Chapter 23

“Here we are!” 

Tang Yunling waved her hoe in response to her brother. 

Tang Yuanliang leaned over the slope, finally relieved to see that Lu Baiwei and Tang Yunling were unharmed. 

“You scared me to death! What are you two doing down there? I thought you’d both fallen off the cliff!” 

“We’re fine! We found Polygonum multiflorum !” 

Tang Yunling shouted excitedly, “Brother, forget the traps for now! Come down here and help WeiWei  and me dig. There’s a whole patch of Polygonum multiflorumvines! We’re hitting the jackpot!” 

“No can do!” 

Tang Yuanliang boasted proudly, “We just caught a big one! The weather’s too hot to store the meat, so we need to head down the mountain overnight.” 

“This patch of Polygonum multiflorumisn’t going anywhere. We’ll come back and dig it up next time.” 

“Hurry up and climb back up! We’ll show you the massive wild boar we caught.” 

Tang Yuanliang extended the handle of his hoe down to help Lu Baiwei and Tang Yunling climb back up the slope. 

As they took the easier path toward the grassy area by the lake, where the boar had been taken down, Tang Yuanliang spoke with excitement. 

“WeiWei , your husband is something else—his skills are impressive.” 

“That big boar today? I almost couldn’t handle it myself.” 

“That boar was like a demon—its skin was so thick that knives barely fazed it. But then Huo Ting picked up a hoe from the ground, leaped up, and struck it so hard that its brains splattered everywhere.” 

Having shared the experience of taking down the wild boar, Tang Yuanliang now had an even higher opinion of his new brother-in-law. 

When they reached the spot near the lake where the boar had been felled, Lu Baiwei saw by the fading light that Huo Ting’s clothes were stained with blood. 

Before she could voice her concern, Huo Ting stepped forward to reassure her. “It’s just the boar’s blood that splattered on me.” 

Why did he sound a little proud about it? 

Lu Baiwei didn’t hold back her praise. “Huo Ting, you’re amazing!” 

“My cousin told me you took it down with one strike of the hoe and split its head open.” 

Hearing his newlywed wife’s admiration, Huo Ting lifted his head slightly, the corners of his mouth curving into a small smile. 

Seeing the fine sweat glistening on Lu Baiwei’s forehead and the damp strands of hair sticking to her temples, he stepped forward and gently tucked the loose strands behind her ear. 

Watching the two act so lovey-dovey, Zhou Yanfeng felt like his brother Ting had betrayed him. 

His brother Ting’s heart no longer ranked him first—it was now all about his sister-in-law. 

He felt like a child who’d been denied candy. 

He was devastated! 

With everyone gathered, Tang Yuanliang, as the leader of the group, took charge of their next move.

—

Everyone gathered together at one place, and Tang Yuanliang, who was in charge, led the group up the mountain, making the final decision.

“Originally, we planned to stay on the mountain for a couple of days and collect more medicinal herbs for Weiwei before heading down.”

“Weiwei has already dug up a whole basket of fritillaria, and together with Lingling, she also dug up some Polygonum multiflorum. He Ting and I hunted this big one, but now the plan has changed.”

“The weather is too hot. It’s not even hunting season, and if we don’t process this wild boar meat soon, it will spoil.”

They had arrived at the mountain around mid-month, and it was only getting dark now. When they looked up, the round moon was hanging in the sky.

Tang Yuanliang made a decisive call: “While we still have the moonlight, it’s not pitch dark. Let’s pack up and head down the mountain immediately.”

If they stayed one more day on the mountain, the wild boar meat would definitely spoil.

Furthermore, even though they had found the Polygonum multiflorum vines, as Tang Yuanliang had said, the things growing there wouldn’t grow legs and run away, so they could come back to dig again next time.

The wild boar weighed about two hundred pounds, and they could probably get around one hundred and fifty pounds of meat from it.

At the lowest price of fifty cents per pound, one wild boar could be sold for seventy-five yuan. Meat was hard to come by these days, and sometimes the price of pork on the black market was higher than fifty cents a pound.

Once they did the math, they realized that processing the wild boar meat as soon as possible was the correct choice.

Led by Lu Baiwei, everyone agreed with Tang Yuanliang’s decision.

To make it easier to carry, Tang Yuanliang slaughtered the pig by the lake, cutting the meat into pieces. Each person carried a basket.

Of course, they didn’t discard the pig’s offal.

They hastily ate some dry rations, and once again, Tang Yuanliang led the way, using the bright moonlight to guide them down the mountain.

This time, they didn’t take the shortcut through the dense forest, instead choosing a route through an area with fewer trees. After all, it was dangerous to walk the mountain path at night, and even though Tang Yuanliang, who was familiar with the mountain, was leading the way, and there was moonlight, they still ran into trouble.

The unlucky one was Zhou Yanfeng.

As he was walking, he began to hear a hissing sound, and by the time he realized something was wrong, a snake had wrapped itself around his backpack, climbing up his back and flicking its tongue at his neck.

He felt a chill at his neck and heard the hissing sound. Zhou Yanfeng immediately realized something was off.

But it was too late—if he moved, the snake would bite his neck.

Just when he was in a critical situation, Tang Yunling, who was walking beside him, moved swiftly. She grabbed the snake by the neck with lightning speed and threw it to the ground, knocking it unconscious.

The danger was averted, but Zhou Yanfeng, already terrified and trembling, nearly collapsed to the ground.

He slid down, leaning against He Ting, who helped him up to avoid rolling down the slope.

Meanwhile, the strong and agile Tang Yunling casually picked up the snake, which had been thrown half-dead, and began playing with it, wrapped around her hand.

“You, you…”

Such a fierce woman.

Zhou Yanfeng, still terrified of slippery things, pointed at Tang Yunling and was too stunned to speak.

—

“What’s there to be afraid of a little crawler?”

Tang Yunling said nonchalantly.

She then asked, “I thought Weiwei gave you a snake-repellent pouch, and the scent should make snakes avoid you. So how did you attract one?”

Lu Baiwei figured out the problem.

She asked Zhou Yanfeng, “Did the pouch get wet when you fell into the stream?”

Zhou Yanfeng suddenly realized why he had attracted the snake.

Still shaken by the snake scare, he hadn’t recovered and could only nod vigorously at Lu Baiwei to confirm it was true.

Was there someone who was *this* afraid of snakes?

Tang Yunling was utterly disgusted with him.

She took the pouch from her pocket and shoved it into Zhou Yanfeng’s hands.

“Here, take this. I’m not afraid of snakes, so I don’t need it.”

“Th-thank you!”

The near-death threat from the snake still haunted Zhou Yanfeng, a young man from the big city. He was shaken and couldn’t even speak properly.

Tang Yunling, holding the snake in her hand, confidently puffed out her chest and said, “No need to thank me, I’ll look after you from now on.”

“Unbelievable.”

Tang Yuanliang shook his head, feeling like his sister was impossible to watch.

It was a good thing she hadn’t been seen by the man she was promised to in the neighboring village. Otherwise, with such a tough sister, who knew if she’d ever get married.

Seeing her still playing with the snake and scaring Zhou Yanfeng, Tang Yuanliang urged, “Stop playing with it, kill the snake and toss it in the basket to take back for the liquor.”

“Got it!”

On the way down the mountain, Zhou Yanfeng kept worrying that the snake in Tang Yunling’s basket hadn’t been fully killed and might crawl out when he wasn’t looking. He instinctively slowed his steps and stayed far away from her, sticking close to He Ting.

However, he couldn’t help but admire Tang Yunling. A woman who wasn’t afraid of such a terrifying creature was unlike any delicate female intellectuals he had known.

Walking behind, he couldn’t help but sneak a glance at Tang Yunling’s back.