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墨書 Inktalez
After Andrei left, Xu Li stared at Lava and Anna, bewildered. "Are there really tigers around here?"
Anna and Eva nodded in unison. "Earlier this spring, the ranch lost a calf. It broke our mother's heart and that of several aunts. Dad and some uncles said it was taken by a tiger."
"I see," Xu Li replied, nodding as he continued eating. He wondered where he had been taken; how could there be tigers here?
After finishing his meal, the twins stubbornly returned to their room for a nap. Once Xu Li cleaned up the dishes, he sat quietly on the sofa, smoking. Although he didn't have a strong addiction, he had started smoking in school to fit in with some troublemakers and avoid their constant harassment.
As he smoked, he found himself unable to stop, so he decided to embrace it. After spending over an hour in the living room feeling bored, he got up and headed outside. The few dogs lounging in the yard paid him no mind, lazily panting with their tongues hanging out while Xu Li strolled around the small courtyard with a cigarette in hand.
He began to familiarize himself with his new home. The yard was at least a hundred meters long and wide. To the south stood a row of connected wooden cabins, complete with a sauna and a small boiler room. To the north were two large warehouses; one had its door slightly ajar, filled with lumber, coal, and bags of feed stacked high, along with dozens of bags of dog food.
The other warehouse was smaller and locked up tight, its windows covered with tarps. However, a faint smell seeped through the cracks—perhaps gasoline or diesel—suggesting it housed something valuable like a car or tractor.
Next to the wooden warehouse was a large vegetable garden enclosed by a low fence, likely several acres in size. Inside were rows of greenhouses. Following a path to the greenhouse area, Xu Li peered inside and saw cucumbers, tomatoes, and bell peppers growing.
He picked a few fresh cucumbers and returned inside to wash them. The sisters were just waking up, munching on snacks while watching television. Xu Li took one cucumber to eat while slicing the others into thin strips with a peeler. The fridge had plenty of fruit, so he grabbed a lemon and a large bottle of soda. He poured vinegar, sugar, and a pinch of salt into a bowl filled with cucumber slices before mixing in the soda.
After adding some lemon slices and squeezing out the juice to blend everything together, he covered the bowl with a lid and placed it in the fridge. Checking the time, he began preparing dinner. There was no rice in the kitchen, so he decided to make noodles instead and went back to the greenhouse for more tomatoes.
In the evening, a tractor drove into the yard just as Xu Li and the sisters came out of the house. Natasha, wearing a headscarf, cheerfully kissed her daughter on the cheek before opening her arms wide for Xu Li. She hurried over to hug him tightly and planted a kiss on his cheek. "Are you hungry? Auntie will cook for you."
"I already made dinner," Xu Li replied with a smile at Natasha's surprised expression. "I had some free time this afternoon and picked some cucumbers and tomatoes from the garden. We're having noodles tonight."
The mention of noodles made Natasha beam with joy while Andrei, who was preparing to carry beef nearby, smiled slightly. Xu Li quickly joined him as they moved half a side of beef into one of the rooms. The smell inside was quite strong—bloody and pungent—with freezers lining both sides of the room and an iron rack near the window holding over ten iron hooks.
After they hung up half of the beef together, Andrei patted one of its legs. "Help yourself; our village's ranch has nearly two hundred cows."
"Uh... Dad," Xu Li called out more comfortably now as he pulled out his cigarettes to light one for him.
"Is the ranch shared by everyone in the village?"
Andrei nodded. "Let's get busy first; I'll tell you more during dinner."
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