Chapter 39

"San Shu, I know you're not that immoral." Chen Wuji laughed.

"Laborers have read the Dao De Jing thoroughly, but morality—Laborers don't talk about it; what's the point of that?" Chen Bushi cursed while speaking, put his arm around Chen Wuji's shoulders, shook off the crowd and went to his house.

Chen Wuji teased, saying: "San Shu, if you say that, I suggest you engrave the two characters 'morality' on your knife; then you'll be speaking morality."

Upon hearing that, Chen Wuji immediately became interested: "You little brat, this idea is great! In the future, Laborers will wield morality to strike people—then I'll be a moral scholar? That foolish mindset is indeed useful—learn from mistakes, you little brat will definitely have a future."

Chen Wuji felt that this old brat seemed to be scolding him, but there was no evidence.

In the midst of casual talk, the two walked into Chen Bushi's house surrounded by a bamboo fence.

Chen Bushi found an iron chain, tied the bear cub under the eaves, then poured Chen Wuji a bowl of wine and a cup of tea, saying, "Choose tea or wine."

Thus Chen Wuji decided to drink wine with tea.

After time-traveling for so long, he still hasn't tasted what this era's wine is like.

"Get change!" Chen Bushi picked up a piece of silver and handed it to Chen Wuji.

"No, let's settle it tomorrow." Chen Wuji shook his head and said.

He only had a few dozen cash coins on him, not enough to give Chen Bushi change.

"Then take it for now, and give me change tomorrow." Chen Bushi said.

"I barely earned some scattered silver, and you little brat took it away—this really is the last of my savings."

Chen Wuji calmly put away the silver, saying, "San Shu, I remember you said the same thing last time."

"Both times are true, you've seen how your uncle makes money today." Chen Bushi shook his head, let out a sigh of regret, and said, "I originally wanted to rest a few days, tend to the crops in my field, but it looks like I can't rest—I'll have to find a way to earn silver."

"If someday you, this wicked brat, drag a mountain lord down from the mountains, I also want one, so I need to earn money for you sooner."

Chen Wuji: ……

This guy's doing things as if he's forcing me to buy something.

Chen Wuji drank a bowl of wine and two cups of tea at Chen Bushi's house, then returned home feeling refreshed.

Chen Bushi's stingy nature never once offered to have Chen Wuji help prepare dinner; he just kept adding water to the tea bowl.

Unable to get a meal, Chen Wuji had no choice but to go home to eat.

However, today's transaction went smoothly.

If the peacock could really sell for a high price of a thousand cash, today's foray into the mountains should be his biggest harvest in all those days of hunting.

One such deal could settle all his current worries.

In the tranquil small courtyard, dim lights glowed, and a fragrant aroma of food wafted; Chen Wuji couldn't help but quicken his steps.

Every time night falls now, it becomes a moment he especially looks forward to.

More appealing than a bright, sunny morning.

After pushing open the broken courtyard gate, Chen Wuji first separated the peacock and wild boar, placing them in the former pigsty—the miscellaneous storage room—then put the monkey outside, washed his hands, and carried the wild boar into the kitchen.

Huo Sanniang and Shen Youwei were still sitting by the stove, speaking softly.

However, the work in their hands had changed from stripping hemp fibers to twisting hemp rope.

With hemp rope, the next step should be able to weave cloth and make shoes.

"Wuji, aren't you hurt today?" Huo Sanniang put down her work, lifted the lamp to examine Chen Wuji from head to toe, and only after confirming he was uninjured did she begin to care about today's harvest.

Upon seeing Chen Wuji bring in only a wild boar, her eyes showed no disappointment; instead she smiled and reassured, "It's fine—hunting is just luck. With this wild boar, plus the snake meat, if we can sell it, the substitute service money will be enough."

"There are two more alive, I've put them in the miscellaneous storage room." Chen Wuji laughed, "And I also caught a bear cub, which San Shu bought for eight hundred cash—now the substitute service money is sufficient."

"Really?" Huo Sanniang and Shen Youwei were instantly overjoyed.

Chen Wuji took out the silver Chen Bushi gave him and handed it to Huo Sanniang, saying, "Wife, look, silver!"

"I... this is the first time I've ever touched Silver." Huo Sanniang's eyes curved into a charming crescent as she smiled, carefully holding the small Silver weighing one tael, turning it over and over without end.

Shen Youwei watched this scene, then suddenly drifted into a daze.

Before anything happened at home, she would never carry such a small Silver on her person; normally it was used to tip the waiters and servants.

In just a few years, times have changed, and her fortunes have shifted so dramatically that the Silver she once looked down on has become the family's greatest wealth.

"Wuji, what did you just say you caught?!" Huo Sanniang suddenly snapped back to attention and asked in astonishment.

"Bear Cub, it's such an adorable little thing, so lovable-looking." Chen Wuji said.

Huo Sanniang was so frightened her wrist jerked violently, and the Silver almost fell to the ground.

She had just been focused on the eight hundred wen, subconsciously ignoring Chen Wuji's earlier remark; suddenly realizing it, she was so frightened she almost choked.

That was a bear, after all—she couldn't even imagine how Chen Wuji had managed to catch it.

"I just happened to run into it—I didn't see a big bear. Today I seem to have extra luck with small animals: the two wild boars were small, the Bear Cub was small, and I even came across a nest of small hedgehogs." Chen Wuji laughed foolishly, giving Huo Sanniang and Shen Youwei a simple rundown of what happened to him in the mountains.

Those dangerous aspects he simply ignored automatically.

Some things you just need to experience yourself; there's no need to let Huo Sanniang and Shen Youwei go through another scare.

"Phew, phew, you rascal, you're really lucky today." Huo Sanniang let out a long sigh of relief.

"From now on, if you encounter such things, hide immediately—got it? I've heard that Bear Cubs usually have a mother bear with them; you just happened not to run into one today."

"Mm." Chen Wuji gave a heavy nod.

He agreed, but if he encountered it again, he'd still dare to do it.

One animal worth eight hundred wen—this big sum of money must be earned even if it involves great risk.

"Wife, did my San Shu and them ever help our family before?" Chen Wuji shifted the topic and asked.

"Of course they did—how could they not?" Huo Sanniang said.

"Your Chen Family branch is really strange—clearly they get along fine in private, but on the surface they act as if they're on bad terms, never greeting people they see day to day and rarely mingling. Yet whenever someone runs into trouble, they definitely help behind the scenes; it's just that most of the village doesn't know about it."

"You say it's strange? In a village where everyone knows when any household has trouble, such a small matter is hardly known by anyone. Your San Shu even initially told me not to tell anyone about it."

Chen Wuji nodded; it really was strange.

Huo Sanniang continued: "If they weren't constantly supplying us with rice, flour, and Silver, I alone couldn't take good care of you—I can't grow grain well, and I have no hunting skill."

"Not speaking of far away, just one year's tax could kill me. You often are muddle-headed, sometimes you can sleep in bed for a month or two, but the tax still must be paid; this money is all scraped together by them."

Huo Sanniang let out a light sigh, "I've never told you about this, not because I don't want to tell you, but because I felt it unnecessary; when the family has money, I'll gradually repay their kindness."

"Now that you've opened your mind and become sensible, you should indeed know these matters."

Chen Wuji nodded.

He might need to reorganize his understanding of the Chen Family of Xishan Village; this foolish boy was indeed rather clueless before.

Their Chen Family really seems to have more and more the potential of bandits.