Chapter 28: Selling Meat for Money—Her Shameless Family Comes Calling

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And so, people began arriving at Chu Feng’s house one after another.

Wang Wei and Sun Can were the first to come.

They had no money and offered grain in exchange instead.

It was only the cheapest brown rice, but Chu Feng did not mind. At the usual market price, he gave them two pounds of meat.

Although the roe deer was not particularly heavy, most of the villagers who came to buy meat did not purchase much. It was a year of famine, and no household had much savings. A small portion was enough to add a little variety to the family’s meals.

Besides roe deer, the Chu family still had some wild boar and mutton left. Chu Feng kept enough for his own family and gradually sold all the rest to the villagers over the following days.

Not only did the villagers now have meat to eat, they could even take the surplus to town and sell it there, earning themselves a little money.

Chu Feng’s actions soon spread beyond the village.

People from the surrounding villages learned that Jade Dragon Village had a mountain patrolman who, with the authorities’ permission, was allowed to hunt in the mountains—and that he even sold the meat to the villagers.

Through his own efforts, Chu Feng had raised the quality of life for the entire village, if only slightly.

At some point, the news reached Brook Village.

Brook Village lay a considerable distance from Jade Dragon Village, even farther away than Jade Dragon Village was from the town.

Zhou Xiaoxiao’s family came from Brook Village.

When Wei Xiaoxia had searched for a wife for Chu Feng, she had spent many days looking before finally finding the poorest household in Brook Village.

The Zhou family.

“Have you heard? Your granddaughter married a capable man! Not only can he hunt in the mountains, he’s even become a mountain patrolman. He hunts and sells the meat, and now everyone in the village gets to eat meat!”

At the entrance to Wang Xiufen’s house, the villagers surrounded her, chattering excitedly.

At first, Wang Xiufen knew nothing about it. Only after listening to the villagers’ overlapping whispers did she gradually understand what had happened.

A few private calculations immediately began to form in her mind.

“Your Wang family really has been blessed by your ancestors. You’ve gained such an impressive in-law. The whole village is doing business with them—who knows how much grain their household has stored up by now?”

“Xiufen, your family is going to enjoy the good life!”

“Exactly. When will you introduce your granddaughter’s husband to us? Perhaps he could do business with us too?”

Although Chu Feng had begun trading and had indeed managed to put meat on the villagers’ tables, things were not quite as exaggerated as these people claimed. He had not single-handedly transformed everyone’s lives.

But rumors always grew more extravagant with every retelling.

Wang Xiufen’s family was desperately poor. When they had married Zhou Xiaoxiao off, all they had asked for were two sacks of brown rice.

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Afterward, they had never once concerned themselves with Zhou Xiaoxiao. They had no idea whether their granddaughter was living well or suffering at Chu Feng’s home.

Six years had passed. If not for this incident, Wang Xiufen would have forgotten that she even had a granddaughter.

She smiled at the neighbors, then turned and went back inside.

With one kick, she flung open Zhou Youzhi’s door.

“All you do is sleep, sleep, sleep! Have you finished the work in the fields?”

In a daze, Zhou Youzhi said, “Mother, what are you talking about? With snow this heavy, what work could there possibly be in the fields?”

“Do we still have any grain at home?”

“There’s a little left. Enough for the two of us to get through the winter.”

“Then do you still have money to buy liquor?”

“Then I just won’t drink.” Zhou Youzhi slapped his forehead and sighed.

A man who could not enjoy himself without liquor, he immediately became gloomy at the thought that he might not get to drink again this year.

“Now there’s a chance for you to drink. Are you going?”

“What? I’m going!”

…

Chu Feng and Zhou Xiaoxiao had no idea that her family was coming.

Besides, Zhou Xiaoxiao’s relationship with her family had never been very good.

Snow was still falling heavily from the sky.

At Widow Li’s house at the entrance of the village, the silkworm moths had already laid their eggs. There would probably be plenty of silkworms next year.

Chu Feng had practically given her family a pound of meat for half nothing.

Widow Wang was a shy woman, but she was also the sort who always repaid a kindness. That day, she called Zhou Xiaoxiao over, intending to give her some moths and eggs.

After spring arrived the following year, they should hatch into a great many silkworms. The cocoons could be sold for a little money at the tailor’s shop in town.

Widow Wang was a good person, and Zhou Xiaoxiao enjoyed talking with her. Once she went over, there was no telling when the two women would finish chatting.

At home, Chu Feng was sharpening an axe.

He had also borrowed a hammer and an anvil from the village chief. Placing a set of animal traps on the anvil, he struck the serrated teeth again and again.

In this way, he could dismantle the traps.

The iron pieces obtained from them could be used to make arrowheads.

The only inconvenient thing about ancient times was that no matter what one wanted, everything had to be made from raw materials by hand.

And the process was exceedingly laborious.

Still, Chu Feng had not been idle these past few days. He had already made six arrows, each with an exceptionally sharp point.

The material for the fletching was easier to obtain. The village carpenter raised chickens, so Chu Feng had traded two pounds of meat for two of them.

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By now, Chu Feng had plucked several feathers from the two chickens. Their backsides were bare as they ran around the courtyard.

With nothing better to do, Silly began chasing them.

One of them was a rooster. Though somewhat thin, it was not intimidated by Silly in the least.

Silly was not especially large, but he and the rooster began fighting.

For a while, the courtyard erupted into utter chaos, with feathers flying and the dog barking.

Whenever Chu Miaomiao saw it, she would rush over.

“You nasty Silly! Stop bullying the rooster again!”

The snow leopard cub had already opened its eyes.

Since the first thing it had seen upon opening them was Chu Feng, and since Chu Feng had been the one feeding it these past few days, it seemed to regard him as its father.

As a result, it stayed beside Chu Feng all day long.

No matter what Chu Feng was doing, it watched him quietly, completely undisturbed by any other noise.

The only exception was when Silly grew bored and came over to pester it.

The snow leopard cub now had a name of its own, given to it by Chu Miaomiao.

Flower.

Chu Feng thought that once Flower grew a little bigger, he would release it into the mountains.

Snow leopards were carnivores, and they had a considerable appetite. If he truly raised one, the meat in the household would not last it more than a few days.

Fortunately, the little creature was still unsteady on its feet and could only drink rice broth.

For the time being, Chu Feng did not concern himself with it.

Ever since the adult snow leopard had brought him a roe deer, it had not appeared again.

The mountains were dangerous, and the snow leopard had suffered such serious injuries. Perhaps it had died—or perhaps it was hiding somewhere.

But neither possibility was something Chu Feng could do anything about.

After finishing the axe, he resumed dismantling the animal traps.

Judging by the amount of iron in them, he estimated that he should have no trouble making twenty arrows.

“Woof! Woof! Woof!”

Silly had grown much larger than when he first arrived, and his senses had become sharper as well.

Although Chu Feng had not seen anyone, Silly had already begun barking.

Chu Feng raised his head. Before long, he saw someone running toward him, panting heavily.

The moment the person arrived, he shouted at the top of his lungs, “Brother Feng, hurry to the village entrance! Sister-in-law is being taken away!”

At those words, Chu Feng’s gaze darkened.

That was his wife. Who the hell dared lay a hand on her in his own village?

Without another word, Chu Feng grabbed his axe and rushed out.