Kang Rong clenched his fists, his voice filled with heartbroken pain.
“Xiao An, we grew up together. I never thought you could disregard the bond we shared as childhood sweethearts and decisively break off our engagement. I never imagined you could treat Lin Feng this way without considering my feelings at all.
“Now everyone in Linshi Village knows that Lin Feng did something wrong, and our family had to pay silver. Are you satisfied now?”
The April wind carried Xiao An’s furious, mocking voice.
“Kang Rong, stop trying to make me feel sorry for you. You actually have the nerve to accuse me of disregarding the bond we shared as childhood sweethearts.
“If you had cared even a little, you wouldn’t have tried to marry two women at once. The moment you climbed into your sister-in-law’s bed, you lost any right to criticize me for breaking off our engagement.
“Let me ask you something. Is Lin Feng three years old? Five years old? She’s twenty-two, isn’t she? She’s already the mother of three children. Even if she doesn’t care about setting a good example for her children, she still chose to do something so vicious, and you dare blame me?
“Just because you care about her feelings, am I supposed to stay silent when she pulls out all the seedlings in my field?
“The fact that you can say something so unreasonable proves how selfish you are.
“Who do you think you are? Why should I care about your feelings?
“Have you people eaten so much wild game that you’ve gained the instincts of beasts and lost your humanity?
“My house is surrounded by green bamboo. Every stalk stands tall and upright, unlike you—you may have a human appearance, but you have no human heart.
“Now hurry up and go do whatever you need to do. Stop standing here acting all sentimental. I’m sick of looking at you. You’re selfish and self-centered. Don’t dirty my beautiful eyes.”
Kang Rong clenched his fists even tighter. He didn’t leave. Instead, he stood there silently for a long time.
“Xiao An, can we really never go back to how things were?”
Xiao An lit the simple stove and poured a ladle of water into the iron pot.
“I’m not the same Su Xiao An I used to be. Just pretend you never knew me. Stop bringing up the past all the time.”
After saying that, she ignored Kang Rong and began preparing lunch. She still had work to do that afternoon.
Only then did Kang Rong turn around and leave in large strides.
Xiao An’s lunch was very simple: a cornmeal steamed cake, a bowl of porridge, and a serving of mixed wild vegetables.
She was eating when Lin Fang came up carrying a basket.
Xiao An put down her bowl and stood up.
“Lin Fang, come inside with me.”
Lin Fang followed Xiao An into the bamboo hut.
Xiao An looked at her and said, “Originally, I should have brought you the money the day after I caught Lin Feng.
“But I don’t normally have any dealings with you. I was afraid that suddenly going to your house would arouse suspicion and cause trouble for you.
“So I could only wait here for you to come.”
She took out three taels of silver and handed them to Lin Fang.
“Take it.”
Xiao An had caught Lin Feng several days ago, but she hadn’t gone to deliver the money yet.
Lin Fang and her husband, Feng Youde, had privately speculated that Xiao An probably didn’t want to pay anymore. If she really refused, they would have no choice but to swallow the loss.
Feng Youde had even angrily said, “If Su Xiao An really goes back on her word, I’ll sneak into her field one night and pull out all her melon seedlings. At least that will let me vent my anger.”
Lin Fang hadn’t come up today expecting much. She had only come because she couldn’t let go of the matter.
It seemed she had been worrying for nothing.
Lin Fang immediately took the silver and held it tightly.
“Xiao An, thank you for keeping your word.”
She didn’t say anything else. After that, she turned and hurried down the mountain.
Xiao An watched Lin Fang’s retreating figure while slowly finishing the steamed cake in her hand.
For the time being, she couldn’t buy a house in the village. The bamboo hut was rather small. It was fine for sleeping, but cooking was inconvenient. Unless she went into her space, she had to cook outside.
After thinking it over, Xiao An decided to build another, larger bamboo hut beside the existing one.
There was plenty of bamboo, and now that the fields had been planted, she didn’t have much work to do for the time being.
There was also a spring beside the bamboo hut, and its flow had grown considerably stronger.
If I could eventually open a small distillery here, wouldn’t that be even better?
Xiao An was quite pleased with the idea.
After lunch, once she was certain nobody was around, she took out the electric saw and began cutting bamboo.
She removed the tips and cut the bamboo stalks to the same length. In half an afternoon, she had cut more than a hundred stalks.
She stopped because cutting too much might arouse suspicion.
She put the electric saw into her space and placed the original owner’s old saw nearby.
Then she picked up a knife and began trimming the bamboo, removing the leaves.
Over the next five days, Xiao An prepared six or seven hundred bamboo stalks and stacked them beside the bamboo hut.
Tomorrow, she planned to collect enough stones to begin building the larger bamboo house.
The next morning, as usual, Xiao An first went to the fields to check on the melon seedlings.
The moment she saw them, she sucked in a sharp breath.
Quite a few of the melon seedlings had been eaten by animals.
Xiao An didn’t even have time to eat breakfast. She hurried down the mountain to find the village head and ask what kind of animal was eating her seedlings.
The village head answered with certainty, “It must be rabbits. The leaves of melon seedlings are sweeter than ordinary grass, so they attract rabbits.”
Knowing what the culprit was made things much easier.
That evening, Xiao An stood in the melon field and carefully examined the seedlings.
Once she was certain nobody was around, she entered her space.
A while ago, she had seen the man in the mountains use willow-leaf throwing knives to pin the large snake down.
Xiao An decided to imitate him.
However, she didn’t have willow-leaf throwing knives. Instead, she planned to use her grandfather’s fishing spear—a long, slender, five-foot steel fork—and give the rabbits a taste of it.
At around ten o’clock that night, Xiao An emerged from her space carrying the steel fork.
It was early April, and the crescent moon had barely widened. There was hardly any light.
Even so, Xiao An spotted a plump white rabbit crouching in the field, happily chewing on her melon seedlings.
Without hesitation, Xiao An thrust the steel fork toward it.
The fork pierced straight through the rabbit’s abdomen.
The rabbit managed to run two steps while dragging the fork behind it, but the intense pain soon left it unable to move.
Xiao An walked over, grabbed the rabbit, pulled out the fork, and used the grass leaves she had prepared beforehand to tie its legs together. She placed it to one side.
Then she crouched in the field and continued waiting.
That night, Xiao An speared five rabbits and one badger.
The badger not only ate melon seedlings but also dug up the soil, damaging the plants’ roots. It was an especially troublesome pest.
At dawn, Xiao An first put the fishing spear back into her space.
The thing was made of high-quality steel, something ordinary people in ancient times couldn’t easily obtain.
If anyone in the village saw it, it would certainly raise questions.
She sat in front of the bamboo hut and began skinning the rabbits.
The village head had been worried about her fields. Early that morning, he first went down to inspect them.
He saw that some of Xiao An’s melon seedlings had been damaged again, but fortunately, the damage wasn’t serious.
He climbed halfway up the mountain and was startled when he saw the pile of rabbits in front of Xiao An.
The animal she was halfway through skinning was the badger.
The village head was astonished.
“Rabbits and badgers are both extremely alert animals. They run at the slightest sound.
“They’re also incredibly fast. How did you manage to catch them?”
Xiao An smiled.
“I know martial arts. I’m faster than they are.
“I used a spear and killed these throughout the night. I don’t know whether there will be any more tonight.”
The village head nodded.
“As long as you can kill these pests that cause trouble, that’s a good thing.”
Then he noticed the hundreds of bamboo stalks piled beside the hut.
“Xiao An, what are you planning to do with all that bamboo?”
Xiao An smiled in the morning light and explained her plan.
“I want to build another, larger bamboo house.
“I’ll move the stove inside and make a table and several chairs. Living up here on the mountain is actually quite nice, so I won’t buy a house in the village for now.”
The village head nodded.
“Then why haven’t you started building yet?”
“I want to collect enough stones first.”