Back in the 1980s, hiking in the mountains was also a way of life

Chapter 1112 Finding Old Cow
Wang An pretended to be silent for a moment, then nodded and said:

"That's fine. It's really hard to catch the animals right now. Let's get on the cart. It will be faster if we sit on the cart. Soon everyone in your village will go to work in the fields."

The two children looked at the sidecar not far away and hesitated for a moment, then looked at each other. It was obvious that the two children were somewhat wary of Wang An and Wang Li.

Then the kid who won the pià asked Wang Andao:

"Where are you from? I've only seen cars like yours in the county."

Wang An naturally saw through the two children's little thoughts and said with a smile:

"We both have the surname Wang. We are from Kaoshan Village, Xing'an Township. It's not too far from where you are, but it's not close either. It takes more than two steps to walk."

The boy who lost the money was still a little worried, but he didn't ask anything. Instead, he followed Wang An and the other man and walked towards the direction of the bucket.

So Wang An turned to Wang Li and said:
"Old Five, kick the car. I'll sit behind you and let them sit on the side. Drive slowly, just go in first gear."

In this way, under the command of the two children, Wang Li rode his sidecar to the nearest house with cows.

When they found someone coming, a man in his sixties came out of the house. The kid who won the lottery asked:
"Third Master, my brother Wang from Kaoshan Village wants to catch a cow. I want to ask if you can sell it."

The old man looked at Wang An and Wang Li with a vigilant look on his face and said:
"From Kaoshantun? There's a guy called Wang Juntang in Kaoshantun. Who are you?"

This is how it was in those days. When people wanted to get to know each other’s background, they would ask questions like this, mentioning all kinds of names. This situation is also called “Panpandao” locally.

We have to admit that this kind of "talking nonsense" behavior can definitely make people believe you or become suspicious of you very quickly.

Wang An said with a smile:

"That's my grandpa. It's been less than three or four years, and the old man still recognizes my grandpa? Hehehe"

As he spoke, Wang An took out a cigarette and handed it over.

The old man took the cigarette and put it to his nose to smell it, then continued to ask:
"Yeah, when the reservoir was built in 67, did you guys from DJ County and our LQ County volunteer to do the work? We worked together, and I remember your father and his brothers also went. Oh, by the way, how many brothers did your father have in his lifetime? It's been more than 10 years, I've completely forgotten."

These questions may seem random, but the answers must not be wrong, because if someone can get a question like how many brothers and sisters his father has wrong, then there must be something wrong with that person.

Wang An lit his lighter and lit a cigarette for the old man while continuing to smile:

"I am from the third family. I have two uncles and two aunts."

As he spoke, Wang An pointed at Wang Li and said:
"That's my second uncle's younger brother, hehe."

If you want people to believe you, these questions are almost must-answer questions. Otherwise, you can't accomplish anything in the countryside because people simply don't believe you.

After Wang An finished speaking, the old man finally let down his guard, took a puff of cigarette with a smile, and did not continue to interrogate him. Instead, he said with an apologetic look on his face:
"You want to capture the cow, right? Our cow still needs to work in the fields. We can't sell it. We won't have any use for it if we sell it."

Wang An said nonchalantly:
"It's okay. We were busy with the autumn harvest the other day. It's not easy to catch a cow. Otherwise, we wouldn't have been able to run this far."

The old man thought for a while and said:
"Yeah, I haven't heard of anyone in our village selling their cows."

After a few more useless words, Wang An said goodbye:

"Okay, old man, let's go ask at other homes." Just like that, under the guidance of the two children, Wang An and his three companions went to two more homes. Wang An felt that he and the two children had established mutual trust, so he pretended to ask the two children casually:
"These days, has anyone in your village ever heard of someone's mule, horse, or cow being sick, and no matter what they do, they can't be cured?"

The kid who won the pià asked immediately:

"What's wrong, brother? You want to buy a sick animal?"

Wang An said:

"Well, there is a veterinarian in our village. His medical skills are pretty terrible. I was thinking, why don't we buy a cow with some problems and have him take a vet to fix it. We can use it for this autumn first, and then catch another one after the autumn."

The two children's eyes immediately lit up, and the child who lost the game interrupted and said:

"Then let's go to Tunxi. The old Cao family in Da Nantou, Tunxi wants to sell the cow, but no one has bought it. Let's go there and see if you like it."

Wang An and Wang Li's eyes suddenly lit up when they heard this. Damn, since they arrived at Shiqiaobao, Wang An and his companions have been wandering around the east of the village. After all this fuss, it turns out that the cow that might have bezoar is in the west of the village.

However, it must be said that in order not to attract the attention of the people in Shiqiaobao, Wang An's roundabout way of speaking was a bit helpless.

There is no way. No one is a fool. If Wang An came and said he wanted to buy a sick cow, it would definitely make the people in the village think too much, because who would buy a sick cow?

Of course, even if people don't think too much about it, it will be obstructed by the villagers, or the families with sick cows will raise the price for no reason.

If you put yourself in their shoes, anyone would do the same, there's nothing wrong with it.

So Wang Li turned around and walked towards the old stone bridge.

The name Shiqiaobao comes from this stone bridge, which shows how old this stone bridge is.

Soon, under the command of the two children, Wang An and his three companions arrived at Lao Cao's house.

As soon as he entered the yard, Wang An saw a cow in the cowshed.

The cow's eyes were red, its lips were yellow, and its hair was all over its body. The whole cow was so skinny that it looked like just skin and bones.

If Wang An was not mistaken, this cow was most likely to have bezoar, because this cow had all the necessary conditions.

After a brief observation, Wang An looked at Wang Li, and then the two brothers nodded slightly at the same time.

However, the meanings of the two nodding were different. Wang Li meant that this was the cow he had seen, while Wang An meant that this cow was very likely to have bezoar.

As the dog barked, a man with messy hair and untidy beard walked out of the house. It was obvious that the man was in a very bad mental state at the moment.

The kid who lost the game said to the man as if to take credit:

"Brother Cao, aren't you going to sell your old cow? Laibao and I have found a buyer for you. You should at least teach us your trap-setting skills, right?"

The child who won the prize, Laibao, said:
"Well, Brother Cao, if we help you sell the cow, you will have to teach us how to set the trap, right?"

When he heard that Wang An and Wang Li were here to buy cattle, the man called Brother Cao immediately smiled.

(End of this chapter)