Wang An rode his Da'er horse swiftly along the road. He looked dashing and spirited, but only those who ride know the true misery of riding a horse in winter.
A typical local Northeast horse, tracing back to its roots, is called a "Sanhe horse." In Huaxia, they are naturally among the larger breeds of horses; even among warhorses, they are considered quite superior.
When carrying a rider at full gallop, a Sanhe horse can reach a top speed of about 100 li per hour, which is a maximum speed of 50 kilometers per hour!
However, while a horse's endurance is long, it is nonetheless limited. Therefore, when traveling normally, riding at forty or fifty li per hour is sufficient; otherwise, it is far too taxing on the animal.
Furthermore, "liao"—meaning grain—must be fed in full at every meal. If they only eat grass, even the best horse is wasted, and no matter how much capability they have, they won't be able to exert it.
As for Wang An's Da'er horse and Da-xi horse, he didn't know their specific breed, but warhorses from a stud farm were indeed different. At the very least, they were bold; they weren't afraid of ordinary wild beasts and even dared to fight wolves!
They were very fast. Although Wang An had never truly tested them, speed is a critical assessment standard for warhorses.
They were also very large in stature, a full size larger than local green horses like the one Mu Xueli had.
Most importantly, they had great endurance and strength. One must realize that when Wang An and his companions entered the mountains, the distances they traveled were often long, and every time they descended, the amount of prey they needed to haul was considerable.
The more Wang An used the Da'er horse, the more satisfied he became with it. Moreover, although the Da'er horse had not been gelded, its temperament was very gentle and it became increasingly perceptive, as if it could truly understand human speech; it was simply obedient to Wang An!
Now, this Da'er horse and those three dogs were Wang An's closest comrades-in-arms. Although they weren't human, to Wang An, they were far more important than many people!
A few minutes later, Wang An arrived at his father-in-law's house.
Upon entering the courtyard, he was surprised to see three large green dogs.
However, these three dogs only barked once Wang An had already entered the yard, which left him quite puzzled, because when he had returned from the mountain yesterday, there were no dogs at his father-in-law's house!
Hearing the barking, Mu Xueli walked out of the house holding an unfinished wooden board trap. As soon as the three dogs saw Mu Xueli emerge, they immediately stopped barking.
Wang An knew at a glance that these three were "trained mountain dogs." Only hunting dogs that had been properly broken in would behave this way; the three dogs at home were the same, never barking blindly without end.
"When did you get the dogs?" Wang An asked casually upon seeing his brother-in-law come out.
"Just this morning. Old Xiao Pao from our village—he had a pretty serious leg injury when he went into the mountains the other day, and he probably won't be able to hunt in the mountains anymore, so he sold the dogs to me," Mu Xueli explained.
"How much did you buy them for?" Wang An continued to ask casually.
"80 yuan. Mainly because these three dogs are quite familiar with me, and besides, Old Xiao Pao was the one who taught me how to butcher meat and all that," Mu Xueli said.
"Mm, that's good. 80 yuan isn't expensive; it's a fair price," Wang An said.
"Yeah, it's just that the lead dog, Da Qing, is a 'low-head scent,' but it's no big deal. Where are you going to find many 'high-head scents'?" Mu Xueli spoke without a hint of regret, sounding quite happy instead.
Wang An couldn't help but feel a bit puzzled. Were high-head scents really that rare?
Mountain hunters name their dogs very casually. According to Mu Xueli's introduction, these three were called Da Qing, Er Qing, and San Qing.
Wang An walked up to the three dogs and began studying them using the method Feng Chengmin, his great-uncle, had taught him. He discovered that the three dogs were indeed slightly different, just as Feng Chengmin had said.
Da Qing was the lead dog. Whether it was the sharpness of the canines or the width of the mouth, both were very good.
Da Qing had broad shoulders, thick waist and legs, and a large anus. Observing him as a whole, he felt there was basically no difference compared to his own Da Hei.
As for the scent, it had already been mentioned he was a low-head scent, so he was slightly lacking in that one point.
Er Qing was the same; aside from the color being different from Er Hei, there was no real difference.
But San Qing was different. His size wasn't small, but the obvious difference was that his shoulders were narrow and his waist was thin. In Feng Chengmin's words, this dog lacked power and his waist couldn't take a hit.
However, San Qing seemed to know where his weaknesses lay, so his canines, legs, and anus were even more superior than those of Da Qing or Da Hei.
This meant that San Qing was absolutely fierce and very bold; he was likely the fastest among these dogs. In fact, the injuries on his body explained a lot.
The injuries on San Qing were far more numerous than those on Da Qing and Er Qing. It was evident that whenever this dog chased prey, as long as he caught a glimpse of it, he was absolutely the first one to charge in.
This was likely the reason why Old Xiao Pao had kept this San Qing in the first place.
To be called "Pao" and to be recognized by everyone, this Old Xiao Pao must have been a man of genuine skill in mountain hunting!
After inspecting the dogs, Wang An said to Mu Xueli, "Not bad, your eye is actually quite good. These three dogs are fine; they're definitely high-quality goods!"
Hearing Wang An's praise, Mu Xueli grinned foolishly, appearing proud of his wise decision.
After a moment, Mu Xueli said boastfully, "Mainly because these three dogs are very familiar with me. I don't even need to keep them tied up at home; I can lead them straight up the mountain. Otherwise, I wouldn't have bought them."
Wang An looked at his brother-in-law's smug expression, smiled without answering, and walked toward the house.
Seeing Mu Xueli holding a semi-finished trap, Wang An knew his brother-in-law was making wooden board traps. However, upon entering the house, he discovered that Mu Xueli had already made a large pile of them—at least forty or fifty. He wondered how many springs and thick iron wires Mu Xueli had bought in total.
The father-in-law's family was very happy to see Wang An arrive, especially Mu Xueting, who threw herself directly into her brother-in-law's arms. Wang An took a few pieces of candy from his pocket, unwrapped one, and popped it into his sister-in-law's mouth, then asked with a smile, "Xueting, is it sweet?"
Mu Xueting said happily, "Brother-in-law is really sweet!"
Wang An laughed loudly and teased his sister-in-law, "Then shouldn't you give brother-in-law a kiss?"
Without hesitation, Mu Xueting gave a "mwah" and kissed Wang An on the cheek.
Wang An smiled and picked Mu Xueting up. After this period of drinking malted milk every day for nutrition and having meat at every meal, Mu Xueting seemed to have grown a bit taller, but she was still only around 90 centimeters, definitely not reaching a meter.
For a 7-year-old child to be this size was actually normal for this era; Mu Xueting wasn't an exception.
They sat on the kang and chatted for a while, though it was mainly to coax the little sister-in-law. A child of this age is just becoming sensible and clings to adults to play every day; it's the age often described in the countryside as "not loved by grandma, not cherished by uncle."
It's fine for little girls, but little boys can be absolutely annoying, and from then on, they become more mischievous by the day.
Wang An tossed the prepared 600 yuan onto the kang and said to his brother-in-law, "This is the money for that tiger cub's pelt. It sold for 1,200; I'm giving you 600."
Mu Xueli didn't take the money and looked at his brother-in-law in confusion, then said, "Brother-in-law, the supply and marketing cooperative bought it..."
Wang An knew what Mu Xueli wanted to say, so he didn't wait for him to finish. He interrupted and explained how Wu Dong had helped sell the pelt and how Wu Dong had taken a portion of the money.
After hearing this, Mu Xueli was very happy and cheerfully took the money, turning to hand it to Liu Ruxin, saying that saving the three of them that day had been the right move, as the pelt had sold for much more money.