Chapter 10: The Pitiful One Being Envied

Cheng Songer ate quickly and soon finished her meal. She saw that Cheng Qingzhi was still eating slowly and meticulously, savoring each bite. His thick eyelashes were obediently lowered, and even with his submissive appearance, he was extremely attractive. However, this attractiveness lacked a certain vibrancy and brightness, seeming a bit too docile.

Cheng Songer put down her chopsticks: “Take your time eating. I’ll go chop the firewood in the courtyard.”

“…Alright.” Cheng Qingzhi paused for a moment with his chopsticks before continuing to eat.

In the courtyard, there were some tree stumps that needed to be split into smaller pieces for cooking and heating.

These were all old, large tree stumps that Cheng Qingzhi had gradually carried back from the mountain behind and split for use.

The axe for chopping wood was very heavy. Cheng Songer felt it wasn’t much heavier than the pitiful Cheng Qingzhi. She wondered how much effort it must have taken for his frail body to gather and split all that firewood. The women of the Cheng family and Cheng Qingzhi’s birth father, Xu Lan, had coldly watched him do all the hard labor for the entire family alone.

Cheng Songer had good physical strength, and in this world, women’s strength was naturally superior to men’s. So, it didn’t take her long to split these tree stumps.

Remembering that Cheng Qingzhi had mentioned earlier that the family was running low on firewood, and that winter absolutely required firewood for heating and cooking.

Since she was planning to go hunting in the mountain behind the village in the afternoon, it would be a good opportunity to cut some firewood as well.

She returned to the main room to fetch her animal traps, hunting nets, and a bow and arrow. With a small axe tucked into her waist, she prepared to leave.

“Where are you going?” Seeing Cheng Songer preparing to leave, Cheng Qingzhi stood up anxiously.

“To the mountain behind.”

“The mountain behind?” A hint of inexplicable worry flashed in Cheng Qingzhi’s eyes. “But there are fierce beasts there…”

“I know, but don’t you often go there to gather firewood?” Cheng Songer smiled gently. “Don’t worry, I won’t go deep into the mountains.”

“Then… when will you be back?” He asked softly, lowering his head.

Cheng Songer smiled: “I’ll come back after catching some small animals. I bought two taels of meat from town this time, we can’t just eat meat once, right? I said I’d fatten you up.”

Cheng Qingzhi suddenly blushed from his neck to his ears and said no more.

Cheng Songer looked at his appearance and inwardly chuckled. How could he be so thin-skinned? Were all the men in this world like him?

Never mind, better go hunting first.

……

“Huh, no wonder Cheng Songer suddenly refused to sell Cheng Qingzhi. So she had designs on that slut.” Lin Yuxiu hid in his room, secretly peeking through a corner of the window, spying on everything happening in the Cheng family courtyard.

He had witnessed the entire process, especially when Cheng Songer firmly told him to eat half of the braised pork. His beautiful eyes were almost spitting fire!

For villagers like Lin Yuxiu who made a living by farming, they could only eat braised pork during festivals and holidays.

Lin Yuxiu’s family had two elder sisters. Even though Xu Shu doted on his son, he couldn’t compare to his two daughters. From a plate of braised pork, almost all of it was eaten by his mother and two sisters, leaving him with only a few pieces.

Why?!

Why was it that slut Cheng Qingzhi?!

Ruining his good marriage prospect, seducing his future wife-master, stealing his pride in his beauty, attracting the attention of all the women in the village, making him lose the women’s flattery and attentiveness…

He had gone to such great lengths to persuade Cheng Songer to sell that slut, who knew this lingering spirit would come back again.

Not only was he no longer tortured by Cheng Songer like before, but he was even living better than before. Why?!

Lin Yuxiu looked at Cheng Qingzhi, gritting his teeth with hatred.

Especially when he saw Cheng Songer saying something gently to him, and Cheng Qingzhi’s shy, blushing, coy appearance.

“Pah—acting coy!” Lin Yuxiu clutched the window frame tightly, saying viciously.

Previously, Liu Su had said that the reason Cheng Songer didn’t sell Cheng Qingzhi was because he had been deflowered in advance, and the brothel wouldn’t accept him.

Thinking about it now, perhaps it was Cheng Songer who had deflowered him. Seducing even his own sister, this vixen was truly despicable to the core, just as despicable as his father.

“Yuxiu, what are you saying? What’s acting coy?” Xu Shu, who was sewing clothes, asked.

“Hmph!” Lin Yuxiu saw Cheng Songer leave the Cheng house with hunting equipment, so he no longer hid his feelings. He opened the window directly, speaking loudly as if afraid Cheng Qingzhi couldn’t hear: “Of course it’s that slut Cheng Qingzhi. Before, I couldn’t understand why Cheng Songer suddenly had a change of heart and didn’t sell him to the brothel. Now I finally understand.”

Xu Shu, who was sewing clothes, put down the garment and asked curiously: “Why?”

Lin Yuxiu sneered: “Of course it’s because foxes are naturally lustful. Before, he seduced women outside, now he doesn’t even spare his own sister. Look at his coquettish appearance, a complete lowborn. Naturally, he has Cheng Songer totally bewitched, unwilling to sell him to the brothel.”

“Oh, you—” Xu Shu put down the clothes and glanced out the window.

In the courtyard, Cheng Qingzhi’s thin back was rigid, his hand holding the chopsticks motionless, knuckles white with tension, as if he was trying hard to endure something.

Without guessing, he must have heard Lin Yuxiu’s humiliating words.

“Child.” Xu Shu quickly closed the window, afraid that Lin Yuxiu would say something more extreme: “How can you say such things about others? Qingzhi must have heard it. How can you make up stories about people without any evidence?”

Lin Yuxiu laughed coldly: “So what if he heard? I want him to hear.”

Xu Shu sighed: “In my opinion, if Qingzhi really got together with Cheng Songer, it wouldn’t be bad. Look at him now, isn’t he living much better than before? Cheng Songer doesn’t beat him anymore, doesn’t sell him to the brothel, and now he can even eat meat. It’s much better than his previous neither-human-nor-ghost life. It can be considered a fortunate thing.”

“Father!” Lin Yuxiu said disapprovingly: “Why are you always speaking for that shameless outsider? He has seduced so many women, and now he’s seducing his own sister. Doesn’t he deserve to be spat upon?”

“Qingzhi and Cheng Songer were originally step-siblings, with no blood relation. In families like this, step-brothers and step-sisters becoming a couple, adding kinship to affection, is not unheard of. It’s not considered a breach of ethics. What’s there to spit upon?” Xu Shu said.

“Father, you—” Lin Yuxiu was exasperated, his flower-like face now looking somewhat fierce.

−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−

Before leaving, Cheng Songer also took the small fish basket from yesterday’s fishing.

What she wanted to do most now was to stockpile food and meat, solving the basic survival problems.

She had bought grains in town, so there was basically no problem with staple food. But meat was very expensive, and she didn’t dare buy too much in the county town, otherwise, the few taels of silver would be spent quickly.

Although the two small crucian carp caught today were only palm-sized, they required the least effort. She only needed to place the fish basket in a low-lying area and wait for the fish to swim in on their own. How could she pass up such a simple hunting method? So, the first thing Cheng Songer did before entering the mountain was to bury the small fish basket well, waiting for the small fish to take the bait themselves.

Then she entered the mountain behind, holding her bow and arrow. Although she had the original owner’s memories, it was still Cheng Songer’s first time hunting.

It was almost winter, and there weren’t many prey in the mountains. Occasionally, a pheasant would dart out, but because it was too sudden, she couldn’t react in time and watched helplessly as the prey ran away.

After several failed attempts, Cheng Songer finally grasped the hunting technique. She finally encountered a white rabbit that was foraging.

This time, she no longer rushed like before. She secretly drew her bow fully, waited for the right moment, and released the arrow. The arrow whistled through the air, hitting the prey directly.

Cheng Songer was overjoyed. She quickly ran over to grab the rabbit, thinking happily that they would have meat to eat again tonight!

She put the rabbit in her backpack and walked back, chopping firewood along the way. Soon, her backpack was full.

At this time, Cheng Songer noticed some strange footprints on the ground. Using the skills taught by the original owner’s mother, she quickly recognized them as wild boar tracks.

Cheng Songer’s internal alarm immediately went off. She looked around vigilantly, only relaxing after confirming there were no wild boars around.

Wild boars were not as docile as the farmed pigs in modern society. They were very strong, especially with their two long tusks. In ancient times, there were often records of wild boars killing people.

Moreover, judging from the footprints on the ground, this wild boar was particularly large and robust. Once it went berserk, even ordinary hunters couldn’t subdue it. It was very dangerous.

Although dangerous, if she could capture a wild boar, it would be enough for her and Cheng Qingzhi to eat meat every meal for a month.

Cheng Songer was tempted to hunt the wild boar, but this boar was very large, and a direct confrontation was certainly not feasible.

Cheng Songer set up the animal trap she had brought, and using the knowledge she had gained from watching Bear Grylls’ wilderness survival shows, she sharpened tree branches to make a simple pit trap. She only needed to wait for the wild boar to fall into the trap and struggle until it had no strength left, then she could come out and shoot an arrow directly at its vital point.

After setting up these ambushes, the sky gradually darkened, and Cheng Songer left the mountain behind.

She carried a backpack full of firewood and a snow-white little rabbit towards the river, intending to check today’s catch. But today, not even a palm-sized small crucian carp was caught, only a dozen finger-sized small fish.

As the weather got colder, fewer and fewer fish could be caught. Perhaps yesterday they were lucky to have caught two palm-sized crucian carp. The possibility of catching fish in the future was likely to become lower and lower.

“Sigh— Well, something is better than nothing. Let’s go home and make deep-fried small fish.” Cheng Songer cheered herself up and headed home with the fish basket.