The people of the village survived off of foraging and hunting. Once or twice a year a trader will come to sell goods like salt and other household necessities. But normally one would have to travel two weeks on foot in order to get to the nearest city. Otherwise, everything was crafted from wood, stone or mud. The day to day life in this village was always sink or swim. Never knowing when a person might die from sickness or some other kind of injury. Not to mention the hunters who would go out to kill rabbits and other small animals for meat. Just entering the forest alone can spell doom for the hunters. This was due to the demonic beast that roamed the forest. So the hunters could go in one day and have a huge haul while the next day they wouldn't come out at all.
But these things had nothing to do with this little girl, who goes by the name of Ah Chun. Since Ah Chun never got anything from the village. She was pushed to the outskirts to fend for herself. Speaking of Ah Chun. As of now, she was just entering her courtyard when she heard someone yell too her.
"Hey Dirty Chun! What are you eating today, bark off a tree? Ahahahhahaha..." A fat pudgy boy, wearing a set of blue robes laughed as he looked at Ah Chun with disgust written all over his face.
Ah Chun did not even need to turn her head to know who it was. This all too familiar voice belonged to the boy from the Li family, Li Feng Gou. He would always make fun of her every time he saw her. He was about ten years old and round like a ball. He was the only son of the Li family and was their pride and joy. His father was a second stage Martial Warrior and was the strongest person in the village under the Village chief who was a third stage Martial Warrior. But since the Village chief was getting on in age. He relied on the Li family to help support the village. The village chief had no offspring so the next in line to be village chief was Li Feng Gou's father.
Martial arts in this world was the norm. People cultivated to try to reach the peak of Martial Warrior. Ah Chun did not know much about cultivation. She did know that every stage you passed when cultivating would make you stronger than a normal person. She had dreamed of becoming a cultivator. But without anyone to teach her the basics of how to even start it was nothing but a dream.
But right now she had a fat pudgy kid giving her a death glare.
"Young master Li what brings you to my humble abode?" Ah Chun, ignored his slander and forced a smile and greeted him. She had to put up with whatever he said without saying anything back in fear that she might be kicked out of the village completely.
"I came all this way just to tell you that my father hunted a demonic deer today and everyone in the village except for you are allowed to come to feast on it. You can't blame the villagers. It's your mother's fault for dying. Leaving you here to be a parentless beggar. If you want to blame anyone, blame your mother! " Li Feng Gou looked at Ah Chun who was starting to get teary-eyed and could not help but sneer at her. Feeling satisfied with himself and with his nose in the air he turned and left walking back into the village while laughing.
Wiping the tears that rolled down her cheeks with her sleeve. Ah Chun, walked into her courtyard and into her hut. This hut was very small, it had a small fire pit made with stones for cooking and an old bed with a straw-stuffed mattress to sleep on. Ah Chun only had a thin blanket to cover herself with every night. The nights were cold so the blanket was of no use with how drafty the hut was.
She placed her basket next to the fire pit and sat down on her bed curling her legs up against her until her knees touched her chin. Li Feng Gou's words really hurt her this time. She usually can ignore everything he says. But this time with how hungry she was and on top of him slandering her mother. She couldn't help but cry. Just the thought of meat would make her drool. With them having a feast today with the demonic deer, that means she would have to smell the meat as it was being cooked. Which would make her even hungrier than normal. It would simply be torture for her.
Ah Chun, sat there quietly sobbing into her knees. A few hours passed by when Ah Chun heard a soft knock on her door. Ah Chun, upon hearing the knock, quickly wiped her tears away with her sleeve and got up and slowly opened the door. On the other side of the door was an older girl about thirteen years old. Her name was Li Chen Bao. She was Li Feng Gou's older sister.
"Little Chun I heard my bratty little brother came over again and harassed you. Here's a bit of demonic deer meat. It's not much but it was all I could sneak over to you. Good for at least a meal for tonight." Li Chen Bao smiled and handed a piece of meat wrapped in a big leaf over to Ah Chun.
"Thank you miss Li!" Ah Chun, couldn't hide her excitement. She smiled and cupped her hands and bowed to Li Chen Bao. This was not the first time Li Chen Bao had snuck food over to her. So Ah Chun was very grateful towards Li Chen Bao. Whether she did it out of pity or for other reasons Ah Chun swore she would always remember her kindness.
"I have to get back before they realize I'm missing. Take care Little Chun." After saying goodbye Li Chen Bao smiled at Ah Chun and quickly ran back into the village.
Ah Chun, walked back inside and closed the door to her hut. She slowly opened the big leaf to reveal a small piece of cooked meat. She couldn't help but gulp down a mouthful of saliva as the smell of the cooked meat penetrated her nose. She put the meat down next to the mushrooms and quickly got a small pot of water going. She used a bit of flintstone to spark a fire to boil the water.
Once the water was boiling, she took a bowl of water from her water bucket to wash the mushrooms of any dirt before breaking them apart and dropping them into the boiling water. After letting it cook for about twenty minutes. She added the meat to the mushroom soup and let it cook for another ten minutes before taking it off the fire. The smell of the soup smelled so good that she couldn't even hold herself back and took a big spoonful into her mouth. Resulting in her burning her tongue.
"Ohw! Ish hawt!" Ah Chun was fanning her tongue with her hand while she placed the bowl to her side to let it cool off.
Once it cooled down Ah Chun savored every bite. Completely cleaning out the whole pot of soup. She did not dare to save any. In case someone came and blamed her for stealing it. With her belly full, Ah Chun wiped herself down with a wet cloth and went to bed. She had to get up early the next morning since she would have to go deeper into the woods the next day.