Chapter 7: A Terrifying Realization

Pulling the sled, he continued his slow, leisurely walk home.

Today’s experience was truly beyond Wang An’s expectations. Who were those three animals? Where were they from? Wang An had no idea! And they hadn't given him the chance to find out, either!

They were ready to kill the moment they appeared; such a habit seemed to be carved into their very bones, and they appeared to have received some basic training!

Judging by today’s display, who knew how many people they had already killed? Day after day, he had almost lost his damn life!

He often heard the elders and hunters in the village say: "The mountains are treacherous. The big paws and black bears aren't the most vicious things! The most vicious are the ones who take lives without hesitation!"

Wang An hadn't thought much about the meaning of those words before, but connecting his past life to his present, he suddenly felt a sense of profound realization: "Whether out in the world or deep in the mountains, the most vicious thing will always be people!"

And in the mountains during this era, things were truly chaotic. Someone had made up a jingle that described it quite vividly

Those carrying flower baskets to forage in the mountains, Those hunting and shedding blood to traverse the mountains, Those carrying sticks and ginseng to shout in the mountains, Those chopping wood and brush to clear the mountains, Those searching for gold and minerals to dig the mountains, Those fleeing famine because they couldn't get a meal, Those fleeing disaster and misfortune to escape, Those committing murder and arson to flee, They’re all just chasing money, damn it!

That last line hit the nail on the head. These mountains contained everything, a mix of fish and dragons.

When all was said and done, the pot shouldn't call the kettle black—it was all for the sake of money!

In his past life, people in the village and nearby villages would go missing in the mountains. When their families couldn't find them, they would say they had been kicked to death by mountain beasts, and then they would set up a cenotaph...

Without finding a body or remains, without finding their clothes, shoes, hats, or other belongings, and with their guns also missing, the people would just vanish as if they had evaporated!

Thinking back on his own actions today, it was terrifying when he thought about it carefully!

And when he thought about the people who had gone into the mountains with those who went missing but returned safely, or those who went in on the same day... what the hell was going on?

Wang An, who had originally reached a state of "profound realization," felt more and more terrified the more he thought about it! He even quickened his pace.

In the end, Wang An concluded: "I should find a wife; otherwise, I’ll just be overthinking things all day."

Two hours later, as dusk fell, Wang An arrived at his front gate.

Despite the harrowing experience and the vomiting, Wang An wasn't hungry now... not hungry at all!

He dragged the sled directly to the door. Wang Dazhu, Liu Guilan, Wang Yi, Wang Xiaomei, and Wang Xiaoli heard the commotion outside and all ran out.

"Oh! My eldest son is really capable, you caught a live roe deer!" Liu Guilan exclaimed in surprise.

"Yeah, this roe deer's leg was broken, so I couldn't bring myself to kill it."

As Wang An spoke, he carried the sack containing the three animals' belongings onto the west room's *kang*.

He heard his little sister shouting outside: "Big bro is the best! Big bro is the best!" She was five years old and still had a bit of a lisp.

After coming out, he saw Liu Guilan carrying the sack containing the pheasant, the lynx, and the fox into the outer room.

His old man, Wang Dazhu, followed closely behind, carrying the large dead roe deer, while Wang Yi followed his father, carrying the small roe deer.

Before long, only the live roe deer was left on the sled, bleating "ah-ao, ah-ao."

The family looked at the live roe deer and giggled. The two younger sisters were trying their best to touch the head of the deer, which kept dodging them, while their mouths kept muttering: "Silly roe deer, you're so cute!"

"Silly roe deer, let me touch you! Once I'm done, we'll stew you."

"Silly roe deer, do you taste good?"...

Wang An felt a headache coming on hearing his sisters' words! What kind of "heroic declarations" were these?

He couldn't help but say: "Dad, Mom, I don't think our family can eat this live roe deer. How about I go sell it tomorrow? Is that okay?"

Liu Guilan thought for a moment: "Yeah, we have enough meat for now, so let's sell the live one! Or maybe we keep the small one and sell the big one?"

Wang Dazhu didn't say anything; Liu Guilan basically made the decisions in the house.

"It won't sell for much, roe deer meat doesn't seem to be worth much!" Wang An said doubtfully, as he had never sold one before.

"Even if it's not worth much, it's worth more than grain! Pork is 70 cents a catty; this thing should at least be worth two or three *mao*! And we don't need ration coupons."

"Yeah, we'll see. Let it thaw first, we'll skin it later."

"Let's move this live one to the west room floor first, otherwise it might freeze to death overnight."

As they spoke, Wang Dazhu and Wang An carried the live roe deer into the house together, and Liu Guilan hurriedly pulled out a bundle of *ula* grass and spread it on the floor of the west room!

Seeing the *ula* grass, Wang An suddenly thought of the Three Treasures of the Northeast: ginseng, sable fur, and *ula* grass!

Now his family had all three! It felt pretty awesome!

Walking into the outer room, he saw Liu Guilan emptying the sack. A fox, a lynx, and two pheasants fell out. Seeing the fox, Liu Guilan was clearly stunned; she wasn't happy or angry!

She just said to Wang An in a very flat tone: "Don't specifically hunt this thing in the future."

She didn't say it was good or bad...

Wang An decided to listen to his mother!

The three younger ones ran into the west room to tease the roe deer!

While the game was thawing, Wang An took the sack containing the three animals' belongings into the east room and closed the west room door! He called Wang Dazhu and Liu Guilan into the east room and closed that door too!

The usual routine: he dumped everything onto the *kang* and recounted today's encounter!

Neither of the couple cared about what was on the *kang*! Anxiety, lingering fear, terror, worry... all sorts of complex emotions were written on their faces!

Liu Guilan even had tears streaming down her face! She kept pinching and patting Wang An's body, checking him over very carefully.

Seeing the state of his parents, Wang An was deeply moved once again!

He thought of a passage from a magazine he had read in prison in his past life: "The most sincere emotion in the world is the love of parents for their children!"

"I'm completely fine, really!" Wang An kept explaining!

"I'm so vicious, do you think I'd let them push me around?"

Neither of them said that Wang An was wrong to kill! That was the one good thing about the mountains; in the face of life-or-death situations, killing was just killing!

No one cared about whether it was illegal or not! It seemed that in such circumstances, killing a person was no different from killing a chicken or a pig!

After the two finished checking Wang An's body, Liu Guilan said through tears: "How about we stop going into the mountains? It's fine to just farm and earn work points. It might be bitter and tiring, but we can live well!"

Wang Dazhu pointed at the things on the *kang* and said: "If you don't want to farm, we can sell these things and ask someone to get you a job at the forestry station!"

"Yeah, the forestry station provides a steady income, which is better than risking your life in the mountains every day!" Liu Guilan added.

Wang An realized he was in trouble; his parents were truly scared!

He hurriedly explained: "Dad, Mom, you don't need to worry. What happened today has nothing to do with going into the mountains; I just ran into some highwaymen!"

"But who can guarantee they won't run into highwaymen their whole life? Right, Dad and Mom? Even if I went to the county seat, if I ran into highwaymen, what would you say I should do?"

"Highwaymen are everywhere. Besides, I still have a gun, and it's a good gun..."

Wang An chattered away, persuading his parents until he finally dispelled their various unrealistic ideas.

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(End of chapter)