The young man lowered his voice again, "Auntie, please don't worry, I don't have any unreasonable requests. It's just that my younger sister is starving and almost can't go on. We haven't had any food for three days. Could... I ask you to lend me a pound of grain?"
When Zhou heard that the person hadn't come to extort a marriage proposal but only to borrow a pound of grain, she felt somewhat relieved. However, she couldn't help but ask, "Did you really save my daughter?"
The young man pointed to his right shoulder and then drew a circle about the size of a thumb with his finger.
Upon seeing this, Zhou's expression changed drastically.
Yun Manyan has a birthmark about the size of a thumb on her right shoulder!
It really was him?
The young man spoke in a very low voice, “After I saved her that day, she was in a hurry to pull Er Yatou up. When I saw that she didn’t notice me, I quietly left, not wanting to ruin her reputation. I never expected that Aunt Hua would use this to blackmail you.”
His face flushed slightly. "It's strange, really. I used to go up the mountain and occasionally catch a rabbit or two, but lately I haven't been able to catch anything. If my sister hadn't been struggling to make ends meet, I wouldn't be in this situation... So I'm taking the liberty of asking you for a pound of grain in exchange for this favor!"
Zhou's expression showed some emotion.
He repaid the debt of gratitude for being saved, not for anything else, but simply to ask for a bite to eat to save his sister. This request... is really not excessive.
She nodded. "Wait here for a moment, and I'll have someone transfer the grain to you right away."
The young man was overjoyed. "Thank you so much, Auntie! Please rest assured, this debt of gratitude for saving my life is now wiped clean, and I will never mention it again! If possible... I will return the grain!"
After taking a couple of steps, Zhou turned back and asked, "What's your name?"
The young man said, "My name is Zhao Huai."
Zhou nodded to indicate that she understood.
A short while later, Old Feng came out carrying a large bag of grain and handed it to Zhao Huai.
Zhao Huai thanked him profusely.
Xiao Youran suddenly appeared from somewhere, "Young man, will you be coming up the mountain with us tomorrow?"
Zhao Huai: ...
He thought about it and realized he hadn't caught any prey in the past few days, then nodded and said, "Alright!"
The next day, when they went up the mountain, besides Zhao Huai, several other villagers also learned their lesson and followed the Yu and Jiang siblings up the mountain together.
Among them were two simpletons, Erdan and Sandan, who, perhaps on Aunt Hua's orders, had been waiting at the foot of the mountain since early morning. When they saw Yu Shi and the Jiang siblings coming, they followed behind with silly smiles.
The Yu family had no choice; there was only one road up the mountain, and they couldn't very well forbid people from using it.
Xiao Youran smiled and released the kitten, "Brother Zhao, you want a wild game today."
It's like watching a kitten.
The Yu family and Jiang Youchen were already used to it.
Zhao Huai dismissed it as childish talk and didn't take it to heart.
Before long, the kitten/tiger very accurately chased away two roe deer and a rabbit, and very accurately threw them into the arms of Yu Shi and Zhao Huai.
Zhao Huai grabbed a roe deer, snapped its neck in a few quick movements, and threw it into his own basket.
The villagers behind them were overjoyed to see this; they had indeed gained something from following the Yu family and the Jiang siblings! Their eyes lit up as they stared intently at the bushes.
Knowing that there would be an extra meal today, Madam Yu was not greedy and turned to go down the mountain.
The villagers didn't say anything, and just kept searching around the area. They just couldn't believe it—how come they always came back empty-handed from their mountain climbs, while the Yu family always returned laden with goods?
If Zhao Huai can find a bargain today, so can they!
Zhao Huai was not greedy and followed Madam Yu down the mountain with the Jiang siblings.
As soon as we reached the foot of the mountain, we heard villagers panting as they ran down.
"What happened?" Zhao Huai asked.
The villagers ran away, their faces pale with fright, shouting, "There's...there's a wild boar! It's attacking us!"
Zhao Huai's expression hardened, and he turned around, picked up the basket on his back, and went up.
Madam Yu didn't want to join in the fun and wanted to take the Jiang siblings home, but Xiao Youran grabbed her hand and said, "Fourth Aunt, let's go see the wild boar."
So he hesitated, "That wild boar can hurt people, I'm afraid..."
Xiao Youran shook her head and said, "Let's just stand far away and take a look."
Yu was quite helpless and took the two siblings back to the mountain.
When they arrived at the hunting grounds, they only had time to catch a glimpse of a lithe figure disappearing into the jungle. Xiao Youran's eyes lit up for a moment.
As expected, Zhao Tao knows martial arts!
Yu Shi and Jiang Youchen's attention was drawn to the two people lying on the ground, wailing loudly.
As for the wild boar or anything like that, we didn't even see a single hair.
Yu glanced at them once and then turned around and hugged the brother and sister, preventing them from seeing the bloody scene.
Villagers gathered around, pointing and whispering, "Quickly go and tell Aunt Hua, her two mentally challenged sons are injured."
Yu's heart skipped a beat, and she wanted to stay as far away from Aunt Hua as possible.
After thinking for a moment, he said to the Jiang siblings in his arms, "This wild boar is likely to cause trouble if it hurts people. Let's leave first."
Xiao Youran glanced in the direction where Zhao Huai had disappeared, then nodded softly and sweetly, "Alright then."
Back at the old house, I had just finished shaving the wild rabbit when I heard a commotion outside the door.
Yu wiped her hands and went outside. She saw five or six villagers carrying two people to the door with a door panel and putting them down. Aunt Hua, who looked fierce, was also there. Yu was furious.
Then Aunt Hua began to wail and cry, “My children! Why is it that everyone else went up the mountain together, but only you two suffered? I told you that little cousin from the Tiankuang family was strange, but you wouldn’t listen and insisted on following them up the mountain. And what happened? They caught a rabbit, but you were gored by a wild boar. My children, what kind of suffering have you endured!”
Zhou and the others came out after hearing the noise. Yu whispered in her ear about the wild boar attack that had just happened on the mountain.
When Aunt Hua saw Zhou come out, she pointed at her nose and scolded, "Tian Kuang's mother, you are the head of the household! My son was seriously injured on your mountain! Why don't you quickly call someone to treat my son's injuries?"
Zhou sneered, "When we opened Sanyang Mountain to everyone for hunting, I said that if you were attacked by wild animals or got hurt on the mountain, it wouldn't be our problem. Your son was gored by a wild boar, did we do that?"
Aunt Hua said angrily, "Why is it that only you can hunt game on this mountain? We can't hunt any at all? Maybe you're the ones who orchestrate the hunting on this mountain! You just don't like my two sons following you up the mountain. You go down the mountain one minute and then order wild boars to attack them the next. What are you up to!"
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