Chapter 19: Mother-in-law's House

He led the mule cart directly into the yard and tied it to the wooden post used for supporting the clothesline!

He scanned the yard; there were three mud rooms, as big as his own lower room (west wing)!

The roof wasn't clay tiles; it was actually mud. This kind of mud roof was very troublesome; after heavy snow or heavy rain, one had to get on the roof immediately!

After heavy snow, one had to get on the roof to sweep the snow immediately! Otherwise, as soon as the snow melted a little and then froze again, the whole roof would be full of frozen mud slush!

The Northeast's "big smoke bubbles" (strong winds blowing snow across the sky) were quite fierce, and chopped straw couldn't hold back the mud clods at all! After a whole winter, the mud on the entire roof was basically ruined!

After heavy rain, it was even worse; the whole roof would be washed into small gullies by the rain. If not repaired in time, after a few heavy rains!

Not only would the house leak, but the roof, along with the fence slats and the purlins (tree trunks, house beams), would all rot. If you were lucky, you could even harvest a pile of mushrooms!!

The yard was kept very tidy. There was only one lower room, and connected to it were two sheds!

In the whole yard, apart from seeing wood logs, wood stumps, and those two wooden posts, there was nothing else! Clean and tidy!

Seeing the mule cart enter from outside, Mu Hua led Mu Xueli and Mu Xueting all out!

Seeing these three people, Wang An immediately carried the sack and walked up with a smile on his face to greet them: "Uncle, hello! I'm Wang An! Xueqing's classmate!"

He turned his head again to Mu Xueli and Mu Xueting and said: "These must be Xueli and Xueting, right? I've often heard Xueqing mention you!"

He had to say, the looks of this family were quite impressive! Not to mention Mu Xueqing, not even talking about the whole country, at the very least she was invincible in Heilongjiang!

Although Liu Ruxin's youth was long gone and the hardships of life had repeatedly ravaged her, she was still a mature woman with lingering charm!

Mu Hua had already passed the age of forty, and the torture of illness had left deep imprints on his face, but he still appeared gentle, elegant, and dashing!

Mu Xueli was at a vigorous and high-spirited age; although he was a bit reserved, he was a serious handsome guy!

Mu Xueting was still young, also with bright teeth and beautiful eyes, her big sparkling eyes were expressive and moving. Although her hair was withered and yellow, showing signs of malnutrition, one could still see she was a beauty in the making!

A family of handsome men and beautiful women, awesome!

Hearing Wang An's greeting, a hint of a smile appeared on Mu Hua's face, and he waved his hand: "You've come, Xiao An, come in and sit!"

A large group of people walked into the east room. "Get on the kang, get on the kang! It's warm on the kang!" Mu Hua greeted Wang An politely.

Not to mention the simplicity inside the house, what shocked Wang An the most was that against the north wall, there was a wooden bookshelf, full of books, and many very old thread-bound volumes, looking like the kind that were especially old!

Having experienced so many things, so many years! In such a small mountain village, to still have so many old books! This shock was not ordinary!

Watching Wang An look at that bookshelf of books in shock, Mu Hua asked with a smile: "Does Xiao An also like reading? These books were only taken out in the last two years. Many books, I don't even know when they were passed down from! They are all the kind of traditional characters! And they are all in classical Chinese. I can barely understand them. Does Xiao An have any research on traditional characters?"

Hearing this, Wang An smiled awkwardly: "What research do I have! I didn't even graduate from junior high! I've been hunting in the mountains every day, and I haven't touched books much!"

He thought for a moment and then added: "But I know those old books are quite valuable now, the older they are, the more valuable they are! In Beijing, there are many people who collect these kinds of books!"

Wang An felt that if he remembered correctly, antiques and collectibles had already started to become popular in these few years! He should give a reminder, don't let them take it lightly one day, or be targeted by someone with ulterior motives and sell them cheaply. If this family found out later, how sad they would be!

Hearing this, Mu Hua was stunned for a moment and didn't speak, lowering his head in thought, as if thinking about something!

The scene calmed down like this. Just now, when Mu Xueli heard Wang An say the four words "hunting in the mountains," he wanted to interrupt! Seeing no one speaking now!

He hurriedly asked: "Brother Wang An, are you fierce at hunting? I've also been into the mountains with the hunters in our village. They all carry guns and lead dogs, and they drag wild boars and roe deer home on sleds! They eat meat to their heart's content, and if they can't finish it, they can sell it for money! It's really great!" The envious look was exposed very thoroughly!

After listening, Wang An couldn't help but smile! He said with a smile: "I can only say I'm okay at hunting! I can catch wild boars and roe deer, but that stuff is just okay to eat; you can't sell the meat for much money!"

Mu Xueli immediately looked at Wang An with a look of worship and said in surprise: "They can sell it for twenty or thirty yuan every time! Each person can get ten or eight yuan!"

It seemed that this ten or eight yuan was a large sum of wealth in Mu Xueli's eyes! But in this era, a ten-yuan bill was indeed quite a lot of money!

Wang An smiled and asked: "Then why don't you participate? Hunting in the mountains is distributed by shares; you can get some too!"

Mu Xueli said dejectedly: "I wanted to go, but I have no dogs and no guns, so they won't take me! Even the few times I went into the mountains with them, I followed them shamelessly! In the end, they only gave me a small piece of meat, and that meat was really fragrant!"

Wang An secretly laughed in his heart: "This brother-in-law is really honest! He doesn't hide anything!"

Immediately after, Mu Xueli's eyes suddenly lit up: "Brother Wang An, you're so fierce, will you take me with you when you go into the mountains in the future? I have plenty of strength, and I've also learned how to gut them!"

Looking at his brother-in-law's glowing eyes, Wang An felt a bit helpless. Hunting in the mountains wasn't a good business; if something happened, he couldn't take responsibility!

He thought for a moment and then said: "You can't ask me about this; you have to ask your uncle, aunt, and sister if they agree? If they agree, I'll take you!"

At this time, Liu Ruxin, who had been outside and didn't know what she was busy with, entered the room!

Wang An hurriedly got up and said to Liu Ruxin: "Auntie, what are you busy with? Why did you just enter the room! I've been waiting for you for a long time."

After saying this, he took out the 40 ten-yuan bills from his pocket, counted out 200 from the money he had picked from the dead people's pockets, and handed them all to Liu Ruxin.

Then he said: "Auntie, let's handle the matchmaker's business first. Once it's done, you'll be at ease!"

Mu Hua had been watching without speaking, which showed that this family was the same as his own, with the mother in charge! It might also be that Mu Hua didn't know what was going on!

"Okay, son-in-law, I'll send it to her right now. She urges me every day, I'm annoyed to death!" Liu Ruxin seemed to finally breathe a sigh of relief!

"Auntie, what kind of person is she? Do you need me to go with you?" Wang An said.

"No need, she's from the west yard, a neighbor for over twenty years. If she doesn't give me the note, I won't give her the money!" After saying this, she turned and left.

The few people in the room said a few words of nonsense, and then they saw Liu Ruxin return, holding a piece of paper! It hadn't even been 5 minutes! Really fast!

Wang An took the note and looked at it. Damn, it was actually an IOU!! This person had so many tricks, her guard was strong enough! He took out the matches from his pocket and lit the note!

Watching the note turn into ashes, Wang An smiled and said: "So, Uncle, Auntie, what do you think about my marriage with Xueqing?"

Dear fellow villagers, brothers and sisters!

I love you all!!

Please give me recommendations and collections!

Please give me recommendations and collections!

Please give me recommendations and collections!

Thank you all! Thank you all!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 20 =====