Chapter 227 Soft Nails

“Big Brother!!”

After Yue Feng heard what his elder brother was saying, he greeted him in a deep voice from a distance.

Hearing his brother’s response, Yue Shan immediately came forward, wanting to help his brother get the things, but Yue Feng was holding the Big Black Hawk in his right hand and his left hand was empty. It was not easy to reach down with two guns slung over his shoulders, so he felt a little awkward for a moment.

“I heard from mom that you can come back today. Everyone in the family is waiting for you to come back to eat dumplings! Take off the gun and I will carry it for you,” Yue Shan asked proactively.

Yue Feng glanced at his sister-in-law who was also standing at the entrance of the alley. He knew what was going on, but he didn’t get angry. He refused and said, “It’s not easy to take off the gun belt. Let’s go! It’s only two steps to home.”

“Brother Shan!!”

“Brother Shan!”

After Xiao Tao and Xiao Wu saw Yue Shan clearly, they greeted him one after another.

“Hey! It’s Xiao Tao and Xiao Wen and Xiao Wu, right? They must be exhausted from the journey, come inside and take a rest! Hong, tell mom to make dumplings, they’re all back!”

“Hey!” Chen Hong only responded, but stood at the entrance of the alley without moving. She was waiting for her brother-in-law Yue Feng.

“Sister-in-law is here too. It’s cold outside. Let’s go back inside!”

Actually, Yue Feng had just discovered that his sister-in-law Chen Hong was also at the entrance of the alley, but he did not greet her immediately from a distance of dozens of meters. Instead, he walked up to her and called her sister-in-law in a neutral tone.

“Hey! It’s not cold, not cold! I heard from mom that you went into the mountains to hunt. What are you carrying?” Chen Hong asked.

“It’s a half-grown elk cub. We couldn’t bear to kill it in the mountains, so we tied it up and carried it back! Xiaowen and Xiaowu, you two should be careful when you enter the alley. It’s a bit slippery!”

Yue Feng responded and turned to remind his companions behind him, which made Chen Hong feel a little cold.

Under normal circumstances, she would have turned around and left without saying a word.

But today was different. She turned on the flashlight and shone it on the slippery spot on the ground.

“It’s frozen here, I’ll light it for you!”

“Thank you sister-in-law!”

“Thank you sister-in-law!”

“Don’t be polite. We are not strangers!” Chen Hong stood aside holding the flashlight and waited for the two brothers Xiaowen and Xiaowu from the hunting team to walk through the icy area before following them into the house.

A group of people entered the yard in a mighty manner and put the sled inside. The antlers of the adult elk were very conspicuous. The elk calf was also put in the middle of the yard. Listening to the noisy sounds around it, the elk calf was quite scared and kept neighing.

Mom, Dad, and Jingjing also came out of the house, holding flashlights, to see what Yue Feng had brought back from the mountains.

“We brought back a living one. It’s a sika deer cub!” Yue Lei stood at the door and took a look, saying with certainty.

“Yes, this kid’s eyes were pecked blind by a big black eagle, and he was knocked unconscious after crashing into a tree, so we captured him alive! Uncle Zhao said that deer blood is precious and a living deer is more valuable than a dead one, so we decided to tie him up and carry him down the mountain!” Yue Feng said with a smile.

“Big Black Hawk can do this job! He has learned a new job!”

“Yes! He can report the news and peck the eyes!!”

“Okay, that’s great! Don’t just stand there. You can’t see at night. Put the meat and the elk calf into the barn first, and we’ll clean them up tomorrow! Come inside and warm up. We’ll have dumplings later!”
Xiaoshan, hang up our firecrackers and set them off!”

“Hey!”

Yue Shan responded, went into the house, took out the plate of red firecrackers, and quickly hung them up and lit them at the door.

The sound of firecrackers made the atmosphere at home more festive. Xiao Tao, Xiao Wen and others, who were fully armed, also filed into the house.

In terms of closeness, Yue Shan is naturally closer to his younger brother Yue Feng, but in terms of familiarity, the three brothers Xiao Tao, Xiao Wen and Xiao Wu are much more familiar with Yue Feng than Yue Shan because they go in and out of Yue Feng’s house all day long.

The three brothers entered the house and directly pushed open the door of the west room where Yue Feng slept. They took off the thick sheepskin coat that he had worn when he went up the mountain to keep warm, and then sat on the edge of the kang to untie their leggings, take off their hats, satchels and other odds and ends.

The door of the west room was opened as the three brothers came in, and the four fierce dogs that had been staying under the kang in the room also came out.

They hadn’t seen their owner for more than a day. Although their mother took them to the yard to play in the morning, they were still very affectionate when they saw their owner Yue Feng. They licked his hands and circled around Yue Feng, wagging their tails like electric fans.

“Hey, I have four dogs in my house. Why do I keep these beasts in my house?!”

Chen Hong was startled when she saw four dogs coming out of the west room, and asked with a frown.

Yue Feng was playing with a few dogs while saying, “The puppies are still young. The temperature outside is too low and they can’t stand the cold, so we’ll keep them indoors for now. When spring comes and they grow big enough, we’ll build a doghouse in the yard!”

“Then… the dog sleeps in the house, how dirty…”

Chen Hong felt a little uncomfortable when she thought about having to stay at home that night.

“Our conditions are indeed limited. It’s normal that my sister-in-law is not used to staying overnight in her hometown since she has always lived in the city. At night, you, mom, and Jingjing can sleep in the east room, and the three of us will sleep on the kang in the west room!”

Yue Feng did not explain that the dogs did not pee or poop in the house, so it was not that dirty. Instead, he saw through Chen Hong’s thoughts and gave a solution. “These dogs are sensible. They poop and pee outside. Canglong, go back to the house!!”

Meng Yulan also noticed the subtle change in the atmosphere, so she rounded it up and called Canglong back to the house.

When the four dogs heard the order from the emperor, they obediently went into the west room with their tails between their legs and lay down in a row on the mats at the base of the wall under the window.

Seeing this scene, Chen Hong stopped talking. She somewhat regretted her decision to spend the night at her hometown.

But the words were already spoken and there was no way to go back on them, so I had to bite the bullet and help my mother-in-law make dumplings.

I made three kinds of dumplings in the afternoon, enough for Xiao Tao and his friends.

In fact, if Yue Shan and his wife had not returned home and said they would celebrate the Winter Solstice together in the evening, Meng Yulan would have already called Xiao Tao’s family and Xiao Wen’s mother to her house to celebrate the Winter Solstice and eat dumplings together.

The three brothers were also clear-headed. They noticed that the atmosphere was a little strange. Xiaowen winked at Xiaowu and Xiaotao, and the three brothers immediately understood what he meant.

“Brother, Auntie, Uncle, we won’t eat at your house today. It’s the winter solstice, and your family must be waiting for us to go back and set off firecrackers! We’ll go back first!”

“This… is all for making your dumplings, eat them before you go back!!”

“No, Auntie! You’ve been away for two days, and your family must be worried! Eat early, go to bed early, and come back tomorrow morning!”

“Well, Xiaofeng, share the meat with your brothers!”

“No need, let’s talk about it tomorrow. It’s dark and you can’t see clearly! I’m leaving first, auntie!” Xiaowen said a few words and left Yue Feng’s house with his people.

Meng Yulan also felt a little conflicted, but she couldn’t force the children to stay. No matter how close their relationship was, they still had to live separately, and their parents were at home waiting for their children.

The three brothers from the hunting team all went home, leaving only the six people from Yue Feng’s family in the house.

The dumplings were put into the pot, and the water soon boiled. After rolling a few times, when the heat was just right, the dumplings were taken out of the pot, and the whole family sat around the dining table in a lively atmosphere.

In the evening, while waiting for her second son to come home, Meng Yulan had already delivered the dumplings to Grandma Li, so there was no need to deliver the dumplings to Grandma Li when the dumplings were out of the pot in the evening. The whole family waited patiently for dinner.

From beginning to end, Yue Feng remained very calm.

The eldest brother is the biological eldest brother, but the sister-in-law is not necessarily the biological sister-in-law. How could Yue Feng, who has lived two lives, not understand this truth? No matter what he thinks in his heart, he must save face.

Chen Hong also seemed to realize that her subconscious reaction just now was a little problematic. During the meal, she was quite active, pouring vinegar and serving dumpling soup, and was busy all the time.

With both sons at home, Yue Lei was in a very good mood today and asked Yue Feng to pour him half a glass of white wine.

“Today is the winter solstice. It’s not easy for our family of six to eat these white flour and meat dumplings. It’s all thanks to the Party, my son, Xiaohong and your mother! Cherish the hard-earned good days, let’s have a drink!!”

The brothers Yue Feng and Yue Shan also picked up the wine glasses in front of them and took a sip along with their father.

It was a lively meal. The three brothers Xiaotao, Xiaowu and Xiaowen were missing. Two of the three covers of dumplings were left unfinished. After they had eaten and drunk their fill and cleaned up, their mother Meng Yulan started preparing bedding for the east and west rooms for sleeping at night.

The three old men slept in the west room, while Meng Yulan and her wife and daughter slept in the east room, where they could sleep comfortably.

However, lying on the completely unfamiliar kang, Chen Hong felt very complicated.

Brother-in-law Yue Feng remained calm in the face of the couple’s proactive overtures and observed all the necessary courtesy, but if you ask how close they were, that’s not necessarily the case.

How to describe it? Before, when Chen Hong and her husband went home, they seemed to be close to Yue Feng’s family but actually kept a certain distance. Today, Yue Feng returned to the same attitude.

Yue Feng didn’t even care about how much his elder brother and sister-in-law earned working in the coal mine, or what benefits they received.

During the meal, when Chen Hong asked about the income from selling wild game in the city, Yue Feng was vague and did not provide any useful information.

During the meal, Chen Hong asked how much the elk calf was worth, and Yue Feng also fooled her by saying that he had never sold one before and was not sure.

In short, to sum it up in one sentence, he is polite and enthusiastic, but knows nothing when asked.

Chen Hong tried several times, but was rejected every time.

After his mother had made the bed, Yue Feng went into his room early with a rubber foot basin.

After two days of traveling on the mountain road, I feel very tired. Soaking my feet in hot water can relieve fatigue.

The two brothers washed their feet, and then quickly went into the west room and lay on the kang. After the lights were turned off and there was no sound in the room, Yue Feng started chatting with his eldest brother.

“Brother! Are you satisfied with your life in the city now?”

“Huh? Why do you ask? It’s good to be able to work and earn money, and have enough food and drink, isn’t it?” Yue Shan was slightly stunned when he heard the question asked by his younger brother.

“That’s not what I meant! I’m talking about you living in your own little home in the city with your sister-in-law. Are you satisfied with this life? Even if you don’t say it, I know that your sister-in-law is a very strong person!”

Hearing his brother ask this, Yue Shan’s heart sank and he felt complicated.

(End of this chapter)