Wrapping Things Up

Carrying rabbit pelts and the hide of a small beast that looked like a fawn, along with one hundred copper coins, Li Chengfeng went to the market as naturally as ever, no different from anyone else.

Two rabbit pelts and one small deer hide truly did not fetch much money. After selling them, he only got one hundred and thirty coins.

Li Chengfeng took those one hundred and thirty coins along with the one hundred coins he had brought, buying a new kitchen knife, a woodcutting knife, and twenty iron arrowheads. He had thirty coins left in all.

He spent another five coins on five jin of greens, leaving twenty-five coins. He also asked around about the price of an iron pot, only to find that even the cheapest one cost at least two hundred coins. With a sigh, he carried his things home.

Nothing happened. He returned home in peace, knocked on the door, and Liu Yuniang opened it with a face full of worry, letting him inside.

"Chengfeng, are you all right?"

Seeing how many things Li Chengfeng had bought back, Liu Yuniang hurriedly helped him take them down. Then, looking uneasy, she asked him with concern.

"I'm fine. What could happen?"

Li Chengfeng chuckled and shook his head. Pretending to be at ease, he opened his arms and hugged her, then patted her shoulder reassuringly. "I'm going into the mountains again to see if I can catch anything. Stay home and wait for me. Don't open the door for anyone."

Li Chengfeng spoke casually. "The things we took from that bastard Liu Hong's house have to be dealt with. I happened to meet some hunters in the mountains yesterday, so I'll take the things up there and see if I can run into them."

"If I do, I'll ask whether they want this stuff. I'll hand it over to them and trade it for something else."

Keeping Liu Hong's things at home was trouble. Though Li Chengfeng had use for what they had taken, for safety's sake, it was better to get rid of everything except the food.

Then he could use the money from selling them to buy new things, and possess those things without any misgivings.

"I'll listen to you. Just be careful in everything you do."

Hearing him, Liu Yuniang hesitated before nodding. She looked at him worriedly as she spoke.

"All right, but Yu Niang will have to help me with something in a moment."

Looking at Liu Yuniang, Li Chengfeng smiled and nodded. Then he pointed toward the bamboo grove outside, his eyes flickering. "This time, I'm going to set a few traps in the mountains and see if I can catch anything. We'll cut some bamboo here and pack it into sacks."

"All right, I'll help you pack the bamboo."

The moment Li Chengfeng said that, Liu Yuniang understood what he meant. She hurriedly nodded, readily agreeing.

Seeing her answer so decisively, Li Chengfeng smiled as well. He immediately opened the door and went into the yard with Liu Yuniang.

Once they were in the yard, Li Chengfeng took his woodcutting knife to the edge of the bamboo grove, picked out a stalk of bamboo, and swung his blade.

Swish—

With a soft sound, the bamboo immediately fell. Liu Yuniang, following behind him, promptly picked it up and used the broken kitchen knife in her hand to chop away the tangled twigs, split it in two, and toss it into the sack beside them.

Swish, swish, swish—

Li Chengfeng swung the woodcutting knife, chopping down bamboo without pause whenever he spotted a suitable stalk. Behind him, Liu Yuniang picked up the bamboo and stripped off the stray branches.

Before long, they had cut enough bamboo poles. Li Chengfeng also came over to help remove the stray branches, then stuffed both the branches and poles into the sack.

Taking advantage of no one watching, he and Liu Yuniang slipped the iron pot, steel knife, and woodcutting knife one by one among the bamboo. They then covered them with bamboo branches and mixed in bamboo poles of varying lengths.

Before long, a sack full of bamboo branches and poles had been packed tight, looking completely unremarkable.

Liu Yuniang pursed her lips and began carefully arranging it, while Li Chengfeng took out the arrowheads.

He found some old, slender bamboo poles in the yard that were tough enough to make into arrow shafts. This time, he crafted them with particular care. Besides the arrowheads, he also fitted pheasant feathers onto the tails to make the arrows more stable.

By the time he had finished making twenty bamboo arrows with iron heads and feathers, it was about time.

Li Chengfeng immediately took up his bow and woodcutting knife, slung the sack over his back, hung the arrows and woodcutting knife at his waist, and carried two water gourds. Taking the beast-blood rice balls mixed with vegetables that Liu Yuniang had cooked for him that morning, he waved to her and left home beneath her tight-lipped gaze.

Creak—

The moment Li Chengfeng left, Liu Yuniang turned around and tightly shut the door from within. Then she sat worriedly on the bed, looking out the window, when a thought suddenly came to her.

Li Chengfeng had grown up.

Thinking again of Li Chengfeng's decisiveness today and the string of swift, resolute actions he had taken, the worry on Liu Yuniang's face gradually faded. Her expression became lively again as she silently prayed for his journey into the mountains to go smoothly.

Li Chengfeng left home carrying his things, preparing all kinds of responses along the way in case anyone questioned him.

Yet he passed through the city gate without anyone paying him any mind and entered the mountains in perfect peace.

Only after reaching deep into the forest did Li Chengfeng hide the iron pot, steel knife, and woodcutting knife from the sack in a secluded spot. Then, his eyes flashing, he truly began searching the mountains for places to set traps using bamboo poles and bamboo leaves.

If anyone really questions me and digs to the bottom of things, these traps will be my way out.

His thoughts churned as he used the bamboo poles and leaves he had carried in to make three traps in three separate places. Each was rather ingenious, and each bore a marker.

Only after finishing did a smile flash through his eyes. Bow in hand, he began searching the forest for prey.

Given the state of this era, after Liu Hong died, it might be several days before anyone discovered it. Even if they discover that a street thug like him is dead, tracking down his killer will take quite some time. It will probably take a while before they trace it to me. Even if they really do trace it to me, I've already thought of a way to handle it.

Li Chengfeng's thoughts surged. Most importantly, they have no evidence proving that I killed Liu Hong. The only flaw caused by the changes in our supplies will be quickly digested away as my appetite grows.

Thinking of that, Li Chengfeng immediately felt at ease.

Then he thought that if he were a martial artist, given what Liu Hong had done to him, he could have killed the man outright. Even if others knew, it would not matter. No one would pursue it.

That was a martial artist's privilege.

Unfortunately, he was not a martial artist yet...

At present, all he wanted was to add an iron pot to the household, set up a stove, buy a few porcelain bowls, and finally cook and eat a proper meal...

"With the panel, none of this is a problem."

Li Chengfeng exhaled, feeling that his body was already far more energetic than it had been two days ago. He let out a long breath, nocked an arrow to his bow, and began carefully searching the forest for prey.

Finding suitable prey was not easy.

He searched slowly through the forest for half a day without seeing any worthwhile game. By the time the sun slanted westward, he had only caught one bamboo rat.

Li Chengfeng knew that for hunters without fixed hunting grounds, this was normal.

Catching even one bamboo rat was not bad. Besides, his gains were not limited to the bamboo rat.

[Skill: Archery]

[Level: Minor Mastery (58/160)]

[Effect: Stability increased by 40%; accuracy increased by 30%; arrow speed increased by 5%]

"By tomorrow or the day after, I should be able to raise Archery to Major Mastery!"

Looking at the progress of his Archery proficiency, a spark of excitement flashed through Li Chengfeng's eyes.