They walked all morning, and as noon approached, they spotted a small river.
With green mountains and clear waters, the scenery looked very nice. Lin Hai therefore ordered everyone to stop here to rest and recover, taking a half-day break.
Nangong An looked around and agreed that the place was good. However, if they were going to rest, it would be better to stay farther away from the road. So he suggested to Lin Hai, “Brother Lin, why don’t we move a bit further inside? That way, even if other refugees pass by, they won’t disturb us.”
Lin Hai thought about it and felt it made sense. He then led everyone further in. After walking for about a quarter of an hour, they discovered a few thatched huts at the foot of the mountain. Could someone be living here? But judging by how broken and dilapidated the huts looked, it didn’t seem like anyone actually lived there.
Lin Hai looked at Nangong An, wanting to ask for his opinion. He felt that Nangong An carried himself like a natural leader—calm and imposing without showing anger—so asking him made Lin Hai feel more at ease.
Seeing Nangong An nod, Lin Hai loudly announced that they would rest here for half a day.
When the children in the group heard that they could rest, they immediately put down the small bundles on their shoulders and ran toward the river.
As they ran happily, they started taking off their clothes and joyfully dashed into the water.
The adults behind them shouted reminders, “Remember, don’t go into the deep water! Big brothers, watch over the younger ones!”
Nangong An looked at the rolling mountain range behind them and thought about heading into the mountains to see if he could hunt something.
“Yunxi, I’m going into the mountains to take a look. Do you want to come?”
“Into the mountains? Sure!” Yunxi also wanted to see what ancient mountains were like, and whether she could find food to fill their stomachs, just like other transmigrators.
Nangong An felt that since they were traveling with a large group, they should inform others before going into the mountains.
“Brother Lin, we’re planning to go into the mountains to take a look. Do you want to come?”
“Into the mountains? Sure! We haven’t had meat in a long time. Hunting some wild game to satisfy our cravings sounds good,” Lin Hai said as he called over a few sturdier men. Back when they were home, these men often hunted in the mountains and had plenty of experience.
After discussing everything, a group of people headed into the mountains together, while the rest stayed by the river to wash and clean up.
Once in the mountains, they split into groups of four and went in different directions.
Nangong An and Yang Yunxi formed one group. This time, Yang Yunxi’s goal was to find food that could fill their stomachs, so she kept her head down the entire time, searching carefully.
“Yunxi, are you looking for something? If you tell me, I can help you look,” Nangong An asked when he saw her constantly scanning the ground.
“I’m just taking a look around. You go hunt—don’t worry about me. If I run into danger, I’ll hide on my own,” Yang Yunxi replied, waving her hand without lifting her head.
Nangong An knew about her space and knew she wouldn’t easily be in danger. Even if something happened, she could save herself. Still, he reminded her, “Be careful. If there’s danger, shout loudly. I’ll get to you right away.”
“Okay, I know.”
Earlier, Nangong An had heard the flapping sounds of a wild chicken, but he didn’t go after it because he was worried about Yunxi’s safety.
Now, he quickly rushed toward the spot where he had noticed the wild chicken.
He found the chicken squatting in the grass. Nangong An picked up a stone and flicked it over swiftly. Before the chicken could react, it was knocked unconscious.
When he walked closer, he realized the chicken was incubating eggs—no wonder it hadn’t fled despite the noise.
He quickly collected the eggs, tied up the unconscious chicken with a grass rope, and continued forward.
Along the way, he caught two wild rabbits, three wild chickens, and two nests of wild chicken eggs.
Suddenly, a scream echoed from the distance.
Hearing the sound, Nangong An immediately sprinted toward it.
When he arrived, Yunxi was lying flat on her back on the ground, her limbs sprawled out.
Nangong An rushed over in three quick strides and asked anxiously, “Yunxi, what happened to you?”
Yunxi grinned. “Oh, it’s nothing. I tripped over a vine. But luckily I fell—otherwise I wouldn’t have discovered it.”
Nangong An looked at her strangely. He had never seen anyone so happy after falling, and he had no idea what she had found.
Yunxi climbed to her feet and looked at the wild chickens and rabbits Nangong An had dropped on the ground.
“Wow! You’re amazing! It’s only been a short while and you’ve already hunted so much. You’re really incredible!”
Hearing Yunxi praise him, Nangong An quickly opened his robe. “Look, not just these—I also have forty wild chicken eggs! Hurry and put them away first.”
“By the way, what did you find that made you so happy?”
Only then did Yunxi remember the vine she had tripped over.
She pulled over a vine and said, “This is what tripped me just now. It’s a Chinese yam vine. The tuber grows underground, but I don’t have tools to dig it out. Let’s mark the spot and have them bring tools later to dig it up.”
After saying that, she put all the wild chickens, rabbits, and eggs Nangong An had hunted into her supermarket space.
Just as they were about to head down the mountain, a piercing scream came from not far away.
Nangong An inwardly cursed that something was wrong and immediately picked up Yunxi and rushed over.
At a mountain hollow, several people were surrounding a large wild boar, staring at it intensely.
They were afraid that if they weren’t careful, it would charge at them and injure someone.
Nangong An was about to place Yunxi up in a large tree when Yunxi, sharp-eyed, noticed an injured man lying on the ground.
She quickly scanned the surroundings, spotted the hemostatic herb she needed, and swiftly picked it. Rubbing it in her hands to extract the juice, she hurried to the injured man and pressed it onto his wound.
“It’ll hurt a bit. Bear with it—it’ll be better soon.”
The wild boar was on the brink of rage. Its face twisted ferociously, sharp tusks exposed as it roared, looking terrifying.
Nangong An dashed toward the beast. Before it could react, he used his dagger to stab out its eyes, then swiftly slit its throat.
In the blink of an eye, the wild boar, which had been lively just moments ago, lost its life.
Everyone stared in shock. Even with years of hunting experience, none of them had ever seen such clean and decisive moves.
This Young Master Nangong was simply too impressive!
After dealing with the boar, Nangong An wiped his dagger clean. Seeing everyone still frozen in place, he immediately urged them, “Alright, don’t stand there stunned. Hurry and carry the boar away, or we’ll attract other wild animals.”
Hearing this, everyone quickly took out the ropes they carried with them, tied up the boar, chopped down a small tree, and lifted the roughly two-hundred-pound wild boar as they hurried down the mountain.
“Mother, Mother, look! Father is carrying a wild boar!” several children shouted in unison, pointing at the people approaching.
Everyone was overjoyed. “That’s great! We’ll have meat tonight. It’s been so long since we last ate meat.”
One of the leading men said gratefully, “We really have Brother Nangong to thank. If it weren’t for him, we would probably all have been injured. Thankfully, Brother Nangong arrived in time and killed the crazed wild boar.”
All those grateful gazes immediately turned toward Nangong An, who was walking at the back.
Then they all spoke together, “Thank you, Brother Nangong.”
Nangong An accepted their thanks calmly.
After they carried the wild boar to the river, the women who stayed behind quickly brought over buckets of freshly boiled hot water.
Bucket after bucket of scalding water was poured over the boar, and then they began scraping off the hair.
Watching the stiff bristles standing upright one by one, Yang Yunxi couldn’t help wondering whether wild boar meat was really as gamey and tough as the rumors claimed.