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

Fang Xiue arrived at the hospital for work just after 6:30 a.m.

Of course, if Wang An hadn't been hospitalized, she definitely wouldn't have come to work so early.

When Fang Xiue arrived at the ward, Wang An was half-lying on the bed, instructing Huang Zhong on how to practice the Scorpion Crawling Technique.

Wang An then called out to Huang Zhong:
"Press down, press down, press down again, damn it! What are you doing? I've told you eight hundred times already, your elbows have to bend close to the ground. How can you develop wrist strength if they're not bent properly? Damn it, you're nothing."

At this moment, Huang Zhong was doing push-ups with his feet on the wall and his hands on the ground.

The Scorpion Climbing Technique primarily trains finger strength, wrist strength, and arm strength. Huang Zhong could not achieve the ability to walk upside down using only three fingers on each hand, like Wang An, in a short period of time.

Therefore, you should first practice normal push-ups, and then do push-ups like Huang Zhong, with both feet on the wall, in a near-inverted position.

In fact, considering Huang Zhong's long-standing malnutrition, his current progress is already significant.

However, since Wang An was lying there unable to do anything, he couldn't help but nitpick.

To put it bluntly, Wang An was just idle, so idle that he was practically crawling on all fours, and even his brain was full of wild thoughts.
Upon seeing this, Fang Xiu'e asked with a look of surprise:
"What are you doing?"

When Wang An saw Fang Xiu'e enter the ward, he said with a smile:
"I'm here to teach my little brother martial arts, hehehe, why are you here so early?"

Fang Xiu'e nodded but did not answer the question. The main reason was that Wang An's question was obviously a rhetorical question, and Fang Xiu'e couldn't very well say that she was concerned about Wang An and wanted to see how he was doing.

Therefore, Fang Xiu'e asked Wang An:
"How are you? Do you feel any better?"

Wang An sighed and said:
"I can barely go to pee now, and I have to shuffle around in tiny steps."

Fang Xiu'e chuckled softly and said:

"That's already pretty good. If you weren't in good physical condition, you wouldn't even be able to get out of bed today, haha."

Immediately afterwards, Fang Xiu'e said seriously:
"Try to drink less water, and lie down as much as possible. It's not worth it if you strain something."

He then gave Wang An many instructions, and Wang An suddenly asked Fang Xiu'e:

"Hey Fang Jie, have you had breakfast yet?"

Fang Xiu'e paused upon hearing this, and then said:

"I'll grab something to eat at the cafeteria in a bit."

Turning her head, Fang Xiu'e said again:

"Has your little brother eaten yet? Should I bring him some back from the cafeteria?"

Wang An waved his hand and said with great magnanimity:
"Why go to the cafeteria? What kind of food is that? Xiao Zhong, take some money from my pocket and go buy some fried dough sticks and steamed buns. Then we can eat together with Sister Fang."

The hospital cafeterias of that era were completely different from those of later generations.

The main point is that hospitals in this era were not profit-driven, but rather focused on treating and saving lives. Therefore, hospitals in this era were not profit-making entities.

As for hospitals in later generations, well, that's a long story!

Anyway, in the future, once you're in a hospital, money won't be money anymore, because the money in your hands will immediately become less durable than toilet paper.

They spend money like water, they create wealth like water, and there's no wallet they can't empty.
Therefore, the food in the hospital cafeteria at this time was extremely bad. It was either stewed cabbage, stewed potatoes, or cabbage stewed with potatoes. Oh, and occasionally there would be stewed radish.

No matter what he stewed, there wasn't a single diced piece of meat in the dish. Huang Zhong had just finished practicing his martial arts. Hearing Wang An's instructions, he agreed and took a five-yuan note from Wang An's pocket before running outside.

After Huang Zhong left, Fang Xiu'e curiously asked Wang An:

"When did you get another little brother?"

Upon hearing this, Wang An briefly recounted the story of Huang Zhong's family to Fang Xiu'e, who was deeply moved by what she heard.

While Wang An and Fang Xiu'e were chatting, Wang Li and Mu Xueli, who were far away in Kaoshantun, had already eaten breakfast. After harnessing Wang An's eldest son's horse to the sled, the two of them hurriedly prepared to head into the mountains.

After running for so long yesterday, we should have switched to a different horse to go into the mountains. However, the tiger's carcass is too dangerous for most mules, horses, or cattle to approach, let alone pull a tiger's carcass. So, we had to trouble our eldest horse again.

The reason these two were in such a hurry was that Mu Xueli's blue horse and Wang Li's white horse were still in the mountains.

Although the two horses would neither starve nor freeze to death in the mountains overnight, and because they were near the tiger's carcass, their safety was not a problem.

However, as the owners of the two horses, Wang Li and Mu Xueli were still very worried.

The two men went into the mountains without Wang An's dog, but with their own dogs.

Although Dahei and Xiaohei would obey Mu Xueli and Wang Li's commands when Wang An was not around, dogs are always loyal to whoever feeds them; they will resist other people no matter what.

Besides, these two people only brought dogs for guard duty, not for hunting, and seven dogs in total would be enough.

After the two left, Mu Xueqing went back inside to coax the child, while Shen Wei and Zhao Cuiyun went outside to feed the livestock.

At this moment, Liu Guilan tugged at Wang Dazhu's sleeve, frowning as she said:

“Dazhu, why do I keep feeling uneasy? I keep feeling that Lao Wu and Xue Li aren’t telling the truth. Our eldest son has always been tough. If he sprains his ankle, he won’t go to the hospital for a bit of trouble.”

After speaking, Liu Guilan frowned as if deep in thought, then added decisively:
"No, that's definitely not right. Why don't you hitch up the sled and we go to the county hospital to get it checked out?"

In fact, Liu Guilan had already become suspicious ever since Mu Xueli and Wang Li returned last night.

As the saying goes, "No one knows a child better than his mother." Liu Guilan knew Wang An's personality and what he was capable of doing all too well.

However, it must be said that Wang Li and Mu Xueli acted so well that Liu Guilan always felt self-doubt.

Now that the two of them had gone into the mountains, Liu Guilan finally told her husband about her doubts.

Wang Dazhu frowned and pondered for a while before clicking his tongue and saying:
"Yeah, that's not right. Xiao An doesn't even cry when he gets beaten up. I don't believe he can go to the hospital if he sprains his ankle."

After a pause, Wang Dazhu nodded and said:
"Let's go to the county hospital to see what's wrong. I'm not entirely at ease with this."

Liu Guilan said:
"Then I'll get ready, you go and hitch up the sled."

Wang Dazhu pointed to the gas truck in the open shed and said:

"We have a car, why would we need a sled? Driving is so fast, you don't need to pack anything. We'll be there in about 20 minutes, what's the point of packing?"

Upon hearing this, Liu Guilan slapped her forehead, suddenly realizing what she meant, and said:
"Look at my brain, how could I forget about our car? I'll go say hello to Xueqing and then we'll leave."

When her mother-in-law told her that she was going to the county, Mu Xueqing originally wanted to go with her, but the two children were too young and it was really inconvenient to go out, so she gave up the idea.

And so, Wang Dazhu drove Liu Guilan towards the county town. (End of Chapter)