Chapter 2: then translation of title

A person and a snake locked in a loving gaze didn't last long.

The black-tipped snake coiled its tail around a branch suddenly lunged forward, striking at Chen Wuji's face as if trying to bite off his nose.

Chen Wuji remained calm, simply blocking with his forearm.

The black-tipped snake bit firmly, very cooperatively.

In that instant, Chen Wuji snapped his hand up, two fingers like iron clamps gripping the snake's head, forcing its mouth open.

"Bite me? You think I don't know you? I'll let you bite—what can you do to me?" Chen Wuji calmly tied the snake in a slipknot, then picked up a small stone and finished off the nearly two-meter creature.

Not killing it would be a hassle to carry.

"I don't know if you have kin or companions," Chen Wuji muttered, pondering whether to keep looking.

The black-tipped snake is a proper good snake—tasty and useful.

Cooked with yellow wine, anyone who's tried it will definitely crave another serving.

Moreover, it has a strong effect dispelling wind and clearing the meridians, being the main ingredient of Stabilizing Wind Powder.

He pulled some vines, roughly wove a basket, stuffed it with leaves, then shoved in the crab, yellow eel, and snake all at once.

The haul looked plentiful but wasn't heavy.

It was still early, so Chen Wuji wandered around a bit more.

Based on his limited experience, he judged that since there was one black-tipped snake here, another or more were likely.

This creature lays eggs and apparently doesn't have a habit of long-distance migration.

But unfortunately, he miscalculated.

Beating the grass startles the snake—hard to defend against.

But if you truly intend to catch snakes, you'll instead not encounter them.

However, Chen Wuji encountered something else.

—Prison-bottom fish.

Formal name: baby fish.

But this concept existed before Chen Wuji's time-travel.

In his previous life, if he came across this, aside from watching it pose and flirt before him, even touching and killing it would count as his fault.

Nowadays, that thing is a delicacy in Chen Wuji's eyes.

Must catch!

But catching this guy is much harder than catching crabs; Chen Wuji worked up a sweat and only managed to snag one, barely four or five catties, enough to give Huo Sanniang an extra meal back home.

Apart from its unpleasant call, this fish has nothing but advantages.

Especially, it's said to have nourishing and complexion-enhancing effects.

Glancing at the dappled light filtering through the treetops, Chen Wuji didn't linger in the mountains; after gathering his spoils, he quickly headed down.

All the way over mountains and ridges, soon the smoke rising lazily from Xishan Village appeared before Chen Wuji's eyes; although life's new instance is somewhat bleak, this little mountain village is truly beautiful.

It's a pity that when one's food and clothing needs aren't met, even something beautiful before one's eyes can't be called beautiful; it's just about the same.

Even with Li Bai's lofty mindset, what he wrote would only be "the wind will break the waves at times, hoist the cloud sail to cross the sea," not "the lone smoke rises straight in the desert, the long river meets the setting sun, the evening glow flies with the lone wild goose, autumn waters merge with the vast sky."

On the way into the village, Chen Wuji encountered many villagers returning late.

A simpleton returning from the mountains aroused much curiosity among the villagers.

Everyone jostled and scrambled to see what this simpleton Chen Wuji could bring back.

Then Chen Wuji pulled out the snake.

The crowd gathered around him, upon seeing what he held, quickly scattered.

"Wuji, you little brat, you don't want to live, this is a poisonous snake," someone shouted.

"Not poisonous, I... I'm not dead," Chen Wuji deliberately exposed the wound where the snake bit him.

The people around were instantly dumbfounded.

"You brat, death isn't far off for you; later come to my place and I'll get you some ointment—whether you can make it through tonight depends on your own fate," a middle-aged man said with a stern face.

"Also, snake meat should be stewed with wine; I still have some at home—take it and have a meal."

The middle-aged man let out a heavy sigh as he spoke.

One doesn't know whether he sighed at Chen Wuji's foolish bravery or regretted his last meal.

This person is Chen Wuji's paternal uncle, named Chen Bushi.

One who could never pass any exams, a solitary and aloof scholar.

Also the only educated person in the village.

Chen Wuji nodded repeatedly, but didn't think of mooching his ointment and stuff.

He's indeed not skilled at hunting, but he's familiar with most things in the wild.

He's even gnawed raw snake meat before.

"Don't loiter around the village; hurry home," Chen Bushi waved his hand.

"Go home first and have a look; later come find me—Yuan Laoer has been loitering at your doorstep this afternoon, who knows what scheme he's cooking up."

Chen Wuji's heart gave a sudden thump; he gave a heavy grunt, flung his legs, and rushed home.

The front door stood wide open, and Chen Wuji charged in like a bull.

Having searched the house and found no Huo Sanniang, Chen Wuji dropped his game, picked up his wooden spear, and headed straight for Yuan Laoer's home.

Yuan Laoer's family lives on a better plateau, while Chen Wuji, a landless hunter, lives on the mountainside; going down requires walking a certain distance.

Chen Wuji descended the mountain at a hundred-meter sprint speed and rushed straight to Yuan Laoer's home.

The newly repaired wooden door was tightly shut; inside, faint sounds of a woman struggling and shouting could be heard; Chen Wuji could no longer bear it, leapt up, kicked the door open a few times, and rushed in.

"Yuan Laoer, what... what are you doing? Let me go, let me go!!"

"Why? Little miss, tell me why I should lend you grain? When I first lent you grain, you ought to have behaved, obediently crawl onto my bed. How could you be so undisciplined? I lent you the grain, I said let me touch your little hand, you damned actually told me to get lost!"

Yuan Laoer's lecherous voice transmitted out from the side room.

Chen Wuji's face instantly turned dark as iron, he kicked open the door with one foot, leapt straight onto the kang, and delivered a heavy kick to Yuan Laoer's head.

As Yuan Laoer was pressing Huo Sanniang against the kang edge, trying to tear her clothes, he heard the commotion, happened to turn his head, and Chen Wuji's kick squarely hit his face, almost twisting his neck 180 degrees.

Chen Wuji grimaced, grabbed Yuan Laoer and pulled him down from the kang edge, then rained bang-bang punches on his head, left and right, beating him into a daze.

"Want to touch my little hand? Come, touch mine, touch it well!" Chen Wuji roared while swinging his fist.

At this moment he even had the heart to kill.

He inherited the original body's memories, and at the same time inherited some of the original body's feelings toward Huo Sanniang.

Only the two of them remained in their family, depending on each other, and Huo Sanniang happened to be gentle and virtuous; even Chen Wuji, who had come from another world, did not want to betray this woman's kindness.

But this bastard, he actually took every opportunity to bully her!

Without skinning him, it's really hard to dispel Chen Wuji's hatred.