"That's right. Back when I said I wanted to make money to get a wife, this kid looked at me with disdain."

"I think you're just jealous. If my future wife were half as good as Gu Zhiqing, no, a third as good, I would treat her like Aheng. In the end, this kid is just lucky."

The group was far away, so their conversation didn't reach Gu An'an and her husband's ears. At that moment, the two were discussing another topic.

"Aheng, do you think eating these two chickens will affect your intelligence?"

Xiao Yuheng paused for a second before bursting out laughing. "Don't worry, I've eaten plenty of these silly chickens since I was a kid, and I haven't had any adverse reactions yet."

Gu An'an casually remarked, "How do you know there won't be any adverse reactions? Maybe you were smarter before you took it?"

Xiao Yuheng: ......That's a really hard question to answer.

Gu An'an was just joking; this was just part of the young couple's playful banter.

The mountain-chasing team continued their journey and caught a few more small animals following the footprints.

"I'm really lucky today. I came here half a month ago and didn't find anything."

"That's true. You don't even know who's here this time. My sister-in-law is always unlucky."

"That's true. I always felt that Gu Zhiqing could succeed at anything. My dad said that capable people are like that."

Faced with their boasting, Gu An'an didn't mince words and say she couldn't do it. If she could, she could; if she couldn't, she couldn't. She let her actions speak for themselves. Being too modest would only make people think she was hypocritical.

They gathered white lingzhi mushrooms, holly, and caught wild animals. After several hours in the mountains, their baskets were almost full.

On their way back to the city, they took a different route, and when they were almost at the foot of the mountain, they found that the footprints ahead of them were messy.

"No, something seems wrong."

Upon seeing the messy footprints in front of them, the group of people stopped their playful and joking expressions.

"An'an, wait here for a moment, I'll go take a look ahead."

Gu An'an actually wanted to say that she was fine and could go with them, but she knew that Xiao Yuheng would not agree. Rather than wasting time on this kind of talk, she would rather listen and wait and see. In any case, she would not run away alone first.

"Okay, be careful."

Two people were left behind to "protect" Gu An'an, while the others followed Xiao Yuheng forward to check the situation. After a while, they quietly retreated.

“We need to hurry back and tell everyone that the wild boars have gone mad and are running around looking for food. Judging from the looks of it, they’ll be in the village in less than half an hour.”

In fact, it is common for animals to enter the village in winter. When the snow is thick, it is difficult for animals to find food, and small animals are likely to wander into the village by mistake.

Every time they enter the village, especially when ferocious animals like wild boars and wolves enter the houses, the village suffers some losses. If it's just property damage, that's fine, but if people are injured, that's what no one wants to see.

Seeing Xiao Yuheng's expression, Gu An'an knew that the number of wild boars coming down from the mountain this time must be quite large. "How many?"

"Nearly twenty."

Xiao Yuheng carefully escorted Gu An'an down the mountain. If there were only a few, they could handle the situation, but there were more than twenty, mostly wild boars. It would be too risky for them to rush in directly. Each of them was a pillar of their family, and they couldn't afford any mistakes.

Gu An'an recalled that there seemed to be a similar scene in the original novel. At that time, everyone was immersed in the joy of the New Year and never expected that more than twenty wild boars would rush down the mountain without any preparation. The wild boars ran rampant in the village, damaging a lot of things and killing three people and injuring more than a dozen.

The original novel only briefly mentions the tragic scene in the village, focusing instead on how Xie Yuan immediately took Qin Xue to the cellar to hide after hearing about the wild boar attack, and how the two grew closer in that enclosed space.

It could be said that the deaths and injuries in the village were nothing compared to the male and female protagonists; in fact, such events were merely a catalyst for their relationship.

Xie Yuan has already been driven away by Gu An'an, but the wild boar still arrives as promised.

"Uncle, there are wild boars at the foot of the mountain to the south. They look like they're about to come down the mountain."

South? That's where the educated youth compound and cowshed are located. If a wild boar runs at full speed, it will only take a few minutes to reach the center of the village.

How many?

“We’ve seen about twenty, but there may be others we haven’t seen yet. We’ve already sent Brother Dashan and Brother Dahai to notify the educated youth compound and the cowshed to move them to the village committee as soon as possible.”

"Okay, I'll broadcast this to the others right away."

With more than twenty wild boars, no one would take it lightly; starving wild boars don't reason with people.

The village chief immediately turned on the village loudspeaker.

"Attention everyone, there are twenty wild boars heading towards the village from the foot of the mountain to the south. All able-bodied men in the village, please grab your weapons and prepare to fight them. Elderly people, children, and women are not allowed to go out unnecessarily. Please find a suitable place to hide to avoid any accidents."

The loudspeaker blared several times throughout the village, and everyone, no matter what they were doing, heard it.

"Old man, what did they say on the loudspeaker just now? Twenty wild boars are entering the village?"

"Mom, there are wild boars! Grandpa Village Chief said a lot of wild boars are coming, I'm so scared!"

"Dad, wait for me, I'll go with you."

The tiny figure, less than a meter tall, took a wooden stick from the kitchen and tried to follow the man outside, but was stopped.

"Mom, why are you stopping me? I want to go hunting wild boar with Dad."

"Why hunt wild boars? The village chief said that the elderly, children, and women are not allowed to join in the fun. The men are to focus on dealing with the wild boars and are not allowed to be naughty."

The boy, who was being held, was harder to hold down than a pig. Even in his mother's arms, he still struggled to move his body, saying, "I am a man. My father says I am a little man. Why can't I go?"

Everyone reacted differently to the wild boar, but the changes in the village over the past year have been evident to all. The village officials' prestige has also grown. In less than three minutes, men holding all sorts of "weapons" were already standing at the entrance of the village committee.

"Alright, let's go to the foot of the mountain to the south first. If they don't come down the mountain, that's fine. But if they dare to come down the mountain, we'll have an extra meal for the New Year."

"good!"

If they hadn't prepared for a wild boar attack, it would have been a tragic situation. But now that they have "weapons" and are united, who will be crying is anyone's guess.

Although conditions are better than before and people can fill their stomachs, who would complain about having too much meat? Upon hearing about the extra meal, everyone perked up and set off towards their destination with high spirits.

Although there were about twenty wild boars, there were two or three hundred men who stepped forward. By the time they reached the foot of the southern mountain, the twenty-odd wild boars had already come down the mountain and were using their snouts to search for food in the area.

"Be gentle, don't scare them away."