Chapter 25: Another Pig Added

The scene nearly made Jiang Manman’s eyes blur, but she still heard him say:

“Keep an eye on things here. I’ll head back for a bit.”

After Zhou Ye spoke, he called over Aunt Liu Si to help Jiang Manman watch over Li Hongmei.

Aunt Liu Si came over, took one look at Li Hongmei, and then looked at Jiang Manman with surprise.

“You did this?”

Jiang Manman smiled.

“Her heart’s wicked. I can’t let her harm the interests of our pig farm.”

Hearing her say that, Aunt Liu Si nodded in agreement.

“You’re right. Comrade Jiang, you’re a good one.”

In her opinion, it was lucky that the one who fainted was a fellow educated youth. If it had been a girl from the village, her entire family would’ve come to cause a huge scene.

Clicking her tongue, she looked at Jiang Manman with emotion.

“You folks coming down here as educated youths really have it hard. If you ever need anything, just tell me. I’ll back you up!”

Jiang Manman didn’t quite understand why she suddenly said that, but she accepted the goodwill.

“Alright. Thank you, Auntie.”

“Ai, you’re a girl who suits me. Not like that Li Hongmei—trying to poison all our pigs, so wicked!”

The more Aunt Liu Si thought about it, the angrier she got. She snorted and glared several times at the unconscious Li Hongmei on the ground.

Jiang Manman found her rather adorable.

The two waited there for a long while before they saw Ge Mazi bringing people over—faces Jiang Manman hadn’t seen before.

Ge Mazi said:

“Comrades, these are the two’s accomplice. She was caught by Comrade Jiang while trying to poison the pig feed, and then knocked out.”

Upon hearing this, Jiang Manman quickly nodded.

“Yes, she still had poison on her meant for the pigs. Comrades, you can take it back for examination.”

The two officers exchanged a glance and nodded.

“Earlier, our men already arrested the two individuals attempting to harm Director Zhou. They confessed truthfully.

The drug given to this Comrade Li was indeed toxic. If consumed, it would have killed all the pigs here.

This is a very serious matter. They even planned to harm you. Human trafficking is also a serious crime.

Fortunately, Comrade Jiang, you discovered and stopped it in time, preventing the loss of the people’s property.”

Jiang Manman smiled.

“The comrade is right. At the same time, I was also protecting myself.”

She glanced at Li Hongmei on the ground.

“And this person—?”

One of the officers stepped forward.

“Leave her to us.”

With the matter handed over, Jiang Manman had nothing else to worry about.

She could return to gathering pig grass in peace, though the basket of pig grass from earlier was now evidence.

She didn’t even get her basket back and had to borrow Zhou Ye’s to gather another load.

Zhou Ye walked over from a distance.

“What are you doing? Still going to gather pig grass?

No need to today. Wait until tomorrow.

Also, for reporting their plan, you might receive a reward.”

“When will I get my basket back?”

Zhou Ye froze—he hadn’t expected her to ask that.

Speechless, he glanced at her.

“You’ll be rewarded with several dozen work points. And you’re worried about a single basket?”

Jiang Manman was equally speechless.

“How am I supposed to gather pig grass without a basket?”

Zhou Ye waved it off.

“Use mine, use mine.”

—

That evening, Jiang Manman made some whole grain buns. She planned to eat one and then go to sleep.

Sure enough, proper dieting means eating well—otherwise, like her, you’d get woken up by hunger.

She drank a glass of warm water, mixed some malted milk, had two eggs, and a whole grain steamed bun.

She slowly chewed, and to her surprise—it even tasted a bit sweet.

It had only been a few meals without meat, and already she was craving it. She had to hold back—must hold back.

Maybe she could check the mountains at noon—see if there were any wild chickens?

She’d only eat chicken breast. Oh, and no stewing—it smelled too good. This time, she’d braise it instead.

She only had the spices taken from the Jiang family in her space, not enough for braising meat.

So that morning, after quickly gathering the pig grass, she began foraging for star anise, Sichuan peppercorns, and the like.

She remembered reading that these could all be found in the mountains. But after walking all morning, she hadn’t found a thing.

Did the novels lie to her?

By noon, she still hadn’t returned, and Tang Xiaomei began to worry.

Why hadn’t she come back yet? Didn’t she say some bad guys had tried to harm them before?

What if those bad guys had accomplices?

Seeing that Zhou Ye had already returned to the neighboring yard, Tang Xiaomei became even more anxious.

She walked to the fence and called toward the neighboring yard:

“Comrade Zhou, have you seen Comrade Jiang?”

Zhou Ye knew Jiang Manman had gathered the pig grass early and gone up the mountain.

Hearing she still hadn’t returned, his brows furrowed.

“She’s not back yet?”

“No! It’s already nearly afternoon and she’s not back. I’m worried something’s happened to her.

Hearing this, Zhou Ye stood up immediately.

“No problem. I’ll go look for her.”

He grabbed a machete and headed into the mountains.

—

Jiang Manman had wandered too far looking for spices and nearly got lost in the forest. Thankfully, her wilderness survival skills were top-notch.

She was already making her way back when she suddenly heard rustling in the nearby brush.

She tightened her grip on the machete, alert and wary—worried she might run into a wild animal.

She remembered stories of leopards in these mountains.

There was even one article about a woman who fought one off while working in the fields. The military even rewarded her with a semi-automatic rifle and a hundred bullets.

Given her own build, she might look pretty tasty to a leopard…

Clutching the machete, she nervously watched the rustling grass.

Huff, huff—

A black wild boar burst out and charged straight toward her.

A wild boar!?

Jiang Manman’s first instinct was to climb a tree.

Luckily, there was a big tree right behind her. In a few quick movements, she was up the tree, speechless as she looked down at the 300+ jin boar.

She could knock out a rabbit with one swing, but a wild boar? No way.

The boar, thinking she was easy prey, charged at the tree, making it tremble slightly.

Thankfully, it was thick and sturdy, so the boar didn’t shake it too much. Just when she thought it would give up, the boar began circling the tree again.

Seeing that she was stuck for a while, she just stayed up there and started eating her bun.

When Zhou Ye arrived, he couldn’t help but laugh at the sight of her up in the tree.

“Is the bun tasty?”

Jiang Manman looked down and quickly shouted:

“Don’t come over!

There’s a wild boar here—at least 300 jin by my estimate.”

Rather than worry, Zhou Ye’s eyes lit up with interest.

“Wait here. I’ll go get some people to catch it.”

Seeing he wasn’t acting recklessly, Jiang Manman let out a sigh of relief.

Then it hit her—he wasn’t just rescuing her. He was planning to catch it alive and add another pig to the farm.