Chapter 15: Getting the Dog but Losing Two More

Wang An nodded with a smile, intending to turn and leave! It was true that he wanted to buy a dog, but it was even truer that he had no intention of being a sucker! These days, how hard it was to earn a bit of money!

Just then, two men approached—one older and one younger. They seemed to know the woman, because as soon as she saw them, she completely ignored Wang An, who hadn't left yet!

The woman said with a smile, "Hey brother, come to lead the dog away? I've been waiting here for you for a long time."

The young man replied, "Yeah, big sister, but regarding the price, we need to renegotiate!"

The woman's expression changed slightly. She said, "Brother! Didn't we already agree on the price? Look, your big brother at home is still waiting for money to use! How can you go back on your word?"

The young man said somewhat agitatedly, "That doesn't mean you can rip me off! Besides, what does whether you need money or not have to do with me!"

Wang An could see it—this young guy didn't know the trade! He was being played!

Seeing the young man get worked up, the woman immediately softened her tone. "Look, brother, why are you getting so worked up? You know what kind of dogs these are. So, how much do you think is appropriate?"

At this moment, the young man looked toward the older man. This older man had been observing the three dogs from the very beginning; he seemed to be an expert on dogs!

The older man nodded, then shook his head, pausing for a moment while shaking it. Wang An had no idea what that signal meant!

The young man said, "How about this, big sister? Your dogs are already four years old, so they only have about two years left of work. I only want the lead dog. I'll give you a fair price: 60 yuan."

Hearing this, Wang An understood what the older man's nodding and shaking meant!

Upon hearing this, the woman grew anxious. "Brother, isn't that price a bit too low? Besides, if you only buy the lead dog, who am I going to sell these two helper dogs to?"

Well, the woman had a point. Very few people bought helper dogs; unless they were for eating, any hunting dog could serve as a helper!

The young man said, "All six of my dogs can serve as helpers. Buying helper dogs is useless to me!"

The woman replied bluntly, "No way. My husband said our dogs are never sold separately as helpers."

The young man frowned. "How about this: 10 yuan for the two helper dogs, making it 80 yuan for all three. Deal? If not, I'm not buying!"

At this point, the woman remembered Wang An. She said, "That brother just now offered 150! I might as well have sold them to him! I only didn't sell to him because I was waiting for you."

Hearing this, Wang An felt very displeased. *This woman is no good! Trying to drag my reputation down with her. Forget it, I'm not buying! Why am I even arguing with her?*

Before the two men could look over, Wang An said directly, "I'm not buying, and I didn't even name a price. You two keep talking, just leave me out of it!"

Being called out in front of them, the woman felt embarrassed!

The young man grew unhappy. "Big sister, you're not a very honest person! Earlier you were saying this person would pay this much, and that person would pay that much. You're being quite dishonest!"

The woman argued stubbornly, "You know for yourself how good my dogs are. They certainly can't be compared to ordinary hunting dogs!"

The young man gave the woman a look, said nothing more, and turned to leave with the older man. The woman called out a few more times, "Brother!", but neither the young man nor the older man even looked back!

Seeing the excitement end, Wang An also turned to leave. Whether driven by the pressure of money or a natural talent for business, the woman was incredibly thick-skinned!

"Brother, brother! He's not buying! Do you want the dogs?" The woman shouted hurriedly as she saw Wang An walking away.

Wang An did indeed want to buy them, because he didn't know much about dogs himself, but someone had just helped him evaluate them! He might not encounter such an opportunity again!

But this woman was too unpleasant! So, Wang An didn't turn around; he just looked back and asked irritably, "How much?"

The woman likely knew this was her last chance to sell the dogs today. She hurriedly said, "100 yuan. 100 yuan for all three."

Wang An's anger hadn't subsided yet! He felt he could still squeeze her for a lower price. He turned his head back and prepared to walk away again!

"Brother, ninety! Ninety and you can take them!" the woman said urgently.

Wang An accepted, though he pretended to think for a few seconds before pulling his foot back and turning around to return to the stall.

Seeing Wang An return, the woman broke into a happy smile!

Without a word, Wang An pulled a stack of ten-yuan bills from his pocket, counted out nine, and handed them to the woman!

After taking the money, the woman seemed to feel a sense of relief. She handed the leash holding the three dogs to Wang An!

As soon as Wang An took the leash, as if sensing they had a new master, the three dogs let out a sorrowful howl toward the woman, moved from her side to Wang An's, sniffed his pants, and then each sat down beside him!

Before this, and even in his past life, Wang An had never dealt with hunting dogs. At this moment, he was truly shaken!! Hunting dogs really are incredibly intuitive!!

Before Wang An could recover from the shock, he heard the woman say, her voice sounding somewhat tearful, "Brother, why don't you buy these five puppies too? I'll give them to you cheap, okay?"

Wang An looked up at her and saw that her eyes were red, as if she were truly about to cry, yet her face was full of smiles! However, her eyes weren't looking at Wang An, but were instead looking at the three dogs one by one!

Whether she was faking it or truly reluctant to part with the three dogs, Wang An simply couldn't stand the look in her eyes!

That look reminded Wang An of when he was 51 in his past life, when his 71-year-old father and 70-year-old mother came to visit him while he was in a ditch. That time, they brought stewed chicken, but the chicken had gone bad. Wang An ate it voraciously in front of his parents!

And when they left, they had that same look—faces full of smiles, eyes full of tears! After that, they never came to see him again!!

Wang An thought to himself, *Fine! You've damn well moved me!!*

Originally, Wang An's plan was to buy these three hunting dogs and, once back at the village, find families with puppies and just take them. Not only would it cost nothing, but both parties would be happy!

In the future, he would just let the hunting dogs breed puppies, and it would continue like that—saving time, effort, and worry!!

With his marksmanship, as long as he had decent hunting dogs, they didn't need to be extraordinary! They would just be responsible for finding prey in the mountains or providing early warnings if strangers or dangers were nearby!

But these five would still cost money!! It hurt his wallet!

"How much? Big sister, give me a real price! There isn't a single puppy in all of Heilongjiang worth five yuan!" Wang An's voice softened.

The woman gave a sheepish smile. "My man said only this little black dog is worth five yuan. It's a runt; the mother dog only had this one pup! My man said the runt's siblings were eaten in the mother's womb by this runt. The mother dog was even killed by a black bear a few days ago. This runt's father was a wolf!"

She continued, "This runt is actually just over a month old, but it's bigger than these four spotted dogs that are two months old!"

Wang An thought to himself, *Of course it's bigger! All the nutrition was absorbed by this one dog. Talking all that mystical nonsense about siblings being eaten... what a load of crap!*

Wang An smiled and said, "So, how much is it exactly?"

"How about you give me... no, not ten, eight yuan. Eight yuan and I'll give you all five puppies. Deal, brother?"

"Sigh! Fine, everyone has it hard! I'll give you ten yuan. Give me this basket too, so I have a way to carry them!" As he spoke, he handed the woman a ten-yuan bill. Wang An remembered clearly that there was a place selling baskets not far from this stall for 3 cents each! These things were like crates, and almost any villager could weave one!

"Thank you, brother!" Although the woman had looked like she had red eyes and a smiling face while looking at the three dogs...

After saying those six words, the smile vanished completely. She bit her lip, and the tears finally fell!

Wang An didn't dare look again. With the basket in his left hand and the dogs on the leash in his right, he turned and left! He had bought the dogs and ended up spending an extra two yuan!!!