Chapter 37

“Dad, Mom, Big Brother was killed by a wild boar in the back mountain!”

The words struck like a bolt from the blue. Gu Shidong’s announcement hit Zhang Cuilan’s heart like a hammer, and everything went black before her eyes. She nearly lost her balance and fell.

Thankfully, Eldest Uncle Zhang, who was nearby, helped her up, so she didn’t collapse.

Even so, Second Uncle Zhang’s tobacco pipe fell to the ground, and his eyes immediately turned red.

Gu Mancang, holding his pocket watch, couldn’t keep it steady. His lips quivered, and though he was on the verge of tears, he staggered forward.

In the kitchen, Eldest Aunt and Second Aunt were making noodles. Hearing the news, Second Aunt couldn’t hold back her tears, while Eldest Aunt, holding the rolling pin, let it fall to the floor. She muttered through trembling lips, “What a good day, and now this… he just went to the back mountain, how did Anzi end up encountering a wild boar? And then… a wild boar…”

The wild boars in the back mountains were particularly vicious. Even the village’s old hunters would avoid them. A few years ago, a young man went up the mountain to pick mushrooms, ran into a wild boar, and ended up breaking his leg while fleeing. He had to rest for half a year.

Gu Shi’an had been raised by the Zhang family and was the most promising child in the family. The family was heartbroken, some crying, others wiping away tears.

After a while, Zhang Cuilan, feeling like all the strength had been drained from her, struggled to get up. She was determined to see her son one last time!

Gu Mancang, his face streaked with tears, held her close. “Let’s go. We’ll all go.”

Parents always want to see their children one last time.

The elderly couple, their faces lined with tears, helped each other up and shuffled forward.

Gu Shidong, his eyes wide with excitement, ran home. When he saw the scene, he was confused. Wasn’t there supposed to be meat to eat? Why was everyone acting like this?

Gu Shidong licked his lips and, full of expectation, turned to Eldest Uncle Zhang. “Uncle, hurry and get someone from the village! My brother killed a big wild boar in the back mountain! It’s lying there in the valley. Let’s find some people to carry it back and feast on it!”

Haha, tonight, we’re having wild boar meat!

Second Uncle Zhang, still tearful, froze for a moment. “Carry… carry a wild boar?”

“Yes, Uncle, you don’t know how amazing my brother is. He took down this big wild boar with huge tusks and fast hooves that could shake the earth when it ran. That boar was terrifying. My brother drove a sharp stick into its throat and then shot it twice. The boar flipped over and died, hahaha…”

The Zhang family, whose hearts were still heavy with grief, stared at the boy in disbelief.

Gu Shidong was jumping up and down, acting out the scene, completely oblivious to the angry glares from the Zhang family.

Eventually, Gu Shidong got a beating from his furious parents.

“Little brat, can’t even say things properly! You made your mother cry for nothing!”

Zhang Cuilan was furious, slamming the rolling pin on the table with a loud bang.

Gu Mancang was just as angry, the first time he seriously considered giving his son a good spanking.

The entire Zhang family glared angrily at the boy, who covered his sore backside and, feeling wronged, tried to explain. But seeing his mother get angrier, he ran off, shouting and crying.

Zhang Cuilan chased after him.

Eldest Uncle Zhang couldn’t help but laugh and came over. “Alright, Cuilan, just give him a good beating to let off some steam. Actually, this isn’t entirely Dongzi’s fault. He was just so excited to bring us good news that he got mixed up with his words. We should’ve thought it through before reacting. At least it was just a false alarm.”

His eldest newphew was fine. Second Uncle Zhang, too, was in high spirits. “That’s right! Our nephew fought in Korea and was a war hero who beat the American devils to a pulp. He can’t lose to a mere wild boar!”

Second Aunt shot him a look. “Look at you. Weren’t you the one who just cried like a grandson?”

The old man was almost fifty, crying one moment and grinning with his big white teeth the next. How embarrassing!

Second Uncle Zhang said that not only is it not embarrassing, but he is also extremely proud!

His nephew had hunted a fat wild boar, and as the uncle, he enjoyed eating it tremendously.

The mishap of the day soon faded away, replaced by the joy of the members of Hongqi Commune.

The news that the head of the village’s nephew, who was the deputy director of the public security bureau, had hunted a wild boar spread quickly throughout Zhangjia Village.

The wild boar weighed as much as three hundred jin, which most men couldn’t carry. Eldest Uncle Zhang selected several strong men, who used thick ropes as thick as their wrists to tie up the boar. Everyone pulled together to finally bring the boar back to the village.

Lin Yao and the others also returned to the village together.

The mischievous children, who had sneaked up the mountain to get a beehive, were met by their worried elders. The adults first cried, then scolded and beat the children. When they learned that Gu Shi’an and his group had saved the children, the parents were extremely grateful and even wanted to kneel down and thank them.

Lin Yao had never seen anything like this, so she quickly grabbed the bewildered Gu Chunmei and ran home, leaving Gu Shi’an to deal with the situation.

Mao Dan and Xiao Ni returned home without fear. They were well cared for on the way back, and as soon as they arrived, they fell asleep. Second Aunt, whose worries had finally eased, took Lin Yao’s hand and thanked her profusely.

Gu Chunmei was the biological niece, but Yao Yao, who had married into the family, had protected her children in such a dangerous situation. Second Aunt would never forget this kindness.

Second Uncle Zhang looked at Lin Yao with great affection. Zhang Cuilan, who already treated Lin Yao like her own daughter, now showered her with even more love and care.

The parents of the rescued children came one by one to the village leader’s house to thank them. They didn’t have much to offer, so all they could bring were things like eggs and dates.

The Zhang family refused the gifts, but the parents insisted on staying, unwilling to leave. Even when the stern Deputy Director Gu intervened, it didn’t work.

In the end, the family reluctantly accepted the offerings.

Lin Yao was watching the scene from the window when Gu Shi’an returned. Her fair cheeks were slightly flushed from the hot sun, and she curiously asked, “What are they saying outside?”

Gu Shi’an drank from his enamel mug and replied, “Nothing much. Uncle said they’ll butcher the wild boar tonight. It’s three hundred jin. The production team will keep two hundred jin, and we’ll get sixty jin. The rest will go to the village’s five guarantee households.”

“That’s great,” Lin Yao replied happily, nodding.

It was just as she had expected. When a wild boar was hunted in the countryside, most of it was kept by the village, some was given to those who had done good deeds, and the rest went to elderly villagers living alone.

The family now had sixty jin of wild boar meat. Lin Yao was wondering whether they should cook it into sweet-and-sour pork or render it into lard.

Why not eat some now and make sausages with the rest?

In this era, sausages were a rare treat, even during the New Year. Last year, the Gu family had only bought one jin of pork, which wasn’t enough even to make dumplings, let alone sausages!

Although Lin Yao had mountains of pork in her space supermarket, she couldn’t help but find a legitimate excuse to take it out.

As she thought about it, Lin Yao considered secretly adding a few extra jin while making the sausages. No one would notice, right?

As for her family, they were too busy stuffing their mouths with meat to notice how much there was.

Lin Yao recalled the fragrant taste of stir-fried sausages. The rich, savory flavor exploded in her mouth, and she couldn’t help but swallow in anticipation.

Oh no, she couldn’t resist anymore!

As Lin Yao daydreamed about the delicious taste of sausage, she didn’t notice that the person who had put down his water cup was staring at her intently with dark, narrowed eyes.

Instinctively, Lin Yao took a step back and said warily, “Why are you looking at me like that?”

The tall man smiled silently and cornered her. He whispered in her ear, “You haven’t paid today’s interest yet.”

Interest? When had she borrowed money from this man?

Wasn’t all of Gu Shi’an’s money hers?

Lin Yao unconsciously licked her lips and looked up, just in time for her pink lips to be caught by his.

She was dazed by the kiss, and later realized that the “interest” Gu Shi’an had mentioned was a promise she had made during a dream, in which she had agreed to kiss him once a day.

“………”

*

That evening, the members of Hongqi Commune called the village’s butcher to come and slaughter the wild boar. With knives flashing, they quickly gutted it, cut it into pieces, and made a fragrant stew with vermicelli, cabbage, and pork.

All two hundred or so people in the commune ate their fill, their bellies round and full. Second Uncle Zhang burped repeatedly on his way home.

“That was satisfying, really satisfying. We’ve never eaten so much meat, not even during the New Year!”

“How great would it be if we could eat meat every day?”

“What are you talking about? Eating meat every day would make you sick of it.”

Both the adults and children were smiling with contentment that evening.

Xu Xiangqian, who had been on a mission, returned in his jeep, thinking that the village children would probably swarm around the vehicle again.

But to his surprise, no one even looked at him. Everyone was waddling home, clutching their full bellies like plump mother ducks.

Da Tou Brother muttered,”….This is really strange.”

The whole Hongqi production team, except for Gu Shidong, was happily content. He was the only one nervously worrying about the events of the day. He was afraid that his older brother would find out, and if he did, it would be trouble!

The little rascal had sneaked around all day and hardly had any of the boar meat. When the family was about to leave, he reluctantly returned from the backyard, following Lin Yao like a good boy and treating her as a protective talisman.

Lin Yao tugged at the brat and whispered, “What’s going on? Did you cause trouble again?”

Just then, Gu Shi’an turned around from ahead.

Gu Shidong instantly stood straight, his posture even more proper than Gu Mancang had been in the car. He looked as obedient as could be.

Zhang Cuilan glanced at him and sneered without saying a word.

Only Big Brother and Second Brother would plead for this little troublemaker. Otherwise…

*

The jeep bumped along the mountain road for over an hour before finally reaching the gates of Yunshui County.

Upon arriving at the alley leading to the courtyard, the family piled out, each with bags and packages, grinning and grimacing as they unloaded.

Going to the countryside was exhausting, even more so than work.

After arriving home, the family cleaned up and went to bed. Gu Shidong acted as the little laborer, carrying half a basket of raspberries for his sister-in-law and a basket of red hawthorn.

Lin Yao planned to wash the raspberries and make jam. As for the hawthorn, which hung in bright red clusters from the trees on the back mountain of Zhangjia Village, it was so tempting that just looking at it made one’s mouth water. She picked some to dry and planned to keep them at home to make a refreshing drink to aid digestion.

Having been gone for a day, the two gray rabbits at home had eaten all the cabbage leaves in their nests.

Gu Chunmei tossed half a basket of wild vegetables inside, and the rabbits immediately lowered their heads and began eating eagerly.

Lin Yao crouched down beside them, noticing that the female rabbit’s belly seemed noticeably swollen. She called the family over to look.

Gu Chunmei anxiously asked, “Is the female rabbit sick?”

Lin Yao shook her head. “It doesn’t seem like it. She still has plenty of energy to eat grass. I think she might be pregnant.”

Gu Mancang came over, gave the rabbit’s belly a firm pat, and smiled. “Looks like she’s carrying babies.”

Lin Yao’s heart bloomed with joy.

It wouldn’t be long before there were little rabbits. The day they could eat rabbit meat was not far off!

After the 78th birthday celebration for Grandma Zhang, the busy autumn harvest continued in the countryside.

Under the scorching sun of the Dongfanghong production team, the heat made everyone sweat profusely.

Dressed in long sleeves and wrapped in a gray cloth headscarf, Lin Hongna bent her back and worked in the fields, looking like a typical countryside woman.

The heat was unbearable, and the cornfield, both hot and exposed to the sun, made the work even harder. Even though Lin Hongna had bundled herself up tightly, the small sawtooth edges on the corn leaves still occasionally scratched her face, arms, and hands, making her feel pain, irritation, and itchiness.

Lin Hongna wiped the sweat from her face, wishing she could throw the corn in her basket away and cry her heart out!

She had been doing fine as a temporary worker at the soap factory, but Lin Hongwu, that good-for-nothing, had ruined everything. After working at the factory for six months, he hadn’t saved a single cent. Instead of continuing to work there, he foolishly got involved with a group of thugs and started gambling!

Now, the family’s hard-earned savings were all gone, gambled away by that useless man. The family was also buried in debt.

The thugs, somehow learning she was Lin Hongwu’s sister, came to her door every few days to demand money.

Lin Hongna had no money to give. She earned just a few yuan a month, enough for herself, and sometimes she even had to send some home, but it was never much!

The thugs didn’t care about that. They threatened to kidnap her and sell her to the lonely bachelors in the mountains to settle the debt if she didn’t pay up.

Lin Hongna was terrified. She considered going to the police, but lacked the courage. If she offended those thugs, she would never have a peaceful life again. She also couldn’t let Sun Jialiang know about this.

That old woman from the Sun family had said before that a man should marry a pure and clean woman, implying that Lin Hongna wasn’t innocent.

Bah! Old witch! When she slept with Sun Jialiang, she was still a virgin!

Sun Jialiang would never be able to escape her.

Feeling powerless, Lin Hongna took a few days off from the soap factory and ran back to her hometown to hide.

She didn’t know where Lin Hongwu had gone, but Li Aifeng cried at home every day. She cried because the family was ruined, because her precious son might be suffering outside, or she cried while scolding Lin Daguo, calling him a useless scoundrel, and blaming him for bringing bad luck to the family.

This irritated Lin Daguo, but it also irritated Lin Hongna.

During the autumn harvest, she left to work in the fields, hoping to earn some work points.

At noon, exhausted like a dog, she was walking back home when she overheard two gossiping women at the field’s edge.

“Hey, did you hear? The Hongqi Production Team had a feast yesterday.”

“The Hongqi Production Team got a reward?”

“No, I heard it was the village leader’s nephew, the one who’s the deputy director at the police station. He killed a wild boar.”

“The village leader’s nephew? Is that the Gu family from the city?”

“Yes, that’s them. Isn’t Lin Daguo’s daughter engaged to their eldest son? Isn’t he in the army? How did he become a deputy director at the police station?”

“Well, you didn’t know? He came back from the army and joined the county’s police force.”

“Wow, Lin Daguo’s family must be furious about this.”

“Yeah, definitely.”

The two women laughed, unaware that Lin Hongna, standing behind the elm tree, was pale as a ghost.