Wow, this rough-around-the-edges pregnant wife is something else, she's incredibly ruthless!

"Wife, the other day my elder brother and the others came to the seed station in town and planted a batch of rice. Isn't that a bit too early?"

Sitting in the carriage, Lu Chuan asked Meng Tong inside as he drove.

He was too busy with other things at the time and forgot to tell Sheng Yu and the others. Now that he remembered, Lu Chuan was afraid that if they planted the seedlings too early, they would die.

However, Meng Tong's unhurried voice came from inside.

"It's alright, it will survive. We need to speed things up here too. From what I heard from my brother, they're being very proactive there; they started tilling the land not long after the snow melted."

“Yes, they have plenty of sunshine there, so the snow melts quickly,” Lu Chuan replied.

Meng Tong thought about it and agreed; Duanshan Village was a shady place.

The two chatted as they walked towards Duanshan Village. During this time, the woman also told Liu Xiong and the others about their plans to go out.

The man had no objection to this, only saying that he would come to him for a chat later.

Meng Tong didn't ask what they wanted to talk about, and just lay down on the bed to rest.

Back in Duanshan Village, it was already dark. Sheng Yuanyuan and the younger children were reading in the house, while Sheng Tao and the elders went to the lumberyard near the stables.

Jiang Zhu went to Pingkou Village. Sheng Zhuzhu was more than six months pregnant and her belly was getting bigger. She was scared to be alone, so Jiang Zhu went there to keep her company.

Upon entering the courtyard, Lu Chuan and Meng Tong first went inside to change their clothes, then one went to Sheng Yuanyuan's room and the other went to the kitchen.

"Mom, you're back!"

Lu He, who was diligently doing her homework, was the first to see the woman at the door. The little girl happily put down her calligraphy brush and came over.

His eyes shone brightly as he looked up at the woman.

"Mother~"

One called out, then the others called out, and within seconds they all gathered around. Meng Tong touched them one by one, then looked up at Sheng Yuanyuan and said, "Thank you for your hard work, Yuanyuan."

"It's not hard work, Fourth Sister-in-law. They're so well-behaved, and Xiao Song is helping me too!"

Standing next to Sheng Yuanyuan, Xiao Song unconsciously tilted his head back, looking like he was waiting for praise.

Meng Tong was amused by him; the little guy had indeed become much more cheerful in the past few months.

He was generous with his praise.

After asking each of them about their tasks, Meng Tong led them downstairs.

Then I walked toward the front yard.

Lu Chuan was busy cutting meat in the kitchen. Sheng Tao and the others hadn't arrived yet, so Meng Tong went in to help the man.

"What do you want to eat tonight?" Lu Chuan asked.

"I'll eat whatever you cook, but we don't have many vegetables left. We'll have to replant some in a few days."

Meng Tong replied.

“Okay, then I’ll plow the backyard tomorrow,” Lu Chuan replied. “But aren’t there still some radishes that Mom planted on there?”

"Yes, they said they're going to use them to pickle radishes."

The radish seeds in the backyard were brought over by Jiang Zhu from Dawn Island. Sheng Yu and the others said that the radishes from Dawn Island are particularly delicious, especially when made into pickled radishes.

Jiang Zhu then prepared some.

Thankfully, there wasn't a particularly severe frost, otherwise they would have been frozen solid.

"Tomorrow I'll pull up the radish and put it in my wife's magic pot. When she comes back, I'll take it out and cook it for her."

Without hesitation, Meng Tong replied, "Okay."

Since she doesn't know how to cook it anyway, she might as well leave it in the space for now.

With fewer people at home now, Lu Chuan doesn't need to spend too much time cooking.

The six dishes and one soup took the man a little over an hour to prepare.

Stir-fried beef with garlic sprouts, spicy diced chicken, braised pork ribs, eggplant with minced meat, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, stir-fried cabbage, and a lamb soup—that's all for tonight's meal.

After setting out the bowls and chopsticks, Sheng Tao and the others still hadn't arrived, and it was already completely dark.

Lu Chuan told Meng Tong and the others to eat first, and then he went to check out the lumberyard.

……

Timber workshop.

The rhythmic sound of sawing wood came from the closed lumber mill. Lu Chuan's dark eyes flashed, and then he stepped forward and knocked on the door first.

"Dong dong dong."

"Grandpa, Father, Fourth Uncle, dinner's ready."

The man knocked and called out, but there was no response. A bad feeling flashed through Lu Chuan's mind, and he kicked the door open and went inside.

What came into view were three people lying on the ground, unable to get up.

Lu Chuan's pupils contracted slightly, and he rushed to Sheng Tao's side. The man carefully picked up Sheng Tao, who was lying on the ground.

His voice trembled slightly as he said, "Grandpa, Grandpa, wake up."

No matter how Lu Chuan called out to them, there was no response, but touching their noses and pulses clearly told him that they were still alive.

Looking at Sheng Jin and Sheng Bing, their situations are the same as Sheng Tao's.

The man disregarded everything else and quickly picked up the person and ran towards the courtyard.

"Boom."

The living room door was suddenly pushed open, startling the children. Meng Tong's eyes flashed with murderous intent, and her superpower was about to strike the man's vital point.

Fortunately, Lu Chuan spoke up in time, "Wife, it's me. Grandpa and the others have fainted."

She fainted.

"Fourth Brother, what's going on? What happened to Grandpa and the others?"

At first, they only saw Sheng Tao lying unconscious in the man's arms, but when they got closer, they found Sheng Jin and Sheng Bing lying unconscious at the door as well.

Sheng Yuanyuan also became anxious, and her eyes filled with tears without her realizing it.

"Father, what happened to Great-Grandpa and the others?"

"Let me see."

Meng Tong walked up to Lu Chuan and first asked him to carry the person to the small couch in the main hall. Then the woman used her supernatural ability to investigate their situation.

There was nothing wrong with his body, but for some reason he remained unconscious.

Meng Tong was also in a bit of a predicament.

"Is there anything suspicious in the lumber mill?"

"No," Lu Chuan replied with a tense face. "I checked as soon as I came in. Grandpa and the others have been unconscious for more than an hour."

“That’s strange, I didn’t notice anything wrong with their bodies.”

Meng Tong replied with a frown.

The woman then examined their bodies carefully but still found nothing wrong.

"Could it be that they've been cursed?"

Sheng Yuanyuan suddenly blurted out a sentence, which woke Lu Chuan and Meng Tong up.

The two exchanged a knowing glance, and then the same person came to mind.

"I'm going to find my elder brother and the others. My wife is at home looking after the children."

"……it is good."

Meng Tong nodded, his gaze never leaving the foreheads of Sheng Tao and the other two.

If I'm not mistaken, the people of Nanling seem to possess some form of witchcraft.

Lu Chuan rushed out the door without taking a carriage, but instead summoned Bai Ye, who was patrolling the mountains.

The man only whispered a few unintelligible words into its ear, and then Bai Ye's body trembled, carrying the man away into the night.

Upon receiving the signal, the wolves in the mountains also ran towards other villages.

Outside Pingkou Village, a man with a full beard and eyes as sinister as a knife is looking up at the three words "Worry-Free Valley".

Behind him followed a group of more than twenty armed guards, whose attire was unlike that of the Great Wei, but rather resembled that of foreigners.