Chapter 170: Alone Lin Shu: Are we really going to get rich?! ...
Zhou Ye didn't ask her what she was laughing at. He just looked at her smiling eyes and a smile unconsciously appeared on the corner of his mouth.
After finishing half a bowl of rolled noodles, Zhou Ye stretched his arms comfortably and said to Lin Shu, "Ah Shu, go to bed early. I'll peel off this bear skin before I go to bed."
"I can't sleep, so I'll stay with you." Lin Shu said. She really didn't look sleepy at all and didn't force herself to stay awake.
Zhou Ye stared at her for a long moment, then nodded. "Okay, you can go to sleep anytime if you're tired."
After saying that, he started to busy himself.
The wound on the black bear's neck was large, and its blood had almost dried up on the way back, so the step of bleeding was omitted. However, the black bear was already dead, and its skin was not as easy to peel as when it was just dead.
Zhou Ye didn't delay any longer. He took the kitchen knife and cut directly along the white line of the abdomen. The process was not smooth, sometimes slow and sometimes fast. He made a Y-shaped incision on the inside of the limbs, and used circumcision on the feet. The whole process was like taking off the clothes of this black bear.
The tall and burly man was half-crouching on the ground, concentrating on cutting the bear skin. He would only glance at Lin Shu when he cut the less important parts.
Lin Shu asked him, "Just do your thing, why are you looking at me?"
Zhou Ye raised the corner of his mouth slightly, "I'm afraid you'll be scared by me."
But the opposite happened. Ah Shu didn't seem afraid of being skinned alive. Although he knew Ah Shu wasn't the lady he imagined, Zhou Ye was surprised to see her not only looking relaxed but also not uncomfortable with the bloody and brutal act. Then, he felt a sense of relief that he couldn't describe.
Lin Shu sneered, "You might have some misunderstandings about me, Ah Ye. I'm not afraid of these things, and I'm not the kind of kind-hearted girl who can't bear to eat rabbits just because they're cute. For people, filling their stomachs is the most important thing. I'm a bit of a foodie, and there's no one who doesn't like meat. How can eating meat be without the bloody smell? It's just that I don't usually see the slaughter scene with my own eyes."
Zhou Ye paused and asked, "Ah Shu, don't you think this black bear looks scary?"
Lin Shu said calmly, "It's a beast. It's normal for it to look scary, but it's dead. What's there to be afraid of? If it were alive, I might be a little scared."
Zhou Ye didn't know what she said made him laugh, and he looked at her with curiosity.
He liked Ah Shu's cuteness and softness, but at the same time, he was afraid that his unknown rough and bloody side would scare her. But now, he felt that he seemed to be thinking too much. Ah Shu was not only bold and unrestrained in that aspect, but also fearless in this aspect.
Sometimes Zhou Ye was puzzled as to how a young lady raised in seclusion could be like Ah Shu. But later he heard that the master of the marquisate where Ah Shu originally lived was a powerful military commander, so it seemed to make sense.
After a complete skin was peeled off, Zhou Ye took out a bamboo knife and used it to scrape off the subcutaneous fat. Then he took out wood ash from the stove, sprinkled an appropriate amount of salt into it, mixed it and applied it to the skin. This would absorb oil and prevent spoilage.
Lin Shu watched carefully and asked curiously, "Aye, you are so skilled, have you hunted black bears before?"
Zhou Ye explained to her, "This was my first time hunting a black bear, but I've hunted other beasts before, and the process for processing their fur is pretty much the same. Beast fur like these is generally best hunted in autumn and winter. In autumn, the beasts have more subcutaneous fat, making their hides tough and difficult to tear. Winter is even better, as their fur grows thick, rich, and shiny to keep them warm.
The black bear sheds its fur after hibernation, so in spring its hide becomes thin and brittle, with bald spots. The cut bear skin, also known as scabby bear skin, has a six-tenths drop in value. In summer, its fur is often moth-eaten and scarred, and due to the heat, the fur is prone to rancidity, fetching only 30% of the price of autumn and winter fur.
Lin Shu listened, her eyes sparkling. "Aye, you know a lot. How much can this fur sell for?"
Zhou Ye said, "I just counted it. There are only two insect-eaten scars on the hide, which isn't a lot. The hair is nearly two inches long and the color is good. It can be considered second-grade bear hair. It can be sold for at least eight strings of cash. If you're lucky, you can get eleven or twelve strings of cash."
Lin Shu exclaimed, "If this skin alone can be sold for so much money, then we also have bear paws, bear gall, and bear meat. Wouldn't we be rich?"
Zhou Ye saw her money-loving look with shining eyes and thought it was very cute, so he smiled and told her the price of other parts.
Bear bile is a precious medicinal material. If there are drug stores and wealthy businessmen bidding for it, one bear bile can be sold for more than ten or twenty strings of cash. Bear fat is also a scarce material for making ointments, and one pound can be sold for three to five strings of cash.
There are also bear bones, which can be soaked in wine to treat rheumatism. The purchase price at the pharmacy is one to two strings of coins per pound. Then there are bear paws, which are precious dishes that wealthy and prominent families use to show off their wealth and status to some extent. Just a pair of bear paws can be sold for five to eight strings of coins.
As for the most abundant bear meat, it is loved by restaurants and wealthy people. They sell it in the market, and one pound can be sold for two hundred coins or even more.
As for the rest, bear tendons can be used to make bowstrings and musical strings, bear teeth can be used to make ornaments, etc., all of which can be sold for money.
It can be said that every part of the black bear's body is a priceless treasure.
Lin Shu: Are you really going to get rich?!
Did they become the village's nouveau riche overnight?
But what Lin Shu thought about most was that if she became rich, she could buy a lot of food, and Aye would not have to go hungry in the future!
"Aye, why do you know all this so clearly?" Lin Shu asked curiously.
"Where I used to live, there were hunters who had been hunting for generations, so they knew these things better than others. Hunters have a lot of experience and tricks in hunting wild animals, but they don't pass them on to outsiders easily. But I was curious to ask about these things, and since it wouldn't bother anyone, the hunters told me everything." Zhou Ye's current hunting experience was all figured out by himself.
"The hunter once hunted a black bear." Zhou Ye said.
"I see. Aye, since you have such a skill, why didn't you use it before? Whether it's a black bear or the fur of other ferocious beasts, it will be fine."
Zhou Ye hesitated for a moment before saying, "Ah Shu, before you, it didn't make any difference how I lived."
Furthermore, sometimes being too powerful isn't a good thing; it can lead to trouble or even disaster. The hunter he'd just mentioned to Ah Shu, although he'd hunted a black bear, didn't end well. A powerful figure found the hunter, coerced him into hunting another one, and then... the hunter died in the mountains.
But Ah Shu doesn't need to know these.
When Lin Shu heard what he said, she stared at him in a daze, then suddenly smiled. Aye was so nice to her, and she wanted to be nicer to Aye in the future.
"By the way, Ah Shu, I'm not injured, but if any villagers ask me tomorrow, I will say that I have some internal injuries and I can no longer hunt such ferocious beasts in the future. You and your uncle and aunt don't have to worry then." Zhou Ye reported to Lin Shu in advance.
Lin Shu was very smart and guessed his concerns immediately. "Aye, you're not good at speaking. I'll help you speak tomorrow."
Zhou Ye didn't know what he was thinking about, but a smile appeared in his eyes again.
By the time the bear skin was processed, it was already dark, and Zhou Ye felt a little tired belatedly.
He rested in a cave in the mountains for two nights. Although he sealed the entrance of the cave with a huge rock, which was heavy and could effectively prevent the invasion of most wild beasts, the rock could not be tightly sealed to the cave entrance, and snakes and insects could crawl in. Therefore, he could not sleep soundly and would wake up at the slightest movement.
In addition, hunting wild boars and black bears had consumed a lot of physical energy. Now that he had completely relaxed, fatigue and sleepiness came over him.
But when he looked at Ah Shu in front of him, he couldn't bear to sleep.
"A Shu, I'm very dirty and need to go to the river to wash. Do you want to come?" He stared at Lin Shu, with undisguised lust in his eyes.
Lin Shu understood and glared at him, "I didn't go out alone during the two nights you were away. Without you to watch over me, how could I dare to go down to the river?"
"So are you going tonight?"
"Go ahead. Aye, I missed you so much during the days you were away."
"Ashu, I miss you too, very badly." His voice gradually deepened.
After a while, the two of them took their change of clothes and quietly walked out of the courtyard. As soon as they left the courtyard, Zhou Ye carried Lin Shu on his back and went to the river very quickly.
Tianshui Village was completely silent, with only the croaking of frogs and the chirping of insects. Darkness and silence could only magnify the desires in one's heart...
It was more than half an hour later when Lin Shu came back.
Her lips were sucked until they were red and shiny, and her face was also red, but the expression on her face was somewhat speechless.
Her marriage with Aye was a foregone conclusion. They had just done that, and she was willing to taste the forbidden fruit with Aye in advance, but Aye held it back and just held her hand, not wanting her to be tired, and they did it in a hurry.
Of course, before that, Aye had already eaten her mouth to his heart's content, and he was even more ferocious than the previous times.
Lin Shu didn't wait until tomorrow. Before returning to the house, she used the mountain spring water in the yard to cool her lips. Otherwise, her lips would definitely be swollen like two sausages when she woke up tomorrow morning.
Seeing this, Zhou Ye said with some guilt: "A Shu, I will be gentler next time."
Lin Shu: I don’t believe you at all.
No matter how honest a man is, he should never be trusted with words like "be gentle" or "I can't get in." Ugh, you big pig's hoof.
But...but she likes Aye, this big pig's hoof.
"Ah Shu, go to sleep quickly. If you don't get woken up tomorrow, you can sleep as long as you want."
Lin Shu didn't need Zhou Ye to remind her. She slept so late tonight, she must sleep until dawn tomorrow. But in fact, it seemed as if she just closed her eyes and opened them again, and it was already the next morning. She didn't sleep until she woke up naturally, but was woken up by the noisy voices in the yard.
Lin Shu, who was sleep-deprived, looked resentful.
It's easy to guess that the yard is so lively because of the black bear that Aye brought back yesterday.
But can't we watch the fun later? It's almost dawn now, right?!
When Lin Shu packed up and went out, she was shocked even though she was mentally prepared.
Oh my god, so many people?!
The courtyard of my house was considered to be one of the most spacious in Tianshui Village, but at this moment, except for a small empty space in the middle, the courtyard was almost full of people!
Everyone in Tianshui Village, young or old, came to her house to watch the fun.
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