The Prime Minister’s Little Wife

Chapter 16: Capturing the Wild Boar

Xu Zhizhi really wanted to laugh. Wang Shishi had encountered a pig of a teammate. She had calculated everything about the Wang family’s old lady but had underestimated Wang Daya.

If Wang Shishi had promised Wang Daya that she would help her marry into a wealthy family, her plan might have succeeded. Instead, she not only failed but also ended up making a mess of things.

Xu Zhizhi left happily. These villagers were so endearing. She decided she would lead them to prosperity in the future.

She went back to cook a meal. With such a good mood, she deserved to eat something nice.

What Xu Zhizhi saw as endearing villagers, Qingzi saw as nothing but troublesome peasants.

Standing in the crowd, Qingzi felt like she was about to spit out blood. Her heart, liver, lungs, and stomach all ached from the stress.

Now, hearing that someone had gone to call the village chief to handle the situation, she knew this would greatly damage her mistress’s reputation.

Yesterday, her mistress had spent money on meat to save face, and Qingzi had suffered the consequences when they returned home. Now, just one day later, they were facing an even more humiliating situation.

Qingzi also couldn’t understand her mistress. Why did she want Wang Daya to cancel the engagement? It brought them no benefit at all, and they had even given so many gifts to that old hag.

Since she couldn’t figure it out, she decided not to dwell on it. Her mistress was waiting for a report. She needed to hurry back and inform her mistress so she could come up with a solution.

At this moment, Wang Shishi was also at a loss. She could only hide at home, praying to the gods that the village chief wouldn’t come looking for her.

Meanwhile, Xu Xiaoyang, the eldest grandson of Village Chief Xu Wenxiu, had already reported the situation to his grandfather. He said the villagers were coming to ask the chief to mediate.

Xu Wenxiu was in a difficult position. Earlier, the Wang family’s steward had given him some silver and asked him to look after the Wang family’s young lady.

When Xu Zhizhi had been bullied and wanted to cancel the engagement, he had remained silent because no one had come to him. But now, with so many villagers asking for his intervention, how could he show bias? Sigh!

“Grandpa Chief, everyone is asking you to come to my second uncle’s house,” Xu Erniu and Xu Erhu arrived together, followed by a few children.

Xu Wenxiu had no choice but to get up and go. When he arrived at Old Xu’s house, he saw an unprecedented crowd. He couldn’t help but think that this Wang Shishi was really causing a lot of trouble. Now the situation had escalated.

Due to the village chief’s bias, he didn’t insist on calling Wang Shishi over for a confrontation. That would have been too humiliating for the young lady.

After understanding the whole situation, the village chief asked, “Old Mrs. Wang, did your son and daughter-in-law know about you coming to cancel the engagement, or was this your own idea? Or was it Wang Shishi’s doing?”

The Wang family’s old lady now wished she could strangle Wang Daya. In her heart, she cursed the girl a hundred times as a worthless, cheap little thing.

But the old lady was also shrewd. The village chief’s question made it clear that he didn’t want to pursue Wang Shishi’s involvement.

“It was my own idea. What does it have to do with Shishi?” the old lady said.

Xu Wenxiu was pleased with the old lady’s tactfulness and said, “So, are you determined to cancel this engagement?”

He thought it would be better for everyone if the engagement wasn’t canceled. Canceling it would only stir up more resentment toward Wang Shishi among the villagers.

Under the village chief’s mediation, the morning’s drama over the engagement ended anticlimactically. It was decided that a good date would be chosen before the New Year for the wedding.

The village chief strongly insisted that no one should drag Xu Zhizhi into this anymore. He said the two children had canceled their engagement voluntarily, mainly because Jin Zijun had passed the imperial exam. This was the first time in many years, and since he became village chief, that someone from Qili Village had achieved such success, so it needed to be protected.

Wang Shishi was furious at home, but there was nothing she could do. At most, she could secretly plot against someone—this time, it would definitely be Wang Daya.

Xu Zhizhi was indifferent to the outcome. She was busy weaving baskets, buying beans, preparing to grow bean sprouts, and working in the fields. While picking wild vegetables in the mountains, she had also set up a few traps to catch some game and improve their meals.

Xu Daniu and his brother only returned after the matter was settled. Seeing their sister preparing to cook, they quickly went to help.

Xu Zhizhi handed the wild vegetables to Xu Daniu, instructing him to clean them thoroughly and set them aside.

Since they hadn’t worked in the fields that morning, Xu Zhizhi decided to try a new recipe for her family.

She boiled water and blanched the cleaned wild vegetables, then squeezed out the water and chopped them into fine pieces.

Then, she took a few chili peppers from her portable space and some lean meat, minced them, and mixed them with the wild vegetables.

Next, she kneaded a ball of dough and let it rest. She started cooking porridge in the pot, preferring it neither too thick nor too thin—just right.

She had a good sense of proportion now. Five large bowls—she couldn’t finish one bowl herself, so she could share some with Daniu, who was growing and needed to eat more.

She put a bit of lard in the pot, melted some salt, and stir-fried the mixed wild vegetables until fragrant, then set them aside to cool.

She took out the rested dough, divided it into small portions, and rolled them into thin sheets.

By then, the vegetables had cooled, so she wrapped them in the dough sheets, making something larger than dumplings. These were called vegetable pockets.

She fried the vegetable pockets in lard in the pot.

The two brothers stared intently, not blinking. Soon, the aroma filled the room.

Once all the pockets were fried, she called Xiaowu to fetch water for Father Xu to wash his hands before eating.

“What are we eating today? It smells so good!” Father Xu asked his youngest son.

“Sister said they’re vegetable pockets. Dad, wash your hands first. I’ll set the chopsticks,” Xiaowu said.

For the past few days, Xu Zhizhi had been experimenting with different dishes. Father Xu seemed more energetic now. He washed his hands quickly, eager to eat.

As he ate the vegetable pockets, Father Xu said, “I never knew wild vegetables could be cooked in so many ways. They taste almost like meat.”

Xu Zhizhi smiled but didn’t say that she had added minced meat to the filling.

The family enjoyed their meal happily. Xu Daniu and his brother washed the dishes, while Xu Zhizhi wiped the table.

The mother and two sons went back to work in the fields, while Father Xu and Xiaowu continued weaving baskets.

Three peaceful days passed. The bean sprouts were almost ready, and Xu Zhizhi thought about the traps she had set a few days ago. She hadn’t caught anything yet, but today she was sure there would be something. That morning, she had deliberately placed vegetables from her portable space in the traps. She was confident there would be wild rabbits or something similar.

Xu Zhizhi’s family’s fields weren’t far from Second Uncle Xu’s. As dinner time approached, she took Xu Daniu with her to invite Second Uncle’s family for a meal.

She said she would go back early to cook and asked Xu Dahu to come with her to check the traps in the mountains. Second Uncle’s family had no objections and said they would join her after finishing their work.

Xu Zhizhi, Xu Dahu, and Xu Daniu headed straight for the largest trap she had set.

When they were still some distance away, they heard noises—the growls of some unknown beast. Xu Dahu grabbed his siblings, wanting to stop, but Xu Zhizhi was excited. She had placed many sharp bamboo sticks in the trap.

“Thud, roar, roar…” After a series of pitiful sounds, everything went quiet.

Xu Zhizhi pulled her two brothers forward. When they reached the trap, they saw a wild boar. She picked up a stone and threw it down. There was no movement—it seemed the boar had exhausted itself in its final struggle.

Seeing that the boar was no longer moving, Xu Dahu jumped into the trap. He was strong from years of manual labor, but even he couldn’t drag the boar out.

“What a beast! It must weigh at least two hundred pounds!” Xu Dahu said excitedly.

Xu Zhizhi realized the three of them couldn’t lift it alone, so she sent Xu Daniu to fetch Second Uncle and Third Uncle to help carry it.

(End of Chapter)