Instead of retreating, Zhou Xiaomai charged toward the bear.
However, the closer she got, the more she felt something was off!
The bear seemed to be slowly transforming into a man!
It was no wonder she had mistaken it—the man stood at least six feet tall, still wearing animal skins despite the onset of summer, with wild, disheveled hair that gave him a rugged appearance.
He carried a large wild boar on his back, weighing no less than two hundred pounds.
Even the large black bow in his hand looked heavy.
The man had thick eyebrows and fierce eyes, a square face framed by a full beard, and a physique that was the most robust Zhou Xiaomai had ever seen in both her lifetimes.
Her limited education only allowed her to describe him crudely as burly and powerful.
The man’s gaze met Zhou Xiaomai’s for a moment before quickly shifting away, continuing to stare straight ahead.
Carrying the wild boar, he passed her and headed straight for the innermost house.
It seemed he lived alone too. When Zhou Xiaomai had arrived earlier, she hadn’t noticed anyone next door, and the door had been locked.
Her memory offered no name for this person, only a vague sense of familiarity with his face, though she couldn’t recall it immediately.
Confirming it wasn’t a bear, the lotus at Zhou Xiaomai’s fingertips vanished.
Without any grudge or grievance, it wouldn’t be right to rob the man of his wild boar.
Moreover, Zhou Xiaomai had an intuition—she might not be able to defeat this man who looked like a bear!
That night, the moon was bright and the stars sparse, while the wolves on Kui Mountain howled incessantly.
Zhou Xiaomai had never heard wolves howl during the apocalypse, only recalling the sound from the original host’s memories.
The May breeze was gentle, not intertwining with the wolf howls in the eerie way the village chief had described.
The wolf howls were clear and loud, but in reality, the wolves were still far from the village.
Having grown accustomed to the room and bed in the Han residence, the sudden change of place left her feeling unsettled. She tossed and turned, unable to sleep.
When the moon reached its zenith, she got up to use the outhouse and noticed a dim yellow light glowing in the small courtyard to the east.
Looking westward, the entire village was pitch black, with occasional barks from dogs echoing.
Not only did rural folks retire early, but even households in the county rarely had lights on at this hour.
The outhouse was rudimentary—a shed built behind the house with stone slabs placed on either side of the pit.
Due to long disuse and neglect, the wooden planks meant for privacy were broken and couldn’t conceal a person.
Fortunately, when Zhou Xiaomai had used the outhouse in the afternoon, she had found some planks to patch it up, though there was no roof, leaving the starry sky visible above.
As she relieved herself, she muttered, “I don’t know how long I’ll be staying here, but I still need to fix this place up properly. Otherwise, life here would be too miserable.”
People from the apocalypse were highly skilled with their hands, so this wouldn’t pose a challenge for her.
The next day, at dawn.
Zhou Xiaomai rose early and headed to the village entrance to wait for the ox cart that carried passengers.
The journey was about ten li, and to make it to the morning market, she had to set off in advance.
The ox cart fare wasn’t expensive—just two coins per person.
There were several villages southeast of Zhoujia Cun, and by the time the ox cart passed the entrance of Zhoujia Cun, it was nearly full.
Several aunties had baskets beside them containing eggs, vegetables, and other items, likely meant for sale in the county.
Zhou Xiaomai wasn’t familiar with any of them. After boarding the ox cart, she listened as the aunties chatted about whether their sons were living up to expectations.
Halfway through the journey, Zhou Xiaomai spotted her eastern neighbor again—the man who looked like a bear.
“Hey, look at that wild boar on that man’s back. Must weigh over two hundred pounds, right?”
“He’s clearly a hunter. To take down such a large wild boar—his skills are impressive.”
“The man is quite strong, carrying such a heavy wild boar all the way to the county town without slowing down at all.”
Zhou Xiaomai thought that since they were neighbors, she might as well ask as she passed by him.
“Uncle, would you like to ride on the ox cart? We can squeeze in a bit more.”
Uncle?
Xiao Qingshan was momentarily stunned by the address.
He was only twenty-seven this year. Did he really look that old?
“Uncle, do you want to ride the ox cart?”
Seeing that the ox cart was about to pass by, Zhou Xiaomai called out again.
Xiao Qingshan usually didn’t take the ox cart to the county town. His family had a handcart, but it had been taken by his parents to haul wheat these past couple of days.
If he were to bring his wild boar onto the ox cart, it would take up extra space and cost an additional fare. Besides, the cart was full of women, and it wouldn’t be appropriate for a man like him to squeeze in.
“No need, miss!”
Zhou Xiaomai didn’t insist. They weren’t familiar, so she couldn’t muster much enthusiasm.
The man’s voice was quite pleasant, deep and resonant, much like the impression he gave.
Human legs were no match for an ox’s pace, and gradually, the man fell behind.
When they reached the county town gate, the ox cart stopped.
Even though it wasn’t a festival and it was the busy farming season, the market in the county town was still bustling.
Before even reaching the main street, the calls of vendors and hawkers filled the air.
Zhou Xiaomai needed to buy some household items and food first. After asking around, she headed straight for the general store.
“Shopkeeper, how much for an iron pot?”
Iron pots were probably bulky, so they were placed at the entrance of the general store. There were no sizes to choose from—they were all the same.
Perhaps the stoves in this world were built to a standard size as well.
The shopkeeper stepped out of the store.
“Thirty-five coins per pot, no bargaining.”
There wasn’t much room for negotiation with such items. Zhou Xiaomai pretended to take money from her sleeve but actually retrieved a pouch from her Spatial Dimension.
Inside were over two taels of silver and some copper coins.
She counted out the copper coins, leaving the pouch nearly empty, with only two small silver pieces and three copper coins left.
Money in this world was quite inconvenient. One tael of silver could be exchanged for a thousand copper coins, and a thousand copper coins were heavy and took up space.
As for the two hundred tael silver note, Zhou Xiaomai always felt uneasy about it.
It was a lingering effect of the apocalypse. In the apocalypse, banks no longer existed, and paper money was practically useless—only gold and silver could be used for trade.
After buying the iron pots, Zhou Xiaomai decided to go to Tongsheng Bank to exchange the entire two hundred taels for silver.
She entered the bank, placed the two iron pots she was carrying by the door, walked up to the counter, and took out the two hundred tael silver note.
“Shopkeeper, I’d like to exchange this silver note for silver. No large ingots, please—five taels at most. If you can exchange it all for one-tael pieces, that would be even better.”
Small silver pieces were easier to use in daily life. Large ingots had to be cut when used, which was inconvenient.
The bank counter was quite high. Standing at just 1.65 meters tall, Zhou Xiaomai could barely see over it.
The shopkeeper examined the silver note, confirmed it was from Tongsheng Bank, and without further questions, instructed a servant to fetch the silver from the back room.
While waiting, Zhou Xiaomai saw someone she wasn’t particularly keen on meeting.
One was a young gentleman dressed in a moon-white robe embroidered with black bamboo patterns, holding a landscape-patterned folding fan.
He was accompanied by two people: a servant named Yuan Bao,
and a young woman of about eighteen or nineteen, wearing a pink ruqun dress and a pink peach blossom hairpin. Her makeup was light yet delicate, and she radiated the unique liveliness of youth.
Seeing Zhou Xiaomai there, the young girl stepped forward to greet her first.
“Xiaomai, did you really chase Brother Yi all the way to the bank just to pester him?”
Zhou Xiaomai rolled her eyes in exasperation: “If your eyes weren’t blind, you should have noticed I’ve already been inside the bank for a while, right?”