Chu Chi sat at the table in the kitchen, holding her bowl and chopsticks with an inscrutable expression. Who could blame her, since she had smashed the dining table in the main room? They had no choice but to squeeze into the kitchen to eat.
Of course, that wasn't the main issue.
The real problem was: what on earth was in this bowl? As she shoveled food into her mouth, she stole glances at her sister-in-law beside her. Oh, and the younger family members too.
They all seemed to be eating happily, but why did it taste so awful to her?
How did she even know what "awful" tasted like?
She paused in confusion before continuing to swallow. It really was terrible. Compared to the meat An'an had roasted yesterday, this was truly unbearable!
No, she needed meat!
Her eyes mechanically darted to the clucking sounds coming from the courtyard. If her sister-in-law hadn't stopped her so quickly earlier, she'd be eating meat by now.
Licking her lips regretfully, she turned her gaze towards the back mountain. Since she wasn't allowed to eat the humans' livestock, she'd have to go hunting in the mountains.
"When your elder brother returns, we'll ask him to check the traps in the mountains for rabbits. If we catch any, I'll cook them for you," Lady Liu rambled on. "Wild rabbit meat is delicious. We can save the pelts too. Come winter, we can make little hats and shoes for the children."
From Lady Liu's stream of chatter, Chu Chi extracted one key point.
Good, rabbits were edible.
Rabbits were extremely tasty!
As images of bouncing rabbits flashed through her mind, she grew impatient. She quickly put down her bowl and chopsticks and stood up.
"You've eaten so little! Have some more. A young girl like you shouldn't go hungry, it's not good to be too thin. Where are you going...?"
"Hunting!"
With that, she was gone in a flash, completely deaf to Lady Liu's heart-wrenching calls behind her. She ran out of the village entrance without stopping, speeding like the wind into the nearby mountains.
Summer was a good season for prey to be active, and also a bountiful time for hunters. As a result, most of the game in the outer areas had already been hunted by the village men who came to the mountains for a treat during their farming off-season.
Even experienced hunters had to venture deep into the mountains for any real catch.
Chu Chi didn't understand this principle. She had been walking deeper and deeper into the mountains since entering, not having seen any prey. She had come in on an empty stomach, and after searching for so long without spotting any game, she had to slow down to conserve energy. She even petulantly kicked at some bushes blocking her path.
After meandering for quite some time, with the sun noticeably tilting westward, she suddenly heard a faint howling sound coming from the north.
Her eyes flashed with a green light.
Her feet moved as if equipped with wind and fire wheels, sprinting swiftly in that direction. In less than a quarter of an hour, she had arrived at the scene where the prey was.
However, while there was indeed prey, the scene before her was a bit... off.
A man was slumped against a tree, covered in blood, weakly clutching a sword. Beside him on the ground lay a dead black bear. Judging by the bloody carnage, it seemed the man and the bear had engaged in a deadly battle, with the man barely surviving.
But it looked like his survival wouldn't last much longer. Because a striped tiger, drawn by the scent of blood, had arrived on the scene.
Shen Mufeng had barely managed to drag his severely wounded body through a life-or-death struggle with the bear, emerging victorious by the skin of his teeth.
But when he heard the tiger's roar, he knew it was over.
Out of the frying pan and into the fire.
It seemed his fate was sealed today.
Weakly slumped against the tree trunk, watching the tiger draw ever closer, he tried desperately to lift his sword. But his fingers merely twitched slightly; his body refused to obey.
He truly had no strength left, he thought with a wry smile. He could even feel his limbs growing cold, the sensation of life ebbing away intensely palpable.
And yet, his desire to live burned just as intensely.
He truly couldn't accept this!
How could he possibly accept it?
He still wanted to carve out a bloody path, to return and demand answers from his own brother, born of the same mother – why couldn't he tolerate Shen Mufeng's existence?
Alas, as his eyes met those of the striped tiger, in this final moment of life, his heart was utterly calm. His only regret was that this unfulfilled wish would follow him into the netherworld.
Those with strong minds never fear death.
Since entering the battlefield at thirteen, he had long placed life and death beyond his concerns. He was only furious that he would die not on the battlefield, but as a victim of his own brother's scheming plots.
Tigers excel at catching live prey. Spotting the clearly still-breathing quarry on the ground, it let out a roar and opened its blood-red maw.
This is the end!
Shen Mufeng closed his eyes.
But the expected pain didn't come. Instead, he heard a loud bang, followed by the tiger's furious roar.
He opened his eyes in surprise.
Then, he felt he must be hallucinating in his final moments. How else could he explain seeing a petite village girl engaged in a ferocious fight with a striped tiger?
No!
It couldn't even be called a fight – it was more like a one-sided beating!
He watched as the village girl moved with lightning speed and incredible strength. She grabbed the tiger's tail, swung it in a circle, then hurled it outward with tremendous force.
Roar!
The tiger was flung far away, the massive impact even snapping a tree trunk as thick as a wrist.
The dignity of the beast king could not be violated. In pain all over, the tiger roared and pounced again, its massive paw swinging with enough force to shatter the shoulder blade of any ordinary person.
But unfortunately for the tiger, it wasn't dealing with an ordinary person.
Although Chu Chi usually moved at a leisurely pace, when it came to hunting, she always adhered to the principles of speed, ruthlessness, and precision – achieving maximum yield with minimum effort.
So instead of dodging, she met the attack head-on, grabbing the incoming tiger paw and slamming it to the ground. In one fluid motion, she straddled the tiger's back, her left hand tightly gripping its neck while her right fist rained blow after blow on its head.
Drawing on her past experience of delivering killing blows while hunting, it took only three breaths before the tiger lay limp on the ground, on the verge of meeting its maker.
A tiger away from its mountain lair is at the mercy of men, but this king of beasts had a brain.
When outmatched, one must submit – this was the survival experience it had gleaned. So it lay prostrate on the ground, all four limbs down, letting out rapid, pitiful whimpers.
Chu Chi's delicate white fist paused above the tiger's head. She tilted her head in a daze, feeling as if she... understood what this creature was saying?
