Recognition

After dealing with Xinghua, Lu Chuan only felt a huge breath leave his chest.

As for any revenge Xinghua spoke of, he was not afraid of it at all.

Though his physique in Kaoshan Village was not considered formidable right now, Eagle Eye allowed him to possess vision far exceeding that of ordinary people.

It was not an exaggeration at all to say that if they really fought, a normal person throwing a punch would look just like they were performing slow-motion left and right hands right in front of him.

If she really went and found her father, it was hard to say who would beat whom!

Pushing Xinghua's matter to the back of his mind, Lu Chuan finally re-entered the village.

Along the way, the two pieces of game on Lu Chuan's body attracted the gazes of a large number of Kaoshan Village villagers.

Among them, there was no shortage of envy, greed, and jealousy.

"Goodness me! Is that the Lu boy? Wasn't he just hauled out of the river a few days ago, so sick he couldn't climb off the kang?"

"Ain't that the truth! Look at that, it's a Little Phoenix! This creature has spirit and is terribly hard to catch! Could Lu Danian have passed all his family tricks down to his son?"

The woman nearby revealed naked envy in her eyes. "He's going to make a fortune now, the masters in town just love these rare things."

A few young hunters who had just returned empty-handed looked at Lu Chuan with complex gazes:

"Truly damn bizarre. With the mountains sealed by heavy snow like this, even rabbits squeeze into their holes, so where did he dig this up from? And two birds with one stone? His luck is way too good, right?"

"Hmph, yesterday his dad dragged back a Snow Fox, and today he got a Golden Pheasant. Does that mean the mountain forests of Kaoshan Village belong to his Lu family now? The two of them hog all the benefits!"

There were also straightforward people sighing in admiration: "He's truly the seed of a hunter. With Lu Danian injured, this boy can already stand up and hold the household down. A tiger father begets no dog son indeed!"

"Yeah, with these two things, the Lu family can at least catch their breath this winter. It's not easy."

These discussions, whether loud or soft, envious or jealous, all drifted into Lu Chuan's ears.

His expression was bland, though his gaze vigilantly swept across every spot beside him.

In a barren year when grain was precious, a full meal could make people's eyes turn red, let alone precious game that could be exchanged for money and grain.

Human hearts could not withstand the test in the face of hunger and greed.

Finally, after a long journey, Lu Chuan managed to reach his family's thatched cottage before dark.

Before he even pushed open the courtyard gate, conversation from inside drifted out, carrying thick worry.

"It's... looking completely dark now, why isn't Chuanzi showing his face yet?" It was the feeble voice of his father, Lu Danian, accompanied by a few coughs.

"He's still not back..." Mother Lu's voice carried unease. "My heart is jumping all over the place..."

"And you too... cough, cough... acting so recklessly!" Lu Danian's tone carried reproach.

"He's just a half-grown kid, never properly gone into the mountain alone, how could you dare let him go? At least... at least let him find a companion! If something happens..."

Before he finished speaking, it was another fit of coughing.

"I... I had no choice either..." Mother Lu's voice took on a crying tone.

"I'll go find him right now, I'll go up the mountain to look for him right now!"

Right at that moment,

with a squeak, the courtyard gate was pushed open from the outside.

Lu Chuan stood at the doorway covered in snow pellets, the two pieces of prey still hanging from his waist.

He looked at his parents, who had raised their heads in astonishment inside the house, and cracked a smile.

"Dad, Mom, I'm back."

Seeing Lu Chuan, the heavy stones blocking both of their hearts finally dropped to the ground.

Mother Lu just wanted to speak when her sight caught the prey at her son's waist.

Lu Danian had hunted for a lifetime, and his eyesight had long since been honed to be viciously sharp. Even though it was dim inside the house, he still caught that gorgeous, dazzling color at a glance—a Red-bellied Golden Pheasant!

"My child!" Mother Lu didn't care to look closely, lunging forward with a trembling voice,

"Did you really bag it? Were you hurt anywhere? Oh, my, this rabbit, it's so plump!"

Lu Danian also struggled to prop himself up from the bed, his pair of eyes now blazing astonishingly bright:

"Chuanzi... th-this... is this what you shot?"

Lu Chuan unloaded the two pieces of game.

"That's right!" A trace of youthful complacency carried on his face. "A tiger father begets no dog son, your son I am now also—"

"You've grown capable! Truly grown capable!"

Mother Lu stroked the rabbit's fur as if she couldn't put it down, her eye rims turning red again.

"I heard people in the village muttering that even the best Old Zhao came back empty-handed today! My son got two in one go! Two of them!"

Inside the dim thatched hut, it suddenly brightened up.

Mother Lu immediately busied herself, starting the fire pit.

The flames chased away the chill, and Lu Chuan's frost-whitened face gradually regained some color.

Mother Lu carried the rabbit to the outer room to process it. As for that Golden Pheasant, Lu Chuan originally wanted to keep it for his father to nourish his body, but it was firmly and unanimously vetoed by both parents.

"That won't do! This thing is precious, it's meant to be exchanged for money!" Mother Lu waved her hands repeatedly.

"That's right, Chuanzi,"

though Lu Danian's voice was weak, his tone allowed no questioning.

"Your dad's body just needs to drink some rabbit soup to warm up. This Little Phoenix, take it to town early tomorrow morning, find a good buyer, trade it for money, buy grain, buy salt... That's the proper use for it."

Lu Chuan knew that his parents were scared of poverty and scared of hunger, always wanting to desperately scrape together a bit for an uncertain future.

He felt helpless in his heart, yet no longer tried to persuade them further, simply making a secret up in his mind that from now on he would definitely make the family see meat every single day.

Beside the fire pit, only the father and son remained.

Lu Danian fished out his polished, gleaming old smoke pipe from somewhere, stuffed it with a bit of inferior tobacco, lit it with the flame, took a deep drag, and slowly exhaled grayish-white smoke.

He narrowed his eyes like that, looking at the son sitting opposite him, his face filled with gratification.

"Dad, you're sick, smoke a little less." Lu Chuan couldn't help saying.

"Haha... It doesn't matter, I'm happy today."

Lu Danian laughed, his gaze sweeping across the arrow hole on the Golden Pheasant on the table, and the similarly neat, fatal wound on the rabbit.

He was an old hunter and knew far too clearly that this could not be faked by relying on luck.

Every arrow hit the vital spot, steady and seasoned. Without a few years of bitter practice and talent, it was utterly impossible to achieve.

When did this son of his acquire such skill?

He felt some doubts in his heart, but more than that, it was a sense of relaxation.

Looking at his son's gradually sharpening profile, Lu Danian handed the smoke pipe in his hand over.

"Come on, take a puff?"

Lu Chuan froze, looking at the smoke pipe handed out before him, feeling somewhat at a loss for a moment.

Holding fast to the belief that smoking was harmful to health, he had always kept tobacco at a respectful distance.

Yet when he saw the undisguised approval in his father's eyes, the words of refusal could no longer be spoken.

He reached out to take the smoke pipe, imitating his father's manner and taking a drag.

"Cough! Cough, cough, cough—!"

The spicy smoke irritated him into coughing violently, squeezing tears right out of his eyes.

"Hahahaha!" Lu Danian burst into hearty laughter instead.

Lu Chuan wiped away his tears, his face also burning a little.

He understood that what his father handed over was not just a smoke pipe, but recognition.

From this moment on, in this family, he was no longer merely a child to be worried about, but a backbone holding up the roof.