Looking at the gifts everyone had given the two little treasures, Wang An smiled with a face full of mischief
"Then, on behalf of my eldest son and eldest daughter, I'll thank you all for these few scraps, hehehehe."
As soon as Wang An finished speaking, everyone's eyebrows shot up, and they were all momentarily stunned. Immediately after, the room erupted in laughter.
Truth be told, based on those words alone, Wang An was exactly the kind of person who would get beaten up and find that no one would step in to break up the fight.
Mu Xueqing struggled to suppress her laughter, gave Wang An a sidelong glance, and said
"Xiao An, what are you talking about? What do you mean 'few scraps'? You're just talking nonsense."
Wang An replied righteously
"Then look! What did these lords and aunts—oh, and there's a godmother too—actually bring? A pile of stones that you can't eat or drink; if that's not 'a few scraps,' then what is? Hehehehe."
At the end, Wang An let out that mischievous laugh again, his hands continuously gathering the gifts beside the two babies one by one. He mumbled to the little ones
"Eldest son, eldest daughter, Daddy and Mommy will help you put away these useless stones for now. We'll give them back to you when you're older. Although these stones are useless, it would be a waste if you dropped and broke them, right?"
After tidying up the gifts, Wang An said to Wu Dong, Zhang Shuya, and the others
"By the way, in a couple of years, if I have triplets, you guys should put together three more sets of stones like these, okay? Although these things are useless, they actually look quite decent, hehehehe."
At this moment, Wang An's money-grubbing expression was enough to make anyone who saw it want to give him a couple of kicks.
Hearing this, Zhang Shuya said mercilessly
"Cut it out. Triplets? If you dare have triplets, you'll be fined so hard you won't even have underwear to wear."
Wang Shuai, however, laughed generously
"It's fine. If you have the capability, go ahead and have them. It's just chicken-blood stones, isn't it? I'll prepare as many chicken-blood stones as children you have. Just tell me if you *can* have them. I'm telling you, not having them won't do; then we'll have to have a serious talk."
After Wang Shuai spoke, Wu Dong also said with a smile
"How about this, Xiao An? No need for triplets. One by one—as long as you have another child, I'll definitely make sure a crystal Pi Xiu is ready. Just tell me when you want it. But let me tell you, if you stop having them later, none of us will let you off easy."
Once Wang Shuai finished, Wu Dong, Sun Nian, and the others immediately followed suit with similar smiling remarks, effectively ganging up on Wang An.
Mainly, given the current family planning situation, Wang An didn't dare say he actually wanted more children, so he immediately changed the subject
"Anyway, big brothers and sisters, what do you want to eat? Pork? Mutton? Or roe deer? Or maybe all of the above? Your little brother here will arrange it for you."
Wang An's behavior—daring not to answer and directly pivoting the topic—caused everyone to burst into laughter once again.
However, with a hide as thick as a dead pig that doesn't fear boiling water, Wang An didn't care about the ridicule at all. His main strategy was: let the storm rage and the winds howl, I shall remain unmoved and unresponsive.
As long as he wasn't embarrassed, the embarrassment belonged to others.
Since Wang An wouldn't take the bait, the verbal attacks became meaningless. After the laughter subsided, everyone stood up. Wu Dong said without any hesitation
"I came to your house for food, drink, and fun, so you definitely have to arrange everything. After eating, we're going to smash some holes in the ice to catch fish. I didn't get my fill of fishing last time."
He Liang also said excitedly
"Exactly! This time we have to smash more holes. It'll only be satisfying if every person has one to guard."
Zhang Shuya suddenly added
"Xiao Nian and I brought quite a few air rifles. Tomorrow we'll go hunt some grey dogs and sparrows to roast and eat. I'm craving roasted grey dog and roasted sparrow right now."
Sun Nian said with a girlish demeanor
"Mm-hmm, me too. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water."
Ever since Sun Nian's father, Sun Xianghuo, had been removed from his post, Sun Nian's relationship with Wu Dong and the others had clearly changed. However, with Zhang Shuya acting as a mediator, the relationships between these "second-generation" elites seemed relatively harmonious.
Regardless of how the relationships between these second-generation kids changed, Wang An treated them all the same.
After Sun Nian finished, Ma Guoqiang suddenly said
"If Xueli and Old Fifth aren't busy, why not call them over to play too?"
Wang An shook his head
"It'd be tough for them to come out right now; they're both at home planting vegetables."
Hearing this, Wu Dong asked in confusion
"Planting vegetables? What kind of vegetables? How are they planting vegetables in the dead of winter?"
Wang An explained with a smile
"I built a greenhouse thinking my mother could plant some vegetables when she's free. Once I started, my relatives all got interested. They insisted on building greenhouses to plant vegetables too. One thing led to another, and now every household has a greenhouse, hahahaha."
Just as Wang An finished, Wu Dong slapped his thigh and said excitedly
"Planting vegetables is great! That's perfect! Hey, Xiao An, you're planting those vegetables to make money, right? Just sell the vegetables directly to my unit!"
As soon as Wu Dong's voice fell, Zhang Shuya immediately interjected
"Why sell to your unit? Our unit's cafeteria wants them too! Xiao An, don't sell to him, sell to me!"
Ma Guoqiang also said
"If there's any left over, selling some to us would be fine. Our unit has few people, so a little bit is enough."
After Ma Guoqiang spoke, He Liang said the same thing.
Once everyone had spoken, Wang An and Mu Xueqing instinctively looked at each other and were momentarily stunned. The couple had never imagined that before the vegetables were even grown, they had already been carved up by these people.
One must realize that Wu Dong's unit was not a small one; not only was the headcount large, but it was full of young, strong men.
Forget just the vegetables from Wang An's seven greenhouses—even if they had another seven, it wouldn't be a problem.
The only trouble was the quality of the vegetables, which allowed for no mistakes. If a problem occurred, it was a responsibility no one could afford to bear.
While these second-generation kids were vying to buy the vegetables, Wang An threw cold water on them
"Uh, let me tell you, these vegetables are definitely not cheap. Mainly because the cost of greenhouse farming is just too high."
Building one greenhouse cost over a thousand yuan—and that was over a thousand yuan in *this* era!
Beyond that, an untold amount of firewood had to be burned throughout the winter.
And that didn't even count the labor.
There was no helping it; it had always been this way since ancient times—farmers never counted their own labor.
After Wang An finished, Wu Dong said nonchalantly
"What? No matter how expensive, could they possibly be more expensive than the vegetable prices in Ice City?"
(End of Chapter)