kvmb Chapter 2: Hunting in the Mountains
Chapter 2: Hunting in the Mountains
After suffering from insomnia until midnight, Chu Ci reluctantly accepted her new physical structure and fell into a deep sleep.
The next day, she was woken up by the urge to urinate. After a series of internal struggles, she finally managed to get to the toilet and lay on her cot on the floor, questioning the meaning of life.
For some reason, she felt dirty.
"........."
No, this can't be. Having been given a second chance at life, she must be strong!
Chu Ci stood up, exhaled, and began to wander around the house.
He discovered that he was so poor that all he had left were a few handfuls of rice and a simple house.
Nothing else.
"........"
I suddenly feel a little breathless.
She clenched her fist, but then relaxed it shortly afterward.
Never mind, let's focus on the present and make breakfast.
Chu Ci took some firewood from the woodshed and started a fire to cook a pot of soft, sweet sweet potato porridge.
With a side of pickled vegetables, it tastes pretty good.
Chu Ci placed the porridge on the kitchen table and covered it with a bamboo basket.
He glanced at the sky and realized it was still early, so he picked up a tree branch and started practicing his swordsmanship.
This body is somewhat thin and needs daily exercise; it would be best to eat more meat to build muscle.
When Shi An got up and opened the window, she saw Chu Ci practicing swordsmanship in the courtyard, and she was a little surprised.
Although the woman outside the window was very thin, her figure was surprisingly agile, and every movement seemed full of power. Her body lines were also very beautiful.
Unbeknownst to him, Shi An stood by the window for quite a while, until Chu Ci noticed him, and he snapped out of his daze.
"Shi'an, breakfast is ready in the kitchen. It should be at the perfect temperature to eat now."
"Oh, okay...okay." Shi An felt a little flustered and her heart was beating a little fast when she was suddenly spoken to.
He reached up and pressed his hand against his chest, raising an eyebrow.
He must have been startled when he was suddenly called on, otherwise he wouldn't have jumped so fast.
After a while, the man tidied up the bed and planned to fetch water from the water tank to wash up.
But as soon as he stepped outside, he found a basin of water on a low stool next to the door, seemingly prepared for him.
Shi An was somewhat surprised, seemingly not expecting such a scene to appear. He stood there stunned for a while before reaching out to pick it up.
This made him pause for a moment again.
The water... was actually warm.
When Chu Ci returned to her room, she saw her husband in a daze. She took the basin of water from his hand and placed it on the table in the bedroom.
"Hurry up and wash up, breakfast is getting cold."
"Um..."
The morning sunlight streamed through the window and fell on Chu Ci's face, as if gilding her skin with a faint golden glow.
Shi An slowly approached, his gaze lingering on Chu Ci's delicate and beautiful face.
Bathed in this soft light, Chu Ci's face appeared exceptionally charming.
Her skin was as smooth as silk, radiating a warm glow.
Shi An could clearly see the soft downy hairs on her cheeks, which trembled slightly like fine golden threads, as if telling a story of vitality and beauty.
After placing the basin of water on the ground, Chu Ci turned and left.
She seemed completely oblivious to the slightly amazed look in Shi Anna's eyes behind her.
As Shi An watched her departing figure, a sense of curiosity and doubt welled up in his heart.
He had originally thought that Chu Ci would stay and talk to him for a while, or at least pay attention to his reaction, but she left so readily, as if he were just an insignificant presence.
This indifferent attitude made Shi Anxin feel a little disappointed, but at the same time it aroused his deep-seated curiosity.
He began to ponder what kind of story and personality this mysterious woman had.
When the man finished getting ready and arrived at the restaurant, two bowls of sweet potato porridge had been waiting for him for a long time.
Shi An suddenly felt uneasy. "These things should be done by me."
Whether it's cooking or serving his wife her personal hygiene, these are things he should do.
“It’s okay. My parents have been gone for more than two years. I can take care of myself now. There’s no need to be particular about these things in my family. Whoever is free can do it.”
Shi An stole a glance at Chu Ci, feeling uneasy. "Isn't this a bad idea?"
"What's wrong with it? Aren't you satisfied?"
The man quickly shook his head, "No, no, I don't think this kind of service work should be done by women."
Chu Ci looked directly at him, her gaze sincere.
"There's no such thing as 'should' or 'shouldn't.' Now that I've married you, I'll take responsibility for you. Sit down and eat."
Shi An remained silent for a few seconds before finally giving in, "Yes, my lady."
He picked up the bowl and drank a cup of sweet glutinous rice porridge, feeling a warm feeling in his stomach and a sense of warmth throughout his body.
To be honest, his life now is much better than he expected.
She thought she would go hungry following this poor scholar, but to her surprise, this woman was actually quite kind to her.
Chu Ci finished a bowl of sweet potato porridge in two gulps, patted his stomach, and felt that he was still not full.
But there wasn't much food left at home, so she didn't plan to eat any more.
"I'll be going into the mountains for a bit and should be back tonight. You can cook some lunch for yourself, okay?"
Shi An nodded obediently, "No problem, my wife, I can manage on my own."
"Keep your doors locked and remember to ask villagers for help if you have any problems."
"Yes."
Chu Ci placed the bowl into the pool, then put on a thick coat and went into the mountains.
Their home was a bit remote, very close to the back mountain, and she soon arrived in the dense forest.
Chu Ci picked up a small stone from the ground and listened carefully to the sounds around him.
Swish!
She seized the opportunity and threw the stone, hitting a rabbit.
But the rabbit was only injured and did not die; instead, it quickly ran away.
"........."
Chu Ci was somewhat speechless. This body was still a bit weak. If it were before, that rabbit's head would have been smashed open long ago.
"Sigh, looks like I'll have to find time to make a bow and arrow."
Stones alone are not enough.
The woman walked slowly into the mountains, picking wild vegetables as she saw them and putting them into her basket.
An hour passed, and they hadn't caught any rabbits or pheasants, but they had picked a small basketful of fresh wild vegetables and mushrooms.
After walking for another hour, Chu Ci arrived deep in the mountains and forests.
There are noticeably more wild animals here, and even wild boars and deer have been spotted.
Since entering the deep mountains, Chu Ci has been careful to avoid encountering any large, aggressive animals.
Continuing forward, she was somewhat surprised after parting the tall weeds.
On a small hill not far away, there was a slightly dilapidated wooden house.
Are there really people living in such deep mountains and forests?
Chu Ci cautiously stepped forward and observed for a while. He noticed a lot of spider webs in front of the door, indicating that no one had lived there for a long time.
She cautiously reached out and gently knocked on the door, then quickly pressed her ear against it, trying to hear if there was any movement inside.
However, the room was silent, and no sound answered her knocking.
Chu Ci tried knocking on the door again, but still no one answered.
She raised her foot and kicked the dilapidated wooden door hard.
The door was kicked open with a loud bang.
She walked into the room and glanced around.
A corpse that had been dead for a long time lay on the ground, completely dried out.
In addition, bows and arrows and huge hunting traps were hanging on the walls of the cabin. Although they were rusty, they should still be usable.
Seeing this, Chu Ci smiled.
"It's like someone bringing you a pillow when you're sleepy."
She went to the backyard first, buried the dead man in the ground, bowed three times, and then took all the hunting tools with her.
The quiver contains a total of five usable arrows, including both wooden and iron arrows.
The bowstring was still sturdy, but it was showing signs of wear.
After Chu Ci acquired the bow, he was no longer as cautious as before, climbing trees at the slightest sound.
She has now transformed from prey into hunter.
Although this body is still weak, it is indeed stronger than the body in its previous life when it did not use internal energy.
But to be honest, life is really inconvenient without internal energy.
At least she can no longer quickly dispel the cold.
Two more hours passed, and with the help of bows and arrows, Chu Ci gained a lot.
Two wild rabbits, two pheasants, and a deer.
This deer is a relatively young fawn; Chu Ci used it to practice his writing.
She drew the bowstring back to its maximum, aimed at the fawn's eye, and then released it.
The iron arrow pierced the fawn's eye and went straight into its brain.
Chu Ci was surprised again. Not long after, her strength had increased again. What was going on in this world?
***
Because she was so hungry, she roasted a pheasant at noon to fill her stomach.
Finally, before sunset, I got home.
After finishing breakfast, Shi An searched his room for his indenture, turning the place upside down, but he couldn't find it.
He was feeling down for a while, and around noon he casually roasted a sweet potato for himself and took a nap.
After resting enough, I got up and went to the river to wash some dirty clothes.
As soon as he stepped out, he saw Chu Ci returning with a pile of things on her back, so he immediately went up to greet her, "My lady."
Chu Ci smiled at him and said, "I'm back."
She glanced down at the clothes in the wooden basin and asked Shi An, "Are you going to the river to wash your clothes?"
"Ah."
"Wait a moment before you go."
“Yes, my lady,” Shi An nodded obediently.
When the lady of the house returns, it's natural to cook for her first.
After putting the rabbit and deer in the yard, Chu Ci rubbed his lower back.
Carrying such a heavy animal carcass down the mountain is quite tiring.
Shi An looked at the animal carcasses on the ground, feeling extremely surprised.
If he remembered correctly, Chu Ci was just a frail scholar with poor health and didn't know how to hunt.
Where did these come from?
"........."
The man paused for a few seconds, then tentatively asked the person next to him, "My lady, did you hunt these today?"
"Yes, I found an unclaimed bow and arrow on the mountain and used it to hunt."
Shi An was somewhat startled, "They even hunted a deer...that's impressive..."
Chu Ci was not very satisfied with his performance today; he was far from being able to kill ten people in one step as he used to.
"so so."
Shi An disagreed. Almost every arrow hit the eye; this was no ordinary shot, it was clearly very powerful.
After explaining what he had learned, Chu Ci went to the kitchen to boil water.
Shi An thought she was going to cook, so she quickly helped start a fire.
After the water boiled, Chu Ci found a wooden bucket, poured the hot water into it, and turned to her husband to say something.
"Let's go to the river together."
Shi An was somewhat puzzled, "My lady, are you going too?"
"Okay, I'll carry this bucket of hot water for you. The river isn't far from here, let's go."
The man thought for a while before realizing that the bucket of hot water was for him to use for washing clothes.
Firewood is hard to come by in the countryside, yet this woman was willing to heat water for him.
Shi An's heart felt as if it had been gently scraped by a feather.
"This...is it really for me to use?"
"Of course." Chu Ci took a few steps, then realized there was no one behind him, so he had to turn back. "Stop spacing out, let's go."
"okay."
Shi An followed Chu Ci, carrying the wooden basin, and soon the two reached the riverbank.
By this time, many men had already come to the river to wash their clothes.
Chu Ci felt it inappropriate to stay, so he told Shi An to "wash the clothes with warm water" and then left.
As Shi An watched her departing figure, he suddenly felt a pang of sadness in his chest.
He didn't know why it started, and even he himself found it strange.
Not far away, Wu Liu and her son Song He were also washing clothes by the river.
Seeing Chu Ci bring Shi An over, Wu Liu smiled teasingly and quickly brought her son over to Shi An, patting his arm.
"Husband of the Chu family, it seems that Chu Ci really likes you. She even brought you here to do your laundry herself, as if she was afraid you would get lost."
Shi An blushed a little at the teasing and couldn't help but explain, "My wife came over because I couldn't carry the hot water."
Upon hearing this, Song He's eyes showed envy. "There's even hot water! Sister Chu really cares about you; she doesn't even want you to wash your clothes in cold water."
"That's right, that's right. Although our Chu girl is a bit poor, she's a very good person. When I was sick before, it was Chu girl who helped take me to the county clinic."
Song He added, "It was snowing heavily that day, and my sister and my mother weren't home. Thanks to Sister Chu Ci's help, otherwise the consequences would have been unimaginable."
"Okay," Shi An nodded, indicating that she understood.
He was glad that the wife he chose was a good person, and that things might not be so complicated when they discussed divorce in the future.
"Brother Shi'an, let's do the laundry together."
"it is good."
Shi An divided the hot water in the wooden bucket among Wu Liu and Song He.
At first, Wu Liu was a little embarrassed and kept declining.
Later, Shi An scooped the hot water directly into Wu Liu's wooden basin, forcing him to accept it.
Wu Liu was a little happy. "Husband of the Chu family, you are such a good boy. Live a good life with Chu Ci from now on, and things will only get better and better in the future."
"Ah."
Shi An answered absentmindedly while washing clothes.
Actually, once he finds the indenture and saves some money, he will leave this place.
He will go to the capital and try to get in touch with the other princesses, using the information he had in his previous life to make deals with them.
This time, he will definitely clear the Shi family's name and will never let any scumbag who harmed his family get away with it!
Just as Shi An was enjoying his laughter and conversation, a discordant voice suddenly broke in.
"Women are only interested for a few days; who knows what will happen afterward?"
"Besides, if you waste firewood like this, how will you cook in the future? Don't forget, Chu Ci is so poor that he doesn't even have rice in his rice jar."
Shi An glanced at the man across from her who was making sarcastic remarks, but ignored him.
Wu Liu rolled her eyes and retorted.
"At least she knows how to cherish her husband. Have you ever used hot water to wash clothes in your life? Yet you're spouting nonsense here."
"......"
Zhang Cui rubbed the clothes in her hands vigorously a few times, and sneered, "You talk as if you've used hot water, they're all the same stuff."
Wu Liu's face turned red with anger. "You disagreed when Chu Ci asked your son to marry you, so what's the point of saying such sour things now?"
"If you ask me, I'm so glad I didn't marry that pretentious slut of yours. She demanded two taels of silver as a bride price! Why don't you just rob someone?!"
Zhang Cui retorted, not to be outdone, "My son is only worth this much money!!"
Wu Liu rolled her eyes again. "Come on, look at the face of our Chu family's husband. Can your son compare?"
"........."
To be honest, before Shi An came to Sanyuan Village, Zhang Cui's youngest son, Li Yu, was the most handsome young man in the village.
Many women wanted to marry him.
Li Yu actually had a bit of a fondness for the Chu Ci (Songs of Chu), after all, she was beautiful and a scholar.
Unfortunately, Chu Ci's family was too poor, and Zhang Cui didn't want her son to go and live a life of poverty.
Therefore, when Chu Ci proposed marriage, Zhang Cui rejected her without hesitation.
Even after seeing Chu Ci take out a "huge sum" of one or two taels of silver, he still did not agree.
In the end, Chu Ci could only buy Shi An from a slave trader for one or two taels of silver and marry him.
Shi An roughly understood the situation from the argument between Zhang Cui and Wu Liu.
However, he wasn't interested. His main worry now was his indenture, and he didn't know where Chu Ci had put it.