Chapter 11: Ning Xin’s Unmatched Prowess

Ning Xin carried the wild boar down the mountain.

Not to mention two wild boars, even one would be enough to stir envy.

Seeing so many people gathered at the foot of the mountain, and thinking about buying land to build a house, Ning Xin was very pleased.

She walked as if the wind was at her back.

“…”

“…”

Her younger siblings silently swallowed their saliva as they followed behind her.

“Father,” Ning Xin called out from afar.

Ning Dalang felt proud.

His daughter was capable.

Yet, he felt a pang of sorrow—his daughter was so talented, but as a father, he hadn’t been able to give her a good life.

“Father.” Ning Xin set the wild boar down on the ground.

She watched as the uncles and cousins smiled, baring their white teeth.

“Ah Xin, you’re incredible! You even hunted wild boar. What do you plan to do with them? Slaughter them to treat us to a feast?”

Ning Xin was straightforward, her mind fully set on building the house.

A feast? Not a chance.

“I’m going to sell them, to raise money for building the house.”

“When the house is finished and the beam-raising ceremony comes, I’ll definitely catch even more wild boars.”

She knew that when the house was completed, with the beams raised and the tiles set, there would be a banquet.

And a banquet couldn’t be without meat.

The uncles and cousins teased her kindly, “Ah Xin, you must work hard and get that house built soon.”

“Mm-hmm,” Ning Xin nodded and asked Ning Dalang, “Father, where should I sell the wild boar meat?”

Should they sell to the butcher in the neighboring village? Or to a restaurant in the county town?

“To the county town. I’ll go with you,” he said.

They would also stop by the government office on the way.

Ning Xin nodded, shouldering the wild boar as they headed home.

“Oh my, Ning Xin hunted two wild boars!”

“Surely you’re exaggerating. Even one wild boar is hard to catch.”

For Ning Xin to bring back two wild boars was even rarer than the eldest branch of the family buying barren land at the foot of the mountain to build a house.

Two wild boars—that meant meat enough to last a whole year.

Selling them would fetch at least one tael of silver.

Earning over a tael of silver in just one morning, the Ning family’s main branch was about to prosper.

The main branch.

Meng thought of this with mixed emotions.

She recalled Ning Xin had returned that morning with more than eight taels of silver, and now two wild boars.

“Ah Xin…”

“Mother.”

Ning Xin cleaned herself up and looked toward Meng, who gazed at her with tear-filled eyes. Puzzled, Ning Xin asked, “What is it?”

Meng reached out and pulled Ning Xin into her embrace.

“Ah Xin, your father and I have failed you.”

“Huh? Mother, why would you say that? You and Father treat me so well, how have you failed me?”

Ning Xin smiled softly and nuzzled into Meng’s arms. “Mother, I’m going with Father to the county town to sell the wild boar later. Could you cut some meat for me to bring back? I want to make dumplings tonight.”

She had been craving dumplings.

Meng nodded repeatedly, “Of course. Buy plenty of meat, and make chive and dried radish fillings.”

“Mother, you’re the best.”

The villagers had all come to see the wild boars, and some teased Meng, asking if she would slaughter one today to sell pork to the village.

“Not today, maybe next time.”

If they slaughtered the boar and sold the meat without inviting the villagers, no one would say a word. But would Ning Dalang’s brothers, cousins, and uncles be invited?

If the boar were slaughtered, half the meat would go to her mother-in-law.

This wasn’t something that fell from the sky—it was her daughter who risked her life to bring it back.

Wu watched the wild boars enviously, thinking that Ning Xin wasn’t even her daughter.

If she were, she could have meat every day.

Glancing at Zhao Di and Dai Di in the corner, their eyes filled with joy, Wu’s anger flared up.

Useless children, they didn’t know how to curry favor with Ah Xin. Next time they went to the mountains, they should bring them along too, so they could share in the spoils.

The children clustered around the two wild boars, marveling at them.

Ning Wen, Ning Wu, and Ning Qi were bursting with pride.

These wild boars were caught by their eldest sister.

The whole village had nothing like it—no one was more formidable than their big sister.