However, the boy did not seem anxious at all. He continued to hold the baby every day with great patience.
The hunter’s wife could not help sighing to see him like this.
He was just a young boy, but he was unexpectedly good at taking care of another person.
Was he so patient with the baby girl because she was actually his daughter?
After setting the table, the hunter’s wife walked to the front door to see if her husband had returned.
She stood in the doorway for a while, looking around. If her husband was not back yet, she would ask the boy to eat first; after all, he was at the age marked by physical growth spurts, and he needed to take care of the baby, too.
Just when she was about to turn away, she spotted her husband in the distance, trudging along the trail that led to their house.
She opened her mouth to call out to him, but paused when she saw the person on his back.
When he was finally close, she gave the stranger a glance-over and whispered, “Why do you keep bringing people back home recently?”
Although they were still relatively well-off, there was not enough food at home to feed all these new mouths.
“This man fell and landed right beside me. I couldn’t leave him to die.” The hunter was simple and honest, but not foolish. He understood his wife’s concerns, and he reassured her, “Don’t worry; he doesn’t look severely injured. Once he wakes up, I’ll ask him to leave.”
Seeing how sensible he was, his wife decided not to talk him out of it. “Once you’ve laid him in the room, come and eat. The food’s ready.”
“All right,” the hunter answered and carried the man into the house briskly.
The boy was sitting under the roof and naturally heard their conversation.
He frowned slightly but did not say anything.
“Come and eat,” the hunter’s wife called out to him.
“Coming,” the boy replied. Holding the baby girl in his arms, he got up and walked into the living room with practiced ease.
After helping the man clean up, the hunter finally sat down at the dining table.
After the meal, the hunter studied the boy’s indifferent face hesitantly for a moment, then said, “I rescued another person just now. He’s unconscious due to a concussion, so I placed him in your room for the time being. Once he wakes up, I’ll ask him to leave.”
The boy was reluctant to share his room with a stranger, but he was aware of the hunter’s circumstances. Besides, the couple was already generous and accommodating enough to him; he could not take their generosity for granted.
“Sure.” He merely nodded.
Releasing a sigh of relief, the hunter picked up a piece of meat and put it in his bowl. “You should eat more. Look how skinny…”
He stopped himself short.
“Look how skinny and weak you are”—that was what he had meant to say.
However, he suddenly remembered his encounter with a pack of wild wolves when he had gone hunting in the mountains not long ago.
When he had not yet returned after sunset, his worried wife had gone into the mountains with the boy to search for him.
He had tumbled down a slope and lost his bow and arrows, leaving him with no choice but to fight the wolves barehanded. The long struggle had left him covered in wounds, and he had been one step away from ending up in the wolves’ stomachs.
At the most critical moment, the two found him.
When the wolves saw them, they immediately changed their target and pounced on them.
The sight almost made his soul leave his body, and his wife shrieked in terror.
The next moment, however, the boy swiftly plucked a few leaves and killed all the wolves charging at them.
All he had were a few leaves, but in his hands, they seemed to transform into the sharpest blades.
Each leaf had sliced a wolf’s throat with uncanny precision.
Most importantly, he was still safely carrying the baby girl in one arm.