Chapter 2: Getting the Type 56 Semi-Automatic

Chapter 2: The 56-Semi is in Hand

I set the 80%-new 56-Semi and the three stripper clips aside.

I re-wrapped everything else and slung it over my shoulder, then worked the bolt back and forth a dozen times to let the frozen springs inside regain their tension.

Next, I opened the magazine cover, pressed the cartridges in, tucked the empty stripper clip into my pocket, engaged the safety, and shouldered the rifle to take a few practice aimings.

The Type 56 semi-automatic rifle is known as a hunting godsend. You can pull the trigger continuously for rapid fire or fire single shots. It has a 10-round magazine capacity, is 1.025 meters long, uses standard 7.62mm ammunition, and comes with a folding bayonet. Loaded, it weighs about eight jin.

This is the stripper clip.

Wang An was truly too familiar with this rifle. In his past life, nearly half of what he trafficked were these guns, though his trade primarily focused on single-barrel shotguns, double-barrel shotguns, and flintlocks.

Wang An didn't know the current price of a 56-Semi, but before he went to prison in his past life, the black market price for one was already around four thousand. In the 90s, how many "ten-thousand-yuan households" were there in the whole country?

Wang An decided to bag some meat today to let his family satisfy their cravings.

Although the Wang An of his past life tinkered with guns every day and was a good shot, he really didn't know much about mountain hunting. He only had a half-baked understanding of the rules and such.

After all, before heading south, Wang An’s main mountain activities were picking mushrooms, digging wild vegetables or medicinal herbs, or gathering hazelnuts, pine nuts, and wild actinidia—it was all foraging for food.

He walked deep into the mountains, staying alert. After an hour, he hadn't spotted a single piece of game; not even a pheasant or rabbit was in sight. He felt more than a little frustrated.

Moreover, the current Wang An was getting hungry. He hadn't eaten a single bite since morning.

Another hour passed. Just as Wang An was about to give up and head home to eat, he heard a "fen-fen" sound not far away. Game! He was overjoyed.

Afraid the prey would catch his scent, Wang An tiptoed to the downwind side. He approached slowly, trying his best not to make a sound. When he was less than a hundred meters away, he hid behind a cluster of bushes and slowly poked his head out to look.

Under an oak tree ahead, a wild boar was rooting in the snow, likely looking for acorns. It would occasionally lift its head to sniff the air. Perhaps feeling an itch, it leaned against the oak tree and started rubbing itself. A perfect opportunity!

Wang An disengaged the safety, slowly shouldered the rifle, and when the boar’s head appeared in his sights, he decisively pulled the trigger. "Bang! Bang!" Two shots rang out.

The boar didn't even turn its head; it charged straight forward. It ran about twenty meters before crashing to the ground. That vitality was truly tenacious!

Wang An ran quickly toward the boar. When he was less than ten meters away, he fired another "bang" into the boar’s forehead. In his past life, he had heard plenty of stories about wild animals feigning death only to suddenly attack!

This was a boar (a male wild boar), weighing about 200 jin. The first two shots—one hit below the ear, the other in the neck. He hadn't touched a gun in over thirty years since his past life, yet his marksmanship was still not bad.

Seeing no scars on its body, he wondered why it wasn't with a sounder but was out here foraging alone.

"Hahaha." Imagining the satisfaction of his family eating meat, especially his little sister’s pitiful little face, Wang An couldn't help but laugh out loud. He pulled out his hunting knife, stabbed it into the boar’s neck to bleed it, and carefully gutted it, throwing the entrails onto the snow.

He emptied the intestines and the filth from the stomach, rubbed them in the snow several times, then stuffed the boar’s cavity with plenty of snow and packed the organs back inside.

These intestines and organs were all meat! How could he throw them away?

He used hemp rope to tie together a makeshift sled (a tool in the Northeast consisting of two long pieces of wood with boards across the middle) and laboriously moved the boar onto it. A dead pig is truly heavy!

In this era, people would carry two or three hundred jin on a shoulder pole for ten miles, which was perfectly normal. But moving a 200-jin boar was no easy task.

Wang An hunched over, dragging the sled slowly toward home. It took him a full two hours to reach the entrance of the village!

He was panting, his whole body shivering.

Since the Wang family lived at the very west end of the village, he didn't run into any villagers on the way. That was good; it saved him the trouble.

Otherwise, if someone asked for a piece of meat, you’d have to give it to them. The rule in these parts is: "Mountain wealth cannot be enjoyed alone."

Taking a deep breath, Wang An mustered his strength to drag the sled into the yard and sat right down on the pig.

He gasped for air, truly exhausted, thirsty, and hungry.

After resting for a while, Wang An stretched his neck and shouted toward the house

"Dad, Mom, Little Brother, who’s home? Get out here!"

The timing was perfect. Since it was noon, the whole family was likely waiting for lunch, so no one had gone out.

Wang Dazhu, Liu Guilan, and Wang Yi all ran out upon hearing the shout. Seeing Wang An and the wild boar under his butt, everyone was stunned speechless!

Wang An leaned on his legs and stood up with difficulty. "Dad, Mom, Little Brother, help me dress the pig. We’re having meat for lunch. I’m going inside to rest and have a bowl of water; I’m exhausted!"

He didn't dare say anything else, as he had been carrying the rifle the whole time, and he figured everyone had seen it. He really didn't know how to explain the boar and the gun right now.

Oh, this was urgent!

The Wang An of his past life wasn't a good bird; otherwise, he wouldn't have been foolish enough at 24 to listen to a ginseng hunter and run off to the south all by himself.

You have to realize that at 24 in the countryside, most people’s kids were already old enough to run errands, yet Wang An couldn't even find a girlfriend.

Standing 1.8 meters tall with refined features, a high nose bridge, bright, piercing eyes, and sharp, handsome brows—he wasn't exactly a "pretty boy," but he was definitely a handsome young man.

Unfortunately, Wang An was kicked out of school before finishing the third year of middle school. The reason: "hooliganism."

After dropping out, Wang An became like a wild horse off its tether, constantly hopping on the forestry train to wander into the county seat.

He did no real work but was always up to some mischief. He didn't gamble big, but he gambled often. He didn't break the law, but he was a total loafer.

Most importantly, every time he went to the county seat, he would go to his old middle school to find the object of his "hooliganism"—Mu Xueqing.

Mu Xueqing was two years older than Wang An and had been his classmate.

She was gentle, introverted, and exceptionally beautiful. Her features were as delicate as if they had been carved, her skin was fair, and she was tall with a figure that boasted two prominent, well-developed assets.

Even though everyone wore black, gray, or blue baggy work clothes, they couldn't hide Mu Xueqing’s near-S-shaped figure.

Mu Xueqing had Wang An completely bewitched. He wasn't the only one, but Wang An was big and strong, and he had beaten up every other guy who tried to get close to her once or twice.

This led to many classmates holding a grudge against him, and finally, a report was filed, leading to Wang An being expelled.

In his past life, Wang An left home for the south partly to get rich, and partly because Mu Xueqing’s parents had married her off to Wang An’s classmate, Zheng Fei, for the sake of a dowry.

After the marriage, Zheng Fei often abused her. After Wang An beat Zheng Fei up a few times, Mu Xueqing came to him in tears, begging him to stop.

In short, Mu Xueqing was the type of traditional woman who "follows the chicken if she marries a chicken, and the dog if she marries a dog." From then on, Wang An was heartbroken and helpless, eventually losing interest and stopping his pursuit.

What excuse should he make? Lying on the kang in the west room, Wang An struggled to think.

In this era, guns were common, but there were only a few hunters in the village, and they mostly used 16-gauge single-barrel shotguns.

Better to just tell the truth. Lying about this would only make his parents anxious. It wasn't worth it.

In the yard, his two younger sisters had run out at some point, their eyes crinkling with laughter. Wang Yi was also helping to unload the pork with a face full of smiles. Only Wang Dazhu and Liu Guilan looked grave, wondering what was going on.

After unloading the meat, 20 minutes had passed. Wang Dazhu rinsed the pig intestines in a basin a few times, and Wang An couldn't help but call out, "Dad, Mom, come to my room for a second. I need to tell you something."

Wang Dazhu and Liu Guilan exchanged a look, wiped their hands on a rag, and followed Wang An into the west room. The three brothers were still looking at the meat and laughing.

Wang An pondered for a moment and said, "Dad, Mom, I want to show you something." He laid out everything he had dug up that morning on the kang.

The couple was already a bit scared, especially when they saw the small gold nugget.

In this era, gold didn't circulate among the common people. Everyone knew it was valuable, but no one would buy it. Those who had it kept it as jewelry and had to hide it away, terrified of being seen.

Wang An took the news he had heard in his past life and changed it to something he’d heard in the county seat a few days ago. He changed the story about the shepherd and the woodcutter finding the guns to the four criminals having stayed at the ruined temple behind Yangshu Village.

After finishing, Wang An looked at the couple and explained that the serial numbers on the two guns had been filed off, so they couldn't be sold.

Wang Dazhu and Liu Guilan listened to Wang An’s explanation as if it were a fairy tale.

After a long while, Wang Dazhu hesitantly asked, "So, you mean these guns are ours now? And those four bandits are all dead?"

"Yeah. Aside from us three, no one knows about this," Wang An said firmly.

"Then what the hell was I worrying about? I thought you’d gone and stolen them, you little brat!" Wang Dazhu seemed to completely relax.

Wang An stared blankly at his old man, thinking, "Am I that bad?" He really didn't know what to say.

Liu Guilan also relaxed and picked up the gold nugget with a smile. "Half a lifetime, and this is the first time I've seen such a big piece of gold! In the past, only landlords and the wealthy had things like this! Now our family has one too... hee hee hee!"

Wang An was left speechless by his parents' reaction.

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(End of chapter)