“Sister-in-law…”
“Shh…”
Lin Qiaoyun signaled for them not to move or make a sound. Then she quietly walked to the tree where the python was hanging.
She tested the sharpness of the machete.
It seemed sharp enough.
Without hesitation, she swung the blade straight at the python’s body.
The snake’s head was up in the treetop, so this was the only place she could strike.
It was a bit crude.
But it was simple.
With a single slash, the python was cut into two pieces.
The section with the head twisted violently for a moment before falling from the tree.
Lin Qiaoyun rushed forward without saying a word.
“Ha!”
With another chop, she cut off the snake’s head.
The three little girls nearby normally weren’t afraid of snakes.
But after seeing how ferocious their sister-in-law was, all three huddled together and trembled.
After removing the head, Lin Qiaoyun chopped that section of the snake into three pieces.
The tail section also fell from the tree.
She chopped that into three pieces as well so it would be easier to carry home in baskets.
After she finished cutting up the snake, she noticed that the three little girls hadn’t moved.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and pack the snake into the baskets.”
“C-Coming!”
The three girls practically crawled over and hurried to collect the snake meat.
Wuwuwu…
Why did their delicate-looking sister-in-law turn out to be so terrifying?
Their eldest brother was already fierce enough.
Now they had an equally fierce sister-in-law.
How were they supposed to survive in the future?
It looked like they would have to behave even better from now on.
The three girls wrapped the snake meat in large leaves they picked nearby and carefully placed it into their baskets.
The four of them happily headed home.
If they didn’t leave soon, it would be dark.
While the four sisters-in-law and sisters were arriving home—
Far away at the military base, Zhao Tiezhu had also just returned to his dormitory.
“Company Commander, you’re finally back! If you’d stayed away any longer, we’d have died from anxiety.”
His close friend, Deputy Company Commander Zhao Gang, almost had tears in his eyes when he saw him.
“What happened? Why are you so worked up?”
“Company Commander, the army-wide competition is about to start. Everyone else has been training like crazy, but you actually went home to meet someone and get married.”
Zhao Tiezhu chuckled.
“It’s fine. I’m used to it. A competition is just a competition. If I place well, great. If not, that’s fine too.”
Zhao Gang felt indignant on Zhao Tiezhu’s behalf.
Zhao Tiezhu was a combat hero, yet after all these years he was still only a company commander.
“Company Commander, they’re bullying you.”
“It’s alright. Have some faith in me. I’m not that weak.”
Zhao Tiezhu pulled out a package of dried meat from his bag.
“Take this and share it with everyone.”
“What’s this?”
Zhao Gang opened the package and stuffed a strip into his mouth.
“Wow! Dried meat! It’s spicy and fragrant. This is amazing!
Who made it?”
Zhao Tiezhu smiled.
“Someone at home.”
He didn’t say it was made by his sisters.
If those little rascals found out he had three seventeen-year-old sisters, he probably wouldn’t even be able to sleep peacefully.
“It wasn’t Sister-in-law who made it, was it? I’ll take it over and let everyone try some.”
Zhao Gang rushed off excitedly.
After Zhao Gang left, Zhao Tiezhu looked down at his fists.
He felt that after this trip home, his strength had increased noticeably.
His mind also seemed much clearer.
Before, it felt as if a veil had covered his eyes.
Now everything seemed open and obvious.
He couldn’t quite explain the feeling.
It was strange.
There was even a sense of indifference toward many things.
He decided to test himself at the training ground.
After putting away his belongings, he headed out.
He started by running ten laps around the training field.
Just as he was focused on running, he suddenly sensed movement behind him.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone trying to sneak attack him.
He instantly kicked backward.
Bang!
The attacker flew through the air and crashed heavily onto the ground.
The man couldn’t get up for quite a while.
“Zhao Tiezhu, you…”
“Li Tie, I’ve told you many times. Don’t play these kinds of games with me. I already held back today. Otherwise, you could start preparing for retirement.”
Li Tie wasn’t alone.
Two others stood nearby.
They were both people who usually didn’t get along with Zhao Tiezhu.
One was Wang Chengnan.
The other was Gu Jiaguo.
The three of them held ranks similar to Zhao Tiezhu’s.
Li Tie and Wang Chengnan were company commanders.
Gu Jiaguo was a deputy battalion commander.
After saying that, Zhao Tiezhu stopped running.
He left the training field and returned to his dormitory to rest.
Gu Jiaguo glared at Li Tie.
“Li Tie, what exactly are you afraid of? Why would you sabotage his training? Do you think you’re inferior to him?
What the hell is wrong with you?”
Gu Jiaguo stormed off angrily.
Earlier, Li Tie and Wang Chengnan had invited him over to watch Zhao Tiezhu train.
He hadn’t expected something like this to happen.
If Zhao Tiezhu hadn’t controlled his strength, Li Tie would have ended up in the hospital.
Li Tie’s stomach hurt so badly that he couldn’t even speak.
All he could do was watch Zhao Tiezhu and Gu Jiaguo leave.
He didn’t even know why he had suddenly felt the urge to sneak attack Zhao Tiezhu.
Damn it.
Li Tie slammed his fist into the ground.
After returning to his dormitory, Zhao Tiezhu took a shower and went straight to sleep.
In the past, he had never been particularly competitive.
As long as he could stay in the army, he was satisfied.
Whether he was a company commander or a regiment commander didn’t matter much to him.
But now that couldn’t continue.
He had a wife now.
The only way to live with his wife was to qualify for family accompaniment.
And the minimum rank required for that was battalion-level officer.
This competition was no longer something he could approach casually.
As the saying went, after establishing a family, a man naturally wanted to establish his career.
Even if not for himself, he had to do it for his wife.
The next morning, when the wake-up bugle sounded, Zhao Tiezhu immediately got out of bed.
Full of energy, he set off to fight for his future.
While Zhao Tiezhu woke up full of spirit—
Lin Qiaoyun was in a completely different situation.
Yesterday had been her first day of farm work.
She hadn’t felt much during the day.
After work she had even run all over the mountains.
She had gone to bed early after dinner.
But when she woke up the next morning, she could barely get out of bed.
Her whole body ached.
Every muscle hurt.
Waaah…
“Can I not go today…?”
Unfortunately, nobody heard her silent complaint.
Everyone was busy.
While she had gone to bed early, the Zhao family’s three “flowers” still had plenty of work to do.
They had to process all the mountain produce she brought back.
They also had to prepare and marinate the snake meat so they could make dried meat during their free time at noon the next day.
Then they still had to continue building the courtyard wall early in the morning.
Everyone in the family was busy.
Even Xu Nian’en was occupied helping with household chores.
No one noticed Lin Qiaoyun’s discomfort.
Fortunately, she only felt miserable for a short while.
Once she got up and started moving around, she was energetic again.
The family got up at four in the morning.
By five o’clock they were already working in the fields.
They worked for three hours first.
Only at eight o’clock did they return home for breakfast.
After breakfast, they went right back to work.
They continued until noon, when they ate lunch and rested.
Then at three in the afternoon, they went back out again.
Honestly, many people couldn’t endure that level of labor.
But there was no choice.
The rice had to be harvested within one week.
After that, the fields had to be prepared again for planting.
The next rice crop had to be planted within ten days.
That was why the double-harvest season was so exhausting.
By the time it ended, everyone practically shed a layer of skin from exhaustion.
While Lin Qiaoyun’s double-harvest work was nearing its end—
The military competition Zhao Tiezhu was participating in was also approaching its conclusion.
Only one final event remained.
This year’s competition had shocked everyone.
People originally believed that the top three winners would be the same three competitors as before.
No one expected that this year, every single first-place result would be taken by someone who had never been particularly favored in the past.
Others might win one or two events.
He was aiming for a complete sweep.
Even the military district commander had been alerted.
The commander personally came to watch the final event.
If this competitor won first place again, he would qualify for the national military district competition.
The leadership was paying very close attention.
In truth, most of the participants already knew they had lost.
After Zhao Tiezhu took first place in the 400-meter obstacle course, their chances were gone.
Because the final event was shooting.
And throughout the entire military district, everyone knew that Zhao Tiezhu was a legendary marksman.