Chapter 963: Bonus Received

As soon as the two women finished speaking, Wang Dazhu nodded and added

"I also think Xueli speaks quite well; he's not a bit worse than those professional storytellers."

To be honest, Mu Xueli's talent for storytelling was indeed impressive, and Wang An fully acknowledged this point.

Having received the approval of the three elders, Mu Xueli became elated. He then began recounting the process of harvesting honey and fighting the man-eating bear to the three elders, Mu Xueqing, Wang Yi, and the two little sisters.

What should have been a mundane series of events became instantly entertaining coming from Mu Xueli's mouth. The group listened, completely enthralled and captivated.

One had to admit, Mu Xueli was truly talented.

Finally, once Mu Xueli finished his tale, Wang An turned to Liu Guilan and said

"Alright, uh, Mom, is dinner ready? The three of us only had pancakes for lunch; I'm absolutely starving."

Liu Guilan slapped her thigh and exclaimed

"Oh my, I got so caught up in the talking! Quick, hurry up and tidy up and get inside to eat."

After Liu Guilan spoke, the second sister-in-law, Yao Ping, said

"Dinner is ready at my place too, and Xiaorong is still home by herself. We have to head back."

In such a situation, there was no way to make them stay. Thus, Wang Dazhu and his wife exchanged a few polite words and walked Wang Daliang and his wife, along with Wang Li who was leading the horses, toward the main gate.

After seeing the three of them off, Mu Xueli also made preparations to go home, but he was forcibly suppressed by Mu Xueqing.

In the Northeast, this kind of sibling dynamic is actually quite interesting. No matter how old the younger brother is or whether he has started a family, the vast majority of brothers are always afraid of their older sisters.

For example, when a man has finished drinking and is acting loud, boisterous, and throwing a drunken tantrum, nothing anyone says will work. But as long as the older sister is present, one swift slap can bring him right back into line.

It's no exaggeration; in the Northeast, an older sister beating her younger brother is practically a daily occurrence, often continuing from childhood into adulthood. It's quite a phenomenon.

After dinner, the sky had turned completely dark. When Mu Xueli tried to head home again, Mu Xueqing simply gave him a fierce glare, and he didn't dare mention it again.

Mainly, in this era, walking the roads at night was truly unsafe. Although the two villages weren't far apart, they weren't exactly close either. Besides guarding against wild beasts, one had to guard against certain bastards and lowlifes.

Although Mu Xueli had guns—two of them, in fact—and three dogs by his side, the saying "caution is the parent of safety" still applied.

Of course, beyond that, as Mu Xueqing's own brother, it was only natural for Mu Xueli to spend the night at his sister's house given the late hour.

After cleaning up the dishes, while everyone was chatting, Mu Xueli suddenly said to Wang An

"Brother-in-law, why don't we press those honeycombs with something? If we press them now, they'll be ready to eat tomorrow. My big sister has loved honey since she was a kid."

When Mu Xueli said this, Wang An was momentarily stunned, feeling a slight sense of shame.

He truly hadn't known that Mu Xueqing loved honey.

Wang An nodded and said

"Mm-hmm, let's press them then."

As he spoke, Wang An led the way outside.

Wang An originally intended to only press his own bag of honeycomb, but Mu Xueli said

"Brother-in-law, why don't we just press my bag as well? I'll just bring a little less honey back for Xueting tomorrow, and leave the rest for my sister."

Wang An looked at Mu Xueli and, after thinking it over, didn't refuse. After all, this was a matter of deep sibling affection.

Furthermore, while honey was very scarce in this era, it could still be bought if one wanted to. Even if it couldn't be bought, as long as one was willing to spend time searching carefully in the mountains, it could be found sooner or later.

Thus, Wang An said

"Mm-hmm, that works. Some other day when there's time, we'll go harvest some more honey. If we can't find these lime trees, we'll just get some wild bee honey."

The "wild bees" Wang An mentioned were also a type of honeybee, but they produced less honey, and harvesting it was very laborious.

Talking as they worked, the two of them quickly pressed both bags of honeycomb.

The reason it was so fast was that Wang An didn't bother making perforated wooden boards; instead, he placed the honeycombs directly onto the flat bottom of a pot, covered them with another flat bottom upside down, and finally weighed it down with stones.

After dealing with the honey, Wang An and Mu Xueli helped Liu Guilan and her husband process the black bear meat, which mostly involved rubbing salt into the meat. Only then did everyone return to their rooms to sleep.

It had to be said that having a large house with many rooms was a blessing, as there was no need to worry about guests having nowhere to stay.

Early the next morning, before Wang An could even go to the village headquarters, Village Chief Sun Dafu and the accountant Li Youcai arrived at Wang An's house with the militia.

As soon as he entered the yard, Sun Dafu asked anxiously

"Xiao An, did you find that grey-furred black bear last night?"

Wang An pointed to the man-eating bear skin hanging from a tall pole and said with a beaming smile

"Found it. Isn't it hanging right there? Don't forget to take it back as evidence before you leave, hahahaha..."

Sun Dafu and the others followed Wang An's finger and instinctively stepped forward to examine the bear skin.

Immediately, praises for Wang An erupted.

"We searched for three days and found nothing, but look at Xiao An—he went into the mountains and took it down."

"Exactly. See the white fur on this black bear's skin? This was clearly a man-eating bear. I'm truly impressed by Xiao An's skills as a mountain guide."

"Impressed, absolutely impressed. He killed a man-eating bear outright. Xiao An is truly fierce!"

It must be said that hearing everyone's praise and discussion made Wang An feel quite happy. However, regardless of what they said, Wang An only smiled and didn't engage in the conversation.

Once confirmed, Sun Dafu happily pulled out the pre-prepared "Big Unity" bills. Handing them to Wang An, he said with a smile

"Xiao An, on behalf of the 83 households of Kaoshan Village, I express my gratitude to you. You timely eliminated the danger to our village..."

It had to be said that perhaps all village chiefs were like this; no matter what the task, they had to deliver a long-winded, official-sounding speech.

But this also showed that this man-eating bear had almost become a psychological demon for Sun Dafu.

Once Sun Dafu finished his rambling, Wang An said only one sentence

"Thank you for the village's bonus, hahahaha!"

Although 200 yuan wasn't a huge amount, Wang An didn't know why he felt so happy.

After finishing his moment of glory, Wang An couldn't help but remind them

"Grandpa Sun, we encountered a leopard last night. I fired two shots but couldn't kill it. Please tell the villagers that when they go into the mountains to pick mushrooms or whatever, they must be extremely careful."

(End of Chapter)