CHAPTER 20: CHAPTER 19: BLACK BEAR

"Da Lang, Second Lang! Open the door, it’s your Aunt, have you eaten? I steamed some coarse rice buns, come out and get them!"

The door slowly opened, revealing the tearful Sanlang and Si Niang. Sister-in-law He asked in surprise:

"Why are you two crying? Is it because I came too late and you’re hungry?"

As she spoke, she quickly took out the coarse rice buns covered with gauze from the basket and handed them to the two children, then said to Da Lang and Second Lang:

"Third family’s not sure when they’ll be back. For the next few days, if you want to eat, come to the old house. She left me copper coins to buy food and asked me to look after your meals."

Da Lang looked up in shock, "She left you money?"

She didn’t abandon them and sneak away?

Sister-in-law He nodded, noticing the Dragon and Phoenix Twins devouring the buns and forgetting to cry, muttered in an exasperated tone:

"Your stepmother and your dad are really alike, with thicker skin than the rammed earth under the city walls. She just left a few copper coins to handle feeding the four of you, I don’t even know how much I have to chip in."

"It’s been four days, who knows when she’ll return. The deep mountains aren’t easy to navigate, and if something happens to her as a weak woman..."

Just as she was about to finish, she noticed the four children staring at her, looking like they would bite her if she dared to say anything bad about their stepmother, and Sister-in-law He quickly stopped speaking.

She clicked her tongue, stuffed the remaining two buns in the basket to Da Lang and Second Lang, and reminded them again: "Come to the old house to eat in the mornings and evenings. I don’t have the time to deliver food to you every day, there’s lots of work at home."

Muttering, "Still protecting her," she then quickly left with the empty basket.

There really was a lot of work left unfinished at home, and she was so busy she almost forgot about feeding the four mouths in the third family, which is why she came late.

As soon as Sister-in-law He left, the four siblings who were just worried quickly put on smiling faces, gnawing on the still warm coarse rice buns, thinking that their stepmother hadn’t abandoned them, she even asked Aunt to take care of them.

"Brother, she will definitely catch some prey and come back." Second Lang looked at the clear blue sky, filling one’s heart with endless hope, and confidently said, "She’s so strong, she can do it."

"Mm." Da Lang looked up towards the endless northern mountains, a smile appearing on his lips.

"Hurry up and eat, and we’ll boil water to clean our dirty faces afterwards." Da Lang urged his younger siblings.

The three smaller ones giggled at him, with black soot on their faces from being in the house tending the fire, looking like spotted cats.

Si Niang was the first to finish eating and obediently sat on the doorstep, waiting for her brothers to boil water so she could wash her face first.

The little girl lifted her face up, letting Da Lang clean her face thoroughly, mumbling:

"Mother likes clean good babies the most, Si Niang listens to Mother’s words and will be a clean and good baby."

Da Lang cleaned up the two younger ones and had them snuggle together on the bed to keep from catching a cold.

Even though the sky was clear, it was still a bit cold outside.

After cleaning himself, Da Lang and Second Lang silently picked up brooms to start tidying up the house, seeing the open-air kitchen dirtied by rain and fallen leaves.

Nobody taught them hygiene before, so everything was filthy.

But now, someone told them to wash their mouths and faces morning and evening, wash feet before bed, clean the bowls after eating, and maintain a clean stove, so they wouldn’t get sick from eating.

She also taught them how to weave straw ropes and explained all sorts of new things to them.

It was also from her that they learned that taro was not a scary poison but life-saving food.

She seemed to be the backbone of this family; with her there, they felt at ease.

Da Lang paused mid-sweep, surprised to realize, in just a few days since the stepmother’s arrival, he already wanted to rely on her.

He didn’t even remember the biological father who was taken away.

For a moment, he thought, if life could always be like this, it would be wonderful.

That man... it’s okay if he doesn’t come back.

"Brother?" Second Lang called to his brother, not knowing what he was daydreaming about; he called him several times without a response.

"Are you thinking about the stepmother too?" Second Lang awkwardly asked.

Da Lang snapped back to reality and hastily nodded, afraid his brother would see through his dark thoughts.

Then, filled with self-reproach, he chastised himself, thinking he was unfilial and shouldn’t have such thoughts.

Second Lang murmured, "I wonder how stepmother is doing now."

The sunset painted the sky crimson, and Da Lang glanced once more towards the North Mountain.

"Achoo!"

Perched on the tree, Qin Yao couldn’t hold back and let out a loud sneeze.

The sneeze made her hand holding the knife tremble, nearly getting swiped off by the standing bear.

Luckily, her combat instincts honed in the post-apocalyptic world kicked in, and just as the bear’s paw swung towards her, her body instinctively dodged.

However, this dodge allowed the bear she had trapped under the tree to suddenly leap onto it, and the two of them, person and bear, stood on a branch less than two meters apart, staring at each other.

Without a moment of hesitation, Qin Yao drew an arrow, pulled her bow, and quickly released a shot!

It is said that archers can’t fight in close combat, but that just means their training isn’t fast enough.

In the post-apocalyptic world, the mutated plants and animals don’t care about the distance; they can suddenly appear in front of you at any time.

With ammunition scarce, Qin Yao mastered using a bow at close range, and although it wasn’t as powerful as long-distance shooting, it was sufficient to slightly hinder the enemy’s advance.

Moreover, when faced with human enemies, this close-range bow often caught them off guard.

The close-range arrow didn’t fail, hitting the bear.

But the force wasn’t great, only piercing its fur, which just made it angrier, and it roared, lunging at Qin Yao.

Qin Yao had been waiting for the perfect moment to lure out this bear, and after the rain stopped and traps set, the bear did appear as expected.

Unexpectedly, it avoided her trap, and upon seeing Qin Yao, as if sensing her formidable presence, it turned and ran, not falling into the trap she set.

Of course, Qin Yao couldn’t just watch the bear she painstakingly lured out with so much effort run away, so she immediately shot an arrow, hitting its rear and successfully angered the bear, which turned back to attack her.

Thus, man and bear engaged in a back-and-forth struggle amidst these not-so-dense woods for several rounds.

As the bear lunged, Qin Yao swiftly switched to her sharpened short knife, with the fragile end of the branch behind her unable to support a person’s weight.

There was no way she could move back, and she wouldn’t!

With a sidestep, kneeling, raising the knife with nine-tenths of her strength, she aimed at the bear’s sole unprotected, light-colored belly, and slashed!

"Roar! Roar! Roar!!!"

A thunderous, anguished howl resounded, shaking half the mountain range, and the once ferocious bear plummeted from the four-meter-high branch with a loud thud.

With one hand clinging to the tree branch and the other holding the blood-soaked knife, Qin Yao leapt from the branch, driving the full weight of her body into the struggling bear beneath her.

After a brief, pained howl, the bear’s throat was logged with half a knife handle, the blade deeply embedded, and blood seeped from behind its head, soaking the dark decayed soil beneath.

The bear unwillingly exhaled its last breath.

Kneeling upon the bear, Qin Yao withdrew her knife, casually wiping the hot bear blood from her face and looked down at the bear’s lifeless body with a wide grin!

With this, the winter should be much easier.