章 18: 017 Take a bite and end the traversal
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"Okay," Zhang Xiaoying agreed to the second daughter.
With eyes like those of a small deer looking at her, who could refuse?
Anyway, Zhang Xiaoying couldn't.
After preparing breakfast, the Lin family had also returned.
Seeing the thick and delicious porridge, they all couldn't help but swallow saliva.
"Big brother, you and your wife take the remaining pork to town and sell it today. As for the price, you decide, but remember one thing, if I discover you've pocketed any silver coins, don't blame me for being impolite," Zhang Xiaoying said after eating her fill, starting to arrange the tasks for the day.
"Also, check if the fourth is in town, and if you see him, tell him that if he doesn't come home today, the Xu Family will no longer acknowledge him as a son, and he need never come back. Big sister, you stay home and look after your mother and the second daughter."
"Okay," Xu Qinglin nodded in agreement.
Xu Changsheng and the Lin family had no objections either.
"In a while, the second brother's family should tidy up the bowls and chopsticks, I'm heading out now," Zhang Xiaoying stood up, found her basket and sickle, and prepared to go to the mountains.
"Mother, where are you going?" Xu Qinglin asked anxiously, getting up, "Are you going to the mountains again? Why don't I go with you, and let the second couple go to town instead?"
"Looking for a beating?" Zhang Xiaoying glanced at him.
Xu Qinglin fell silent, watching as Zhang Xiaoying left the house.
Seeing Zhang Xiaoying gone, Xu Changsheng tried to persuade Xu Qinglin, "Big brother, why don't you stay at home? My wife and I can go sell the meat in town. If you don't say anything, and I don't say anything, our mother won't know."
"Is that so?" Zhang Xiaoying's voice emerged sinisterly from the courtyard's entrance, "I haven't gone far, and you're already planning to play tricks behind my back, aren't you? Have the injuries from yesterday healed enough to make you forget the pain?"
Xu Changsheng was scared out of his wits.
He truly hadn't expected Zhang Xiaoying to turn back like that; she had seemed so far gone, yet she was crouching at the door, eavesdropping?
Xu Changsheng really misunderstood Zhang Xiaoying.
Zhang Xiaoying had only thought to come back for a rope, who knew her cheap son would be so two-faced!
"I, I was just joking," Xu Changsheng said, still terrified from the day before.
But to be honest, the plaster his mother had given him really did work wonders; he'd applied it last night and felt almost nothing in the morning.
"You better be," Zhang Xiaoying warned him, "If you dare to pull any stunts, I won't hesitate to beat you again."
The Lin family gave him a tug and he fell silent, trembling in fear.
"Hurry up, it's market day. Don't wait until everyone has left before selling, who would you sell to then?" Zhang Xiaoying glared at Xu Changsheng once more.
Xu Qinglin quickly brought out a clean basket and loaded it with the wild boar meat.
Only then did Zhang Xiaoying leave.
Because of yesterday's incident, the villagers avoided Zhang Xiaoying whenever they encountered her.
Even when running into Mrs. Xu on a narrow path, Mrs. Xu quickly turned into another alley to avoid confronting Zhang Xiaoying.
Not finding anyone daring to stand up to her, Zhang Xiaoying swept her gaze over Mrs. Xu and continued up the mountain.
Soon after she had taken the back mountain path, Mrs. Jiang emerged from nowhere, eyeing Zhang Xiaoying's retreating figure with a truly chilling gaze.
Mrs. Jiang couldn't swallow the grievance of her and her son suffering losses at Zhang Xiaoying's hands yesterday.
Moreover, the Zhao Family had offered so much; if the big daughter didn't marry into the Zhao Family, it would be like a duck at their lips flying away—how could she let that happen?
Mrs. Jiang's eyes shifted, and she came up with a plan; she quickly went home to find her son.
Zhang Xiaoying was unaware that Mrs. Jiang, despite being warned, still harbored intentions of selling the big daughter.
Upon reaching the mountain and ensuring no one was around, Zhang Xiaoying dashed towards the deep parts of the back mountain with a speed comparable to Passing Mountain Wind.
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Even if someone saw her, they would just think their eyes were playing tricks on them, not realizing that the fleeting shadow was a person.
Deep in the back mountain, where human footprints are rare, there are many traces of wild animals.
Zhang Xiaoying did not go to town today; she wanted to see to what extent Xu Changsheng and Madam Lin would continue their selfish behavior under her deterrence, to determine if extreme measures would be necessary later on if they became frightened.
Otherwise, there would come a time when the two of them would cry!
Wandering around, Zhang Xiaoying found many herbs she had only read about in references.
She gathered some that could be used for common ailments like bruises from falls, cold-heat illnesses.
Apart from the herbs, Zhang Xiaoying also discovered many mushrooms growing on the wood.
She didn't know which mushrooms were edible, but as a doctor in a post-apocalyptic world, nobody was more skilled than her at identifying which were poisonous and which were not!
"Finally, I can taste some delicious mushrooms," Zhang Xiaoying said cheerfully. The Zhao Family ancestral graves she visited yesterday were on the outskirts of the back mountain, where the mushrooms had long been picked by the villagers.
Only in these deep, uninhabited parts of the back mountain, would there be so many mushrooms waiting for her to pick.
Zhang Xiaoying filled her basket to the brim and took advantage of the good weather to dry some mushrooms, which are said to be delicious when used to make soup!
As she was picking, Zhang Xiaoying came upon a bamboo grove.
Now was the time when bamboo shoots were sprouting from the ground.
Moving aside the bamboo leaves on the ground, she saw the pointed tips of new shoots not far away and her eyes gleamed with excitement.
"I am really lucky today!"
Even though the world wasn't as harsh as during the post-apocalyptic times with no mutant plants or animals and food was plentiful, Xiaoying's desire to hoard food was insatiable.
She could only feel secure when her space was filled with food.
At first, Zhang Xiaoying had no experience and ruined all the shoots she dug up, which made her heartache.
Fortunately, digging for shoots became easier with practice, and she found the knack, wasting not a single one from then on.
Zhang Xiaoying's movements became faster and faster, not even feeling her hungry stomach.
She always feared the shoots would be gone if she came one day later.
The bamboo shoots she dug up were all piled into her space.
Time flew by, and as the sun set in the west, without sunlight, the bamboo grove became very dark, but it did not hinder Zhang Xiaoying, whose vision was now extraordinary; she could still clearly see the shoot tips hidden under the bamboo leaves.
Startled birds suddenly took flight, and Zhang Xiaoying sensed an imminent danger approaching.
She quickly turned around and saw behind her, not far away, a large snake, six to seven meters long, flicking its tongue and poised to attack.
Zhang Xiaoying: "..."
Her luck was truly unmatched, encountering Passing Mountain Wind—one of the world's most dangerous snakes!
She had almost been killed by a mutated Passing Mountain Wind before.
In this weather, Passing Mountain Wind should have still been hibernating, so why was there one out and about?
It seemed she had trespassed into the territory of this Passing Mountain Wind.
As night approached, Zhang Xiaoying wasn't keen on entangling with it.
Yet, this Passing Mountain Wind was too ferocious, not even waiting for Zhang Xiaoying to make a move before it launched its attack.
"Do you really want to become snake soup?" Zhang Xiaoying quickly dodged.
She had no antivenom in her space, and her Healing Superpower was weak; if she got bitten by this creature, her time-traveling trip would come to an abrupt end!
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