Chapter 497: The siblings head into the mountains

During the meal, the whole family couldn't stop praising the mutton with skin.

Except for the two little girls, the five adults all held garlic in their left hands and mutton in their right.

In the Northeast, there is a saying: "Eating meat without garlic makes it half as fragrant," so many people will bite into a clove of garlic regardless of what meat they are eating.

It must be said that eating this way is quite invigorating and especially delicious.

Liu Guilan praised it while eating: "I have to say, this brat Wang An really knows how to eat. Stewing the sheepskin with the meat makes it chewy and genuinely delicious."

Wang Dazhu nodded in agreement: "Indeed. I'm over forty years old, and this is the first time I've eaten mutton with the skin on."

Zhang Shuya just said while eating:

"So fragrant, delicious, this is just too delicious."

Wang An and Mu Xueqing were naturally eating with great relish, though Wang An didn't get to eat much sheepskin at first.

This was because the two little girls, Wang Xiaomei and Wang Xiaoli, tore the skin off the meat to eat themselves, then gave the skinless mutton to Wang An.

Fortunately, the two little girls, one seven and the other six, were full after eating some sheep blood sausage, sheep offal, and a few pieces of sheepskin.

Otherwise, by the end of this meal, Wang An would only have been able to taste what the sheepskin was like.

It must be said that with Zhang Shuya there, there was no need to worry about any mutton being left over.

Because Zhang Shuya herself ate nearly 40 percent of the mutton!

To say nearly 40 percent of the mutton, it actually wasn't much.

Because for a 70-jin yellow sheep, excluding the head, hooves, and offal, the entire sheep carcass with the skin didn't weigh much, only about thirty-something jin.

This is assuming the sheep was raised very fat by Wang An's family; otherwise, it would have been even less.

And for a 30-plus jin sheep carcass, after removing the bones, there would only be about 20-plus jin of meat left.

You have to know that the weight of meat decreases by half after it's cooked; that is, 1 jin of raw meat leaves less than 6 taels after being stewed.

So, for five adults and two children to eat over 20 jin of meat really isn't much. If it weren't for the sheep offal and intestines, the meat might not have been enough.

Because lunch was eaten very late, only a small basin of mutton was stewed for dinner, mainly for Wang Yi, who had returned from school.

But even though very little was stewed, everyone still put down their chopsticks after only a few bites. It must be said that mutton is truly filling! After dinner, everyone strolled to the new homestead to take a look; there was no other purpose, simply to aid digestion.

The night passed without incident. After breakfast, Wang An and Zhang Shuya checked their firearms and ammunition, packed the necessary gear for the mountains, and the siblings drove the sled into the mountains.

At this time of year, the snow in the mountains had already begun to melt, so whether driving a sled or a horse cart, it wasn't very comfortable.

Fortunately, a sled has relatively low friction in mud and among fallen leaves and withered grass, so it was still much better than a horse cart.

Most importantly, the sled is narrower, while the horse cart is very wide, making the sled more convenient when passing through the woods.

Therefore, Wang An still chose to harness the sled to go into the mountains rather than choosing the horse cart.

Because he was familiar with the road, Wang An harnessed two horses to pull the sled this time; one was the big stallion, and the other was the big blue horse.

It must be admitted that a certain saying is true: "Whether it's a mule or a horse, take it out for a walk to see."

The big blue horse's build was already quite large for the local area; to be precise, it was genuinely quite big. However, when the big stallion and the big blue horse were pulling the sled, it was very obvious that the big stallion was a full size larger than the big blue horse.

As Zhang Shuya sat on the sled, she asked Wang An curiously:

"Xiao An, what breed is this date-red horse? Why is it so much bigger than this blue horse?"

Wang An was stunned upon hearing this, mainly because Wang An didn't know what breed the big stallion was either.

Wang An only knew that this big stallion and that big mare were likely warhorses.

So Wang An just made something up:

"I don't know. I bought this horse and the date-red mare at home together. When I bought them, I was worried that since this horse hadn't been gelded, it wouldn't be well-behaved. I didn't expect this horse to be genuinely quite good; it's very loyal."

Zhang Shuya nodded and said:

"Indeed, this horse is also very steady to ride, as if it had been specially trained."

Wang An nodded and said: "Indeed, I don't know how it was trained; I really want to learn."

Zhang Shuya thought for a moment and said: "Last time we went into the mountains to suppress bandits, I saw those Oroqen horses were also quite good. Although their build is slightly smaller, I heard them say that Oroqen horses are good for mountain travel."

At the mention of Oroqen horses, Wang An's eyes lit up instantly, and he said somewhat eagerly: "That's for sure, Oroqen horses are specially used for mountain travel. By the way, Big Sister, where did you get those horses last time? I'm thinking of buying two."

Zhang Shuya was stunned upon hearing this and asked subconsciously:

"What are you buying those for? You already have herds of mules and horses at home. What? Are you going to set up a horse farm?"

It must be said that Zhang Shuya's words were completely on point; seven horses plus one donkey was indeed quite a large number.

Wang An explained: "It's almost time for farming, and the mountain work can't be done anymore. I'm thinking of going to dig for ginseng and such, but the mules and horses at home are all too big; it's not comfortable to ride them into the mountains."

Zhang Shuya thought for a while and said:

"Those horses were borrowed by Wu Dong from the Heishan Brigade, the brigade north of the county town. That area is basically all Oroqen people."

Upon hearing this, Wang An subconsciously thought of the old Oroqen man who sold the leather bags.

The address that old man mentioned seemed to be a village under the Heishan Brigade, so Wang An nodded and said:

"Indeed, once I'm done with your business, I have to make a trip there no matter what."

Just like that, the two chatted while heading into the mountains.

Just as the two were talking about the gold mine in JY County, Wang An suddenly remembered the matter of gold panning.

After thinking it over, Wang An said very seriously to Zhang Shuya: "Big Sister, there's a matter we need to agree on beforehand. After I finish speaking, if you don't agree, then consider it as if I never said anything, and you mustn't ask further. If you do agree, then you must listen to me and absolutely cannot tell a second person."

Seeing Wang An suddenly become so serious, Zhang Shuya let out a "pfft" and laughed, then asked cheerfully: "How big of a deal is it? Can it make you so nervous?"

Wang An didn't laugh and continued with a serious face: "This might not be a big deal to you, but it's a very big deal to me. If you don't agree, then even though you are my sister, I definitely cannot tell you."

Seeing that Wang An didn't seem to be joking, Zhang Shuya took it seriously, immediately wiped the smile off her face, and promised: "Go ahead, I agree."

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 498 =====