Chapter 9: The Bee Pupa and the Puppy

  Song Wencai had eaten over a dozen steamer baskets of soup dumplings and drunk four or five bowls of simmered chrysanthemum leaf and pork offal soup, but he still only felt half full.

  Since having diarrhea, Song Wen himself didn't know what was going on, his appetite suddenly increased a lot, and he started eating voraciously. His mother Chen Xiuhui was quite happy about this change, saying that being able to eat is a blessing, but he felt like he was almost becoming a rice bucket.

  On the ruins, people come and go, and on both sides of the road are stalls selling clothes, toys, snacks, small furniture, flowers and trees, seeds, and all sorts of things. The vendors' cries rise and fall, making a lively scene.

  Song Hu stopped at a toy stall and bought a small ball that would light up and make sounds when thrown on the ground for his daughter to play with. Song Wen also wanted to buy a water gun for his nephew, but after thinking about it, he gave up in the end. His little nephew was very mischievous, if he got a water gun, he would definitely run around shooting everywhere, and their home would suffer from a flood.

  After buying something, the two of them continued strolling around.

  As they walked, Song Hu suddenly felt something was off. He glanced at Song Wen beside him, compared their heights and said in surprise: "Ah Wen, you seem to have grown taller."

  "Isn't it the same as before?" Song Wen said, looking at the stalls around him.

  In the midst of the ruins, he felt an inexplicable sense of intimacy, which is what we call a hometown flavor. This kind of intimate feeling with a hometown flavor cannot be felt in the steel forest-like city's dazzling array of shops.

  "What's going on? You used to be as tall as me, but now you're all a head taller than me."

  "Really?"

  Song Wen didn't believe it, so he walked up to him and compared their heights. Indeed, Song Wen was a bit taller now. Previously, they were the same height as Song Hu, both 1.73 meters tall. Now, his head seemed to have grown to about 1.8 meters. Had he been eating too much lately and started growing?

  "I guess I've been eating more these days and have started growing again."

  Song Wen stroked his chin and thought for a moment, feeling that this was the only possibility.

  "Hmm... he suddenly thought of a possibility, could it be that those few days of diarrhea, after taking the supplement, was what caused him to grow taller. It's as if his own diarrhea might have been the legendary 'cutting hair and washing marrow', and if so, then the spring water in the Ruyi fan is too against the heavens."

  Song Hu heard his words, but his eyebrows twitched slightly, almost scolding him. If it were so easy to grow taller by eating three bowls of rice per meal, why hadn't he seen any growth? You're really something, banana!

  He didn't believe Song Wengu's nonsense anymore and ignored him, his eyes scanning the surroundings, when suddenly he saw a familiar face in front of him and strode over.

  "Shorty, what are you selling again?" Song Hu said to the familiar person.

  He was a bachelor from the neighboring village who had never married and didn't have a proper job. Apart from growing vegetables, he liked to go up the mountain to hunt, catch snakes, and dig beehives. He and Song Hu were kindred spirits and often wreaked havoc on the wild animals in the mountains together. Because of his short stature and relatively old age, everyone had always called him "Short Old Brother". Over time, people forgot his real name and only remembered this nickname. When Song Wen was young, he also went up the mountain to hunt with him, and the two were quite familiar with each other.

  "Ah, you're here! Isn't this Ah Wen? You've also arrived. Just in time, I heard from Ah Hu two days ago that you had diarrhea recently. Come, take a bottle of wasp wine back to drink and nourish your body. Also, take these bee pupae back to fry, they're very nutritious. Nowadays, many people like to eat them." As he spoke, the short brother handed over a bottle of wasp wine and some bee pupae in a bag to Song Wen.

  Song Wen did not take over.

  Nowadays, all mountainous wild products are expensive, like the seven-layer beehives he caught and sold today. The bees inside can sell for one yuan each, and the bigger ones for five yuan. If they're made into wine, each bottle costs at least thirty yuan. Those white bee pupae are delicious when fried, and many people like to buy them, but the price is not cheap either. Although the two of them had played together before, their relationship wasn't that deep, so Song Wen certainly didn't want it.

  "Take it, take it, last time your dad even gave several bamboo shoots, they're nothing valuable, just take them."

  The dwarf elder brother kept talking non-stop.

  It was hard to decline the offer, so Song Wen had no choice but to accept it.

  It turns out that Xiao Lao and his parents' generation still have some connections, and it's said that they are somewhat distant relatives on his mother's side.

  They chatted for a few more sentences, and Song Wen and the others didn't disturb him from doing business, so they continued walking forward.

  "Where did this guy catch such a big beehive?"

  Song Wen opened the bag and took a look, saying.

  The dwarf elder brother sent him a layer of beehives as big as an armful, which was split in half and packed into a bag. Inside, the white tender bee pupae crawled out and moved around. This scene would make timid women dizzy, or at least they wouldn't be able to eat for three days.

  In fact, bee pupae are rich in protein and have a very high nutritional value. After being lightly fried in oil, sprinkling with pepper and salt when eating, the flavor is truly unforgettable.

  "Behind your bamboo forest, where else could it be? The forests in front have almost all been cut down to plant Mao bamboo, what beehives are there?"

  "What's over at Dashan? He really isn't afraid of death, can you just go in there casually?"

  The high mountain over 1,000 meters behind the bamboo forest of Song Wenjia's house is Dajian Mountain. Behind the mountain is a large area of forest, some of which are pristine and rarely visited by humans, with many snakes and insects, and it is said that tigers and bears also appear from time to time, and if one is not careful, they will lose their lives.

  "What's there to be afraid of?" Song Hu didn't care about it at all.

  "Better be careful, there are many snakes over there."

  "There are indeed a lot of them. One time I went up and saw that the snakes were coiled together in a big mass, it made my skin crawl. Be careful if you go there."

  "You'd better take care of yourself, I don't often go up the mountain anyway."

  Two men walked and talked, after a while, they came to the place where livestock was sold.

  As soon as I walked to the door, I saw several stalls selling chickens and ducks. Inside, there were a large number of chicks and ducklings chirping away, making quite a lively scene.

  Song Wen walked up to a stall selling chicken and duck seedlings, asked about the price, and bought some.

  The chickens are either Silkie or Ayam Cemani, the Silkie being the common household chicken we usually see, while the Ayam Cemani is a local breed with black skin, meat and bones but looks similar to the household chicken except it's thinner and looks more spirited. It's said that they have high nutritional value but in fact the taste is not much different, I've had them before when I was at Songwen. The ducks are Muscovy ducks, the ones raised by farmers in the countryside are incredibly fierce, they'll bite people if they don't like the look of them and some can grow to over 10 pounds.

  Buy good chicks and ducklings, each packed in two small bamboo cages. Song Wen held one in each hand, while Song Hu carried the bee pupae and yellow hornet wine.

  Holding things, the two continued to stroll in the collection. Suddenly saw a dog seller next to it, the dog seller didn't have anything peculiar, what was peculiar was that the person sold small puppies that hadn't opened their eyes yet.

  Song Hu walked over, took a look, and then said to the dog seller in a stern tone: "Boss, you're too ruthless. You haven't even opened your eyes yet and you're selling them. Can they survive?"

  Puppies are most taboo to be touched by human hands when they are young, and if you're not careful, they will die. Not to mention the puppies that haven't opened their eyes yet. Moreover, without dog milk to drink, the puppies can't be raised, with low immunity, they will eventually die, so Song Hu said this.

  The old boss's face changed instantly, his complexion turned pale, and his skin twitched slightly, as if he was angry.

  After a while, he finally spoke up, his face gloomy: "Do you think I want to? That mother dog died from difficult labor. If I don't sell them and leave them at home, what's the point? Maybe someone else can raise them, but if they stay with me, they'll all die sooner or later."

  Song Hu listened and curled his lip, one hundred percent not believing it. These dog sellers would do anything for money, why would they care about the lives of these few dogs?

  Song Wen crouched beside the cardboard box containing the puppies, watching as they crawled around inside. He thought it was adorable. After a glance, he noticed that one of them was unusually large, at least twice the size of the others. Feeling curious, he asked: "Boss, are these all from the same litter?"

  "It's not that I want to, but this thing is too big, and the mother dog would have died from a difficult birth. Otherwise, I wouldn't have had to take it out to sell. Do you want it? If so, I'll give you a good price, forty for one, how about it?"

  Seeing Song Wen showing a tendency to buy, the dog seller hastily said.

  "A Wen, you don't really want to buy it back and raise it, do you? A puppy that hasn't opened its eyes yet can't be raised." Song Hu reminded him.

  "It's okay, this little dog is quite cute, take it back and raise it, maybe it can be raised to live."

  "You're wasting your money." Song Hu said with annoyance, seeing that he was so muddle-headed.

  The dog seller didn't care about him and saw that Song Wen wanted to buy a dog, so he eagerly asked: "How many do you want? If you buy them all, I'll give you thirty yuan."

  Song Wen glared at the dog seller with a bad temper and said, "What do I want so many for? Just this big one. Do you have a box? Help me pack it up."

  "It's nothing, just a small dog, holding it is fine, no need for pretenses."

  Helpless, Song Wen had no choice but to hand over one of the chicken coops in his hands to Song Hu, and he tied up his clothes, stuffed the little dog inside, and hugged it with his hands.

  The little dog didn't know if it was because he felt warm or smelled milk on him, but he rubbed his head against his chest and even stuck out his tongue to lick him.

  Song Wen was taken aback at once.

  Are you kidding me? Do I look like your wet nurse?

  He hastily pulled away the little dog that was about to suckle, ran quickly to the chicken and duck vendor to buy a chicken coop, asked the dog seller for a piece of broken cloth, padded it in the coop, put the little dog inside, and finally breathed a sigh of relief.

  This guy, didn't you see he's also a public figure? You can also take it in. You XXOO.