Upon arriving at Mu Xueli's home, the happiest person to see Mu Xueli return hauling a television was undoubtedly his wife, Li Xiuhong.
Mainly because, in the rural areas of this era, a television was something people had heard of but rarely seen.
Ever since Mu Xueli told Li Xiuhong how wonderful watching TV was, the new bride had kept it firmly in her mind.
It was precisely because Li Xiuhong nagged Mu Xueli every day about wanting to watch TV that Mu Xueli had rushed to Wang Li's house early yesterday morning, and then gone with Wang Li to beg Wang An to buy a television.
Therefore, to say that Mu Xueli insisted on buying a TV before the Lunar New Year because of Li Xiuhong was absolutely accurate.
After a brief exchange of greetings, Wang Li, Mu Xueli, and the father-in-law, Mu Hua, took charge of the task of digging the hole. Wang An, being the technical expert, was responsible for connecting the flat feedline to the TV stand and securing the line to the pole with nails.
These tasks were quite simple, so it only took a short while for Wang An to finish tinkering with everything.
Once finished, Wang An ignored the three men still digging the hole and started playing xiangqi with his sister-in-law, Mu Xueting.
It wasn't that Wang An wanted to play; rather, Mu Xueting insisted on pestering him to accompany her.
Of course, the reason Wang An could naturally play xiangqi with Mu Xueting instead of helping dig the hole was that, as the Mu family's son-in-law, he was very different from other sons-in-law.
Normally, when a son-in-law visits his father-in-law's house, he would help out with chores; even if there was no work, he would proactively look for something to do.
Wang An, however, did nothing. He wouldn't even do something as small as sitting by the stove to tend the fire.
It was no exaggeration to say that when Wang An arrived at Mu Xueli's house, he truly came as a pampered lord.
Of course, it wasn't that Wang An lacked tact or couldn't see the work that needed doing; it was simply that he didn't want to do it.
His creed was: "Whoever wants to do it can do it, but I'm not doing it!"
Thus, while Mu Hua, Mu Xueli, and Wang Li dug the hole in the backyard, and the mother-in-law Liu Ruxin and Li Xiuhong were busy with housework, only Wang An and Mu Xueting played xiangqi in the living room, appearing quite happy.
The scene was rather amusing.
What surprised Wang An, however, was that although Mu Xueting was only eight years old, her skill at the game was actually quite impressive.
Even after Wang An gave her a handicap of one horse and one cannon, he still found it somewhat strenuous to win!
One must realize that Wang An was exceptionally good at xiangqi; in his previous life, when he used to hang around the neighborhood fences, he had been an undefeated presence.
It wasn't until Wang An finished setting up the feedline and played another hour of xiangqi with Mu Xueting that Mu Hua and the other two finally finished digging the hole for the TV pole.
Immediately after, Mu Hua called over two neighbors to help. With the strength of six people, they finally managed to erect the television pole, which was over twenty meters long.
Once the pole was up, Wang An connected the other end of the feedline to the television and began tuning it again.
It must be mentioned that the color TV the three of them bought came with a remote control.
However, this remote was different from the ones in later generations because this remote was wired.
Yes, a wired remote—a major characteristic of that era.
Of course, because color TVs were very expensive at the time and few families could afford them, this feature wasn't widely known.
This remote was called a "Lazy Bone." It was roughly the size of a later-generation computer mouse and only had volume buttons and channel up/down buttons; it didn't even have a power button.
As Wang An tuned the TV, Mu Xueli and Wang Li rotated the wooden frame to find a signal. In just two or three minutes, the TV programs were tuned in.
Strangely, though Sujia Village was only five or six li from Kaoshan Village, and Sujia Village was further away from the county seat of DJ County, the signal received by the TV at Mu Xueli's house was actually stronger than those in Kaoshan Village.
Based on the screen effect at Mu Xueli's house, although there was still plenty of "snow" and many horizontal or vertical bars, one could barely make out the faces of the people on the screen.
This point truly left Wang An completely perplexed.
Looking at the color TV that had been tuned to its optimum, Mu Xueli said excitedly
"Brother-in-law, why do I feel like my TV is much clearer than the ones at your two houses?"
Wang An nodded with a speechless expression
"Yeah, it's weird. Your house is clearly further from the county seat, so why is your signal better?"
Mu Xueli said excitedly to Wang An and Wang Li
"Maybe it's because our Sujia Village is a place of spiritual brilliance! Why don't you two consider moving here to Sujia Village?"
Hearing this, Wang An said with a fake smile
"Hehehe, then you won't get that amplifier of yours, okay?"
As soon as Wang An finished, Wang Li looked at Mu Xueli with a gloating expression and teased
"Serves you right for showing off. I knew you shouldn't have been so cocky."
Mu Xueli ignored Wang Li and immediately changed her tune
"Although Sujia Village is great, I still think Kaoshan Village is better. Kaoshan Village is the truly spiritually brilliant place. I mean, if it weren't for a place of spiritual brilliance, could it have produced a genius as awesome as my brother-in-law?"
"Besides, my eldest sister is probably the most beautiful girl in ten villages. Even she married into Kaoshan Village. Just imagine how great Kaoshan Village must be..."
In this manner, Mu Xueli rambled on for a long time before finally asking Wang An
"Brother-in-law, do you think everything I said is correct?"
Wang An glanced at Mu Xueli, a smile playing on his lips
"Not bad. These words sound quite pleasant to my ears. Talk for another ten minutes, and you'll get a share of that amplifier."
After Wang An spoke, everyone in the room burst into laughter.
Only Mu Xueli said with a bitter face
"Brother-in-law, I'm out of words."
As soon as she said this, the laughter grew even louder, and Wang An couldn't help but laugh along.
By the time the TV was tuned, the sun was nearly setting. Because Wang An had to hurry back to make the amplifier, he didn't stay for dinner at Mu Xueli's house and drove the sledge home with Wang Li.
When Wang An arrived home, Shen Wei and Little Lai, Zhao Cuiyun and her son, the eldest uncle's family, his eldest brother Wang Yong's family, and several neighbors living close to Wang An's house were all sitting in the living room of Wang Dazhu's house watching TV.
Consequently, the living room of Wang Dazhu's house was currently packed with people.
Wang An and Wang Li had been clattering around for half the day and had erected such a tall TV pole that the villagers had long since noticed.
Therefore, it was not surprising at all that these people had appeared at Wang An's home.