The Country Maiden: Fields and Leisure
Chapter 230: Bird?

Chapter 230: Chapter 230: Bird?

He felt he had many questions to ask, but the moment he saw Wang Yongzhu, he couldn’t utter a single word.

He just silently bowed his head and skinned the wolf pelts.

Wang Yongzhu watched for a while and noticed that Song Chongjin’s skills were very proficient. Under his hands, the membranes on the pelts were removed in large swathes with a single cut.

Wang Yongping was not as adept, fumbling and stumbling, and Wang Yongzhu was worried that with one wrong move, he would tear the pelts.

Despite Wang Yongping’s lack of proficiency, he was patient. Although he was slow, he followed Song Chongjin’s lead without damaging any wolf pelts.

Wang Yongzhu was relieved and then smelled the scent of meat coming from the kitchen.

Unable to help herself, her stomach grumbled. Wang Yongzhu, not at all embarrassed, covered her mouth, "Well, you two keep on skinning; I’ll go check out the kitchen."

She hurried into the kitchen.

The kitchen was also boiling wolf meat over a large fire, where the big chunks of meat tumbled in the pot, the aroma filling the whole room.

When Wang Yongzhu entered, Old Granny Zhang busily said, "Are you hungry? I’ve made you some meat soup to go with some porridge to tide you over, we’re about to have dinner soon anyway."

As she spoke, she brought over a bowl of porridge and another that she called meat soup, with several pieces of meat in it.

Wang Yongzhu looked at it, and the meat didn’t resemble pork or mutton. Considering the dozen or so wolves outside, she understood, this was wolf meat.

She hesitated. Although she craved meat, she had never eaten wolf meat before.

In a dilemma, Old Granny Zhang leaned in, "Eat up! This wolf meat is a real delicacy! With your frail health, it’s perfect to nourish you!"

She sniffed at the bowl’s edge, and except for the meaty aroma, there was a hint of a wild gamey scent, but it was acceptable.

She closed her eyes, took a sip of the soup, and to her surprise, it was delicious. After chewing the meat a couple of times, she found the wolf meat to be very tasty—likely because wolves often run through the forests and eat wild game, making the flesh tougher and very chewy.

After devouring a few pieces of meat and drinking a bowl of soup, Wang Yongzhu felt warm all over and reinvigorated.

Looking back at the pot, she noticed that Lady Jiang had fished out the cooked wolf meat, leaving it aside to cool.

"Mom, that wolf meat you guys—" Wang Yongzhu remembered the meat being pickled in the yard and glanced at the pot and the cooked meat cooling in the kitchen, swallowing her saliva in silence.

Old Granny Zhang, while turning the wolf meat, cheerfully replied, "With a daughter as capable as mine, who killed so many wolves, we couldn’t let this wolf meat go to waste! Last night, along with Laosan’s family and Jinhua, we even invited several relatives from the clan to help. We worked throughout the night to prepare this meat properly. We pickled the tendon meat from the legs and shared some with those who helped. These here are for thanking the guests later."

Seeing Wang Yongzhu still stunned, she hurriedly urged her to rest, "You don’t need to worry about these things. Go back to your room and rest! Yesterday, you were so tired you fainted, we can handle these little tasks! You just wait to have dinner tonight!"

Wang Yongzhu was pushed out, and right then, she saw Jinhua returning with an empty basin and brightening up at the sight of her, "Auntie, you’re awake!"

Wang Yongzhu casually asked, "Where did you go?"

"Grandma had me deliver some meat to the Clan Leader’s House. Auntie, you should have seen it—a while back, when our family had that incident, everyone would avoid us like the plague when they saw us, as if afraid we’d burden them! Yesterday, when they came over to help and saw those wolves, they were terrified! While helping us out, they started cozying up to Mom and us, inquiring with fake affection, hmph—today, when I delivered the meat, you should’ve seen how their faces lit up with smiles!" Jinhua, though young, had witnessed the ups and downs of human relationships. She remembered clearly the way the clan had previously steered clear of the Wang Family.

And the Wang Family Clan people, upon seeing that the Wang Family had killed more than a dozen wolves in one go, understood that such a big event had never occurred before in Qilidun.

Not to mention anything else, just those more than ten wolf skins were worth quite a bit of money. The Wang Family actually still had such fortune. After losing all their land, with the old sick and the sick ailing, it seemed the family business that was on the verge of collapse actually had a chance to turn around.

Everyone’s enthusiasm flared up once again.

Jinhua felt indignant inside about the clan people being so opportunistic, but Wang Yongzhu didn’t mind it at all.

As the saying goes, "In poverty, no one inquires, but with wealth, distant mountains bring forth distant relatives." Aren’t most people in the world like this?

So, with just a smile, she patted Jinhua on the shoulder and asked her about the events of the previous night.

Old Granny Zhang had only made some vague comments earlier, and she didn’t have the opportunity to ask in detail.

Thinking back to the previous night, Jinhua couldn’t help but sweat.

Wang Yongzhu had said she was going uphill and would be back soon after a casual stroll, but when she hadn’t returned by noon, Old Granny Zhang, who had come back without seeing Wang Yongzhu and knew she had gone to the mountain, scolded every single family member without sparing any.

By the afternoon, when Wang Yongzhu still hadn’t returned, Old Granny Zhang couldn’t sit still any longer. She didn’t go out to solicit business but just waited at the doorway.

As the sun was about to set and still no one appeared, she went straight to urge Wang Yongping, Jindou, and Jinhoo to go up the mountain to fetch her.

Wang Yongping and the others dared not slack off, worried in their hearts; they hurriedly ran up the mountain.

They happened to encounter a bloodied Song Chongjin, and upon hearing that Wang Yongzhu was still on the mountain, and after being told about their encounter with a wolf pack, they were nearly scared out of their wits.

At that moment, they wished they could grow a few extra legs as they gasped for breath without pausing, urging Song Chongjin to lead the way ahead.

Seeing Wang Yongzhu unconscious beside a pile of wolf carcasses nearly scared everyone out of their skins.

Fortunately, Wang Yongzhu was unharmed, which gave them a sigh of relief, and they prepared to descend the mountain.

But there was still a pile of wolves, and there was no other way, so they made a makeshift stretcher. They put both the wolves and Wang Yongzhu on it, and taking turns dragging and pulling with all their might, they finally managed to bring both the people and the wolves home in the middle of the night.

As soon as they arrived at the Wang Family’s home, they were almost spent, collapsing on the ground, unable to muster any strength whatsoever.

When Old Granny Zhang saw her daughter and the wolf corpses lying together, covered in blood, her legs went weak, and with a loud cry, she threw herself over. Thankfully, Wang Yongping said Wang Yongzhu was all right, merely exhausted and asleep. She also checked her daughter’s breath, and feeling it warm, she sat down heavily on the ground.

After regaining her composure, she and Lady Jiang lifted her daughter back into the room, washed her, and changed her clothes.

Only then did they remember the people outside. Upon seeing Song Chongjin’s condition, Old Granny Zhang’s heart skipped a beat. After asking, she found out that her own fierce daughter had seen the Song Family boy being attacked by the wolf pack and had risked herself to save him.

At that moment, Old Granny Zhang was in agony. She wished she could shake her daughter awake and ask her if she still had feelings for that Song Family boy!

Now she had come to terms with it; her daughter could earn money, had slimmed down, and looked better. With such looks, if she was to marry into the family, marrying someone too lowly would not only displease her daughter, but she would not be happy either!

Why should she subject her own daughter to such a compromise!