An Ning planted herself menacingly in front of Lin Cuihua, facing off against Du Guijuan and Anjing on the other side.

An Ercheng rushed out from the house at once and stood beside Du Guijuan.

"What do you think you’re doing? You’re from a younger generation! Have you no respect?"

An Ercheng’s words infuriated the An family.

’What right did he have to criticize An Ning!’

"How my daughter acts is none of your business."

Lin Cuihua stepped forward like a protective mother hen. The eldest aunt, who hadn’t planned on saying anything, came over as well.

"An Ercheng, it’s not your place to speak in this family. Our An Ning is just fine. Why don’t you mind your own business and get out of the way."

With the two senior women speaking, the An family’s young men held their tongues. However, they stood lined up in the doorway, glaring like tigers at An Ercheng’s family of three.

Regardless of whether An Ning was formidable or not, she was their cherished favorite.

An Ercheng was about to say more, but Du Guijuan tugged at his side and, surprisingly, tried to smooth things over with gentle words.

"Ercheng, I’m fine. I was just chatting with my sisters-in-law. We’re all family, there’s nothing we can’t get past."

A complete change from moments before, Du Guijuan stepped out from beside An Ercheng. She smiled at An Ning like the big bad wolf dressed as a grandmother—amiable on the surface, but only she knew her true intentions.

"So this is An Ning. You’ve grown up so beautifully. How old are you now? A bit older than our Anjing, I believe?"

With Du Guijuan backing down, the eldest aunt and Lin Cuihua decided not to press the issue, even if they didn’t know what had caused her sudden change of heart.

After all, it was the Lunar New Year, so they didn’t say anything more.

An Ning, on the other hand, had a pretty good idea of what was going on, but she chose not to expose it for the time being.

"I’m eighteen."

Without giving Du Guijuan a chance to respond, An Ning picked up a basin of unpeeled potatoes and asked, "Who wants to peel these?"

"I will!"

Du Guijuan eagerly volunteered. An Ning, her back turned to the woman, smiled an enigmatic smile.

An Ning turned and handed the basin of potatoes to Du Guijuan. "Thank you for the help, Second Aunt. If you can’t manage it yourself, feel free to ask Anjing to help you."

Du Guijuan kept a smile on her face, her attitude impossibly agreeable. 𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖

Behind her, Anjing was clearly reluctant, but she was quickly silenced by Du Guijuan.

The lovesick An Ercheng saw nothing wrong with this. His life revolved entirely around Du Guijuan. If Du Guijuan wanted to do something, she did it. If she didn’t, she wouldn’t.

The tense, confrontational atmosphere in the kitchen melted away completely.

Du Guijuan not only did the work, but she also eagerly vied for every task.

Anjing, the only one who objected, was chased out of the kitchen after proving incompetent at the chores.

In the courtyard, all the younger members of the An family were outside.

Aside from two small children, the rest were all young adults.

Among them, An Ning was the only girl.

The group was playing one of the oldest games around: a one-legged bumping contest.

Each person stood on one leg, holding their other foot with one hand. They would then charge at each other from different directions and collide. Whoever put their other foot down first, lost.

"Go, big brother!"

"Go, big brother!"

The current matchup was between An Guoyang, Uncle An’s eldest son, and An Guoqing.

Each had his own cheering squad, and amid the shouts, the two of them slammed into each other.

THUD!

"Go for it!"

"Go for it!"

For a moment, they were evenly matched. Neither of them fell after the first impact.

The game was simple, but everyone playing was completely into it and having a great time.

The oldest person in the yard wasn’t even thirty, and they all played with the abandon of children.

"Childish."

Anjing curled her lip in disgust. As she cut through the middle of the yard, she deliberately bumped into An Guoyang from behind.

An Guoqing, who was opposite him, quickly reached out with both hands to steady An Guoyang, then shot a fierce glare at her.

"Are you blind?!"

"You’re the one who’s blind! Don’t you know you’re in the way?"

An Guoyang steadied himself, looked at Anjing, and snorted. "This is my family’s yard. I’m not sure which outsider is blocking the path."

Anjing was furious. She pointed a finger at the two young men, her lip quivering with indignation.

"Two grown men, ganging up on a girl! You’re shameless!"

An Guoyang just scoffed coldly, but An Guoqing had no patience for her theatrics.

"Ugly people sure love to stir up trouble!"

An Guoqing also let out a cold snort and moved to one side.

Two clear lines were drawn in the yard.

In one line stood Anjing, all alone.

In the other stood every other member of the An family.

Anjing felt utterly wronged, and tears began to stream down her face.

It wasn’t that An Ning’s heart went out to her; she just didn’t want to ruin everyone’s holiday mood. Besides, she knew her eldest uncle still held out some hope for An Ercheng.

"You’re Anjing, right? Come with me."

An Ning stepped out from the crowd and walked toward Anjing.

Unfortunately, her gesture was not appreciated.

"Hmph, I don’t need your fake sympathy."

Anjing ran off, weeping and wiping her tears, and fled from Uncle An’s courtyard.

An Ning shrugged, shook her head, and sighed.

’What a handful.’

"You guys keep playing. I’ll go check on her."

The others understood An Ning’s concern. They could fight and argue all they wanted, but no one actually wanted her to get hurt.

Especially not on their watch.

An Ning followed her out. She didn’t try to catch up, simply trailing from a distance and letting Anjing walk on her own.

’She figured Anjing wouldn’t get very far.’

Sure enough, Anjing only made it to the foot of the mountain before she ran out of steam.

She plopped down on a rock, fuming and muttering to herself.

An Ning didn’t even need to get close to hear Anjing’s grumbling. It was all about blaming other people.

She blamed the countryside for being awful, blamed them for not welcoming her, blamed them for being too savage, and blamed them for being blind.

Most of all, she blamed them for fawning over An Ning when she herself was clearly the youngest.

’What an unlikable girl.’

An Ning could understand a young girl’s jealousy, but what she could never forgive was that this girl, old enough to know better, had actually pushed a pregnant woman. She deserved no sympathy.

An Ning waited for about half an hour before approaching her.

"Hmph!"

Anjing turned her back, clearly indicating she wanted to be left alone.

But An Ning didn’t play by the rules. She said bluntly, "I came to tell you that there are wolves, brown bears, and giant wild boars on this mountain. If any of them were to appear, killing you would be well within their capabilities."

"The scene... how can I even describe it?"

"First, the sharp teeth would tear open your skin. There wouldn’t be much blood at first, just a little seeping out. Then, the teeth would pierce your muscles and snap your bones..."

An Ning painted a vivid and graphic picture for Anjing.

When she was done, she gave a nonchalant wave and said:

"Goodbye, and good luck."

Anjing, who was left behind, was at first angry and disbelieving.

But in the very next second, a howl—"AWOOOO———AWOOOO———"—rang out, seemingly right next to her ear.

An Ning, walking ahead, stumbled almost imperceptibly. ’That wolf... its howl sounds awfully familiar.’

An Ning glanced toward Jiang Xia’s house and, just as she suspected, saw a hand appear from behind the courtyard wall and wave twice.

"AWOOOO———"

An Ning stifled a laugh. ’Da Huang is amazing, he’s even learned a new language.’

Behind the wall of Jiang Xia’s house, Da Huang looked at Jiang Xia with utter disdain and shook his head. ’What a disgrace to canines.’

Jiang Xia slowly closed his mouth, which had been rounded for the howl.

"Da Huang, what’s with that look?"