Atoning for the Offense

"More than 300 jin of adult pigs, plus five piglets."

"Enough for me to pay my taxes and still have plenty left over!"

"It's just going to be a bit troublesome to get them back."

This place was already considered deep in the mountains, dozens of miles from the county town. Whether one person could carry them was one thing, but if there were too many prey, they simply couldn't be managed.

Chen Sanshi thought for a moment and then shot a marrow-head arrow into the sky.

"I'm very far from where we separated."

"I don't know where Uncle Zhao is, or if he can hear my signal."

Not long after.

Footsteps sounded outside the bamboo grove.

But it wasn't Zhao Qiao who arrived, but a burly, rough-looking man with a scar on his face.

When he saw the wild boar on the ground, he was first envious, then seeing that the prey belonged to a young man he'd never seen before, he found it incredible, and finally his expression became even stranger.

"Brother!"

The man strode over, looking the young man, who appeared fair and tender, up and down: "Haven't seen you around."

Chen Sanshi introduced himself: "Uncle Zhao Qiao from Yanbian Village brought me up the mountain. My name is Chen Sanshi."

"I've been wandering around here for three or four days without getting anything valuable."

The man narrowed his eyes: "You came up the mountain for the first time and got so many treasures."

"Just lucky."

Chen Sanshi cupped his fists: "Please help me, brother, and carry the prey to the county town. I will pay you according to the village rules."

"Helping is no problem, of course."

The man said this, but his eyes darted around: "It's just not close from here to the county town, this price, well~"

He hadn't had a harvest in days, and his family was almost starving. Today, he finally had an opportunity, so why wouldn't he try to extort a few more copper coins?

As the man was contemplating, the sound of a bowstring, like thunder, suddenly exploded in his ears.

He looked up and saw that Chen Sanshi had, at some point, already loosed an arrow.

In the distance, a running wild rabbit fell to the ground.

This distance was a full seventy paces!

Coupled with the dense vegetation, the man hadn't even noticed the rabbit.

The most crucial thing was that he noticed Chen Sanshi had just drawn the bow, seemingly using only one finger for force, while the other finger was merely floating, used to steady the arrow, not exerting any force!

The strength of one finger, easily drawing a Four-force bow, plus this accuracy...

If conditions allowed, wouldn't he be able to draw a One-stone bow?!

When did Poyang County produce such a young Master Archer?

The man's sly thoughts vanished, and he immediately put on a brilliant smile: "Brother Sanshi, no, Brother Shi!

"Don't move, I'll go pick it up for you. Carrying your prey won't cost anything either. Let's be friends!"

He said this and quickly ran towards the rabbit.

Chen Sanshi lowered his bow and shook his head slightly.

His perception was so sharp that he could see every detail, so how could he not see that this guy had ulterior motives from the start? This was why he deliberately showed off his skills.

If you don't want to be bullied, you have to show your strength!

The man used his machete to cut two pieces of wood, and he and Chen Sanshi carried the wild boar down the mountain, one in front and one behind.

He introduced himself: "My name is Wu Da. I live in the village next to yours. I'm sixteen this year. Brother Shi, please take care of me in the future."

"?"

Chen Sanshi looked at the scarred man grinning at him, momentarily speechless.

This guy was sixteen?!

"Wild boar!"

"Shi Ge'er hunted a wild boar!"

"..."

As soon as they reached the entrance of Yanbian Village, the villagers erupted in excitement.

A 300-jin wild boar, while often hunted, was usually a cooperative effort by two or three people!

One person hunting a whole wild boar was definitely a top-tier hunter.

Not to mention that for the villagers, Chen Sanshi was a scholar who hunted out of desperation.

Word spread like wildfire, and within half an hour, he was famous in several surrounding villages.

Eight Treasures Restaurant.

"Sows weigh 320 jin, at 18 wen per jin.

"Piglets are 20 wen per jin; five of them total 60 jin and two liang.

"The total price is 6964 wen. I'll make a decision for the owner and give you seven liang of silver directly. From now on, when you hunt fresh game, you can't go to anyone else, Little Stone!"

The shopkeeper, Liu Hongda, waved his big hand and tossed over a money pouch.

Theoretically, one thousand wen equals one liang of silver, but silver is a harder currency and not always available. The exchange rate often fluctuates.

The fact that the other party gave silver directly was clearly a favor.

"Thank you, Uncle Liu."

Chen Sanshi took the money pouch, feeling its heavy weight.

Seven liang of silver!

Not only was the tax money covered, but there was even enough for winter clothes.

"You're quite something, kid."

Liu Hongda clicked his tongue in amazement. "If things keep going like this, you'll be able to move into the city before long. If you could also learn some martial arts, that would be considered making something of yourself."

"Speaking of martial arts schools, does Uncle Liu have any recommendations?"

With his current predicament solved, Chen Sanshi's next step was naturally to consider practicing martial arts.

"The most famous ones in Poyang County are, of course, Tianyuan, Tailei, Cloud Crane, and Zhao Clan. But they only recruit disciples at fixed times each year, and it's already too late for this year.

"If you ask me, we common folk don't need to go to the big martial arts schools. Just learning a few stances is enough to impress people.

"If you insist on going to a big school, you can ask Shunzi."

"Shunzi?" Chen Sanshi didn't quite understand.

"This kid has been treating martial arts school disciples to meals recently. It's right across the street. Look, look, he's coming out now."

Liu Hongda pointed behind him.

Across from the Eight Treasures Restaurant was a relatively humble eatery.

Chen Sanshi turned his head and saw Zhang Shun walking out of the restaurant with two young men in white robes.

"Brother Shi?"

Upon seeing him, Zhang Shun immediately left the two youths and ran over, an apologetic look on his face. "Brother, I've been meaning to find you these past couple of days. About last time..."

Chen Sanshi interrupted him. "Shunzi, you don't need to worry about me. I've got the money now."

"Your Brother Shi here hunted a whole pack of wild boars today and earned seven liang of silver from me," Liu Hongda said for him.

"Really?! Brother, you're amazing! How long would it take me to earn seven liang of silver fishing?"

Shunzi was full of admiration.

However, his admiration was pure, with no other feelings mixed in.

"Oh, right, this is for you."

Chen Sanshi took out three qian of broken silver, intending to return the money with interest.

"Brother, I can't take it. I didn't help you at all last time."

"One thing is one thing. Your father's leg treatment will also cost money."

After much back and forth, Chen Sanshi finally managed to stuff the silver into the other's pocket and changed the subject. "Are you treating martial arts school disciples to a meal?"

"Yes."

Shunzi lowered his voice. "I missed the Tailei Martial Arts School's recruitment period, so I wanted to find a way to see if they would take me in."

He happened to meet two disciples outside the martial arts school, and they offered to put in a good word for him, so he treated them to a meal to build rapport.

This was already the third meal.

Even though the small eatery wasn't as luxurious as the Eight Treasures Restaurant, it still cost quite a bit of money.

"I see."

Chen Sanshi looked at the two martial arts school disciples across the street.

One was chewing on a toothpick, and the other was patting his round belly and burping. They seemed impatient and urged, "Little Shunzi, what are you doing? Let's go, aren't we going for drinks? The senior brother I introduced you to is highly regarded by the master, you know what I mean?"

"Don't be angry, senior brothers, I'm coming right now!"

Zhang Shun quickly bid farewell.

Chen Sanshi watched them walk away, feeling that the eyes of those two martial arts school disciples were unreliable.

"I'll remind Shunzi to be careful later."

He didn't linger any longer and rushed to the yamen to pay the three liang of tax.

Watching the tax official tick the box on the ledger with his own eyes, a large stone in his heart finally landed.

"Only the Qin fellow is left..."

"I wonder if he'll try to cause trouble in other ways."

"I need to hurry home, or Sister Lan will worry again."

Chen Sanshi hurried back.

At the doorstep, Gu Xinlan was being held by a few women, chatting idly. Their conversation was all about how amazing her man was.

He could read and write, earn money, and was handsome too.

In short, when a man can earn money, even his flaws can be spun into advantages.

"Xinlan, you better hurry up and have a child for Brother Shi!"

"We don't need to worry about that. Xinlan has a big bottom, she'll definitely have sons."

"..."

The women chatted on, making Lan Jie'er's face turn bright red.

"Xinlan, look quickly, your man is back."

"Brother Shi!"

Gu Xinlan had no more interest in chatting and ran to meet him.

"We're having rabbit for dinner tonight."

Chen Sanshi smiled, pulling out the unsold rabbit.

Gu Xinlan didn't even glance at the rabbit, reaching out to constantly touch him: "How is it, Brother Shi? Are you hurt? I heard wild boars are really fierce!"

Chen Sanshi paused: "I'm fine, don't worry."

"Brother Shi, you absolutely must not provoke such scary things again next time!"

Gu Xinlan only relaxed after confirming he was unharmed, then helped him with his things: "You must be hungry, I'll go make dinner."

Chen Sanshi watched Lan Jie'er busying herself, suddenly feeling a strong sense of belonging.

He had a home in this world now.

Not long after, the aroma of food from the kitchen wafted out.

It made the gluttonous worm in Chen Sanshi's stomach stir restlessly.

"Bang, bang, bang—"

Just as they were about to eat, there was a gentle knock on the door.

"Who is it?"

"Me! Qin Xiong!"

Hearing the name, Gu Xinlan's face instantly turned pale. She grabbed Chen Sanshi's sleeve, signaling him not to go out to eat.

"It's okay, I'll go see."

Chen Sanshi tucked the kitchen cleaver to his waist and went to greet the guest.

He thought the Qin fellow, knowing he'd paid his taxes, was either going to find new trouble or resort to force. But the reality seemed to be the opposite.

Qin Xiong had a face full of smiles, holding a pot of the cheapest yellow wine: "Hahahaha, little brother!"

Chen Sanshi frowned slightly: "What is this?"

"Little brother, I've come to apologize!"

As Qin Xiong spoke, he casually patted the other man's shoulder, but secretly applied force. The result was that the other man remained completely still.

What the hell!

Where did this kid get such strength?

He had just returned home today and heard that the scholar surnamed Chen had single-handedly brought back a wild boar.

It was autumn, and wild boars were farrowing, making them most agitated. There had been instances of hunters being killed by wild boars before.

Being able to handle a wild boar alone was definitely not an easy feat.

But this guy was clearly a useless scholar!

Could it be that he was naturally strong but took the wrong path, delaying his progress?

In any case, Qin Xiong decided to give up on Gu Xinlan.

His ability to thrive in the surrounding villages over the years, raising his younger brother alone, and sending him to the best martial arts school, wasn't just due to his apparent recklessness.

He knew very well who he could offend and who was not to be trifled with.

If he truly offended a formidable hunter, he wouldn't dare go into the mountains for the rest of his life.

Otherwise, who knew if he'd end up with an arrow through his heart from behind!

As for women, he could always find another one!

Chen Sanshi wasn't easy to bully, there were plenty of families that were.

"Little brother! We had some misunderstandings before. Let's just put it all behind us in front of the villagers, what do you say?"

Qin Xiong deliberately raised his voice, drawing out neighbors who were cooking at home to gather and watch.

He watched the other party remain silent for a long time. Just as he thought the kid was being uncooperative, he finally heard a satisfactory reply.

"Brother Qin is joking."

Chen Sanshi showed a kind smile. "I've always been a forgiving person, and besides, what happened between us can hardly be called 'enmity'."

"My good brother is indeed magnanimous, worthy of being a scholar."

Qin Xiong, fully satisfied, put down the wine jar. "Consider this wine as an apology. I won't disturb you any further, my brother."

"Okay, Brother Qin, take care."

After closing the door, Chen Sanshi looked up at the recurve bow hanging on the wall.

Let bygones be bygones?

When I was in trouble, you took advantage of my misfortune and tried to ruin my family. Now that I'm not easy to bully, you think you can just brush it off?

There's no such easy thing in this world!