Witty Wife, Better Life

Chapter 78: Chapter 76: Greed Chapter 78: Chapter 76: Greed The wild boar must have just been about to cause some damage when it was brought down by the trap, so the fence that was fixed yesterday was still intact.

Shen Yunfang began to carry water from the space outside with a sense of relief, and then started to water the sweet potatoes little by little. She had to make this trip every two days to water and fertilize, so the sweet potato sprouts here were growing very lush.

As she was squatting in the field busy working, she seemed to faintly hear the sound of a wild boar. She suddenly looked up at the boar that was still lying there.

She saw that the boar, which had been calling out in exhaustion, now raised its huge head again and began to scream heartrendingly.

Shen Yunfang thought to herself that this was not good, there must be other wild boars coming.

She did not dare to delay, quickly threw her things into the space, and then started running down the hillside in the right direction.

As she ran, the squealing sounded closer and closer. She couldn’t care less, hurried two steps more, and then dove into the bushes to hide. She dared not move her body but kept her ears pricked, listening.

The squealing was indeed getting closer, and it was intermittent, definitely not made by just one.

Shen Yunfang fearlessly peeked her head out, only to be stunned. She saw a big fat pig leading a group of mid-sized pigs running out of the woods in front of her, rushing towards the lying boar.

Shen Yunfang was so frightened that she quickly retracted her head, and with her ears pricked, she listened intently. She had heard that wild boars had very good hearing and smell, and then silently congratulated herself on her wise decision because she was now downwind.

After waiting a while, she couldn’t help but raise her head to look again. The leading wild boar was standing next to the downed one, and from its size and teeth, it appeared to be a sow, circling around the boar on the ground, with five little boars following her around. The piglets were not small either, each weighing about a hundred and eighty pounds.

That was a family of seven!

Shen Yunfang lay at the bottom of the hillside, not daring to approach. It was over now; she wouldn’t dare to take on the sow even if she had ten times the courage, let alone in the presence of the sow’s husband. Feeling guilty, she retracted her head again.

However, she couldn’t bring herself to give up just like that. Not to mention the wild boar meat, if she let these few wild boars escape, the crops she had planted might as well be forgotten—they would surely be ravaged by them.

After much thought and consideration, Shen Yunfang shook her head and decided to risk it. The male wild boar’s leg was broken and surely it wouldn’t be able to run. Now it was a matter of whether she could outlast the sow. As long as the sow left, she would rush down and finish the male wild boar with a knife, then pack it into her space and leave, Shen Yunfang thought resentfully. (Her space couldn’t contain living things, plants excluded)
Then, the family of seven wild boars comforted each other on the hillside, while Shen Yunfang lay below, feeding the mosquitoes.

Luckily, after about half an hour, the sow led the five little boars back into the woods. She didn’t know what they were off to do, but they couldn’t possibly be going to forage, what with her whole field of sweet potato sprouts unseen by them, preferring the far to the near. Suddenly, Shen Yunfang felt relieved again. It was a good thing wild boars weren’t that bright; if they took care of their eating and toileting all here, she would have had nothing to do with it.

After lying there for another ten minutes to ensure the sow would not return anytime soon, Shen Yunfang quickly climbed up from the hillside and dashed towards the lying boar.

The boar heard the noise and suddenly raised its head again, its small eyes fiercely looking at the human in front of it, and it made a warning grunt through its nostrils.

But Shen Yunfang could tell that it didn’t have the same energy as it had in the morning, probably because it was tired from calling out, or maybe it was hungry. In any case, it wasn’t as threatening as it had been in the morning.

Yunfang stopped two meters away from the boar and observed it for a while, feeling that the boar was almost finished and was now just bluffing.

She quickly raised the kitchen knife she had taken from her space to her chest, ready to strike the pig’s neck when the time was right. It was better to be quick about it, as she was also afraid that the sow might come back.

Shen Yunfang circled around the wild boar several times and finally seized the opportunity. She quickly stepped forward and, before the boar could twist its neck, raised the kitchen knife and chopped down at its neck.

Then, a sound like that of a pig being slaughtered filled the air. The wild boar, perhaps sensing the threat, no longer made pleasant sounds as it struggled to move its body, trying to dig at Shen Yunfang with its sharp fangs.

Shen Yunfang, somewhat dumbfounded, looked at the kitchen knife in her hand and then at the wild boar’s neck, which seemed unharmed. The skin was too thick; her kitchen knife couldn’t even scratch it. This left her wondering how she was going to eat meat.

This time, it was Shen Yunfang’s turn to look resentfully at the boar lying helplessly on the ground—it was still causing her trouble even at this crucial moment.

Since she couldn’t deal with the boar on the ground for the time being, Shen Yunfang’s mind began to conjure up more wicked ideas. Having seen those older boars, it made no sense not to take them down as well. It wasn’t her style to do things by halves.

Shen Yunfang turned her head and picked out the area where the young and adult boars frequently moved about. She crouched down and began to dig a hole, reasoning that if her trap had successfully caught one wild boar, there was no reason why the others wouldn’t fall for it. She dug several more, determined to ensure the whole family couldn’t escape.

While she crouched there digging, her ears were perked up, constantly vigilant, in case those other boars returned.

Having delayed on the mountain long enough, Shen Yunfang dug several holes and then went down the mountain, planning to continue the next day.

Thus, Shen Yunfang spent two whole days on the mountain, and several times she saw the sow with the piglets coming to check on the boar; she always hid from them. After all, her small frame was no match for their charge.

The male wild boar was almost done for. The cries it made had grown much softer because, after all, lying on the ground for two days, hunger alone would have taken a toll on it.

Finally, on the third day, when Shen Yunfang came to the mountain ready to continue digging, she discovered that she no longer needed to dig; the remaining boars, regardless of size, were all crippled. The traps she had covered with grass were now exposed.

Three of the piglets, like the male boar, had broken legs and lay immobile on the ground. The sow was not putting weight on one of her front legs, and two of the piglets also had issues with a leg.

Shen Yunfang laughed softly as she looked at the incapacitated family of seven, then frowned. There were still three standing—what to do? She couldn’t beat any of them.

Watching the few boars that still stood strong on the slope, her eyes rolled this way and that. At last, gritting her teeth, she thought, “No pain, no gain.” If she wanted meat without any effort, that was too good to be true.

She had to fight for the right to feast on meat.

Making herself as small as possible and keeping her movements light, she circled from one end of the slope to the other, the opposite side of the area, then looked up to gauge her position. On purpose, she made some noise in the bushes, then quickly moved away.

Even if she craved meat, she understood the importance of staying alive.

Wild boars have very sharp hearing, and with Shen Yunfang now not too far from the boars, the three-legged sow immediately turned her head, threateningly grunting towards the place where the sound had come from.

Shen Yunfang quietly lifted her head only to find the sow glaring at her. Faced with those fierce little eyes, her legs trembled. The wild boar had discovered her, truly discovered her.

Instinctively, she turned and ran downhill, but the more agitated she became, the more likely she was to make mistakes. She hadn’t run far when she tripped over the grass underfoot, tumbling head over heels.

In that instant, a thought flashed through Shen Yunfang’s mind: It’s over! It’ll all be over with one wild boar to eat—she hadn’t had to be so greedy. Now, instead of outsmarting the boars, she was the one facing her end here.