After Li Yuan returned to the Little Ink Workshop with the burlap sack, he quickly headed home. Since the pheasant hadn't bled, there wasn't any hint of a bloody smell, but... it still couldn't escape the sharp eyes of some people.
Along the way, several people saw Li Yuan.
"Yuanzi, caught something?"
"Yuanzi, pretty lucky today, huh... Didn't pick it from some family's trap, did you?"
"What is it? Pheasant? Hare?"
Li Yuan just chuckled, "Just a little pheasant, came across it while wandering on the mountain, got lucky, got lucky."
When he got home, Yan Yu hadn't returned yet.
Li Yuan waited for a while until he heard a noise by the fence. He looked out and saw a young lady in a gray padded jacket, flat-chested, with a bloated belly, and a face smudged with dirt, pushing the door while carrying a large bamboo basket on her back.
This sight made Li Yuan chuckle.
But in these times, even slightly pretty women could get into trouble.
Even if trouble doesn't arise now, if someone laid eyes on her, remembered her, then in times of chaos, trouble could very well happen.
In a chaotic world, you eat as much as your mouth can handle.
Even so, others will still keep you in their thoughts.
The safest way is to use a mouth that can eat all to eat only a portion.
When Lady Yan opened the door and saw Li Yuan, she sighed delicately, "Oh, Brother Yuan, the grain prices have gone up again. After much haggling, I only got three pounds of millet and two pounds of beans for two large coins."
As she spoke, her eyes swept over Li Yuan's empty hands, revealing a hint of slight resentment in her gaze.
"Didn't catch anything today, did you?"
Although Yan Yu understood that men were often unreliable, she couldn't help but feel a bit upset...
Li Yuan smiled and said, "Look inside the house."
"Hmm?" Yan Yu was a bit puzzled, stiffened for a moment, then quickly carried the basket inside the house. Her eyes quickly found the burlap sack in the corner with a pheasant lying on top.
The pheasant's feathers were colorful, and it looked quite plump.
"Brother Yuan..."
Yan Yu put down the basket, her eyes lit up, and there was light in them.
Her face was full of joy, yet she was so excited she didn't know what to say.
Li Yuan said, "Hurry up and make dinner, your man is about to starve to death."
Yan Yu laughed and said, "Yes, yes, you sit and rest, you've worked hard today."
...
In winter, darkness falls early.
This Little Ink Workshop was not like the county town; there were no lanterns on the roads, making it pitch black. A glance outside made one feel as if the entire world had been swallowed by cold, darkness, and solitude.
But the light inside the small house was the only thing that brought a bit of warmth.
Yan Yu plucked the colorful chicken feathers to sell for some money, then simmered half a bowl of chicken fat, set aside half of the chicken on a plate, and pushed it in front of Li Yuan, saying, "Brother Yuan, take this over to Aunt Wang next door."
"Sure." Li Yuan carried the plate and went over.
Aunt Wang's family was their neighbor and often helped them out. Recently, when Yan Yu went out to buy grain, she went directly with Aunt Wang.
Today, having brought a pheasant back, Aunt Wang would definitely know. If they didn't share, nobody would say anything, but there would be a sense of alienation and complaints.
Neighbors should be on good terms, not on bad terms.
Lady Yan's action was considerate, showing she wasn't a petty woman.
Soon, Li Yuan knocked on the door not far away with the plate, calling out, "Uncle Wang, Aunt Wang~"
The door opened quickly.
A wooden-looking man smiled and said, "Brother Yuan, what brings you here so late?"
"Oh nothing, caught a pheasant. My wife wanted me to bring some over." Li Yuan replied with a smile.
The man was a bit taken aback, his eyes falling on the half-pheasant in Li Yuan's hands.
"This... in these times, meat isn't cheap... Brother Yuan, you should keep it for your family." Uncle Wang was an honest man.
But Aunt Wang started coughing nearby.
Li Yuan glanced inside the house and saw a boy with a spiky topknot and a girl with a similar topknot on two sides of the wooden table.
Both kids were swallowing hard, their eyes fixed on the meat in his hands.
Li Yuan laughed, "Uncle Wang, don't be so polite."
With that, he walked inside.
Aunt Wang took a plate to receive the meat.
Once he handed it over, Li Yuan didn't linger and was about to leave.
As he reached the door, the wooden-looking man patted his shoulder and said, "Brother Yuan, you're a good man."
"Neighbors, right?"
With that, he was about to leave.
Suddenly, Aunt Wang ran out, holding a jar in her hand, saying, "Brother Yuan, we still have some salt at home, let me share some with you."
"Salt? Thank you, Aunt Wang, then I won't stand on ceremony..." Li Yuan said with a smile.
...
Li Yuan returned home, and Lady Yan was still cooking.
Another incense stick's time passed before the cooking was done.
Rice mixed with chicken fat, roast chicken sprinkled with salt, the two of them ate like starved ghosts, devouring the food with insatiable hunger.
Li Yuan felt he had never eaten anything so delicious.
After eating their fill, Lady Yan washed the pots and dishes, and heated water for the two of them to wash up.
Li Yuan sat on the bed like a master, resting with a calm demeanor.
It wasn't that he wanted to be this lazy, but whenever he wanted to do some work, Lady Yan would shoo him away and tell him not to do anything.
At night, the "ugly makeup" of Lady Yan was naturally removed, and her gray, dusty clothes were exchanged for a blue jacket with white flowers. Although she was slim and small, she still had a shapely figure. Her face lacked a bit of nourishment and wasn't very fair, but her features were those of a budding beauty.
And at this late hour, Li Yuan didn't have many thoughts in his mind.
Before long, he embraced Lady Yan, who was still busy working.
Lady Yan said coyly, "The dishes aren't washed yet."
Li Yuan replied, "You wash yours."
Lady Yan blushed, suddenly shivering as if she had been electrocuted, breathing softly and urgently said, "Good man, blow out the candle first, blow out the candle."
...
...
The next morning.
Li Yuan was sleeping with his wife in his arms when he suddenly heard a commotion outside, as if people were running somewhere, not knowing what they were going to do.
Lady Yan poked her head out from his embrace, with the red silk band of her undershirt and a glimpse of white skin showing.
"Why is it so lively outside?"
"I don't know."
"I need to get up and have a look... whether it's a good thing or trouble, we need to know." Lady Yan wriggled out of Li Yuan's embrace, not shy at all, dressing herself in front of him, then quickly applied makeup, padded her clothes, and once looking gray and plump, she hurried out.
Once outside, Lady Yan was taken aback.
This time there was no need for explanation, she could see for herself.
She saw three big men carrying a wild boar on a few bamboo poles, walking toward the village.
The boar's belly had already been cut open, the blood let out, with the intestines and such hung on branches as an offering to the Mountain God.
This wild boar originally weighed over two hundred pounds, but now it weighed less than two hundred pounds.
But the three big men still struggled quite a bit to carry it back.
The three men were naturally Brother Xiong, Zhang Mazi, and Zhang Nuli.
The people in the village enviously watched this wild boar, with some even drooling.
When you're so hungry that you can't even afford rice, who could resist when they see such a pig?
"Brother Xiong is really capable."
"Yes, such a big pig, you could render quite a bit of lard just from it."
"Brother Xiong, I also want to follow you."
"Brother Xiong is really impressive!"
There were many voices around.
And just then, a sinister, discordant voice mixed in.
"Oh, catching such a big pig, isn't it unreasonable not to share with everyone?"
The crowd looked over and saw Qian Family's second son.
This Qian Er was followed by two ruffians, stepping out from the crowd, saying, "People in the village have starved to death, it wouldn't be right for you to feast and not care about everyone, right? Isn't that so? Huh?"
He raised his hand, scanning the surrounding spectators, trying to stir them up.
And right then, Brother Xiong suddenly put down his load, pulled out a sharp knife from his waist, wiped it on his arm, then pointed fiercely at Qian Er and said, "Beat him! Whoever beats him can come to me for meat.
The harder you beat, the more meat you get.
This is what Brother Xiong says."
As soon as he finished speaking, everyone looked at each other.
Brother Xiong wasn't in a hurry, he sat down on the wild boar, swung his knife to cut off a greasy pig thigh, and waved it up high saying, "The first person to beat him gets this.
Do you know why?
Whoever beats Qian Er is my brother.
In the future, when I go hunting, there might be room for you."
Once he finished talking, the atmosphere quieted for a while, then a few young men suddenly picked up sticks and went up to start fighting.
Qian Er got angry and shouted, "Who dares, who dares?"
The young men still went up, yelling "follow Brother Xiong" as they did.
More and more people joined in.
The Qian Family had bullied a lot of people at the Little Ink Workshop, and now that Brother Xiong had stepped up, with the possibility of getting meat, there were always willing people who wanted to take on Qian Er.
...
Lady Yan saw the fight over there and quickly ran back inside, telling her husband about it with a hint of sourness in her tone.
Although she didn't say it directly, Li Yuan could read the underlying message, "They're hunting wild boars, and you? You just caught a wild chicken."
Li Yuan, on the other hand, felt secretly relieved, glad he hadn't joined in.
Brother Xiong's group was indeed restless and ambitious.
This "Hunter Alliance" had only been around for a few days and was already clashing with the Qian Family.
"Brother Yuan, don't you think... Brother Xiong took Zhang Nuli and Zhang Mazi, wouldn't he also take you?
You are all hunters in the village."
Lady Yan's eyes shifted, filled with both anxiety and resentment, "Should you join him too?"
Li Yuan stepped forward and embraced his wife's shoulders, smiling, "Sister Yan, you don't need to worry about things outside, I've got this."