Transmigrated as a Stepmother: Time to Bring the Family to Prosper!-Chapter 143 - 142: Finally a Name

Two figures emerged against the light.

"Who?" one of them asked softly.

Qin Yao laughed; she knew that voice well, "Brother Yang, it’s me, Qin Yao!"

"Ah?" Yang Da was quite surprised, thinking this was quite the coincidence.

He quickly called his son Yang Xu over to greet them. It was getting dark, and they couldn’t make out what the mother and son were dragging behind them. They only caught a whiff of leaves mingled with a bloody scent.

The father and son went to help the mother and son with their haul, but Qin Yao hurriedly said, "No need, it’s too heavy for you to lift."

Yang Da and his son were momentarily stunned, their outstretched hands paused for a brief moment before retracting two seconds later.

Qin Yao pushed Da Lang, who was mainly there for company, forward, "Brother Xu, help me look after this little one."

Da Lang unloaded the vine from his shoulder, knowing that his presence was more of a hindrance to the stepmother, and he left with Yang Xu.

Yang Da stayed behind, escorting the two children to the fire.

Qin Yao was the last to arrive, placing their haul by the fire.

This was the cave where Qin Yao had stayed last year. Yang Da must have tidied it up, clearing the weeds at the entrance and the scattered branches. He had built a low wall with stones at the cave entrance, which served as a decent concealment and was convenient for making meals.

With the light, the prey on Qin Yao’s haul was revealed—a golden-brown tiger body that nearly startled Yang Da into jumping.

"You encountered a tiger!" Yang Da exclaimed.

Qin Yao nodded, humbly smiling, "Pretty lucky."

Yang Da: Is that what I’m asking you?!

He glanced over at the mother and son. Their clothes were dirty and disheveled but without a scratch—quite unbelievable.

Looking at the already cold tiger body on the haul, Yang Da gained a clearer understanding of Qin Yao’s actual abilities.

Da Lang took off the burlap sack he had been carrying all the way and placed it on the haul; his heavy shoulders finally relaxed, and he let out a gentle sigh.

"Isn’t that a tiger’s head?" Yang Xu asked, pointing at the tiger-head-shaped outline of the burlap sack in shock.

Da Lang nodded, "My aunt slayed it."

As he spoke, he made a motion of slicing with one hand, his little face full of pride.

Yang Da and his son exchanged glances, sharing the same astonished expression.

While they were still amazed, Qin Yao had found a good spot to call Da Lang over to sit, taking out a pot, bowls, and bamboo tubes to cook porridge over their fire.

"You even brought rice?" Yang Xu asked in surprise.

Da Lang looked at him confusedly, "What would we eat without rice?"

"This." Yang Xu dug out a dry, hard cake from a small sack on the ground, "It’s more convenient to carry dry provisions into the mountains. If we hadn’t found this cave today, we wouldn’t have dared to light such a big fire. Firelight easily attracts beasts."

Hearing this, Da Lang thought to himself, so this is how normal people go hunting in the mountains.

Not like them, starting a fire on the first night they entered the mountains, and his stepmother always seemed eager for beasts to come when she started a fire, with a green light in her eyes.

Yet they never encountered any beasts attracted by the firelight.

Yang Xu sat across from the mother and son, curiously asking Da Lang, "What’s your name? What’s Miss Qin to you?"

Da Lang glanced at Qin Yao, unsure of how to answer. He had no name and was called Da Lang since he was little.

Qin Yao added water from a bamboo tube into the small pot with rice, covered it, and after a moment of thought, responded with a smile:

"Zi Wang, Liu Ziwang, my eldest stepson."

Yang Xu patted Da Lang on the shoulder, pointing to the tiger carcass, "Aren’t you afraid?"

Da Lang shook his head woodenly, with Qin Yao’s earlier words echoing in his mind: Zi Wang, Liu Ziwang.

"Why Zi Wang?" The young boy added a piece of kindling to the fire, whispering with curiosity, just the two of them.

Qin Yao shrugged, "It sounds nice."

Da Lang: "Oh."

It does sound better, a hundred times, no, a thousand times better than Liu Dalang!

Qin Yao glanced at him, his mouth nearly split to his ears with joy, simply over a name. Indeed, he’s still a child.

"What about them?" Da Lang asked softly again.

Qin Yao thought for a moment, "Zishu, Ziming, Ping Ling; next year when you go to school, I’ll register you with those names."

Da Lang nodded excitedly. If Second Lang, Sanlang, Si Niang knew the stepmother gave them all nice names, they would definitely be thrilled.

Seeing him humming a tune while he made porridge, Qin Yao asked with amusement, "Are you that happy?"

"Yeah!" The young boy looked back at her, his eyes brighter than the moon in the sky.

Yang Da and Yang Xu had cleared out half the space in the cave. Yang Da emerged from the cave to Qin Yao, saying:

"You all sleep inside at night, Brother Xu and I will take turns keeping watch."

"It’s fine." Qin Yao blew on the white rice porridge with bacon Da Lang handed her, "I can keep watch. You all sleep in the cave; it’s more convenient that way."

Seeing Yang Da about to refuse, Qin Yao pointed to the low wall, "If I get tired, I’ll just lean here; I won’t get cold by the fire."

Seeing her insist, and knowing she indeed had that capability, Yang Da stopped persuading and called his son, who wanted to sneak a mouthful of hot porridge, to gather some firewood nearby for Qin Yao to burn at night.

Firewood collected, Qin Yao and Da Lang finished their dinner, contentedly playing with the white-furred baby squirrel that had passed out and woken up again.

Qin Yao tied the squirrel’s leg with a hemp rope. The squirrel tried to run but was trapped, anxiously and fiercely chattering its teeth and squeaking.

Yang Xu envied the sight of such a pretty live squirrel, thinking if his father had that skill, he would have already been sitting at home enjoying life.

"Liu Ziwang, your mother is too good to you, catching a squirrel for you to play with as a pet."

"No, it’s to be sold," Da Lang explained.

Qin Yao reminded Da Lang to watch the rope so the squirrel wouldn’t bite through it, then turned to Yang Da, curiously asking, "Why did you two venture into the mountains?"

Yang Da glanced at Da Lang, "Same as you, wanting them to gain some experience."

Otherwise, who would bring kids not even fully grown to hunt?

"But you, daring to bring one so young into the mountains, what if something happened..." Yang Da’s words trailed off, his peripheral vision catching the tiger corpse on the haul. He awkwardly cleared his throat and hurriedly waved it off.

"Miss Qin, why don’t we go together tomorrow?" Yang Da warmly invited, "Just right to learn a few tricks from you."

"No." Qin Yao refused; they had prey to handle first.

Hearing Yang Da invite Qin Yao and her child, Yang Xu looked hopeful, then sighed in regret when Qin Yao flatly turned it down, once again enviously saying to Da Lang:

"Zi Wang, I really envy you."

"What’s up?" Yang Da wasn’t deaf, "Your father’s hunted a tiger too, and here you are eyeing a teacher?"

Yang Xu felt wronged, "Dad, I didn’t say anything, why are you so excited."

Yang Da glared at his son, "Brat!"

Then he saw Da Lang, who had taken the initiative to clean up and was feeding the baby squirrel, thinking to himself, I envy those who have good sons too.