As the crowd dispersed, the "puff puff" sounds of air rifles soon rang out, though they were heard only a few times before fading, as air rifles do not make much noise.
Holding his air rifle, Wang An quickly spotted a target: a black squirrel hopping about in a tree. Whether it was searching for food or a mate, it seemed completely unaware of Wang An's presence.
Unhurriedly, Wang An pressed down the lever to open the breech, loaded a lead pellet, closed it, and spent a long time aiming. The moment the little squirrel paused, Wang An decisively pulled the trigger.
With a "puff," the little squirrel fell straight from the tree. However, it wasn't completely dead; it lay on the ground, its short legs still twitching.
Truth be told, when it came to hunting squirrels, an air rifle was indeed far more useful than a slingshot.
The main issue was that achieving accuracy with a slingshot required constant practice; without natural talent, one couldn't hit a target accurately in a short amount of time.
Air rifles were different. They had sights. Anyone with good marksmanship could pick one up and use it immediately, and even those with poor aim could master it faster than a slingshot.
Wang An looked at the dying squirrel with a smile, stepped forward, bent down to pick it up, and snapped its neck. Given its state, giving it a quick end was the right thing to do.
While Wang An was killing his squirrel, the others were also making various catches.
Among the eight people, the most skilled squirrel hunter turned out to be Huang Zhong. In such a short time, Huang Zhong already had three dead squirrels hanging from his waist.
Ever since Wang An had "lent" him the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, Huang Zhong would spend his spare time standing motionless, holding the gun.
Later, Huang Zhong had hung two bricks from the barrel.
One must realize that bricks of that era weighed a bit over five jin each—roughly five jin and two liang. Two bricks meant over ten jin.
With over ten jin of bricks hanging from the barrel, plus the weight of the Type 56 itself, the gun weighed over eighteen jin. For Huang Zhong to hold it steady like that was truly something an ordinary person could not achieve.
But regardless, Huang Zhong had actually persevered.
Later, Wang An let Huang Zhong carry the rifle into the mountains on his own to practice his marksmanship. Of course, whenever Huang Zhong went into the mountains, Wang An wouldn't let him go too far, restricting his practice to within two li of the village. Occasionally, Huang Zhong would bring back a headless rabbit or a wild pheasant.
Wang An didn't know exactly how good Huang Zhong's marksmanship had become—mainly because he didn't have time to worry about such things—but the speed at which his family's ammunition was being consumed was certainly quite fast.
And so, without disturbing one another, everyone searched for squirrels or sparrows within their sight, pushing forward together.
However, after each person had shot a few sparrows, they stopped. The reason was simple: the birds were too small. Since everyone only had one box of lead pellets, hunting sparrows was simply not cost-effective; it wasted too much ammunition.
After about an hour, while Wang An was searching for squirrels in the trees, he noticed a figure walking toward him out of the corner of his eye.
Wang An looked closer and discovered that the figure was the great beauty, Comrade Sun Nian, with whom he had shared many intimate moments.
Subconsciously, Wang An said with a chuckle
"Yo, if it isn't my Sister Nian. Sister Nian, how many grey dogs have you bagged?"
For some reason, as he spoke, Wang An's eyes scanned the surroundings again, terrified that someone might come along and expose their illicit affair.
It had to be said that the phrase "a thief's heart is guilty" was absolutely true. While Wang An hadn't stolen any objects, he was very much stealing a woman's affection—or rather, stealing the woman herself.
Before approaching, Sun Nian had likely already surveyed the area. Noticing Wang An's shifty gaze, she beamed a smile and said with enchanting charm
"Oh, no need to look. There's no one around here; they've all gone far off."
As she spoke, Sun Nian threw herself straight into Wang An's arms, grumbling dissatisfiedly
"How long has it been since you came to see me? Don't you want to do *that* with me?"
To be honest, Wang An did want to do *that* with Sun Nian—he wanted to very much, exceptionally much.
Of course, with a beauty of Sun Nian's caliber, any normal man who saw her would want to do *that* with her, and would want to do it as many times as possible.
Some might even be willing to exhaust themselves to the point of death just for it.
Wang An wrapped his arm around Sun Nian's waist and comforted her softly
"How could I not want to? I want to all the time. It's just that lately, I've been busy building the greenhouses and such; I've had no time to go to the county."
Sun Nian pouted her small lips, gave a soft "humph," rolled her eyes at Wang An, and then closed them, saying
"Quick, kiss me."
As soon as she finished, Wang An opened his mouth and began devouring her lips.
After they had been kissing for a while, Sun Nian suddenly broke away from him. A sudden inspiration struck her, and she looked at Wang An with a face full of hope
"Xiao An, why don't we find a hidden spot and have a go at it?"
Perhaps no one would have imagined that such a beautiful and quiet woman could proactively say something so shameless.
What was most impressive was that Sun Nian's idea was simply too far ahead of its time; even Wang An, a reincarnated soul, hadn't thought of playing it this way.
The moment Wang An heard this, his eyes lit up.
Whether in his previous life or this one, he had truly never messed around with a woman in the wild.
He had to admit that the thought of doing *that* with a woman in the wilderness felt incredibly thrilling—absolutely exhilarating.
Wang An looked around to confirm his current position, his mind racing to figure out where nearby would be suitable for him and Sun Nian to get intimate.
But after thinking for a long while, Wang An's brow subconsciously furrowed.
In the mountains surrounding the village, there wasn't even a hunter's shack or a dugout; there was simply no suitable place for the two of them.
The most frustrating part was that it was currently the dead of winter. The outdoor daytime temperature was around minus twenty-five or twenty-six degrees. If they did it in a hollow of a tree, Sun Nian might be fine, but as the active party, wouldn't Wang An freeze into a popsicle?
Seeing Wang An frown, Sun Nian said with some displeasure
"What? You're unwilling?"
Looking at the huffy Sun Nian, Wang An really couldn't understand why such a beautiful woman had such a strong craving for *that* business.
But regardless of his thoughts, Wang An wasn't going to ask.
He simply smiled and said
"It's freezing cold out here. I'm afraid I'll be frozen into a popsicle."
(End of Chapter)