Wang An was tinkering with the pig sand, and Mu Xueqing had been watching him from the side. Once Wang An finished weighing it, Mu Xueqing said with a face full of joy
"Oh my, so much pig sand came out! You two brothers have such great luck."
Wang An folded a small paper helmet out of scrap paper and said with a beaming smile
"Yup! I was originally thinking it was a real pain in the ass to kill that big boar's testicle for nothing, who knew there would be pig sand inside? Hahahaha!"
After saying this, Wang An couldn't help but laugh out loud. It was mainly because this kind of thing was truly miraculous; it felt like "when God closes a door, He must open a window."
After laughing, Wang An said to Mu Xueqing in a blissful tone
"Right, let me tell you another piece of good news. I just sent the head of that boar's testicle to the brigade headquarters, and the reward of ten mu of land was given directly to me and Lao Wu. Hehehe... how about that? Isn't your man awesome?"
Mu Xueqing was stunned for a moment upon hearing this, then said happily
"Ten mu? Then you and Lao Wu get five mu each. Adding the five mu you got before for protecting the seedlings, our family will have over sixty mu of land next year. Hehehe, that's wonderful."
Wang An nodded and said
"Yup, sixty-two and a half mu in total. By the way, the wasteland and barren hills in the village weren't successfully contracted this year. I reckon by the end of the year or next year, they'll have to be contracted out. When the time comes, our family will contract more. Once we've reclaimed the land, we can sublease it. I guarantee we'll make a killing."
Wang An remembered that in his previous life, all the wasteland and barren hills in the village had been contracted to the villagers.
After that, some of those who contracted the land hired people to farm it themselves, but more people, seeking a simpler life, subleased the land. Some subleased to other villagers, and some to cooperatives.
Regardless of whether they hired workers or subleased, every single one of them made a fair amount of money.
Especially those who subleased; although they earned a bit less than if they farmed it themselves, they were essentially making money while lying down. They didn't have to do anything every day, and they certainly didn't lack money to spend.
Who wouldn't envy a life like that?
After Wang An finished speaking, Mu Xueqing said
"Contracting land is a good thing, but isn't subleasing it a bit unnecessary? Wouldn't it be better if we farmed it ourselves? Every grain of food harvested would be ours."
Hearing this, Wang An couldn't help but laugh
"How could we possibly manage that much land? Hiring people costs money; it's easier to just sublease it and save the headache. Besides, our family isn't short on money, why put ourselves through that bastard of a struggle?"
Wang An had absolutely zero interest in the act of farming. Mainly because, since ancient times, no one ever got rich from farming; even reaching a level of affluence was very rare.
Farming was a venture with high investment, high risk, and highly unstable returns. If you happened to hit a disaster year, you'd be completely wiped out.
After Wang An spoke, Mu Xueqing frowned and said
"But we are farmers. If we don't farm, what do we do?"
This sentence suddenly left Wang An stunned. The key was that Mu Xueqing's words actually made a lot of sense. If farmers don't farm, what do they do?
After the momentary shock, Wang An raised his hand and pointed outside the door, saying to Mu Xueqing
"Do you know why I caught all those sika deer? I've already thought it through. Our family will specialize in breeding—deer as the main focus, with some roe deer and wild boars on the side. Once we contract the barren hills in the future, we'll fence the mountains and put the deer inside. I'm telling you, breeding them this way means you don't have to feed them every meal. It's so much easier."
And so, Wang An talked incessantly to Mu Xueqing about a whole heap of future plans, leaving her dazed.
However, from the increasingly admiring look in Mu Xueqing's eyes, it wasn't hard to see that the vision of future life Wang An painted had indeed captivated her.
As he spoke, Wang An suddenly remembered something: Wang Li was still waiting for him at the dugout.
Thus, Wang An said to Mu Xueqing
"Uh, wifey, I'll continue bragging—I mean, continue telling you my ideas—when I have time another day. I've gotta hurry and find Lao Wu."
Standing up, Wang An handed the pig sand to Mu Xueqing and said
"Wifey, when you go back to our room in a bit, put this pig sand in the back room. Our parents' back room is full of smoke from cooking every day; don't let this pig sand grow mold."
Mu Xueqing took the pig sand, examining it as she said
"Yup, I'll go over in a bit."
Wang An reached out and pinched Mu Xueqing's cheek, then smiled
"Second Mother is simmering chili sauce today. I'll go to her house and grab some to take into the mountains, and I'll bring a bowl back for you later."
As he spoke, Wang An gave a thumbs-up and added
"I'm telling you, Second Mother's chili sauce is absolutely top-notch. Mix it into rice or sandwich it in a steamed bun, and you don't even need other side dishes."
After saying this, Wang An turned and left the house.
For this trip into the mountains, Wang An didn't plan to ride the horse, but chose the sidecar motorcycle instead. Mainly because there was still a lot of meat at the dugout that needed to be hauled back, and the sidecar was more convenient.
Arriving at Wang Li's house, he briefly told Second Mother, Yao Ping, about the ten mu of land, which immediately made Yao Ping overjoyed.
In China, it was like this: almost all farmers had a special obsession with land. Of course, this was likely a habit ingrained in people's minds over thousands of years.
After Wang An finished speaking, he left with the chili sauce that had already been packed into canning jars.
Naturally, given Yao Ping's personality, there was no way she would only give Wang An's family one jar of chili sauce; instead, she gave them more than half of the batch she had simmered.
Wang An didn't stand on ceremony and accepted it gladly.
Mainly because while chili sauce was delicious, it wasn't considered a particularly precious item in the countryside. Every family had a vegetable garden and didn't lack chilies; the only troublesome part was the preparation process.
After delivering the chili sauce Yao Ping gave them to his home, Wang An rode the sidecar directly to the dugout.
When Wang An arrived at the dugout, he saw two people squatting in front of Wang Li. Wang Li was holding his box-gun, pointing it at the two of them with a casual air, while a group of dogs sat in a circle, surrounding both the two strangers and Wang Li.
This scene gave Wang An a sudden shock. What on earth had happened in the short time he had been gone?
Stopping the sidecar, Wang An looked toward the two people and discovered he didn't recognize them, so he asked Wang Li
"Who are these two? What are you guys doing?"
As soon as Wang Li saw Wang An, he immediately reported his achievement
"These two were stealing corn cobs in the fields, and I caught them. They say they came from inside the Pass."
As soon as Wang An heard this, he knew—these were two drifting vagrants.
(End of Chapter)