Chapter 163: Five Spines, Six Sufferings

Mu Xueqing weighed the two guns in her hand again, then returned the Box Cannon to Wang An without hesitation.

She said: "Actually, I don't like revolvers; they don't look imposing. I like this large Type 54; it looks good and is lightweight. This Box Cannon is too big and heavy; it's inconvenient to carry."

Wang An naturally ignored the first half of Mu Xueqing's sentence and said cheekily: "Yes, we are truly of one mind; I like the large Type 54 too."

Seeing Wang An's cheeky look, Mu Xueqing burst into laughter and said: "You're acting like a fool again!"

Mu Xueqing's laugh instantly reminded Wang An of their school days; whenever he put on this handsome expression, Mu Xueqing would laugh and say that to him.

Uncontrollably, Wang An's big mouth gnawed on Mu Xueqing's luscious lips again.

Until a crisp voice came from behind: "Big Brother, you are not allowed to bully Big Sister-in-law."

Although the voice was still childish and had a lisp, it was exceptionally serious, appearing very brave and powerful!

Wang An let go of Mu Xueqing, turned around helplessly, and looked down at the little one full of justice and righteousness. He gnashed his teeth, thought for a moment, but couldn't think of anything to say.

A burst of giggling sounded from behind, and then Mu Xueqing walked up, picked up the little one, and said with a laugh: "Our Xiaoli has grown up; she knows how to protect Big Sister-in-law. That's great!"

Wang An sheepishly put the Box Cannon into the kang cabinet, then walked to the outer room. Seeing Wang Dazhu scraping the black ash off a bear paw, he found a skinning knife and started scraping too.

Although Wang An had already hunted several bears, he had only eaten bear paw twice, and that was one pair of paws shared by the whole family. The rest were sold by Wang Dazhu under Liu Guilan's pressure.

In fact, Wang An usually didn't care about these things, but he was puzzled that they had hunted bears but hadn't eaten the paws, so he asked. He didn't expect the answer to be that they were sold!

This made Wang An's heart ache, and he complained: "We're not short on money; why sell them?"

But he was met with Liu Guilan's machine-gun-like mouth. That pile of words was like bullets that didn't cost money, firing at Wang An until he was silenced.

However, Wang An didn't even listen to what she was firing about, so he didn't remember anything, only one sentence: "You only know how to stuff your mouth; you're just greedy."

Just like that every day!

So this time, when Wang An hunted black bears, he said he wouldn't sell these 4 bear paws no matter what. Let her fire away; he wouldn't sell them, whatever!

Bear paws are actually quite easy to process; they're similar to pig trotters. After burning off the hair, you scrape them with a knife, then scald them with boiling water. Once scalded, you scrape them with a knife again, and you're done.

It's just that when stewing, you have to add a large amount of mountain peppercorns, white liquor, and bean paste to remove the greasy smell; otherwise, the odor is too strong, and it's not tasty at all.

After lunch, Wang An rode his large stallion toward his aunt's house. The money was in hand, so he should send it over early; keeping it in his own hands wasn't right.

Riding the large stallion, Wang An was still thinking about that pot of bear paws. Bear paws can't be stewed until tender in a short time, so they didn't get to eat them for lunch.

The distance of five or six li was covered quickly on horseback.

Riding directly into the courtyard, Wang An saw his uncle-in-law, Feng Chengmin, feeding the horses. He must have just returned from the mountains; there were still three wild boars and many pheasants and other game on the sled that hadn't been unloaded.

"Oh, isn't this my nephew? What's up? Want to be scolded by your uncle-in-law?" Seeing Wang An ride in, Feng Chengmin immediately joked.

Wang An chuckled and didn't mind, saying with a smile: "Yes, I must want to be scolded by you. It's been a while since I've been scolded; I've been feeling 'five spines and six sufferings' and quite uncomfortable."

Feng Chengmin laughed and said: "Hahaha, you brat, you just deserve to be scolded."

Wang An talked while helping Feng Chengmin unload the game from the sled.

"How was the harvest this time?" Feng Chengmin asked.

"I'm doing alright. A while ago, I dug out a snow den and picked up quite a few yellow sheep and wolves, and I also bagged a bear. The day before yesterday, I hunted quite a few blue sheep and sold them in the county yesterday," Wang An replied.

"You brat, you're doing well; you've managed to get both of these rare items," Feng Chengmin praised.

"Haha, that's because you taught me well, Uncle," Wang An flattered him with a smile.

Immediately after, the two talked about their recent harvests, and Feng Chengmin shared many experiences that were usually hard for people to notice, which benefited Wang An greatly.

While they were chatting, his aunt, Wang Yulian, led his eldest cousin, Feng Weidong, and little cousin, Feng Ruosi, back from outside the courtyard. Seeing Wang An, there was naturally another round of pleasantries.

Wang An took out a handful of candy and shared it with his cousins; the siblings were naturally very happy.

Although Feng Chengmin's family wasn't short on money, candy wasn't something you could buy whenever you wanted. Small shops would sell you two or three pieces at a high price, but for more, you needed coupons. In this era, candy coupons were rare items everywhere.

Small shops in this era were actually, to be precise, called "agency points." Basically, every larger village had one, but Northeast people just liked to call them "small shops." No problem!

After unloading the game, the group went inside. Once everyone was settled on the kang, Wang An took out the 600 yuan he had prepared at home and said that the tiger cub skin had been sold in Bingcheng by a friend, so it fetched a high price.

Feng Chengmin naturally didn't believe these words. There was no other way; Wang An mentioned another tiger cub skin and that leopard skin. Of course, Wang An didn't say how much the leopard skin sold for.

Feng Chengmin was tactful and didn't ask, because when it came to money, asking too specifically wasn't good. However, Feng Chengmin believed what Wang An said and took the money, only saying he had taken advantage of his nephew.

Wang An naturally declined, saying it was what it was; there was no taking advantage.

Immediately after, Feng Chengmin counted out 340 yuan and gave it to Wang An, saying the two bear gallbladders had been sold for a total of 850, and 20%—which was 170 yuan—had already been given to the person who provided the information.

Wang An didn't decline and accepted the 340 yuan. After chatting for a while, Wang An wanted to take his leave. His aunt and uncle naturally wanted to keep him for a meal, which led to another round of polite refusal.

That's how it is in the Northeast; when relatives and friends come to visit, how can you not "entertain" them with food and drink? If word got out, how embarrassing!

Wang An finally used the excuse of having to deliver money, so his aunt and uncle didn't insist on keeping him, because for mountain-goers, this was truly a major event!

Money... what is mountain-going and risking one's life for? Everyone understood.

Feng Chengmin and his wife watched Wang An's back as he rode away. Feng Chengmin sighed and said to Wang Yulian with disdain: "Let those girls who looked down on my nephew's reputation and were too stupid to marry him regret it. Each one thinks they're something special, but they don't look at what kind of character they have."

Wang Yulian was stunned for a moment, then burst into laughter and said: "You still can't get over this? Xiao An is already married; why are you still talking about this?"

"I'm just angry at those people for giving me attitude. Damn it, not a single good word from any of them!" Feng Chengmin said with some resentment.

"You, you're really narrow-minded"...

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(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 164 =====