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

After driving quite a distance, Wang Li, perhaps a little excited from pressing the accelerator, asked Wang An in a trembling voice:
"Fourth Brother, were those people highway robbers?"

Wang An shook his head and said:

"I don't know, whatever the hell."

After a pause, Wang An continued:

"You two remember this: if you're driving on the road at night and someone tries to flag you down, don't stop easily. Even if you do stop, don't get out of the car. Nobody knows what kind of people are trying to pick you up. If you run into a bunch of scoundrels who don't know any manners and start attacking you, you might not even have a chance to run away."

In his previous life, when Wang An was dealing in contraband, he usually only set out in the middle of the night.

So when Wang An and his group drove around, they encountered robbers quite often.

The methods of robbery are even more bizarre and varied.

Some people take advantage of sympathy by kneeling and kowtowing in the street; others prepare a stretcher and pretend someone is injured and in a hurry to get to the hospital; still others dress in fancy clothes and pretend they missed their ride. And so on and so forth, it's impossible to guard against them all.

As for daytime incidents, such as setting up roadblocks to stop cars and vandalizing property, these became very rare in later stages.

The main problem was that there were already a lot of cars on the road at that time, and they didn't know what kind of car they would stop. If they stopped a well truck or a military vehicle, they would be in big trouble.

After Wang An finished speaking, Wang Li and Mu Xueli nodded heavily and said, "We understand."

The rest of the journey was relatively smooth, and no unexpected situations occurred all the way to Kaoshantun.

However, since they left Bingcheng at almost 6 p.m., Wang An and his two companions arrived at Kaoshantun at almost midnight.

There's no way around it; during the day, visibility is better, so we can go relatively faster. But at night, we're only illuminated by the two headlights of the Liberation truck, and the roads are all gravel, so naturally, we're much slower.

As soon as the car approached the yard, all the dogs in the yard started barking, some of which sounded like dogs but not wolves.

That's right, it's a sound that's like a dog's howl but not quite a wolf's.

Because the four wolves were influenced by the dogs, they sounded a bit like dogs. However, since dogs' voices and wolves' voices are different, the four half-grown wolves ended up imitating a strange mix.

No matter how the four wolves howled, it had to be admitted that the howling of the pack of dogs and wolves was quite a powerful and imposing sound.

If there were thieves nearby, they would be so frightened that they would run away immediately. If a thief was even a little timid, he might even wet his pants from fright.

There's no way around it. If a whole pack of wolves and dogs were charging at you, wouldn't you be scared?
As the car approached the yard, Wang An and his two companions saw four blue lights on the roof of Wang Dazhu's house.

Only after the car headlights swept across the area could one see clearly that it was indeed the two lynxes on the roof, staring intently at the direction of the main entrance.

To be honest, it's hard to say whether these two lynxes are so large now because they drank too much malted milk powder when they were young or because they've been eating Kailing powder.

It's important to know that wild lynxes, even males, are only around 60 pounds at most, and normally only around 50 pounds.

These two lynxes now weigh almost 70 pounds each.

To be honest, their current weight is actually quite abnormal.

Fortunately, neither of them had shown any unusual behavior, so Wang An didn't pay any attention to them.

Dogs, wolves, and lynxes all showed up, but the two golden eagles and two hawks remained very well-behaved, lying motionless in the hanging baskets in the open shed.

The main difference is that although golden eagles and goshawks belong to the same family as eagles as owls, their habits are completely different.

Owls hunt only at night, while golden eagles and goshawks, although having excellent eyesight during the day, are completely blind at night.

Therefore, the best choice for them is to stay quietly in their nest.

It's no exaggeration to say that the animal formation in Wang An's yard could provide a 360-degree, unobstructed view of the entire area, day or night. The car headlights shining into the yard naturally woke up Wang Dazhu and his wife, as well as Mu Xueqing and the others who were already asleep.

Wang An and Wang Li, who were sitting in the passenger seat, got out of the car and waited for a while. Then they saw that all the light bulbs in the yard were lit up, making the whole yard very bright.

As soon as Wang An and his companion got out of the car, all the dogs and wolves immediately stopped barking and went back to their dens to lie down.

Immediately afterwards, Wang Dazhu and Liu Guilan came out of the doorway.

Huang Zhong, meanwhile, came out from the old house carrying a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle.

The way they were acting suggested they were ready to shoot at the slightest provocation.

It's worth mentioning that at Huang Zhong's age, he should normally be sound asleep and undisturbed, but Huang Zhong was an unusually energetic sleeper, easily awakened by any noise outside.

Of course, this applies not only to Huang Zhong, but also to Huang Li.

Children who grow up in an environment like Weizigou are probably all like this.

Seeing Wang An and Wang Li standing at the gate, Wang Dazhu frowned and said:

"Why are you rushing back now that it's so late? Why not stay overnight in Harbin and then come back? It's not safe to come back in the middle of the night."

Liu Guilan also said unhappily:

"Why are you three so troublesome? What if something happens in the middle of the night? You're such a worry."

Wang An chuckled and made an excuse:
"We were in such a rush before we left that we forgot to get a letter of introduction. As a result, the guesthouse wouldn't take the three of us in, so we came back."

Looking at the Great Liberation Army building, Liu Guilan frowned and asked:

"Where did you find another big truck to drive back? What about our little car?"

Wang An explained:
"Our car is at my brother Wu's house. He helped us borrow it, and we have to return it to him in the next day or two."

As he spoke, Wang Dazhu unlocked the large lock on the gate and, together with Huang Zhong, opened it.

When Mu Xueli drove the Liberation truck into the courtyard, Mu Xueqing came out of the house wearing a cotton-padded coat. Upon seeing Mu Xueqing, Wang An immediately asked with concern:

"Are the two children asleep? Is Xiaoli watching them?"

Mu Xueqing nodded and said:
"Yes, Little Oriole is watching."

Immediately afterwards, Mu Xueqing gave Wang An and the other two a lecture, saying that they should find a place to sleep for the night before coming back, as it was not safe to walk at night, and so on.

Everyone carried the things from the car into the living room of Wang Dazhu's house. Wang Dazhu asked Wang An with some curiosity:

"Why would you put a piece of fallen wood on a vehicle like that?"

Wang An smiled smugly and said:

"I found it on the street, Dad. This is a two- or three-hundred-year-old ash tree. Have you ever seen such a thick ash tree?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Dazhu's expression changed immediately, and he said in shock:
"Is this ash? Oh my god, if an ash tree this thick is this valuable!"

As he spoke, Wang Dazhu began to examine the piece of wood.

After observing for a while, Wang Dazhu nodded and said with a sigh:
"It really is ash! These thick ash trees are quite rare these days."

Liu Guilan interrupted Wang Dazhu's sigh and said impatiently:
"Get inside right now, can't you wait until tomorrow? Aren't you cold?" (End of Chapter)