The pigs weren't dead, and Wang An was in a genuinely good mood. Casually handing the axe to Wang Li, Wang An said
"You smash those two. Let's see if you can finish the job in one swing, hehehehe..."
Wang Li took the axe with a face full of excitement and said with a grin
"Hehehe, I'm the one who splits all the firewood at my house. I've got a real steady hand."
As soon as Wang Li finished speaking, he gripped the broadaxe and walked up to one of the sows whose front leg had been broken.
At this moment, the sows had their hind legs and mouths tied. Seeing Wang Li approach, the sow instantly let out a piercing, miserable scream.
Because the sow's backside was facing Wang An, he once again saw the sow's back arch, and its anus and urinary opening simultaneously contract.
Clearly, the sow was terrified that the city gates were about to be breached!
To be honest, at this moment, Wang Li and the sow looked very much like a fierce, menacing brute and a fragile, helpless young girl.
Most importantly, this brute was about to forcibly do something to this girl, and the girl was unable to resist.
Seeing this, Wang An couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Hearing Wang An's laughter, Wang Li looked back and smiled at him; clearly, Wang Li had no idea what Wang An was laughing at.
However, Wang An didn't say.
Soon, Wang Li's broadaxe swung down. With a crisp "bang," the sow collapsed and stopped screaming.
For some reason, when Wang An had hit the pig's head, it was a dull "thud," but with Wang Li, it became a crisp "bang."
Wang An immediately stepped forward to check the pig's breath, confirming that the pig was truly unconscious.
Wang An couldn't help but praise him cheerfully
"I can see you're stronger than me; you really did finish it in one hit."
Wang Li smiled without replying and carried the broadaxe toward the last conscious wild pig.
Unsurprisingly, Wang Li settled the fight with a single axe blow again, characterized by stability, precision, and ruthlessness.
Knocking the pigs unconscious wasn't hard, but when the two of them lifted the unconscious sows onto the horses' backs, it was genuinely quite a struggle.
Fortunately, pure Oroqen horses were much shorter than normal local horses; compared to Wang An's Da'er horse, they were even shorter.
Even an adult Oroqen horse only stood about 1.3 to 1.4 meters tall.
However, even this height took several years to achieve.
Normally, local horses grew quite large within two years and would begin training; by three or four years, they were already adult horses.
But Oroqen horses needed three to four years just to grow up. When training began, it focused primarily on carrying loads, followed by riding training.
It took four to five, or even five to six years, for an Oroqen horse to completely stop growing.
From this, one could see how slow the growth rate of Oroqen horses was.
In fact, this was one of the reasons why the price of Oroqen horses was generally higher than that of local horses.
But despite their small size, the carrying capacity of these horses was the best among all breeds.
In this regard, even Wang An's Da'er horse was far inferior.
People often use the term "axle-man" to describe men who aren't particularly tall and don't look fat, but are very heavy and possess great strength.
Because such people don't look imposing on the surface, but their bodies are full of solid, lean muscle.
The Oroqen horse was, in essence, a genuine "axle-man among horses."
Wang An and Wang Li struggled to place the three wild pigs onto the horses' backs, and then thoughtfully used ropes to wrap around the horses' bellies, tying the pigs' necks and hind legs together.
After finishing the tying, Wang Li subconsciously muttered
"I never would've thought that a damn sow would have the day it gets to ride a horse. Holy crap."
Looking at the three horses carrying three wild pigs weighing over 200 jin each, Wang An also felt the scene was genuinely quite comical.
He said with a chuckle, "That's just how it is. You never know what's going to happen day to day."
After a while, Wang Li suddenly said with a face full of worry
"Fourth Brother, what if the pigs fall off the horses while we're walking?"
Hearing this, Wang An instinctively replied
"If they fall, just lift them back up. It's not like I'm going to let you carry them back on your back."
Wang Li shook his head and said
"No, Fourth Brother, I mean these pigs are dead heavy. Won't they die from the fall if they drop?"
Wang An was stunned for a moment upon hearing this and gave Wang Li an annoyed look
"Why are you like this? Always worrying about useless things. How could they die so easily from a fall? Come on, put the meat and the piglets on the horses' backs and let's get moving."
As they spoke, the two worked together to drape the sacks containing the meat and the sacks containing the striped piglets across the horses' backs.
Then, Wang An led the horses forward, and Wang Li followed, squinting his eyes as he led his horse.
Although they didn't encounter any delays along the way, their speed remained slow.
Walking with horses was already slow, and for some reason, these three sows had an incredibly fast recovery rate.
Along the way, Wang An and Wang Li had to occasionally hit the pigs' heads with the broadaxe to send the newly awakened sows back into unconsciousness.
Once, Wang An forgot to use the blunt side of the axe and struck the pig's head hard with the blade.
It must be said that perhaps Wang An didn't use enough strength, or perhaps the pig's skull was truly solid, because the blade simply didn't cut in.
However, the spot where it was struck bled quite a bit, dripping steadily throughout the journey.
Finally, nearly five hours later, around four in the afternoon, Wang An and his companion finally arrived home.
Seeing the horses carrying pigs back, the group of hired laborers were filled with shock and amazement.
In their understanding, such a thing had likely never happened before.
A villager surnamed Niu exclaimed
"Holy crap, Xiao An, you're truly ruthless! Their mouths are tied—are these live pigs?"
Hearing this, Wang An said with a smile
"Of course. Kill them fresh when we eat them; it's all for the sake of freshness, hahaha..."
Another person immediately chimed in
"Hah, freshness doesn't really matter, as long as there's meat to eat. It doesn't matter if it tastes a bit like 'hala' (rancid/cured)."
"Hala taste" referred to cured or preserved meat; in this era, meat with a "hala" taste was still eaten without hesitation.
Someone else added
"That's true. It's fine to skip meat for a meal or two; hunting the other day was such a struggle."
Following that, the others began chatting animatedly.
It was clear that these people felt a bit embarrassed to be eating meat at every meal.
After all, given the living conditions of that era, eating meat every single meal was something unimaginable.
Once everyone finished speaking, Wang An said nonchalantly
"It's fine. If you're working for my family, you must eat meat every meal, hahahaha..."
(End of Chapter)