By noon, the three of them were sitting by the river sorting mushrooms when the big yellow dog and the wildcat came rushing down the mountain like a gust of wind.
The dog had a wild rabbit in his mouth, and the wildcat carried a pheasant.
They moved so fast they were almost blurs. In the blink of an eye, they reached the three and scattered the sorted mushrooms all over again.
"Cough, cough..." Meng Anzhi covered her mouth, a hint of anger on her little face. "Dahuang, look what you've done."
Before the dust had settled, something heavy landed in her arms. Meng Anzhi looked down and yelped in fright, then realized what it was and hurriedly covered it with her body.
"Auntie, Dahuang actually caught a wild rabbit! He's amazing!"
At her words, the wildcat's golden eyes snapped toward Meng Anzhi. He gave the pheasant at his feet a kick and held his head high, as if to say:
Kid... open your eyes wide. Who's the best hunter here? A pheasant is much harder to catch than a wild rabbit.
Meng Anzhi rubbed her eyes, then reached out and pinched her younger brother. Meng Anci grimaced in pain. "Sis, that hurts! You're not dreaming."
Hearing this, Meng Anzhi couldn't help throwing her arms around the wildcat and squealing with excitement.
Not to be outdone, the big yellow dog swung his great head around and burrowed into Meng Anci's arms.
The little fellow giggled.
Since their father died, they had gone more than a year without meat. They had almost forgotten what it tasted like.
Holding the wildcat, Meng Anzhi looked expectantly at Jin Shanyao. "Auntie, let's have chicken and mushroom stew tonight."
Meng Anci swallowed, clearly wanting chicken and mushroom stew too.
Jin Shanyao hesitated. She couldn't cook, but seeing the expectant looks in the human younglings' eyes, she couldn't bear to refuse.
"All right, we'll have chicken and mushroom stew tonight."
At once, the children cheered. They hugged Jin Shanyao's legs and swayed back and forth. "Auntie's the best! Auntie's the best..."
After playing around for a while, they happily headed home with what they had gathered on the mountain.
As they neared the foot of the mountain, Jin Shanyao keenly sensed that something was wrong.
She could just make out the village head surrounded by members of the Meng family's first and second branches, with villagers crowding around to watch the excitement.
Diao Siniang also noticed Jin Shanyao and was somewhat disappointed to see her carrying both children.
But when she saw the bulge at Jin Shanyao's waist, she knew Jin Shanyao had found something good on the mountain.
She gave Meng Hongde a push and motioned for him to look.
Greed flashed through Meng Hongde's eyes. He hurried forward, pretending to be shaken, and pointed at Jin Shanyao as he demanded sternly:
"Jin Shanyao, who told you to take the Meng children up the mountain? What sort of place do you think White Head Mountain is?
"It's a wolf's den! A black bear's cave! Even an old hunter would think twice before going in! How dare you take two little babes there? What are you plotting?"
Meng Hongde's eyes reddened as he spoke. "My third brother and his wife are gone, and this is all the flesh and blood they left behind. How could you have the heart to get them killed? Give the children back to me. Our Meng family doesn't need you to raise them."
Diao Siniang chimed in at just the right moment. "I thought you were kindhearted and would give the children something to eat. Who would've thought you'd take them off to their deaths? How can your heart be so cruel?"
"Exactly." Meng Hongyi of the second branch stepped forward. "You took them deep into the mountains today. Would you dare push them off a cliff tomorrow?
"Our old Meng family's bloodline can't be lost at an outsider's hands! Give the children back to me."
He reached out to snatch them, but Jin Shanyao nimbly dodged him.
Jin Shanyao cast a cool glance over them. "Are you done? If you're done, get lost."
"What kind of attitude is that? Don't think that just because you've got hold of the two children, we don't dare do anything to you. Cough, cough..." Meng Hongde had spoken too quickly and pulled at the wound on his chest, sending himself into a fit of coughing.
After a while, he caught his breath. "Village head, you tell us what's right. She's from another village, yet she came here to snatch children and seize land. If every wife follows her example and lets her natal relatives take her husband's family's property, won't everything fall into chaos?"
The villagers watching the excitement thought he had a point. A sense of crisis immediately rose among them. "That's right, village head! We can't let Jin Shanyao take over the Meng family's house and land. Drive her out!"
"That's right, drive her out!"
"All right, stop arguing!" the village head shouted. He glanced at Jin Shanyao in displeasure. Ever since she came to the village, the Meng family's troubles had been nonstop.
"Jin Shanyao, why did you take the children up the mountain?"
Jin Shanyao gave a concise answer. "Hunting."
"Pah! A girl who can't lift anything in her hands or carry anything on her shoulders, and you went hunting?"
Jin Shanyao impatiently gave Dahuang a kick. "Are you blind?" she asked coldly.
Meng Hongyi choked on his words. Only then did he notice the game hanging from the dog. He swallowed, unable to take his eyes off it.
Before Wen Jingshu died, she had placed the two children in Jin Shanyao's care in front of the village head, saying that her younger sister would raise them from then on. Since Jin Shanyao hadn't intended to harm the two children, he could hardly say anything.
"All right, all right, everyone disperse." With that, he instructed Jin Shanyao, "Don't take the children with you the next time you go up the mountain."
Seeing the village head turn to leave, Meng Hongde said urgently, "Village head, is that it?"
"What else do you want?" the village head said irritably. "Take the children back to eat wild vegetables with you?"
The retort left Meng Hongde speechless. He turned to Jin Shanyao and said viciously, "Just you wait. The village head may not be able to deal with you, but someone can. Second Brother, let's go home."
Jin Shanyao had never been threatened before. Her gaze hardened, and her spiritual power struck the backs of the Meng family members in an instant.
Meng Hongde cried out and fell flat on his face, with Diao Siniang and Meng Hongyi tumbling after him.
The family fell in a heap, tumbling over one another. When they got up, the corners of their mouths, their noses, and their knees were battered and bloody as gourds.
Matchmaker Gao was unwilling to let matters rest after seeing the Meng family leave. She smiled at Jin Shanyao. "Meng family's little auntie, what are you carrying in the hem of your clothes? Open it up and show everyone."
The people around them turned their eyes on Jin Shanyao, their gazes as hungry as wolves and tigers, as if they wanted to see straight through the hem of her clothes.
Jin Shanyao was displeased. "Do you have to look at everything? Why don't you bring out your money box and show everyone?"
"Hey, what kind of way is that to talk? We all live in the same village. What's wrong with opening it up and letting us have a look...?" As she spoke, she looked at the big, fat Dahuang.
A pheasant and a wild rabbit were hanging from the dog, and even the wildcat had a small bundle slung over him. There was no telling what was inside it.
But the sight of the meat alone made her drool.
Matchmaker Gao's eyes darted about, and she teased, "Meng family's little auntie, no wonder you've been hiding it. So you caught game on the mountain."
Someone asked curiously, "Meng family's little auntie, did you catch all of these on the mountain? You didn't run into any tigers or black bears, did you?"
"That rabbit is really fat. Meng family's little auntie, sell it to me."
The flood had ruined the crops, but it hadn't washed away their silver. The households still had some money on hand.
The price of grain in the county town had simply soared so high that the common people couldn't bear to waste their money on it. They wanted to wait a little longer, until the imperial court's relief grain arrived to see them through this hardship.
But the sight of the meat in Jin Shanyao's hands brought all the bitterness of these past days surging up at once.
When Meng Anzhi and Meng Anci heard that the villagers wanted to buy it, they looked fearfully at Jin Shanyao, their eyes full of pleading.
Jin Shanyao had promised to make chicken and mushroom stew for the two children, so naturally she would keep her word.
"The mountain's right there. If you want to eat, go hunt for yourselves. I'm not selling mine at any price."
With that, she walked around the crowd and continued on her way.
Matchmaker Gao tried to stop her, but the big yellow dog blocked her path.
The big yellow dog bared his teeth, his eyes fierce. Frightened, Matchmaker Gao retreated several steps. Watching Jin Shanyao walk away, she spat fiercely. Who did she think she was?