Deer Meat Forged a Bond

"Come on, let's head home and trade grain for meat."

"On the way, we ran into that kid Tieniu. He said Mengzi had specifically set some aside for everyone in the stockade."

"Mengzi's finally come to his senses. Good lad—he's a fine son of our stockade."

"Qin Lai's got a rotten heart, even harming people from his own stockade."

"Exactly..."

Venison was highly nourishing, and Qin Meng's words set many people's thoughts in motion. They called their friends over or shot Qin Lai looks of contempt.

Hearing the stockade residents' chatter, Qin Lai's face darkened further. He stared hard at Qin Meng's retreating back, venom nearly dripping from his eyes.

"Two adult spotted deer... good, very good!" He ground his teeth, forcing the words through them in a low growl. "Qin Meng, you think a little brute strength and a few kills are enough to turn your life around?

"You think you can treat me, Qin Lai, like I'm nobody? We'll... just wait and see! Let's see if your poor self can stomach meat this nourishing!"

He shoved Liu San and Wang Laizi aside and limped home.

Liu San and Wang Laizi exchanged glances, then hurried after him.

They knew Qin Lai had taken a lasting grudge this time. With his spiteful nature, he would never let this go.

The sun slanted down from the west as Qin Meng dragged his kills back to the small courtyard.

Shen Qiuyue was picking vegetables by the well. At the sound, she looked up, and the wild greens in her hand fell into the basin.

She stared at the two hefty bucks on the drag sled, especially the one still struggling alive, and froze. "Mengzi, th-there's so much game!"

"Sister Qiuyue, give me a hand."

Qin Meng untied the ropes and took the bags of grain, cloth, cotton, salt, and brown sugar from his back basket. Last, he carefully brought out a snow-white bundle from inside his clothes.

"Oh, what's this?" Shen Qiuyue leaned closer. When she saw the pair of glossy black eyes and sharply pointed ears, she gently covered her lips with her fingers.

"A f-fox?"

"Found it on the mountain. Its leg's hurt." Qin Meng gently set Little Fox on the blue-gray stone beside the well. "It'll need a few days to recover. It can keep you company in the meantime!"

"Yip..." Little Fox cocked its head and touched the tip of its nose to Shen Qiuyue's outstretched finger.

The surprise in Shen Qiuyue's eyes immediately softened. She gathered Little Fox into her arms as if she were holding a clump of fresh snow. "Poor little thing..."

"Keep an eye on it for now. I'll take care of the game." Qin Meng handed her the medicine, then turned and carried the Blood-Scaled Deer and demon serpent into the woodshed to hide them.

He couldn't bear to sell such a rare treasure.

Back in the courtyard, he grabbed a boning knife and efficiently bled and skinned the live deer.

Footsteps sounded outside the courtyard gate.

"Mengzi! You really brought down a big deer?" Auntie Wang's booming voice arrived first. She was the wife of the neighboring blacksmith, a classic case of a sharp tongue and a soft heart.

She had often urged Shen Qiuyue not to stay with the mess that Qin Meng had once been. In private, though, she frequently helped them out. Shen Qiuyue often borrowed grain from her, for example.

Following her was her son, Li Tiezhu. Built like an ox, he had been Qin Meng's childhood friend since they were both in open-crotch pants, and was one of the few people who treated him well.

"Auntie Wang, Tiezhu." Qin Meng looked up with a grin. "Just in time. I could use some help."

Li Tiezhu didn't say much. He went straight home and hauled back an old trestle table, setting it up in the courtyard with a bang. Then he helped Qin Meng cut up the meat and carry it onto the table.

They had only just finished setting everything out when someone knocked on the courtyard gate.

Stockade residents crowded at the entrance with bags of grain and copper coins in hand, their eyes wandering to the meat.

Qin Meng wiped his hands and put on a genial smile. "Come on in. Ten catties of grain for one catty of meat; cash is eighty percent of the going rate. I, Qin, won't cheat anyone."

He cut the meat, weighed it, took the money and grain, all with practiced ease. The crowd kept coming.

The venison sold briskly, and the buck that weighed more than three hundred catties quickly dwindled.

One of the velvet antlers was cut into pieces and sold bit by bit.

The other was bought intact by Qin Tianbao, the militia captain, for twenty-five taels of silver.

Qin Meng knew it wasn't just a sale. This was the most practical way to overturn the former Qin Meng's foul reputation for drinking, gambling, and beating his wife.

He didn't care about his own reputation. What mattered was that when Shen Qiuyue went around the stockade, the sneers and whispers she used to face would turn to envy.

After the last group had left, the courtyard finally fell quiet.

Even the pheasants and hares had been traded away. Only an intact deer hide remained on the table. More than a dozen bags of grain and several dozen taels of silver lay on the ground.

Auntie Wang rubbed her hands, looking disappointed. "Mengzi, look, all the meat's gone... I'd wanted to trade some for your uncle and Haozi, so they could get a little nourishment..."

"Auntie, don't worry." Qin Meng cut her off and ducked into the kitchen.

When he came back out, he was carrying another buck over his shoulder, even bigger than the first—nearly twice its size, with a lustrous sheen to its coat.

"Th-this..." Li Tiezhu's eyes went wide.

"Two deer." Qin Meng set the buck down with a thud. "I only sold one. This one's different. Its meat's full of vital essence, so we'll eat it ourselves.

"Auntie, go invite Uncle Gensheng over. We'll have dinner here tonight."

"That's right, Auntie. You've helped us so much in the past. You can't refuse." Shen Qiuyue came forward with a smile and took the woman's hand, inviting her sincerely.

Little Fox, nestled in her arms, yipped and sniffed with its nose twitching.

Auntie Wang's eyes grew a little moist. She tried to refuse, but the words that came out were, "All right, all right... I'm staying, I'm staying. Haozi, hurry and go get your father!"

By the time night had fully fallen, the Qin family's little courtyard was unusually lively.

The stove fire lit up the window paper. Venison bubbled in the iron pot, and its rich aroma mingled with the scent of firewood, filling the courtyard.

Qin Meng prepared the demon serpent separately. He took its most tender cuts, seasoned them with wild garlic and chili peppers, and stewed them into a soup with a powerful aroma.

Auntie Wang's husband, Li Gensheng, was a well-known blacksmith in the stockade. His skin was as dark as iron, and he was a man of few words. After tasting the venison, he suddenly slowed his chewing.

He looked up at Qin Meng. "This deer isn't an ordinary wild animal."

"It's an Exotic Beast," Qin Meng replied without hiding the truth.

"You'd lose money selling it." Li Gensheng nodded and asked no more, simply lowering his head to eat. But he was taking bites noticeably faster now.

At the table, Auntie Wang chattered about the stockade's recent affairs. Qin Meng listened and responded, while Shen Qiuyue spoke softly and occasionally put food in his bowl.

Little Fox sprawled on a stool, happily gnawing on a piece of unsalted venison rib, its tail swaying back and forth.

After the meal, Auntie Wang helped Shen Qiuyue clear the dishes, while Li Tiezhu burped and chopped firewood.

Li Gensheng pulled Qin Meng over to the corner of the courtyard and took a small pouch of silver out of his clothes. "A hundred catties of meat and half an antler. The going rate should be worth more than this. Take it."

Qin Meng didn't refuse. "Thanks, Uncle."

Li Gensheng waved a hand and glanced at the long blade wrapped in cloth at Qin Meng's waist. Its shape and length couldn't escape the eye of an old blacksmith like him.

"Mengzi." He suddenly lowered his voice. "That Ghost-Head Blade... looks familiar to me. Want me to reforge it for you? I could reshape it so no one recognizes it and you don't invite trouble."

Qin Meng's heart tightened slightly. He looked at Li Gensheng, the honest, taciturn, dark-faced man who kept his head down at the forge. His eyes shone startlingly bright in the night.

"All right." Qin Meng untied the blade and handed it over, lowering his own voice. "They followed me and tried to kill me. I've got a family, so I had to strike first."

The cloth fell back at one corner. The Ghost-Head Blade's edge gleamed cold and hard in the moonlight, and the blade still bore the fresh, stubborn tang of blood.

Li Gensheng took the blade and ran his fingers along it, as if feeling the bones of an old friend.

After a long moment, he nodded. "You did the right thing."

He patted Qin Meng's shoulder, his hand heavy. "This is the northern frontier. If you get the chance, make sure the trouble never comes back to haunt you. If anything happens, come to me."

"All right!"

At the Qin family's courtyard.

Qin Lai had just grimaced and lowered himself onto the bed when his subordinate Black Bear hurried in. "Brother Lai, something's wrong! The men who went into the mountains to look for them are back..."

"What about Song Zhong and the others?" Qin Lai's heart sank.

"They're all dead." Black Bear's face was pale. "Their bodies were mauled by wild beasts, but... there were signs of human involvement."

Qin Lai's pupils contracted sharply.

He had caught the unspoken meaning in Qin Meng's words, but he had never believed that sickly wretch could kill all four men.

But the truth was right in front of him—

If Qin Meng could kill Song Zhong, he could kill Qin Lai too.

Wang Laizi whispered, "Brother Lai, what if we wait until he's asleep tonight..."

"Idiot!" Qin Lai backhanded him across the face. "You want to make a move on him now and get dragged off to the pond?"

He panted heavily, the pain in his lower abdomen and the humiliation of being disgraced in public searing through his nerves. But the viciousness he'd cultivated over years of hanging around gambling dens made him force down his fury. Slowly, a twisted sneer spread across his face.

"Come on. We're going to the gambling den tonight."