Deer antlers!
Chu Xun licked the corner of his mouth, a fiery look in his eyes.
This was good stuff, especially the antlers from a small deer head like this one. They were a medicinal ingredient worth a lot of money.
If he sold them in the county seat, they would at least fetch three strings of cash!
He had not expected today’s harvest to be this substantial.
Not only had he hunted plenty of game, he had also come across a pair of deer antlers for free.
Chu Xun parted the weeds and came to the deer carcass.
He drew an arrow from his quiver and used the sharp arrowhead to carefully cut the antlers off intact.
The antlers were not in very good condition.
Perhaps because the deer carcass had been left too long and had lost too much blood.
But that was no big deal. It would not lower their value too much.
After carefully putting the antlers away, Chu Xun finally looked at the wound on the deer carcass.
The more he looked, the graver his expression became. The wound was simply too deep and too large.
A wolf could never bite out such an outrageous wound, and neither could a leopard.
In the forest, only ferocious tigers and bears could do that.
That meant the reason he had not run into a single jackal pack or wolf pack along the way was probably because a larger beast had appeared in the woods and driven them away.
Chu Xun rose carefully and scanned the area around him.
Whether his guess was right or wrong, this was no place to linger.
After making sure all the game on him was tied down tightly, he gripped the neck of the only surviving wild chicken and slowly withdrew from the forest.
A little over a shichen later, he finally made it out of the woods.
In the distance, he could even see smoke rising from the village.
He looked back at the deep, silent old forest and shook his head. He would not go into this area for now.
Next time, he would have to change direction.
It would be best if he could find some small carnivores in there; that would actually be safer.
After digging up the buried archery gear, Chu Xun put the recurve bow back into the warehouse.
Only then did he head toward Chu Family Village.
Under the old locust tree at the village entrance sat many villagers, each one gaunt and yellow-faced, sighing and lamenting.
An old man leaned against the tree roots, his head drooping. “This year the drought is severe again. When will Heaven finally send some rain? The grain in my fields won’t even yield fifty jin this year.”
“Tell me about it. I went into the city to buy grain a couple of days ago, and millet has already risen to ten wen a catty. Beans and bran are almost five wen now!”
“What?! Isn’t that murderous?”
The crowd burst into another round of complaints.
A sharp-eyed aunt squinted toward the village entrance.
She said in surprise, “Isn’t that the eldest nephew of the Mancang family? Why is he coming back from the village entrance? And what’s hanging from his waist?”
“Let me see. Wasn’t he being hounded for debt by people from Squire Liu’s family this morning? Did he go out to look for a way to pay it back?”
Whispers rose all around.
Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the figure in front of them.
They all wanted to know what was hanging from Chu Xun’s waist.
At last, as Chu Xun drew nearer, the smell of blood in the air grew stronger and stronger.
“It’s wild chickens! I can see the long feathers on the wild chickens!”
A sharp-eyed half-grown boy shouted in delight.
In an instant, he drew everyone’s attention.
“They really are wild chickens! Three of them, and such a fat hare too! Where did he get them?”
“Are you blind? Can’t you see the bow in the Chu family eldest son’s hand? He must have caught them in the woods.”
Under everyone’s nakedly envious stares,
Chu Xun walked forward slowly, letting them clearly see the wild chickens and hare hanging from his waist.
“Chu family eldest son, where did you hunt those?”
An old man leaning on a cane asked in a trembling voice.
Chu Xun stopped and smiled. “I made a trip to the old forest and spent the whole day getting them. I was just lucky, that’s all.”
Just lucky enough to get three wild chickens and a big fat hare?
Gulp. Everyone present swallowed hard.
That was the old forest!
Jackal packs everywhere, wolf packs in droves. It was not a place to be trifled with.
Quite a few bold young men in the village wanted to go hunting in the mountains.
But there were already plenty who had been bitten down to a pile of bones.
Who would have thought that Chu Xun, a scholar, would be this capable?
The villagers’ eyes on Chu Xun were filled with envy, jealousy, and all kinds of complicated feelings.
In this famine year, when even eating beans did not fill your stomach, anyone who could bring back this much meat was certainly someone with real ability.
It looked like Chu Mancang’s family was going to have good fortune.
There were also quite a few among the crowd with daughters at home, secretly thinking that if they could arrange a match with Chu Xun, wouldn’t life at home get much easier?
Under the burning stares of the crowd, Chu Xun left with a full load of spoils.
Of course, he could have avoided the villagers’ eyes and returned from Qin Yue’er’s house at the east end of the village.
But right now, he needed the villagers to see his change.
He needed to gradually alter their original impression that he was only good at studying and had no other skills.
A little shock every day… then when he later achieved even greater things, the villagers would not find it strange at all.
Soon, Chu Xun arrived outside Qin Yue’er’s thatched cottage.
He knocked on the creaking door panel. “Yue’er, it’s me.”
The wooden door creaked open at once.
Surprise lit up Qin Yue’er’s thin cheeks. “Brother Xun, you’re here. Come in quickly, I’ll cook for you.”
After meeting Brother Xun at noon, even now, Qin Yue’er still felt warm in her stomach, as if she had not yet fully digested the food he had given her.
But unfortunately, she was a widow with a ruined reputation.
She was nowhere near worthy of someone as kind and outstanding as Chu Xun.
All she could do was wash herself clean whenever he came, and then make him a bowl of hot porridge.
When Chu Xun saw Qin Yue’er, a smile also appeared on his face.
He raised the wild chicken in his left hand and said with a grin, “I’m not eating here. I just went into the mountains and hunted a few game birds. I brought one back for you. You and your sister need to nourish yourselves properly.”
Only then did Qin Yue’er notice that Chu Xun had all kinds of game hanging from his waist.
A hare, three wild chickens.
They were all extremely rare game.
And Brother Xun actually wanted to give her this precious wild chicken so she could build up her strength.
Qin Yue’er was deeply moved and kept waving her hands in refusal. “No, Brother Xun, you’ve already helped me more than enough. I can’t take any more!”
If she sold this wild chicken in the city, it would at least fetch a few hundred wen.
How could she possibly accept such valuable game?
But Chu Xun was extremely forceful. He directly took Qin Yue’er’s hand and stuffed the wild chicken into her palm.
“Your sister still isn’t well, so this is exactly the time she needs nourishment.
You’ve only just lost your virginity, and today you also went to so much trouble to take care of me. If you won’t take this wild chicken, then I’ll never come to see you again.”
“No!” Qin Yue’er cried out in alarm.
If Brother Xun stopped seeing her, she might as well die.
She hurriedly took the wild chicken and set it on the ground.
Looking at Chu Xun gratefully, her voice trembling, she said, “Brother Xun, Yue’er… owes you far too much. I really have no way to repay you.”
Chu Xun glanced into the house and saw Qin Xing’er sleeping soundly with her eyes closed.
So he smiled, stepped forward, and wrapped his arms around Yue’er’s soft waist.
Qin Yue’er shyly pursed her full lips.