Becoming the Villain's Discarded Wife
Chapter 62

Chapter 62: Chapter 62

The next day, Nanzhi woke up early.

Feeling the soreness in her waist and abdomen, she found it strange.

How come she still felt sore and achy after sleeping the whole night?

Nanzhi checked on the food stored in the backyard. After stretching lazily, she headed to the front yard.

She was just about to sweep away the ashes from the last night’s fire, when she realized there was nothing on the ground except for a few burnt-out incense sticks.

Nanzhi couldn’t believe her eyes. She scrambled around in the yard for quite some time, but couldn’t find any traces of ash.

"Mother, what are you doing?" Shen Zhiyu, still groggy, asked, one little hand holding onto the door frame while the other rubbed his eyes.

His mother was searching for something in the yard without even waking him up.

"Zhiyu, did you get up in the middle of the night to sweep?"

Upon hearing this, little Shen Zhiyu was stunned. Why would he wake up in the middle of the night to sweep?

"No, I didn’t."

Looking at her son’s puzzled expression, Nanzhi found it odd. Could it be that there was a wind last night in such hot weather?

Otherwise, why would all the ash in the yard disappear?

But even if there was a wind, it was impossible for there to be not even a tiny speck of ash left in the yard.

It wasn’t Gougou who had swept in the middle of the night...

Touching her somewhat sore waist and abdomen, Nanzhi made a grimace. Could it be that she had sleepwalked and cleaned up in the middle of the night?

Failing to figure out the reason, Nanzhi let the matter slide. Regardless of how it had happened, as long as she didn’t have to clean up, it was a good thing.

She called Shen Zhiyu to wash his face and brush his teeth, before she kissed his little face.

The baby’s cheeks were soft. Having been fed well these past few days, the little fellow finally gained some weight on his face.

The wound from when he had hit a Diniu was finally clean, leaving only a light pink spot on his chin.

"Does your chin still hurt?"

Touching his own chin, Shen Zhiyu grinned and said, "No, it doesn’t hurt anymore."

Looking at the cute face of the child, Nanzhi couldn’t help but feel fond of him.

For breakfast, she boiled some potato paste, added some five-spice powder and lard. After the two of them finished their breakfast, they went out, hand in hand.

Having food at home gave her peace of mind, but she craved meat.

River Clams were cold in nature and eating too many would cause diarrhoea. The river water level was dropping, and she even failed to catch any shrimp these past few days. Always eating these made her miss the taste of meat.

Having a craving for meat, she had to think of other solutions.

Last night, she had dreamt of having street food with Zhiyu, in which she ate twenty Lamb Skewers alone.

As soon as she woke up early, she thought about going to East Mountain to try her luck. After all, Gougou once found a rabbit there, maybe she would have the same luck today.

"Mom, are we going to catch rabbits?" Shen Zhiyu, wiping off the sweat on his forehead, looked up at Nanzhi.

They’re now only halfway up the mountain. Nanzhi felt sweaty all over, hot and itchy, which was very uncomfortable.

"Yes, we’re going to catch rabbits. If we catch one, mother will roast it for you."

Upon hearing that he could have roast rabbit, the little fellow immediately pushed ahead, moving faster than Nanzhi.

Watching Shen Zhiyu’s short legs running in front of her, Nanzhi let out a breath, tightened her back basket, and followed him.

Spicy Rabbit Head, Dry Pot Rabbit, Braised Rabbit Meat, Charcoal Roasted Rabbit Leg, Cold Rabbit...

Repeating the recipes in her mind, Nanzhi finally managed to reach the top of the mountain.

Looking at the lush forest in front of her, Nanzhi plunged in.

With more and more people from the village going up to the mountain to collect chestnuts, even birds were hard to spot outside the East Mountain. If she wanted to catch a rabbit, she had to go further into the forest with Zhiyu.

"Mom, it’s so cool in here." The little fellow waved at Nanzhi after rushing into the forest.

Feeling the temperature difference inside and outside of the forest, Nanzhi had a momentary blank in her mind.

Reaching out to feel the surrounding temperature, she quickly turned her head to look behind.

It’s only a distance of about ten meters, yet the temperature inside was at least three to four degrees cooler than outside.

With her mind full of roast rabbit, Nanzhi didn’t bother to think too much. She continued to go into the forest with Gougou.

After searching for quite a while, she finally discovered a cluster of gnawed rabbit grass.

"Mom, what is this?" Shen Zhiyu moved aside some weeds and pointed at some black "beans" and asked.

"That’s rabbit dung." Nanzhi glanced at what her son was pointing to and replied curtly.

Shen Zhiyu’s face turned red, sticking out his little tongue. How could rabbit droppings be so round? He thought they were some kind of berries.

After some more looking and turning over the leaves, she confirmed that rabbits had been active here. Then Nanzhi put her basket on the ground.

She needed to work quickly, otherwise, if they stayed here too long, they would leave their scent. Animals would be very alert if they noticed any foreign scents.

"Mother, are we waiting for the rabbit to come?" Seeing Nanzhi start to dig, Shen Zhiyu was a bit puzzled. What was his mother doing digging in the ground?

"No, mother is making a trap." Nanzhi wiped the sweat off her forehead. Although it was cooler inside the forest compared to outside, she was still sweating profusely as soon as she started to work.

Though the little boy didn’t know what a trap was, seeing his mother’s serious look, he didn’t ask any more questions.

He obediently sat aside, playing with the small black balls on the ground using a wooden stick.

After about fifteen minutes of digging, Nanzhi looked at the deep pit in front of her with satisfaction. The pit was more than two feet deep, with a diameter of over one and a half feet. She even got down on her knees to pat the dirt inside, to make it flat and firm before she started the next step.

She broke some thin sticks from the surrounding area and stuck them at the entrance of the hole, then covered it with a thin layer of wild grass. She also covered the edges of the hole with fallen leaves. When it was not too conspicuous, Nanzhi pulled out a sweet potato from her bosom.

Wild rabbits would eat sweet potatoes, her grandmother had told her before.

After setting up the first trap, Nanzhi tied a hemp rope around a near tree trunk as a mark. Then she dusted off her hands and led Shen Zhiyu to the next location.

Digging pits was really tiring. She decided to set up several snare traps for the rest. After all, a hare has three burrows. What if those wild rabbits were in a bad mood and didn’t come here?

Following the traces left by the rabbits, Nanzhi set up several snare traps along the way. As this was her first time doing this, and she was afraid of having no harvest, she let Shen Zhiyu touch each of the ropes.

What’s this? This is making good use of resources!

Even though she didn’t have a system, a space, or a spirit spring like those female protagonists in novels, she had an Emperor son!

After leaving a mark at each trap, Nanzhi led Shen Zhiyu away.

She would come up again in the evening to check.

Throughout the journey, Nanzhi held Shen Zhiyu’s hand, humming a song cheerfully. But just as they reached the Chestnut Forest, they saw a lean figure slumped to the ground.