The man with the shining black eyes stared at Wang Xiangxiang. Even though he had just taken her hostage, she was kind enough to give him silver. He accepted the silver, thanked her, and then hobbled away with his battered body.
"Why did you give him silver?"
"I don’t think he’s a bad person, and you beat him up so badly," Wang Xiangxiang explained.
Looking into her pure eyes, Chu Lian felt somewhat helpless. How kind she could be. "Get in the carriage, let’s wait inside."
Having said that, they got into the carriage. Sitting down, Chu Lian was truly scared to death; he was really afraid something else might happen to her. He spoke up, "Don’t leave me again."
"..." Those ambiguous words made Wang Xiangxiang’s heart race. She lowered her head, hiding her shyness, "Mhm."
After that, the two of them sat quietly in the carriage, waiting for Xiaoxiao and the others to return.
Meanwhile, Xiaoxiao followed Yang Ming to the foot of the mountain.
"Husband, there’s nothing to eat on the mountain at this time, are you planning to hunt?"
"Yes," Yang Ming replied.
"Husband, we don’t have hunting tools, and you’re bare-handed. Let’s just go back," Xiaoxiao expressed her genuine concern that they had brought nothing and were just wasting time.
Yang Ming then took out a dagger from his waist. Xiaoxiao looked over. Wasn’t this the same dagger from before? Why would he bring it when they went out?
"Husband, a single dagger isn’t going to be much use," she said.
Seeing his competence questioned, Yang Ming didn’t say anything but gave his wife a reassuring look, took her hand, and walked forward.
They hadn’t walked far before they reached the foot of the mountain, and Yang Ming immediately made a shushing gesture to his wife.
His ears were very sensitive; as soon as they were there, he heard the calls of pheasants. His lips curved upward; it seemed their luck wasn’t bad.
Xiaoxiao dared not make a sound, scared stiff by Yang Ming’s actions. She was very scared, alright? She didn’t want to go up the mountain at all. If she had wanted to, she would have checked it out when she first arrived. She was the type to be afraid of animals; there were bound to be scary things on the mountain, like snakes or something, which she was most afraid of.
But seeing that Yang Ming had gone, she was worried and followed him.
Xiaoxiao stood there and saw the pheasant too. In a swift move, Yang Ming’s dagger accurately took the pheasant down. Xiaoxiao was stunned—how could he be so skilled? That was incredibly precise.
Yang Ming walked over, picked up the pheasant, and held it up to Xiaoxiao, his eyes seemingly saying, "Praise me already, come on, praise me."
"Husband, you’re too amazing," Xiaoxiao excitedly ran to Yang Ming’s side, singing his praises. He was simply incredible—why bother studying? If he practiced, he might even become a martial arts champion or a general, which would be even better.
Encouraged by Yang Ming’s performance, Xiaoxiao grew braver. No longer standing still, she ran around with Yang Ming. However, Yang Ming’s accuracy wasn’t as high afterward, and they were limited in how far they could go at the foot of the mountain, where there weren’t many prey to be found. In the end, they only managed to catch two pheasants.
Xiaoxiao retracted her previous thoughts. What martial arts champion, general—nonsense. It wasn’t that easy. They were still but mere mortals. It was better to stick to business and study—that was more reliable.
"Husband, it’s getting late. Let’s hurry back. Two pheasants are good enough for now, just to tide us over," she said.
"Yes." With that, the two set off for their return.