RYEY – Chapter 197 An Unexpected Delight

He wanted some peace and quiet, but this woman was just too annoying. Glancing at the warm sun outside and hearing the children’s laughter and play, he turned and walked out.

The children ran about, extremely excited. Today, the village head announced they would have “slaughtered pork vegetables”—the last village benefit before the New Year. Everyone was busy preparing.

The village pig had finally reached the end of its life. Sensing the danger to its small life, it became alert when it saw Zhao Guoliang and Zhu Qingde approaching with hemp ropes.

The moment the pigpen door opened, the pig mustered all its strength, knocked over Zhu Qingde, dodged Zhao Guoliang, and sprinted outside.

“Old Zhao! The pig’s running! Go after it!”

Zhu Qingde’s eyes turned red with panic. They had been sent down for labor, tasked with raising pigs and cleaning pigsties. After finally raising a pig to full size, ready for everyone to eat, the pig ran away.

The two of them chased after it, but how could two legs outrun four, especially on thick snow that sank beneath each step? They could only watch helplessly as the pig ran toward the mountain.

“It’s over…”

Zhu Qingde plopped onto the ground, tears uncontrollably streaming down his face. He had been a traditional Chinese medicine doctor, and his wife was the daughter of a wealthy family. Both were sent down for labor.

A pampered couple suddenly faced such drastic change; they had tried so hard to adapt that any further blow was unbearable.

“Old Zhu, don’t cry! You go find the village head, I’ll keep chasing it.”

Zhao Guoliang was anxious too, but crying wouldn’t solve anything. He had to report to the village head.

So when Zhu Qingde appeared empty-handed at the drying yard, the bustling scene instantly fell silent. Li Huan frowned—what had happened now?

“Village Head, when we opened the pigpen door, the pig suddenly ran away.”

“What? The pig ran away? Where did it go?”

Li Huan paused. He knew a bit about pig behavior. Though pigs seemed dumb—eating, sleeping, eating again—they had a keen sensitivity to danger.

“It ran toward the mountain. Old Zhao went after it.”

“What? Old Zhao went into the mountain?”

Li Huan’s heart shuddered. With snow blocking the mountain paths, who would dare chase a pig up there? That Old Zhao was risking his life.

Zhao Xiaobao looked pale. If Qian Longkun hadn’t held him back, he probably would have gone after him—making it impossible to keep the father-son relationship between Zhao Xiaobao and Zhao Guoliang a secret.

Chai Jianmin watched coldly. He had his suspicions, but knew his own situation. Without absolute certainty, he wouldn’t intervene.

The villagers glared at Zhu Qingde with hatred. A rich landowner reduced to labor, unable even to guard a pig. Feeding it alive was a waste of grain—they might as well have killed it themselves.

Zhu Qingde shivered at their hostile looks. In his eyes, these people were far scarier than any wild beast in the mountains.

Some villagers cast pleading glances at Li Huan, hoping he would be reasonable and not place all the blame on Zhu Qingde.

Li Huan frowned slightly. He told Zhu Qingde to take a few young men to follow Zhao Guoliang’s tracks toward the mountain while he went back to fetch the wooden trap.

Cheng Qiao followed and arrived about 500 meters from the pigpen. Sure enough, there were two sets of footprints—one leading into the mountain, the other Zhu Qingde’s.

Following the tracks to the foot of the mountain, everyone looked up. Besides some surrounding trees, the higher they looked, the more endless the snow seemed.

Cheng Qiao’s heart trembled. Such a big mountain, a pig running in there would likely be eaten by wild animals. Finding it would be nearly impossible. Now, she could only hope the people were safe.

Li Huan brought the wooden trap. Except for Wang Xiangyang and a few others, no one else was willing to go up the mountain. A pig would yield only a few bites; no one wanted to risk their lives for a few morsels.

Li Huan snorted and turned toward the mountain. Mother Li wanted to say something but realized Li Huan was the village head. She could only watch helplessly as he climbed.

After over half an hour at the foot of the mountain, everyone grew too cold and returned home. Cheng Qiao followed behind, secretly taking another path up the mountain.

She knew this path well, having climbed it with Ye Jun to gather herbs. She glanced around, saw no one, and quietly took Little Cheng Li up the mountain.

Then she drew a bucket of well water, poured it into a small wooden basin, and placed it in the space. She quickly returned to the space.

Cheng Qiao knew the well water in her space was useful not only for plants but also for animals—for example, the Red-Headed Viper drank a basin daily.

Soon, she was surprised to find that the well water did not attract the runaway pig but instead drew a large snow-white eagle.

At first, she didn’t notice it since the eagle blended with the snow. But when it flapped its wings, sending snow swirling, her eyes narrowed sharply.

Snow-white Eagle! The last time she had intercepted its purple ganoderma from the Red-Headed Viper, and now this guy had tracked her down. Its nose was so sharp!

Snow-white Eagle’s keen eyes scanned the surroundings before lowering its head and quickly drinking the well water. The taste was even better than the stolen ganoderma.

“Little Redhead, can I go out now? Since it drank my water, it shouldn’t attack me, right?”

Seeing Snow-white Eagle linger after drinking, Cheng Qiao grew anxious. She didn’t want to compete with such a large predator in patience.

The Red-Headed Viper relaxed, burying its head in Little Cheng Li’s lap as the child played with ginseng flowers. Cheng Qiao breathed a sigh of relief and immediately left the space.

“Snow-white Eagle, here’s your purple ganoderma. I’m giving it back.”

Snow-white Eagle was startled by her sudden appearance. Initially ready to attack, it instead recognized her familiar scent and the purple ganoderma in her hands.

It glanced down, disdainfully turned its head, and ignored her. Cheng Qiao blushed slightly; this was a second-generation purple ganoderma grown from spores of the original, not the one she had initially collected.

Seeing that Snow-white Eagle did not intend to attack, she placed another bucket of well water on the ground.

“Don’t drink this. I need to lure a pig. If you drink it, the pig won’t smell it and won’t come out.”

Snow-white Eagle tilted its head, looking at her as if it didn’t understand. Cheng Qiao grew anxious, grabbed a pig’s head from the space, and pointed at it, intending to lure the pig down the mountain.

Snow-white Eagle eyed the pig’s head. Its eyes gleamed sharply before it spread its wings and soared into the sky, letting out a high-pitched, piercing eagle cry that echoed through the mountains.