Pei Ji leaned weakly against the wooden wall, letting out a long sigh as the hammer in his hand clattered to the ground, leaving a small dent in the dirt.
Cui Xiaoqi hurried over with a bowl of rabbit soup. "Have some broth, it'll help you recover—"
Pei Ji took the bowl but didn't drink.
"I wouldn’t poison the rabbit soup, you can drink it safely~" Cui Xiaoqi crossed her arms, her expression clearly displeased.
This man was far too suspicious!
Pei Ji couldn’t be bothered to explain. It wasn’t poison he feared—the excruciating pain in his leg was still spreading, and he couldn’t shake it off just yet.
After a long while, he finally took a sip of the broth. His eyebrows lifted slightly in surprise—the soup tasted unexpectedly good.
"Seventh Sister, Mother asked me to ask if Brother-in-law wants some coarse rice porridge?" Xiao Jiu’s voice drifted in from outside the door.
Inside the room, Pei Ji froze at the word "brother-in-law."
For so many years, as an abandoned child, he had no family besides his adoptive father.
Husband, brother-in-law—these titles that had never belonged to him were now unexpectedly placed upon his head.
He had actually become the husband of a hunter’s daughter.
"Do you want some?" Cui Xiaoqi asked.
"No." Pei Ji set the bowl beside the bed, not having touched a single piece of meat in it.
Already full? A cat’s stomach?
Cui Xiaoqi bent down to pick up the bowl. As she looked up, she noticed a large patch of blood seeping through his chest, the heavy scent of blood filling her nostrils.
"Why did you get out of bed earlier? Look, your wound has split open!!" she scolded, though her heart was filled with worry. She turned and rushed out of the room again.
When she returned, she carried a basin of warm water. Lifting her leg to close the door, she walked to the bedside, placed the basin on the floor, soaked a cloth in the water, wrung it until it was half-dry, and stood up.
She shoved the damp cloth into Pei Ji’s hand and immediately began unwrapping the bandages.
The innermost layer of gauze was stuck to his flesh; even the slightest tug would tear off a layer of skin.
She tried to be as gentle as possible, all the while muttering, "Bear with it, it’s going to hurt when I pull."
With that, she took the cloth from Pei Ji’s hand and moistened the gauze around the wound.
The original owner had practiced archery since childhood, and her fingertips were calloused. As she unwrapped the gauze, the rough skin caught on the fabric, pulling at the wound.
Pei Ji raised an eyebrow, perhaps annoyed by Cui Xiaoqi’s slow pace. With a forceful tug, he ripped off the gauze, flesh and all, and threw it to the ground.
Fresh blood oozed from the wound.
Cui Xiaoqi shot upright, hands on her hips, and unleashed a torrent of scolding without holding back.
"Madman! Are you a masochist? I went through so much trouble to save you—if you wanted to die so badly, you should’ve said so earlier! Why did I even bother saving you?!"
"Look at this wound—it’s split open and bleeding again! We’re out of gauze! All the gauze in the house is gone. If this gets infected, I won’t be able to save you!"
Having vented her anger, she felt a bit better. But when she met Pei Ji’s somewhat bloodthirsty gaze, her bravado deflated like a punctured balloon. Her hands, once planted on her hips, dropped meekly to her sides.
In a voice as faint as a mosquito’s hum, she whispered, "We have no gauze, no medicine… Your wound has split open again. What are we going to do?"
"I won’t die," Pei Ji spat out coldly.
If he hadn’t been completely drained of strength, he probably would’ve wanted to wring Cui Xiaoqi’s neck right then and there.
Cui Xiaoqi felt a chill shoot from the soles of her feet straight up to her neck. Instinctively, she raised her hands to protect her throat.
"I hope you’re tough enough not to die!"
What a second uncle I can’t afford to mess with!!
Complaining aside, she obediently cleaned Pei Ji's wounds and bandaged them with the handkerchief she had always treasured and been reluctant to use.
She then went to Xu Qiaoqiao's room and rummaged through it, finding a new set of clothes that the original owner's father, Cui Youyin, could no longer wear.
Cui Youyin and his younger brother, Cui Youliang, had both been conscripted into the army three years earlier.
A year later, news reached the village that the war between the two countries had ended and the soldiers were returning home.
Overjoyed, Xu Qiaoqiao used the last bit of silver left in the household to buy Cui Youyin a new set of clothes, eagerly anticipating her husband's return.
Unfortunately, the only one who came back was her brother-in-law, Cui Youliang, who had lost an arm.
Cui Youliang knelt before Xu Qiaoqiao, his face filled with guilt as he told her that his elder brother had died shielding him from a sword.
From then on, Xu Qiaoqiao grew resentful and cut off all contact with her brother-in-law. Cui Youliang, knowing he had wronged his sister-in-law, built a thatched hut at the edge of the village and lived there alone.
Cui Xiaoqi clutched the clothes tightly. Mother probably wouldn’t get angry, right…?
Returning to the room, she dressed Pei Ji.
Only…
The clothes were far too small…
The sleeves ended at his forearms, and the pant legs reached only his calves.
Cui Xiaoqi frowned, unsure whether the original owner’s father had been short or if the tailor had simply made them too small.
Pei Ji’s face remained cold and stern as he raised his hand to take off the clothes.
“Don’t take them off! Do you want to go naked? My family is all women. Do you want to expose yourself…?”
“Shut up!!”
Cui Xiaoqi pursed her lips. “I’m going hunting in the mountains today. If you need anything, just call out loudly for my younger sister, Xiao Jiu, or Xiao Ba.”
With that, she turned and left the house. She picked up the bow and quiver hanging on the wall, slung them over her back, put on a bamboo hat, draped a straw rain cape over her shoulders, gave Xu Qiaoqiao a few more instructions, and headed toward the mountains.
Far behind her, a dark figure trailed in the distance.
Qingshui Village lay nestled at the foot of the rolling mountains.
The mountain paths wound like coiled snakes—steep and treacherous. Of the village’s fifty or sixty households, only three dared to make a living by hunting.
Venturing into the mountains during extreme weather meant risking one’s life; a single misstep could leave a person dead in the wilderness.
Today was extreme enough, with wind and snow blurring the line between sky and earth.
Xu Qiaoqiao was feeding the family’s only egg-laying hen when a sudden sense of panic gripped her. She threw down the vegetable scraps, rushed out of the courtyard, and saw only swirling snowflakes—her daughter had already vanished without a trace.
Cui Xiaoqi tightened her straw rain cape and trudged step by step into the mountains.
The wind whipped snowflakes against her face, stinging like needles. She could barely keep her eyes open, squinting them into narrow slits.
Although she had ventured into the mountains frequently over the past two years and could find her way even with her eyes closed, she didn’t dare let her guard down in today’s weather.
Amid the raging wind and snow in the mountains, her vision was obstructed, but her hearing grew unusually sharp.
Halfway up the mountain, a faint rustling sound suddenly came from a hollow below.
Cui Xiaoqi tensed up, crouching halfway down. A smile curled at the corner of her lips. “When luck comes, you can’t stop it!” She had barely entered the mountains, and prey was already coming to her.
She hunched over, pressing close to tree trunks covered in icicles, and slowly inched her way toward the hollow below.
The arrows in the quiver on her back clattered against each other, making a “clacking” sound that abruptly silenced the rustling.
Cui Xiaoqi sat in the snow, carefully removed the quiver, and hung it on a crooked tree branch.
“One arrow should be enough, but just in case…” She pulled out an extra arrow and tucked it into her waistband.
After waiting quietly for a moment, the rustling sound resumed, and she continued to inch forward.
About ten meters away, a pitch-black cave was visible on the mountainside. The entrance was low, reaching only to her chest.
Amid the howling gale, she pricked up her ears and recognized the low grunting of a wild boar.
Following the sound, she spotted a black-haired boar at the cave entrance, grinding its tusks against the stone with a grating noise that set one’s teeth on edge.
Cui Xiaoqi’s blood surged with excitement. At this distance, and with the wind in her favor, it was practically a heaven-sent opportunity.
Drawing her bow and nocking an arrow in one fluid motion, she let fly.
With a whoosh, the arrow cut through the wind, heading straight for the boar’s head.
But the unexpected happened in an instant.
A stone, as if by sheer coincidence, clattered against the cave entrance, startling the boar into an “oink!” before it darted into the cave like lightning.
The arrow lodged itself in a crevice between rocks, its fletching still quivering.
Damn it!
Cursing under her breath, Cui Xiaoqi ducked behind a thick tree stump, scanning her surroundings warily, but found nothing.
The boar remained hidden in the cave, refusing to show itself.
With no other choice, Cui Xiaoqi could only wait.
The snow fell heavier and heavier, piling thickly on her straw raincoat and bamboo hat. From a distance, she looked like a moving snowman.
She waited for what felt like an eternity, her hands and feet numb from the cold, until she finally heard the familiar grunting again.
The boar poked its head out, its beady eyes darting around.
A surge of joy rose in Cui Xiaoqi’s heart, though her frozen face couldn’t manage a smile.
Just as she reached for another arrow, thud! Another stone struck the tree stump by her feet, shaking loose a clump of snow that smeared across her face.
She looked up, meeting the boar’s blood-red eyes.
The beast, now enraged, pawed the ground frantically with its front hooves, sending shards of stone and snow flying as it charged toward her with furious snorts.
“Damn it!” Cui Xiaoqi cursed in desperation, but her frozen fingers refused to obey.