Song Wei remembered from the novels she had read that this era later ushered in a “golden age,” where money seemed to be easily earned as long as one had a skill or the courage to venture out.
However, who said one must leave home to make money?
She was genuinely considering settling down in Laozao Village. She truly loved this place.
Aunt Xinghua held her hand cheerfully, her fondness for Song Wei growing stronger with every glance.
When they parted, Aunt Xinghua was particularly warm and enthusiastic.
The snow had stopped, and Song Wei planned to head to the mountains to gather some leaves to feed the sika deer.
“Song Zhiqing, take these with you,” Lin Zhen called out, hopping on one foot to catch up with her. He handed her a few warm steamed buns thoughtfully wrapped in a sturdy cloth bag.
Song Wei glanced at him, a little surprised.
Lin Zhen straightened his back. “What? Why are you staring?”
Earlier, she hadn’t looked at him like this. Now she was staring directly at his face. Did he have dirt on it or something?
Song Wei blinked. “Nothing. Thanks. I’ll head out now.”
She decided not to bring Heidan along; the cold weather and snowy terrain could make the child sick.
Heidan was visibly dissatisfied. After all, he used to chop wood in weather just as cold when he lived with the Lin family—though, to be fair, he did fall ill for a while afterward.
Now that he thought about it, it seemed like sheer luck he’d survived back then.
Song Wei didn’t venture too far. In this season, most grass and leaves were dry or had fallen off, leaving only a few hardy plants.
For example, coniferous trees like fir and pine.
These trees had needle-like leaves that remained green even in winter, though they were often dusted with snow. Forest deer couldn’t reach the higher branches, so they mainly ate moss and lichen on the ground.
Song Wei climbed the tree with ease, scaling it in a few swift movements. She chopped off some green branches and quickly stuffed them into her basket.
Thinking of the patch of wild yams she hadn’t finished digging up last time, she decided to head deeper into the forest.
However, as she neared the area, she heard faint whimpering sounds. She froze in her tracks.
The soft whimpering was like the cries of a small animal. Gripping her machete tightly, she cautiously approached the source.
Beneath a large tree near the yam patch, she found a dead mother wolf.
The cries were coming from a small wolf pup struggling beneath the wolf’s body. The pup was gray, tiny, and trembling as it squirmed around weakly.
The mother wolf’s body bore bite marks and claw wounds from a fight with another animal. She was also pregnant.
The wolf cub’s eyes hadn’t even opened yet. It cried out pitifully while shivering violently, its body chilled to the bone.
Song Wei picked up the tiny creature, unbuttoned her coat, and tucked it inside to keep warm.
The pup continued to whimper and squirm in her embrace.
The mother wolf’s body was still slightly warm, suggesting she had only recently died. Likely, she had used all her strength to give birth to the cub and then succumbed to her injuries.
Song Wei didn’t hesitate. She took out her knife and cut open the mother wolf’s belly.
Her hands were soon covered in blood as she carefully retrieved three wolf cubs still in the womb, wrapped in their amniotic sacs.
Removing the sacs, she found two were lifeless, but one still had faint, shallow breaths.
Swiftly, she cleared the pup’s mouth of fluid and gently pressed its chest and performed artificial respiration.
After a few tense minutes, the tiny wolf cub let out a weak whimper, its soft paws flailing. Its tiny, pudgy body trembled as it cried.
Song Wei sighed in relief. “Lucky little thing.”
She tucked the second pup into her coat, using her body heat to warm it.
Then, she used clean snow to wash her hands and mouth. The other two lifeless cubs were placed under the mother wolf’s body, their small forms covered with snow.
“I’ll take these two cubs and try my best to raise them. I hope your pack finds your bodies.”
She then erased any traces of her presence, using crushed pine needles to mask her scent.
If a wolf pack came looking, she didn’t want them tracking her to the village.
After ensuring everything was in order, Song Wei abandoned her plans to dig up yams and headed down the mountain with her basket full of pine needles and the two cubs tucked inside her coat.
“What kind of luck is this?” Song Wei muttered. “Yesterday, I caught two deer. Today, I pick up two wolf cubs.”
“At least the deer are useful—you can eat their meat or sell their antlers for money. But you two… what can you do?”
“Whimper, whimper,” came the faint cries of the cubs.
Perhaps tired from crying, the two little creatures had fallen asleep, curled up together on her belly. Even in their sleep, they smacked their lips as if searching for milk, occasionally letting out small, pitiful sounds.
Song Wei quickened her pace. Even in the snow, her strides were swift.
She headed straight to Lin Zhen’s house, knocking on the door urgently.
Heidan soon came running to open it.
“Big Sister!” Heidan’s eyes lit up at the sight of her.
Song Wei patted his head and stepped inside, placing her basket down.
Lin Zhen emerged, noticing her odd posture as if she were hiding something under her coat.
“What’s going on?” he asked.
Song Wei replied, “I’ve got two cubs.”
Lin Zhen froze, looking thunderstruck. “What did you say? Who did this to you?!”
Song Wei glanced at him with a strange expression before realizing his misunderstanding. Her face darkened.
“What are you thinking?”
Lin Zhen flinched under her glare, instinctively leaning back. “You said… cubs…”
Rolling her eyes, Song Wei walked inside and opened her coat.
Lin Zhen leaned in, finally seeing the two tiny creatures nestled against her. Realizing his mistake, he looked away sheepishly.
After such an awkward misunderstanding, Lin Zhen quickly busied himself, finding a small basket and lining it with an old piece of clothing.
“Here, put them in here. I’ll set it by the fire.”
Heidan tiptoed curiously. “What is it, Big Sister?”
Song Wei carefully lifted the two tiny wolf cubs from her coat.
“Ahhh! Puppies! Cute little puppies!” Heidan exclaimed, his voice rising with excitement.
Startled by the noise, the cubs woke up, opening their tiny mouths to cry loudly.
Heidan panicked. “I didn’t mean to scare them, I swear!”
“They’re hungry,” Song Wei explained, handing the cubs to Lin Zhen. “They haven’t had a drop of milk since birth?”
Lin Zhen inspected the cubs closely. “These don’t look much like dog puppies.”
“They’re wolf cubs,” Song Wei said. “I found them in the mountains. Their mother had just given birth but died from injuries. Out of four cubs, only these two survived—one was already born, and I had to pull the other from the womb.”
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