Chapter 133

Discovering that Wang An had finished writing, the whole family curiously came over to watch. Not to mention Mu Xueqing, who had graduated from junior high; even if she didn't understand calligraphy, she could tell whether the characters were written well or not.

Wang Dazhu and Liu Guilan had also attended literacy classes and were also literate.

When the three of them saw the characters Wang An had written on the straw paper, they were all so surprised they couldn't speak.

No one mentioned the "cultured person" matter anymore.

After a long while, Mu Xueqing looked at Wang An with admiration in her eyes. She never expected that although her man's studies weren't great and he did nothing but fight and brawl when he was in school, his brush calligraphy was genuinely good!

Wang Dazhu and Liu Guilan also looked at Wang An with suspicious eyes, as if they didn't believe at all that this was their eldest son's masterpiece!

All along, the couple had thought that Wang An might struggle even to hold a pen, let alone write characters!

After another while, Wang Dazhu said with a smile, "In the future, during the New Year, we won't have to beg others to write couplets anymore!"

In the evening, when Wang Yi returned home from school, the first thing he did after entering the house was to look at his eldest brother.

Because Wang Yi knew his eldest brother Wang An had gone to the county town today, he was wondering if his fountain pen had been bought.

Wang An looked at his younger brother's expectant eyes and suddenly wanted to tease Wang Yi. Recently, Wang Yi had been particularly attentive to his studies and showed signs of developing into a "bookworm," but this was a good thing; it was very likely that a college student would come out of the family!

So Wang An pretended not to know what his younger brother meant and continued doing what he was doing.

"Eldest brother, did you forget about my fountain pen?" Wang Yi seemed to guess that his eldest brother hadn't bought it and said disappointedly.

Wang An patted his head and pretended to be anxious, saying, "Oh my, look at my memory; how could I have forgotten?"

Liu Guilan, her husband, and Mu Xueqing held back their laughter and observed Wang Yi's reaction from the corners of their eyes.

They saw Wang Yi dejectedly put his schoolbag on the kang and then sit there, feeling unhappy!

At this moment, Liu Guilan saw the unhappy expression on her youngest son's face and felt sorry for him. She turned to the table and placed the two fountain pens and two bottles of ink, which had been covered under the red paper, in front of Wang Yi, saying, "Your eldest brother is teasing you. Look at your pathetic state; you're nothing."

After speaking, she turned back and glared fiercely at Wang An, saying while glaring, "You're twenty years old, and all you know is how to mess around. Look at your silly behavior, just like your silly father! You're nothing!" She had completely forgotten that she herself had been secretly holding back laughter just a moment ago.

Hearing this, Wang Dazhu couldn't help but be stunned. He raised his head and glanced at Liu Guilan, opened his mouth, but didn't dare to say anything, and lowered his head.

Wang Yi suddenly shouted happily, "Wow! Hero brand fountain pen! Big Bird brand ink! Eldest brother, you're so good!"

Wang Yi's sudden shout startled Liu Guilan, who was standing nearby. She jumped, and then a slap landed on Wang Yi's back, while she said, "What are you shouting for? You scared the hell out of me!"

Wang Yi remained excited and didn't pay attention to Liu Guilan, excitedly talking about which classmate used bottled ink and what kind of fountain pen so-and-so used.

Wang An looked at his excited younger brother with a smile, because he understood too well the mutual envy and jealousy among classmates; it was just that sensible children wouldn't mention it to their families.

At dinner, Wang Yi seemed to be still unable to extricate himself from his excitement; it seemed that the two-grain steamed buns and meat weren't as attractive as the Hero brand fountain pen, which he kept holding in his hand, fiddling with it left and right and examining it carefully.

Wang An discovered that his younger brother holding the fountain pen now was exactly the same as his brother-in-law holding the Mosin-Nagant rifle earlier—not a bit of difference; both were as if they were possessed.

"A poor man gets a donkey? Can't count the donkey's hair? Second son, put the pen down and eat your meal properly." Liu Guilan couldn't stand it anymore and rushed toward Wang Yi, shouting.

Wang Yi didn't even raise his head; the pen slipped into his pocket, his left hand picked up a two-grain steamed bun and started gnawing, and his right hand picked up chopsticks, aiming for a piece of meat in the dish and stuffing it into his mouth.

The movements were as smooth as flowing water; one couldn't tell at all that Wang Yi had just been immersed in his fountain pen.

Actually, Wang An knew this trick too; he had no choice, having been raised being managed like this since he was a child.

It was foreseeable that if Wang Yi didn't hurry up and eat, the next performance would be the "Broomstick Dance," performed by Liu Guilan and Wang Yi!

One of the most profound lessons Wang An had learned since he was a child was that when it was time to eat, one must eat quietly; if you didn't eat, you'd get beaten, and if you didn't eat properly, you'd still get beaten after the meal!

At night, perhaps feeling uncomfortable with his buttocks being pressed, Mu Xueqing whispered to Wang An, "Is it quite uncomfortable? Tomorrow, you should go find Shen Wei!"

Mu Xueqing might have been sincere, but Wang An couldn't be insensitive!

Therefore, Wang An didn't say a word and continued to pretend to be asleep while holding Mu Xueqing. Any answer to this kind of question would be wrong; only silence was golden!

The night passed without incident.

After breakfast, Wang An started making wire snares. With two bundles of wire, he made about a hundred snares, threw them into the stove pit to burn, and then packed them into the sack used for going into the mountains.

The snares that had been retrieved earlier had already been processed by Wang Dazhu and had long been packed into the sack.

As a father, Wang Dazhu was always helping Wang An do things within his power. Actually, Wang Dazhu had also told Wang An he wanted to follow him into the mountains, but Wang An definitely couldn't agree!

How could he let his 40-something-year-old father participate in such dangerous work? Impossible!

After processing the wire snares, Wang An started making traps. The thick wire was genuinely hard; Wang An used a pair of pliers in each hand and spent a long time making only ten!

However, these traps could be used to catch pheasants, hazel grouse, or rats, so they had many uses and wouldn't be made in vain.

When he was making the 12th one, his father came into the house after feeding the yellow sheep, the little wild boar, and other livestock. Basically, everyone in the countryside knew how to make traps like this because every family was plagued by rats.

Wang Dazhu came into the house and watched for a while next to Wang An, then said, "What kind of stuff are you making? It's so ugly, wasting such good wire, and it might not even work. Hurry up and get out of the way! You can't do anything!"

Then he angrily snatched the pliers from Wang An's hand and started making traps himself.

Wang An was genuinely stunned after hearing his father finish speaking. He looked at the traps he had made, which were of different sizes, and they were indeed not very good-looking!

However, Wang An felt that maybe, probably, likely, 80% of them would still work, but the more he looked, the less confident he felt!

Actually, there were two key points to this thing. The first was that the two semicircles had to be perfectly aligned, otherwise, the force of the tension spring wouldn't be applied in one place, and even if it caught prey, it might allow the prey to break free.

The second was that the trigger mechanism had to be handled well, otherwise, the bait would be eaten, but the mechanism wouldn't trigger, and that would really be bullshit!

It would be equivalent to not hunting, but feeding the prey; how embarrassing would that be!

Seeing his father making the traps quite properly, the bored Wang An started studying the deer skin again.

Now, whenever he had free time, Wang An would look at it for a while, mainly wanting to memorize it in his mind; only by memorizing it in his mind would it be his own thing!

Only then would he be able to quickly find the old *anzi* after entering the mountains!

After looking at the deer skin, Wang An believed that he would definitely be able to make a fortune next year! With so many old *anzi*, just finding a few would be no small amount of money!

After studying the deer skin, Wang An, with the kraft paper bag in his pocket, strolled over to Lu Yueyue's house!

On this last day of the Year of the Rabbit, I wish my dear big bosses a Happy New Year's Eve and a fortune in the Year of the Dragon!

(End of chapter)