As soon as they stepped out of the main courtyard gate, they saw Zhao Shi slumped softly at the gate, with a wooden basin and her dirty clothes lying all over the ground.
Su Hua's heart skipped a beat. She ran to the woman's side in a few steps and was about to take out the bamboo tube of poison powder from her sleeve and throw it outside when she was so shocked by the scene outside the door that she gasped.
Just three or four steps from the gate of the courtyard, a dark-skinned bison lay stiffly on the ground.
It was six feet tall and ten feet long, with four thick, short hooves and two gleaming, curved horns. There was a bowl-sized gash on its wrinkled neck, and many wounds of varying sizes on its belly and back, each oozing blood. However, its chest was no longer rising or falling, and only its two large, copper-bell-sized eyes were half-open, still showing the extreme fear it had felt before death.
Following the bison, there was a dairy goat and a large wild boar lying behind it.
The dairy goat bore a resemblance to the one Xiao Jinhan had sent on Su Bai's birthday, but the wild boar behind it was much larger than the one she had lured up on the hillside earlier. Both the goat and the boar had a gash on their necks, indicating that they had been killed with a single blow.
At this moment, the Su family members also rushed over, and when they saw the scene outside the courtyard, they were all stunned.
It took him a long time to slowly come to his senses.
"My goodness! What's going on here? Who's hunting so many wild animals?"
"Yes, this bison alone weighs at least four or five hundred pounds, and there's also this wild boar and goat. Are they trying to gather the three sacrificial animals for a wealthy family?"
"It doesn't look like any kind of sacrificial animal to me. There's no reason for sacrificial animals to be piled up at our doorstep. It's more likely that Brother Jinhan hunted them in the mountains and brought them over."
"Uncle Jinhan hunted a giant wild buffalo? Does that mean we can have beef for lunch?"
"I've never eaten beef before. I wonder what it tastes like. Will it be better than pork or lamb?"
"My aunt made a stew of fish and mutton before, and I still remember the taste. Maybe this wild ox can be stewed into a fish and ox stew..."
Su Hua's lips twitched slightly upon hearing this. Xiao Chunhua was always quick to react to food, but her ideas were often unconventional.
However, she could understand that in the time of Yu the Great, oxen were not only used for farming, but also as rare strategic resources. Ox horns, hides, and tendons could be used to make horns and bows and arrows. Therefore, people were not allowed to slaughter oxen on their own. Even oxen that died of illness or old age had to be reported to the government for approval before they could be slaughtered.
In all these years, only the old village chief Su Chengde has raised an old yellow ox in Shanghe Village; they had never raised cattle before.
The Su family, young and old, had never eaten beef before.
"Sanhu, go to Jinhan's place first and ask if he hunted these wild animals." Su Bai was silent for a while, then waved to Su Sanhu. In fact, based on her understanding of Xiao Jinhan, he was not such an inconsiderate person. Every time he sent something, he always delivered it directly to them.
Never before have they simply left it outside like this.
"Yes, I'll go right away." Su Sanhu heard this and was about to walk out.
Su Hua grabbed him and gently shook her head. "These wild animals at the gate weren't sent by Young Master Xiao. They must have been sent by Da Bai's family. Big Brother, Second Brother, Third Brother, lend a hand and carry the wild animals into the yard first."
Upon hearing this, the Su family members were even more astonished.
They all glanced at the doghouse, only to find that only Little Black was lying there listlessly, while Big White was nowhere to be seen.
Ms. Qian clicked her tongue lightly, "Did they send Da Bai from his family? But isn't Da Bai just a little kitten that only meows all day? How could his family hunt such huge wild animals? Especially that cow, even a tiger might not be able to beat it."
Su Hua glanced at her indifferently, without saying that the other person wasn't just one tiger, but a whole den of tigers.
He simply said calmly, "If Big White and its family come again next time, everyone will know."
Of course, given how unreliable Big White is, he might forget all about them after just two days back in the mountains. Whether there will be a next time is truly an unknown.
Su Dahu's eyes darkened slightly, and he didn't say anything more. Instead, he pulled Su Erhu and Su Sanhu to carry the wild boar and dairy goat into the yard. As for the wild ox, even the three of them together couldn't carry it, so they had to call on Su Hua, who was naturally strong, to help.
Su Hua just touched the bison's head.
Then a fist-sized object rolled out of the cow's mouth.
It was covered in cow saliva, and only the reddish-purple color of its skin could be barely seen. At the very top of its skin, there was a piece of half-chewed green leaf hanging on its edge, with notches of varying depths.
Su Hua stared wide-eyed, her eyes even sparkling with light.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
