Chapter 42: It fell to the ground

It wasn't dark yet when he arrived home.

After entering the courtyard, he craned his neck and let out a loud shout toward the house!

Wang An went into the mountains frequently and the family never lacked meat, so his two little sisters had long since lost interest in prey!

However, they still missed their big brother, Wang An, very much!

Because their big brother spoiled them the most; he would often give them a few cents so they could buy snacks like melon seeds at the village grocery store!

Unlike their mother, who would swing a broom at them at the slightest provocation!

They lunged into Wang An's arms together, a sweet "Big Brother" and a "Big Pot" sounding almost simultaneously!

Wang An held both sisters and gave each a kiss! Then he had them each kiss one of his cheeks!

He patted their heads and told them to go inside to play!

After a period of eating meat, the two sisters' hair was noticeably less yellowish, and they had some meat on their bones!

Then, he unhitched the sled, tied up the horse, fed the animals, spent a little time bonding with the three large dogs and five puppies, and finally turned to head inside!

He felt that in a few days, he could lead those three large dogs into the mountains!

When that time came, he could carry his gun, lead his brother-in-law, and roar through the forests together!

In the courtyard, Wang Dazhu and his wife, Mu Xueqing, and Wang Yi were moving several mountain animals into the house.

Meanwhile, Wang An was already lying on the western room's heated kang, reminiscing about the various trapping and snare methods he had learned today.

This hunting method was something Wang An had never heard of: set snares in the morning, hunt during the day, and check the traps in the afternoon before heading home.

It didn't waste any time, and the harvest was huge! All sorts of mountain animals were coming into the house!

Thinking of this and that, he eventually drifted off to sleep.

It wasn't until someone nudged him that he woke up in a daze.

Because he was lying along the edge of the kang, the first thing he saw was Mu Xueqing's face.

In his stupor, he grabbed her and leaned in for a kiss, but feeling unsatisfied, his hand slipped under her clothes!

Since Mu Xueqing was leaning over, a certain part of her appeared exceptionally proud!

Suddenly, he felt the flesh on his side being pinched, followed by a piercing pain!

He was instantly wide awake, letting out a loud "Ah!" of agony!

When a person is startled or experiences sudden pain, their instinctive reaction is to clench their fists.

If they are holding an object, they instinctively grip it tighter.

So, another "Ah!" rang out, but this sound was quite pleasant!

It sounded just like that noise one makes when suddenly entering...

Both Wang An and Mu Xueqing froze for a moment after their screams, staring at each other!

At that moment, Liu Guilan, who was preparing dinner on the eastern room's kang, heard the two screams and thought something was wrong!

She hurriedly called out, "What happened? What happened?"

A series of "crash and bang" sounds erupted from the eastern room! It sounded like someone was rushing to the floor!

Hearing the commotion, the two in the eastern room immediately forced themselves to calm down!

Wang An blurted out a lie: "It's nothing, Mom, I just bumped into something!"

Mu Xueqing immediately backed away to straighten her clothes.

The commotion in the eastern room ceased.

Wang An tried to push himself up, but his left hand missed its mark, and he tumbled sideways off the edge of the kang!

With a dull "thud," his left buttock hit the ground directly!

Though the kang wasn't very high, the impact was quite loud!

This time, he had truly hit the ground—and hit it hard!

Even though the kang wasn't high, the fall was genuinely painful!

Wang An held the edge of the kang with his right hand and braced himself with his left, hissing through his teeth as he struggled to stand up.

Perhaps he had strained a nerve in his left arm during the fall, because as he tried to brace himself, his left arm went limp!

With another dull "thud"!

Wang An hit the ground again!

But this time, it was a smaller "thud"!

Wang An couldn't help but curse, "Ah, dammit! I'm fucking killing myself falling like this!"

Seeing that Wang An had tried to stand but failed and was now cursing, Mu Xueqing thought he had injured himself and rushed forward to help him.

By now, Liu Guilan had already run over. Hearing her son's cursing and seeing the posture of her son and daughter-in-law, she knew Wang An had fallen!

Her fear instantly turned into irritation, and she said through gritted teeth, "You're a grown man and you're still falling on the floor! Why don't you just fall to your death!"

As she spoke, she stepped forward to help her daughter-in-law lift Wang An up!

Once up, Wang An pushed his mother and wife away, his voice sounding weak from the pain, "Go eat, I'm fine, I just need a moment to recover!"

The two women didn't suspect anything else; they gave him another look and headed to the eastern room.

Left behind, Wang An rubbed his backside and muttered, "I really shouldn't have lied. This karma came way too fast!"

After muttering, he limped toward the eastern room.

During dinner, Liu Guilan shared some gossip she had heard at the grocery store earlier. She said that Li Biao had beaten up Sun the Scarred from the same village today, only to be scratched by Sun's wife!

The reason was that Li Biao had asked Sun to go hunting in the mountains together. Sun was already a boastful man, and no one wanted to go with him, so when Li Biao asked, he agreed. However, they returned in less than three hours.

Sun the Scarred had cursed him out, saying Li Biao wouldn't listen to him and kept messing around—firing his gun blindly and missing everything. Sun had almost been charged by a wild boar, and then Li Biao had run away!

Then Sun the Scarred had cursed Li Biao, saying he was a useless piece of shit and not fit to be beaten by a man. Li Biao had gotten so angry that he beat up Sun!

When Sun's wife heard that Li Biao had actually run away while her husband was being charged by a boar, she scolded him, and since he had also beaten her husband, she found Li Biao and scratched him!

Listening to this, Wang An felt as if he were there; it was remarkably similar to his experience going into the mountains with Li Biao a few days ago!

This Li Biao wasn't even intimidated; he didn't know anything about himself, yet he still dared to go into the mountains! He was truly a massive idiot!

However, Sun the Scarred was quite resilient; he was lucky not to have been killed by Li Biao's bad luck!

At this point, Mu Xueqing glanced at Wang An and recounted what he had told her yesterday about his trip to the mountains with Li Biao!

The whole family was furious after hearing it!

Liu Guilan exploded, "What kind of person is this Li Biao! What a scoundrel! He looks like a decent man, but one day in the mountains, he'll get his stones gouged out by a boar!"

But no one expected that Liu Guilan's words would come true.

In the near future, although Li Biao didn't die, his "eggs" were indeed injured by a boar's tusks, making him a "lone-egg hero"!

At night, Wang An reminisced about hunting the wild boar during the day, feeling excited.

He also thought about that moment of enjoyment before dinner!

Suddenly, anger rose in his heart and mischief took hold; he rolled over and pinned Mu Xueqing down.

A long time later...

Only then did Wang An finally vent his frustration, falling into a deep sleep while holding the naked Mu Xueqing!

The next day.

It was still dark when Wang An got up, and Liu Guilan had already prepared breakfast.

After a hurried breakfast, he checked his gear and told Liu Guilan that she must feed the dogs some meat, as he would be taking them into the mountains in a few days.

Since the family had plenty of meat, Liu Guilan finally stopped objecting and agreed!

Hitching the sled, he set off through the dim, hazy morning toward his uncle Feng Chengmin's house.