Chapter 18: The Parents' Joy

Wang An galloped on his horse, with the dogs frolicking and running along behind him; they arrived home in no time!

Wang Dazhu and Liu Guilan watched as Wang An rode in on a horse, with another horse hitched to the halter, and three dogs being led along!

They asked in astonishment, "Where did you get these horses? And two at once?"

Wang An dismounted, flipping off the horse, and said to the couple with a grin, "What kind of question is that? I bought them! What do you think of these two? Aren't they handsome?"

Liu Guilan complained, "Then you should have just bought one! If you get two, what are we going to feed them? Feed them with your own share?"

Wang An replied cheekily, "They wouldn't sell them separately. They said if they sold them separately, this horse wouldn't be easy to move!"

Wang Dazhu spoke up, "If they wouldn't sell them separately, then don't buy them! We can't even afford to raise one horse! These things need to be fed soybeans and eggs and stuff! We can barely afford to eat well ourselves! Where are we going to find such good things to feed it?"

Wang An scratched his head and said sheepishly, "Then what should we do? How about... we just slaughter them for meat? We won't raise them as stud horses, just feed them corn."

The couple instinctively exchanged a look, and Wang Dazhu burst out cursing, "You little brat! Talking such nonsense! Slaughter such good horses for meat? I think it'd be better if I slaughtered you for meat!"

Seeing that the couple looked ready to beat him, Wang An quickly said with a grin, "Don't be angry, don't be angry! Look at you two, can't you take a joke? You're getting worked up over nothing!"

Liu Guilan said impatiently, "Just get lost to the side! You're so aggravating, all you know how to do is waste money every single day!" After saying that, she frowned and looked at the two horses with great worry.

Chuckling, Wang An tied the three large dogs respectively at the entrance of the downstairs room and the shed next to it.

By this time, Wang Dazhu had already led the two horses into the shed and tied them to the two posts normally used for hanging things.

Wang An picked up the basket he had left at the door and walked up to Wang Dazhu.

He said to Wang Dazhu, "Dad, see if you can find some time to build a nest for these five puppies! Otherwise, there's nowhere to put them!"

Wang Dazhu froze, and was on the verge of losing his temper!

Seeing his father's expression turn sour, Wang An quickly pulled out the Changbaishan cigarettes he had bought that morning and stuffed them directly into his father's hand!

Then he looked at his father with a smile and said, "Dad, this is a special gift for you. Give it a try and see if it's good."

Wang Dazhu looked at the cigarettes in his hand, smacked his lips, and the angry expression on his face vanished instantly!

With a hint of a smile at the corners of his mouth, he said, "You little rascal, learning how to boss your father around, eh? Fine, I'll build a couple more in a bit, and there are those three big dogs too!"

Wang An thought for a moment, then pulled a ten-yuan note from his pocket, stuffed it into his father's hand, and whispered, "Keep it quiet, don't let Mom know!"

Wang Dazhu gripped the ten yuan with great satisfaction. Watching Wang An's retreating figure as he went into the house, he thought his son hadn't been raised in vain—he was a sensible boy!!

Wang An carried the sack directly into the west room and hung the Type 56 semi-automatic rifle on the wall. He put the 56 semi-auto ammunition from his pocket into the drawer of the kang bed.

He pulled out a pistol to check it, saw it was full, and put the gun into another pocket.

Then he put the remaining pistol and ammunition, along with four knives, into the drawer.

He opened another drawer and picked out fifty or sixty rounds of ammunition for the Type 68 semi-automatic rifle from the four or five hundred loose rounds and put them in his pocket.

The ammunition for the Type 68 was also 7.62mm, but it was different from the 7.62mm for the Type 56; the Type 68 rounds were thicker.

In truth, the Type 68 was an excellent long gun. Its power and range were actually much superior to the Type 56; strictly speaking, it was a sniper rifle!

However, because it was over 1.3 meters long, it wasn't as easy to carry as the Type 56, which was just over a meter long. It also weighed a pound more and wasn't semi-automatic, so more people preferred the Type 56.

But due to price and historical reasons, in Northeast China, there were actually many more hunters using the Type 68 than the Type 56.

If Mu Xueqing wanted that Type 68, Wang An planned to give it to her. If she didn't want it, he would bring it back; after all, it was worth quite a bit of money!!

Having finished his preparations and calculated in his head, he took the two stacks of ten-yuan notes from his inner left chest pocket, counted out 40 of them, and put the rest back.

Walking into the outer room, he saw Liu Guilan stoking the fire, seemingly intending to cook.

He quickly said, "Mom, don't cook. I bought a lot of meat buns. You can just warm them up in the hot pot!"

Hearing this, Liu Guilan looked up at Wang An. Her face, which had been full of worry, instantly turned to fury!

Just as she was about to scold him, she saw the thick stack of ten-yuan notes in Wang An's left hand, completely ignoring the sack in his right hand!

She hurriedly scrambled up and rushed over, crying out in shock, "Oh my goodness! How is there so much money? Did those things sell for this much?"

As she spoke, she naturally snatched the money from Wang An's hand!

Her face took on the exact same money-grubbing, smiling expression she had when she received the "golden nugget" a few days ago!

Wang An couldn't help but laugh. Seeing him laugh, Liu Guilan didn't mind and immediately asked, "How much is this in total?"

Laughing, Wang An said, "1,600 yuan!"

He then added, "I'm keeping a little in my pocket for business later!" He then quickly told his mother about Mu Xueqing.

He also told her that the two of them might have already reached the lindens at the west end of the village.

After hearing this, Liu Guilan stopped admiring the money; compared to her daughter-in-law, the money suddenly didn't seem so enticing anymore!

She asked in pleasant surprise, "Son, does this mean you found a wife yourself?"

Looking at his overjoyed mother, Wang An nodded and said, "Yep, that's why I'm planning to head to her house in a bit!"

Liu Guilan seemed so excited she didn't know what to do with herself! She paced around the outer room and hopped a few times, then dashed into the courtyard like a gust of wind!

As she ran, she shouted, "Dazhu! Dazhu! Our son has a wife! Our son found a wife himself! We don't need to beg those damn matchmakers anymore!"

Wang Dazhu, who was in the courtyard working on the mud-brick dog nests, heard Liu Guilan's shout and put down his trowel and stood up!

He hurriedly asked, "Whose daughter? How old is she?" He saw Liu Guilan, both happy and excited, her mouth moving rapidly as she began to repeat the information Wang An had just told her!

Upon hearing it, Wang Dazhu's joy was no less than Liu Guilan's!

Over the past year, because of Wang An's reputation, Wang Dazhu and Liu Guilan had begged countless matchmakers, and while many had promised, not a single girl had been presented for a meeting!

They had been worried sick over Wang An's marriage!!

Watching his parents discussing his future wife with tireless enthusiasm, Wang An tossed his sack onto the kang in the east room. The three little ones weren't home!

He stepped out to greet his parents and left the house.

In less than three minutes, Wang An saw the mother and son waiting under the lindens. He stepped forward to take the reins and drove the cart to take them to Mu Xueqing's house.

The two villages were not far apart; they arrived at Mu Xueqing's house in about ten minutes.

Wang An felt his own home was quite poor, but in Kaoshan Village, most people's houses were similar to his—earthen houses with clay tiles.

But when he saw Mu Xueqing's house and courtyard, Wang An felt like his own home was a wealthy household!!