The Jiang family was teeming with grandsons—seven in total. There was Jiang Ming (14) from the first branch; Jiang Changshun (14), Jiang Changli (9), and Jiang Changhe (7) from the second; and finally Jiang Changping (10) and little Jiang Changan (3) from the third.
Aside from the two eldest brothers of the first branch and the three-year-old toddler, the rest of the boys attended school in the neighboring village. They had only heard rumors of the day’s chaotic events at home, having missed the spectacle themselves.
Jiang Changping, the eldest of the third branch, had spent dinner listening to his mother being scolded by his grandmother because of the first branch. Egged on by Auntie Fan’s subtle provocations, he waited until the dead of night to slip out of bed. His target? The first branch’s rabbits.
But a child’s courage is a fickle thing. He couldn’t very well involve his sisters, and his younger brother was too small to be of use. Instead, he sought out Jiang Changli. The two were close in age and had always been thick as thieves.
The three brothers of the second branch had also been fed a steady diet of grievances by Fan earlier that day. They knew their parents had been reprimanded because of the first branch, but the eldest, Changshun, was mature enough to ignore his mother’s meddling. He had warned his younger brothers to stay out of trouble.
Jiang Changli, however, was seething. Completely disregarding his older brother’s advice, he reached an immediate understanding with Jiang Changping. He feigned sleep until he heard a low catcall from outside his window, then crept out to meet Changping, the two of them slinking toward the backyard.
The night was dark and the wind biting. As they walked, their bravado began to wither. Not daring to enter the living quarters, they fumbled blindly through the chicken coop. They poked and prodded every corner, ending up covered in chicken droppings, but failed to find so much as a single rabbit hair.
Disheartened, Jiang Changli whispered, “Changping, let’s just go back.”
Jiang Changping nodded frantically; he had been ready to leave ten minutes ago.
But as they stepped out of the coop, a dark shadow lunged. Two heavy punches landed squarely on the boys.
Thump.
They fell backward into the coop, clutching their stomachs. Paralyzed by a mix of fury and fear, they didn’t dare scream. They could only manage muffled groans of “Ouch… oh, ow…” while curled in the dirt.
Jiang Yue had been awake and watching from the shadows long before they arrived. She hadn’t expected the “intruders” to be these two brats from the upper house.
One from the second branch and one from the third?
She suspected someone had put them up to this, and these two idiots had taken the bait. Still, if they were bold enough to come trespassing, she didn’t mind teaching them a lesson.
She snatched up a bamboo pole. With a swift kick, she flipped Jiang Changli over, stacked him on top of Jiang Changping, and pinned them down with her foot. The bamboo pole began to rain down on Changli’s backside with a rhythmic thwack-thwack-thwack.
“Rabbit thief!” she barked. “Dirty little rabbit thief!”
Guilt-ridden and unable to break free, Jiang Changli could only sob into the dirt. Despite the pain, he couldn’t help but hiss under his breath, “You idiot… you moron…”
“Shut up,” Jiang Yue snapped, annoyed.
Every insult earned him another stinging lash until, finally, his spirit broke. He wailed, begging for mercy.
Pinned beneath his cousin, Jiang Changping was finding it hard to breathe. He tried to yell, but the air wouldn’t come. Suddenly, the weight lifted. He barely had time to gasp “Help!” before a boot sent him rolling over to take Changli’s place.
Jiang Yue had swapped them. Now, the bamboo pole began to dance across Changping’s rear.
The thin, hard pole stung like fire. Changping felt a surge of injustice—he hadn’t called her an idiot! Why was he being beaten too? Eventually, the sharp stings turned to a dull, throbbing heat. He couldn’t take it anymore.
“Mother, help!” he wailed at the top of his lungs. “I’m being murdered! Help!”
The racket first woke Old Lady Liu. She threw on her clothes haphazardly and, with her large feet stomping, roused her sons. They rushed into the backyard only to find the “idiot” girl from the first branch systematically thrashing the boys.
“What do you think you’re doing?!” Liu shrieked.
Jiang Yue lowered the pole, her expression cold. “Thieves. I caught thieves.”
Hearing his grandmother’s voice, Jiang Changping sobbed as if grasping for a lifeline. “Grandmother, save me!”
Jiang Youcai rubbed his eyes, squinting through the dark. “Wait, that’s Changping! Stop, don’t hit him!”
“Rabbit thieves,” Jiang Yue repeated firmly.
She finally stepped back, releasing them. As Changping was helped up, Changli gasped for air on the ground before bursting into fresh tears.
“Grandmother, she… she hit me!” He was so terrified of another lashing that he didn’t dare use the word “idiot” again.
Jiang Yue simply pointed a finger at them. “Caught them stealing rabbits.”
Having already experienced Jiang Yue’s frantic strength earlier that evening, the members of the upper house didn’t dare utter a single insult.
Jiang Youtian was the first to find his voice. “Yue, girl, these are your cousins, not thieves,” he said cautiously. He hoisted Jiang Changli onto his back, muttering a frustrated reproach at his son, “What were you thinking, sneaking into the backyard in the middle of the night?”
He was exasperated. To be caught red-handed by the “idiot” and branded as rabbit thieves—how could his son be so remarkably stupid?
The farce sent the upper house into a chaotic tailspin. The two boys wailed about their aching backsides while their mothers joined in the chorus, weeping and cursing Jiang Yue in equal measure. Old Man Jiang eventually barked orders for his sons to fetch a doctor, and the house didn’t settle into an uneasy peace until the first light of dawn.
Meanwhile, the first branch of the family slept like logs until the rooster crowed. When they finally rolled out of bed, they were puzzled by the commotion. Why was the front yard so lively so early in the morning?
Over the next two days, the truth trickled out. Li and Qian interrogated their respective sons and realized that Auntie Fan had been the one whispering poison in their ears. Immediately, the two women turned their ire toward Fan, sparking a fresh feud that left the first branch blissfully ignored. Aside from Old Lady Liu grumbling a few curses while collecting the morning eggs, Jiang Yue’s family enjoyed two days of rare, undisturbed peace.
On the third morning, Jiang Yue began packing her gear. Her bow and arrows were non-negotiable. She added ropes, a crude stone knife, and a bamboo water canteen to her kit. Of the three roasted rabbits, she packed one; the weather was too humid to keep meat for long, so she ate one for breakfast and left the last for her family.
She also rolled up the five rabbit pelts to take with her. She knew that if she left them behind while she was away, the vultures in the front house would surely snatch them up.
Jiang Xue watched her with a worried frown. “Sister, why take only one? What if you get hungry?”
Jiang Yue patted the bow on her shoulder. “I’ll hunt.”
With a vast forest at her doorstep, she wasn’t about to starve.
Jiang Ming, however, was restless. He worried for the house, but he worried for his sister more. “Yue,” he began hesitantly, “let me go with you.”
Jiang Yue gave a curt wave of her hand. “No need.” Was her big brother becoming a mother hen?
Little Jiang Lei clung to her arm like a devoted puppy. “Big Sister, I want to go too! I’ll protect you!”
Jiang Yue ruffled his hair. Taking him along would be nothing but a burden. Protect me? She nearly smirked.
Once fully packed, she glanced at her “parents,” who were standing by in silent apprehension. “I’m leaving. Watch the house.”
Cai began to tear up again.
Jiang Youshan opened his mouth, his voice thick with concern. “Yue’er… stay safe.”
Jiang Yue looked away from Cai’s tears; weeping solved nothing. However, she offered a small crumb of comfort to the worried couple: she would be back in two days, five at the very most.
The morning sun began to stain the horizon a deep crimson.
Jiang Yue slipped out, refusing to let her family see her off—she wasn’t used to the sentimentality. She headed straight for Luo Douzi’s house. He was already at the door, looking for her. When he saw her, his face lit up with relief, and he pulled her aside, whispering urgently, “Don’t let my grandfather see. Are you heading into the deep mountains today?”
Jiang Yue shook her head and handed him the five rabbit pelts. “Not the deep forest yet! Dry these skins for me. I’ll come for them in three days.”
Old Man Luo strictly forbade Douzi from entering the deep mountains; Jiang Yue wasn’t crazy enough to drag him in there yet. If she wanted him by her side to hunt a bear, she needed the old man’s consent first. Besides, the boy owed her a favor now, making his home the safest place for her pelts.
Truth be told, she hadn’t planned on hunting a bear just yet. In her past life, the fiercest beasts she’d faced were wolves. She remembered one winter when three green-eyed predators had broken into the sheepfold; she had felled all three with three arrows, each one piercing a throat.
But in this current body, she wondered: If I meet a bear, would my arrows even be enough?
She pulled out her stone knife and showed it to him. “Can I trade this for a steel blade?”
Douzi raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure about three days from now?”
When Jiang Yue nodded, he pulled a dagger from his waist. The blade gleamed with a cold, sharp light.
“Don’t play me for a fool, little girl,” he warned. “Going into the deep forest alone is suicide. If you run into a ‘Black Blind’ bear, you’re dead. Two people at least stand a chance! Your strength is decent, but don’t get cocky. We’re in this together—you get your game, I get my revenge.”
He rambled on, satisfied only when he saw Jiang Yue seemed to be listening. As he tucked the pelts away, he offered one last bit of advice: “The clouds say rain is coming. It’s no good for the mountains. We will go in three days together.”