Looking at the pheasant, Qiu Huang smiled bitterly. He truly did not know whether he should accept it or not.
“Uncle, I’ll accept your chicken. From now on, we’re even, and you don’t need to keep calling me your lifesaver anymore.”
In the end, after struggling internally for a while, Qiu Huang decided to accept the pheasant.
Seeing him accept it, Old Li felt greatly relieved. In this world, favors were the hardest things to repay.
“What happened? What happened?”
At this moment, other people who had heard the commotion also rushed over.
“A tiger! A tiger!”
The moment they saw the tiger lying on the ground, they were so frightened that they immediately turned around and tried to run away.
“Wait, this tiger seems to already be dead.”
Someone noticed the key detail.
Hearing this, the others also stopped and looked again at the tiger. It was lying motionless on the ground with an arrow stuck in its back. It really did look dead.
“It’s really dead. Who killed it?”
“Judging from the bow and arrows, they seem to belong to Old Li. Could it have been Old Li who killed it?”
“Old Li killed a tiger? That’s incredible.”
“Old Li was really hiding his abilities.”
…
Hearing these comments, Old Li lowered his head awkwardly.
“You’ve got it all wrong. How could I possibly have the ability to kill a tiger? Qiu Huang did everything. He’s the one who killed the tiger.”
Qiu Huang?
Everyone immediately turned to look at Qiu Huang, their faces filled with disbelief.
“Let’s go. It’s time to head back.”
Qiu Huang did not stay any longer. He quickly left with the four women because he did not want to be surrounded and stared at like some kind of spectacle.
As for the tiger’s corpse, he was not worried at all. Someone would naturally help bring it back.
“We’re back!”
When they arrived at the courtyard house, Qiu Huang shouted loudly.
“Husband! Husband is back!”
Hearing his voice, the six women inside immediately ran out to greet them.
“Houttuynia cordata? A pheasant? Why did you bring back so little prey this time?”
Looking at their harvest, the six women were stunned. All they could see was a single pheasant, while everything else seemed to be that awful-smelling and awful-tasting herb.
“Come inside first. We’ll talk there.”
Qiu Huang did not explain much and simply walked inside.
Once inside, he put down the bamboo baskets.
“All the good stuff is underneath.”
He pushed aside the houttuynia cordata and revealed what was hidden below.
“A beehive?”
The six women were shocked when they saw it because it was an extremely large hive.
“That’s right, it’s a beehive.”
Qiu Huang nodded and lifted the hive out of the basket.
At that moment, one bee took advantage of his inattention and tried to sting him. Before it could succeed, Qiu Huang casually slapped it away and crushed it underfoot.
He was not even afraid of beasts like tigers and giant bears, much less a tiny bee.
“Besides the bees, we also brought back other things.”
The four women also dumped out the contents of their baskets. Although they had not caught much prey, they had caught plenty of fish—dozens of pounds worth—plus the large hive. Overall, the harvest this time was no worse than the last.
“I knew it. With Husband around, how could he possibly fail to catch prey?”
The six women were satisfied. With so much food, they would not need to worry about running out of meat for the next several days.
“Go get the knives and bowls. Tonight we’re eating bee larvae.”
Qiu Huang forcefully broke open the hive, revealing countless little holes inside, all packed with bee larvae that had not yet fully developed. Some of them were even wriggling.
However, none of the women were frightened because bee larvae were considered precious delicacies with high nutritional value, something usually only wealthy families could afford to eat.
“Husband, we brought the knives and bowls.”
Very quickly, Shan Feng brought them over.
“Give me a bowl. A few of you stay and help me remove the bee larvae. The rest can take the knives and prepare the fish and other ingredients.”
Qiu Huang assigned everyone their tasks.
“Yes.”
The women had no objections and immediately got to work.
“Oh right, leave all the houttuynia cordata for me. Don’t throw any of it away.”
Qiu Huang reminded them.
“Houttuynia cordata? Husband, what do you want it for?”
The women were all confused, but since Qiu Huang said so, they naturally obeyed.
“This is really hard to pick out.”
Wanyan Meiling helped Qiu Huang remove the bee larvae, using her fingernails to pick them out one by one and place them into a bowl.
Qiu Huang also felt that using fingernails was troublesome.
“Do we have any thin sticks?”
Suddenly, Qiu Huang thought of something like bamboo skewers. Using those to pick out the larvae would probably save a lot of effort.
“Thin sticks? Husband, what kind of sticks do you need?”
“Anything thin is fine. Bamboo skewers will do.”
“Alright, we’ll go make some right away.”
Before long, several bamboo skewers had been sharpened and prepared. They had no shortage of bamboo around here, so making skewers was easy.
“This is much easier.”
Qiu Huang picked up one of the bamboo skewers and used it to remove the bee larvae.
Seeing this, Wanyan Meiling and the others quickly copied him.
“Shiyi, tell us what happened during today’s hunting trip.”
As the women worked, they chatted casually to pass the time.
“What? You want to hear it?”
“Of course.”
“Alright, then we’ll tell you.”
Tang Shiyi and the others began recounting the story while the six women listened as if hearing an exciting tale.
“What did you say? Husband killed a tiger by himself?”
When Tang Shiyi and the others got to the part where Qiu Huang single-handedly killed the tiger, the six women were completely stunned, their mouths hanging open in disbelief.
“Yes, Husband killed a tiger quite easily.”
Tang Shiyi nodded, confirming it as fact.
“Husband is unbelievable. He can even kill a tiger.”
The six women found it unimaginable. They knew exactly how terrifying tigers were. Every year, there were stories of people being eaten by them, and almost everyone feared tigers deeply.
If it had been them, they would have been scared to death the moment they saw a tiger, unable even to run away, much less fight back and kill it.
“I heard that if someone kills a tiger, not only does their reputation in the village rise greatly, but even the government rewards them.”
“That’s true. Last year, villagers from our old village worked together to kill a tiger. The government rewarded every participating household with money and even gave them a plaque calling them Tiger-Slaying Heroes.”
“So doesn’t that mean Husband is going to become famous now?”
“That’s right. Husband is definitely going to become famous.”
“Being able to marry Husband is the greatest blessing of our lives.”
“Hahaha.”