The day after the educated youths arrived, they were assigned to work in the fields alongside the villagers.
The canal digging from a few days ago was finished. Today’s task was to start turning over the soil across the land.
The female educated youths all looked rather delicate. After some deliberation, Captain Wu decided to assign the four of them to dig for wild vegetables together with the elderly villagers.
Most of the snow on the mountains had already melted, leaving the paths wet and slippery.
Sure enough, Chen Zhixue stepped right into a mud puddle, turning her leather shoes into dirty, muddy messes.
“Hahaha…” Lin Pandi burst out laughing at the sight. A few of the more reserved villagers chuckled quietly.
The old farmers truly couldn’t understand why these city kids would think it was a good idea to wear leather shoes up the mountain.
In their opinion, such delicate shoes should be kept clean and dry on a shelf at home, only brought out to show off when guests came.
“What are you laughing at, you bumpkins?” Chen Zhixue shot Lin Pandi a glare, then continued working, heart aching for her ruined shoes.
Liu Honghua, who didn’t care about work points, stood under a large tree, carefully observing the plants on the ground.
Before she could make any sense of what she was looking at, she felt something warm against the back of her calves.
The people across from her widened their eyes, staring at something behind her. Sensing something was wrong, she turned her head and was nearly knocked out by a foul, fishy stench. A small wild boar was snorting and nudging her with its little pointed snout.
Having eaten pork countless times in her life but never seen a live pig up close, Liu Honghua’s legs went weak—she couldn’t move. An elderly villager, noticing the boar’s movements, carefully pulled her back.
Some quick-thinking villagers had already run down the mountain to get help.
Wu Jun happened to be stepping out of his house on some business when he was grabbed and conscripted.
“Oof, Jun, there’s a wild boar up on the mountain! You need to get up there and check it out. I’m going to go call more people.” With that, the man ran off, shouting “Wild boar! Wild boar!” without even waiting for Wu Jun’s reply.
Wu Jun stood there stunned for a moment, then suddenly remembered something that had happened in his previous life. The educated youths had encountered a small wild boar on the mountain and killed it.
But as soon as they killed the little one, the older ones came. That very night, a herd of wild boars had descended the mountain and attacked the village.
Back then, his family had avoided disaster because they were visiting his aunt’s house. But Aunt Chunhua from Uncle Dazhuang’s family hadn’t been so lucky—she was trampled by a boar, suffered internal injuries, and lingered for two years before passing away.
Thinking of this, Wu Jun turned around and hurried to the brigade headquarters. He found the phone and called the county.
The only government person he knew in the county was Li Gong. He asked if Li Gong could send the militia over. If they could hunt down the wild boar herd during the day, the villagers on the mountain could handle just the one small boar themselves.
Li Gong was surprised to receive Wu Jun’s call, but he trusted that Wu Jun wouldn’t cry wolf without reason. He immediately promised to send the commune’s militia.
After getting confirmation, Wu Jun finally relaxed and went to report the situation to his uncle, the brigade captain.
Meanwhile, the quicker villagers had already grabbed their hoes and shovels and were heading up the mountain.
Wu Jun spotted his uncle at the front of the group and quickly caught up. “Uncle, are you all heading up the mountain to hunt wild boars?”
Seeing that Wu Jun was empty-handed, the brigade captain shoved a sickle into his hand. “Old Liu just came down to report wild boars on the mountain. I was worried the people up there couldn’t handle it, so I called everyone together to go up.”
“Uncle, they encountered a lone little wild boar. There are several elders from our family up there—they’re old, but there shouldn’t be any real danger. What I’m worried about is a whole herd coming down the mountain.”
Hearing this, the brigade captain turned serious. “That’s a reasonable concern. Last winter was so cold. If the wild boars don’t have anything to eat and see the snow melting, they might very well come out. If that’s the case, it’s not good for so many of us to go up directly. We wouldn’t be able to escape if we run into a large herd.”
With that, he sent a few of the fastest young men up the mountain first, while the rest waited at the foot.
“Uncle, I already called Li Gong. I asked him to send the militia. They have guns, so if we run into a herd, we won’t have to worry.”
“Well done.” The brigade captain patted Wu Jun’s shoulder approvingly, then looked up toward the mountain with a worried expression.
Halfway up the mountain, the people who had been digging wild vegetables were slowly backing away, keeping their faces toward the small wild boar.
But the creature seemed fixated on Liu Honghua. Whenever she stepped back, it stepped forward. If the elderly villager behind her hadn’t been holding her up, she would have collapsed onto the ground long ago.
Even so, it looked like she was about to fall apart.
When Hongqi arrived, that was the scene he saw. He thought to himself that this educated youth was nothing but trouble—now she’d even managed to provoke a wild boar. From yesterday to today, every incident seemed to involve her.
He signaled to the young men who had come up with him, then moved quickly and quietly to position himself behind the little boar. He had a hemp rope ready, already formed into a noose, and slowly slipped it over the boar.
Once the noose was on, the young men who had spread out on both sides rushed in to help pull the rope tight. At the same time, someone else slipped a small bamboo cage over the boar’s head.
The crisis was over.
Liu Honghua, witnessing Hongqi’s heroic feat, shed tears—whether from gratitude or relief, no one could tell.
The people who had kept their distance from the little boar now popped out one by one, already fantasizing about how to divide the pork.
Hongqi thought this was getting out of hand. He called two young men to carry the little boar down the mountain. When the villagers saw meat heading downhill, they followed along, afraid they’d miss out on their share if they were late.
Chen Zhixue, seeing the danger had passed, immediately rushed to Liu Honghua’s side and helped her up with warm affection. “Honghua, I’m so glad you’re okay. I was just thinking about how to save you. But Comrade Wu acted faster than me and came to your rescue.”
Hearing these shameless words, Su Qing felt a bit nauseated. The truth was, Chen Zhixue had wanted to run. The only reason she hadn’t was fear that the villagers would call her heartless.
“We’re all going down now. The villagers have already left.” Su Qing said this curtly, then pulled Wei Hongling along and headed downhill.
Hongqi looked around. There was no one left except these two young women, who still hadn’t left. He couldn’t help but ask, “Aren’t you two leaving yet? What are you going to do if more wild boars show up?”
Hearing that there might be more boars, the two women were frightened into silence and followed Hongqi down the mountain.
At the foot of the mountain, the brigade captain and the village elders were examining the little boar that had been carried down.
Uncle Wu Liu, the village’s experienced pig farmer, concluded, “This piglet is at most three months old. A piglet this young wouldn’t come out alone. There must be adult boars nearby. Shengli, the mountain isn’t safe anymore. You know how large wild boar herds can get. You need to report this to the commune right away and have them send people to hunt these boars.”
Brigade Captain Wu nodded in agreement. “Jun asked for help early on and had the militia dispatched. They should be here soon.”