Chapter 415

Of the five hazel grouse, the largest was that male hazel grouse.

And the four female hazel grouse were also not small in size, with the smallest weighing about 4 jin and the largest about 6 jin.

Actually, hazel grouse are somewhat similar to domestic chickens; in a small group, there is normally only one male.

Whenever two appear, they will inevitably fight until one of them leaves.

By this time, the sky had turned completely dark.

However, the darkness didn't hinder walking, because the moon was very round and the snow reflected the light, so although one couldn't see very far, it wasn't a matter of walking in total darkness.

The group followed the moonlight and went directly over the mountain on the road back.

On the way, Wang Shuai accidentally fell on his backside. After standing up, Wang Shuai complained:

"My brain! Why didn't I think to bring a flashlight when we left earlier!"

Wang An and the other two smiled but didn't respond, because in their view, falling while walking in the mountains was just too normal.

Immediately afterward, Wang Shuai asked Wang An:

"Brother Xiao An, why don't you bring a flashlight when you go into the mountains? If you get caught in the dark, it would be so convenient to have one."

Upon hearing this, Wang An smiled and said: "Big brother, what you're saying... we just don't have one. If we had one, wouldn't we bring it?"

After listening, Wang Shuai asked with great surprise:

"With your income, you can't afford a flashlight?"

Wang An smiled: "How much does a flashlight cost? We could definitely afford to buy one, but it's troublesome to get industrial coupons; those scalpers are also short on industrial coupons."

With the intensification of the Reform and Opening-up, the industrial wave across China was gradually growing, and various industrial products were also surging.

So in the last year or two, industrial coupons across China had become a bit in short supply.

However, Wang An did know that industrial coupons were already beginning to gradually exit the historical stage.

Because the situation they were about to face was that there were more goods, but they couldn't be sold due to the issue of industrial coupons.

If goods couldn't be sold, what was the point of having industrial coupons?

One must know that the significance of coupons and tickets was actually to limit consumption.

Because there were too few supplies and too much demand, it was necessary to be relatively fair to achieve the goal of relatively reasonable resource allocation.

Not only industrial coupons, but other various tickets were also gradually losing their function; to be precise, they were existing in name only.

For many things, at first, you could only buy them with tickets, but later you could buy them without tickets, only the price would be slightly more expensive.

In the end, around 1985, even grain coupons existed in name only, not to mention other various tickets; as long as you had money, it was fine.

To be precise, after the land was divided among households, tickets for daily necessities like grain and oil began to gradually become optional, it was just that they were still circulating in the market.

Hearing Wang An's words, Wang Shuai frowned and said:

"After the New Year, there are quite a lot of things you can buy without tickets, don't you know?"

Wang Shuai's words made Wang An and the other two freeze instantly.

Because for a long time, everyone had already formed a habit.

If you had a ticket, you bought it; if you didn't have a ticket, you were too lazy to even ask.

It was mainly because those sales clerks, one by one, didn't have friendly attitudes; asking them a question was like dealing with a sour-faced dog that didn't want to pay you any mind.

And Wang An, in his past life at this time, was just messing around; for 28 days out of the month, his pockets were cleaner than his face.

And for the remaining two days, the moment he got money, he would start spending it, and by the next night, the money would definitely be gone.

After a while, Mu Xueli suddenly said excitedly:

"So that means we don't need tickets to buy cloth either?"

Wang Shuai nodded: "Yeah, if you buy cloth without tickets, it's just a little more expensive."

Hearing this, Mu Xueli said excitedly:

"I'm not afraid of it being a little more expensive, as long as I can buy it. I'm getting married at the end of the year and really need to buy quite a bit of cloth. I was just thinking about asking my brother-in-law to help me buy some cloth coupons. Hahaha, that's great."

Hearing Mu Xueli's words, Wang Shuai smiled and said:

"Getting married at the end of the year? That's great. Once you set the date, send me a message; I have to come over to drink your wedding wine, hahaha."

Mu Xueli said: "Yeah, haha."

As the four of them talked, they soon returned to the front of the tents.

At this time, the three tents had all been set up, and the steamed buns had been stuck on tree sticks and were being roasted by the fire.

A dozen cans of meat were placed by the fire, looking ready to be heated at any moment.

Canned meat heats up very quickly, so the five of them just placed them by the fire without starting to heat them yet.

Seeing the harvest of the group, Wu Dong, Zhang Shuya, and the other 5 were quite happy.

It was clear that not only had Wang An eaten enough canned meat, but Wu Dong and the others were the same.

It was just that once you enter the mountains, it's like this: you eat whatever you have, otherwise you have to go hungry.

Wu Dong and the others looked through the prey, and sounds of surprise, exclamation, or questioning kept coming.

Sun Nian said with a face full of smiles: "Oh my god, so many hazel grouse, you guys are really something."

Ma Guoqiang looked at the hazel grouse with almost the same expression as Mu Xueli before, and while poking at the hazel grouse, he said:

"There's even hazel grouse here; hazel grouse soup is super delicious."

Zhang Shuya's eyes were always fixed on the big pile of meat, so Zhang Shuya picked up the hazel grouse one by one to examine them, and while examining them, she said:

"Five hazel grouse and two rabbits, the pot won't even be able to stew them all."

One could see He Liang looking at the winter mushrooms with a face full of question marks and saying:

"Are there fresh mushrooms in winter? That's amazing! Are you sure these mushrooms can be eaten? Don't poison us to death."

Wang Shuai, who had been feeling quite smug after hearing the words of the people before, became unhappy immediately after hearing He Liang's words. He went straight toward He Liang and scolded him:

"If they couldn't be eaten, why would we go through all that trouble to bring them back? Look at your ignorant self; these are called winter mushrooms. Do you know what winter mushrooms are? I can tell at a glance you don't."

Upon hearing this, He Liang didn't indulge Wang Shuai at all, curled his lips, and said:

"I bet you definitely didn't know this thing was called a winter mushroom before."

Before Wang Shuai could speak, He Liang continued:

"I'll bet again that you definitely didn't know this thing could be eaten before."

After He Liang finished speaking, he looked at Wang Shuai with a face full of provocation, seemingly very certain that Wang Shuai wouldn't dare to take this bet.

Wang An and the other two couldn't help but burst into loud laughter upon hearing the conversation between the two.

It must be said that He Liang understood Wang Shuai; it could be called a direct hit, instantly leaving Wang Shuai stunned.

However, although Wang Shuai didn't take the bet, he couldn't lose his momentum. One could see Wang Shuai saying righteously:

"No matter what, I still knew about it before you did, so that's enough, right?"

These two were truly quite interesting, being able to bicker over such a small matter.

Hearing the conversation between the two, Wu Dong, Zhang Shuya, and the other four also gathered around.

However, these four didn't even glance at Wang Shuai and He Liang, but instead picked up the winter mushrooms with great interest to observe them.

(End of chapter)