Lin Xiyue covered Lu Yanqiu’s mouth with her hand to stop him from shouting.
Lu Yanqiu didn’t expect her to suddenly get so close and froze on the spot. When he came back to his senses, the pain in his foot seemed to have disappeared.
He tried moving it a little—sure enough, it was better.
“You even know how to set bones?” This girl really knew a lot of things.
“It’s nothing. Let’s go—we need to leave this place first. If another wild boar shows up, we’ll lose our lives.”
Lin Xiyue’s thin, sallow face was smeared with quite a bit of blood, and she still had cloth strips wrapped around her head, making her look rather miserable. Only her bright, lively eyes were still blinking energetically.
“What about the wild boar then? It must weigh at least two or three hundred jin. The two of us can’t possibly carry it.”
If only his older brother were here. He could carry the boar down the mountain by himself. Another day of hoping his big brother would recover soon.
Lin Xiyue glanced at the boar. She could actually bring it down the mountain using her spatial storage, but with Lu Yanqiu here she couldn’t use it.
With their small builds, carrying the boar down the mountain was impossible, so the only option was for Lu Yanqiu to go down and call for help while she stayed to watch it.
“I’ll stay here and keep an eye on it. Go down the mountain and get some people to help.”
Lu Yanqiu looked around at the surroundings. He felt it might be dangerous to leave Lin Xiyue alone here. But remembering the fierce way she had killed the boar earlier, he figured her chances of survival were probably higher than his if something happened.
“Alright then. I’ll go as fast as I can and come back quickly. Be careful while you’re here. If any large animals come again, just run. This boar isn’t worth more than your life.”
Though Lu Yanqiu kept chattering, it was obvious he was worried about Lin Xiyue.
Lin Xiyue waved her hand. “Got it. Hurry up and go, or it’ll be dark soon.”
After sending Lu Yanqiu away, Lin Xiyue drank several large gulps of the spiritual spring water again.
She had to admit—it was truly miraculous. Not only had her strength recovered, she also felt full of energy again.
Unfortunately, there were no more wild boars around for her to practice on.
As for the little piglets that had escaped, she naturally wouldn’t chase them. After all, when hunting, it’s taboo to wipe out everything.
Lin Xiyue wandered around the nearby water source again, but this time she didn’t encounter any small animals. Perhaps it was still daytime and they didn’t dare come out yet.
Fortunately, because there was a water source nearby and the humidity was high, there were quite a lot of mushrooms growing here.
They would taste great stewed with wild chicken.
Lin Xiyue couldn’t cook, but she loved eating good food. As the descendant of a traditional Chinese medicine family, she could easily distinguish which mushrooms were poisonous and which were not, so picking them posed no difficulty at all.
Hazel mushrooms, coral mushrooms, gray mushrooms, lion’s mane mushrooms—before long, Lin Xiyue had already picked half a basket.
She even discovered a large patch of chanterelle mushrooms on a slope.
And they were huge—about the size of a fist!
It was the first time Lin Xiyue had ever seen chanterelles this big. Their bright orange-yellow color looked especially vibrant and pleasing.
These mushrooms were delicious whether stir-fried or stewed.
Lin Xiyue transformed into a cheerful little mushroom picker, harvesting them with great excitement.
By the time Lu Yanqiu returned with people, Lin Xiyue had already filled her entire basket, and there was still a pile of chanterelles she couldn’t fit inside.
She secretly stored some in her spatial space, planning to take them out once she got home.
“Xiaoyue! I brought people back!”
From far away, Lu Yanqiu shouted toward her.
Seeing that he had returned, Lin Xiyue quickly walked over.
“These are Uncle Genwang, Uncle Youtian, Brother Tiezhu, and Daniu from our village.”
Lu Yanqiu first introduced everyone to Lin Xiyue.
Lin Xiyue greeted them politely, but the villagers seemed a bit awkward. Everyone in the village already knew that the three sons of the Lu family had taken a shared wife, so no one was quite sure how to address her.
Calling her Jinghuai’s wife didn’t seem right, but calling her Wenyuan’s wife didn’t seem right either.
Fortunately, Lin Xiyue reacted quickly and simply told them to call her Xiaoyue.
After all, that was what Mother Lu called her too.
Seeing how approachable she was, everyone became much more friendly.
Four or five grown men quickly tied up the wild boar with great efficiency. They threaded a carrying pole through it, two men on each side, and easily lifted the boar.
Lu Yanqiu didn’t even get a chance to help.
But he was observant—seeing that Lin Xiyue was still carrying a basket, he quickly took it from her.
“Xiaoyue, why did you pick so many mushrooms? Many mushrooms in the mountains are poisonous. You can’t just eat them casually.”
Lu Yanqiu himself only recognized two or three edible types, so seeing Lin Xiyue’s basket full of colorful mushrooms made him instinctively think some of them might be poisonous.
“Yanqiu’s right,” Lu Tiezhu added. “You can’t eat mountain mushrooms randomly. Last month my kid picked a red mushroom somewhere and took just one bite—he almost died from the poison. Luckily we found out in time and Uncle Liu made him drink some manure water to make him vomit everything up. You really can’t eat these things carelessly.”
Even now, Lu Tiezhu still felt frightened when he thought about it.
“Don’t worry, Brother Tiezhu. The ones I picked aren’t poisonous.”
When Lin Xiyue called him Brother Tiezhu, he was momentarily stunned and quickly laughed awkwardly.
“You shouldn’t call me ‘brother.’ You’re Jinghuai’s wife. Brother Huai is half a year older than me—technically I should call you sister-in-law. Just call me Tiezhu.”
As soon as he said that, the atmosphere became even more awkward.
Lin Xiyue forced a dry laugh, suddenly unsure how to respond.
“Sister-in-law Xiaoyue, did you really kill this wild boar?” Daniu asked excitedly. “You’re amazing! Such a big boar—several grown men might not even be able to catch it. The last time I saw one this big was when Brother Huai went hunting in the mountains.”
Daniu was tall, dark, and sturdy, about eighteen or nineteen years old. He spoke in a simple, honest manner.
“Well, it’s thanks to Yanqiu helping, and also to the traps Lu Jinghuai set up earlier—they helped too. Otherwise how could I have killed such a big boar by myself?”
Lin Xiyue was willing to show some of her abilities, but she didn’t want to stand out too much. So she shifted some of the credit to Lu Yanqiu and Lu Jinghuai.
Lu Yanqiu was about to say he hadn’t helped at all when he met Lin Xiyue’s meaningful gaze.
He immediately seemed to understand her intention and didn’t say anything more.
Along the way back, everyone praised Lin Xiyue endlessly. Some even joked that Lu Yanqiu had married a great wife, making him so embarrassed he didn’t know where to look.
The news that the Lu family had hunted a wild boar quickly spread throughout the village.
Many villagers came out to watch the excitement.
In the past, whenever Lu Jinghuai caught large prey, he would first distribute it among the villagers before taking the rest to sell in town.
Lujiagou Village was quite poor, and very few families could afford to buy meat.
So before, Lu Jinghuai would let villagers exchange things instead.
Cloth, grain, tables and chairs, bamboo baskets, backpacks—anything his family needed, he would accept in trade instead of money.