The appearance of a large wild boar brought Hua Village to life once again. Before Hua Jin even reached home, Old Mrs. Hua was already aware, and she tossed aside a half-prepared dish and ran towards the door.
By the time the mother-in-law duo arrived, Hua Jin was already surrounded by a crowd of ladies, her gaze filled with loving affection, radiating maternal warmth.
They lamented why she wasn’t their child.
The men, on the other hand, were enthusiastically gesturing around the wild boar, especially Zhu Rourong who was already sharpening his knives, excited by the prospect of such a fat wild boar.
"Sister, you are so blessed!" Mrs. Lin said, looking at Hua Jin, almost wishing to bring her home with her, too envious.
"You are truly fortunate, Aunt. Please let me share in your blessings," chuckled a pregnant woman, cozying up to Old Mrs. Hua, while several other wives stood beside Mrs. Qi, seemingly wanting to soak in some luck.
"Certainly, you can all share..." With her granddaughter home, Old Mrs. Hua’s heart was at ease, and she was immensely gratified by everyone’s praise, smiling so widely she could hardly close her mouth.
The ones most delighted by a child’s achievement are always the adults.
"Grandma, Mom," Hua Jin squeezed through the loving gazes and approached her grandma and mom with a radiant smile, especially appealing to her mom, as she had left without notice.
As expected, she received a discreet glare from her mom.
Then, guarding the general store, Hua Meng shut the shop door and joined them. Upon spotting the large wild boar on the ground, he felt an instant surge of pride filling his chest.
Hua Chengtian and his sons were not present; they hadn’t returned from their patrols yet. Otherwise, there would be more people proudly puffing out their chests.
Why shouldn’t they be proud when their child brought them face?
And then two aunts who received the news came along, along with many others who were watching Hua Jin intently, all showing a shared sense of pride.
"You’re amazing, Sister!" The wide-eyed Liu Hui admired her cousin.
"You’ll be just as amazing when you grow up, Hui." Hua Jin gently tapped her little cousin’s nose.
"Village chief, this wild boar..." Zhu Rourong was already eager and restless.
These days, he hadn’t caught any wild animals, the little wild boar piglets at home hadn’t grown up yet, and he had sealed his knives for some time now.
"Slaughter it, we’ll trouble you..." Hua Meng replied, with a specialist like Zhu Rourong, it saved everyone quite a bit of effort.
"No trouble, no trouble..." Zhu immediately called his sons, along with the strong men of Hua Village standing beside the wild boar, to head towards his shop.
Upon hearing that the village chief’s granddaughter had hunted a large wild boar, Zhu had instructed his wife and daughter-in-law to boil water even before coming out, which should be just right now.
As the wild boar was lifted, many people followed to watch the excitement, suddenly rendering the scene more peaceful, with mostly some of the women remaining.
"Ah, right!" Hua Jin slapped her forehead, having been surrounded by enthusiastic ladies upon returning, completely forgetting the nearby bamboo basket.
Swiftly, Hua Jin opened the tightly closed bamboo basket, inside were ten little piglets, sleeping soundly. Despite being cramped, jostling each other didn’t affect their sleep at all, a truly delightful sight.
If the basket had more space, Hua Jin would have wanted to bring a few more, the valley had plenty of poultry like chickens, ducks, and geese but lacked domestic pigs.
"What is it?" Some ladies who had good relations with Old Mrs. Hua also approached.
"Little piglets!" Hua Jin exclaimed sharply, jolting her eyes.
The ladies, including Mrs. Lin and Mrs. Sun, surrounded the bamboo basket, hastily taking a piglet each.
"Jin girl, this, this, this... pig... you..." Mrs. Lin was already stammering excitedly.
The other ladies and women looked at Hua Jin with hopeful eyes.
"Oh, I collected them from the mountain in one swoop, not sure if they were birthed by a domestic pig stranded by the flood. But I didn’t see their mother. Happened to encounter that big wild boar which almost killed these little piglets."
Hua Jin had originally intended to say she obtained them from down the mountain, but the timeline was too short to make it plausible. Who wouldn’t protect precious things and keep them wrapped up instead of selling? Moreover, such rare little piglets.
Although attributing them to the mountain was somewhat tenuous, it wasn’t impossible, right? Besides, folks weren’t likely to venture into the mountains searching.
"Really?" Mrs. Sun and others found it so amazing.
"Yes, yes, didn’t you see them?" Hua Jin pointed at the piglets in their arms.
Reality spoke louder than words, making disbelief impossible.
"Jin girl’s luck..." Mrs. Lin and Mrs. Sun looked at Hua Jin fervently, internally regretting why such a good child wasn’t theirs, her luck was just too grand.
And so came another wave of envious glances towards Old Mrs. Hua and Mrs. Qi, even Hua Meng basked in a wave of envy, proudly raising his head.
Aunt Hua and Aunt Hua lovingly embraced their niece, "Our Jin’er is truly remarkable."
They couldn’t get enough of cuddling Hua Jin; were it not for living so close, they surely would have coaxed her home, this child was just too lovable.
"Exactly, exactly," Mrs. Lin and the others nodded along.
"Sister, you’re so blessed, it makes us envy to no end." Mrs. Lin remarked, holding tight to her piglet.
"Not really, you all have good fortune too, your children are all filial and capable, I envy you instead!" Observing her pride-inducing granddaughter, Old Mrs. Hua joyfully laughed, though she humbly expressed when the old sisters complimented her.
Though, indeed, no one was better than her granddaughter, you still had to be a bit low-key, thought Old Mrs. Hua contently.
"Don’t be humble, but we truly envy your good fortune. These piglets aren’t few; Sister should definitely share one with us; otherwise, I’ll nag you daily..."
"You’re funny... I’m a bit scared," Old Mrs. Hua laughed, showing not an ounce of fear.
They acted as if they didn’t visit regularly. These old sisters stopped by daily, now obsessed with playing cards with her.
"Just say if you’ll share..." Mrs. Lin simply resorted to pleading, hugging her piglet tightly, clearly unwilling to let go.
Mrs. Sun, Mrs. Wei, Mrs. Mao, Hua Meng’s wife, Liu, and Sun Tu’s wife all hugged a piglet tightly, showing no intention to release.
Old Mrs. Hua shook her head, "Sure, I’ll share. But these piglets were brought back by my granddaughter, so we need her consent first."
Old Mrs. Hua added a sentence, instantly shifting the hopeful gazes to Hua Jin, who was watching the commotion.
"Jin girl..." Mrs. Lin earnestly looked at Hua Jin, "You brought back quite a few piglets. How about sharing one with Granny Lin?"
"Yes, yes, and Granny Sun too," Mrs. Sun quickly chimed in.