Chapter 9: Chen Bushi

Chen Wuji waited until all the animals beside the stream had run off cleanly before daring to show his head from under the rock.

He worried that the two big cats had fixed on him, lying in wait somewhere.

The look they gave when they left made his back feel colder the more he thought about it.

Besides the fresh battle traces as swift as thunder, only the three muntjac carcasses remained beside the stream.

Chen Wuji stared at the muntjac carcass for a moment, then took a risky step forward.

Those two big cats deliberately frightened him; taking the two muntjac as spiritual compensation seems reasonable, right?

They probably have no objections, right?

The tension is genuine.

But Chen Wuji urgently needs prey he can trade for copper coins.

These three muntjac are, to him right now, as tempting as a mountain of gold.

After hesitating between an early death and a late death, Chen Wuji decided to take a chance.

"Let's do it!"

After giving himself a frantic mental pep, Chen Wuji darted out like an arrow.

He hoisted one muntjac onto his shoulder, dragged another with his right hand, and swiftly rushed downstream along the stream without daring to look back.

There was no sound near his ears, no gust of wind attacking, and the two big cats seemed not to be lying in ambush.

Chen Wuji ran in one breath to the pond where he had previously caught crabs, only then daring to catch his breath.

He seemed to have succeeded by luck.

That bout of frantic running made his chest feel as if seven or eight branding irons had been stuffed inside; drawing a breath pulled painfully.

After resting a while and gulping several mouthfuls of clear stream water, that unpleasant feeling slowly faded and his strength partially recovered.

He hid the two muntjac in a rock crevice, covered them with grass outside, and quickly inspected the traps he had set earlier.

Two traps were triggered: under one stone slab a mouse was crushed to death, and another snagged a yellow weasel.

Chen Wuji looked at them and blurted out, "What bad luck!"

After all that hard work setting them up, he ended up with just these two things?

It's as if they were deliberately disgusting him.

This yellow weasel must have come not long after he set the trap, and it's already been strangled.

Chen Wuji took down the yellow weasel, then used mouse meat to reset the trap.

He doesn't know if the yellow weasel is edible, but its pelt should be worth some money, so he still has to take it.

After gathering his prey—the sole catch from the trap—he returned to the pond, chopped up the baby fish, painstakingly kept the most identifiable fish head for use as bait tomorrow, cut the remaining fish meat, wrapped it in banana leaves, tied it with grass rope, and packed it together with the crabs.

Without the fish head, Huo Sanniang probably wouldn't recognize it as a baby fish, so she could eat it without worry.

Among today's game he personally caught, this baby fish is the most substantial and also the most nutritious.

Not eating it would be a sheer waste of heavenly bounty.

Just that morning, a few guys led by Yuan Laoer stirred up trouble, and he forgot to bring the baby fish he'd caught yesterday up the mountain.

After handling it, that fish could also be enjoyed to the fullest.

By now, it's probably already been buried by Huo Sanniang somewhere.

That's a bit regrettable.

Shouldering the two muntjac, Chen Wuji carried the yellow weasel in his left hand and the crabs and other mountain delicacies in his right, moving down the mountain with difficulty as if carrying crabs.

These two muntjac are quite heavy, over a hundred jin with ease; mainly, carrying them together is awkward, and a slight shift of his body makes them slide, forcing Chen Wuji to be careful and constantly adjust.

But no matter how difficult, he must bring them back safely.

He truly snatched food from the tiger's mouth today; it was extremely hard-won.

After moving slowly for nearly two hours, Chen Wuji finally descended the mountain.

Villagers working in the fields saw Chen Family's big simpleton lugging so much game down the mountain and all shouted loudly as they gathered around.

But once they saw clearly what game Chen Wuji was carrying, the crowd instantly erupted and dispersed.

Chen Wuji had just been worrying that these people might take advantage of the situation to rob him, but their next move left him bewildered.

What do they mean?

Is something following me behind?

He turned his head for a glance; behind him was only his shadow and the evening's extremely brilliant sunset.

In the distance, the villagers' voices carried over.

"Good heavens, that fool killed the Mountain God!"

"We're done, his family is doomed; daring to strike the Mountain God, that fool is truly stupid."

"And there's the yellow weasel pelt; he dares to hunt such an evil thing—just wait, something will surely happen tonight."

"Stop talking, hurry up, hurry up! That yellow weasel bears grudges; don't let it set its sights on us too."

……

Chen Wuji remained silent for a while.

If nothing unexpected, the Mountain God they spoke of is probably these two muntjac, right?

He just wanted to ask, what else on this mountain is edible?

Crabs are for warding off evil, baby fish are incarnations of evil spirits, and muntjac are the Mountain God.

As for the yellow weasel, it should be the only one that's not innocent.

Ninety-nine percent of it can't be eaten; only its pelt can be sold.

However, judging by the villagers' meaning, this thing also seems to have a touch of evil energy.

Perhaps it's even more evil than the baby fish.

It's unbelievable, how do they have so many particularities?

According to this, Huo Sanniang, upon seeing a muntjac, would probably not dare to eat it.

Chen Wuji felt somewhat weary; it makes sense that the people of Xishan Village are going hungry.

The reverence for heaven, earth, and nature is too strong, frighteningly strong.

"Let's go back first and talk later; I hope the people in the city aren't so superstitious, willing to enjoy a bit of the Mountain God, buying muntjac to exchange for grain." Chen Wuji sighed in his heart, took a big stride and quickly walked home.

As he was about to reach his doorstep, he saw his paternal uncle Chen Bushi wearing a washed-out, tattered long robe.

"You came back early." Chen Bushi glanced at the game on Chen Wuji's shoulder, then suddenly said.

Chen Wuji was somewhat dazed by this puzzling remark, "Uncle, what's wrong?"

"The Mountain God wants to eat in secret; how could you brazenly carry it back?" Chen Bushi said.

Chen Wuji: ……

Is there such a saying as well?

"Uncle, what's the difference between eating secretly and not eating secretly?" Chen Wuji was really curious.

"Eating secretly makes one nervous, but the belly is full and you can still exchange for silver. Eating openly, the whole village trembles with fear, worried that the Mountain God will bring punishment; they'll also blame you, and at the same time envy you for having meat, then come looking for trouble." Chen Bushi said.

"But this was given to me by the Mountain Lord!" Chen Wuji grinned, lifting the muntjac's drooping head.

"Uncle, look, I couldn't have made such a bite wound!"

Chen Bushi glanced, his gaze falling on Chen Wuji's body, his eyes piercing and captivating: "Is your mind clear?"

"Ah? Hmm... a little, maybe it'll still happen often." Chen Wuji then realized he had forgotten to act the fool.

On the mountain to relieve boredom, he kept talking to himself, momentarily neglecting his disguise.

Chen Bushi nodded, "Having frequent episodes is good; you now not only need to have frequent episodes, but the condition might need to be a bit deeper. The taxes of the two households aren't a simple matter; they still need to be paid, but if you pay a little less, the court won't blame a fool."

"Being so foolish as not even knowing how to pay a single cash coin, you'd surely be cannon fodder filling trenches at the frontier. But being foolish yet still knowing to pay taxes, in the court's eyes you're a useful fool, understand?"