After putting away the bear gall and helping Mu Xueli and Wang Li feed the pack of dogs and wolves, Wang An gave them both another set of instructions
"You two hurry up and butcher the meat. If you aren't finished by the time I drive the sled back, just wait and see if I kick the both of you."
With that, Wang An turned around and walked back toward where the sled was.
After Wang An left, Wang Li said to Mu Xueli with a smirk on his face
"Look at my fourth brother's attitude, his face is practically dripping with misery. He wants me to raise a blind bear? I'm not doing it, ga ga ga ga!"
Mu Xueli also said with a face full of smiles
"Exactly, who would raise that piece of junk? Look at that big pancake face of his, black as the bottom of a pot, hei hei hei hei..."
As they spoke, the two idiots laughed with sounds like pig squeals.
That being said, the movements of their hands butchering the meat were incredibly fast; they were clearly afraid that Wang An would kick them when he returned.
They simply forgot that if Wang An couldn't find a reason to kick them, he wouldn't bother looking for one—he'd just kick them anyway.
By the time Wang An returned to the sled, Huang Zhong had already stewed the leopard cat meat in the pot and skewered quite a few pieces of meat, which were now roasting near the fire.
Compared to tiger, leopard, and lynx meat, leopard cat meat was quite tasty; it didn't have a strong gamey smell or odd odor, and the texture wasn't dry, but rather very tender.
Seeing Wang An return, Huang Zhong immediately asked
"Big brother, did you find all the dogs?"
Wang An nodded and smiled
"Found them. They found a bear den, and we managed to kill a black bear inside and catch two black bear cubs."
Hearing this, Huang Zhong said with a look of shock
"Da Hei and the others are just too fierce; they can find a bear den in a single trip."
Wang An smiled and said
"Yeah, Da Hei and the others are indeed great. Every time I take them into the mountains, we never come back empty-handed. Anyway, I'll go pull the black bear meat back. Once that's done, roast those steamed buns and pancakes to warm them up before we eat."
Huang Zhong replied
"Got it, big brother. I'll start roasting now. I reckon this meat will be cooked by the time you get back."
Wang An drove the sled at full speed, thinking of a reason to give those two idiots a beating. To his surprise, when he drove the sled up to them, the two of them had actually finished butchering the entire black bear.
Consequently, Wang An's desire to beat them immediately fell through once again.
Mu Xueli even asked Wang An with a grin
"Brother-in-law, how do you think we did with the work? Isn't it actually pretty good? Do you have any instructions for us?"
Wang An nodded, looking for a long while without finding any faults, before saying
"What instructions? Just load the cart quickly."
As soon as Wang An turned his face away, Wang Li and Mu Xueli looked at each other and smiled, winking and gesturing with the look of a successful conspiracy.
Unexpectedly, before they had finished laughing and before the expressions could leave their faces, they were spotted by Wang An, who was always looking for trouble with them.
Thus, Wang An raised his big foot and gave each of the two idiots a hard kick to the backside. Simultaneously, they heard Wang An say
"What are you two laughing at? What's so funny? Laugh one more time and let me see."
Instantly, the two idiots became obedient.
Seeing that they weren't speaking, Wang An kicked them each one more time and said
"What are you staring at? Hurry up and load the meat onto the sled."
Mu Xueli and Wang Li secretly glanced at each other out of the corners of their eyes, looking like brothers in misery, and silently began loading the meat onto the sled.
It must be said that after delivering those kicks, Wang An's mood instantly became bright and clear.
After loading the meat, the three of them drove the sleds and led the pack of dogs and wolves back to Huang Zhong. By this time, it was already past two in the afternoon.
Wang An cut a few strips of bear meat to feed the four eagles. The four men then sat by the fire, eating the hot stewed and roasted leopard cat meat, occasionally taking turns passing the flask to drink a sip of pungent white liquor.
The temperature in these great mountains was simply too low; even during the hottest part of the day, it was around minus twenty-five or twenty-six degrees. Without a few drinks, the cold was truly unbearable.
While eating and drinking, Wang An and the other two couldn't help but shower Huang Zhong with praise, complimenting how delicious the stewed meat was and how flavorful the roasted meat tasted.
In reality, regardless of who stewed or roasted the meat, it all tasted the same.
Since it was Huang Zhong's first time eating meat and drinking liquor in the deep forest, he was somewhat excited and thrilled, as if this were some incredibly coveted experience, exclaiming that it was truly wonderful to follow Wang An and the others into the mountains to hunt.
Little did he know that the reason Wang An and the others always had a harvest was because they were young, had plenty of stamina, and possessed good guns, strong horses, and tough dogs.
Most importantly, every time they entered the mountains, they never lingered in the foothills but went straight into the deep mountains where there was more prey.
With all these factors combined, Wang An and the others could ensure they never returned empty-handed.
If any one of these factors failed, whether they could catch any prey after entering the mountains would be entirely uncertain.
After eating and drinking their fill, the four of them moved the four hanging sheep onto Wang Li's sled and tied them down. The bear hide, paws, and meat remained on Mu Xueli's sled.
Finally, they hitched the three sleds together in a chain. The four men sat on Wang An's sled, followed by the pack of dogs and wolves, with four eagles flying above, as they made their noisy descent down the mountain.
As for the two extremely lazy lynxes, they very proactively squeezed themselves between the four sheep and fell asleep.
It had to be said that felines really knew how to enjoy themselves; they didn't need to be taught—they could take care of themselves just fine.
On the way, Mu Xueli suddenly said to Wang An
"Brother-in-law, I noticed the fur on the shoulders of my three Langqing dogs has turned white. I reckon in a year or two, the three of them won't be able to follow us into the mountains anymore."
After Mu Xueli finished, Wang Li also said quite helplessly
"My four yellow dogs are the same; the fur on their backs has turned white. Especially Da Huang—even his whiskers are white. I was thinking of waiting for him to sire a litter of pups to take over, but looking at this, it's probably not going to happen."
Then, Wang Li sighed
"Sigh! These hunting dogs age too quickly."
Wang An looked at his own three black dogs and said
"Be content. These dogs have been in our hands and haven't had any accidents; that's already pretty good. Look at the other hunters around us—whose dogs don't just drop dead out of nowhere?"
Actually, the reason Wang An and the others' dogs hadn't had accidents was partly because Da Hei, the lead dog, was quite intelligent, always using a wearing-down method to corner prey.
Another reason was that Wang An had made armor and collars for the dogs early on; these two things provided significant protection.
Lastly, it was because they had a large number of dogs.
When facing danger, they could often rely on the advantage of numbers to disperse the risk, rather than letting a few sole dogs shoulder all the danger.
After Wang An spoke, Mu Xueli said
"No, brother-in-law, that's not what I meant. I'm thinking of buying a few dogs. Otherwise, once Da Qing and the others can't make it up the mountain, I won't have any dogs to use."
As soon as Mu Xueli finished, Wang Li immediately said
"Yeah, I mean the same thing. I'm also thinking of buying a few more dogs."
Wang An nodded, saying with some confusion
"Then buy them. Do you really need to tell me about something like this?"
Unexpectedly, Mu Xueli said
"My uncle's dog has a great scent. I'm thinking of buying one of his pups. Then, brother-in-law, could you help me go check if the pup is any good? I'm afraid the dog will be like your four spotted dogs—all complete useless trash."
Wang An was stunned for a moment, then swung his big hand and gave Mu Xueli's head a hard shove, saying indignantly
"Holy shit, do you know how to speak like a human? How are my four spotted dogs 'useless trash'? When did they ever go into the mountains and eat for free?"
It had to be admitted that what Mu Xueli said was the truth, because those four spotted dogs were indeed not very good.
They had no scent, were small in size, and weren't fierce; one could say they weren't even qualified as backup dogs.
Their only merit was that their courage had barely been trained, and they dared to tear and bite the prey; otherwise, Wang An would have culled all four of them long ago.
But knowing what his dogs were like was one thing; having Mu Xueli say it out loud was another. That was why Wang An shoved Mu Xueli's head.
Mu Xueli hurriedly said
"No, I didn't mean it like that, brother-in-law! I mean if I buy a dog like those four spotted ones, I'll be losing out big time! I'd spend a lot of money and the dog wouldn't be of much use, so what would I be gaining..."
But seeing Wang An's face grow increasingly grim, Mu Xueli gave a few dry laughs and didn't dare speak further.