Upon hearing this, Meng Changshun spoke with a very firm attitude
"There's no way it's 20 yuan. Your eldest brother works at the forestry farm and only makes about 40 yuan a month. 20 yuan for a half-grown dog? You're just talking nonsense; that's absolutely not the case."
And so, Mu Xueli and Meng Changshun went back and forth for a long while, until Wang An finally couldn't help but speak up
"Uncle Meng, Xueli, if you ask me, you two should stop bickering. Let's just say 80 yuan for these five dogs. No one loses out, and no one makes an unfair profit. What do you two think?"
Feng Chengmin chimed in as well
"Brother Meng, I'll say a word for the kid too. Let's go with what Xiao An said; 80 yuan is fine. If it's too cheap, it would be an insult to the good dogs you've raised."
Meng Changshun blinked a few times, looking at Feng Chengmin, then at Wang An, and then at Mu Xueli. Only then did he say somewhat reluctantly
"Fine, let's do it that way. Xueli, you child! I don't even know what to say to you."
Mu Xueli gave a cheeky grin, took two bills out of the 100 yuan, and handed over the remaining 80 yuan, saying
"Uncle Changshun, it's mainly because these five dogs are worth the price. It wouldn't be right to sell them cheap, hehehe..."
After a few more bits of idle chatter, the group packed the five dogs into gunny sacks, placed them on the vehicle, and bid farewell to Meng Changshun's house.
Meng Changshun looked at the 80 yuan in his hand, then at the only two half-grown dogs remaining; however, his face did not look particularly happy.
At that moment, Meng Changshun's wife came out of the house and said
"That's enough for you; raising five dogs is already plenty."
Meng Changshun looked at his right arm and said with a face full of resentment
"If this arm of mine were fine, I'd keep all those pups for myself no matter what. When the time comes, I'd lead over ten dogs into the mountains together. Damn it, what kind of big beast couldn't I take down?"
Meng Changshun's wife pulled on his arm and comforted him very perfunctorily
"Yes, yes, yes, you're so capable, you're so powerful, you're a real expert at hunting. Let's just go back inside; it's freezing out here."
Meng Changshun said indignantly
"I was always an expert at hunting! If it weren't for that lazy dog Su Guangjun not even knowing how to handle the gear, why the hell would I have been wrecked into this state by a pack of wild boars? Fuck it all."
On the vehicle, having bought the good dogs they needed, both Mu Xueli and Wang Li seemed very happy.
Although the process of buying the dogs had been quite a struggle for Mu Xueli, the result was excellent, and he had managed to get five good dogs all at once.
Consequently, these two idiots began discussing the strengths and weaknesses of their respective dogs.
Feng Chengmin, however, brought up an old topic and proactively said to Wang An
"Xiao An, about those wolf-hybrids your female wolf gave birth to—can you spare some for me after all? You still haven't given me a straight answer."
Wang An had thought Feng Chengmin had already given up; who knew he would remember it again.
Thus, Wang An thought for a moment and said
"Two at most. No more than that."
Wang An expected Feng Chengmin to haggle a bit, but to his surprise, Feng Chengmin said very decisively
"Deal. But you have to let me pick first. Those mediocre dogs are easy to find; I want a top-tier one."
Wang An originally wanted to say, "Then just take one dog; isn't two redundant?" but on second thought, he swallowed the words.
The offspring of Da Hei and the female wolf were certainly not to be underestimated, but there were simply too many dogs and wolves in Wang An's home; raising so many served little purpose.
However, Wang An had already decided that in the future, when entering the mountains, he would no longer bring those four embarrassing spotted dogs.
Their future duty, like Zhaicai and Wangcai, would be solely to guard the house and yard. Anyway, they weren't much help in the mountains; they were like "chicken ribs"—useless to keep but a waste to discard. It was better to leave them at home to prevent intruders; it counted as making use of waste.
While dropping Mu Xueli and his dogs off at home, just as Mu Xueli was about to get off the vehicle, Wang An suddenly said
"I just remembered something. Let's temporarily stop collecting ox gallstones and bear gallbladders. People from above are coming down to investigate speculation and profiteering. Don't let us get dragged into it. We'll start collecting again after the first lunar month."
Feng Chengmin frowned deeply, his face full of worry
"Then even if we stop now, it's too late, isn't it? Someone is bound to rat us out."
Although things were opening up now, they weren't completely open, so Feng Chengmin's worry was not unfounded. As long as a peddler named Feng Chengmin, the people from the Anti-Speculation Office would only need to follow the trail to find him.
The key was that the goods Feng Chengmin had collected already accounted for two-fifths of Wang An's total collection. What did over 200,000 yuan worth of goods mean in this era?
Wang An said with an indifferent expression
"That's fine. My eldest sister has sent people to investigate alongside the Anti-Speculation Office. If someone comes to question you, just say I'm the one who collected the goods and you don't know how it happened. Just deny everything to the death; don't worry about anything else."
Feng Chengmin instinctively said
"Look at you. Everyone made money, and now you're just pushing yourself out to take the fall? That's not right. No, as soon as I get home, I'm going into hiding. Then you three can push everything onto me. I'll come back in a year or two once things have quieted down."
Clearly, Feng Chengmin did not trust the capabilities of Zhang Shuya and the others; he was thinking of fleeing.
It was normal not to trust them; after all, how could a nearly 40-year-old veteran hunter easily entrust his safety to others? This completely contradicted the personality of an old hunter.
In this era, fleeing when you committed a crime was a very normal thing. As long as you could hide in the deep mountains and forests, ensure your own safety, and not starve to death, you could basically live a good life.
Hearing Feng Chengmin's defeatist words, Wang An looked at him speechlessly
"Old Uncle-in-law, do you think you're being incredibly righteous by doing this?"
Feng Chengmin's face turned bright red as he defended himself
"This isn't about being righteous or not. I am your elder; if there's trouble, I should be the one to bear it. You're all so young; if you get arrested now, your whole lives will be ruined, do you understand?"
To be honest, Wang An was quite moved by this, because for Feng Chengmin to say these words was already quite a feat.
One must realize that Wang An was only Feng Chengmin's wife's nephew; he shared not a single drop of blood with him.
Yet even so, Feng Chengmin hadn't thought about letting Wang An take the fall. This was already remarkable.
Wang An said to Feng Chengmin with a smile
"Old Uncle-in-law, just put your heart at ease. Just do as I say. If I can't even solve a little piece of shit like this, then I've truly wasted all these years."
"Besides, after the first lunar month, we still have to keep making money. Nothing's going to happen. Rest assured." (End of Chapter)