PCJ – Chapter 163 Gift Talisman

“How did you know about this?” Zhang Jiaohua asked in confusion.

“My brother led a team that day,” Luo Changjun explained. His brother is a platoon leader in the armed police squad. He also participated in the action to exterminate the giant python that day.

“I see,” Zhang Manyin nodded.

The snow had melted, making the road even muddier. Fortunately, this was a four-wheel-drive off-road vehicle; otherwise, it would have been stuck on the mountain road of Meizi Village.

Zhang Jiaohua was jolted so much that his heart almost jumped out, “Riding in this car, I’d rather walk home. I almost hit my head and broke it.”

“Your village’s road should be repaired too. As the saying goes, to get rich, build roads first. With such bad roads, even if your village has mountains of gold and silver, you can’t transport them out,” Luo Changjun skillfully controlled the car while chatting with Zhang Manyin and his grandson. Despite the rough road, Luo Changjun kept the car steady.

“It’s easier said than done. Dozens of miles of mountain roads, how much money would it take to repair them? Meizi Village is too poor, it’s impossible to come up with so much money,” Zhang Manyin sighed.

“That’s true,” Luo Changjun had nothing more to say, not knowing much about the situation in Meizi Village.

After nearly forty minutes, they finally arrived at the entrance of Meizi Village.

The road, although passable, was in worse condition than the village road.

Luo Changjun personally delivered the book that Luo Yongming gave to Zhang Jiaohua to his home and had to rush back without even taking a sip of water.

Zhang Jiaohua felt embarrassed to take advantage of Luo Changjun, so he went back to get a piece of cured wild boar meat and handed a few talismans to Luo Changjun, “Uncle Luo, thank you for bringing us home. Last year, we found a wild boar in the mountains and smoked some meat. Take it and try it. Also, here are some house protection talismans. Take them home. They can ward off evil and bring safety.”

“No, no. If I take these things from you, my old man will scold me to death when I get back,” Luo Changjun quickly refused.

“Chief Luo, this cured meat is a token of Jiaohua’s appreciation. You must take it. These talismans were personally created by Jiaohua. Put them in your house to ensure safety. They’re quite famous in our village,” Zhang Manyin found a sack, packed the cured meat in it, and put it in the car firmly.

Luo Changjun accepted, “Alright, thank you, Uncle Zhang, and thank you, Jiaohua. Next time you go to town, you must visit the old man. He loves having someone to chat with. My wife and I are both busy with work and have little time to visit. He doesn’t want to live with us either.”

“Sure, whenever we go to town, we’ll definitely visit Brother Luo,” Zhang Manyin also had a good impression of Luo Yongming.

After seeing off Luo Changjun, Zhang Manyin patted Zhang Jiaohua on the head, “Jiaohua, now that your name has changed, study hard and aim for university.”

Zhang Manyin still called Zhang Jiaohua by his nickname. It had become a habit. Actually, there is a noticeable difference between “Jiaohua” and “Jiao Hua” in the Meizi Village accent.

“Got it, Grandpa. You should go back now,” Zhang Jiaohua chuckled.

“Alright, once I finish this, you chase me away. Don’t expect me to help you in the future,” Zhang Manyin pretended to be angry.

“Grandpa, we still have a barrel of rice wine at home. If it stays here, it will lose its flavor. Why don’t you take it and drink it?” Zhang Jiaohua brought out a jar of rice wine left from the New Year.

“I don’t care for your rice wine. But I don’t want it to go to waste,” Zhang Manyin laughed and took the rice wine. He wasn’t greedy for the wine; if it stayed at Zhang Jiaohua’s house for too long, it would lose its flavor. By the time Zhang Youping and his family returned for the New Year, it would taste like water. Drinking it now meant he could replace it later, although he wasn’t sure if he could make rice wine as good as Zhang Jiaohua’s family.

“Jiaohua, come over to our place for dinner tonight,” Zhang Manyin called from outside.

“No need. I’ll just eat something simple tonight,” Zhang Jiaohua had things to do. He insisted on keeping some chickens and ducks at home. Besides taking care of himself, he had to take care of these animals. Three wild rabbits had grown into large ones, and he used methods for training mountain dogs to train them, which worked well. They went out to forage during the day and returned in the evening, requiring little attention from him.

Zuan Shanbao stayed home today, but it wouldn’t go hungry. It would go to Ma Donghua’s place for food and return home after eating, earning the nickname “ungrateful wolf” from Ma Donghua. Domesticated animals are loyal; once they recognize their owner, they rarely abandon them even if they steal food elsewhere.

Luo Changjun drove back to Town and specifically went to the old house. He delivered the piece of cured wild boar meat to Luo Yongming. To his surprise, Luo Yongming didn’t criticize his son for accepting the meat from Zhang Jiaohua.

“This wild boar meat is something special!” Luo Yongming’s eyes widened at the sight of the meat.

“It’s just wild boar meat. If you want to eat it, I’ll buy some for you from the countryside,” Luo Changjun thought his father liked wild boar meat.

“You don’t understand. You can’t buy this kind of wild boar meat. This boar weighed at least four to five hundred pounds. Such a boar is not easy to hunt, and it’s dangerous. Facing it head-on could be fatal. I wonder how Jiaohua’s family managed to get it,” Luo Yongming estimated the weight of the boar at a glance, showing his knowledge about wild boars.

“How can you tell?” Luo Changjun was puzzled.

“I was once part of a rural team. Villagers often set traps for wild boars, but their traps couldn’t catch such a big one. Judging the size of a wild boar is like judging a domestic pig. You look at the thickness of the fat and the size of the frame. The size of the frame indicates the overall size, and the thickness of the fat shows its health,” Luo Yongming explained the technique.

Luo Changjun understood. This skill was essential for the police but hadn’t thought of applying it to wild boars.

“By the way, he also gave me some house protection talismans. You handle them,” Luo Changjun took a few yellow paper talismans from his bag.

Luo Yongming received the talismans seriously, “Don’t underestimate these talismans. I suspect Jiaohua knows some real Meishan magic. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have easily fixed your problem. I’ll keep one here, and you take the rest home and place them prominently.”

“Alright.” Luo Changjun felt it was superstitious but didn’t want to upset his father. He put the talismans back in his bag.

Luo Yongming placed a talisman on the altar, burning incense and paper, showing great respect. This puzzled Luo Changjun since his father, a former state official, never engaged in such practices while in office. It was surprising to see him become superstitious after retirement.