Reborn in a small village in the 1990s

Chapter 202

Zhao Tiegang did drink a lot; after downing a pound of strong liquor, his eyes were glazed over.

After drinking, Zhao Tiegang didn't need Zhao Da'e to persuade him; he went to the old house and talked to Zhao Tingxu about it himself.

Seeing his youngest son in such a miserable state, Zhao Tingxu naturally did not refuse.

Therefore, it was decided that Zhao Da'e would use the front yard of the old house.

After finishing the mutton soup, Zhao Da'e turned around and soaked the remaining bones and broth in cornmeal. Then he took some hot water to the backyard to feed the dog.

The two dogs were quite well-behaved, lying in their newly built doghouse in the back, sleeping soundly. Even when Zhao Da'e squatted down right in front of them, they didn't react at all.

Xiao Bao opened its eyes but didn't move, just staring at Zhao Da'e. Perhaps it was too cold for it to move.

Zhao Da'e patted Xiao Bao's body: "Get up and eat, and take good care of the house."

Then the food was placed in a stone trough that had been prepared in advance, and the water was placed in another trough.

Xiao Bao wagged its tail excitedly and jumped up to put its front paws on Zhao the goose.

The dog was actually quite tall; when it stood up, it was almost taller than Zhao Da'e, and its paws were right on Zhao Da'e's shoulders. Zhao Da'e wasn't angry, played with it for two minutes, and then turned and left.

Before it got dark, Zhao Da'e went to Zhao Tingming's house again.

In the entire Dongtaizi Village, Zhao Tingming is considered a very knowledgeable person. If you have any questions, just ask him.

When Zhao Da'e arrived, Zhao Tingming was in the yard frying gunpowder.

Yes, Zhao Da'e wasn't mistaken. Zhao Tingming did indeed have most of a bag of nitrate urea and was cooking it over there...

Zhao Da'e had no idea exactly how this stuff turned into gunpowder, or what was added in between.

Anyway, gunpowder was quite common in that era. There were also many modern guns and cannons. These weren't exactly contraband.

After all, ten years or so ago, there were militias. Every village had them, and the militiamen were armed. It was very common.

This isn't because it was forbidden, as many later novels portray it. Rather, for a long period, these things existed, and in large quantities.

It wasn't until the 1990s that this thing disappeared from the historical stage.

However, there are still many gunpowder detonators.

Moreover, this thing is easy to make.

Zhao Tingming had attended university and had served as village chief for many years. A basic skill for militia members used to be making gunpowder, so Zhao Tingming knew how to do it too.

"What are you doing, grandpa? Are you planning to take some gunpowder up the mountain to pelt rocks?"

The mountain south of Dongtaizi Village is a rocky mountain.

Of course, there are also trees on the mountaintop. Most are pine, elm, locust, and cottonwood.

The only wild animals are pheasants, rabbits, and some wild leopards (large felines), foxes, dogs, squirrels... and occasionally a few wolves from other mountains.

I heard there used to be a few tigers, but they're long gone.

The saying goes, "Those who live near the mountain live off the mountain," but there's nothing in this mountain. All we can use are some stones.

There's also a quarry on the mountain, and it's quite large. They used stones from here for a large project before, but it was later abandoned.

When villagers build houses, they use the stones from above to build the walls. However, most of them need to be blasted with gunpowder, otherwise, it's impossible to remove them in whole pieces.

So Zhao Da'e assumed that Zhao Tingming wanted to use gunpowder to make some stones to build walls or something.

Zhao Tingming laughed heartily: "I'll set off a few firecrackers myself."

A double-bang firecracker is much more difficult than blasting rocks. It requires explosives and black powder. First, black powder, then explosives. And the fuse needs to be made properly; otherwise, it's easy for the fuse to explode.

"Oh, Grandpa, when you're done, give me some. I'll go fry some fish another day," Zhao Da'e said shamelessly.

“Where are the fish in our Hetao region? In those small ditches, you’re lucky if you catch a few shrimp. Exploding fish would be a waste of firecrackers,” Zhao Tingming said with a smile. “I’ll give you twenty or thirty later.”

"I'm going to my grandma's house to fry fish," Zhao Da'e chuckled.

Zhao Da'e's maternal grandmother's house is located over by the river, with the Daling River right in front of the village.

The Daling River is the largest river in western Liaoning. The ancient Hongshan Culture originated here.

It is said...

During the Three Kingdoms period, after Prime Minister Cao Cao defeated the Wuhuan in the east, he wrote a poem: "Looking east to Jieshi, there are remaining poems." This refers to climbing Bailang Mountain and looking at the waters of the Daling River.

Of course, this has been quite controversial in later generations.

However, the water of the Daling River in this era was exceptionally deep. There were few traces of human pollution and destruction, and the river teemed with fish.

Zhao Da'e really wanted to go there and fry some fish, and in this era, frying fish with firecrackers was a very common thing.

"You'd better take it easy. That kind of thing isn't something a little girl like you should be playing with."

Zhao Tingming shook his head. He thought Zhao Da'e shouldn't go to the Daling River to fish with explosives. What if he didn't catch any fish and got swept away by the water?

He can't afford to take that responsibility.

Moreover, the firecrackers Zhao Tingming was preparing didn't use much gunpowder. They were low-powder firecrackers—they would make a sound, but their power wouldn't be great.

Even if you hold it in your hand to set off firecrackers, it won't cause much of a problem.

Frying fish is unlikely to be effective.

Zhao Da'e chatted with Zhao Tingming for a while longer. Soon after, Guo came out and said to Zhao Da'e with a smile, "Da'e is here. I've been thinking about you these past few days."

"Hehehe, I miss my great-grandmother too."

"You have such a sweet tongue. You're so clever for your age, you always have something to say when you come here. What's up this time?" Guo asked.

"Nothing important, I'm just thinking about how my great-grandfather is incredibly powerful, even more so than Sun Wukong from Journey to the West. He can go to heaven and earth..." Zhao Da'e started bragging.

Zhao Tingming waved his hand: "Alright, alright, Big Goose. I can't resist your praise. Tell me, what good thing is it that you're thinking of me?"

"No good news, just a bunch of messy things."

"That's true." Zhao Tingming didn't stand on ceremony. After all, Zhao Da'e's family had plenty of troubles; they were enough to put on a grand show. They didn't even need to hire anyone else.

"What's wrong? Your grandparents are fighting with you again?"

"No, not at all." Zhao Da'e chuckled. "But we can't do it every day. If we fight every day, wouldn't we have to carry a few people out of my house before the New Year? It's freezing cold, everyone's busy, and digging pits behind the mountain is quite a chore."

Zhao Da'e's statement was just a joke, because the Zhao family's ancestral graves are located behind a mountain, where the feng shui is quite good. At least for generations, no one has become wealthy... they've remained stably poor.

The Zhao family migrated from Northeast China, with one branch remaining south of the Daling River. They eventually made their way north. As for their ancestral home, Zhao Da'e was supposedly the second house on the third street behind the Confucius Temple in Shandong.

However, things have changed long ago.

Behind the mountain is where the deceased are buried. Burial is the usual practice.

People often joke about digging a hole to bury the mountain behind it. But it's cold in winter, and digging a hole is especially difficult.

"Nonsense." Zhao Tingming shook his head. After finishing the pot of gunpowder, he tidied up and went inside.

Then, he took a small teapot and brewed a pot of black tea. The tea leaves were of poor quality, but it was still quite refreshing to drink on a cold day.

Zhao Da'e took a sip and felt warm all over.

The house was still the same, but it seemed the old couple had tidied it up a bit for their son's return and pasted newspapers back on. It looked quite fresh.

Zhao Tingming took some candied hawthorns out of the cupboard. Zhao Da'e popped one into his mouth. They were as sweet as ever.

Guo also took out a few large apples: "These were picked from the half-burnt distillery area back in the fall. Your fifth aunt and her husband brought them over a few days ago. Have a taste."

The apples are sweet and crisp.

Zhao Da'e didn't stand on ceremony: "Do you have any more? Sell me some another day."

"I'll give you a little more."

"I'm so embarrassed," Zhao Da'e said with a smile.

She wasn't embarrassed at all; when visiting relatives, you just take things wherever you go. Why not take them if they're already treating you to a meal? She figured she might as well take as much as she could.

As for my own family, it's fine. My family is poor and has nothing.

Moreover, the local customs and traditions were particularly good at this time. People had gone from having five or six children in a family to having only one or two.

Moreover, the policies on reducing birth rates and promoting healthy births are particularly effective here. Therefore, there are fewer children at this time.

If there are fewer children, relatives and friends will treat them better.

More importantly, fruits like melons, pears, and peaches are worthless in the countryside.

"Big Goose, what's on your mind? Don't keep things to yourself," Zhao Tingming asked while sipping his tea.

Zhao Tingming had been the village chief for decades, and his every word and action carried a certain air of authority. When Zhao Tingming asked him this question, Zhao Da'e was too embarrassed to say anything else.

"Grandpa, I'm thinking of getting a few shredders so we can grind grain in the village."

“This…you can’t do it,” Zhao Tingming said, shaking his head.

Guo also said, "You can barely lift twenty pounds. What's the point of getting that? Besides, where would you even put it?"

Zhao Da'e shook his head: "I'm not doing any work. I've arranged for my dad and my third uncle to do the work."

Zhao Tingming thought for a moment: "Tiesheng is good at working. Your third uncle gets drunk three times a day, eight o'clock each time. Do you expect him to work? If he gets hurt, you'll be in big trouble."

Zhao Tiegang was notorious for his drinking; he was always drunk.

Zhao Tingming deeply resented Zhao Tiegang, but the problem was that Zhao Tiegang wasn't his son. If he were, Zhao Tingming would have killed him long ago.

What kind of family does that drink like this every day?

The problem is, how old are you? Only twenty-five or twenty-six, and you're drinking like crazy? When will this end?

Unfortunately, there's nothing we can do about it.

However, Zhao Tingming thought it was too unreliable to let Zhao Tiegang do the work. If he were to work, he'd need eight accident insurance policies; given Zhao Tiegang's constant drunkenness, something terrible might happen. Zhao Tingming was also worried about Zhao Tiegang's safety. First, he was his own nephew, and as his uncle, Zhao Tingming naturally didn't want Zhao Tiegang to die young because of work. Second, Zhao Tingming feared that if something happened to Zhao Tiegang, the Zhao family would definitely try to extort money from Zhao Da'e.

"It's nothing," Zhao Da'e said indifferently.

Zhao Da'e knew that his third uncle was a heavy drinker, but in his previous life, Zhao Tiegang had never gotten into trouble because of drinking.

They're ridiculously lucky.

In fact, he was healthier than his two older brothers.

Of course, it's also possible that Zhao Tiegang just drank too much and went to sleep, without any worries. Living a life of debauchery and not working, it's normal that his health is slightly better. After all, when he's drunk, no one asks him to work.

The fact that he didn't engage in strenuous physical labor or overwork himself may also be the reason why Zhao Tiegang lived so long.

But no matter what, the important thing is that Zhao Tiegang has never had any problems drinking. It's impossible that he had no problems in his past life, but in this life, his third uncle gets into trouble while doing some work for him.

If something goes wrong, at worst Zhao Da'e will have to support his little brother Zhao Yongbo from now on. Otherwise, why doesn't Zhao Tiegang really care about his son...?

“How much trouble can my third uncle get into? I’ll tell him in advance to drink after he finishes his work. I’ll only let him drink four ounces at a time.”

Hmm, four ounces is probably enough to make most people drunk.

But for Zhao Tiegang, known in the martial arts world as the "Wine Immortal," that wasn't even a slight buzz.

"Not really." Zhao Tingming shook his head again: "This is unreliable. Da'e, it's better to let your father do some work himself. And there might not even be much work to do."

"Okay, I got it. We'll see. Besides, my third uncle listens to my dad quite a bit," Zhao Da'e said.

Zhao Da'e was right about that.

Aside from Zhao Da'e, who became an exception, the Zhao family was still relatively "filial." People from the so-called Confucian and Mencian homeland who ventured to Northeast China generally possessed a certain sense of propriety, integrity, and the rules of a scholarly family.

They often spout the idea that a subject must die if the ruler commands it, and a son must die if the father commands it. Although times have changed and most people no longer adhere to this principle, the Zhao family still retains some of these traditions.

Otherwise, Zhao Tingxu wouldn't say things like "You've gone too far!" when he gets angry so easily...

So, although Zhao Da'e couldn't control Zhao Tiegang, he felt his father, Zhao Tiesheng, could. Anyway, if Zhao Tiesheng got drunk, he could just do the work himself.

After all, Zhao Da'e doesn't plan to do any work, so the rest doesn't matter.

Zhao Tiegang is too drunk to work. So Zhao Tiesheng will have to do the work. Zhao Tiesheng will definitely be able to control Zhao Tiegang and prevent him from getting drunk every day.

"Think about it some more." Zhao Tingming sipped his tea, picked up a pipe, and rolled one. After finishing, he smoked it.

I lit it with a match and took a deep drag.

"You didn't call me here to persuade your third uncle to stop drinking. What else could you not handle? Your yard is big, and the front is long too. Building one in the front would be perfect. There aren't any crushers around here, not even in several villages. There used to be a place in the township that had a crusher. But it went out of business... I don't know why. I guess the profit margin isn't high. You'd better think this through, Da'e."

"There used to be places in our village that grind grain?" Zhao Da'e was taken aback.

She really didn't know about this.

Although he had been reborn, it was clear that the existence of a shredder in the village was beyond Zhao Da'e's age limit. It was probably something from the 1960s or 70s.

"Yes. It's in that alley west of the repair shop. It's been closed for many years. It used to be a government-owned business, specializing in grinding grain for the government. But the government stopped doing it, so it went out of business. I don't know the specifics. They were going to contract it out to an individual, but nobody wanted that stuff. The location isn't great, it's a bit out of the way. The service was also bad, so maybe nobody went there anymore, so it went out of business."