As dawn broke, Qiao Xin’s internal clock woke her up right on time.

However, she didn’t expect someone to be up even earlier than her.

A dim light flickered from the kitchen—Xu Shi was already there, rinsing rice to prepare breakfast. Hearing movement behind her, she was startled at first.

But upon seeing it was her mother-in-law, she patted her chest in relief.

“Mother, why don’t you sleep a little longer? The food isn’t ready yet!”

Qiao Xin sat down by the stove, found the fire striker, and swiftly started a fire.

“I’ve had enough sleep, so I got up to take a look.”

Noticing that Xu Shi had only grabbed two small handfuls of rice but added a large pot of water to cook porridge, Qiao Xin frowned.

She couldn’t help but instruct, “Eldest daughter-in-law, add more rice. From now on, make the porridge thicker—at the very least, everyone should eat their fill. Later, your eldest and third brother-in-law and I will be going up the mountain. The rest of the family, especially the children, shouldn’t eat too poorly these days. We need our strength for when we move.”

Xu Shi hesitated, glancing at the nearly empty rice jar, then back at her mother-in-law.

Gritting her teeth, she added two more handfuls of rice and scooped in two handfuls of beans from the coarse grain sack.

Seeing that Qiao Xin didn’t object, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.

It wasn’t that she was stingy—it was just that there wasn’t much food at home.

Yesterday, her husband had brought back a sack of coarse grains, but with so many mouths to feed, if everyone ate to their fill, it wouldn’t even last five days.

After breakfast, Qiao Xin picked up the shoulder pole and buckets, intending to fetch more water from the village well.

Normally, her sons took turns doing this chore, and if they weren’t around, the daughters-in-law would handle it.

Ever since Qiao Xin had become a mother-in-law, she rarely did such tasks herself.

Today, however, she cooked and fetched water early in the morning, surprising the whole family.

Hearing the commotion in the courtyard through the window, Qiao Yunqing quickly put down his book and rushed outside to help.

Qiao Yunxin would never allow their mother to carry such a heavy load.

With three sons at home, if their widowed mother had to fetch water at dawn, rumors of their unfilial behavior would spread through the village before breakfast was even over.

“Mother, it’s heavy—let me do it!”

Even little Silang and Wulang, who had just woken up, ran over to help.

“Grandmother, I’ll help you!”

The small children stumbled over on their little legs, nearly tumbling as they ran toward Qiao Xin.

She hurried forward to catch them, carefully examining them before relaxing—at least they looked energetic.

Then she turned to the still-drowsy Qiao Yunting, who stood at the doorway, and instructed, “Third son, take the children to wash up. After breakfast, let your sisters-in-law help watch them.”

As her second son and his wife appeared, Qiao Xin began assigning tasks.

“Second son, you and your wife should head to town later to buy supplies for the journey. Get our travel permits and purchase a covered ox cart.

As for where we’ll settle, spend some money to gather information. I leave that decision to you. I only have three requirements:

First, the new home should be in a place where we can buy farmland. Second, it should have convenient transportation. Third, it must be somewhere the children can attend school in the future.

Eldest daughter-in-law, stay home and weave more straw sandals. The children can help you. I’ll head to the mountains—this is a good time for hunting. If luck is on our side, we can trade some big game for more travel funds.”

After hurriedly eating breakfast, Qiao Xin tied up her sleeves with straw rope, slung her large bow and bamboo basket over her back, and put on a pair of straw sandals she had woven the night before.

Qiao Yunxin and Qiao Yunting also carried bamboo baskets, each containing spare water flasks and black bread.

Their outfits resembled Qiao Xin’s, except that instead of bows, they carried machetes.

They were planning to go deep into the mountains this time.

If luck was on their side, they might return the same day; if not, they could be gone for three to five days.

The mountain paths were rough, but to them, it was nothing.

Qiao Xin took the lead, with Qiao Yunting and Qiao Yunxin following closely behind, gripping their weapons and keeping alert.

“No need to be so tense,” Qiao Xin reassured them as they walked. “We haven’t entered the deep forest yet. The only real threat around here is the occasional wild boar herd. As long as food is abundant, wolves, leopards, and tigers generally don’t stray into areas with human activity.”

As they continued, she taught them about hunting—how to track animals based on footprints and movement patterns.

“For example, rabbits push off with their hind legs, so their back footprints are deeper than the front ones. Deer and goats leave heart-shaped hoof prints, but a goat’s hoof cracks are thinner…”

After an hour of walking, Qiao Xin suddenly signaled them to stop.

She crouched down, brushed aside the fallen leaves, and pointed at a chaotic cluster of hoof prints.

“Be alert—we’ve entered wild boar territory. Judging from these prints, there’s a boar weighing over 400 pounds in the herd.

Boars are aggressive and vengeful. If we encounter them, avoid close combat. Try to climb a tree and leave the rest to me.”

“Mother, this…” Qiao Yunxin and Qiao Yunting had been trained by their grandfather before, but they still lacked real battle experience.

However, the blood in their veins boiled with excitement.

Men naturally thrived on combat, and now their mother was telling them to retreat?

That was like slapping them in the face!

Qiao Xin pulled out her bow, adjusted her aim a few times, and said in a serious tone, “I don’t mind if you want to fight, but don’t throw your lives away. Never underestimate your enemy.”

She sighed. “I’d actually prefer to avoid these beasts altogether so we could go deeper into the mountains.”

Without further hesitation, she stepped forward, her movements lighter and more cautious.

Before long, she crouched behind a bush, parting the leaves to reveal a group of more than twenty wild boars rooting around in the dirt. Some lifted their heads occasionally, staying on guard.

Qiao Xin frowned and signaled to her sons—telling them to climb a tree first.

Once she took down the leader, they would work together. Reluctantly, Qiao Yunxin and Qiao Yunting obeyed, scaling a hundred-year-old tree and hiding among the branches, gripping their machetes tightly.

Qiao Xin took aim.

Three arrows flew at once—whoosh!

The lead boar fell instantly, an arrow lodged in its forehead.

The boars reacted immediately.

Seeing their leader collapse, their eyes gleamed with ferocity as they charged straight at Qiao Xin.

She quickly stood up and shouted to her sons, “Stay hidden! Don’t come down yet!”

Then she turned and sprinted in another direction.

Once she had gained enough distance, she fired three more arrows, targeting the strongest boars in the herd.

After repeating this tactic twice, the backbone of the boar herd had been nearly wiped out.

The remaining boars finally realized they had encountered a terrifying opponent.

They hesitated, grunted at each other, then turned tail, fleeing with their young in the opposite direction.