“Now you’re the one who’s improperly dressed, aren’t you?” Xue Ci shook his head in disapproval as he looked over He Yi’s bare upper body.
He Yi was momentarily speechless, unable to think of any way to refute him. It seemed Xue Ci’s ability to think and express himself had improved. At the very least, he was now at an elementary-schooler’s level.
He Yi found it difficult to explain, so he merely asked, “Did you get hurt anywhere just now?”
Xue Ci shook his head.
Over on the other side, Xing Junshu had once again been surrounded by the escorts. Even though he was not injured, they insisted on persuading him to go to a clinic in town for an examination and rest for a while. They had all been badly frightened.
The old hunter who had taken a hard fall, meanwhile, was completely ignored. Thumping his aching lower back, he slowly climbed to his feet and walked toward Xue Ci, shouting angrily, “You little brat! Why did you drive the tiger away?! Don’t you know we came here to hunt that tiger? What do you mean by driving off our prey?”
The old hunter was shouting at Xue Ci, but He Yi happened to be standing directly in front of him. Thus, the one facing the old hunter’s crazed eyes and flushed face head-on was He Yi.
The man was clearly in an unstable state. Sensing hostility, He Yi did not let Xue Ci step forward. Instead, he said, “Sorry, we truly didn’t know you were here for a hunt. But now that we do, I have a question. You’re blaming Xue Ci for driving the tiger away, but how can you be so certain he drove it off? With so many people here, how do you know it wasn’t frightened away by the crowd?”
The old hunter was stumped. In the heat of the moment, he had seen the young man make some sort of animal call and then watched the tiger leave, so he assumed the young man must have ordered it away. But after He Yi questioned him like this, he was no longer so certain.
He Yi could more or less guess that Xue Ci really had told the tiger to leave, perhaps even to leave Yaluo Mountain altogether, so saying he had driven it away was not wrong. But if the other man wanted to pin the blame for the failed hunt on Xue Ci, He Yi certainly was not going to sit back and let that accusation become fact.
With a hint of mockery in his voice, He Yi said, “The tiger is injured, so it probably couldn’t have gone very far. If you chase it now, you might still catch up. Why aren’t you going? Is it because you don’t want to, or because you aren’t confident you can actually hunt it?”
That struck the old hunter exactly where it hurt. The truth was that he did not have the courage to pursue it, which was why he had come to vent his anger on Xue Ci for interfering. What a perfect opportunity he had had, only for that brat to ruin it. Naturally, he never stopped to consider that without Xue Ci restraining the tiger, he would never have gotten such an opportunity in the first place. The thought that he had thereby missed out on wealth, fame, and status made the old hunter’s eyes burn red, and he could not calm his agitation.
He had been a hunter for many years and was not especially quick with words. When he could not argue back, he was accustomed to speaking with his fists. Just as he raised his hand to swing at He Yi, someone behind him reached out and stopped the blow.
The old hunter turned and discovered that it was Young Master Xing. Muttering under his breath, he lowered his hand and knelt before Xing Junshu to beg forgiveness.
Xing Junshu ordered the old hunter to slap himself until he was told to stop. Then he cupped his hands toward Xue Ci. “This young master… uh, I am Xing Junshu. Thank you, sir, for saving me just now. If that tiger had pounced on me, I’m afraid I would have lost my life. My subordinate behaved improperly and offended you both. I apologize on his behalf.”
The displeasure on He Yi’s face eased somewhat. He stepped half a step aside and let Xue Ci come forward to speak with Xing Junshu face-to-face.
Xue Ci thought for a moment about how he ought to respond. “It’s all right. I didn’t take it to heart.” After saying that, he secretly glanced at He Yi, looking a little nervous, like a student waiting for his homework to be checked.
He Yi found it rather amusing and nodded.
Xing Junshu also wanted to visit them to express his thanks, but his subordinates insisted that he go to a clinic in town for an examination. They even threatened to atone with their lives if he refused, leaving him no choice but to say goodbye for now.
“Benefactor, your skills are truly extraordinary! When Xing comes to visit tomorrow, might you show me a little of what you can do? Or perhaps spar with me! If you could teach me even one or two moves…” Young Master Xing had grown up surrounded by the Xing family’s love and indulgence, dressed in silk and eating delicacies since childhood. Money and power were both within easy reach, and in Jiangcheng he could practically call the wind and summon the rain. When had Xing Junshu ever looked this eager to please? His attendants stared at him in astonishment.
Xue Ci poked He Yi in the side, covered his mouth, and leaned close to He Yi’s ear. “What is a benefactor?”
“…” With a third person staring at them the entire time, He Yi felt it would be awkward to whisper for too long, so he did not answer Xue Ci. He would explain once they got home. Besides, Xing Junshu’s words had reminded him of something.
He Yi said, “Young Master Xing, could you ask your people not to spread word of what happened today? We don’t want trouble.”
Xing Junshu glanced at He Yi and caught the deeper meaning in those few words. That made sense. Their benefactor’s abilities were exceptionally rare even across the realm, and a feat as astonishing as fighting a tiger barehanded and driving it away would, if word spread, inevitably attract certain powers seeking to recruit him, use him, or even… kill him.
“Xing understands. Leave this matter to me.” Although they had failed to kill the tiger today, the hunt could simply continue once he had rested and returned. Meeting someone like his benefactor meant the trip had not been wasted.
Seeing that Xing Junshu understood so readily, He Yi did not mind telling him where they lived. The group then prepared to descend the mountain.
It was Xue Ci who remembered that someone was still waiting to be rescued from the fissure. Hearing this, Xing Junshu looked around and realized that the Chang family’s people were nowhere to be seen, aside from Chang Gui, who had remained half-reclining not far behind Xue Ci all this time.
Xing Junshu seemed to think of something. His eyes narrowed and his gaze turned considerably colder.
Even Chang Gui had forgotten about his good brother Wu Fu. Ever since the tiger appeared, he had been paralyzed with fear. His legs had cramped until they were numb, and he could not even crawl to his feet.
Xing Junshu could not be bothered to argue over it. He simply had his men go down and rescue Wu Fu. When they brought him up, Wu Fu was unconscious and injured all over, but his breathing was fairly steady. There were even some greenish fragments on his face. On closer inspection, they seemed to be pieces of jade.
“…” It seemed Wu Fu really had been hit by the jade Chang Gui threw down. He Yi had no idea what to say. He glanced at Chang Gui, who had been tossed over the back of a horse, retrieved his carrying basket, and headed down the mountain first with Xue Ci.
When they arrived home, He Yi first checked the lock on the woodshed, then went to look at the yao grass in the vegetable garden. Its leaves were thick and plump, but otherwise the plant looked rather unremarkable. The only unusual feature was the smoky-gray color on the undersides of its leaves, and even that could only be seen by turning them over. Once it grew among the other plants, someone might easily mistake it for a weed, so He Yi would have to make sure no one pulled it out by accident.
He then asked Xue Ci to fetch some water from the village well for a bath and a change of clothes.
He Yi himself set the two golden pheasants aside and went to check on his chickens and goose. This time, when he went up the mountain, he had not asked Uncle Zheng or Qianli to help feed them because Xue Ci had previously told him that once, when the trough was empty, the goose had led the one big and eight little chickens into the nearby brush to eat insects and grass.
The feeding trough in the chicken enclosure was empty now, so He Yi added some grass seeds. The chicks slowly wandered over, looked at the trough, and then some walked away while others lowered their heads and pecked a little.
It seemed none of them had gone hungry. The goose really must have taken them out to forage. How impressive. The goose waddled around with its chest puffed out and its long neck held high, looking so imposing that He Yi wanted to fasten a little collar clip at its neck. It truly deserved to be called the Goose Housekeeper.
A housekeeper this capable certainly deserved a reward. After He Yi washed down the chicken and goose enclosure, he noticed the goose circling the basket that still contained Chinese toon shoots. He figured geese ought to be able to eat them, so he grabbed a handful and tossed them into the goose’s trough.
The goose really did start eating them, quacking and flapping its broad wings as it happily ate. Once full, it waddled out the gate with its rump swaying. He Yi guessed it was probably going to the river to play in the water.
After looking after the chicks for so many days, it probably had not been able to go anywhere. Now that they were home, it could finally go out and play. It had worked hard too.
He Yi chuckled, picked up the two golden pheasants, and headed to the fields.
Unexpectedly, when he reached both his own fields and the Zheng family’s, he did not see Uncle Zheng or anyone else from the family. He finished the work in the fields first, then went to the Zheng home.
Just as he reached their door, he happened to run into a neighbor and learned that the Zheng family had recently arranged a marriage prospect for Zheng Yuanfeng. The matchmaker was at their home right now.
They were supposed to visit the other family today with proposal gifts, but the matchmaker said the gifts they had prepared were insufficient. Aunt Liu was beside herself with worry and could not understand why the other family’s demands kept increasing, dissatisfied with this and dissatisfied with that.
The matchmaker flicked her handkerchief. “You ought to bring some meat, at least.”
“We already prepared two slabs of pork, one fatty and one lean. What’s still lacking?” Zheng Yuanfeng was extremely irritated. The matchmaker had already lectured them earlier, even mocking the entire family, saying that preparing such shabby gifts showed the girl no respect now, so if she married into their household, would she not spend her whole life suffering? Yet this was only the proposal visit. The betrothal gifts later were the truly substantial expense. Ordinary village families usually brought only a bowl of meat and a piece of sugar when proposing marriage. He had never heard of anyone demanding this much.
“You know that isn’t the kind of meat I mean. Livestock. It has to be alive.”
“You never said that before?!” A live animal meant an entire animal. Even a single chicken could be worth as much as those two slabs of pork.
The matchmaker smiled apologetically. “Aiya, I must have missed that part! You don’t need many. Two will be enough.”
Two?! Zheng Yuanfeng wanted to slam the table and tell her to get out, but Aunt Liu and his older brother each grabbed one of his arms, forcing him to give up.
While the Zheng family was at its wits’ end, locked in a stalemate with the matchmaker, He Yi entered.
“Oh, everyone’s here today. I was wondering why I couldn’t find anyone in the fields. Uncle Zheng, Auntie, thank you for helping me keep an eye on the fields these past few days. We caught a couple of birds on this trip up the mountain. Should I leave them here, or take them to the back?” He Yi politely greeted everyone while holding up the two lively golden pheasants.
“Birds?” The Zheng family looked at the two pheasants in He Yi’s hands, then at one another, and froze.
The matchmaker froze too. Those were golden pheasants! What did he mean, birds? Hearing the word “birds,” she had assumed he meant sparrows or something of the sort. Who could have expected them to be golden pheasants, a detoxifying medicinal ingredient that clinics bought for a high price? Bringing these as gifts would give the Zheng family enormous face!
She had originally been thinking that if the Zheng family refused to provide the requested proposal gifts, she could simply let the match fall through. The woman’s family had already changed their minds after finding a better household and had even given her two hundred wen in compensation.
Now, however, she suddenly found herself uncertain. Who exactly was this man, to be so lavish and generous?! Since when did Chongzi Village have someone like him?
The Zheng family had no idea how valuable golden pheasants were. They only thought there was not much meat on the birds. If they were keeping them for themselves, they certainly would not be picky, but they had no idea whether the matchmaker would complain there was too little meat and say they were still not good enough as proposal gifts.
“This is far too valuable. We can’t take them, we really can’t. Keeping an eye on your fields hardly takes any work. If you insist on giving us something every time, how will we dare help you watch them next time?” Aunt Liu said this, but she was not entirely willing to refuse. The hand she raised to stop He Yi barely came up at all. After all, she desperately needed something like this right now. She had worried about her youngest son’s marriage for a long time.
“Xue Ci caught them. He actually wanted to give them to you himself, but he was embarrassed to say so, so he told me to say they were from me.” He Yi decided to use the absent Xue Ci as a shield. Since Xue Ci was not there, they could hardly return the gift to him. The pheasants really had been caught by Xue Ci, though He Yi had discussed it with him beforehand and received permission to use this share for social favors.
In truth, Xue Ci had only eaten at the Zheng home a few times, so there was not much of a favor to repay. Still, helping Xue Ci build good relationships with the villagers was necessary. Only after the excuse slipped naturally from his mouth did He Yi realize that he seemed to have overlooked this before.
It was almost as though, when it came to Xue Ci forming connections with humans, He Yi liked seeing Xue Ci’s bond with him remain the closest and had subconsciously ignored the fact that Xue Ci also needed to expand his social circle in order to integrate better into the village and the human world.
“…” Why am I being so childish? This is the sort of thing a kid would do.
While He Yi reflected on himself, Aunt Liu and the others had already begun arguing among themselves.
The matchmaker cut in. “Just accept them. If we delay any longer, we’ll miss the proper time.” Once they accepted the birds, she could wait until the negotiations fell apart over there and then buy the two pheasants from the Zheng family. Judging by their expressions, they clearly did not know what they had. Otherwise, why would they refuse? “Quickly, quickly! Cover them with red cloth and let’s be on our way!” With the cloth over them, no one could see what was inside. The matchmaker was clearly afraid someone else might spot them and compete with her for them.
“This… ai!” Unexpectedly, even this picky matchmaker seemed satisfied with the birds. The Zheng family had no other choice but to accept them. They repeatedly thanked He Yi and told him to bring Xue Ci over for a meal the next day so they could thank him in person as well.
He Yi agreed. Then, rather than stay and get in the way, he headed home to see whether Xue Ci had finished bathing.