Ambition

After Li Yuan returned to Little Ink Village with the sack on his back, he hurried home. The pheasant had not bled, so not even a trace of blood smell had leaked out. Still, it could not escape the sharp eyes of others.

Along the way, quite a few people spotted Li Yuan.

"Yuanzi, caught something?"

"Yuanzi, not bad luck today, huh? Don't tell me you picked it up from some family's trap?"

"What is it? A pheasant? A hare?"

Li Yuan merely chuckled. "Just a small pheasant. Ran into it while wandering around the mountain. Lucky, lucky."

When he got home, Yan Yu had not yet returned.

Li Yuan waited for a while. Only when he heard a sound at the fence did he stick his head out to look. There he saw the young woman in a drab gray padded jacket, her chest flattened and belly padded out, even her face gray with grime, carrying a huge bamboo basket as she pushed open the door.

The sight of her made Li Yuan want to laugh.

But in times like these, a woman only needed to be a little pretty for trouble to come looking.

Even if nothing happened now, once someone saw her and set their sights on her, if things grew any more chaotic in the future, disaster might well follow.

In troubled times, the bigger your mouth, the more meat you could eat.

Even then, people would still covet you.

The safest way was to have a mouth capable of eating ten portions of meat, yet eat only three.

When Yan Niangzi opened the door and saw Li Yuan, she gave a soft sigh. "Ai, Yuan Ge'er, grain prices went up again. After all that pleading and bargaining, two Big Coin only got me three jin of Foxtail Millet and two jin of beans."

As she spoke, her gaze swept over Li Yuan's empty hands, and a faint grievance showed in her eyes.

"Didn't catch anything again today, did you?"

Men were never much use when it mattered. Yan Yu understood that, but she still could not help feeling a little resentful.

Li Yuan smiled. "Go look inside."

"Hm?" Yan Yu froze for a moment, her body stiffening as well. Then she hurried into the house with the basket on her back. One glance around, and she saw a pheasant lying atop the sack in the corner.

The pheasant's feathers were brilliantly colored, and it was quite plump too.

"Yuan Ge'er..."

Yan Yu set down her basket. Her eyes lit up, shining with light.

Her face was full of delight, but she was so excited that she did not know what to say.

Li Yuan said, "Hurry up and make dinner. Your man is starving to death."

Yan Yu smiled. "Yes, yes, yes. You sit down and rest. You worked hard today."

In winter, darkness fell early.

Little Ink Village was nothing like the county town. There were no lanterns along the roads, and outside was pitch-black. One look out the door made it feel as though the whole world had already been swallowed by cold, darkness, and loneliness.

Only the light inside the little house gave people a touch of warmth.

Yan Yu first plucked the Colorful Chicken Feather, intending to sell them for a little money. Then she rendered half a bowl of chicken fat, divided out a little less than half the chicken onto a plate, and pushed it before Li Yuan. "Yuan Ge'er, take this over to Aunt Wang's family next door."

"Alright." Li Yuan carried the plate over.

Aunt Wang's home was next to his, and they had helped each other quite a bit in ordinary times. The last two times Yan Yu had gone out to buy grain, she had gone directly with them as well.

Now that he had brought back a pheasant, Aunt Wang surely knew about it. If he did not share any, they might not say anything aloud, but they would inevitably grow distant and harbor many complaints.

Neighbors should befriend each other, not become enemies.

Yan Niangzi's actions showed that she had a human touch. She was not some petty, small-minded woman.

Very soon, Li Yuan carried the plate to a nearby door, knocked, and called out, "Uncle Wang, Aunt Wang~"

The door quickly opened.

A simple-looking burly man smiled. "Yuan Ge'er, what brings you here so late?"

"Nothing much. I caught a pheasant, and my wife asked me to bring some over," Li Yuan replied with a smile.

The burly man paused, his gaze falling on the little less than half chicken in Li Yuan's hands.

"Th-this day and age, meat isn't cheap, Yuan Ge'er. Your family should keep it and eat it yourselves." Uncle Wang was an honest man.

But Aunt Wang beside him began coughing.

Li Yuan glanced inside and saw a boy with a topknot and a girl with a topknot sitting on either side of the wooden table.

Both children were swallowing their saliva, staring fixedly at the meat in his hands.

Li Yuan smiled. "Uncle Wang, don't stand on ceremony with me."

With that, he walked inside.

Aunt Wang took out a plate to receive the meat.

Once she had taken it, Li Yuan did not linger and turned to leave.

At the door, the simple burly man patted his shoulder and said, "Yuan Ge'er, you're a righteous one."

"We're neighbors."

With that, he was about to leave.

Aunt Wang suddenly ran out, clutching a jar in her hand. "Yuan Ge'er, we still had a little salt stored away. We'll share some with you."

"Salt? Thank you, Aunt Wang. Then I won't stand on ceremony." Li Yuan smiled.

When Li Yuan returned home, Yan Niangzi was still cooking.

Another incense stick's worth of time passed before the meal was ready.

The rice was mixed with chicken fat, and salt was sprinkled over the roasted chicken. The two of them ate like starving ghosts reborn, wolfing it down yet still wanting more.

Li Yuan felt that he had never eaten anything so delicious.

After they were full, Yan Niangzi washed the pots and bowls, then boiled water for the two of them to wipe themselves down.

Li Yuan sat on the bed resting as steadily as an old master.

It was not that he wanted to be so lazy. Rather, whenever he tried to help with anything, Yan Niangzi would shoo him away and tell him not to do it.

Night fell, and Yan Niangzi naturally removed her "ugly makeup." She changed out of her drab gray clothes into a padded jacket of blue cloth patterned with white flowers. Though she was thin and petite, she still had curves where they counted. Her face lacked nourishment and was not quite fair, but its contours were those of a beauty in the making.

And late at night, there were not many things Li Yuan could think about.

Before long, he wrapped his arms around Yan Niangzi from behind as she was still working.

Yan Niangzi chided coquettishly, "The dishes aren't washed yet."

Li Yuan said, "You wash yours."

Yan Niangzi blushed, suddenly shuddering as if struck by lightning. Breathing rapidly and sweetly, she said, "Good man, blow out the candle first. Blow out the candle."

The next morning.

Li Yuan was sleeping with his wife in his arms when a commotion suddenly rose outside. It sounded like a crowd was running somewhere, though he did not know what for.

In his arms, Yan Niangzi poked out her head. The red silk ribbons of her undergarment and a stretch of snowy flesh were half exposed.

"Why is it so lively outside?"

"Don't know."

"I have to get up and take a look. Whether it's good news or bad, we need to know." Yan Niangzi twisted free of Li Yuan's embrace, climbed out, and dressed and pulled on her trousers right in front of him without any embarrassment. Then she hurriedly put on makeup and stuffed in padding. Only once she was gray and plump again did she rush outside.

The moment she stepped out, Yan Niangzi could not help but pause in astonishment.

This time, no explanation was needed. Her own eyes could see it.

Three grown men were carrying a wild boar into the village on several bamboo poles.

The boar's belly had long since been cut open, its blood drained first, while its intestines and the like had been hung from branches as an offering to the Mountain God.

The wild boar had originally weighed over two hundred jin. After all that, it was under two hundred jin.

Yet the three grown men had still struggled for quite a while before carrying it back.

The three men were naturally Brother Xiong, Zhang Mazi, and Zhang Nuli.

The people in the village stared enviously at the boar, and some were even drooling.

When people were already hungry enough that they had no money to buy rice, who could possibly control themselves at the sight of such a pig?

"Brother Xiong really is capable."

"Yeah, such a huge pig. Just the lard alone should render quite a lot, right?"

"Brother Xiong, I want to follow you too."

"Brother Xiong really is impressive!"

Voices rose from all around.

But at that moment, a sinister, discordant voice mixed in.

"Oh? You caught such a big pig. If you don't share it with everyone, that hardly seems right, does it?"

Everyone followed the voice and saw that it was the Qian Family's second son.

With two hooligans behind him, Qian Er pushed through the crowd and said, "People in the village have starved to death already. Surely you can't eat fragrant food and drink spicy wine while ignoring everyone else, right? Right? Huh?"

He raised a hand and swept his gaze over the surrounding villagers, trying to stir them up.

But just then, Brother Xiong suddenly set down the carrying pole, drew a sharp knife from behind his waist, wiped it against his arm, and pointed it viciously at Qian Er. "Beat him! Anyone who beats him can come to me for meat.

"The harder you beat him, the more meat you get.

"That's what I, Brother Xiong, say."

As soon as his words fell, everyone looked at one another.

Brother Xiong was in no hurry. He plopped down onto the wild boar, sliced off a greasy pork leg with his knife, and waved it high in the air. "The first one to hit him gets this.

"Know why?

"Anyone who beats Qian Er is my brother.

"In the future, when I go hunting, Old Xiong here might even take you along."

When those words fell, the atmosphere went quiet for another moment. Then several young men suddenly grabbed sticks and charged forward.

Qian Er flew into a rage and shouted, "Who dares? Who dares?"

The young men still went up, shouting as they did, "We're following Brother Xiong!"

More and more people joined in.

The Qian Family had bullied many people in Little Ink Village. Now that Brother Xiong had stepped forward, and there was meat to be had besides, there would always be those willing to go after Qian Er.

Seeing the fight over there, Yan Niangzi hurried away. She returned home and told her man what had happened, though her tone carried a trace of sourness.

She did not say it outright, but Li Yuan could read it clearly: They caught a wild boar, and you? You only caught a pheasant.

Li Yuan secretly rejoiced that he had not joined them.

Brother Xiong's group truly was restless and ambitious.

The Hunter Alliance had only been established for a few days, yet they had already directly gone after the Qian Family.

"Yuan Ge'er, tell me... Brother Xiong took Zhang Nuli and Zhang Mazi with him. Wouldn't he take you too?

"You're all hunters from the village."

Yan Niangzi's eyes shifted as she said anxiously and resentfully, "Should you go with him too?"

Li Yuan stepped forward, wrapped an arm around his wife's shoulders, and smiled. "Sister Yan, don't fuss blindly over matters outside. I know what I'm doing."