Chapter 872: Scattering Rice Cakes, Rising Higher Every Year

After breakfast, the family began to get busy.

The main task was to lead all the livestock—horses, sheep, deer, as well as roe deer and wild boars—into the animal pens in the new courtyard.

The reason they used leads rather than herding them was that the vast majority of Wang An's livestock had been captured from the mountains by Wang An, Mu Xueli, and Wang Li.

If they were simply let loose, there was a high probability that some would escape; even with eight dogs, Wang An's family might not be able to stop them.

As for the she-wolf and her four cubs, they were simply let loose and told to follow the dogs. It wasn't far anyway, only a distance of about a hundred meters.

The she-wolf was now plump and round, having lost the typical appearance of a wolf; she looked more like a pig.

It was unclear whether she had lost her wild nature or had simply grown fond of her current comfortable life, but Wang An felt that even if he sent her back to the mountains now, she probably wouldn't go.

After all, life at Wang An's house was wonderful: no wind, no rain, and meals served right in front of her every time. It was practically the pinnacle of life—no, the pinnacle of wolf-life!

As for the four wolf cubs, they had been mostly assimilated by the dogs.

The reason for this assimilation was partly because they spent all day with the dogs, being influenced by them until they became "dog-like."

On the other hand, ever since they were able to feed themselves, one essential ingredient had been added to their food: "Spirit-Opening Powder."

Wang An believed that this Spirit-Opening Powder was not only effective for eagles but should be effective for other animals as well.

He suspected that the reason the four spotted dogs had undergone such a massive transformation was likely because they had been fed the Spirit-Opening Powder.

Of course, this was merely Wang An's guess; he still couldn't quite figure out why the four spotted dogs had suddenly become so wolf-like.

However, putting the spotted dogs aside, Wang An was very satisfied that the four wolf cubs had been assimilated to this extent.

Once winter arrived, these four wolf cubs would join the "dog gang" for hunting. Wang An was truly looking forward to their performance.

When the time came, Wang An alone would have eight dogs and four wolves, plus the seven dogs belonging to Mu Xueli and Wang Li. Just thinking about that scene gave him a blood-boiling feeling of excitement.

However, what gave Wang An a headache were the two lynxes.

Each of these two lynxes now weighed nearly twenty catties.

Perhaps because they had been brought home and raised by Wang An shortly after birth, these two lynxes had not shown the ferocity they were supposed to have, other than catching mice and sparrows.

To put it bluntly, it seemed these two lynxes had been raised "wrong" by Wang An's family.

Then again, perhaps it was because Wang An had never given them the chance to prove themselves in the mountains, and their talents remained buried.

Therefore, Wang An planned to take them into the mountains for a trial whenever the opportunity arose.

If they turned out to be a surprise, it would be a huge win.

The problem was that Wang An didn't know how to train lynxes; he had never heard of anyone raising such creatures, which was why he felt so conflicted.

They worked until past 10:00 AM before all the livestock were finally moved into the pens in the new courtyard.

Actually, because the new pens were quite spacious, the number of animals seemed very small; the roe deer pen and the deer shed, in particular, looked especially empty.

Clearly, Wang An would need to continue catching more roe deer and deer; otherwise, it would be a waste of such large pens.

After transferring all the livestock, Wang Dazhu, Wang An, and Grandpa Wang Yi began using a small cart to move the grain, antiques, calligraphy, paintings, and large coins.

The current market price for these antiques and paintings was still in the early stages of growth, so Wang An did not intend to sell them yet.

However, aside from the true treasures, Wang An had no intention of hoarding the ordinary pieces forever.

In his view, these things were useless other than for display. Furthermore, if the paintings were eaten by insects or damaged in other ways, it would be a huge loss.

Wang An placed the boxes of paintings and calligraphy in the ceiling of the house, specifically in the gaps of the three-legged beams.

The reason Wang An dared to place them there so casually was that the boxes designed by the Little Devils were truly impressive; they attracted neither insects nor mice. They had stayed fine in the stone mountains for many years, so placing them in the ceiling should be no problem.

As for the porcelain, Wang An didn't give them special attention, because as long as porcelain isn't smashed, it can just sit there for years without any issue.

Regarding the large coins—the ancient currency—aside from rare and precious ones like the Kaiyuan Tongbao, Wang An ignored the rest and threw them directly into the storehouse.

Even in later generations, a single ordinary coin would only be worth ten or so yuan. If not for the sheer quantity Wang An possessed, these things would have little collectible value.

The silver dollars were the same; Wang An only took a small portion of the most valuable ones, while the rest were collected by Wang Dazhu.

Mainly, Wang Dazhu's generation had a special emotional attachment to silver dollars.

While the three generations of men were busy moving miscellaneous items, Liu Guilan and Mu Xueqing were not idle.

The mother-in-law and daughter-in-law had gone to Wang An and Mu Xueqing's house to cook.

There was no other way; since they had consulted a fortune teller, they had to do as the fortune teller said.

However, lunch today was not dumplings, but rice cakes.

Locally, "making rice cakes" was not called *zuo niangao*, but *sa niangao* (scattering rice cakes).

This was because the method of making this flour-based food was completely different from others.

Aside from stir-fried noodles, almost all flour-based foods required kneading the dough with water first, but rice cakes did not.

The method was actually very simple: put a small amount of water in a pot, then place a flat-bottomed steamer inside. The bottom was covered with cooked red beans, cowpeas, or kidney beans. Once the water boiled, one simply "scattered" layers of yellow millet flour onto the flat bottom.

As for the "flat bottom," that was the local term; in other places, it was called a *longti* or *bizi*. Regardless, it was the tool used for steaming buns or rice cakes.

The "flat bottoms" used locally were made of sorghum stalks or narrow wooden boards, with gaps so small that the beans wouldn't fall through.

As for why they were steaming rice cakes at noon, in Liu Guilan's words: "Moving into a new house and eating rice cakes ensures the family's life will rise higher every year."

No matter what they ate, Liu Guilan could always come up with a few phrases symbolizing a beautiful life.

Thanks to "Big Account Empire Emperor" for the reward, thank you, thank you!

(End of Chapter)