Chapter 23 Fragrance Overflowing

Unlike his disheveled appearance in the morning, he was now dressed in a clean and tidy deep blue work uniform covered with patches of various sizes.

His cloth shoes also had patches, and his whole body exuded a keen chill that made people feel a sense of dread at a single glance.

Upon seeing Huo Chen rush over, Hu Zi was so frightened that he directly ran behind Xu Ying, his body stiff and tears immediately welling up in the corners of his eyes.

Grasping Xu Ying's clothes tightly with both hands, he pleaded, "Little aunt, little aunt, let's hurry back!"

Xu Ying was full of confusion, she patted Hu Zi's head and looked towards Huo Chen to ask, "Did you sell the stuff? So quickly?"

Huo Chen was not surprised by Hu Zi's reaction; the children in their village would all run away when they saw him. Only the team leader's daughter seemed to have taken leave of her senses and dared to talk to him.

He nodded his head, and seeing that no one was around, he quickly pulled out a stack of money and tickets from his pocket and handed it to Xu Ying, "Wolf meat sold for 70 cents a pound, and there were other tickets included.

The wolves weighed over two hundred pounds and sold for 168 yuan; the rest of the money is to thank you for saving me and Old Hui."

Xu Ying's eyes gleamed, clearly fascinated by money. She quickly stuffed the money and tickets into her clothes, "Thank you, Mr. Huo."

Huo Chen looked at Xu Ying's money-loving expression, a bit stunned, then waved his hand. After lifting his foot, he left behind a remark, "If you have any problems in the future, you can come to me."

Xu Ying had not figured out what was happening before his figure vanished into the woods.

Hu Zi had been hiding behind Xu Ying the whole time and only peeked out after seeing Huo Chen leave, "Little aunt, why are you talking to the wolf cub, what did you sell?"

Upon hearing the term "wolf cub," Xu Ying frowned, looking at Hu Zi she scolded, "What wolf cub? He has a name, it's Huo Chen, you can call him Uncle Huo in the future.

About selling stuff, we'll discuss it at home, got it?"

Hu Zi was full of confusion, but he still had to listen to his little aunt.

However, looking at Xu Ying, Hu Zi's eyes shone brightly, thinking how scary the wolf cub was, yet his little aunt dared to talk to him.

"First let's gather firewood. Once we're done, we'll go back. When we get home, I'll ask grandma to cook us some eggs," she said.

Hearing about the eggs, Hu Zi immediately became overjoyed, his face almost splitting with a grin, his small body darting around the mountains.

After collecting pigweed, Shitou also started to gather firewood, and the three of them continued until after four o'clock.

With three bundles of firewood already tied up beside her, Xu Ying placed one bundle into her carrying basket and held another in her arms.

Shitou carried the pigweed on his back, also holding a bundle of firewood as they returned.

Mrs. Xu saw her daughter returning with the firewood and felt heartache, quickly taking the firewood from her hands, "Oh, my dear, how could you carry it back like this, why didn't you let Shitou carry it?

Look how it's poked you; you're all red; it's breaking my heart!"

Xu Ying looked at Shitou's small frame; better not, she thought!

Mrs. Xu's eyebrows were furrowed in anger and frustration.

Xu Ying placed all the firewood on the ground and fumbled in her pocket for a long time before pulling out a stack of money.

Mrs. Xu stood there dumbfounded, speechless.

After a long time, she pulled her daughter into the house and stammered, "Where, where did all this money come from?"

Xu Ying smiled and pulled Mrs. Xu to sit on the edge of the bed, then handed her the two hundred yuan.

Huo Chen had given her a total of three hundred yuan, of which more than a hundred was the money from selling the meat, and the remaining were gratitude fees from Huo Chen.

She deserved the money, as without her, Huo Chen and Old Hui would probably be dead by now.

Mrs. Xu's jaw dropped in shock as she looked at the money: "Daughter, what have you been up to? Did you rob someone?"

"Mom, what are you talking about? I earned this money myself. Oh right, there are also some tickets," Xu Ying said as she took all the tickets out of her pocket, including cloth tickets, sugar tickets, meat tickets, and a Bicycle Ticket.

"How did you earn it?" Mrs. Xu asked anxiously. She hoped her daughter hadn't done anything illegal.

Xu Ying then recounted her adventure of going into the mountains to save Huo Chen and hunting with him: "Mom, half of this money is from hunting and the other half is from Huo Chen to show his gratitude for saving his life."

Tears streamed down Mrs. Xu's face when she heard this. She reached out and lightly tapped Xu Ying's back: "You silly girl, I told you not to go deep into the mountains. Why did you still go to such a place?

If something happened to you, what would your father and I do? Do you want to kill me with worry?"

The cubs nearly lost their lives, which showed how dangerous the situation was, yet this foolhardy girl had dared to face it. Mrs. Xu's heart ached when she thought about how her daughter could have died.

"Mom, I only went to the deep mountains once. You can rest assured, I definitely won't go there again," Xu Ying said, seeing her mother so distressed, and her own heart tightened in turn.

Only then did Mrs. Xu wipe her tears and stuff all the money into Xu Ying's hands: "Daughter, you keep the money. I don't want it. Save it for your dowry.

Your father and I can still work. Your older brother and sister-in-law are working, and your second brother is too. Your younger brother is still bringing his salary home, so our family lacks nothing."

Xu Ying, however, refused: "Mom, you must take this money. They work, but what am I to do sitting at home doing nothing? Besides, I want to use this money to show my respect for you and Dad. You have to take it."

Mrs. Xu was originally upset by her daughter's remark about not working, but when she heard her mention showing respect to her and her husband,

Mrs. Xu's heart nearly melted. She looked at her daughter and smiled: "To show respect to me and your dad, fifty is enough. I will save the rest for you, and when you get married, I will give it to you as your dowry."

"Mom, I don't want to get married. I want to stay by your and Dad's side forever."

Mrs. Xu frowned and disagreed: "That's not possible. How can you not get married when you grow up? Your father and I won't be with you for long. In the future, you'll need a man by your side."

"Do you really not like Dong Zhiqing anymore?"

The day before yesterday, she had heard her sister-in-law from the three aunts' house say that her daughter no longer liked Dong Zhiqing. At the time, she didn't believe it, but these past few days she had also heard the men say that her daughter hadn't seen that Dong Zhiqing boy anymore.

Now she was starting to believe it.

The air around them turned sharply cold, and Xu Ying shook her head: "I don't like him anymore. Now I feel like Dong Zhiqing is just like a man who lives off women, it's disgusting."

Good Lord, Mrs. Xu almost wanted to applaud. Her daughter was spot on in her description - wasn't Dong Zhiqing just like those city men who lived off women?

"Right, daughter, that boy is just living off others, shamelessly at that."

"Yep, Mom, you can rest easy now. I won't be deceived by him again," Xu Ying's eyes sparkled, and a layer of gloom in her heart cleared away.

Mrs. Xu's face was all smiles: "Good, I believe you."

It was getting late. Xu Ying stood up from the bed and turned to Mrs. Xu: "Mom, you should just slaughter our pheasants. We can't keep them; if they lose more weight in the next few days, it won't be worth it."

Upon hearing this, Mrs. Xu immediately nodded in agreement. Those pheasants had so little meat as it was; it would be a loss if they got any thinner.

"I'll go slaughter the pheasants now. We'll have pheasant soup tonight, and I'll dry the rest so we can enjoy it slowly."

Xu Ying left the house with her, and Mrs. Xu went to kill the pheasants, while she went to the vegetable garden to pull up two big radishes for the chicken soup.

There were four pheasants at home, and Mrs. Xu slaughtered them all.

"Mom, let's stew two pheasants. One is too little and won't be enough. You and Dad are both too thin; you need to nourish yourselves properly. And my older brother and his family need the nourishment too."