CHAPTER 24 PART 1 The old hunter
Unexpectedly it was a bit far as they walked till the foot of Luoxia mountain.
Yang Tiezhu looked around. After thinking a bit, he led Lin Qingwan diagonally into a small trail.
Dahei and Erhei also seemed to be familiar with this place, as they led the path all the way.
Not long after walking further, a small shabby wooden house in a small fenced courtyard appeared in Lin Qingwan’s sight.
The cabin was very dilapidated, with everything in the yard completely covered in dust. It seemed to be unoccupied for a long time as the vegetable field in the courtyard became desolate and was filled with weeds.
Puzzled, Lin Qingwan looked at Yang Tiezhu.
Yang Tiezhu smiled and led her in, took two small stools out of the wooden house, wiped them, and let Lin Qingwan sit down before he sat beside her.
After a good while, he slowly opened his mouth and explained to her what this place was.
It turned out that previously, an old hunter, who taught Yang Tiezhu hunting skills, lived in this deserted courtyard.
Because of the old hunter’s ugly appearance, he didn’t get married throughout his life and had no children. In his early years, he had wandered to this place and originally wished to settle down in Luoxia village. However, villagers were all scared of him and disliked him. As such, he built a small wooden house here and lived alone.
Every day the old hunter would go into the mountains to hunt for few preys and sell them for some daily necessities*. Although he didn’t own any land in the village, his days were still going by fine.
Daily necessities: firewood, rice, oil, salt.
When Yang Tiezhu was young, because of Yang-shi reasons, He-shi would always not give him a good face. Usually, all the tasty food and fun playthings were all taken by the eldest son and weren’t given to him.
How can little children have the ability to endure all by themselves, as such he would always run to Yang-shi’s place or would run away somewhere to cry by himself all alone.
One time, when he ran away to cry alone, he accidentally went too far and ended up running into the old hunter.
The old hunter was actually a pretty good person. As all year round he lived alone, he became reticent. On top of that, he also didn’t have any younger generation and such. Thus, when he saw a little brat crying with his face full of tears and snot running here, he also didn’t drive him away and asked him few words.
After clearly asking, he then allowed him to stay in the small courtyard.
In order to coax him to stop crying, he also baked him a sweet potato for him to eat.
Children are pretty sensitive and clearly know who is good to them and who is bad in their hearts. He knows who is good to him and who is not to him. As such, when little Tiezhu ran from home crying after that, he would go to the old hunter’s place.
During that time, because of him, He-shi went to Yang-shi’s place and made a fuss, and even scolded her. In such a situation, he really didn’t dare to go to Yang-shi’s place again, fearing that she would be troubled. Thus, thereupon every time at home He-shi didn’t give him a good face or his eldest brother, Yang Tieshuan bullied him, he would immediately run here.
As the time passed, the old hunter and little Tiezhu became more familiar.
Since a young age, little Tiezhu’s temperament had always been good, as such old hunter was also very fond of him. After some time, he even regarded himself almost as his half-son and loved him dearly. Whenever he went to exchange the preys he hunted for silver, he would always buy candies that little children like to eat for little Tiezhu.
Xiao Tiezhu was also aware that the old hunter was fond of him. Although this old grandpa looked a bit scary, he treated him very well. Thus little Tiezhu liked to come here every time.
As such, in Yang Tiezhu’s childhood, apart from his dagu, Yang-shi, whom he was fond of, there was another significant person in his heart, the old hunter.
To say, if Yang-shi showered him with maternal love, the old hunter provided him the paternal love he lacked since a young age.
The old hunter not only provided little Tiezhu paternal love but also taught him his entire life’s worth hunting skills.
Although in other’s point of view this could be regarded as of nothing, but for farmers, it was the skill from which they can earn a living.
Being aware that Yang Tiezhu’s family didn’t see him in good light, the old hunter wanted to teach him skills so that he could make his own living. Even if he would be driven away one day, he would still be able to eat off on his own strength and wouldn’t be looked down upon by other people.
The old hunter’s way of thinking was quite simple. In the eyes of farmers, a person without land is considered nothing and would be starved to death. Previously, the old farmer was also shunned and reached rock bottom. He was almost starved to death. Then little by little, he slowly figured out how to hunt and improved himself.
Consequently, the old hunter started imparting some essential knowledge required for hunting. For instance, how to recognize the way through the terrain, how to identify which is not poisonous and which is not in the deep mountains, and also taught him archery. When little Tiezhu became a bit older he even took him to the mountains to let him see how to hunt. However, the old hunter did not dare to take a little kid deep into the mountains, and only dared to take him into a bit outer area of the mountains, and would hunt only a few small animals and such for him to practice…
Yang Tiezhu was thirteen when the old hunter passed away. He left his everything for Yang Tiezhu after his death.
Actually, there wasn’t much, just an old wooden house and an old black dog, which had accompanied him for a very long while.
That old black dog was precisely Dahei and Erhei’s mother.
The old hunter’s funeral arrangements were all made by little Tiezhu with the help of Yang-shi. It was only at this time that Yang-shi came to know that her nephew knew such a person. Although she had seen her nephew being mysterious, she hadn’t taken it seriously at all.
Only after listening to little Tiezhu recounting things did Yang-shi also understand that this lonely elderly was truly good to this child. As such, she too did her utmost in arranging the old hunter’s funeral arrangements. Although the people from Luoxia village didn’t like this ugly-looking old man, they also didn’t have the heart to cruely leave his corpse in the wilderness. Thus everyone also helped quite a lot…
The old hunter was buried in a grove behind the small wooden house. Every year Yang Tiezhu would come here to clean the small courtyard, after which he would weed the area around the grave and then burn some joss paper* to offer sacrifices to the old hunter….
*纸钱 (zhǐqián): Literally paper money. Alternatively also called as joss paper or netherworld paper. These paper offerings are physical representations of money and daily necessities like clothing, personal electronics and household goods. The basic notion behind burning joss paper is that an offering is conveyed into the spirit world through the fire’s smoke.
LAZY BIRD TRANSLATIONS 
Welcome back 🥳🥳🥳 Thanks for the 4 chapter feast❣️ nom nom nom nom 😋
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Why are their lives so sad? Fortunately, they had each other.
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