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

Chapter 1119 A Praiseful Praise
Just before dusk, the two little girls came home from school. As soon as Wang Li saw them, he went home to tend to the livestock. Wang An chatted with the two little girls about school for a while, and then got busy again, mainly feeding the livestock.

Just as Wang Angang finished feeding the livestock and was pondering how to persuade Wang Dazhu and his wife to sell some of the horses, Wang Dazhu, his wife, Shen Wei, and Zhao Cuiyun returned.

As expected, Wang Dazhu brought back another four-wheeled cartload of wheat.

The reason Wang An was considering selling some of his horses was that since he bought the four-wheeled vehicle and the hand tractor, all of his large livestock—mule, horse, and donkey—were idle, except for two Oroqen horses that he used to ride when he went into the mountains. To put it bluntly, he had been raising a bunch of good-for-nothings.

Of course, it's not entirely accurate to call it a glutton, since that foal was a stallion, and a very good one at that, with considerable value.

Since the spring of this year, families in the village and nearby villages who own mare and donkey have been taking turns approaching Comrade Wang Dazhu, wanting to use Wang An's eldest son's horse to breed with their own mare or donkey.

You should know that things like finding a stallion for breeding usually cost money. As long as the other party's mare or donkey has a foal, there will be a breeding fee of 2 yuan.

There's no way around it; when it comes to raising stallions, their nutrition has to be top-notch. They need to be fed extra grains, and a separate feed is needed after each mating, otherwise they'll easily become weak.

So, in the end, the eldest son horse is a horse that can make money, although it doesn't make much, but it is still making money.

Apart from the eldest son's horse, which is not considered a freeloader, the white mare, the two blue mares, and the chestnut mare that came home with the eldest son's horse are also not considered freeloaders.

Because all four horses are pregnant now, they will give birth to foals next year, and horses with foals naturally have value.

As for that big donkey, it had already given birth to a baby donkey and was now pregnant with a foal, which was the offspring of the firstborn horse. So it couldn't really be considered a freeloader.

In the end, only the mule and the gelding were superfluous; apart from occasionally using them to traverse the road and pull the millstone, they were basically useless.

For Wang An, apart from the two Oroqen horses and the two chestnut horses, the rest of the mules, horses, and donkeys should be sold. The money earned from raising them is not enough to cover the labor involved.

Unfortunately, for some reason, Wang Dazhu and his wife just wanted to keep the horses. No matter what Wang An said, it was no use. They just wouldn't listen to anything. So Wang An had no idea how to persuade Wang Dazhu and his wife to sell the horses.

As soon as Wang Dazhu and the others entered the courtyard, they smelled the aroma of meat and seasonings filling the air. Liu Guilan, sniffing the air, asked Wang An:
"What delicious food have you been making at home? It smells so good!"

Wang An chuckled and said:

"You've all worked a long day, so we have to treat you to something good to eat."

Turning his head, Wang An said to Shen Wei and Zhao Cuiyun:

"Sister Shen Wei, and Sister Zhao, hurry up and go home to bring your kids over. We're having stewed meat for dinner tonight, and we'll treat ourselves to something nice, hahaha. Hurry up, dinner will be ready as soon as you get back."

As soon as Wang An finished speaking, Shen Wei said with a smile:

"You eat meat at every meal, and you still want to improve your diet? Hehehe. Then I'll go home and bring my sister over after I finish unloading the truck."

After Shen Wei finished speaking, Zhao Cuiyun said somewhat shyly:

"I'll eat when I get home, you guys eat yours, haha."

After speaking, Zhao Cuiyun gave an awkward laugh.

The main issue is that Zhao Cuiyun and Wang Anjia only have a simple employer-employee relationship, and Zhao Cuiyun has already exchanged the meals provided by Wang Anjia for money. If she still eats at Wang Anjia's place all the time, it would be a bit unreasonable.

You have to understand how precious food was back then!
After Zhao Cuiyun finished speaking, Liu Guilan continued:
"Oh, come on over. Don't overthink it. We don't have that many problems at home. Here's the deal: you can eat at my house every day during the autumn harvest. I've got the decision."

Hearing Liu Guilan's words, Zhao Cuiyun was at a loss for words and wanted to say something, but Wang An interrupted with a laugh, "Alright, Sister Zhao, my mother has spoken, so don't be polite. Otherwise, she'll get angry. Let me tell you, if you anger my mother, things will get really serious, hahahaha."

Liu Guilan raised an eyebrow, immediately slapped Wang An's arm, and said with a laugh:

"You little brat, you dare to make up stories about your own mother? I think you deserve a kick."

Wang An, despite being slapped, smiled and didn't seem to care, continuing to talk about Zhao Cuiyun:
"Alright, Sister Zhao, stop watching the commotion and hurry back to pick up your child, otherwise we'll all have to wait for you."

Hearing Wang An's words, Zhao Cuiyun said with a face full of gratitude:
"Well, thank you, boss."

Liu Guilan rolled her eyes at Zhao Cuiyun and said:

"No need to thank me. Be more practical in the future. Our family doesn't need your mother's two pairs of chopsticks. Go and come back quickly."

Zhao Cuiyun agreed and left with a grateful expression.

After unloading the truck, while Shen Wei went back to pick up her child, Liu Guilan finally couldn't help but point to the cowhide drying in the sun and ask Wang An:
"What's with that cowhide? Did you two kill that old cow a couple of days ago?"

Upon hearing this, Wang An's smile vanished instantly, and he looked at Liu Guilan with a speechless expression.

To be honest, people say that birds of a feather flock together. Mu Xueqing and Liu Guilan not only think in perfect sync, but their words and tones are also almost identical.

Wang An glanced at Mu Xueqing, who was secretly laughing, and said to her in an annoyed tone:
"Stop grinning like an idiot and explain what happened to Mom."

Mu Xueqing, who was just secretly laughing, laughed even louder when she saw Wang An's wicked act. Fortunately, after she finished laughing, she still told Liu Guilan and Wang Dazhu about the bezoar.

After she finished speaking, Mu Xueqing led Wang Dazhu and his wife to see the bezoar, and Wang An also took a look.

These bezoars ranged in size from as large as pigeon eggs to as small as millet grains.

However, this thing is priced by the gram, so size doesn't really matter.

After seeing the bezoar, Wang Dazhu and his wife praised Wang An highly.

Wang Dazhu said:
"It still has to be my eldest son; making money is a piece of cake for him."

Liu Guilan immediately said:
"Yeah, my son is much better than his father. His father doesn't earn much money every day, all he does is work hard."

Wang Dazhu said with great emotion:

"Indeed, my eldest son is better than me, his father."

Liu Guilan: "."

Wang Dazhu: "."

Taking advantage of Wang Dazhu and his wife's good mood, Wang An took the opportunity to bring up the matter of selling mules and horses, emphasizing that because of the availability of four-wheeled vehicles and hand tractors, the role of mules and horses in Wang An's family was becoming less and less important.

This time, Wang Dazhu and his wife unusually did not directly object. Instead, they suggested waiting until all the mare had given birth before selling them, because a large mare with a small one would fetch a lot more money.

(End of this chapter)