"Over three hundred pounds of an adult pig, plus five piglets."
"That should be enough for my taxes and leave me with a good amount of money!"
"The only problem is, getting it back might be a bit of a hassle."
This place was deep in the mountains, dozens of miles from the county town. Even if one person could carry it, there was simply too much game to take all at once.
Chen Sansi thought for a moment before shooting a Bone Head Arrow into the sky.
"I'm far from the meeting spot."
"I don't even know where Uncle Zhao is, or if he can hear my signal."
Sometime later,
footsteps sounded from outside the bamboo forest.
However, it wasn't Uncle Zhao Qiao who appeared, but a rough-looking man, muscular and with a scar on his face.
When he saw the wild boars on the ground, he first looked envious, then incredulous at the sight of the young man's kill, and finally his expression turned rather odd.
"Brother!"
The man strode over, sizing up the youthful, tender-looking man: "I've never seen you around."
Chen Sansi introduced himself, "Uncle Zhao Qiao from Yanbian Village brought me up the mountain, my name is Chen Sansi."
"I've been around for three or four days and haven't caught anything valuable."
The man squinted his eyes: "It's your first day up here, and you scored all this treasure."
"Just luck."
Chen Sansi bowed slightly: "Please help me take the game to the county town, brother. I will pay you according to the village rules."
"Helping is no problem at all."
While the man agreed verbally, his eyes darted around: "But it's a long way from here to the county town, and about the price, well—"
He hadn't had any yield for days and was nearly unable to cook at home. Now that he had stumbled upon this opportunity, he certainly intended to extort a few extra copper coins.
While the man was pondering, the sudden sound of a bowstring like thunder burst by his ear.
He looked up and saw Chen Sansi had, unbeknownst to him, already released an arrow.
At a distance, a rabbit in full sprint fell to the ground.
Seventy paces away!
Plus, with the dense vegetation, the man hadn't even noticed the rabbit.
What was most striking, though, was that he noticed Chen Sansi had seemed to draw the bow using just one finger for power, the other merely supporting the arrow without any apparent effort!
The strength of one finger easily drew the Recurve Bow, and with such accuracy... Could he possibly handle a one-stone bow under the right conditions?!
Since when did Po Yang County have such a young Divine Archer?
No longer harboring ulterior motives, the man forced a bright smile: "Brother Sanshi, no, Brother Shi!
"Don't move, I'll go pick it up. I'll carry the game to town for free, let's be friends!"
He said, then hurried towards the direction of the rabbit.
Chen Sansi stored his bow, shaking his head gently.
With his keen perception that could even see the hairs clearly, how could he not realize this guy was scheming from the start? He had deliberately shown off his skills.
If he didn't want to be bullied, he needed to display some strength!
The man chopped two pieces of wood with a cleaver, and together with Chen Sansi, one in front and one behind, they carried the wild boar down the mountain.
The man introduced himself, "My name is Wu Da, I live in the village next to yours, I'm sixteen this year, please take me under your wing in the future, Brother Shi."
"?"
Chen Sansi looked at the scar-faced man smiling at him, temporarily at a loss for words.
This guy is sixteen?!
"Wild boar!"
"Brother Shi nailed a wild boar!"
"..."
They had just reached Yanbian Village's entrance when the villagers burst into an uproar.
A three-hundred-pound wild boar isn't uncommon, but typically it requires the cooperation of two or three people!
For one person to handle an entire lair of wild boars was definitely top-tier hunting.
Not to mention, for the villagers, Chen Sansi was a scholar who had turned to hunting to survive.
Word spread fast, and it did not take an hour before he became well-known in the neighboring villages.
...
At Eight Treasures Restaurant.
"The sow is three hundred and twenty pounds, eighteen copper coins per pound.
"The piglets, twenty copper coins per pound, all together sixty pounds and two taels.
"The total is 6964 copper coins. I'll make an executive decision on behalf of the boss and round it up to seven taels of silver for you, and remember, if you catch fresh game in the future, don't go selling it to anyone else, little Stone!"
Boss Liu Hongda waved his hand grandly, throwing over a pouch of money.
Typically, one thousand copper coins are equivalent to one tael of silver, but silver is a harder currency, not always easily exchangeable, and the exchange rates often fluctuate.
Giving silver directly was obviously a courtesy.
"Thank you, Uncle Liu."
Chen Sansi took the money pouch, feeling its significant weight.
Seven taels of silver!
Not only was he set for his taxes, but he also had enough to buy winter clothes.
"You lad are truly impressive."
Boss Liu Hongda marveled, "At this rate, it won't be long before you can move to the city. If you could learn a bit of martial arts, that would really be making something of yourself."
"Speaking of martial arts halls, does Uncle Liu have any recommendations?"
Now that Chen Sansi had solved his immediate problems, it was naturally time to consider learning martial arts.
"The most famous ones in Po Yang County are Tianyuan, Tai Lei, Yun He, and Zhao Martial Arts Halls, but they only recruit apprentices during specific periods each year, and it's already too late for this year.
"Honestly, for us commoners, there's no need to aim for the top halls. Learning just a few moves to bluff people is usually good enough.
"But if you're set on a major hall, you might ask Shunzi."
"Shunzi?" Chen Sansi was a bit perplexed.
"That kid has been frequently treating Martial Arts Academy Disciples to meals recently, just over there across the street, and look, there he comes now."
Boss Liu Hongda pointed behind him.
Across from Eight Treasures Restaurant, there was a relatively modest hall.
Chen Sansi turned around and saw Zhang Shun stepping out of a diner with two young men in white robes.
"Brother Shi?"
Upon seeing Chen Sansi, Zhang Shun immediately ran over, his face apologetic, "Bro, I've been meaning to see you these past few days to talk about last time..."
Chen Sansi cut him off, "Shunzi, don't worry about me, I've gathered enough money."
"Your Brother Shi just bagged a whole lair of wild boars today and earned seven taels of silver from me."
Boss Liu Hongda spoke up for him.
"Really?! Bro, you're amazing. I wonder how long I'd have to fish to earn seven taels of silver!"
Shunzi exclaimed in admiration, his envy pure and untainted by any other emotions.
"By the way, this is for you."
Chen Sansi took out three pieces of broken silver, ready to pay off the silver both principal and interest.
"Brother, I can't take this, I wasn't able to help you last time."
"That's a separate matter, your dad also needs money for his leg treatment."
After some back and forth, Chen Sansi finally managed to stuff the silver into the other's pocket and changed the subject, "Are you treating the Martial Arts Academy disciples to a meal?"
"Yes."
Zhang Shun lowered his voice, "I missed the Tai Lei Martial Arts Academy's recruitment period, so I thought I'd try something to see if they could accept one more disciple."
He just happened to meet two disciples outside the academy, and they offered to put in a good word for him, which is why he invited them to dine and build relationships.
This was already the third meal.
Even though the small restaurant wasn't as extravagant as the Eight Treasures Restaurant, it still cost quite a bit of money.
"I see."
Chen Sansi looked across the street at the two Martial Arts Academy disciples.
One was picking his teeth and the other was patting his round belly and burping, seemingly impatient, urging, "Little Shun, what are you doing? Come on, weren't we going to enjoy some drinks? The senior brother I introduced you to is highly regarded by our master, you get what I mean, right?"
"Don't be mad, brothers, I'm coming right now!"
Zhang Shun hurriedly said goodbye.
Chen Sansi watched them walk away, feeling that the gazes of those two Academy disciples seemed unreliable.
"I should remind Shun to be careful later."
He didn't linger any longer and hurried off to the government office, to pay the tax of three taels of silver.
Seeing the tax officer check off his name in the register, he finally felt a massive weight lift from his shoulders.
"Only Qin Xiong left..."
"I wonder if he will try to cause trouble in other ways."
"I need to hurry home, or else Sister Lan will start to worry again."
Chen Sansi rushed back home.
At the home's entrance, Gu Xinlan was caught up chatting with a few women, who were all admiring how capable her man was.
How he could read, earn money, and was handsome too.
Ultimately, when a man earns money, even his shortcomings can be turned into advantages.
"Xin Lan, you must hurry to give your Brother Shi a child!"
"Don't worry about that, with Xin Lan's big hips, she'll definitely be able to have a son."
"..."
The women kept bantering, making Sister Lan's cheeks turn bright red.
"Xin Lan, look, your man is back."
"Brother Shi!"
With no interest in small talk, Gu Xinlan hurried over to greet him.
"We're eating rabbit tonight."
Chen Sansi said smiling, holding out an unsold rabbit.
Gu Xinlan didn't even glance at the rabbit, her hands kept touching here and there: "How are you, Brother Shi? Are you hurt? I heard that wild boars are really fierce!"
Chen Sansi was stunned for a moment, "No worries, I'm fine."
"Brother Shi, please don't provoke such frightening things next time!"
After confirming that her man was unharmed, Gu Xinlan finally relaxed and helped him unload his things, "Must be hungry, I'll go cook."
Chen Sansi watched Sister Lan's busy figure and suddenly felt a profound sense of belonging.
He had a home in this world after all.
...
Soon, the aroma of food from the kitchen wafted around.
It stirred such a craving in Chen Sansi's stomach that it wouldn't stop rumbling.
"Knock knock knock—"
Just as they were about to eat, someone gently knocked on the door.
"Who is it?"
"It's me! Qin Xiong!"
Hearing this name, Gu Xinlan's face turned white, and she clutched at Chen Sansi's sleeve, indicating for him not to go outside to eat.
"It's fine, I'll go and see."
Chen Sansi tucked the kitchen knife behind his back and went out to greet the guest.
He thought Qin Xiong, knowing he had paid his taxes, was either looking for a new problem or was ready to escalate things, but it appeared to be the complete opposite.
Qin Xiong was all smiles, holding a jug of the cheapest yellow wine, "Hahaha, little brother!"
Chen Sansi furrowed his brow, "What's this?"
"Little bro, I am here to apologize!"
While speaking, Qin Xiong casually patted Chen Sansi's shoulder, secretly applying force, only to find that his adversary didn't budge.
Damn it!
Where did this kid get such strength?
He had just come home today and heard that the scholar named Chen had single-handedly killed a wild boar.
Now it's autumn, and wild boars with piglets are extremely aggressive, and there had been instances of hunters being devoured by them.
Handling a wild boar solo is definitely no easy feat.
Yet this fellow is clearly just a useless scholar!
Could it be he's naturally strong but took the wrong path, wasting his potential?
Either way, Qin Xiong decided to give up on Gu Xinlan.
He had been thriving in the surrounding ten villages for years, raising his brother alone and sending him to the best Martial Arts Hall, not just because he acted rashly on the surface.
Who to offend and who not to mess with, he knew very well.
If he really offended a formidable hunter, he should not venture into the mountains for the rest of his life.
Otherwise, he might just receive a deadly arrow to his back.
As for women, there are plenty more to choose from!
If Chen Sansi is not one to be easily bullied, there are plenty of others who are.
"Little brother! There has been some misunderstanding between us, let's clear it up in front of the neighbors, how about that?"
Qin Xiong deliberately raised his voice, attracting the neighbors who were cooking at home to come out and watch.
Just as Qin Xiong thought Chen Sansi didn't know better, finally, he heard the satisfactory response.
"You jest, Brother Qin."
Chen Sansi showed a cordial smile, "I've always been one not to hold a grudge, moreover, there's no real 'enmity' between us."
"Being a scholar truly suits you, Brother, generous indeed."
Content, Qin Xiong placed down the jug of wine, "I won't disturb you any longer."
"Good, Brother Qin, take care."
After closing the door, Chen Sansi looked at the recurve bow hanging on the wall.
Clear the account?
When I was down and out, he took advantage and almost ruined my family; now that I'm not easy to bully, he wants to dismiss it lightly?
Where on earth is it so easy!