Chapter (5) "The Hunter and the Two Wild Boars" (part-3)
The quiet little shack quickly reached dinner time. Bai Li knew Xiao Han was awake, so he decided not to scoop the pheasant soup for him. If he suddenly became too nice and attentive in one day, it would get suspicious. So, he just prepared the meal for himself and the twins. After setting it out, he looked at the three figures huddled in the corner of the room.
"Xiao Fu and Xiao Wu, come here. Time to eat. Your soup is in the pot: go serve yourselves."
Bai Li found it funny and kind of cute that the three of them were just staring at him with those wide, identical eyes. But he kept a straight face, hiding his urge to smile.
"You guys still haven't moved, huh?"
It was obvious these three were terrified of him. The moment Bai Li spoke, Xiao Han quietly said the little kids to go eat, and he went outside to scoop his own soup. They might be scared of this man, but he was the head of the house. Even if he started hitting them, nobody would dare intervene. They just had to obey whatever he said.
Bai Li felt helpless, eating alone at the table while watching the three of them—who had taken the seats furthest away from him. It looked like it would take a long time for him to build any kind of connection with these three.
After they finished eating, Xiao Han washed the dishes. Bai Li, even though he knew he was sick, let him do it. He was worried that if he washed the dishes that he and the kids had eaten from, the three of them might panic and run away!
The shack was tiny—just big enough for a heated brick bed and one table. Bai Li sighed over his poverty in this life, decided he had to hunt something big tomorrow, and then fell asleep. Xiao Han and the twins, however, only dared to climb onto the brick bed once they were absolutely sure Bai Li was asleep.
Xiao Fu and Xiao Wu hugged Xiao Han and whispered to him.
"Papa gave us so much food today! He wasn't scary today."
"Will Papa give us more tomorrow?"
Xiao Han didn't want to crush the little kids' hope, but he couldn't lie either. "I don't know, little kids," was all he could say.
The twins wanted to keep talking about their father's change, but the pheasant and bamboo shoot stew was incredibly delicious, and they had eaten rice, not just watery porridge. Their tummies were full, and they soon drifted off to sleep. The only one still awake was Xiao Han.
He had been made to drink the entire bowl of pheasant soup, and at first, he was too timid to eat it. But under Bai Li's piercing gaze, he finished the whole thing. At the time, he even suspected he might have put something in the soup, but when nothing happened afterward, he just got more confused.
Did Bai Li truly want to give him the entire pheasant? And Bai Li cooked it himself?
Xiao Han felt a thrill just thinking about it. A whole pheasant could feed a large family, but Bai Li gave it all to him alone. It worried him, but it also made him excited.
Could him husband really be changing? If so, he truly hoped he would stay changed forever.
The next morning, when Bai Li woke up, it was still early, but only the twins were on the bed. Xiao Han was nowhere to be seen. He got dressed and went outside, where he found Xiao Han hauling water.
Xiao Han's fever had only slightly eased; it wasn't gone yet. Her face was flushed from the fever, and this water haul seemed to be his last. How long had he been up? Bai Li guessed it was only around 7 AM. In his previous life, he always woke up by seven, without an alarm, to go for his morning run.
He wanted to tell Xiao Han to stop hauling water, but he noticed all the buckets were full. He realized that since Xiao Han was sick the previous few days, he couldn't fetch water. And he had used almost all of the remaining water for cooking yesterday. For a 21st-century guy like him, cleanliness was a priority, so using a lot of water was natural. But it looked like he had inadvertently burdened Xiao Han.
No way. I have to dig a well near the house soon.
But he kept that thought to himself and just told Xiao Han.
"There's still some rice and cooked pheasant left in the house. Make some meat porridge for yourself and the kids to eat. I'm heading up the mountain."
Bai Li's expression was calm, but his tone was light. This was a side of Bai Li Xiao Han had never seen, and he wanted to say something. He had already seen what was in the house, but he didn't dare cook without Bai Li's permission. If he had known Bai Li would allow him to cook, he would have prepared something the moment he woke up. So Bai Li could eat before he left for the mountain.
Xiao Han watched his back for a long time as Bai Li walked away with a bamboo basket and the borrowed bow and arrows, his steps light and quick. Even after Bai Li disappeared from his sight, he kept looking in that direction.
Finally, he took a deep breath and made a mental note.
He got up early and went up the mountain, so my husband might truly be changing.
Xiao Han felt a sweetness bloom in his heart, like flowers opening. This was similar to the life he had always longed for: a husband who worked hard and cared for his family, instead of one who always caused trouble and beat them. If his husband could just stay this way, he wouldn't ask for anything more in this life.
Bai Li, unaware of how many people he had made happy, ran straight up the mountain for his morning exercise.
Most villagers were actually terrified of large prey, so they only went to the foot of the mountain and never dared to enter the deeper woods. That's why hunting was so difficult for them. Bai Li, however, immediately plunged deep into the foot of the mountain, looking for large prey. His target today was large prey that would fetch a pile of silver. And if he could find a bear—which was incredibly valuable in this era—that would be even better.
But before he found any large prey, Bai Li discovered some edible plants.
The diet of people in this era was very limited. When it came to meat, they didn't know how to fry with oil, which was expensive and just boiled, steamed, or roasted it. They did the same with vegetables, usually boiling them into a broth or just steaming them. They mostly ate wild vegetables found near the edge of the forest. If they found strange fruits or vegetables deeper in the woods, they'd often dismiss them if they tasted odd or had a strange texture when cooked.
Besides, salt was extremely expensive, so they didn't put in enough, leaving all the dishes bland and truly awful.
Bai Li shook his head. He started picking large, juicy bell peppers and chili peppers, tossing them into the basket on his back. Then came cilantro and lemongrass. Wild eggplants and potatoes. Pumpkin leaves, too. People in this era only grew small amounts of pumpkins to eat the fruit, so it was a shame they didn't eat the leaves. Since this pumpkin vine hadn't produced fruit yet, Bai Li just snapped the shoots. He also threw some wild mustard greens into the basket.
When the basket was more than half full, he had reached the deepest part of the foot of the mountain. Just then, he heard a commotion.
Bai Li frowned instantly. The sounds were loud and chaotic, so he headed toward the noise to check it out.
"Oh, those are some seriously huge wild boars!"
Bai Li had thought he needed to climb higher for large prey, but unexpectedly, he found two wild boars right at the foot of the mountain, and they were fighting each other.
These boars were dangerously close to the village. If they entered, they could cause major damage. There was no choice today; he had to take down these two.
Bai Li mentally thanked the boars for being distracted by their fight and chose a spot with a clear shot. He drew an arrow, nocked it on the bowstring, and aimed at one of the boars. These boars were massive, and the Village Elder's bow wasn't great, so a single shot probably wouldn't finish them off. However, Bai Li had befriended archery champions in his past life and trained with them. His friends competed, but his parents never allowed him to. Who knows, maybe he would have been a champion too if they had allowed it?
Bai Li didn't hesitate and let the arrow fly. The arrow swiftly cut through the air and embedded itself right in the neck of one boar. A sharp, terrifying squeal echoed through the woods. Then, without a moment's pause, another arrow sank into the same boar's neck, finishing it off. The second boar seemed terrified by the fate of its companion and quickly turned to run, but escaping Bai Li was impossible.
Two more arrows were launched in rapid succession, quickly taking down the second boar in the same method.
The forest fell silent again. Bai Li looked at the two wild boars, each bigger than his own body, and felt immensely pleased. In his previous life, animals this size were gone due to deforestation. But in this era, the wilderness was vast and the animals were large and plentiful. For a sharp shooter like him, he didn't have to worry about starving as long as his hands were working.
Bai Li grabbed the boars, one in each hand, and struggled to drag them out of the deeper mountain's foot. He was worried that the smell of blood would attract larger predators from the mountain, even though there weren't usually big beasts at the foot.
His previous body in the 21st century was strong and fit, but this current one was thin and weak from a life of indulgence. Surprisingly, Bai Li felt like the strength from his previous life had carried over. He could actually haul two boars.
After pulling them out of the deepest part of the foot of the mountain, he hid one boar temporarily in a bush. He then switched the bamboo basket to his front, lifted the remaining boar onto his back, and started heading back to the village. Two would be too much to handle, but one felt light enough. He moved quickly toward the Village Elder's fields.
The Elder's fields were closer to the village, but they were situated right along the main path between the mountain and the village, making the Elder the best person to choose for help.
The Village Elder and his family were discussing the yield of the harvest that year when the youngest son, Jiang Qing, stretched his back. He glanced toward the mountain and suddenly jumped up in terror.
"Ahhh!!!! A wild boar!!! Father!! A wild boar is coming this way!"
Because the boar was much larger than Bai Li's body, looking from a distance, you couldn't see Bai Li—only the massive wild boar appeared to be moving quickly toward them. The Elder and the others looked over because of Jiang Qing's shouts, and when they saw the boar "coming" their way, their faces turned white.
The trembling Village Elder yelled at his wife: "What are you standing there for! Run!"
Bai Li's steps were incredibly fast, making it really look like the boar itself was running toward them.
The Village Elder's family was thrown into chaos, but the oldest son, Jiang Ting, who had good eyesight, squinted at the boar and, looking confused, grabbed his father.
"Wait, Father! Look closely! Is there a person under that boar?"
Jiang Qing was shaking with fear.
"No way! Did the boar carry and eat one of the villagers?"
Jiang Ting kicked his younger brother.
"Aren't you a man? Look properly! A person is carrying the wild boar!"
By now, Bai Li was in clear view, making it obvious that a person was carrying the boar. However, they couldn't clearly see who it was. The Elder and his sons knew that whoever was carrying the boar must be a villager since they were headed toward the village, so they ran to help.
But when they got closer, they were completely shocked to see Bai Li.
The Village Elder was incredulous.
"You... Aren't you the second boy from the Bai family? Did you hunt this boar?"
Bai Li put the boar down and answered.
"That's right, Elder. When I went hunting today, I found two wild boars fighting deep in the foot of the mountain. I worried they would come into the village and cause serious damage, so I killed them."
Hearing this, the Elder couldn't help but shout in disbelief.
"Two!! You killed two of them!!"
"That's right. I already dragged one out of the deep foot of the mountain, but I couldn't carry both, so I had to leave one behind temporarily. I need to go get it before other beasts find it, so I was hoping to ask the Elder for help in taking this one to my house."
The Elder was shaken, but he knew what was more important. One wild boar was worth several silver ingots. To kill it and then lose it would be a huge loss.
He immediately made a decision.
"Then don't waste time! Hurry! Jiang Ting, you go with the Bai family boy. I and the others will take this one into the village."
The Elder's sons, who were still dazed, immediately snapped back to attention and obeyed their father.