An Moxue drove Aunt Meihua home, gave her some frogs, and saw her off in a cheerful manner. She then took out some more frogs, packed them into two portions, and rode her bicycle to deliver one portion to Old Ma's house and the other to the village chief's house.
At the village chief's house, Aunt Guo was busy making cotton shoes when An Moxue called out from outside the door, "Aunt Guo, are you home?"
"Yes, come in!" Aunt Guo replied.
An Moxue pushed open the door and went inside. Aunt Guo looked up at the doorway and asked, "Moxue, when did you get back?"
"I caught some frogs yesterday and this morning, and I brought some for you." She said, putting the bag on the ground.
"Catch it and keep it for yourself; it's very nutritious."
"Don't worry, Auntie! I caught a lot. I didn't see you outside Li Laitou's house just now. Didn't you go to watch the commotion?"
"What's wrong? I don't know!"
“Wang Zhaodi stole all the money and grain from Li Laitou’s house and mailed it back to her parents’ home. Laitou’s mother found out and they argued. Later, Wang Zhaodi fainted and bled a lot. We don’t know how the child is. The village doctor said he couldn’t treat her and told us to go to the town hospital.”
"Then this child is unlikely to survive. You might not know this Wang Zhaodi because you came late, but she's always eyeing anything good that someone has, and she always tries to take it. The strange thing is that she saves everything she can and sends it home, leaving nothing for herself. You can tell from her name that her family is extremely patriarchal, and her previous children were all girls. Tsk tsk, her parents really know how to raise a child. Look at her, they've raised a girl who's so devoted to her family."
"Auntie, what are people thinking? It's fine if you're a good person, but the problem is you're not really that great either."
"It's the way your parents raised you. People like that will never be good. They'll be exposed and they'll think it's their duty."
“That’s right. Auntie, you didn’t see it, Li Laitou’s mother is so funny. She was slapping her leg and crying at the same time, and it even rhymed really well.”
"That's how her mother is, she's been like that since she was little."
"Then their neighbors must be so lively! Their days must be so interesting!"
"Why don't you say it's annoying? It gets so hard to get any peace and quiet after a while. How have you been these past few days? Are you tired? Have you encountered any danger?"
"Don't worry, Auntie! I'm having a nice chat with you. It's great, I've learned a lot."
"As long as there's no danger, it's fine. Once you've learned a skill, it's yours to keep. You can never forget it, because you never know when you might need it. You're young now, so it's always good to learn more. Once we have the ability, we won't be intimidated, and we can always stand tall. When something happens, we won't panic, and we'll be much more relaxed."
"Yes, Auntie, you're absolutely right. A comfortable state of mind makes people feel decadent. Right now, I feel like I don't have enough time. I wish someone could share some with me if they have too much time."
"Don't put yourself under too much pressure, it will be tiring."
"I understand, Auntie. I'll head back now. I'll talk to you again when I have time."
"If you need anything, just come to your uncle. Don't be afraid of the trouble."
"Okay, Auntie."
An Moxue got up and left the village chief's house. When she rode her bicycle to the sales point, she was stopped by Aunt Pang. "Moxue, what have you been busy with these past few days? I haven't seen you. What are you doing riding your bicycle?" Before An Moxue could respond, Aunt Pang grabbed one of An Moxue's hands and carefully touched it. An Moxue couldn't pull her hand away.
"Auntie Pang, I'm not busy with anything, just preparing for winter. I have other things to do, so I won't talk to you anymore. We can chat again when you have time." An Moxue quickly withdrew her hand when she wasn't paying attention and sped away on her bicycle.
Aunt Pang was still gazing longingly at An Moxue's retreating figure, rubbing her hands together and muttering to herself, "Why is she always so busy? Every time we meet, it's always such a rush."
An Moxue was afraid of this fat auntie. She only had eyes for hands. An Moxue was also a germaphobe. Although the fat auntie was reasonably sensible, An Moxue neither disliked nor liked her. She had no sense of boundaries. At first, she didn't know this, but later she would avoid her whenever possible and leave as quickly as possible.
Just imagining someone holding your hand and stroking it incessantly, not like looking at your hand, but more like looking at a favorite object, sent shivers down An Moxue's spine. The thought alone made her scalp tingle and made her feel uneasy.
"I can't think about it, I can't think about it," An Moxue quickened her pace and hurried home.
When I got home, the two little ones weren't there, and it felt like something was missing. There was nothing I could do; the situation was urgent, and I couldn't take them down the mountain, so I had to leave them behind.
An Moxue was unaware that the two little ones were having a blast on the mountain. Wu Sicheng, loving An Moxue so much, was taking extra care of them, training them wholeheartedly, hoping they would earn him points with An Moxue.
Moreover, they are not entirely useless; they can also search and warn of danger. Wu Sicheng is currently using them as hunting dogs.
Although the two wolves didn't like the other team members, they just ignored them and never attacked them, so the team members could accept it. To be honest, it was the first time they had encountered someone who kept wolves, and a woman at that, so they were more shocked and surprised.
An Moxue rarely had a moment of free time, so she went into her space, put on an apron, and made all the frogs into a spicy flavor. She also made a big pot of braised meat with roe deer, beef, and pork. This took a long time, as it would simmer for several hours after the heat was turned off before it would taste good. She also took out some fish and made braised carp, boiled fish fillets with grass carp, steamed freshwater fish, braised silver carp, and crispy shrimp. She made a big pot of each of these. It took several hours to finish making everything. She packed everything into sealed boxes, labeled them, and stored them in the storage room.
Today I was unusually in the mood to cook, so I made pan-fried clams and a fruit platter for dinner. I paired it with a glass of pure red wine, eating the fish with a fork in one hand and drinking the wine from a wine glass in the other, thinking how wonderful it would be if life could always be like this.
But she was never given that chance from the moment she was born; she had to strive to live.
Unfortunately, life isn't a fairy tale. How can you expect to have both passion and comfort? That's just how she comforted herself.
Thinking about Qu Bing and Fan Zijian, whom she had met during the day, as well as the film projectionist, and then recalling the unresolved assassination case, An Moxue felt resentful, always feeling that these people were not so simple.
No, I have to pack up and go to the mountains tomorrow. I can't slack off. We don't have any horses yet. I need to lasso them. I won't come down the mountain until I've lassoed one.
Faced with difficulties and obstacles, one can either give up or strive to meet them head-on. However, the enemy does not give her the right to choose. She can only face them head-on, either being captured, tortured, and tortured to death, or becoming stronger and fighting back to destroy them.
An Moxue didn't want to die. She wanted to live a good life, better than many others, and make those rats in the gutter suffer a terrible death.
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