Chapter 76

Noon.

A piece of news suddenly spread throughout the village.

Yuan Laoer hanged himself.

No one knows when he died; the Yuan family asked him to come over to preside over the funeral, and as soon as he entered the door, they found him hanging from the beam, already stiff.

Chen Wuji heard this news and specially went over to take a look.

The death wasn't gruesome at all, and his tongue wasn't hanging down to his neck as in the legends; instead, his mouth was shut tight, and his face looked terribly bluish, a bit frightening.

"Yuan Laoer actually had a moment of despair? Who knows why?" Chen Wuji asked the people around him very seriously.

Several Yuan family members helping to carry the corpse instantly avoided Chen Wuji.

Chen Wuji's brave deeds of slashing people last night were still fresh in everyone's mind.

Now, in the eyes of this Yuan family member, the fool is no longer foolish but has become a fierce deity.

So fierce that they even felt a bit timid just making eye contact.

"Yuan Youwei, what are you hiding for? I'm talking to you!" Chen Wuji shouted at a young man.

This kid is Yuan Laoer's nephew, and used to be a stalwart Great General who bullied him.

Yuan Youwei's body shuddered, and he stammered: "Maybe… maybe it's because I failed to snatch someone else's wife, I was so angry… that I gave up."

Chen Wuji almost couldn't hold back his laughter; this kid's brain works in interesting ways.

He could even come up with such an obscure reason.

"Fortunately I was out slashing people last night; otherwise this time I'd be unable to clear my name even if I jumped into the Yellow River." Chen Wuji said with feeling, "Do you want to report it to the officials?"

"For a suicide, it seems unnecessary to report to the officials." Yuan Youwei said, "Several people have died in the clan, and we don't have time to cause extra trouble."

"Alright, you go about your business." Chen Wuji looked around leisurely and then left.

That scoundrel finally died.

His thought instantly penetrated.

The only regret is that he couldn't say a few words to Yuan Laoer before his death, to straighten out his thought.

In the afternoon, Chen Wuji visited the homes of those deceased villagers, bringing some snake meat as a token of his feelings.

After finishing, he went straight into the mountains to check the traps he had set.

The harvest was still not bad.

What annoyed Chen Wuji was that today, for some reason, all the catches were of the wolf lineage.

Nearly twenty traps yielded two yellow weasels and one wolf badger.

The wolf badger was something Chen Wuji had never encountered before; its body resembled a bear, but its fur was like a marten's, especially its tail—one touch and you knew it was good fur.

After tidying up the game, Chen Wuji reset all the traps and planned to head straight down the mountain.

The village has been restless these past two days; he didn't dare leave for too long.

Now there's grain and meat at home, and he also has over thirty taels of silver in his pocket, so hunting isn't that urgent. He came up just to check the traps, lest they be destroyed again like that day, leaving only fur on the ground.

When passing by a small stream halfway up the mountain, he suddenly remembered he hadn't checked aquatic products in days, so he detoured there.

Eating snake soup and blanched wild vegetables every day, he really couldn't stand it anymore, so he decided to try his luck to see if he could catch a fish or mountain crab to improve his life.

As a result, he didn't catch any fish, but instead he ran into a person.

It was a woman, sitting in the pond bathing.

When Chen Wuji's gaze fell on the woman's astonishingly ample bosom, his mind instantly thought of Dong Yong and Zhu Bajie, but in the real world such a thing definitely wouldn't happen.

But this woman is truly beautiful, and also large.

She's about twenty years old.

"Where did this dog-thing come from? Get lost!"

The woman noticed the suddenly intruding Chen Wuji and shouted sternly.

Her aura was somewhat hard, her eyebrows raised, her eyes sharp and full of killing intent.

Chen Wuji's face instantly looked somewhat unpleasant.

It was just an accidental bump; is it worth insulting someone like that?

But this woman is probably not an ordinary person.

An ordinary woman wouldn't dare wander these deep mountains and old forests, let alone bathe.

Chen Wuji ignored her rebuke, his gaze falling on the clothes by the shore, trying to judge her identity from her attire before deciding what to do.

But he found nothing.

The clothing was very ordinary coarse cloth, and it was men's attire.

This woman was cross-dressing as a man.

"What are you looking at? If you keep looking, I'll gouge out your eyes, then kill your whole family—get lost!" The woman clasped her hands over her vital points and shouted angrily, her tone as hard as metal.

Chen Wuji snorted coldly, "Apologize, or I won't let you leave the mountain."

Although he hadn't meant to see the woman bathing, he subconsciously glanced twice, which was somewhat rude.

But the woman's killing intent in her speech was really too fierce.

And she wanted to kill his whole family; let's see.

"Dog-thing, who are you telling to apologize?" the woman cursed.

"Make you, this dog-thing, apologize!" Chen Wuji said coldly.

"Give you another chance to apologize properly. Otherwise, I'll burn your clothes, then take you first and kill you later— in this woods, not even if ten of you died would anyone notice!"

While speaking, he lifted the woman's clothing with his knife and tossed it aside, "You're actually quite pretty, a shame you have that mouth—if you stayed silent, I could still treat you as a beauty."

Seeing Chen Wuji's action, the woman then became a little panicked.

She only cared about protecting her vital points, and forgot her clothes……

"Return my clothes, and I'll apologize." The woman's expression relaxed a bit, she lowered her posture and said, "I can also give you silver—would one hundred taels work?"

"No, I've suddenly changed my mind. You woman wanted to kill me, so there's really no need for us to talk further." Chen Wuji threw the woman's clothes farther away, then began to unload the game from his body.

The woman panicked completely, "What are you doing? What do you want to do? I apologize, apologize! I was wrong, truly wrong, I shouldn't have threatened you—put your clothes on, put them on!"

"You bastard, give me my clothes and put them on—I order you, put them on!!"

Chen Wuji ignored her, took off his clothes and jumped into the pond.

This woman truly intended to kill him.

He might still need to discern whether others' kindness is genuine or feigned.

But malice and killing intent in others' eyes he can tell at a glance.

This woman already had the intention to kill him the moment he appeared.

How absurd!

Chen Wuji walked expressionlessly to the woman's side, "Because I happened to see you bathing, you want to kill me—you're so fierce; is human life so cheap in your eyes?"

"I don't know what you're talking about, I didn't, go away, go away!" The woman struggled to swim away, churning the water into a white blur of light and shadow.

Chen Wuji grabbed her arm and forcibly pulled her over.

"What are you running for? Now we each rely on our own abilities—will I strike first and then kill, or will you kill me? Isn't that fair?" Chen Wuji said with a cold smile.

No matter her identity, she won't leave today.

The threat brought by Yuan Laoer has already given him ample precedent.

So sometimes it's good to follow the methods of Chen Bushi and Chen Luozi.

At least it can cut off their chance to exploit influence.