Chapter 188 Picking a Dog
The next day, on the twelfth day of the tenth lunar month, there was a market meeting in Fenglei Town.
After dinner at dawn, the whole family went down the mountain.
Wang Qingzhong’s pack horse had been working for several days and injured its hoof. It looked fine yesterday, but after one night, it was limping.
So today I let the little white cow carry the things, and Wang Zhenzhen led him down the mountain.
And Chen Ling is still carrying Wang Susu on his back.
The whole family was talking and laughing. After leaving the village and walking onto the plank road, Wang Zhenzhen suddenly pointed at the cavalry in front and shouted: "Dad, look, they have kites."
"Eh?"
Wang Cunye stood on tiptoe and looked around, and sure enough he saw an old man and a young man at the back of the packhorse team ahead, walking with two long poles on their shoulders, and the two On top of the long poles stood a kite, looking towards them with defiant eyes.
Seeing this scene, Wang Cunye immediately glared at his little daughter: "Don't yell, that's a Harrier. Be careful and I will take you away soon."
When Wang Zhenzhen heard this, his face turned pale with fright, and he held the cow and did not dare to say a word.
"Dad, who is this Harrier? Is it difficult to mess with?"
Chen Ling suddenly became very curious and asked in a low voice.
Since his father was a postman in two towns here, there were not many things that he had never heard of since he was a child, but this was the first time that Harrier heard about it.
“Well, it’s not that it’s hard to mess with, it’s that there are all kinds of people in this group of people...”
Wang Cunye sighed and began to speak softly.
This kite guest is also called kite guest.
In fact, they also belong to the Jianghu people who travel all over the country.
They eat food from hundreds of families, travel thousands of miles, and call themselves home all over the world. There are all kinds of people among them.
In the past, when kites came to the village, the children were the happiest.
Because the kite guest is equivalent to an acrobat.
The kites trained by them have various abilities. With a command, the kites on the kites fly out and perform various magical abilities.
Children are often fascinated and easily coaxed away.
Because kites often do this kind of thing of abducting women and children, over time, the reputation will naturally become bad, and even the rumors become more and more bizarre, saying that these kites dare to kill people.
To the point where people now stay away from any village or stockade they visit, close their doors, and will not respond when they come to ask for water, and sometimes they are even kicked out of the village.
Fenglei Town is at the junction of three provinces, and kite travelers often pass by here.
They also do business and do small business.
The purpose of training kites is to attract people. It is like a loudspeaker that shouts at people. It attracts people to them so that they can do business.
The second is for warning, or when business is not doing well, you can fly kites into the mountains to hunt birds and small animals, and you can simply make ends meet.
“Really, can you recognize that it’s a kite?”
Wang Qingzhong asked with a smile when he saw that his little sister was afraid to speak.
Actually, many of the things said about Kite Guests are exaggerated. They are meant to scare people, specifically to scare little babies, but there is no way. It is very chaotic outside these days, and adults should still warn them.
Otherwise something happens and there is no place to regret it.
“Yes, there is a kite living outside my sister’s yard. I heard that it was injured with a gun before and fell into the yard in the middle of the night. My brother-in-law rescued it and it didn’t appreciate it. Even if we give it something to eat, it will ignore it. When we are outside, it hides far away. When no one is around, it always makes a fuss outside the yard. It fights with the magpie every two days, and it even steals the magpie's food. Nest..."
When Wang Zhenzhen was a child, she often heard adults talk about how ferocious and savage the kites were, and she was really scared.
After hearing the second brother's question, his expression improved and he slowly became lively again.
The two little nephews also gradually became fascinated.
“Good guy, this kite is really powerful.”
Wang Qingzhong smiled, turned to Chen Ling and said, “Why don’t you hook it up? After training it, let’s plant some in the field. What, I can chase birds, and I can also look after my house.”
“No.”
Chen Ling shook his head: "That kite was almost shot to death. He is very afraid of people. He was so frightened when he saw the little baby holding a slingshot that he couldn't seduce him at all."
He also tried to hook up when he was bored at home. , but the effect is not ideal.
The kite has become a frightened bird.
Even if you help it become wiser and make it possess a high degree of wisdom, it will still take a certain amount of time to change.
Once bitten by a snake, you will be afraid of well ropes for ten years.
Everyone is like this, let alone a kite. The damage caused by a shotgun can be remembered for a lifetime.
It is actually quite difficult to be able to make a difference to Chen Ling, the savior, and to settle down near home.
My father-in-law Wang Cunye also agreed: "Eagles and kites often fly in the sky. They know how high the sky is and how big the earth is, and they easily disobey others. It is not easy to train them well. It’s better to raise two more dogs to save worry and trouble..."
In addition to going to the market to sell medicinal materials this time, he just wanted Chen Ling to help him pick one or two puppies to bring to the mountain to raise.
From now on, the youngest daughter will go to school in the county town and will not be able to come back often. The two grandsons will soon attend the Yuhong class and go to elementary school. The old couple thought about being bored at home, so they started to think about it.
In addition, seeing Hei Wa and Xiao Jin's spirituality in the past two days also made them jealous. This was also one aspect.
Joking all the way down the mountain.
After getting off the Luotuo Cliff Plank Road, we walked through a mountain road, passed through the village at Dacangyukou, and then crossed the Xihegou. The ancestral hall in Fenglei Town came into view.
It is now just after eight o'clock, and the stalls in the town have already been set up. As for the medicinal shop, there is even a long queue.
The mountain people in the villages below Fenglei Town have many medicinal farmers. Even if they grow food and tea, the economic benefits of the mountainous area are just that. Sometimes the food produced is not enough to feed the whole family.
After farming, he collected herbs and hunted to keep his stomach full.
"Susu and Xinping, I and I are queuing up here. You can go and do what you are supposed to do."
Gao Xiulan helped take the medicinal materials from the calf and was very cheerful to a few people. The way.
Although my son-in-law is very good now, after all, when he comes home for the first time after marriage, he still has to entertain him, and he can't have people waiting in line with them here.
“Okay, mother, sister-in-law, let’s go for a walk first.”
Chen Ling smiled and nodded.
Then he continued to ask his wife if she felt any discomfort after going down the mountain. Wang Susu was pregnant and had just eaten. It was also cold in the mountains in the early winter morning, so even if she was carrying her down the mountain, she would inevitably inhale the cold air. Chen Ling was worried that she would have adverse reactions.
When Wang Susu said there were no adverse reactions, he left with his father-in-law and his second uncle.
"Hey, you really know how to hurt people."
Gao Xiulan murmured softly, thinking that I haven't cared about my daughter yet, and my son-in-law asked more detailed questions than her mother.
Then he said to his youngest daughter and two grandsons: "Don't run around and be honest, otherwise you won't be able to buy anything for a while..."
The three of them were jumping around next to them. The little guy running around and jumping around suddenly looked like three little rabbits.
...Chen Ling and the others were turning around, walking in front of them. The packhorse caravan with the kite passengers went straight to the dock. They first went to the town middle school to find Wang Qingwen, but two Kouzi just had breakfast and had to go to a meeting.
Today is Saturday, but there are leaders coming over, and the main teacher cannot leave easily.
So they had no choice but to come out of the town middle school and continue walking to Luoma City in the east of Fenglei Town.
The large market in Fenglei Town is also in the shape of a "well". In terms of scale, it is smaller than that of Changle Township, but the flow of people is not large at all, or even more dense. The stalls are close to the old Ming and Qing buildings, with various The door panels were propped up, and various things were placed. They were densely crowded on both sides of the main street. There were also many people from other provinces who traveled across the mountains and ridges to attend the market.
Chen Ling even saw several groups of people wearing Miao costumes. They came from the Miao village in Linzhou, but they were the "Northern Miao" north of the Yangtze River, a branch that migrated during the war. , has now become a small mountainous county in Linzhou.
“It is common to cross provinces in the slack farming season. Many of us here move around like this, go to the market, and do some business, medicinal materials and grains. In many cases, we have to climb two mountains and sell them to the next province. Make a big fortune..."
Seeing his brother-in-law staring at the Miao people over there, Wang Qingzhong said, "Your second sister-in-law and I often ran to the Miao village with others some time ago. At that time, the prices were good and we could earn a lot. Each time we went back and forth, it would take six or seven days. We didn’t sleep much and didn’t feel tired on the way, because we were able to make money and we were full of energy.”
“ But it’s not possible now. Everyone knows the price, so there’s nothing we can do.”
This is what the second uncle said about the regional price difference in grain. You can make a lot of money when you don't know the other party's information in time, but the longer the time, the harder it becomes.
"Second brother, listen to what you say, are the prices of food high there?"
Chen Ling asked.
"It's not high, it's low. They suffer less disasters and are much cheaper than us. They collect grain from there and sell it to us."
Wang Qingzhong shook his head and explained: " The road here is the most difficult, the transportation is not good, the people are poor and food is expensive..."
"It's okay now, it's dropped a lot, but we, the grain resellers, don't have much profit to make."
"Food prices will be even lower in the coming year, especially peanuts and soybeans. This year Two or three yuan, there will definitely be more people planting next year, and the price will be unbearable then.”
At this point, he smiled at Chen Ling: “But it’s about oil extraction, you think. Just grow enough for your own consumption.”
Obviously, he was afraid that Chen Ling would think that he would make a lot of money selling peanuts and soybeans this year and would expand planting next year, so he reminded him not to be thankless.
Chen Ling responded without saying much.
Wang Cunye listened to his son and son-in-law talking behind him and did not interrupt. He just happily walked around the market with Heiwa and Xiaojin.
After the two of them finished speaking, they said to Chen Ling: "This dog is really good, so smart. If there is a yellow tiger head later, Ling Zi, please help me pick it out. These two God will teach me how to train."
Chen Ling responded, and the three of them soon arrived at Luoma City.
The mule and horse market here in Fenglei Town is just an open space at the foot of the mountain. At the beginning of the entrance are some people selling poultry and dogs. Going further inside, there are people selling pack horses, donkeys, mules, pigs and sheep. Yes, as for cattle, they are rare here.
Listening to the noisy voices of people and the screams of various poultry and livestock, the three of them found a nearby dog seller and surrounded them with a large bamboo cage with five or six puppies inside. , pure black, pure yellow, iron-coated gold.
"Brother, do you have a tiger head? It doesn't look like it."
Wang Cunye asked the old man selling the dog.
"It's tiger-headed yellow. You don't look like it. He's still young. He's just full term. It'll be fine if it grows longer..."
The old man raised his head and smiled, then lowered his head and pulled. He touched the puppy twice and stuffed a dirty thick cloth mat into the bamboo cage. It was cold down the mountain in the early morning, and he was afraid of freezing the dog.
“What do you think of this dog?”
Wang Cunye turned around and asked Chen Ling.
Chen Ling knelt down and looked carefully. These puppies, which were just one month old, were plump and cute. He couldn't tell whether they were purebred tiger-headed yellow ones.
But there are many ways to pick a good dog, so he squatted down and barked, "Tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk, tsk". After all, only one ran up to him and was jumping around, while the other just looked at him and wagged its tail gently, not moving.
"Young man, these two big dogs you have here are very handsome. Do you also like to play with dogs?"
The old man selling the dog looked at Chen Ling and walked towards him to join him. The two dogs looked at the puppy and laughed.
"Yes, I like dogs, come and take a look."
Chen Ling responded casually. Indeed, some people who like to play with dogs come to take a look at every fair even if they don't buy.
There are many people like this. Some of them have raised good dogs. They take the dogs to the market to show off and let others bid for them without selling them. It is just to satisfy their vanity. Some people are worried about missing a good dog, so they go to markets everywhere to find the best hound seeds in their minds.
Then Chen Ling stood up and pointed at the lively puppy, indicating to his father-in-law that it was a good dog and had a lovable personality.
So Wang Cunye squatted down and tried barking at the puppy twice. Sure enough, the puppy had a good character, wagging its tail constantly and licking the palm of his hand.
He was very happy and was about to ask the price.
At this time, another middle-aged man came over. He was thin and carrying a bamboo basket. He glanced at the puppy in front of Wang Cunye for a few times, then changed his gaze and squatted in front of the bamboo cage. , grabbed every puppy and looked at them.
Then he picked the yellow puppy that Chen Ling called just now but didn't come forward. Then he put down the bamboo basket on his back, took out a blue cotton coat from the bamboo basket and let Xiao Huang The dog sniffed and saw that the little yellow dog had no special reaction, so he put the little yellow dog back again, got up and left.
Don’t say a word the whole time.
This special method of picking dogs made Chen Ling very curious.
"He is from Liangkou Village. He likes to play with dogs. He comes every time he goes to the market to pick out snakes and dogs..."
When Wang Cunye saw this man, he immediately became happy: "Let's go and follow him around first to see how he chooses."
My father-in-law doesn't know how to pick a dog, but he has collected medicines for many years and is familiar with all kinds of medicinal materials. He can prepare snake-attracting medicine and sprinkle it on You can lure snakes out, but some people can't. In order to catch snakes and sell them for money, such people will find ways to train a hunting dog that specializes in looking for snakes. This kind of dog is called a snake dog.
Chen Ling was also very interested, and the three of them followed the man to see how he picked the dog.
This man obviously knew Wang Cunye, but not very well, so he simply nodded to him and allowed them to follow.
"Brother, don't you want a male dog?"
Chen Ling saw that he specifically picked out a female dog, so he handed her a cigarette and asked.
The man shook his head gently, "No."
He glanced at Chen Ling, and then at the two dogs beside Chen Ling. He was stunned for a moment, and then took it and handed it to him. He smoked and explained: "Male dogs are not as stable as female dogs, and they are not as good at catching snakes as female dogs."
Then he squatted in front of another dog seller, took out the puppy, and carefully looked at the beard, nose, paws, toes, and tail.
Chen Ling found that he didn't care about the color of the coat, whether it was a yellow tiger head or an ordinary native dog, he only chose according to his own method.
On the other hand, Wang Cunye has always been looking for tiger-head yellow, and this dog seller happens to be the same. The three puppies here have a very tiger-head yellow look, two are yellow and one is black, and they are all broad-headed. The ears are very square, the mouth is also very generous, plush and fleshy, like three little bear cubs.
"Purebred tiger-headed yellow, no, even the bitches are carrying them, they are definitely not fooling people."
Seeing that there were so many of them, four people suddenly gathered around, the dog seller He introduced it enthusiastically.
After saying that, he took out the three puppies, then led the tiger-headed yellow female dog lying beside him, and made it stand up. The three puppies immediately ran to the female dog and began to whine and act like a baby.
Chen Ling found that the female dog was very thin, with heavy milk, and the hair on its back was very sparse and messy. It looked very thin and old.
But what makes it different from other dogs is that when it saw Heiwa and Xiaojin, it showed no signs of flattery or fear. There was only peace and composure in its eyes.
After Chen Ling observed this, he felt that the three puppies were not much different.
At this time, the man from Liangkou Village also picked a little female dog, caught it, and let the puppy smell his cotton coat. As a result, the puppy's reaction still did not let him. satisfy.
"If you want to choose, this one is not bad."
The man said.
Chen Ling stepped forward, looked at all three of them carefully, and shook his head at his father-in-law.
“It’s not a yellow tiger head?”
“It’s a yellow tiger head, but these three puppies are dogs that recognize their owners, and they can easily hurt people when they are raised.”
Chen Ling explained.
He just tried it, and it was pretty good in other aspects. The only thing was that he refused to open his mouth. Even if he wanted to see the color of his tongue, he couldn't.
I beat the three puppies until they rolled their eyes, but they still didn't open their mouths.
Of course it can be broken apart by force, but it can easily hurt the dog.
Such a dog is stubborn and has a stubborn temper. It is a very good hunting dog seed in Tiger Head Yellow.
You will only recognize one master in your life.
But unfortunately, it is not suitable for my father-in-law to raise.
What he needs is someone who can accompany him to relieve his boredom, someone who can be naughty and mischievous, but can also look after the home and care for the home.
To put it simply, we are looking for a puppy with a personality like Heiwa, and he likes it very much.
Hearing Chen Ling's explanation, my father-in-law also felt very sorry. Wang Qingzhong squatted on the other side and negotiated the price with the horseshoe seller.
His packhorse injured its legs and feet and needed new horseshoes.
There are horseshoe sellers, which means that there are livestock sellers further ahead, and there are very few dog sellers.
After buying horseshoes, I followed the men from Liangkou Village to the last two dog-selling stalls.
The hard work was not in vain, and this man really found his favorite snake and dog seedling.
It is a little white native dog about two months old.
As soon as he handed over the sleeves of the cotton coat, the little white dog reacted extremely strongly, wagging its tail and barking crazily.
"This one is not bad, it is a good seedling."
He squatted on the ground, raised his head and smiled at Chen Ling.
He also heard what Chen Ling said before, and looking at Hei Wa and Xiao Jin beside him, he regarded them as the same kind of people, they were both hunting dogs, and they had a natural feeling of closeness.
As he said that, he put his hand into his sleeve and grabbed something. It turned out to be a snake inside.
It was cold, so he stuffed it into a cotton coat.
After the snake was released, the little white dog barked louder, lying on the bamboo basket with its front legs and roaring.
After he paid for it, Chen Ling congratulated him.
"This puppy is not bad, but it is not the best."
He seemed to have some regrets, so he showed the puppy to Chen Ling and the others.
"The seams on both sides of the nose are still a bit big. When you exhale and inhale, the snail meat inside the nose is not well sealed..."
"Such a snake and dog seedling can only be found in Nassau and Nassau." Hot and cold will not do."
He was mainly explaining to Chen Ling that he understood dogs.
But Chen Ling knows a lot about hunting dogs, but he really knows nothing about snake dogs.
But he can understand the slang the man says.
To search for a saurus or to nassau is to smell the scent of prey and keep following it without breaking it off. If you break it off, it becomes a saucy hunt. If you don't break it off, you will finally capture the prey. This is called saucy, which means you have caught it.
Lengsao means Lengzong, which means that the traces and smells of prey are separated for a long time, have cooled down, and are no longer obvious.
Resao means heat trace, which means that the prey has just left traces, and the scent traces are still hot and fresh.
That’s why this man is a little dissatisfied.
Because it is easy to catch a hot dog, but it is quite difficult to catch a cold dog. Those who can catch a cold dog are the only good hunting dogs in a thousand. They are rare.
After buying the dog, the man said a few words to Chen Ling and the others, and then went ahead to pick up the packhorse.
Chen Ling took his father-in-law and second uncle to continue picking out dogs.
“Eh? This little green dog is pretty good-looking!”
While walking back, Wang Cunye took a fancy to a little green dog, two months old, with green-yellow hair. The ears are thick and the tail is quite beautiful.
The green dogs here are the little wolf dogs produced by the cross between native dogs and wolves. They are mostly green and yellow or gray and yellow.
When this kind of dog is brought up, its appearance will look somewhat similar to that of a wolf. Although it is not as ferocious as the tiger-headed yellow dog, it is also good at guarding homes and homes.
But after Chen Ling observed carefully, he shook his head again.
“Still not working?”
The father-in-law was stunned.
Good guy, these words made Chen Ling feel a little embarrassed.
"Dad, look, the beard on this dog's mouth is different from other dogs. Generally speaking, a dog's beard is backward, but its beard is forward. Look at the puppy next to it. It's all normal, but it's different..."
Chen Ling pulled her father-in-law to point it out to him.
"Huh? Really, what's going on? Is this a bad dog?"
"Well, you can't keep such a dog."
Chen Ling nodded. , then pointed to the little green dog’s eyeballs and said, “Dad, look again, this puppy’s eyeballs are still red, so we can’t have it.”
"There are also tips for choosing a dog. There is a saying that the dog must move forward and bite harshly. If the eyes are bloodshot, it will bite people. This little green dog has both. If you buy it, it will definitely bite people, and it will bite people to death. .”
“Ah? No!”
Wang Cunye was shocked.
Let alone him, the dog seller was scared.
The dog sellers were ordinary mountain people who didn’t know much about this. They hurriedly caught the little green dog and looked at it again. When they raised their heads again to ask questions, Chen Ling and the others had already left.
"Lingzi, it's up to you to pick, I won't pick."
Wang Cunye was actually spoiled for choice.
"It's okay, Dad, just find someone who is right with you. As long as he doesn't bite, your temper will be developed slowly in the future."
Chen Ling comforted him.
After that, there was another wandering around.
Unknowingly, I had turned to the exit and arrived at the first house where the old man selling dogs was. The lively little yellow dog had climbed out of the bamboo basket and was biting the rope hanging from the bamboo basket, tearing at it.
The old man thought it was noisy, so he slapped it, picked it up and threw it into the bamboo basket. After a while, the little guy crawled out again.
Wang Cunye was watching from the side, thinking that it was pleasing to the eye no matter how he looked at it, so he patted his head and let it go.
When I went back, I kept talking about it, going back and forth, for most of the day, but it turned out that I chose the right one for the first time. If I had known, I would have bought this one from the beginning.
(End of this chapter)