Ronnie hung his head down after coming out of the bookstore, he was afraid of Yani's disappointment to find a remote place to think hard. He thought for a small half a day and did not come up with a good way to make money, had to go back with a sad head. Yani waited for him by the side of the road, full of hope, and when she saw him hanging his head, the general guessed, she comforted: "It doesn't matter, take your time, let's go home first."
Ronnie looked embarrassed, and the two of them walked out of town, mounted their horses, and walked back to the hut without a word. When they reached the door, Yani said to him, "Go inside first, I'll be right here."
"Okay!" Ronnie nodded slightly and watched as Yani headed east and he went inside, Mara saw him and asked, "Did you find a job?"
"No," Ronnie shook his head.
"Mom didn't come in with you, she must have gone to borrow something," Mara said.
"Where did she go to borrow something?" Ronnie asked.
"I think it's my grandpa's house, my grandpa's house isn't far from here, she'll be back in a little while."
Sure enough, in about half an hour, Yani came home with two burritos in her hands. "Why does Mom have so little food?" Mara asked in disbelief.
It turned out that Yani didn't get a good look when she arrived at her husband's father's house. When it came to the fact that there was no food in the house, the in-laws looked even worse, and they agreed that their son was in trouble because Yani had taken in another man. Yani turned around and was about to leave when she was refused, but they finally gave her some food for the sake of their grandson. When Mara asked, of course she couldn't tell them, but just said, "This is all that's left at your grandfather's house today, too.”
The three of them shared their food, and early the next morning Yani went out and didn't return home until noon. This time she had a large paper bag in her arms and was followed by a man whom she introduced to Ronnie: "He's 'Toddles', you've met him.”
Toddles looked at Ronnie coldly and asked several questions in a row, "Who are you? why don't you want to leave? what is your purpose?"
Ronnie was stunned by the questions, angry in his heart, and was about to snap, but Yani jumped in front of him and said, "Toddles, I don't want you to be in charge of my affairs, take your things and leave!"
"Yani, why do you want to follow such a wastrel? and you have to raise him," Toddles' tone was filled with contempt.
His comment made Ronnie's face even more ugly, but he couldn't say anything back because what he said seemed to be true. Seeing that he didn't say anything, Toddles didn't care about him anymore and turned his head to Yani, "I don't want your horse, is it okay if you stay with me for a few days?"
"Toddles, we agreed to trade my horse for your food, and if you back out, you can take the stuff back," Yani righteously refused.
"Fine then!" Toddles said disappointedly, but as he was about to leave, he forced a kiss on Yani's face and another slap on her ass. Ronnie was furious at the sight and punched his opponent in the face, but unfortunately he wasn't strong enough and only staggered him. Toddles covered his face and said angrily, "How dare you hit me?" after saying that, he swung his fist straight at Ronnie, who quickly dodged to the side, but he didn't expect this guy to suddenly reach out and grab his shoulder. Although Ronnie had a smart mind, he had never won a fight. He was pushed to the ground by the other party, struggling desperately, kicking his legs, but to no avail, the other party rode on top of him, slapping him hard left and right, leaving his mouth full of blood and his eyes full of gold stars. Yani shouted sharply from the side, "Toddles, stop it, please don't hit him."
Toddles wasn't very tall and had rarely won fights in the past, but he didn't expect to face someone weaker than him this time, and the evil fire in his heart finally found an outlet. Tired of fanning and relieved of his anger, he got up. As he left, he muttered, "It turns out that bullying people is so much fun."
After he left, Yani picked up Ronnie, who had a swollen nose, "How are you?"
"Ugh!" Ronnie's face was so swollen that he couldn't speak properly, he covered his face and just yelled, "Ooo! Woo! Woo!"
"Uncle, how did you turn into a bird? all you can do is yell 'Woo! Woo!'"
Yani almost laughed out loud when she heard her son say that, but she held herself back. Over the next few days, Ronnie's swollen face subsided a bit, and he idly made two improvised pistols to use for self-defense; this kind of gun also shoots ice needles, with a range of twenty meters, but it can only be fired six times, and it can make a person unconscious for half an hour after being shot. He took one for himself and gave one to Yani. When Yani got it, she said, "If you'd had a gun earlier, you wouldn't have been beaten."
"Huh!" Ronnie immediately thought of a business opportunity, and if he made more, he could sell them. He immediately told Yani about his idea, and she also thought it was good; this kind of weapon was not lethal, and it could also be used for self-defense, so there should be people to buy it. It took him three days to make ten more, and the two of them took them to "Tarpan Town" to sell them. The stall was set up in front of the town under the tree where the horse was tied. Ronnie also set up a wooden sign specializing in the use of the rifle and the performance. The two of them stood there all morning and didn't sell a single one. There were a few people who asked, but most of them shook their heads and left after hearing the price. Ronnie set the price of the guns at one Bira coin each, and if they wanted to exchange them, they would need two goats. "That's not right! are the people here so poor?" he muttered.
"Why don't we exchange one goat for a rifle? how about two to start?" Yani's next words didn't come out; the food she had traded the horse for would only last for another five days or so, and if they kept failing to sell it, the three of them would go hungry.
At that moment, a brightly dressed bearded man walked up and asked, "What good is a gun that can't kill people? your guns just make people faint."
"If we had guns that could kill people, we wouldn't dare sell them openly here," Ronnie replied.
"Can you let me test the effect?" the bearded man asked.
"Sure, how do you want to test it?"
"You wait, I'll get a chicken and see if your gun can stun it."
A short time later, the bearded man found a big rooster. The big rooster was tied up by its feet, flapping its wings and struggling on the ground, with a cooing sound coming from its mouth. Ronnie handed him a gun and the two of them led some onlookers into the chicken shooting test. Everyone was in high spirits. The bearded man raised the ice needle gun and shot the chicken in the chest, the rooster was immobile for a few moments after being shot. The bearded man nodded his head in satisfaction, "The effect isn't bad, I just don't know if it's effective on humans.” he raised his hand and said, "Anyone who can't sleep? I'll give him a shot."
No one gave him an experiment even after he called out, Yani was eager to do this business and stood up and said, "Why don't you shoot me and try it? I'll be your experiment."
"No way!" Ronnie shouted.
"It's okay, it's just a fainting spell anyway, I'll wake up soon," Yani smiled at him.
"Okay, if it works, I'll buy three," the bearded man also made a promise.
Ronnie wanted to be the experiment himself, but was afraid that if he fainted, Yani wouldn't be able to handle what came next, so he had to nod his head and agree. When Yani saw that he had agreed, she walked to the middle of the road and stood, then closed her eyes, and Ronnie stood behind her for protection, afraid that she would fall. The bearded man raised his gun and fired a shot into Yani's chest, about three seconds later she slowly fell down and Ronnie rushed forward to help her. "Good, good!" the bearded man laughed, pulled three "Bira coins" out of his pocket and tossed them to Ronnie before grabbing the three ice needle guns and walking away.
Yani woke up half an hour later, "Did the deal get done?" she asked.
"Look!" Ronnie boasted as he held out three "Bira coins" as if they were treasure.
"Great, now I won't worry."
"What are you worried about?" Ronnie asked curiously.
"Nothing," Yani replied in a quiet voice. She was actually worried that the gun wouldn't sell, she just couldn't say it out loud.
"You take it!" Ronnie pushed the Bira coins into her hands.
Yani reached out to take them without hesitation, "Shall we continue to sell these guns or buy some sheep to go back as herders?"
"Let's do it today, I'll just do it myself later, let's finish selling these guns first, then buy some sheep to go back and we'll be herders as well."
The duo bought some food in town and went home. At night, Yani came out of the bathroom wearing a nightgown after her bath, Ronnie saw her plump breasts and the two pink cherries on them at a glance and couldn't help but swallow, and he couldn't take his eyes off her any longer. Yani was ten years younger than him, average looking, about five feet tall, with a head of long black hair. She saw Ronnie staring at himself and asked with a smile, "What's wrong? don't you recognize me?"
Ronnie then slowed down, scratched his head in embarrassment, and said nothing for fear of saying something embarrassing as he hurried out the door. He ran a dozen yards at a time and found a patch of grass to lie down on. He looked up at the star-filled sky and remembered the words on the back of the "Bira Coin" ,"Looking up at the stars, the light is coming."
"When will my light come?" he sighed in his heart.
From the Bira Coin he remembered his sister Alice, a horrible scene that he no longer dared to remember for fear of going mad again. He sat up with a scream, his eyes already filled with tears. Eventually Yani appeared beside him and sat down as well, the other taking his hand and comforting him, "Do you remember anything?"
"Yes!" Ronnie nodded and said, "I remembered my sister."
"What about her?" Yani asked.
"She died," Ronnie said after a moment of silence.
"Oh! that's why you ran away to the meadow, you want to forget the past?"
"Maybe!"
The next day, Ronnie took the remaining seven guns into town to sell them. He wanted to go alone, but he didn't know how to ride a horse, so he had to ask Yani to take them. Five days later, after finally selling all seven guns, Yani asked, "Should we make some more to sell?"
"Forget it, these kind of guns can't be distributed or it will cause trouble."
The duo ended up buying twenty sheep with the money they earned and prepared to become herders. Ronnie also packed up the utility room to use as a laboratory, he wanted to increase his flock to three hundred sheep as soon as possible, which would be enough to feed three people. Two years later, through his continuous experiments and efforts, the flock finally reached three hundred, and he gradually became accustomed to life in the grasslands.