Chapter 1016: Entering the Mountains

Xiao Fu knew at a glance that she intended to enter the mountains and quickly called out to stop her: "I'll go with you."

Liu Chuxue quickly waved her hands: "You've finally managed to return; go wander around the village and spread the news about my older sister's full-month banquet tomorrow."

Hearing this, Xiao Fu understood his daughter's meaning.

Back when they lived in the village, families on good terms would exchange gifts whenever a son married, a daughter wed, or a grandson or maternal grandson reached one month of age; now that his eldest daughter was holding a full-month banquet, naturally others had to know—not for the sake of propriety itself, but to ensure her in-laws would not dare look down on them.

Seeing him lost in thought, Liu Chuxue said: "Enough of that; lock the door, go wander the village, and I'll be back shortly."

"Then don't venture into Shenshan; just stay near the outer edges."

"Understood."

After ascending the mountain, Liu Chuxue headed straight for Shenshan, since today she was specifically targeting big game; if she could actually bag something large, she could send some to her sister's side, making tomorrow's full-month banquet more abundant, especially since such a banquet is held only once and no further guests would be invited for any future children.

Most importantly, she herself would be holding a wedding banquet on May Day, so naturally she needed to prepare in advance.

Although Fu Yan Cheng had said he would handle everything, she still needed to make her own preparations.

As she made her way up the mountain, patches of snow remained in the shaded areas, yet the path was not particularly difficult to traverse.

Upon reaching the mid-mountain slope, she saw that the area where the landslide had previously occurred had already been cleared by the villagers, allowing safe passage.

After walking a few steps forward and hesitating, she ultimately turned toward the spot Jiang Huiwen had described as the burial place of her own grandmother.

The reason they had returned early was precisely because her grandfather knew this essential route had been cleared of the landslide and wished to visit before the Qingming Festival to pay respects at her grandmother's burial site.

Had her five senses not been so keen, she likely would not have found the place; using her spiritual sense, she confirmed this was indeed her biological grandmother's burial ground.

Gazing at the marker Jiang Huiwen had described and looking at the small mound of earth beneath the earthen cliff, she suddenly felt a pang of sorrow—that such a young woman had lain here alone for decades.

Had Jiang Huiwen not sought to claim the jade tablet that had become her spatial artifact by bringing an impostor to acknowledge kinship, who knew how much longer her grandmother would have lain here in solitude.

Since her spatial artifact contained no paper money for burning, she took out some fruits, placed them on a stone before the mound, recounted the entire sequence of events aloud, bowed once, and then departed.

After all, she still had important business to attend to on today's mountain ascent.

Her pace was swift; along the way, she used fruits and vegetables from her spatial artifact to lure and catch several wild pheasants, and intending to send them to her eldest sister to supplement the meal, she simply snapped their necks and tossed them into her spatial artifact.

However, after walking for a long time without encountering any big game, she glanced at the sky, found a concealed spot, entered her spatial artifact to fill her stomach, rested briefly, and then exited again.

Perhaps due to her intense determination, she had not gone far this time before hearing movement ahead; she quickly climbed a sturdy tree, and sure enough, not far away, a male and female wild boar were frolicking with two piglets.

The two piglets were manageable enough, posing little threat, but the adult male and female boars would be difficult to deal with; each of this pair weighed two hundred fifty or sixty jin, so rushing in recklessly would not do.

After surveying the terrain, she pulled several large cabbages growing in her spatial artifact to keep on hand.

Descending from this tree, she cautiously advanced a bit further before climbing another tree, took out two cabbages, and with force threw one to the left and one to the right.

Seeing the two large wild boars move in one direction, she quickly threw another cabbage to the opposite side.