The courtyard finally grew quiet again. Doctor Li gave Jiang Yutong a thumbs-up.
“I didn’t know you had a trick like that up your sleeve.”
Jiang Yutong smiled. “I learned it from a medical book my grandfather gave me. The child’s airway was blocked by food. Once the obstruction was removed, he could breathe again.”
Jiang Yutong then taught Doctor Li and Li Nanxing the emergency procedure.
“This method works for most cases of choking.”
Doctor Li practiced it several times. He was extremely grateful to Jiang Yutong. Ordinary people would never willingly teach others a method that could save someone’s life.
“I wonder if you still have that medical book your grandfather gave you. Could I borrow it and have a look?”
Doctor Li shamelessly asked anyway.
Jiang Yutong had no such medical book—it was something she had completely made up. She shook her head regretfully.
“No, unfortunately. It disappeared a long time ago.”
Doctor Li looked as though he had just lost something incredibly precious.
“What a pity. What a terrible pity.”
Li Nanxing’s impression of Jiang Yutong deepened. Her calmness and composure when faced with everyone’s doubts just now had made him look at her in a completely different light.
That evening, Sister-in-law Xing’er came to the Li family’s house with her husband, carrying quite a few things.
She said to her husband, “Dear, we have Yutong to thank today. If it weren’t for her, our Da Niu would have died.”
Sister-in-law Xing’er’s husband was a hunter named Fang Hu. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and powerfully built. He was carrying a wild chicken and a rabbit in his hands.
He bowed earnestly to Jiang Yutong.
“Thank you for today. Without you, the sky would have fallen on our family.”
He then held out the things in his hands to Jiang Yutong.
Jiang Yutong tried to refuse several times, but she couldn’t turn down their sincerity in the end, so she accepted the gifts.
Fang Hu thumped his chest.
“If you ever need anything, Yutong, just come to me. You’re our family’s benefactor. From now on, you’re my own little sister.”
Sister-in-law Xing’er playfully smacked her husband.
“You big oaf, don’t scare Yutong.”
Jiang Yutong quickly waved her hands.
“No, no, you didn’t.”
Jiang Yutong remembered that she planned to go into the mountains the next day, but she didn’t have enough arrows. She turned to Fang Hu.
“Brother Fang, could you lend me a few arrows? I want to go into the mountains tomorrow.”
Fang Hu looked Jiang Yutong up and down.
“Can you handle it? Going into the mountains isn’t child’s play.”
She was simply too young and frail-looking.
“My brother and I grew up playing with bows and arrows in the mountains. I just haven’t touched a bow since I came to Shangyuan Village. I’m actually very good with a bow and arrow.”
Fang Hu knew Jiang Yutong’s older brother. He had once been an excellent hunter, but later joined the army and had never been heard from again.
Hearing this, Fang Hu believed her a little more.
“All right. I’ll bring you some arrows later.”
The two of them stayed for a while before leaving.
The night passed peacefully.
Early the next morning, Jiang Yutong said goodbye to Aunt Wang, slung her bow and arrows over her back, and headed into the mountains.
This time, she ventured deeper into the mountains, hoping to hunt something larger that she could sell for a good price.
But perhaps her luck was poor. After walking around all morning, she had only managed to catch a few rabbits.
Just when she thought that was all she would get today, she suddenly spotted a beautiful fox.
It was pure white and exceptionally beautiful. Its fur alone should fetch a good price.
She carefully nocked an arrow, aimed straight at the fox’s eye, and released.
She had complete confidence in her archery, and sure enough, the arrow hit its mark.
She couldn’t help feeling delighted.
Just as she picked up the fox and prepared to head back, she heard a series of grunts.
A wild boar.
Jiang Yutong quickly found a tree and climbed up. Below her, a wild boar weighing at least two hundred pounds was grunting as it rummaged around for food.
Seeing such a huge wild boar, Jiang Yutong was thrilled. This could sell for quite a bit of money.
She knew the two most vulnerable spots on a wild boar: two inches behind the eye and two inches behind the ear.
Wild boars were difficult to hunt. Ideally, you had to bring one down with a single arrow. If you ended up in a confrontation with one, the consequences could be disastrous.
Jiang Yutong nocked an arrow and waited for the right moment before firing at the spot behind the boar’s ear.
The arrow struck, but it wasn’t enough to bring the boar down.
The enraged wild boar roared and charged toward Jiang Yutong.
She quickly fired another arrow.
This one struck precisely two inches behind its eye.
The wild boar crashed to the ground.
Jiang Yutong waited in the tree for a while. Only after confirming that the boar truly wasn’t moving and that there were no other wild boars nearby did she relax and climb down.
She walked over to the boar and stared at the enormous animal, suddenly feeling troubled.
How was she supposed to drag this thing back?
Just as she was worrying about that, she heard someone calling out.
“Yutong! Yutong!”
It was Fang Hu.
Jiang Yutong quickly called back.
“Brother Fang, I’m over here!”
Fang Hu soon reached her.
“I didn’t expect to actually run into you. After you said yesterday that you were going into the mountains, I was worried you might run into danger alone, so I came looking for you.”
Several rabbits were hanging from Fang Hu’s waist.
When he saw the wild boar lying on the ground, he was stunned.
“You hunted this?”
Such a huge wild boar was difficult even for experienced hunters to take down. He never expected Jiang Yutong to have done it.
“Yeah. You came at just the right time. I was wondering how I was going to get it back.”
Fang Hu looked around.
“Wait here for a moment.”
He used his cleaver to cut down two medium-sized branches, then found several lengths of vine. He placed the wild boar on the branches, tied it securely with the vines, and fashioned handles.
He put the handles around his neck and tested the weight.
“All right. I’ll drag it back for you.”
The setup was surprisingly sturdy.
Jiang Yutong took the things Fang Hu was carrying.
“Then let me carry these. When you get tired, we can switch.”
Fang Hu shook his head.
“No need. These few things are nothing. I can handle them easily.”
Fang Hu also noticed the fox Jiang Yutong had hunted.
“That fox has excellent fur. You should be able to get a good price for it.”
Knowing that Fang Hu was knowledgeable about hunting and selling game, Jiang Yutong asked, “Brother Fang, do you know where I can get the best price for it?”
Fang Hu was genuinely grateful to Jiang Yutong.
“Leave it to me. Tomorrow, I’ll go to the market with you. I guarantee no one will be able to cheat you.”
“Great! With Brother Fang helping me, I feel much more at ease.”
The two of them grunted and strained as they dragged the wild boar back.
Whenever they reached a section of good, level ground, Jiang Yutong would take over and drag it for a while.
By the time the two of them appeared at the foot of the mountain dragging such a huge wild boar, quite a few people had noticed them.
The envy in their eyes was impossible to miss.
“Fang Hu, you’ve really done well! You actually managed to hunt such a huge wild boar!”
“Fang Hu is going to make a fortune!”
“Fang Hu, take me with you next time!”
Everyone had seen that even frail-looking Jiang Yutong could follow someone into the mountains.
Fang Hu explained, “Yutong was the one who shot the wild boar. I only helped drag it down.”
No one seemed to believe him.
“Fang Hu, that’s not fair. If you really hunted such a huge wild boar, we’d only be able to envy you. We wouldn’t shamelessly ask you for a share. Why bother lying?”
Fang Hu’s face turned red with frustration.
“I really didn’t shoot it!”
Thinking that Fang Hu wasn’t the kind of person who would lie about something like this, the villagers began to believe him a little.
Their gazes shifted toward Jiang Yutong.
They saw several rabbits and a fox hanging from her waist.
The fox, in particular, had pure white fur that seemed to glow. It was incredibly beautiful and would probably fetch quite a bit of money too.
Who would have thought that Jiang Yutong was actually such a skilled hunter?