With Mu Xingzhi’s conversation, Dong Meihua had improved a bit, and Xia Xiao also let out a sigh of relief. Now there were only so many military wives. Before, there were six of them, including Xia Xiao, but with Dong Meihua and Lin Jianfeng’s wife joining, it made eight. Everyone got along well and harmoniously, and Xia Xiao really hoped that her conflict with Dong Meihua wouldn’t affect the group. So, with Dong Meihua restraining herself, everyone could live in peace. That was the best outcome. Now the Chinese New Year was upon them again, and the soldiers still trained every day. Sometimes they’d leave the island, but mainly they trained there. The island was quite large, so once they went out, it would take several days before their return. Even though it wasn’t actual combat, just training, the wives still worried about the safety of the soldiers. It wasn’t until they saw the training on the island that they realized how tough the conditions were and that injuries were inevitable. Thus, Mu Xingzhi took some time to educate the military wives in medical care knowledge. Xia Xiao also learned a bit from Zheng Xianghong, and she knew some herbal remedies, which she picked up quickly. But now, as New Year was approaching, Gao Jiaxing and the others had gone out to sea for training several years ago and still hadn’t returned. Xia Xiao couldn’t help but worry. Xia Xiao said to Mu Xingzhi, "Cousin-in-law, they’ve been out at sea for training for half a month, and now the New Year is about to pass, but they haven’t come back." Mu Xingzhi was helpless. "There’s nothing we can do about it. Once they leave, we’re cut off from contact until they return. We can’t search for them, and it’s a military secret; even I’m not allowed to inquire." Xia Xiao sighed, and Mu Xingzhi added, "All I know is that the higher-ups want to train a secret ace military advisor." An ace military advisor would be one who’s worth a hundred ordinary soldiers, a true elite. Whether they were assembled together or dispersed, they could lead an excellent team anywhere. Mu Xingzhi went on, "Right now, it’s just basic training. There will be even tougher training in the future." Xia Xiao nodded, just hoping that Gao Jiaxing and the others would return before the New Year, to at least celebrate one New Year’s Day. On New Year’s Eve, the military wives looked out eagerly from early morning, but Gao Jiaxing and his group still hadn’t returned. Moreover, with them not around, the wives locked their doors and windows tight and slept together for safety at night. Although each of them was issued a gun, they were all women, and some even had children, so it was safer to sleep together. "Oh no, a wild boar has gotten into our pigsty." Xu Chunhua, Lin Jianjun’s wife, cried out, and everyone was startled. They came over to look and indeed, there was a large wild boar in the pigsty, and it was doing that sort of thing to one of their sows. One of the male pigs had its front leg bitten, and the other wild boars were cowering away, obviously afraid of the large wild boar. It was fortunate that there were only military wives and no men around; otherwise, it would have been embarrassing for everyone to see such a scene. "What do we do?" Li Xiaoyan, the wife of Gao Yuan, was also at a loss. The door to their pigsty had been smashed open by the wild boar, letting it inside, but now attempting to contain it was risky in case the boar attacked. As they were discussing, the wild boar grunted twice, let go of the sow, and started to make a run for it out of the pigsty. Bang, bang, Xia Xiao fired her weapon directly, and the wild boar fell to the ground with a thud. Everyone was stunned; they hadn’t expected Xia Xiao to be so swift and decisive, taking down the wild boar like that. Mu Xingzhi was also armed and had planned to wait until the wild boar ran out before shooting, but since Xia Xiao had already fired, there was no need for her to waste bullets. But with the wild boar fallen inside the pigsty, the other pigs were panicked and tried to escape. The military wives busily blocked the door to the pigsty, but the pigs were clearly stronger, and they almost couldn’t hold it closed. They could only scare the pigs into a corner. Thıs text ıs hosted at 𝓷𝓸𝓿𝓮𝓵·𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮·𝓷𝓮𝓽 "What are we going to do?" Yu Youwei’s wife, Liang Lizhen, also asked. "Get some logs to temporarily hold this place down," said Mu Xingzhi. If the pigs inside ran out, it would be difficult for them to drive them back into the pen later. "What about the wild boar? Once we block this up, there won’t be any way to get it out," Xia Xiao thought about whether the eight of them could drag out the large wild boar. "First, block it up so that the pigs inside don’t run away. If they don’t come back by the afternoon, then we’ll figure out a way to drag out the wild boar," Mu Xingzhi could only do this for now. By the time everyone had brought over the logs to prop against the pig pen door, they were all panting heavily from exhaustion. "Why don’t we find some rope, then loop it around the wild boar’s body, and all of us drag it out together? It’s New Year’s Eve, and the wild boar has already been shot. It won’t be good if it stays for too long. It’s better if we all slaughter it together," Xia Xiao suggested. Thanks to Xia Xiao’s recent adept firing, and now these words, all the Military Wives had begun to regard her with reverence. Originally, among the Military Wives, except for Xia Xiao being somewhat slender, and the fact that Xia Xiao had fair, clear skin and hands that looked like they had never done hard work, everyone had thought that Xia Xiao was likely to be delicate. However, Xia Xiao was very efficient at work, and whether it was raising chickens, gardening, butchering grass to feed the pigs, or helping in the kitchen, she was never outdone by others. Several Military Wives had changed their impression of Xia Xiao, but now, it was obvious that she had a fierce heart, and indeed, looks can be deceiving. "Okay, let’s rest for now. We’ll need the strength later to get the wild boar out." As soon as Mu Xingzhi finished speaking, everyone nodded in agreement. Xu Chunhua sighed, "Who knows if they can come back today." The other Military Wives also sighed deeply, it would be nice if they could return. But as they were talking, they heard Xu Chunhua’s two daughters, Xu Yumei and Xu Yulan, shouting, "Dad’s back, Dad’s back." The Military Wives looked over and saw a boat appearing at the seaside, and smiles of relief appeared on their faces. "Feiyang and Feiyue, aren’t you happy to see dad back?" Gao Jiaxing asked, picking up his two sons as he returned with joy. Feiyang and Feiyue pouted, "Dad’s back to steal mom." Haha, everyone laughed. Xia Xiao blushed slightly. When Gao Jiaxing looked over, she couldn’t help but smile as well. Mu Xingzhi hurriedly talked to Liu Yuanchao about the wild boar, but the Military Wives collectively omitted the scene where they had seen the wild boar bullying the sow in the pen, merely saying the wild boar had come in and fought with the other pigs. After the soldiers dragged out the wild boar, Mu Xingzhi and Xia Xiao went in to help bandage the boar’s front legs. The soldiers had returned from sea training, bringing back a lot of fish, so not only were the Military Wives busy, but the soldiers also pitched in, with butchering pigs and cleaning fish. This year, they had an exceptionally abundant celebration; on New Year’s Eve, they directly arranged a bonfire banquet. The soldiers even performed a martial arts display on the spot for the Military Wives and children to watch, and everyone ate to their heart’s content.