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

From the lower edge of the cave entrance to the bottom, it is about two and a half meters deep. Even if Wang An were to stand at the bottom of the cave, there would still be a distance between his head and the entrance.

So, apart from the slightly better air quality near the cave entrance, the space below Wang An's head was filled with a foul stench.

Despite the stench and foul smell from the tree hole, Wang An bent down and picked up a little bear cub.

To be honest, this little bear cub was quite cute, all fluffy and adorable. The best part was that apart from some bits of paper shredded from the firecrackers and some splinters of wood, it wasn't injured at all.

This little bear cub is so small; you can tell at a glance it's only been a few days since it opened its eyes, and it can't even walk yet.

As for aggression, that's completely nonexistent. How could such a small creature be aggressive? Even tiger cubs aren't aggressive!

Whether their ears were deafened by the thunderbolts is unknown.

After a quick glance, Wang An called out to the outside:

"Fifth brother, I've thrown this bear cub out, now you can continue."

Upon hearing this, Wang Li, who was helping Mu Xueli extract bear bile, immediately stood up and replied towards the cave entrance:
"Hey, Fourth Brother, go ahead and throw it, I'll catch it."

Upon hearing Wang Li's reply, Wang An grabbed the bear cub with both hands and, like shooting a basketball, tossed it out of the hole.

He didn't bother to ask if the bear cub had been caught outside. In any case, even if Wang Li couldn't catch it, the thing wouldn't die from falling on the snow.

Immediately afterwards, Wang An bent down and picked up the other bear cub as well.

This bear cub was a bit more unlucky than the previous one.

Because the gunpowder from the firecracker hit it, burning off a patch of fur on the little bear cub's back, making it look anything but cute.

And the power of this thunderbolt was quite considerable; it seems to have hit this little bear cub a bit too hard, as it now looks somewhat listless.

However, Wang An didn't care about any of that and directly called out to those outside:
"Fifth brother, this one's out too, let's order some more."

As he spoke, Wang An threw the little bear cub out again.

Then, Wang An jumped up and grabbed the opening of the hole with his hands, slowly crawling out of the hole.

When Wang An emerged from the tree hole, he jumped headfirst. Upon landing, he rolled to dissipate the force before standing up.

To be honest, ordinary people shouldn't easily enter a place like this, as it's extremely easy to get trapped inside and unable to get out. If you're trapped inside and no one comes to your rescue, the inevitable outcome is death.

Just as Wang An stood up, he saw Wang Li holding two bear cubs and saying:

"Fourth Brother, what should we do with these two things?"

Wang An frowned as he looked at the two adorable bear cubs.

After thinking for a moment, Wang An said:

"Why don't you two each raise one? Once they're grown up, you can extract their bile and sell it for a decent amount of money."

No sooner had Wang An finished speaking than Mu Xueli, who was pulling out bear gallbladders, refused without looking up and without hesitation:

“You guys can raise them, but I’m not going to raise one of these. They eat like there’s no tomorrow, even more than pigs. How much grain would it take to feed them?” Wang Li immediately chimed in.

"Yeah, I wouldn't raise one either. I think raising one of these things is worse than raising a pig. If it produces a grass gall before you remove its gallbladder, oh my god, the money from selling it might not even be enough to buy food for it."

Wang An was speechless when he heard what these two idiots said, but he had to admit that what they said was indeed correct.

Because Wang An thought the same way, and Wang An didn't want to raise bear cubs!

The reason Wang An didn't want to raise this thing wasn't because he was worried about the food. After all, Wang An's family didn't lack food at all, and the cellar was full of sweet potatoes, potatoes, and squash that bears liked to eat, as well as cabbage and radishes.

The main reason Wang An didn't want to keep a black bear was that he already had too many animals at home, so he neither wanted to keep one nor had the energy to do so.

Of course, the most crucial reason is that apart from the bear bile, which is valuable, nothing else about the bear is of any use to Wang Anjia.

To put it bluntly, it's a losing proposition!

Besides, if you develop a bond with them, you'll definitely be reluctant to kill them, which would be even more of a loss.

It's worth noting that bears are more intelligent than dogs, so developing a bond with them is almost inevitable.

Wang An clicked his tongue, looking at the two hot potatoes in Wang Li's arms with a conflicted expression, but he really couldn't bear to kill them.

Hearing his two younger brothers say that, he said somewhat impatiently:
"Alright, alright, if you're not going to keep them, then just leave them. You're all so indecisive. Just put them in a sack and we'll talk about it when we get back."

Upon hearing that he wouldn't have to raise the black bears himself, Wang Li immediately and happily agreed:
"Okay, Fourth Brother, I'll pack them up right away."

Wang An glared at Wang Li sharply, then turned to Mu Xueli, who was smirking, and said:

"You're so stupid, it's so hard to extract bear bile, what else can you do?"

Mu Xueli wasn't annoyed, and said with a smile:
"It's out! It's out! The bear bile is out! Quick, let's see what kind of bile it is."

As she spoke, Mu Xueli pulled out the bear gall bladder. Wang An glanced at it and immediately frowned, saying to Mu Xueli with an annoyance:

"Look at your clumsy hands. This is your first time in the mountains this year and all you've got is some grass gall. You're nothing special."

That's right, the bear gall in Mu Xueli's hand is a green grass gall, which would probably weigh about 60 or 70 grams after drying.

However, Wang An's words about Mu Xueli were clearly nitpicking.

To put it bluntly, Wang An was just making excuses to kick Mu Xueli a couple of times.

Of course, the main reason that Wang An was so annoyed was that neither of them wanted to raise the two little bears.

However, Mu Xueli didn't take the bait at all, and said with a smile:
"Yeah, my hands really stink. I need to find some nice soap and scrub them properly when I get back."

The "yizi" that Mu Xueli mentioned is actually soap. In those days, a considerable number of people still called soap "yizi".

Wang An was somewhat frustrated because he couldn't find a reason to kick Wang Li and Mu Xueli.

So, Wang An silently put away the bear gallbladder, his mind preoccupied with what to do with the two bear cubs. (End of Chapter)