Chapter 53: Leading the Dog into the Mountains (Please keep reading and recommend)

Wang An didn't say a word; he sat up in excitement and jumped straight to the floor.

"As long as you have a request, as long as I can do it, then everything is negotiable!"

He reached into every pocket on his body, pulling out all his notes and cash, and dumped them all in one go beside Mu Xueqing!

He said happily, "Wife, it's all here, not a single cent left behind!"

Seeing Wang An being so decisive, Mu Xueqing seemed a bit stunned.

All the arguments she had prepared in her head had gone to waste!

Seeing Wang An standing before her with a grin, she realized she didn't know what to do next!

After a moment of thought, she squeezed out a sentence: "This matter isn't over yet. Let me think about it. Don't get your hopes up too early!"

As a cunning old fox, how could Wang An fail to understand Mu Xueqing's thoughts at this moment?

So, the matter was settled just like that! Haha!

He would never mess around like that again! His wife was indeed the best!

At night, Wang An wanted to make it up to Mu Xueqing, but she still couldn't quite get over the mental hurdle.

She refused to cooperate, resisting with all four limbs—it was practically a flurry of punches and kicks!

When he tried to pull her close to sleep, she kicked him away.

This left Wang An to sit sulkily by himself.

He was used to sleeping with his wife; how could he possibly fall asleep sleeping alone all of a sudden?

When he couldn't sleep, his mind would wander aimlessly to all sorts of places!

Suddenly, he thought of his previous life. In his previous life, Mu Xueqing had married Zheng Fei, a man who was proficient in drinking, eating, gambling, and prostitution!

Moreover, Zheng Fei had been so cruel and physically abusive to her, yet she refused to divorce him, clinging to the marriage stubbornly! In the end, she even pleaded for mercy on Zheng Fei's behalf!

Thinking of this, Wang An understood why Mu Xueqing had forgiven him!

He also understood her attitude toward marriage: it was blind loyalty!

But even though he wasn't as extreme as Zheng Fei, how was his behavior any different in essence?

At this thought, Wang An swung both hands and slapped himself twice!

Hearing the two crisp "slap, slap" sounds, Mu Xueqing thought something had happened to him!

She turned around to check, but unfortunately, the moonlight hadn't entered the room tonight, leaving it pitch black.

She asked anxiously, "Xiao An, what's wrong, Xiao An?"

Hearing Mu Xueqing's anxious voice, Wang An froze for a moment, but he hadn't actually done anything!

Oh! It was because of the sound of him slapping himself! He suddenly understood!

How could he miss such a good opportunity!

Pretending to be weak, he said, "It hurts! It hurts so much!"

Mu Xueqing didn't suspect a thing. She groped her way toward him in a panic, even forgetting to light the kerosene lamp!

The moment he felt her breath, he grabbed her.

He swiftly mounted her like a rider on a horse.

Realizing she had been tricked, Mu Xueqing was extremely annoyed.

She said irritably, "Wang An, get away from me! Believe it or not, I'll kick you flying!"

Wang An replied, "I don't believe you."

Mu Xueqing said, "Where are you touching? Can you just get lost to the side?"

Wang An said, "No."

Mu Xueqing said, "If you don't stop, I'm going to lose my temper!"

Wang An said, "Mhm, okay."

As Wang An replied, he continued his tinkering.

Mu Xueqing struggled with all her might: "Ah! What are you doing? Mm-hmm~"

Wang An moved and said, "You say you'll kick me away, you say you'll lose your temper... Come on, show me your temper! I'm not stopping, so what? I'm going to keep touching, so what?"

Mu Xueqing rolled her eyes in fury!

...A long time later.

Wang An fell asleep holding the naked Mu Xueqing; Mu Xueqing had long since drifted off!

The next morning, Wang An didn't get up early. Dealing with two women yesterday had left him truly exhausted!

Mainly because Feng Chengmin had said there was no need to start the dog hunt too early. So, when Wang An got up to go to the toilet, he found the whole family was already up!

Only his two younger sisters were still sleeping!

When he returned, he saw Mu Xueqing mixing dog food—boiling potatoes, mashing them, and mixing them with cornmeal.

If they only fed them cornmeal, they wouldn't have enough grain, so they had to mix it this way!

Finally, she would scoop in a spoonful of lard or sprinkle some pork cracklings, mix it well, and it was done!

Squash, sweet potatoes, and other things could all be used—boiled, mashed, and mixed with cornmeal!

In these times, life was hard for humans, and hard for dogs too; one had to adapt to everything, or else one would starve!

As she handed over the dog food, Mu Xueqing gave Wang An a sidelong glance.

Wang An didn't mind; he had already won her over last night, so he could just coax her slowly!

After feeding the dogs and spending a little more time with them, he went back to the room to wash up and eat.

This morning, Wang An's family ate "two-grain" steamed buns—two-grain being a mix of cornmeal and white flour.

Truth be told, with a bit of white flour mixed in, they tasted much better than pure cornmeal flatbreads!

Once everything was prepared, they hitched the sled and headed straight for his old uncle's house.

By the time they arrived at the uncle's house, Feng Chengmin had just finished breakfast.

It was clear that Feng Chengmin was in no rush!

After a while, Feng Chengmin checked the equipment and tied the dogs to the sled.

The two of them headed straight into the mountains!

First, they would set snares, traps, and pits.

Wang An was already familiar with the routine, so Feng Chengmin was too lazy to move and let Wang An go on his own!

Feng Chengmin also told Wang An that if the three large traps yielded nothing, he should bring them back!

Wang An nodded; there was no other choice!

The big one was lazy, the little one was lazy, and the little one just stared blankly!

Today's harvest was quite good: six jumping cats and two "silly half-pounds" (rabbits).

The three large traps still yielded nothing, so he dismantled them and took them away.

By the time the two reached the deep mountains, an hour had passed.

After securing the sled and setting out the fodder, Feng Chengmin untied the four dogs.

The dog hunt officially began.

The two strolled along while chatting.

Feng Chengmin asked Wang An, "Did I teach you yesterday how to process black bear gallbladders?"

Wang An thought for a moment and said, "You did. Just tie it to a rope, right?"

Feng Chengmin glared at Wang An and said, "That's just to make it easier to carry so it doesn't get punctured. Once you get a black bear gallbladder home, you have to scald it with boiling water for a while!"

Wang An asked in confusion, "Scald it for a while? Does that thing have to be cooked through to be sold?"

Wang An truly didn't know because he had never heard of it. The hunters in the village only caught one or two a year, and no one ever discussed how to process the gallbladders!

Black bears weren't that easy to hunt, after all!

Feng Chengmin froze for a moment, perhaps feeling that his nephew's brain had some issues.

He then laughed loudly and said, "Cook it? You don't need to cook it through; you just need to scald the skin until it shrivels! It will swell up again later; once it does, scald it until it shrivels again."

Wang An nodded, thinking to himself that if the thing was scalded until it shriveled, wouldn't it be "cooked" anyway?

The four dogs circled around the two men, sniffing everywhere they walked.

They weren't working to find prey, and after a while, they became quite docile.

But wherever they went, they left quite a lot of urine; one wondered how much water they had drunk this morning!

They would stop to pee every so often, giving the impression of being unable to fully empty their bladders!

Although he knew why it was happening, he had never seen it happen this frequently!

Furthermore, the four dogs all urinated around a single tree!

This was quite perplexing!

It was like they were forming a formation—four directions, Southeast, Southwest, Northeast, Northwest—with the four dogs facing the four cardinal directions!

Then, after settling into their positions, they all lifted their hind legs and began to pee together.

Wang An watched, utterly bewildered, because he had never heard of such a thing!

Was this some kind of ritual? Or were they competing to see who could pee the most?

Wang An asked Feng Chengmin in confusion, "Uncle, is there some significance to the dogs urinating in a formation like this?"