81: Here

Li Chuxia slept very soundly that afternoon.

It had been a very, very long time since she had slept so deeply.

In her dream, she returned to when she was five years old and saw her mother. Her mother didn't say a word, only looking at her with a doting smile.

She gently stroked her head and then took her hand, walking a very, very long way.

The mother and daughter walked until they reached Xiulin Village.

At the village entrance, a few children were playing with mud.

One of the boys saw Li Chuxia and ran over to invite her.

"Do you want to come and play with us?"

She looked back at her mother.

Her mother nodded with a smile, "Xia Xia, go ahead."

Li Chuxia happily joined the group, learning from them how to mold tanks and planes out of mud... She had never been so happy.

The sun set before they knew it, and wisps of cooking smoke rose from every household in Xiulin Village.

From time to time, she could catch the scent of food wafting from somewhere.

The aroma of scallion oil, the smell of soy sauce hitting a hot pan, the scent of meat... it made everyone passing by yearn for a taste.

Upon smelling the food, the children said their goodbyes and ran back to their respective homes.

When Li Chuxia looked back, her mother was gone.

She shouted loudly at her surroundings.

But there was no response.

She squatted on the ground alone and began to sob softly.

Just then, one of the boys walked up to her, "Your mother might have had to leave for something. Why don't you come to my house for dinner first? My mother's cooking is delicious."

The little boy's smile was as gentle as it was in her memory.

He led Li Chuxia home just like that.

His parents seemed to know she was coming and had prepared a large table of food.

They tidied up a room for her so she could stay there peacefully.

The room was simply furnished, with a bed and a simple desk.

On the desk were a few picture books for children.

On the covers of the books, two elegant characters were written.

"Chen Su"

...While Li Chuxia was napping, Chen Su hadn't been idle either.

Following the hints from the intel, he first went for a stroll around Gao Sanxing's fields.

He got a basic understanding of the terrain.

Gao Sanxing's fields were right next to the back mountain. Usually, villagers would pass through here to pick wild ferns and bamboo shoots.

The path leading up the mountain was fairly flat.

There had been plenty of rain lately, so the weeds on both sides of the quiet mountain path had grown quite lush.

The wild boar most likely came down this way... At 3:40 PM, Chen Su returned home and changed into long sleeves and pants, even putting on a jacket.

There would inevitably be some bumps and scrapes when catching the wild boar later, so he needed to be well-protected.

Just then, Li Chuxia, who had slept for over two hours, also got up.

When she opened the door and saw Chen Su all wrapped up on such a hot day, she asked in confusion, "What are you doing?"

Chen Su smiled and said, "I'm planning to go hunt wild boar with Uncle Wang from the village. I'll be back in a while. You just wait at home to eat wild boar meat."

"The delicacy you were being so mysterious about at noon is wild boar meat?"

"Yeah, did you ever eat it when you were in Maple City?"

Li Chuxia shook her head and said, "No. Is there any difference from the pork we usually eat?"

"I'll cook it for you tonight and you'll see. I guarantee you'll eat three big bowls."

"Can I go with you? I've never seen a wild boar in real life," Li Chuxia said expectantly.

"No, wild boars are very aggressive. It's too dangerous for you to go."

"If it's that dangerous, then you shouldn't go either. I won't eat it."

Li Chuxia took a stance as if she wouldn't let him leave unless he let her follow... In the end, Chen Su couldn't win the argument and could only agree to take her along.

Hunting the wild boar wasn't just for Li Chuxia.

He really wanted to eat it himself too.

It had been nearly ten years since he started university, and he hadn't eaten it once.

Li Chuxia had only brought summer clothes, so Chen Su rummaged through his room and found a set of school uniforms for her to wear.

Li Chuxia was 1.7 meters tall, and when Chen Su was in junior high, he was also just over 1.7 meters.

It fit her perfectly.

Li Chuxia was a natural clothes horse; even an ordinary school uniform had a unique beauty when she wore it.

After she changed into the uniform, Chen Su found a straw hat for her to wear.

Before setting off, he tucked a bottle of mosquito repellent into the pocket of Li Chuxia's uniform.

"There will be many mosquitoes later, so just spray some on yourself."

...On the other side, Wang Zhenxing had already finished preparing the tools for hunting the boar.

He was smoking a tobacco pipe, lying leisurely on a grand armchair, waiting for Chen Su to arrive.

Before long, Chen Su's voice came from outside.

"Uncle Wang, are you ready?"

"I've been ready for a long time, just waiting for you."

Wang Zhenxing walked out of the house, carrying two long objects wrapped in black cloth on his back.

He had things in both hands: a sack in one and two steel forks in the other.

The steel forks were just like the one the young Runtu used to stab badgers, but they were much sharper than Runtu's... After Wang Zhenxing came out, he immediately noticed Li Chuxia, who was wearing a school uniform and a straw hat next to Chen Su.

"Xiao Su, who is this?"

"Uncle Wang, this is my friend. She wants to come along too."

"A friend? The girlfriend Aunt Zhang said you're going to propose to at the end of the year? Why did she come early?"

Hearing this, Chen Su's face darkened.

Aunt Zhang, why is Aunt Zhang everywhere?

Li Chuxia became interested upon hearing this, "Propose? Uncle Wang, tell me, where is Chen Su going to propose at the end of the year?"

Wang Zhenxing laughed, "Isn't he planning to go to your house to propose?"

..."Ah, it's getting late. Uncle Wang, let's hurry. I went over to check again at noon and found very obvious wild boar tracks at the mountain entrance."

Chen Su quickly cut off the topic.

Although that was just Aunt Zhang making things up out of thin air.

But he really did have the intention of proposing at Xu Jing's house before; he couldn't let others know.

He stepped forward, took the sack from Wang Zhenxing's hand, slung it over his back, and quickly walked to the front to lead the way... The three of them walked for about half an hour and reached the mountain entrance next to Gao Sanxing's fields.

"Uncle Wang, it's here. I saw a wild boar wandering around here this morning."

Wang Zhenxing stepped forward to examine the soil.

With decades of experience hunting wild boars, he could tell at a glance if a boar had passed through.

He walked a bit further into the mountain entrance and observed the surroundings.

Then, he gestured to Chen Su.

"Xiao Su, bring the sack over."

Chen Su carried the sack inside.

Wang Zhenxing took two animal traps out of the sack and placed them on several spots where the soil was messy from the wild boar's passage.

Chen Su checked the time; it was already 4:25 PM.

According to the intel, the wild boar would come out from here at 4:30.

He also took several animal traps out of the bag and placed them in the middle of the path.

"Should we put some on the sides too?" Li Chuxia added from behind after he finished placing one.

Chen Su nodded and placed one in the bushes on each side... Time passed minute by minute.

It soon reached 4:28 PM.

Suddenly!!

From the bushes two hundred meters in front of Chen Su, there came a rapid, crackling sound of an animal's footsteps.

"It's here!"

...