Chapter 95: Wild Boar

The road back to the village was uphill; she didn't dare ride her bike the whole way, so she could only find a place with no one around to store the bicycle and the large basket into her space, then walk back herself.

From now on, before the old snow could melt, new snow would follow, and the road would rarely be easy to ride on.

When she returned to the village, it was still early.

An Yinan changed into a pair of shoes, took out her back basket, and continued up the mountain to check the traps one by one; one of them had been crushed by the snow, so she rearranged it.

As for the other four traps, they had yielded a total of eight wild rabbits, two roe deer, and one deer—a truly bountiful harvest.

The colder the weather, the more these animals had to go out to find food, and under the cover of the vast snow, the traps were hidden even better.

She stored all the prey in her space, leaving only two rabbits and one roe deer, then gathered some firewood—a full ten bundles or more—and tossed them into her space.

Without Zhang Qian following by her side, she used her space with incredible ease.

After walking a few laps, she saw a few rabbits and pheasants; her marksmanship had been practiced to the point where she could be considered a sharpshooter.

Those pheasants and rabbits were hit every time she aimed, with rarely a miss.

With a full harvest, just as she was about to head down the mountain, she suddenly heard the sound of an animal coming from the side.

Is this... a wild boar?

An Yinan quickly shifted her position through the forest; in a forest with accumulated snow, no one could manage to walk without leaving a trace, and when feet stepped on the snow, the sound could not be masked.

With a flip, she quickly leaped onto a tree.

Only then did she see the situation not far away: Zhang Qian was vigilantly patrolling his surroundings, and blood was already dripping from his hand.

"You're hurt?" An Yinan called out.

After hearing An Yinan's voice, Zhang Qian relaxed his body and nodded, "Yeah, I miscalculated the position and didn't dodge in time."

An Yinan chuckled, "You have days like this too?"

She then quickly flipped down from the tree; if it had been anyone else today, she would have hidden and left, but since it was Zhang Qian—well, that was fine.

Zhang Qian knew what kind of abilities she had.

She also knew what kind of identity Zhang Qian had.

Two people who knew each other's roots and bottom lines worked together even more fluidly.

A punch from him, a stone from her, a punch from her, a kick from him.

One was a woman of great strength, the other a man of clever force; the two coordinated with each other, leaving the wild boar dizzy and covered in more and more bleeding wounds.

"Catch," Zhang Qian said, and threw a military dagger over.

An Yinan rose and jumped, gripping the dagger in her hand, and used the force of her rotation to plunge it into the wild boar's neck.

The wild boar let out an "Oww!" and ran forward quickly.

An Yinan did not pull the dagger out; following the momentum of the boar's forward run, the blade of the dagger turned, and on the boar's back, it instantly opened...

The wild boar didn't even have time to wail again before it was cleanly split in two.

"Fierce, it really has to be you." Zhang Qian was dumbfounded, his impression of her immense strength refreshed once again.

An Yinan also opened her mouth wide, looking at the wild boar split in two, and said somewhat speechlessly, "I didn't mean to split the meat."

Now it was Zhang Qian's turn to be speechless.

It really has to be you, An Yinan.

"Two people, half each, no need to divide it further, this is fine." Zhang Qian looked at the wild boar.

The full three-hundred-pound wild boar lay in the snow, covered in blood.

"Take your half away; you clean up my half, and I'll bury it in the snow to give to Sister Xiue later for an extra meal," An Yinan decided directly.

Although she had contributed effort, it was only at the end; by the time she appeared, the wild boar already had many wounds on its body, and with Zhang Qian's clever force and agility, wearing the boar to death was only a matter of time.

She could take advantage, but she wasn't that shameless!

"You don't have to do this," Zhang Qian was silent for a moment, naturally understanding An Yinan's meaning.

His half was to be sold, while her half was to be taken back for everyone to eat.

An Yinan thought for a moment, then said, "Ahem, I don't rely on hunting for a living; I have channels to make money."

A soldier, and a reliable person at that.

She didn't mind revealing a little bit.

However, she probably couldn't have guessed that when Zhang Qian heard her say she didn't rely on hunting for a living, he had the urge to vomit blood.

Look at the roe deer in her basket, look at the wild rabbit by her basket, and then think about that half a wild boar—she didn't rely on hunting for a living, yet she had more than he, who did rely on hunting for a living...

"Let's go down the mountain; the smell of blood is too strong, don't attract predators," Zhang Qian quickly changed the subject, afraid of being angered to death.

The two quickly built a sled and placed the wild boar on it; An Yinan carried her basket and held a tree branch, with Zhang Qian pulling in front while she erased their tracks behind, especially moving the blood-stained snow into her space without a sound.

She was afraid predators would follow the blood; she and Zhang Qian had the ability to protect themselves, but the others did not.

The two came down from the mountain very quickly; the Back Mountain was already far from the village, and no one would go there anyway.

Moreover, the walls of the Educated Youth Courtyard were high, and the wall of An Yinan's vegetable garden in the back isolated everyone's prying eyes even more.

The two returned to the courtyard without alerting anyone.

Zhang Qian processed the wild boar; for his half, he dug into the snow in front of the house, buried the boar meat, and let it freeze.

As for An Yinan's half, after he cleaned it up, he followed her instructions and cut it into individual pieces of meat.

He cut a full thirty or so pieces.

"I'll take two pieces to Sister Xiue in a bit; we've probably grown tired of eating rabbit meat these past two days," An Yinan pouted.

Zhang Qian rolled his eyes; that's you, we certainly haven't.

Tired of eating meat!

Listen to that, is she asking for a beating?

It was snowing today, and Beibei didn't go to the Cowshed, staying in the room to study; to make him willing to use the candles, An Yinan had specifically left ten packs outside, and would replenish them from time to time.

"Time to eat," Zhao Qiu Hua shouted in the courtyard; An Yinan heard it immediately, then stood by Xie Yuanyuan's wall and called out.

"Time to eat."

Xie Yuanyuan heard this and opened the door, "Coming."

None of them needed to leave the courtyard; they just called out to each other and gathered together.

An Yinan really did bring two pieces of wild boar meat over, but she didn't carry them directly; instead, she put them in a basin.

"Li Xiu'e, let's cook this tomorrow." An Yinan handed the wild boar meat over.

Li Xiue took a look, and for a moment, she really couldn't tell what kind of meat it was, "What meat is this?"

If someone else had given it to her, she might have known it was pork, but she truly couldn't distinguish what An Yinan had handed her.

For example, there was one time before when she was asked to help stew roe deer meat; she had thought it was pork, but as she cut it, it felt more and more wrong, and she couldn't help but ask, only then finding out it was roe deer meat...

"Wild boar meat, let's stew it." An Yinan started to scarf down her food.

Perhaps because Li Xiue and Zhao Qiu Hua wanted to do justice to the ingredients, both of them studied cooking carefully; the meals they made naturally couldn't compare to the State-run Restaurant, but they were still much more delicious than the average home-cooked stir-fry.

An Yinan wasn't a picky eater; as long as the food could be eaten, it was good food.