After finishing her nephew's wedding banquet, Zhou Jiao didn't pay much attention to Zhang Meili's family. But looking at Zhang Meili's expression, she must have listened to her brother's advice.

At this moment, Zhou Jiao was in no mood to care about other people's trivial matters. Looking at the empty room, without her husband and son by her side, it was so lonely!

Zhou Jiao couldn't help laughing when she remembered her son's warning not to sneak out alone. Her son really understood his mother!

While Zhang Guoqing and his son were walking behind Mr. Wang and his two grandchildren, Zhou Jiao also disguised herself and drove a car to embark on her journey.

It's impossible to say Zhou Jiao wasn't worried about the father and son entering the mountain. It was precisely this worry that made her want to leave and relax. She drove along the main road, avoiding the military area, with no destination in mind, as if that would let her worries drift away.

They stopped and started along the way, and just before dark, they entered a large city and found a guesthouse. She had lost interest in the black market, and the items in the mall didn't interest her either. Furthermore, she seemed to be out of the province and had no receipts. Even if she took out a sack of cash and slapped it on the counter, no one would pay attention.

No! I'm very likely to end up in the police station.

In the dark night, Zhou Jiao closed her eyes and tried to fall asleep, but the smiling faces of her husband and son kept flashing in her mind.

She stayed up till dawn before she fell asleep. When she woke up again, Zhou Jiao could no longer suppress her eagerness to return home, so she checked out of the hotel and immediately set off for the village.

Even if they had come here without a purpose, then Zhou Jiao, looking ahead with her hands on the steering wheel, could be said to be eager to go home. Damn it, going out for a walk would relax me!

Countless hypothetical scenarios popped up in my mind throughout the night. It's so scary to scare others, especially when you scare yourself. It would be better to stay closer to the father and son and feel at ease.

It was already evening when they got home. As agreed, Zhang Guoqing would return with his son before dark, but Zhou Jiao knew better than anyone that with the amount of rations, weapons, and powder Zhang Guoqing had brought, they wouldn't be back that quickly. If they could get back tomorrow afternoon, that would be a blessing.

Zhou Jiao closed the gate when she came back.

Zhang's father and mother stayed in the county town after the banquet the night before. Later, Zhang Guoqing said that he might go out for a while, and he definitely didn't return to the village yet. So he should still be in the courtyard in the county town.

Standing alone in the yard, gazing at the distant Daqing Mountain, she shook her head fiercely. As the saying goes, "If jade is not polished, it will become a useful object." Her son could only be better than others if he could protect himself in the event of an accident.

In order to calm herself, Zhou Jiao started to take out the embroidery thread and split it. When she woke up at night, she found that the father and son had not returned today.

To stop herself from thinking too much, she rubbed her eyes, lit the kerosene lamp, took it to the kitchen, and tried to keep herself busy. When a person is busy and tired, he has no time to think about random things.

Worried about the aroma of the stew spilling out, she put on gloves and began to work on the pheasants and rabbits in the space. She plucked the hair, skinned them, chopped them into small pieces, and cleaned them. As she became more adept at it, her speed gradually increased.

It wasn't until the kerosene lamp finally died that Zhou Jiao suddenly came to her senses. Her heart calmed down—this was a great idea! She pulled out her flashlight, refilled it with kerosene, and lit the wick.

Seeing that it was getting late, she didn't care about her physical fatigue. While the pots and stoves were hot, she started stewing meat and vegetables in two large pots. Her hands unconsciously adjusted everything according to her son's taste preferences.

Soon, steam rose, emitting a fragrant aroma. Zhou Jiao left the kitchen and stood in the yard, sniffing the air. She looked at Zhang Laoer's yard next door, then at the darkened yards in the distance...

No one should be able to smell the fragrance at such a distance. After relaxing, Zhou Jiao looked at the Daqing Mountain in the distance again. She wondered if the child was asleep now?

Zhou Jiao worked until almost dawn, yawning as she cleaned the bloodstains from the floor. The cool water washed away some of her sleepiness, and she placed the last pot of shrimp cakes into a bamboo basket and stored it in her living room.

She also fried a bowl of red chili oil with chopped red chili peppers. The spicy and pungent smell covered the aroma of food in the kitchen. Zhou Jiao opened the kitchen door, quickly washed up, and fell asleep on the kang.

Zhou Jiao didn't sleep well. She was woken by the sound of a horn and the sound of a pig being slaughtered. Who would slaughter a pig before Chinese New Year? The most important thing was that the pig's howling seemed too miserable, and what was the curse coming from the horn?

Zhou Jiao jumped up from the kang with a start. Could it be that the wild boars had come down the mountain because of the fragrance she had smelled last night? She quickly wiped her face with a wet towel from the space and ran out immediately.

Qingshan's wife was standing at the door when she saw Zhou Jiao approaching from a distance. She was surprised and went to meet her. "You stayed in the village last night? Why didn't you make any noise? I thought you all went to the county town."

Zhou Jiao looked at the crowd in the distance and ignored the question, "What's going on?"

Qingshan's wife was overjoyed to hear this and whispered, "Uncle Tiezhu's eldest son is getting married tomorrow, and you know his aunt's personality. She's just stingy and doesn't want to give the butcher money, so she told Uncle Tiezhu and his sons to do the butchering themselves. I don't know how the pig escaped and ran straight from the village to our side. Aunt Tiezhu is probably crying and wailing because she feels sorry for the blood all over the ground."

Zhou Jiao tried hard to suppress her smile, and the two of them smiled at each other knowingly.

A few days ago, there were gossips in the village about stingy Aunt Tiezhu's scheming. Who doesn't marry a daughter-in-law during the end of the year when they have some free time to stay at home?

He was in such a hurry to get married, probably because he wanted his new daughter-in-law to earn work points during the busy farming season. Besides, compared to the freezing cold of winter, the garden was full of vegetables. Now that the pig's blood, which could be used as a meat dish, was gone, he must be heartbroken.

The old captain held up the loudspeaker and said, "Alright, hurry up and disperse. Eat lunch early, there's still a lot of work to do this afternoon, so don't mess around here. Tiezhu's family, go back and boil some water."

Following the old captain's words, everyone dispersed, and Zhang Tiezhu and his three sons tied up the dying pig and carried it back.

A nearby villager joked, "Do you need help? If you run away now, you might not even get any meat."

Someone beside him patted him on the shoulder and said, "Stop talking."

Indeed! Didn't you see the sullen faces of Tiezhu's wives? How could everyone not see their expressions?

Qingshan's wife patted her legs and hurried home. Just as she raised her foot, she suddenly remembered Zhou Jiao was beside her. She quickly whispered, "Go get the money."

Zhou Jiao watched her run off after she finished speaking, then looked at the nearby women happily running home, and smiled helplessly. Given Aunt Tiezhu's temper, she wondered if the remaining meat from this pig would even be enough to make a few tables of meat dishes.

In the past, when a family in the village had a wedding, they would apply to the production team and keep at least half a pig. This was not only for the banquet, but also for the New Year. Some families, because they needed meat coupons to buy meat, were unwilling to sell it and would instead preserve the entire pig as bacon, which could be eaten all year long.

Qingshan's wife ran out in the blink of an eye, pulling Zhou Jiao out with her. "It's going to be busy farming season soon, so let's buy more now. Let's go faster, or we won't be able to buy it if we're late."

Zhou Jiao just saw that the pig weighed no more than 100 pounds. Not to mention how many people there were in the village, it would not be enough for Zhang Guoqing and his cousins ​​to each buy one. How could she possibly buy more?