Wang Yueshu touched Qin Shuli's head. The hair that Qin Dazhu had just clipped right before the New Year was already growing back out. She said earnestly, "Shuli, you're only eight years old. Even if you went out, you wouldn't find a job. You'd better stay home and help me take care of the twins!"
Qin Shuli smiled and said, "Mom, I'm not some six- or seven-year-old kid anymore. Besides, taking care of Second Child and Third Child is such an important task that it's still better for you to do it, Mom!"
Fearing that Wang Yueshu would try to persuade him further, he quickly added, "Mom, it's not that I don't want you to go out, but you're too pretty. The devils and traitors are everywhere outside, and they're all beasts. I certainly don't want to lose my dad only to lose my mom too!"
With that, Qin Shuli jumped off the heated brick kang and ran out of the room. In less than a minute, he carried the stone trough that had been used to feed livestock in the courtyard right up to the doorway.
"Mom, is my strength all right?"
Watching Qin Shuli hold a three-hundred-pound stone trough while talking with a cheeky grin, Wang Yueshu was too shocked to speak. The Qin family was famous for their extraordinary strength; even Qin Dazhu could lift a stone trough, but certainly not this effortlessly.
"Oh dear, put it down quickly, my little ancestor! We've barely managed to stay alive, are you trying to send me to my grave?"
Recovering from her shock, Wang Yueshu panicked and hastily told Qin Shuli to put it down. With something so heavy, no matter where it hit on the body, given the poverty-stricken state of the Qin family, they definitely wouldn't have the money for a doctor!
Qin Shuli turned and walked back out, carrying the stone trough. A moment later, he came back in, dusting the dirt off his hands, and muttered under his breath, "The first month of the year is really cold!"
Wang Yueshu got down from the kang, pulled Qin Shuli over, and checked him all over. Finding no trace of any injuries, she finally let out a sigh of relief. "You child, you've got too much nerve. You can't do this kind of thing again in the future, understand?"
Qin Shuli agreed readily enough on the outside, but inside he thought: *You ain't seen nothing yet! Once I go out hunting in the wild, you'll really see what I'm capable of!*
"Mom, there's no grain left at home. While it's still early, I'll go buy some grain first!"
When Wang Yueshu was sick, she rarely got down from the kang and didn't know much about the household affairs. Since her oldest son said there was no grain left, she figured he might as well go buy some.
Qin Shuli didn't have a single copper coin to his name, but going out meant taking a chance. If he happened to run into any stray devils, he wouldn't mind sending them on their way. He pulled his dog-skin hat down tight, tore a piece of cloth to cover his face, and left only his eyes exposed.
The number one wild hunter of the Republic of China was setting out—little Japanese devils, prepare to meet your maker!
It was now four o'clock in the afternoon, and the sky overhead was overcast; it might even snow by nightfall. The streets were covered in snow, and hardly a soul was in sight. At this time of year, only those with not a single grain left at home would dare venture outside.
Qin Shuli walked straight south along Nanluoguxiang, passed through Mao'er Hutong and Jingyang Hutong, and was about to turn east when he saw three thoroughly drunk devils relieving themselves in an alleyway by the entrance.
Qin Shuli looked left and right—the street was completely deserted. He hardened his heart and decided that his very first wild hunt would start with these devils. The saying went that once a person possessed a sharp weapon, the intent to kill would naturally arise. With a body as insanely powerful as his, rather than resort to carrying cargo for a living, he might as well do some plundering!
He picked up a cold stone from the ground and quietly sneaked over. The three devils couldn't even stand steadily and failed to notice his approach. When the distance between them closed to three meters, Qin Shuli suddenly accelerated, charging rapidly toward the devils.
"Baka! What is that?"
The devils only felt a blur before their eyes and a sharp pain in their heads as their bodies went limp and collapsed toward the ground.
The other two devils sensed something was wrong and tried to turn around to see what was going on, but their brains could no longer control their bodies. Before they could turn, the stone in Qin Shuli's hand smashed into the back of their heads. In less than ten seconds, all three devils were knocked completely unconscious.
Even though Qin Shuli had been a soldier in his past life, this was still his first time killing someone. His stomach churned violently. Fighting down the urge to vomit, he used the stone to smash the heads of the three devils a few more times until the backs of their skulls caved in before he stopped.
He stood up, glanced down both ends of the alley, and seeing no one else around, he stored the stones and the corpses all inside his Space and followed them in.
Safety first!
Inside the Space, the devils' corpses appeared in the backyard. Any lifeless object he stored into the Space from the outside would appear in the backyard, while living creatures would appear in the pasture area—with the exception of living humans.
He sat down and panted a few times. When the devils died just now, he felt a warm current stir inside his body. It was very faint, and its effect was virtually nil, but it had definitely appeared. He wondered if it had anything to do with killing the devils.
He put down the stone and began searching the three devils, quickly cleaning them out. Sure enough, the devils actually had some valuables on them: he found twelve silver dollars alone, along with thirty-one yen in military scrip issued by the devils.
Looking at the silver dollars and military scrip in his hand, Qin Shuli spat, "Pah, poor ghosts!"
There were four main currencies circulating in Beiping at the moment. Silver dollars and fiat currency were used the most, followed by the military scrip issued by the Japanese military, which was absolute toilet paper—the devils always held a gun in one hand and scrip in the other, or else it would never get spent. The last kind was the Reserve Bank notes issued by the puppet government, which were also toilet paper. Therefore, the currency ordinary people used most often was still the silver dollars and fiat currency issued by the National Government.
Qin Shuli put the silver dollars into his pockets and buried the corpses under the pasture area to let them serve as fertilizer. He threw the military scrip into the backyard warehouse, having no intention of taking it out to fleece others; he was a man with a bottom line. Of course, that bottom line depended entirely on how many silver dollars he had in his hand. If he spent all his silver dollars, his bottom line could drop accordingly; in short, he couldn't let himself and his family starve.
After finishing with the devils and seeing that the alley outside was still empty, Qin Shuli flicked his body and stepped out of the Space.
With money in hand, there was nothing to worry about. He turned and headed to a grain store to buy food, where he was surprised to find white rice. Qin Shuli asked for one hundred catties, which cost him three silver dollars—don't go thinking it was expensive. In the storekeeper's words, theirs was the only shop in the entire Beiping City that had it, and this was, after all, the shop belonging to the family of the Police Department Director.
He bought some potatoes and Chinese cabbage as well, which cost another two silver dollars. As for cornmeal, Qin Shuli declared that the number one wild hunter of the Republic of China would rather starve to death than eat that stuff. Not only was it devoid of nutrition, but it also scratched the throat; the twins had such delicate throats, he couldn't let them ruin them.
In the northern winter, aside from potatoes and Chinese cabbage, there were basically no fresh vegetables to be had. Then he went to a coal shop and bought a ton of coal for two silver dollars; the house was too cold, and his elderly mother had a hard time taking care of the kids—the kang simply had to be heated up. After that, he ran over to Bianyifang and bought two roast ducks. That thoroughly cleared out his twelve silver dollars.
Carrying the goods, Qin Shuli took advantage of a moment when no one was looking and stashed them in the Space, walking back with only five catties of white rice in hand.
The entrance to the Qin family was located in the northwest corner of the front yard and did not open directly onto the outer wall, primarily for reasons of safety.
Just as Qin Shuli was about to enter with the bag of rice, a man walked out through the moon gate connecting to the middle yard. The man had thick eyebrows, big eyes, and a square face, instantly giving off a very reliable impression.
Qin Shuli turned his head to look, and couldn't help smiling. While recalling little Shuli's past memories, he had known this place was the notorious Siheyu of beasts well-known across the heavens in later times. But it was still early days, and the courtyard only housed five families: Yi Zhonghai, He Daqing, Jia Fugui, Liu Haizhong, and Xu Wude. Deaf Old Lady and Yan Bugui hadn't arrived yet.
The person who came out and called out to Qin Shuli was none other than Yi Zhonghai. At this time, Yi Zhonghai was not even thirty years old and still looked like a vibrant young man.