After Wang An finished speaking, Niu Dalin's attitude did a complete 180-degree turn. He spoke with great enthusiasm and a face full of smiles
"Alright, I'll go call those two over. After that, Brother Xiao An, you two come inside and have some water."
Wang An really didn't want to share a room with that shrew Li Yuzhen, so he politely declined
"I won't go inside. The two of us will just wait for you here. Once we give you the money, we have to leave; there are still plenty of things we need to take care of."
Since they had no real friendship or prior dealings, and Wang An's attitude made it clear he wouldn't enter the house, Niu Dalin stopped being overly polite and followed the lead
"Alright then, you two just wait a moment. I'll go call them right now."
As he spoke, Niu Dalin turned and left. Wang An and Wang Li didn't linger in the courtyard either, but instead walked out and stood outside the main gate.
There was no helping it; although Wang An was bold enough and fierce enough in a fight, he was truly a bit intimidated by that shrew Li Yuzhen.
Mainly, when that old woman started throwing a tantrum, she would strip her clothes off without hesitation; if she got really worked up, she'd even take off her pants.
That kind of display was just too damn terrifying!
Wang An wasn't making this up; when Li Yuzhen had fought with people in the past, she had frequently done things that left people speechless.
The damn woman would start by cursing—cursing everything, tracing back eighteen generations of ancestors—and then, perhaps feeling that cursing wasn't satisfying enough, she would just start stripping right there in the street.
The key was that she didn't know how to leave a bit of fabric; she'd go straight to being bare-chested, and if she got really agitated, she'd be left in nothing but a pair of big boxers.
The damn thing was, right there in the street, bare-chested with two big jugs swinging, she would tear into people without a care in the world. She was incredibly fierce, absolutely savage.
Of course, if she weren't fierce, she wouldn't have been capable of insisting on breaking her own husband's legs.
Therefore, as a pure and innocent youth, Wang An truly did not want to see a shrew with a bare backside; he was mainly afraid of getting a stye in his eye.
Niu Dashuang and Niu Dasheng's homes were not far from Niu Dalin's, so just as Wang An and Wang Li finished a cigarette, Niu Dalin returned leading the two of them.
It was obvious that Niu Dalin had already told them about Wang An coming to deliver the money, as both of them looked delighted.
After a brief greeting, Wang An pulled out the 200 yuan and counted it once, then asked
"Will you divide this money yourselves, or should I split it into three portions directly?"
After a pause, Wang An suddenly spoke with an air of absolute authority
"Let's get this straight: Niu Dalei didn't follow the rules of the mountains, so there is definitely no share of money for him. No matter who says what, it won't work; I'm just not giving it to him."
"If you dare divide this money with him, don't blame me for having a sour face. Anyway, if I find out—if I hear it from anyone—then whenever you go out, you'd better be careful on the road."
In reality, even if Wang An hadn't said this, they wouldn't have given any money to Niu Dalei.
Once money entered one's own pocket, it belonged to them; who would want to give it away? You've got to be joking.
Moreover, back in the mountains that day, Niu Dalei's arrogance and malicious behavior had turned a rightful situation into an unreasonable one, causing Niu Dalin and the others to leave empty-handed and humiliated, which had left the three of them with a great deal of resentment.
Thus, after Wang An finished, the three of them replied without hesitation
"Mm-hmm, there's definitely no way we'd share it with him. Rest assured, Brother Xiao An."
"Yeah, we regretted taking him into the mountains that day."
"Exactly, he doesn't know a thing but knows how to act tough. Why the hell would we give him money!"
One could tell that even after all this time, the three of them still harbored grievances toward Niu Dalei.
Wang An smiled slightly and said
"Alright then, you'll divide the money yourselves?"
As he spoke, Wang An handed the money over, but to his surprise, three hands reached out simultaneously.
In other words, all three of them wanted to be the one holding the money.
Wang An was momentarily stunned, and then he was just speechless. There is a saying, "A house of a thousand mouths, but one person in charge." These damn guys were a small group of only three people, and they all wanted to be the one in charge?
After the shock wore off, Wang An blinked and asked
"Which one of you is the leader?"
No matter how many people entered the mountains, there had to be a leader—the person who made the decisions on everything.
Niu Dalin hurriedly said
"Me, I'm the leader. I'm the leader when we go into the mountains."
Hearing this, Wang An looked at Niu Dashuang and Niu Dasheng with a face full of astonishment
"Then... why are you two reaching out?"
Turning back, Wang An glanced at Niu Dalin, then scanned Niu Dashuang and Niu Dasheng again, and spoke once more
"Do you mean for me to divide the money for you? Have you three agreed to split this equally?"
At this moment, Wang An was truly bewildered. Mainly, money is just that powerful; a mere 200 yuan, twenty "Big Unity" bills, and their individual little schemes were instantly exposed.
Niu Dalin hurriedly said
"There are rules for entering the mountains; there's no such thing as an equal split. Just give the money to me, and then I'll divide it for the other two."
As he spoke, Niu Dalin tried to take the money from Wang An's hand.
Unexpectedly, Niu Dashuang made almost the exact same movement and said
"I've already calculated it. I'll just take 66 yuan, 6 mao, and 6 fen, and that's it. How the other two split it is their business."
To be fair, although Niu Dashuang had only attended a few days of literacy classes, whenever it came to math involving money, his calculations were truly precise. One must realize this was division, and division involving an infinite repeating decimal!
Impressive, truly impressive! Wang An almost wanted to praise him.
However, after Niu Dashuang finished speaking, Wang An was stunned once again!
Naturally, Wang Li beside him was also bewildered.
What the hell was this operation these three were pulling?
When they gave money to Zhang Tiegang and the others earlier, there hadn't been this many complications!
Wang An parted his lips and was about to speak, but immediately after, Niu Dasheng also spoke up
"If Brother Dashuang gets 66 yuan 6 mao 6 fen, then I get 66 yuan 6 mao 6 fen too. I'll just take 66 yuan 6 mao 6 fen and call it a day."
As he spoke, Niu Dasheng also tried to grab the money.
Each "Big Unity" bill was only about the size of a palm, and twenty of them stacked together occupied the same area. Since Wang An was handing the money out, he was only gripping about one-fifth of the bills.
Then, a very bizarre and comical scene unfolded.
Because the remaining two-fifths of the bills were gripped by Niu Dalin, the next one-fifth was gripped by Niu Dashuang, and the final one-fifth was gripped by Niu Dasheng.
In other words, on this small stack of "Big Unity" bills, there were a total of four grown men's hands, all pressed right up against each other!
Wang An stared blankly at this scene, completely at a loss for words. What the fuck are they even doing?