Chapter 159

"This bear must be blind, bumping into your knife, right? With your paltry three-legged cat skills, you could kill something this big?" Chen Bushi held up a torch and examined the grey bear up close, shocked to the point of losing control of his expression.

Chen Wuji was speechless, "Really, a dog's mouth can't spit out ivory; you can't die without belittling me, can you? This isn't the first big game I've hunted, why make such a fuss? Frankly, pythons are actually harder to deal with than this."

He felt guilty in his heart.

Guilty toward the Big Tiger!

Surely the magnanimous Mountain Lord wouldn't fuss over such a trivial matter.

"Are pythons fiercer than bears?" Chen Bushi doubted a bit.

Xiong Paozi gave a hehe smile, "As the old saying goes, human greed is never satisfied, a snake can swallow an elephant, so it must definitely be a bit fiercer than a bear."

"That old saying really got through to you." Chen Bushi shook his head, looking disgusted.

A crowd surrounded the bear, looking left and right, up and down, their eyes full of amazement.

They even carefully studied whether this bear was male or female.

But everyone had different opinions, and they never figured it out.

"Everyone, help me out, bring this thing back home, and tomorrow I'll treat you all to drinks." After resting a while, Chen Wuji finally caught his breath and said to the crowd.

"This little favor is nothing; we won't take the drink. Having a drink, you might not even make back what you earned from killing this big guy. Come, everyone lend a hand." A villager shouted with a smile.

The crowd responded noisily, unevenly refusing Chen Wuji's suggestion to treat them to drinks.

With everyone's joint effort, the bear was transported back home.

After sitting with the villagers, drinking tea and chatting for a while, once they left, Chen Wuji began to handle the big fellow.

The bear can be said to be entirely treasure; even its bones and teeth can be sold for money.

Needless to say, bear pelts are a rare commodity second only to tiger pelts on the market.

Actually, the bear's fur isn't as soft and comfortable as badger fur, but as a tyrant of the mountains, its status makes its hide more valuable than badger fur.

Rumor has it the bear's meat tastes quite good, and the bear's paw ranks first among the eight delicacies.

And beneath it are listed dragon liver, phoenix marrow, leopard stomach, etc...

It's heard that some wealthy folks, for that tasty bite, regularly spend heavily hiring hunters to kill them.

Some people take the bear's bones and teeth to soak in liquor or make into ornaments.

I don't know what effect soaking this in liquor has, Chen Wuji doesn't know, but as long as it can make money it's fine.

Bear bile liquor, bear bone liquor, are often mentioned together with tiger bone liquor; their effects are probably about the same.

"Wuji, the thing you're making in the clay basin looks about done, but I don't know how to handle it, so I didn't dare move it; you go check later." Huo Sanniang, giving Chen Wuji a hand, suddenly said.

"No rush, leaving it for a while is fine." Chen Wuji steadied his grip on the knife, avoiding damaging the precious pelt.

White sugar came out, but he had nowhere to send it.

The sky over Nan Jun was too dark, leaving him no opening at all.

After Chen Wuji finished handling this five-hundred-catty big fellow, it was already approaching the hai hour.

Last night he didn't sleep at all; this morning he wanted to catch a nap, but then Qin Zan Hong repeatedly drained him three times; even with an iron-clad body, he could barely hold up now.

"Get some rest; we'll talk about the rest tomorrow." Chen Wuji let out a long yawn, telling Huo Sanniang and the others.

"Okay." Huo Sanniang gave a light smile, her water-like gaze quickly flicking to Chen Wuji, then to Xue Hongdou.

Chen Wuji found Huo Sanniang's reaction a bit odd, but didn't think much of it; he sent off Yuan Jinshi and his two brothers to rest quickly, then headed to his own room.

He urgently needed sleep to replenish his vitality.

Almost the instant his head hit the pillow, he fell into a deep sleep, unaware of anything.

Although he slept late at night, perhaps because this sleep was exceptionally high-quality, Chen Wuji woke up very early in the morning, as soon as a faint light appeared outside, he awoke.

He stretched comfortably, then turned his head and suddenly froze.

The one sleeping beside him was not Huo Sanniang nor Shen Youwei, but Xue Hongdou.

She slept beside him fully clothed, curled up like a little dog, sleeping very cautiously.

Chen Wuji:?

What happened last night?!

This definitely wasn't Xue Hongdou acting on her own; behind it must be Huo Sanniang and Shen Youwei stirring things up.

Could it be that Huo Sanniang arranged it?

But...

This woman always looks like she's about to die; he truly dares not get too involved.

If it were because he accidentally stabbed her too hard, driving her to seek death, even suddenly grabbing a rope to hang herself, who could guard against such a thing?

Someone who is determined to die cannot be stopped even if the heavenly king himself came.

If such a thing really happened, Chen Wuji estimates he'd carry a psychological scar for life.

To develop a psychological shadow over an entire forest because of one tree would be an enormous loss for him.

As Chen Wuji was suspecting, he suddenly saw Xue Hongdou open her eyes.

Her pupils hardly showed any light, calm and still like a pool of dead water.

Although her appearance is quite spirited, this demeanor ruins everything.

"How did you end up here?" Chen Wuji asked.

Xue Hongdou's pupils flickered, "I begged the senior lady; the master slept with me once, I think I should count as his attendant, but I also feel the master isn't too fond of me."

"So I consulted the two ladies, asking for their advice on what I should do. The Second Lady said, since I know I'm the maid attending the master, I should do my duty and sleep with the master. The Second Lady said after sleeping a few times, the master won't dislike me. The First Lady agreed, so I climbed onto the master's bed; this is the arrangement of the two ladies."

"This is a kang!" Chen Wuji corrected.

"Yes, a kang!" Xue Hongdou furrowed her brows, bit her lip, and drew her body in even tighter.

Chen Wuji just knew that Huo Sanniang and Shen Youwei must have had a hand in this.

He stared at Xue Hongdou and asked, "Do you know what I dislike about you?"

Xue Hongdou shook his head.

"Because you always think about death, that may be a release for you, but you disgust me and cause me trouble. The thing you worry about, I have already been handling for you, yet you remain like this all day; tell me, should I regard you?" Chen Wuji asked angrily.

"That is, you and I are of roughly equal background, and I can reluctantly understand some of your helplessness. If someone like you were sent to a wealthy household, they couldn't tolerate you for even a day, and you still ask me why? That's why."