A flurry of thoughts flashed through the woman’s mind.
If only her father’s soldiers had possessed such bows, he never would have been killed! How could this rustic village man have crafted such a weapon?
She had originally intended to escape under the cover of night, but now, she desperately wanted to understand how Shi Yi had made that bow. Consequently, she abandoned the thought of fleeing.
*Gurgle.*
Her stomach suddenly growled quite undignifiedly. Even worse, the pot of mushroom soup Shi Yi had left behind was still being kept warm over charcoal embers, and the rich, savory aroma wafted toward her.
The woman was starving, her stomach pressed against her ribs. She simply couldn't hold back any longer; she ran to the pottery pot and lifted the lid. This wretched, intoxicating scent was absolutely lethal.
"Is it really not poisonous?"
She felt a sense of dread. The moment she remembered the eunuchs in the palace who had turned purple and died on the spot after tasting poisonous mushrooms, she felt a profound fear. There was even one eunuch who had eaten a different kind of mushroom, suffered hallucinations, and laughed wildly, declaring he had ascended to the throne; he had even pointed at the Empress Dowager, demanding she serve him in his bedchamber, only to be executed by the slow, agonizing process of death by a thousand cuts. Because of this, such mushrooms were strictly forbidden in the palace.
Yet, this rustic village man named Shi Yi didn't seem to have been poisoned to death.
The woman swallowed hard. Exercising caution, she picked up a piece of mushroom from the pot and slowly placed it into her mouth.
In an instant, the savory, wild freshness of the mushroom exploded across every one of her taste buds!
"It's... so delicious..."
Exiled and forced to endure great suffering along the way, she found herself unable to control her reaction to this sudden, delectable bite. It felt as if her hollow stomach had been ignited by that single piece of mushroom. She could no longer restrain herself; she lifted the pottery pot and began to devour the contents. All thoughts of poisoned, hallucinating eunuchs were cast aside.
Before long, the woman had even licked the pot clean.
"Burp..."
After setting the pottery pot down, she rubbed her stomach. "It’s been so long since I’ve been this full."
She looked out into the pitch-black, impenetrable night, remembering the man from earlier that day. Fearful of lingering outside, she cleaned the pottery pot and hurried inside the house. Just as Shi Yi had told her, she found a cellar and, without another thought, climbed inside to hide.
***
Meanwhile, in the distance, the mountains traced a blurred outline against the moonlight, looking like a sleeping giant resting silently upon the earth. The branches and leaves swayed in the breeze, rustling softly.
Shi Yi had run into people from the village as soon as he entered the mountains: Wang Dahai and his group.
Wang Dahai was the best hunter in the village. Whenever he entered the mountains, he never returned empty-handed. As the most skilled hunter in Shiniu Village, he had always been filled with immense pride. At this very moment, he was bragging loudly about his various hunting techniques to several of the village youths, drawing gasps of admiration from them.
At first, Shi Yi didn't want to engage with them, but there was only one path into the mountains, and he couldn't avoid them. He had to steel himself and continue forward.
As expected, the moment Shi Yi appeared, Wang Dahai mocked him. Wang Dahai pointed at Shi Yi in an exaggerated manner, laughing. "Look at that, the disgrace of our Shiniu Village hunters. His father was once our village’s greatest hunter, but look at him—he’s utterly useless, a complete waste of space."
Shi Yi ignored him. He was too impatient to test his Zhuge Crossbow. If he retorted, he knew these men would never stop tormenting him. He kept his head down and walked forward.
However, after only a few steps, a *thwack* sounded—an arrow struck the ground right beside his foot.
He whipped his head around and locked his eyes on Wang Dahai. Wang Dahai stood with his chin tilted back, brows furrowed. "I’m talking to you. Are you deaf?"
Shi Yi’s gaze was sharp as a blade. He stood perfectly still in the moonlight, staring at him without moving an inch. The men who had been mocking him behind Wang Dahai’s back suddenly felt a surge of immense, killing intent! In the past, whenever Shi Yi saw them, he would immediately come over and kneel to beg for mercy, behaving like a spineless coward. Why did he seem so different today?
Wang Dahai also realized something was wrong. Though he couldn't see the expression on Shi Yi's face in the darkness, he clearly sensed the murderous aura radiating from him, as if he were facing a cold, dead man.
The atmosphere grew tense. Seeing that they had stopped their provocation, Shi Yi turned and ducked into the nearby bushes. The moment he left, the chilling, murderous aura in the air seemed to dissipate.
One of the men swallowed hard. "Brother Dahai, that idiot Shi Yi... he seems a bit off today. In the past, he would never have dared to look at anyone like that."
"Pah!" Wang Dahai spat to the side. "The dog is just putting on a show. We have work to do today, so I won't lower myself to his level. Let’s see how I handle him tomorrow. I heard he brought a woman back from town today?"
Another man nodded. "Someone saw her. She looks sickly. Don't know what she looks like, though. A guy like him, dreaming of taking a wife and having children? I don't know where he gets the confidence."
The men burst into laughter. A moment later, seeing a rabbit dash past them, they quickly shut their mouths and lowered their voices.
But little did they know, during the time they had spent mocking him, Shi Yi hadn't actually left. He had been crouching in the bushes, his Zhuge Crossbow trained directly on them. If Shi Yi hadn't wanted to avoid trouble, those men would have been the ones fleeing for their lives through the forest, with him as the hunter.
Suppressing his killing intent, Shi Yi headed in a different direction.
After weaving through the dense forest for half an hour, he spotted a small rabbit grazing. Shi Yi took aim, and with a few swift *thwacks*, the rabbit was pierced by arrows and collapsed on the ground, struggling.
With the Zhuge Crossbow in hand, he could indeed rule these mountains!
Shi Yi rarely missed a shot that night. He even encountered a wild boar. But the boar’s hide was tough; creatures like that could even chew off their own legs to escape a hunter’s trap—they were truly vicious. After Shi Yi’s arrows wounded it, the boar ran off, and he couldn't track it down.
By the time the horizon began to turn a pale, fish-belly white, Shi Yi had a bountiful harvest. On his back were over twenty rabbits. A rabbit pelt was worth one copper coin, and five could be traded for a catty of rice; his haul was enough for several catties. There was also the rabbit meat, worth two copper coins per catty in town. By his own estimation, excluding the pelts, he had over ten catties of meat.
The most urgent problem of starvation was solved.
However, he kept a guard up. He hid the Zhuge Crossbow in the mountains. Such a powerful weapon was, in this era, a form of technological "dimensionality reduction" warfare. Once people knew about it, there was no telling what mortal disaster it might bring upon him. Until he was strong enough, he absolutely could not expose it!
Just then, he heard the laughter of Wang Dahai and his group once again.
"Brother Dahai is amazing! I knew we needed you to make the shot!"