Zhao Xiaomei was startled. “I—I don’t know where they are!”
“How could you not know? They were with you last!” Jiang Yan was growing increasingly impatient. She reached out and grabbed Zhao Xiaomei by the neck. “Tell me. Where are they?”
Jiang Yan didn’t use much force, but her hand clamped around Zhao Xiaomei’s neck like a pair of iron pincers.
Zhao Xiaomei struggled to breathe. The fear of death terrified her, and she managed to choke out, “They went into the mountains to look for you!”
What?
Jiang Yan’s expression changed drastically. Forgetting all about punishing Zhao Xiaomei, she ran into the mountains like a madwoman.
On the way, she ran into a soldier. Jiang Yan didn’t know who he was, but she grabbed him and hurriedly explained, “Huo Zhanting’s two sons ran into the mountains. Please find some people to help search for them!”
Without waiting to see whether he agreed, she hurried into the mountains.
“The mountains are dangerous. You shouldn’t—”
Go alone!
Before Zhou Yunjing could finish speaking, she had already disappeared.
Zhou Yunjing hurriedly went to find people to enter the mountains and rescue them.
The mountains were dangerous. Whenever they went hunting, they normally needed more than a dozen people together, and even then, they didn’t dare venture too deep.
How could that girl be so reckless…
Forget it. She was probably just desperate to save someone!
Deep in the mountains.
Huo Wenjin had charged into the mountains on nothing but a burst of impulsiveness.
Once he had calmed down, he regretted it.
He shouldn’t have recklessly brought his little brother into the mountains to look for Stepmother. He should have gone to the military compound and found some adults to help search for her!
But it was too late for regrets now.
The two brothers had wandered around blindly and had completely lost the path back down the mountain.
“Where’s Stepmother? What if the wolves already ate her?” Xiaoxi asked fearfully.
“They didn’t. We haven’t encountered any wolves, so Stepmother definitely hasn’t either. And even if she did run into wolves, the wolves would be the unlucky ones!”
Huo Wenjin’s little brain was working at full speed now, and he regretted bringing his brother into the mountains even more.
He just hoped they could find Stepmother quickly.
Otherwise, the ones in danger would be him and his little brother!
Hmm?
What was that sound?
Huo Wenjin suddenly stopped.
Following the direction of the noise, he looked over and saw an enormous, ferocious wild boar charging straight toward them.
The wild boar was huge, with sharp tusks, and every now and then it let out a deep, menacing grunt.
Huo Wenjin’s face went deathly pale.
Xiaoxi’s eyes widened in terror. He had absolutely no idea what to do.
They even forgot to run.
They simply stood there stupidly as the wild boar came closer…
And closer…
Jiang Yan arrived just in time to see this scene, and her heart nearly stopped.
Without the slightest hesitation, she sprinted toward the wild boar.
She drew back her fist, gathered all her strength, and slammed it into the wild boar.
The five- to six-hundred-jin wild boar was actually knocked to the ground by the force of her punch.
**Bang!**
It crashed heavily onto the ground.
The wild boar let out a miserable squeal.
The people Zhou Yunjing had brought arrived one step later than Jiang Yan.
When they saw Jiang Yan charging toward the wild boar, they all assumed she was going to use her own body to shield the children.
They ran toward her at full speed, desperately trying to stop the wild boar.
But then they saw Jiang Yan knock the wild boar down with a single punch.
She had actually punched a wild boar to the ground!
One by one, they stopped in shock.
The fear on Xiao Jin and Xiaoxi’s faces turned into sheer astonishment. Their little eyes went wide as they stared at Jiang Yan in disbelief.
Meanwhile, Jiang Yan’s breathing remained steady and her expression calm.
She walked over and delivered another punch straight to the wild boar’s head.
“Grrrgh!”
The wild boar let out one final, shrill cry. It struggled weakly a couple of times before going still.
Jiang Yan walked over and checked the two little boys.
“Are you hurt?”
Xiao Jin and Xiaoxi still hadn’t recovered from the shock. They simply let Jiang Yan feel them over from head to toe.
Once she confirmed that neither child was hurt, Jiang Yan asked, “Why did you come all the way into the mountains? Don’t you know how dangerous it is here?”
If she hadn’t arrived in time just now, these two children would have ended up in the wild boar’s mouth.
Xiaoxi finally came to his senses.
“Waaaah!”
He burst into tears.
“Stepmother! It’s so good that you weren’t eaten by wolves! Waaaah…”
Xiaoxi wrapped both arms around Jiang Yan’s leg and cried his heart out.
Xiao Jin was the older brother. Although he was relieved to have survived the ordeal and was still frightened, he managed to remain relatively calm.
He answered obediently, “Auntie Xiaomei said you went into the mountains and were eaten by wolves, so we were worried about you and came to find you!”
“I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have believed Auntie Xiaomei and recklessly come into the mountains. We made you worry!”
One child cried like a little snot-nosed mess, while the other was so sensible and cautious that it made Jiang Yan’s heart ache.
She simply couldn’t bring herself to scold them.
She raised a hand and ruffled Huo Wenjin’s little head.
“I’ll let it go this time. But don’t be so reckless again!”
“I understand!”
Huo Wenjin obediently nodded.
“Come on. Let’s go back down the mountain!”
With that, Jiang Yan scooped up the little crybaby and walked toward Zhou Yunjing and the others.
“Could I trouble you guys to help carry the wild boar down the mountain?”
“Sure, sure.”
Zhou Yunjing answered mechanically. He still hadn’t recovered from the shock of watching Jiang Yan knock down a wild boar with one punch.
The main problem was that he simply couldn’t believe a young woman could casually knock down a wild boar with one punch.
It was far beyond anything they could comprehend.
“Old Zhong, can you knock down a wild boar with one punch?”
Zhou Yunjing looked at the wild boar with its shattered skull and asked his comrade beside him.
Old Zhong was a burly man over six feet tall and weighing more than two hundred pounds. He was incredibly strong.
But at this moment, he felt thoroughly humiliated.
He didn’t dare pretend otherwise and answered honestly.
“I can’t!”
Zhou Yunjing couldn’t hide his disdain.
“You’re seriously useless!”
“If you can do it, then go ahead!”
Old Zhong certainly didn’t think he was useless. Jiang Yan was simply too strong.
Zhou Yunjing awkwardly changed the subject.
“Xiaoxi called her ‘Stepmother’ just now, right? So that young woman is Regiment Commander Huo’s new wife?”
Everyone suddenly understood.
“No wonder he’s called the Grim Reaper Huo. Even the wife he married is this incredible!”
Since Jiang Yan had killed the wild boar, the men carried it to Jiang Yan’s house.
A wild boar this enormous being carried into the family compound naturally attracted the attention of countless people.
“My goodness! How is she so capable? She actually hunted such a huge wild boar!”
“Hey, isn’t that Zhao’s boy carrying the wild boar by the hind legs? I’d better hurry and tell Old Madam Zhao that her son hunted a wild boar!”
An old woman in the crowd happily ran off.
She hadn’t noticed at all that the wild boar was being carried to Huo Zhanting’s house.
“Sister-in-law, where should we put the wild boar?”
Zhou Yunjing’s tone unconsciously carried a hint of respect.
Jiang Yan looked troubled.
“There’s no way I can handle such a huge pig by myself. Could you guys help me butcher it? I’ll give each of you ten jin of meat afterward!”
In those days, everyone was short on food and fat.
Ten jin of meat was an offer none of them could possibly refuse.
They readily agreed.
They carried the wild boar into the courtyard. Some went to heat water, some chopped firewood, and others went to borrow tools. Everyone was soon bustling around at full speed.
Neighbors from all around also came over to see what was going on.
Some people were jealous and couldn’t resist making snide remarks.
“Zhou boy, you’re certainly generous. Not only are you giving away such a huge wild boar for free, you’re even helping clean and butcher it!”
“Exactly. Even if you want to curry favor with Regiment Commander Huo, you don’t have to go this far, do you?”
“If you ask me, it’s the regiment commander’s wife who’s really impressive. She just got here and she’s already won over a whole bunch of young men. They’re giving her a wild boar and helping her with everything. They probably don’t even care this much about their own mothers!”
Once someone started, more and more people chimed in.
Zhou Yunjing couldn’t stand listening to it anymore. He walked over and explained, “What nonsense are you talking about? The sister-in-law hunted this wild boar herself.”
What?
What did he just say?
The neighbors stared blankly at Zhou Yunjing as though they had just heard the most unbelievable story in the world.