Hidden Dragon

Manager Wang's warning weighed heavily on Gu Erniu and Gu Sheng.

Though the war seemed far removed from both Canghe County and Gu Family Village, when the nest was overturned, how could any egg remain intact? The day the whole situation collapsed, no one would escape.

The only good news was that this day probably would not come so soon.

Gu Sheng still had time to grow.

A sense of urgency rose within him, and his desire to practice martial arts became even stronger.

In chaotic times, only force could bring peace of mind.

Since they knew grain prices would likely rise, Gu Sheng and Gu Erniu discussed it and decided to go home and each bring out another twenty jin of meat to exchange for rice.

They each contributed thirty jin of wild boar meat.

They traded it for sixty jin of millet and seventy jin of rice bran.

Gu Sheng was not extravagant enough to exchange it all for millet. Hunting earned plenty of money, but he still had to spend carefully.

After pouring more than a hundred jin of grain into separate jars, Gu Sheng immediately felt a surge of satisfaction.

With food at home, there was no panic in his heart.

Including the rice left over from before, it would not be a problem to eat for two or three months. If something truly happened, they could even make it last four or five months by being frugal!

Besides the rice, there were still over ten jin of smoked and dried meat at home, along with more than ten jin of fresh wild boar meat.

The current Gu Sheng—

After more than a month of effort, his life had improved immensely.

Compared to the hardship of being able to eat only rice bran and wild vegetables when he had first awakened his memories, he could now be considered comfortably off.

"Millet rice and stewed wild boar tonight!"

Gu Sheng's eyes lit up. After eating rice bran for so long, he could finally change things up.

After returning home, he lit the fire and began cooking.

He cut up the wild boar meat in advance, along with the bones and trotters, and put them into an earthenware pot to simmer slowly over low heat. Gu Sheng even extravagantly added some salt and seasonings he had gotten from Gu Erniu.

He waited patiently.

Very soon.

The fragrance of meat drifted through the air. The distinct fresh aroma of wild boar lingered beneath Gu Sheng's nose, making his throat bob as he swallowed.

At the same time.

The millet rice was ready as well. Its fragrance rose together with the scent of meat, mingling into something utterly irresistible!

Gu Sheng could not wait any longer.

He first ladled himself a bowl of meat soup. Grease floated across its surface, making his mouth water. After letting it cool slightly, he drained it in one gulp. The warm, rich sensation of the soup passing over his tongue and down his throat made Gu Sheng sigh in delight!

He began to feast.

A bite of wild boar meat, a bite of millet rice—each mouthful was fragrant and delicious, and he practically wanted to swallow his tongue along with it.

In his previous life, this would have been an utterly ordinary dinner, but in this life, Gu Sheng could barely remember ever eating so extravagantly!

He ate each bite carefully, cherishing the fruits of his hard work.

By the end, he had even sucked every last trace of marrow from the wild boar bones.

After letting out a satisfied belch, Gu Sheng gave a contented sigh.

Out of habit, he opened his panel.

Chopping wood proficiency was at 16%, unchanged from before he had entered the mountains. Yet his Archery proficiency had somehow risen from 30% to 31%!

Surprise appeared in Gu Sheng's eyes.

"I didn't practice archery today. I only used it while hunting in the mountains, yet it actually increased by 1%?"

He guessed that he had been more focused during battle, making the results better.

"If I could fight regularly, my archery would probably improve several times faster!"

"Unfortunately, it's too dangerous!"

After thinking it over briefly, Gu Sheng abandoned the idea. He wanted to grow stronger to protect himself. If he constantly placed himself in danger just to become stronger, he would eventually get himself killed.

Training diligently on his own might be a little slower, but it was safer.

The next day.

Gu Sheng went to the main household to chop wood as usual.

For the time being, he would not give up the wood-chopping job.

For one thing, he did not go hunting every day. The ten copper coins he earned from chopping wood each day were not much, but small amounts added up and became quite substantial.

Besides, he still needed to keep grinding proficiency until chopping wood reached mastery.

If he left this job at the main household, where else could he find so much firewood to chop? He could hardly go door to door chopping wood for free.

But today.

He brought half a jin of wild boar meat and some broken bones.

They were for Gu He.

He might need to enter the mountains to hunt from time to time in the future. Asking for a favor once or twice would not make anyone say much, but if it happened too often, resentment would inevitably arise.

When he saw Gu He, Gu Sheng smiled and thanked him.

"Thank you, Manager, for looking after me these past days. I had some gains from entering the mountains last night, so I brought a little for you to try."

Seeing that it was actually wild boar meat, Gu He's face immediately showed surprise.

Gu Sheng had gone into the mountains for the first time and already made such gains?

Then he remembered the talent and perseverance Gu Sheng had displayed in chopping wood, and guessed that Gu Sheng's archery must have improved extremely quickly as well.

But even more than that, he was impressed by Gu Sheng's social grace.

For a fourteen-year-old boy to be so thoughtful was truly rare.

His talent and perseverance are both exceptional, and he understands the ways of the world as well. He is a hidden dragon. Given time, if he succeeds in martial arts, he may well become another Gu Jingang!

With a kind smile, Gu He nodded.

"Then I'll accept your kindness. From now on, just call me Uncle He. If you go into the mountains to hunt in the future, just let me know. You chop wood quickly anyway, so whether you do this job a day earlier or later makes no difference."

Gu Sheng was delighted and nodded respectfully.

"Alright, Uncle He!"

Their relationship immediately became a little closer.

Such was the nature of social dealings.

You trouble me, I trouble you. Only through give and take did people become familiar with one another.

After exchanging a few more pleasantries, Gu Sheng prepared to leave.

Gu He could not help speaking again.

"Sheng, you can think over what I told you last time after you begin practicing martial arts. My third brother's daughter is delicate and pretty. She is absolutely worthy of you..."

He still wanted to tie Gu Sheng to his family's boat.

Gu Sheng bowed slightly.

"Thank you for your kindness, Uncle He. How could your niece possibly be unworthy of me? If anything, it would surely be me, Gu Sheng, reaching above my station. But I swore before my father's grave that I would establish myself before starting a family."

"Right now, I can barely support myself. How could I dare think about what comes later? I hope Uncle He can forgive me."

Seeing Gu Sheng's resolute attitude, Gu He felt deeply regretful.

He could only tell Gu Sheng to consider it again in the future. Perhaps after he began practicing martial arts, Gu Sheng might change his mind.

In the days that followed.

Gu Sheng's life returned to its regular routine.

When he did not go into the mountains to hunt, he chopped wood in the morning and practiced archery in the afternoon.

At night, he gave his body enough time to rest while also studying the knowledge of this world.

Before awakening his memories, Gu Sheng had only known a little writing, but now he knew much more.

The price was giving some dried meat to the old teacher in the village.

But Gu Sheng felt it was worth it.

He had to prepare for the future. Otherwise, if he practiced martial arts later and could not even understand the meaning of things, that would be ridiculous.

What kind of experience would it be to obtain a secret manual only to discover that he was illiterate?

Besides, Gu Sheng would leave Gu Family Village sooner or later. It was always good to know more, so that he would not be completely lost when the time came.

At the very least, he now knew this.

The Great Liang Dynasty had thirteen provinces, and he was currently within Canghe County, under Chiyun Prefecture in Qingzhou.

As for Yunzhou, it bordered Qingzhou.

But Canghe County lay at the edge of Qingzhou, so Yunzhou was still some distance away.