, so he could only turn sideways and wink at Mingxi: "Well, didn't you say it was your treat?"
"Yeah!" Mingxi pretended to be stupid and looked at him: "Then who asked you to buy the ticket?"
Mingbei was never good at talking. He thought about how all the money he had saved from selling scrap newspapers for half a year was gone. His eyes were red with pain. But thinking about Yu Wanqiu sitting behind him, Mingbei didn't dare to say anything. He could only look at Mingxi angrily: "Why don't you keep your word?"
Seeing that Mingbei was serious, Mingxi quickly smiled and took out a handful of money from his pocket and stuffed it into his hand: "Here, here, don't spill cat urine, the girl is watching."
With his back to Mingqiu, Mingbei counted the money in his hand and found that Mingxi actually gave him 98 cents. He immediately put it in his pocket and grinned: "Next time I will run to the front to buy you a ticket."
Mingxi smiled and rubbed Mingbei's head: "What a silly boy!"
The author has something to say: On March 1st, I will strive to update 6,000 words a day this month, muah~~
There is still half an hour until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month, so this chapter will give out eighty red envelopes. The top five will definitely get one, and the rest will be random. The longer ones will have a better chance. I'll tell you a secret, actually when I give out red envelopes I usually give out a lot more, so feel free to leave comments~~~