Making A Fortune Through Hunting To Support My Wife - Chapter 19

“That scared me to death just now! Thank goodness Xu Jing arrived in time. Those scoundrels, Wang Ergou and his lot, they actually tried to bully us!”

“Shooting them in the legs was far too kind. Next time, I’ll have my brothers beat them every time they see them!”

Lu Ying had recovered her spirits. Like a little chili pepper, she shook her fist fiercely.

Song Yu watched the back of the person walking ahead of them, a trace of worry flickering between her brows.

“We wounded them; I’m afraid their families won’t let this matter go easily.”

“What’s there to fear! They’re the ones who tried to bully us first!”

Lu Ying was impulsive by nature, but she wasn’t stupid. She then remembered something and frowned: “Wang Ergou’s mother, Old Lady Lin, is a notorious shrew in the village. I need to have a word with my mother about this…”

Although Xu Jing was walking ahead, she remained attentive to the two girls. Seeing them chatting and laughing without appearing traumatized, she felt much relieved.

On the way back, the three encountered several villagers returning from work. Seeing the two large baskets of mushrooms, the villagers cast looks of envy. Some were curious about the contents of their back-baskets, but Xu Jing brushed them off with vague talk.

“Xiao Yu, give the Poria and He Shou Wu in your basket to Lu Ying. She helped us a lot today. Please make a trip later to deliver the items to their house.”

“I’m going home first to tidy up the thatch. It’s been drying all day, tomorrow I’ll repair the roof.”

The Xu and Lu families were neighbors, with the Xu house being slightly ahead, only twenty steps or so from the Lu house.

Hearing Xu Jing’s words, Song Yu’s eyes widened in surprise. She hadn’t realized that the roots they dug today were the famous medicinal herbs Poria and He Shou Wu. She nodded and softly agreed.

Beside her, Lu Ying immediately refused upon hearing that Xu Jing wanted to give her these things, which sounded like expensive medicines.

“I don’t want them! I said I was just helping Sister Song.”

Anything associated with “medicine” was very valuable. Xu Jing had led her to dig them, it was just a matter of spending some physical effort. She couldn’t possibly take medicinal materials they had worked so hard to find.

“I said I’d share some with you, so I will. You also helped Xiao Yu pick plenty of Pleurotus and Termitomyces, those mushrooms can be traded for a good amount of money.”

Xu Jing waved her hand, then said to Song Yu. “Xiao Yu, I’ll head back first. I’ll leave Lu Ying to you.”

Without waiting for Lu Ying’s reaction, she turned and walked away with her basket. With Song Yu also persuading her from the side, Lu Ying had no choice but to accept.

When Xu Jing reached home, Grandma Xu was out, her whereabouts unknown. The thatch drying in the yard had lost its moisture and was now completely dry.

Putting the large basket into the small storehouse, Xu Jing took some mushrooms from the smaller basket and grabbed the unlucky wild pheasant. She began cleaning them at the water-pipe outlet in the yard.

Tonight, they would have wild pheasant stewed with mushrooms.

“Lu Ying! You dead girl, you finally know to come home! Did you go to pick mushrooms or go to die in the mountains!”

The woman working in the yard erupted like a lioness the moment she saw Lu Ying return.

Carrying her basket and wearing her back-basket, Lu Ying wasn’t afraid of the raging woman at all. She ran in giggling.

“Mother, I’m back, aren’t I? Stop shouting. Sister Song is right behind me; you’ve scared her.”

The woman looked up and indeed saw Song Yu standing at the gate, not daring to enter.

Her expression changed instantly, flipping like a book to reveal a warm, rustic smile as she greeted Song Yu.

“Oh, it’s Xiao Yu. Come in, come in. I didn’t scare you, did I? This Ying’er is like a wild monkey all day, lacking the refinement of a young lady. It worries me so.”

“Ying’er is lively, it’s quite nice and makes people like her.”

After a brief exchange, Song Yu took off her basket and called to Ying’er.

“Ying’er, get an empty crate from your house. I’ll pour these out and head back.”

As Lu Ying went inside to find a crate, her mother looked in surprise at the dark objects in Song Yu’s basket. “What are these?”

“Poria and He Shou Wu. Medicinal herbs Ying’er dug.”

“What? Medicine? Ying’er dug medicine?!”

“Xu Jing took us to dig them. She said these are my share.”

Lu Ying briefly explained how Xu Jing had led them to dig the herbs. Her mother also wanted to refuse, but Song Yu emptied the basket and took her leave.

“Heh, has Jing’er really changed her nature? Well, it’s a good change…”

Once Song Yu was far away, Lu Ying’s mother whispered to her daughter.

Speaking of Xu Jing, Lu Ying remembered the trouble Wang Ergou had caused them on the mountain. She needed to prepare her mother to deal with Wang Ergou’s shrewish mother.

“Mother, you won’t believe it, that dog Wang Ergou…”

Wisps of cooking smoke rose, carrying the scent of rural life.

Dinner today consisted of mushroom soup, pheasant stewed with mushrooms, and stir-fried porcini, a table of mountain delicacies so fragrant it supposedly made the neighbor’s child cry.

This wasn’t an exaggeration. While Xu Jing’s house was cooking the stew, wails came from the Zhang family next door. The child was crying for meat and was subsequently scolded by the adults.

Grandma Zhang, distressed for her grandson, began making snide remarks over the wall, only to be met with Grandma Xu’s sharp sarcasm in return.

The stir-fried porcini were personally cooked by Xu Jing, who enjoyed the whole plate herself.

After dinner, the two washed up and returned to the room. As usual, Song Yu slept on the bed while Xu Jing laid a pallet on the floor.

Xu Jing lay on the straw mat covered by a bedsheet, pulling up her thin, old quilt. Her body felt heavy with exhaustion, and she was drifting into a daze.

Suddenly, a light, soft voice floated over.

“Are you alright?”

Xu Jing was so sleepy she couldn’t open her eyes. She mumbled, “…What?”

After a while, the voice came from the bed again.

“The mushrooms… you ate those poisonous mushrooms. Is your body okay?”

Song Yu lay on the bed. After waiting a long time without a reply, her heart skipped a beat. She instinctively turned to look at the person on the floor.

The room was pitch black, illuminated only by a sliver of moonlight from the window. In the dim light, she could vaguely see the figure lying on the ground, stiff and motionless.

“Xu Jing? Xu Jing?”

Song Yu called out softly twice. When there was still no reaction, panic began to set in.

Did she really eat poisonous mushrooms and fall into a coma?

Suppressing her panic, she got out of bed to check, walking barefoot toward Xu Jing.

The person on the floor suddenly executed a “carp leap,” springing up violently.

“Ah!”

The sudden movement startled Song Yu, causing her to cry out.

With her hand shaped like a claw and her body’s supernatural energy on the verge of exploding, Xu Jing’s mind snapped awake. She suppressed the surging power, her voice sounding cold and indifferent in the dark.

“What are you doing?”

Fortunately, her reflexes were fast. This wasn’t her post-apocalyptic body, her consciousness moved first, but the body hadn’t caught up. Otherwise, she might have grabbed Song Yu by the throat.

Song Yu seemed terrified. It took her a moment to say, “I… I thought you were poisoned and unconscious…”

“Poisoned and unconscious? Why would you think that? I’m not poisoned.” Xu Jing was surprised and found it slightly funny.

“The mushrooms. Are you really okay after eating them?”

Xu Jing understood. The girl was worried about her. Her heart felt strangely warm, and her tone softened.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine. Go to sleep. If something’s wrong, I can call you.”

“Okay.”

A night of quiet dreams passed.

It was another sunny day. Thinking of repairing the roof, Xu Jing woke up early to help Song Yu with the cooking fire.

After breakfast, Xu Jing sat on a small stool in the yard, tying the thatch into small bundles and trimming them neatly. She used straw ropes she had twisted herself to link and fix the bundles together, creating crude thatch mats.

Song Yu helped by tying bundles at her side, speeding up the process.

Before laying the mats on the roof, they covered the large furniture inside with oilcloth to prevent dust from the old roof from ruining the bed and cabinets.

The Xu family’s roof hadn’t been maintained for over half a year. In the leaky spots Xu Jing uncovered, the thatch had rotted black and crumbled at a touch.

Before the repair, all the old thatch had to be stripped away and replaced with new mats.

Xu Jing crouched carefully on the roof beams, using bamboo strips twisted into ropes to secure the thatch mats. As she laid them layer by layer, she smeared a mixture of yellow mud in between to ensure the roof wouldn’t leak.

“Thatch, bamboo strips, rope, mud bucket…”

Song Yu was responsible for running back and forth, handing Xu Jing whatever she needed. The two coordinated perfectly in a harmonious atmosphere.

From her vantage point on the roof, Xu Jing could see the neighbors, the Lu and Zhang families, eating their breakfast from large bowls.

“Yo, Jing’er, repairing the roof, are you…”

Villagers’ greetings were usually simple and plain.

Xu Jing smiled and replied, her white teeth flashing brilliantly in the morning light. She planned to fix the roofs of all the rooms to prevent future leaks.

As she worked, she saw Lu Ying and a young man walking toward their house.

The man was lean and dark-skinned, dressed in a hemp tunic, a typical farmhand’s look. Xu Jing recognized him from the original owner’s memory as Lu Minghe, Lu Ying’s second brother.

In the original owner’s memory, of the three Lu brothers, the eldest was honest, the second was shrewd, and the third was flighty. Except for the eldest who was polite, the other two didn’t care for her, mostly because she and Lu Ying hadn’t gotten along.

As the two entered, Song Yu greeted them. Xu Jing had to climb down to join them.

After some pleasantries, Lu Minghe stated his purpose.

“Jing’er, thank you for taking Ying’er to dig medicine. I’m being bold here, but I wanted to ask, where do you sell your herbs? Could we go with you?”

“It’s no big deal. Manager Zhou at the Baicao Hall in town buys them. You can just take them there.”

Lu Minghe hadn’t expected Xu Jing to be so straightforward without hiding anything. His smile became more sincere.

“Seeing as you’re fixing the roof, you probably can’t go to town this morning. Our family is only able to sell medicine because of you. We aren’t familiar with the manager, if you’re going later, could we walk with you?”

Hearing this, Xu Jing raised an eyebrow slightly, looked at him, and nodded. “No problem.”

“Then I’ll trouble you, Jing’er,” Lu Minghe laughed heartily. He then scanned the messy yard and the prepared thatch mats, giving a thumbs up. “Your thatch-tying skill is excellent!”

“If you don’t mind, we’ll lend a hand to make it faster,” he said, turning to Lu Ying. “Ying’er, help Sister Song tie the thatch. I’ll go up on the roof with Jing’er. Two people are faster.”

With the help of Lu Ying and Lu Minghe, the efficiency of the roof repair doubled.

The sun was hot, and sweat poured down Xu Jing’s forehead. She turned her head and wiped the sweat away, catching sight of a group of people approaching their house, shouting and making a racket.

She squinted and recognized several familiar figures.

Among them was Wang Ergou, limping along.

Had they brought their families to come looking for trouble?