Chapter 960: Another Great Golden Gallbladder

The armor was torn open, but the fur was fine. The only things that could possibly be problematic were the dog's internal organs and ribs.

Upon hearing this, Mu Xueli and Wang Li hurried forward to check their respective dogs.

After a while, Mu Xueli said, still shaken

"Thank goodness, Sanqing's ribs and the bones in its body are all fine."

Wang Li immediately added

"Erhuang's bones are fine too. It shouldn't be anything serious."

Wang An nodded, observing the other dogs as he spoke

"Mm-hmm, as long as the ribs aren't broken, it's fine. These two dogs were probably just knocked winded by that man-bear. Don't forget to keep an eye on them; if it really doesn't work out, go to the township and get some medicine to inject into the dogs."

In this era, whether it was people or animals, they were exceptionally hardy. Whether it was a cold or an injury, they basically relied on toughness to get through it.

So, when a dog was injured, although the owner would be distressed, the norm was to treat it with folk remedies and leave it at that, or at most get some medicine for an injection, and then just let nature take its course.

To put it bluntly, the guiding principle was "life and death are determined by fate."

Finding that the other dogs were all fine, Wang An said to Mu Xueli and Wang Li with a chuckle

"Chasing this man-bear was a bit of a struggle, but it was satisfying! Look at the size of this man-bear; it must be five or six hundred jin, haha. Right, let's guess—what kind of gall will this man-bear have?"

Mu Xueli stood up and said

"I reckon this huge black bear is probably older than I am. At the very least, it should produce a Large Iron Gall, right?"

Wang Li immediately chimed in

"Mm-hmm, I also reckon it's an Iron Gall at minimum. If it turns out to be a Grass Gall, it would be a waste of such a physique."

However, it was obvious that perhaps due to a long streak of bad luck with gall harvesting, Wang Li sounded somewhat hesitant when he said this, as if he felt it was doubtful that this man-bear could even produce an Iron Gall.

After listening to the two of them, Wang An gave them a disgruntled look and said

"Look at you two, so spineless. You're satisfied with an Iron Gall? You damn bastards, let's do this: I'll put up 10 yuan and bet it'll be a Gold Gall. Are you two in?"

As he spoke, Wang An pulled a "Big Unity" ten-yuan note from his pocket.

Until the bear gall was actually removed, no one knew what kind of gall a black bear would have. This sense of anticipation and thrill was what fascinated all hunters the most.

Now that Wang An had set up a bet, it instantly piqued the interest of Mu Xueli and Wang Li.

Mu Xueli and Wang Li looked at each other, and then Mu Xueli pulled out 10 yuan and said with a chuckle

"Then I'll put 10 yuan on it being an Iron Gall, hehehehe."

For some unknown reason, Mu Xueli possessed a mysterious confidence at this moment.

Seeing the two of them like this, Wang Li refused to be outdone and pulled out money, saying

"Then I'll bet it'll be a Grass Gall. We've already gotten so many Grass Galls anyway, one more won't make a difference."

Looking at the money in Mu Xueli and Wang Li's hands, Wang An said with a smile

"Anyway, there are only three types of bear galls. It just so happens we've each picked one. We all have to accept the outcome of the bet; don't try to back out later."

Mu Xueli said nonchalantly

"A man's word is his bond. Besides, it's only 10 yuan. I'm actually hoping I lose my money to you."

When saying the last sentence, Mu Xueli glanced toward Wang An.

Wang Li sighed softly and said hopefully

"Sigh, I don't care which of you two I lose to, as long as I don't win."

According to the agreement between the three, regardless of the harvest, Wang An took 40%, while Mu Xueli and Wang Li each took 30%.

For Grass Galls and Gold Galls of the same size, the price of a Grass Gall wasn't even half that of a Gold Gall; the money they could split would be worlds apart.

It was just that Wang Li had been worn down by the previous few Grass Galls, which is why he said such a thing.

After Wang Li finished, Wang An, Mu Xueli, and Wang Li all burst into laughter.

After laughing, Wang An called to the two

"Come on, let's flip it over first. Over 500 jin—the three of us should be able to move it."

With that, the three of them worked together to flip over the prone man-bear.

Immediately after, Mu Xueli pulled out the skinning knife while Wang Li assisted. The two of them very efficiently gutted the man-bear.

Once the bear gall was cupped out by Mu Xueli's hands, the three of them immediately laughed happily.

Because in the bet between the three, Wang An had won.

Looking at the Gold Gall, which was about the size of a baby's head, Wang An said with a face full of smiles

"How's that? My guess was the most accurate, right? Hahahaha..."

Although Mu Xueli and Wang Li lost, they were very happy to have lost.

The size of this Gold Gall was roughly three times that of the previous one. Even after air-drying, its weight should be over two and a half liang.

Converted to cash, based on the supply and marketing cooperative's purchase price, this Gold Gall would be worth at least 1,800 yuan.

In other words, Mu Xueli and Wang Li would each get about 540 or 550 yuan.

But if this bear gall had been a Grass Gall, they would have only split about 200 yuan each.

Calculating it this way, the two of them definitely wanted to lose; no one would want to win in this scenario.

After Wang An carefully stored the large Gold Gall, he impatiently said to the two

"Pay up, pay up right now! What are you two thinking about? Hahahaha!"

Mu Xueli and Wang Li pulled the "Big Unity" notes they had prepared from their pockets and handed them to Wang An almost simultaneously.

Wang An happily took the money and said to them

"You two handle the butchering here; I'll go lead the horse over."

Just as Wang An was about to leave, he heard Mu Xueli say

"Brother-in-law, this huge black bear will yield at least 300 jin of meat. There's another 100-plus jin of meat hanging from the tree over there, plus 8 bear paws and 2 bear skins. How are we going to get it all back?"

Hearing this, Wang An thought for a moment and said

"Load it on the horse. It's only seventeen or eighteen li back to the house. The three of us can just lead the horse back on foot."

Pausing, Wang An suddenly thought of something and said teasingly

"What's this? You've gotten so used to the good life that you've forgotten how to endure the hard times?"

It had to be said that, aside from chasing dogs and prey, the three of them hadn't walked a long distance in a long time.

Mainly because not only did each of their three families have a horse, but they now even had hand-tractors, and Wang An's family even had a sidecar motorcycle.

In other words, when these three families went out, there was simply no need to walk.

The reason Wang An said this was because he discovered that people are just like that: "It is easy to go from frugality to luxury, but difficult to go from luxury back to frugality."

A mountain path of seventeen or eighteen li was nothing in this era, but for the families of Wang An and the others, it had damn well become a hardship.

People really shouldn't be spoiled.

(End of Chapter)