Robbery and "Fishing"

"Sir, please take pity and give us something to eat. The two of us haven't eaten for two days."

Cui Hao had just left the martial arts school when, beneath the moonlit sky, an old beggar and a young one blocked his way with a broken bowl. "You're not from around here. Where did you come from?"

"We came from Xitang County. There's a famine and banditry in our hometown."

His father's grandfather had also fled from Xitang County in the west. History was repeating itself. He gave them four copper coins.

"Thank you for your generosity, sir!" The two of them immediately dropped to their knees and kowtowed.

Dragging his exhausted body home, Cui Hao stepped into the courtyard and urged, "Get me some food, quick. I'm starving to death."

"Master, I've been keeping your food warm," Su Yun said with a smile. "Go sit inside. I'll bring it right over."

Soon, a bowl of rice, snake meat fried in lard, and a quarter of a stir-fried chicken were brought out.

Seeing there was still chicken at home, Cui Hao asked in surprise, "Sister Yun, you didn't eat while I was out?"

"I did."

"Then why is there still chicken?"

"I eat rice mixed with lard and wild greens, or flatbread soaked in soup. I eat better than most people in the village. You work hard at martial arts, so I saved it for you."

Training took a great deal out of him, so Cui Hao accepted her kindness. "I'm resting tomorrow. I'll go into the mountains to hunt and get you some better food."

"If you rest, will Master scold you?"

"Three days of training, one day of rest. Master allows it."

Knowing her husband's routine, Su Yun shook her head. "We have rice and meat at home. If you catch anything, sell it for money. We only have half a tael of silver left."

The first time he sold the Golden Python, he got six taels. Three taels went to taxes, two were spent on rice, flour, meat, and cloth, half a tael was lent to Aunt Hua, and half a tael remained.

Cui Hao had found three and a half taels of silver on Zhou Menghu, and sold the snake gallbladder for twelve taels. After paying fifteen taels in tuition, he also had half a tael left.

In other words, between him and Su Yun, their household had less than one tael of silver.

At dawn the next day, after eating rice, Cui Hao packed some provisions, took his bow and arrows, and set out from home.

Su Yun watched her husband disappear into the dark of dawn, then shut the courtyard gate and braced it with two sturdy wooden poles.

Someone knocked at the door in the morning.

Su Yun was making cloth shoes for her husband in the main room. Hearing the knock, she ignored it, didn't answer, and stayed silent.

"Sister Yun, it's Lingdang."

Lingdang? Su Yun set down her needlework, went to the back of the wooden gate, moved the poles aside, and lifted the latch.

"Sister Yun." Lingdang held out a handful of wild greens. "My mother and I picked these this morning. She asked me to bring some over for you and Aunt Li."

Su Yun accepted the greens. There was a wild onion, six or seven shepherd's purses, and more than twenty cudweeds.

She looked up at Lingdang. The girl wore thin summer clothes, her little face was red with cold, and the dirt on her hands had worked its way into the cracks in her chapped skin.

"Come in and sit," Su Yun said, stepping aside. "I'll make you breakfast."

"No need, Sister Yun. I ate before I came. I'll head back now."

Ignoring Lingdang's protests, Su Yun pulled her inside, shut the courtyard gate, and cooked her snake-meat soup, setting two coarse-flour flatbreads against the rim of the bowl.

The soup was ready after the time it took an incense stick to burn.

Lingdang hadn't eaten meat in a long time and couldn't resist the food. She thanked Su Yun, then dug in.

Watching Lingdang wolf down her food, Su Yun thought of how she herself had once been the same.

Ever since Brother Hao had started hunting in the mountains, her life had visibly improved. Sure enough, a household needed a man. Without one, life was impossible.

Cui Hao didn't know they had a guest at home. He shot a Hog Badger with an arrow.

Hog Badgers usually came out at night. They had distinct white stripes down their faces. Cui Hao had left early, while the animal was late getting home, so they'd run into each other. It was quite a fateful encounter.

It weighed about twenty pounds.

A pound of pork belly cost twenty copper coins. This one was all lean meat, but it was wild game, which rich people liked. A restaurant would pay twenty coins a pound, too. That meant four hundred copper coins in his pocket!

At the thought, Cui Hao couldn't keep the corners of his mouth from lifting.

The panel updated.

[Archery: Beginner]

[Progress: 42/300]

[Effect: soreness -5, arm strength +5, accuracy +5]

His progress had been thirty-five before; now it had increased by seven. The effect was clear. Hunting really was the way to go!

Whoosh!

An arrow suddenly shot toward him. Cui Hao only had time to use the Hog Badger to shield his head and upper body.

Thwack! The arrow plunged into flesh, striking the Hog Badger.

If the Hog Badger hadn't blocked it, the arrow would have hit Cui Hao in the chest. A jolt ran through him. He rolled backward with the animal and hid behind a camphor tree.

"You scoundrel! That Hog Badger you hunted was one I'd been raising. Give it back!" a vicious voice called from across the stream. "Or I'll kill you!"

Cui Hao took two deep breaths, then tossed the Hog Badger to the side. It landed ten meters away.

Whoosh! Another arrow shot toward him, flying past his eyes.

Fortunately, Cui Hao had thrown the animal sideways instead of forward, and hadn't left the shelter of the tree trunk.

While his opponent's strength was spent and before he could gather it again, Cui Hao promptly stepped out from the other side of the trunk. He spotted a figure, aimed roughly, and released the bowstring. The Wolf Fang Arrow spun as it flew forward.

Thwack! From a distance of fourteen or fifteen meters, it struck the enemy in the chest, with most of the shaft sinking in.

Gravely wounded, the enemy turned and walked back. He took a few steps, then fell to the ground with a thud.

Cui Hao nocked a second arrow and kept it aimed. When he saw the enemy fall, he glanced at the panel.

[Archery: Beginner]

[Progress: 52/300]

Hunting the Hog Badger had increased his progress by seven. Killing a person increased it by ten!

It almost made Cui Hao want to slaughter a whole village.

He picked up his prey again, crossed the four-meter-wide stream, and cautiously approached the body.

Crouching down, he examined the man. He was an ordinary hunter, and even his bow was the same as everyone else's.

Searching the body, Cui Hao found a water gourd, three strips of dried meat, and three wooden arrows. There wasn't a single coin. The bow was the most valuable thing he had.

Suddenly, Cui Hao thought of how he'd used an injured pheasant to fish for the Golden Python.

He dragged the corpse across the stream, pulled out the arrow, and plugged the wound with mud.

Using a length of twisted grass rope, he hung the body upside down beneath a large tree beside the stream, letting the blood slowly drip from the wound. Then he returned to the other side of the stream, lay in the dead grass, and waited silently with his bow in hand.

Drip, drip... Blood ran down from the corpse's chest, neck, and head, falling onto the soft earth.

Before long, a faint rustling came from the dark woods. A Mountain Demon appeared, fearsome in appearance and bulging with muscle.

Cui Hao remembered his father saying these creatures were edible and worth a pretty penny, but hunters could only run when they encountered one.

Most who ran still died. In short, they couldn't fight it, and they couldn't outrun it.

Holding his breath, Cui Hao regretted his decision. He should've stuck to catching fish, shooting chickens, and collecting duck down. Greed had brought this trouble upon him.

The Mountain Demon cautiously approached the tree nearest the hanging corpse. It moved slowly and sniffed the air, looking extremely wary.

The wind was blowing the wrong way, so it didn't smell danger. Even so, it watched for nearly two quarters of an hour before leaping above the corpse. It bit through the grass rope on the tree branch, and the body dropped to the ground with a slap.

The Mountain Demon landed nimbly. Looking like a ghost, it plunged both claws into the corpse's chest and slowly tore it open.

Across the stream, Cui Hao clearly heard the corpse's muscles rip with a "rrrip." It felt as though his own chest had been torn open.

Reaching inside with a claw, the Mountain Demon pulled out a bright red heart. It couldn't help licking its lips, then opened its foul-smelling maw.

Just as it was about to eat, something unexpected happened.