That's just how people are; the more anxious you get, the more mistakes you make.
Because Wang An said he wanted to be the Retired Emperor, unsurprisingly, he received another three flicks to the forehead from Wang Dazhu.
It must be said that when it comes to flicking foreheads, the stronger the hand strength, the more it hurts.
And for a man like Wang Dazhu, who did hard labor every single day, the level of his hand strength was easy to imagine.
Thus, after a total of six flicks, Wang An was flicked straight to "tears."
To be precise, tears were streaming down his face.
As everyone knows, the forehead flick ignores age; in other words, as long as you hit the right spot, whoever gets flicked will "shed tears."
It was a pain that could be endured, but the tears simply wouldn't stop bubbling out on their own, making it look as if he were "crying."
After three more hits, Wang An was in too much pain to speak, but since the person flicking him was his old man, Wang An didn't dare resist.
Every single day, he just had to be mouthy!
After finishing with Wang An, Wang Dazhu said
"Useless brat, get over there. Crying over a few flicks, you're nothing."
He wanted to argue back, but Wang An felt that if he spoke again, he would suffer more physical pain. Consequently, Wang An obediently shut his mouth and moved aside.
The task of soaking the liquor was handed over to Wang Dazhu.
Watching Wang Dazhu happily tinkering with the tiger bones, Wang An suddenly realized that his old man had actually come specifically for this soaking job!
Because for as long as Wang An could remember, Wang Dazhu loved messing around with this and that; if he wasn't tinkering with something, he genuinely felt miserable.
Thinking of this, Wang An wished he could give himself two slaps across the neck. In the future, if there was this kind of work, he had to let his old man do it no matter what.
Why bother spending his own effort every day for no reward?
And so, bored, Wang An strolled toward Shen Wei's house.
By now, Wang An had formed a habit: whenever he was idle at home, he would figure out a way to go and have some "deep communication" with the woman.
It must be said that Wang An and Shen Wei already had a great rapport; they could coordinate to the point where they were completely entwined.
Furthermore, regarding positions, the two of them always discussed them mutually and were brave enough to experiment.
By the time Wang An came out of Shen Wei's house, the sky had already darkened.
One could tell just how intense and prolonged the battle had been.
A new day arrived once again.
After breakfast, Wang An drove his sledge, pulling the leftover dhole carcasses and some fish, along with all the pelts and the bear gallbladders, speeding along toward the county town.
Dhole meat tastes not much different from wolf meat; it's also not particularly valuable.
The key was that the Wang family had too much meat; if he didn't sell these dhole carcasses, keeping them would be truly useless.
By now, the bear gallbladders and the pelts had completely dried. If he didn't sell them now, as the temperature rose, preserving them would become very troublesome.
Mainly, they would attract insects, and pelts that had been infested by bugs would inevitably drop in price.
In fact, every year before the complete thaw, it was the busiest time for the supply and marketing cooperative to collect pelts.
Because at this time, basically all the pelts in the hands of the mountain hunters would be sold.
Even those that hadn't dried very well had to have some measures taken to accelerate the drying process.
On the road, Wang An looked at the pelts and bear gallbladders and began calculating their prices in his head.
He finally concluded that, including the golden gallbladder of the bear he had hunted alone, as well as the wolves and dholes his family had killed during the wolf plague, this sledge of pelts and gallbladders should be worth around 11,000 yuan.
Mainly, with pelts, as long as there is damage, they will squeeze the price, so Wang An's calculation should be roughly accurate; even if it was off, it wouldn't be by a huge margin.
Speeding along, Wang An soon arrived at Qiao Xiaohu's house.
Because Wang An hadn't delivered meat to the county town for a long time, Qiao Xiaohu was currently very idle, actually standing in the street watching children kick shuttlecocks.
Seeing Wang An, Qiao Xiaohu's eyes immediately lit up as he welcomed him, saying excitedly
"Big Brother, you've finally come! What meat do you have to sell this time?"
As Qiao Xiaohu spoke, he pulled out that small notebook and handed it to Wang An.
However, Wang An did not take it, but instead said
"Just give me the money directly. We probably won't partner up to sell meat again until after autumn. After these red dogs, I'll take one, and for the rest, just give me 100 yuan and call it a day. Any extra money you make belongs to you."
This time, Wang An brought a total of 21 dhole carcasses, essentially bringing all of them.
When they hunted the tiger the day before yesterday, the group had harvested 23 dholes in total.
While on the mountain, they had eaten two on the spot. After bringing the remaining 21 back, no one wanted to eat them.
The dhole carcasses Wang An brought averaged about twenty-five or twenty-six catties each.
For 20 of them, the total was roughly 500 catties. Calculating at twenty-five cents per catty, they would be worth 125 yuan.
Therefore, Wang An only asking for 100 yuan was essentially Qiao Xiaohu helping him out again.
After hearing Wang An's words, Qiao Xiaohu did a quick calculation in his head and said to Wang An with a smile
"Thank you for the help, Big Brother. This winter, if it weren't for you..."
As Qiao Xiaohu spoke, he pulled ten "Big Unity" ten-yuan notes from his pocket, added them to the stack of cash, and handed them all to Wang An.
Before Qiao Xiaohu could finish, Wang An took the money and interrupted
"Alright, stop chatting about useless things. Don't you know what kind of person I am? Hurry up and unload the cart."
After speaking, Wang An casually stuffed the money into his pocket and, together with Qiao Xiaohu, unloaded the 20 dhole carcasses from the sledge.
Once the dholes were unloaded, Wang An intended to drive the sledge away.
At that moment, Qiao Xiaohu suddenly asked
"Big Brother, these things on the sledge, are you planning to sell them?"
Wang An replied casually, "Yeah, sell them all. They're hard to keep, and if they spoil, they won't be worth anything."
Hearing Wang An's words, Qiao Xiaohu immediately said to him
"Big Brother, when I deliver meat, I happen to know a big pelt trader. How about I call him over for you? If he gives a high price, you won't have to go to the supply and marketing cooperative and put up with those people's attitudes."
Hearing this, Wang An looked at the pile of things on the sledge and instinctively said to Qiao Xiaohu
"Is he reliable? I don't want to be halfway through and have to chase him down."
Hearing this, Qiao Xiaohu instinctively scratched his head and said with great certainty
"I feel it should be fine. He's a long-time local; he wouldn't joke with his own reputation!"
"Fine, go ahead then. Be careful."
And so, Wang An sat on the sledge with a cigarette in his mouth, just like Qiao Xiaohu, watching the group of children in front of them kick the shuttlecock.
It must be said that these children's shuttlecock skills were quite impressive.
Because this thing was made from large coins and feathers.
(End of Chapter)