Making A Fortune Through Hunting To Support My Wife - Chapter 7

The outskirts of Dayue Mountain were the primary grounds for the activities of the Dayue villagers.

Xu Jing walked along the forest path, carrying her back-basket and holding a long staff to clear the way. Occasionally, she ran into villagers heading home for their midday meal after gathering mushrooms on the mountain.

“Isn’t this Jing’er? Why are you heading up the mountain at midday? Going to pick mushrooms?” a friendly villager called out to her. “You should’ve gone in the morning, those aren’t scorched by the sun and are much fresher.”

“I know, Uncle. You get on with your business,” Xu Jing replied with a smile and a wave. She always reciprocated kindness to those who were friendly to her.

“Hey, look at what Jing’er is carrying, a bow and arrows! Don’t tell me you’re going hunting?” A young man in his early twenties, Wang Ergou, circled Xu Jing’s basket with a smirk, his sharp eyes catching the half-exposed bow.

“Whoa, it really is a bow! Jing’er, when did you learn a thing or two from Hunter Zhu? You can hunt now?” another villager chimed in, peering into the basket.

During the agricultural off-season, the strong young men of the village would form hunting parties to enter the mountain and improve their living conditions. However, they only stayed near the outer-middle areas, never daring to go as deep as Hunter Zhu. Usually, they caught pheasants or hares, if they were lucky, a roe deer. It was a common activity for the village youth.

But the original owner of this body had a gloomy temperament. Even though she was strong and lived as a male, she was almost never invited to join these parties. To the villagers, the old Xu Jing belonged in the fields, working in silence before heading straight home, certainly not hunting on the mountain.

“Heh, Jing’er, hunting isn’t that easy. There are wolves up there,” one villager teased.

“If you’re hunting just to pay back the Wang family, you’d be better off borrowing from your kinsmen for the emergency. No need to throw your life away,” a well-informed auntie advised kindly, guessing her motives.

“Thank you for the concern, Auntie,” Xu Jing smiled at her, then turned to the smirking Wang Ergou and the others. “I am going hunting, and my courage is just fine. I certainly won’t be so scared of a mountain wolf that I wet my pants.”

“If I get the chance, I’ll hunt a wolf just to show you all.”

The smirk vanished from Wang Ergou’s face, his eyebrows shooting up in anger. “Xu Jing! What did you say?!”

Everyone knew that during last year’s hunt, Wang Ergou had the misfortune of encountering an old wolf and was so terrified he actually wet himself. Although the other villagers nearby rushed over and killed the wolf when they heard his wailing, the “wet pants” incident couldn’t be hidden. The aunties washing clothes at the end of the village loved to tease him about it. It was his greatest sore spot.

Xu Jing stopped smiling and stared coldly at Ergou’s raised fist. “What? You want to fight?”

The original owner had a bad reputation not just for being gloomy, but because when she fought, she was like a mad dog, biting anyone who crossed her. Once, she had pinned a villager down and broken his leg. She hadn’t come out unscathed, though; the man’s brothers had beaten her black and blue, and it took a long time to recover. Since then, her reputation had soured further.

“Forget it, Ergou. You know Xu Jing is difficult. Why provoke her?” his friends urged, pulling him back. “Let’s go, I’m hungry. Good advice can’t save a ghost determined to die, let the wolves eat her.”

They noticed Xu Jing was armed with a staff and a bow, while they only had empty baskets. Fighting now would put them at a disadvantage.

“Hmph, I’ll wait to see how she dies!” Wang Ergou spat viciously toward her, though he stayed safely planted between his friends.

Xu Jing clicked her tongue, her brow arched in disdain. “Coward.” Without waiting for a reaction, she adjusted her basket and continued into the forest.

Into the Middle Grounds

As she moved further in, traces of human activity vanished. The man-made paths disappeared, replaced by dense thickets. Xu Jing followed a mountain stream, checking the banks for animal tracks. Water sources were the best places to find prey.

Standing on a bare rock, she looked around. It was a lush scene of green grass and swirling mist, but not a single animal was in sight. However, near a damp pool, lush water celery grew half a man high.

If I weren’t hunting, I’d grab a handful of that, she thought. Water celery stir-fried with meat is delicious.

She remembered villagers mentioning “Wulong Mouth” as a spot where mountain goats grazed. Ahead was its landmark: a steep, natural stone wall. As she prepared to head into a pine forest to the left, her ears twitched.

Mehh…

A faint, muffled bleat came from the pines. Xu Jing’s eyes lit up. Am I really this lucky? Finding a flock right away?

As she hurried toward the sound, she noticed her dormant wood element power beginning to stir. The deeper she went into the forest, the faster the energy flowed. This realization thrilled her even more than the prospect of a hunt.

But halfway there, the bleating stopped abruptly. Xu Jing frowned, suspecting something, but kept moving. Even if the sound was gone, the tracks would remain.

Suddenly, she paused and turned toward an old, withered pine tree. At its base, the soil was dark and bulging with a knot-like growth. She used her machete to peel back the earth, revealing a snowy white interior.

“Poria cocos (Fu Ling)!” she smiled. “This trip wasn’t for nothing.”

She extended her palm, and a faint green glow sprouted into a tiny vine. As she touched the fungus, natural information surged into her consciousness. Her forehead broke into a sweat as she activated “Spirit Sight.” Within a five meters radius, glowing green orbs appeared in her vision, marking the locations of other medicinal treasures.

The vision shattered, leaving her momentarily dizzy. Using Spirit Sight is still too taxing for this body, she thought, steadying herself. She marked the spot with a branch. “I’ll dig these up later. This is a good alternative for making a living.”

The Accusation

After another fifteen minutes, she exited the pine forest and found evidence of the goats specifically, a carefully concealed pit trap. The sharp bamboo stakes at the bottom were stained with fresh blood.

“Is Wang Hu hunting nearby? He moves fast,” Xu Jing mused. The goat must have been taken just minutes ago.

Just as she turned to leave, a furious roar erupted from the brush.

“Stop right there! I finally caught you, you thieving poacher!”

Xu Jing froze. A burly figure stepped out from a narrow path, wielding an old, sturdy bow. A cold, sharpened arrow was notched and aimed straight at her.

Anyone else would have been shaking with fear, but Xu Jing simply noted the tension in the man’s arms and met his angry gaze calmly.

“The one who stole your prey is someone else,” she said in a steady, convincing voice. “Look at me. I’m clean. I haven’t even stepped near your trap.”

Wang Hu glared at the familiar yet strangely different face of “the Xu boy.” He noticed her shoes, while dirty from the trail, they lacked the blood-soaked mud from the bottom of the trap. He slowly lowered the tension on his bow.

“You don’t have blood on you,” Wang Hu grunted, his face still grim. “But how do I know you don’t have an accomplice? Xu boy, what are you doing all the way out here?”