Chapter 290: Caught Off Guard
Wang An looked at the remaining 16 squirrel carcasses and pondered for a moment.
Then, without any rush, Wang An picked up 8 squirrel carcasses, turned around, and placed them into the burlap sack on his sled.
Mu Xueli and Wang Li watched Wang An's actions with normal expressions; neither of them thought much of it.
Once Wang An walked back to the campfire and sat down, he pointed to the remaining 8 squirrel carcasses and said
"I've calculated it. Your two families both have 4 people now, and my family has 7. Since it's the first time we've hunted these things, everyone should at least get to eat one. As for these 8 grey-dog meats, you two take 4 each. I'll give you more next time."
Hearing this, Mu Xueli and Wang Li instinctively looked at the squirrel carcasses on the snow, and then Mu Xueli said
"How about you just take them all home, Brother-in-law? It's the same if I take some next time."
Wang Li followed up quickly: "Yeah, Fourth Brother, we'll just take some next time."
Wang An was very happy to hear their words; it made his constant care for them worthwhile.
Wang An pulled out some cigarettes and said with a chuckle while distributing them to the two
"Forget that. It's the first time hunting these things, so everyone has to have a taste. In the future, we'll hunt more, and then they won't be such a rarity."
After the three of them lit their cigarettes, Wang An continued, "You two make more clay pellets tonight. There aren't many steel balls left on the sled."
"Got it, Fourth Brother."
"Don't worry, Brother-in-law," the two replied simultaneously.
Whether it was sparrow meat, squirrel meat, or black bear meat, the speed of roasting them over a fire was much faster than stewing them in water.
The three of them bragged and chatted for a while longer until the roasted squirrels, sparrows, and black bear meat were all cooked.
Each person first took a roasted sparrow and popped it whole into their mouth, chewing and swallowing everything, bones and all.
When rural folk eat sparrows, generally no one spits out the bones. Although it affects the texture slightly, there's only half a mouthful of meat; if you throw away the bones, there's nothing left.
After finishing the sparrows, each person took a roasted squirrel and impatiently stuffed it into their mouth. Even though they were hissing from the heat, they still wanted to take another bite.
The meat of this thing practically contained every kind of fragrance; it was damn delicious!
Similarly, the three of them didn't spit out many bones, mainly because the bones of these things were not even as hard as those of a sparrow.
Furthermore, Wang An felt that when preparing this thing, no seasoning other than salt should be used.
Because any kind of seasoning could potentially destroy its original fragrance.
By comparison, this was even tastier than badger meat. If you ignore the flavor, the texture was similar to that of a large-eyed thief [wild boar/wild pig].
Once roasted, they were fatty and sizzling with oil, yet rich without being greasy.
The three of them didn't even spare a sip of wine before they had devoured the small roasted squirrels.
After finishing the roasted squirrels, the three ignored the black bear meat and simultaneously turned their gaze toward the pot.
That's how eating in the mountains was; as long as it was mostly cooked, it was fine. A common saying among mountain foragers was: "Eat it hot, whether raw or cooked!"
Thus, none of the three were polite; each scooped out a stewed squirrel and started eating again.
However, because Wang An had habitually added some chili peppers when stewing the squirrels, the flavor of the stewed squirrels was greatly diminished.
For some reason, the natural fragrance of the squirrel was completely wiped out by the chili.
Wang Li said while chewing the squirrel meat, "Why isn't this as flavorful as the roasted ones?"
Mu Xueli also said while smacking her lips, "True. Is there really such a big difference between roasting and stewing this thing?"
Wang An looked at the two idiots and said, "Haven't you realized it's because of the chili?"
Mu Xueli and Wang Li blinked, and then Mu Xueli said, "But this way is more convenient. You just throw it in the pot with some salt and stew it."
Wang An and Wang Li nodded and continued eating.
After eating and drinking their fill, the three placed the black bear meat and other items on the sled and headed down the mountain.
Sprinting all the way, they soon returned home.
Upon returning, Wang An gave his usual shout, and only Mu Xueqing, his younger brother Wang Yi, and the two little sisters came out of the house.
Wang An casually asked Mu Xueqing, "Where are Dad and Mom?"
Mu Xueqing said, "Dad said he went to find people. In a few days, they're going into the mountains to fell trees to prepare timber for building the house. I think Mom went too."
Wang An nodded. "Oh, I see."
Actually, Wang An had planned to buy ready-made timber directly from the forestry station.
Although timber in the mountains could be cut freely, it was quite a hassle in terms of both manpower and materials.
In the rural areas of this era, finding people to work was called "helping labor." While it didn't cost money, it required "returning labor."
To put it simply, if you help me work this time, I must help you work next time.
Moreover, this was calculated by the day—one day for one day.
Although the tasks for each family were different and the number of days spent working varied, everyone kept a mental ledger.
Many people say that rural life in this era had a human touch and that everyone was more harmonious, but try not returning the labor? See if you can find anyone to help you the next time your family has work to do.
The key was that returning labor often didn't distinguish between busy or idle times.
As long as you owed someone labor, no matter how busy you were, if you didn't go this time, you absolutely had to go next time.
Furthermore, this thing could happen once or twice, but absolutely not three or four times.
This was precisely why many widowers and widows lived such difficult lives!
When their houses were broken, they didn't repair them; when their courtyard walls collapsed, they didn't rebuild them. Instead, they just made do and muddled through.
One must realize that humans are social animals, and these tasks were simply not things one person could do alone!
Did these widowers and widows not want to fix their houses? Did they not want to repair their walls?
No, it was because they couldn't find people to help; others didn't believe they could return the labor.
People say rural life is simple and pure—working at sunrise and returning at sunset—but that is actually just a facade.
The most authentic rural life was far more complex than city life.
Not to mention that gathering mountain products relied on family clusters to compete for resources.
Take the simplest thing: how does one person farm?
Don't talk about holding a hoe, digging holes, and burying seeds yourself; that's not farming, that's planting a small vegetable garden.
Farming requires all seeds to be planted in the ground within a fixed window of time. If you delay, you might as well not plant at all.
Because if the sowing time is missed, even if the seeds are buried, you'll only harvest a field of stalks by autumn.
Of course, these were normal occurrences in the countryside, and many things were far more difficult than this.
Wang An's idea was to buy all the bricks, tiles, cement, and timber ready-made, and only find helping labor when actually building the house, or simply use the methods of the future and pay people to build it.
However, in this era, the concept of paying people to build a house really didn't exist.
By doing it this way, once the house was finished, he could get back to whatever he wanted to do without delaying his grand plan to get rich.
But what Wang An never expected was that his old man had already gone to find people. This disrupted Wang An's plan and caught him a bit off guard.
Consequently, as Wang An unloaded the large horse from the sled, he pondered how he could avoid owing too many labor days.
At dinner, Wang An stewed all 8 squirrel carcasses. This time, Wang An was careful; he added nothing but salt.
It must be said that the squirrel meat stewed this way was enjoyed by the whole family.
Moreover, the little sister Wang Xiaoli spoke up again: "Big Brother, hunt more grey-dogs in the future. I haven't had my fill of munching on them."
Wang An rubbed Wang Xiaoli's small head and said very dotingly, "All you know is munching."