500 Jin

In the courtyard, Fang Yuan slowly lowered his chopping knife. His chest rose and fell slightly, and the white vapor from his nose and mouth streamed out long and strong.

He carefully sensed the changes within his body, an unprecedented feeling of fullness flowing through his Limbs and Bones.

"This strength... I'm probably not far from five hundred jin."

He silently estimated, clenching his fist hard.

This was not merely an increase in brute strength. He could clearly feel that his qi and blood had become far more vigorous than before.

With it came improvements across the board: his steps had grown lighter and swifter, and his endurance while wielding the knife had greatly increased.

Even after practicing continuously for nearly half a shichen, he was only breathing slightly hard.

The medicinal power of the Snow Ginseng, combined with the system's training and ample meat, had produced astonishing results!

Beneath the old crooked Willow Tree at the village entrance was always the place where news traveled fastest.

Just past noon, after washing their bowls and chopsticks, several women gathered there again as if by unspoken agreement, holding needlework in their hands,

or picking through beans, though their mouths were far from idle.

"Hey, have you smelled it? These past few days, there's always been this scent of meat drifting over, coming and going, making people's hearts itch."

A woman in a blue cloth jacket was the first to speak. She was sewing a shoe sole, yet her nose kept sniffing hard at the air.

Her words immediately struck a chord.

"Exactly! I smelled it too! It smells like stewed meat, with chili peppers in it too? Tsk tsk, what a lavish expense!"

The woman beside her, hair coiled atop her head and voice booming, immediately chimed in, even swallowing a mouthful of saliva.

"In times like these, whose family can afford to live so grandly? Eating meat every day?"

"Not every day, perhaps, but over these past three to five days, it really has come and gone."

Another, thinner woman lowered her voice, her eyes filled with curiosity and envy.

"From the direction of the smell... doesn't it seem to be drifting over from that area in the south of the village?"

Quite a few families lived in the southern part of the village, but their circumstances were all about the same. Ordinarily, they all lived hand to mouth.

The women looked at one another. In the exchange of their glances, each was quickly running through the families in the south.

The Zhang Family? The Li Family? The Wang Family? None seemed likely.

At that moment, a woman who had barely spoken, with a mole at the corner of her mouth, suddenly recalled something and hesitantly said:

"The south... do you think it could be... the Fang Family?"

"The Fang Family?" The woman in the blue cloth jacket paused.

"Which Fang Family? Oh... that scholar's family in the back alley, the one who lost his scholarly title?"

"That can't be, can it?" the loud-voiced woman immediately expressed doubt.

"They can barely keep the pot boiling. Didn't Wan'er go wash clothes with Old Madam Chen a while back? How could they have money to buy meat? And stew it so fragrantly?"

Yet the mole-faced woman seemed increasingly convinced. She set down the beans in her hands and analyzed the matter.

"Why not? Have you forgotten? Last night, when it was nearly dark, my man got up to relieve himself and saw Fang Yuan coming back from outside.

He was carrying a huge, heavy basket on his back, so heavy it bent his waist!"

At her reminder, someone nearby immediately remembered.

"Right, right, right! That did happen! I was wondering at the time—what was a scholar like him carrying something so heavy for?"

"I saw it too! That basket looked heavy!"

The clues slowly came together.

The Fang Family, the least likely family of all, had probably truly come into an unexpected little fortune lately!

The women's expressions became complicated—surprise, envy, curiosity, and a faint, indescribable sourness.

"What kind of luck did Fang Yuan stumble into? Did he find some treasure in the mountains?"

"Who knows... Are things in the mountains really so easy to take? Hopefully he hasn't stirred up some trouble..."

"Sigh, Wan'er hasn't had it easy either. If they can truly live a little more comfortably for a few days, that's a good thing."

Though they said so, the subtle sentiment of "Why should his family suddenly be doing well?" still hung among them.

They exchanged glances, each thinking that when they had time, they should make more trips through the back alley, or ask Old Madam Chen for a more thorough account.

That afternoon, Fang Yuan was still tirelessly swinging his knife in the courtyard.

The sound of the chopping knife tearing through the air carried a steady rhythm. With the aid of the Snow Ginseng, he immersed himself completely in controlling his strength and stirring his qi and blood.

Suddenly, a somewhat urgent knock at the door interrupted his practice.

"Wan'er! Fang Yuan! Are you home?" It was Old Madam Chen's voice next door, carrying a trace of deliberately heightened enthusiasm.

Fang Yuan lowered his knife, his brows slightly furrowed. Liu Wanwan had already hurried out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron as she looked toward Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan gave her a slight nod. Only then did Liu Wanwan walk over and pull open the courtyard gate.

Old Madam Chen stood outside with a smile piled across her face, but her gaze swiftly swept over the courtyard, lingering for a moment on the pile of firewood in the corner covered in snow,

and on the chopping knife in Fang Yuan's hand, which was clearly not meant for chopping firewood.

"Oh my, Fang Yuan is practicing his martial skills? How diligent!" Old Madam Chen flattered him first.

Then she lowered her voice, putting on a concerned expression. "Wan'er, Fang Yuan, I came to give you a reminder."

She leaned closer, lowering her voice even further.

"Today at the village entrance, quite a few people were talking! They said the scent of meat has been floating around our area all the time. After all their guessing, every word, openly or otherwise,

pointed straight at your family! They say your family may have come into a little fortune... These days, there are plenty of jealous people. You must be careful. The taller the tree, the stronger the wind!"

Her words sounded pleasant, as though she truly had her neighbors' interests at heart, but Fang Yuan heard the probing intent hidden in her flickering eyes and tone loud and clear.

This was no reminder. She had clearly come to sound them out, while currying favor and perhaps hoping to gain something.

Yet Fang Yuan's expression remained unchanged.

He had long expected it. In this village, there were almost no secrets. The scent of meat for several days in a row was impossible to hide.

Old Madam Chen was merely the first who could not resist coming to their door.

He gave Liu Wanwan a look. She understood. Though she felt somewhat unwilling and worried, she still turned and hurried into the house.

Old Madam Chen's gaze immediately followed Liu Wanwan's figure into the house.

Before long, Liu Wanwan came back out, carrying a piece of Wild boar meat tied with dry straw rope. It weighed a full three jin, with lean and fat evenly mixed, looking exceptionally substantial.

Fang Yuan had instructed her to prepare it long ago. When butchering the meat, he had deliberately divided it into smaller pieces weighing three or four jin each.

This not only made it more convenient to use, but also made it easier to plan out each portion clearly and avoid waste.

Now, looking at the divided meat, it truly saved them trouble. They would not need to struggle with cutting it up each time; how much to take was obvious at a glance, and they could easily keep track of how to arrange the remaining portions.

Liu Wanwan handed the meat to Old Madam Chen, forcing a faint smile onto her face.

"Thank you for the reminder, Auntie. My Husband had good luck in the mountains a few days ago and picked up a small bargain.

Please take this meat home and have a taste. Let Brother have some too, to nourish his body.

If there's any gossip in the village from now on, we'll have to trouble you to keep an eye out for us."

The instant Old Madam Chen saw that solid piece of meat, her eyes lit up, and the smile on her face immediately became far more sincere.

"Oh my! How could I possibly accept this? You're truly too polite!" She weighed the meat in her hand.

"Don't worry, don't worry! With Auntie here, who would dare wag their tongues? I'll be the first to refuse to stand for it!

Just live your lives in peace! If anything happens, Auntie will definitely come tell you first!"

After exchanging a few more polite words, Old Madam Chen finally left in satisfaction, carrying the meat and swaying her hips with delight. Before she went, she even remembered to pull the courtyard gate shut for them.

Looking at Liu Wanwan's unhappy expression, which plainly said, "Why give the meat straight to her?" it was no wonder she minded.

Over the past few days, Fang Yuan had come to understand Liu Wanwan's temperament.

She appeared quiet and frail, but beneath that lay a streak of resilience. She was a woman with a truly strong heart.

Coincidentally, she was rather like Fang Yuan himself in that respect. Neither of them liked troubling others, and people like that often shared another trait:

they disliked being troubled by others from the bottom of their hearts.

The moment the courtyard gate closed, the smile fell from Liu Wanwan's face. She looked at Fang Yuan anxiously. "Husband, this..."

Fang Yuan remained calm as he tucked the chopping knife back into his waistband. "That's how the village is. Nothing can be hidden."

He looked beyond the courtyard, his gaze narrowing slightly.

Old Madam Chen was only a minor character. The real trouble was that if the scent of meat could draw Old Madam Chen over, it could also draw others far more troublesome.

For example, those hunters who might be secretly searching for him.