"Ah! It hurts so much!"
Ge Wulai rolled and howled in the snow, the dry grass rustling as he thrashed.
Liu Mazi snapped back to reality, looking at Zhang Dajian, who was squinting at him, and suddenly felt a chill down his spine.
He forced out a smile uglier than a cry: "Dajian, it's a misunderstanding! Old Ge was just being crude and making a joke."
Seeing the other party yield, Zhang Dajian ignored him and turned to leave, continuing his search for traces of prey.
Only after he had walked far away did Liu Mazi spit on the ground with a vicious expression.
"Damn it, what's wrong with this Zhang Dajian? Why is he so impulsive? He just started fighting without a word. Why didn't I realize he was so bold before?"
After thinking for a long time and still not understanding what was going on, Liu Mazi shook his head, then grumbled as he helped Ge Wulai up and walked towards the village.
At the foot of the mountain, Zhang Dajian walked through the accumulated snow, his neck hunched.
His straw sandals made a "creaking" sound as they rubbed against the snow.
"Luckily Wanru gave me a pair of straw sandals. If I had come out barefoot, my toes would have frozen off."
He muttered to himself while observing his surroundings. He could already feel a needle-pricking numbness in his feet, a sign that they were about to freeze stiff.
He had to hurry, otherwise, if he took too long, his feet would definitely be ruined by the cold.
Turning past the pine forest, he suddenly glimpsed a flash of color among the dry grass—it was a foraging pheasant!
The pheasant kept its head down, pecking here and pecking there.
Zhang Dajian held his breath. He was seventy to eighty meters away from it, and he wasn't sure if his Grandmaster-level Archery could hit it at that distance.
Never mind, pheasants are very alert. If he went any closer, he would likely be discovered.
Having thought this through, he directly took down his longbow, pulled a feathered arrow from his quiver, nocked it onto the bowstring, aimed, and drew the string to a full moon.
"Whoosh!"
With Grandmaster-level Archery activated, the feathered arrow flew out rapidly.
"Thud!"
It accurately pierced the pheasant's right wing, and after two flutters, it stopped moving.
"I hit it!"
Zhang Dajian was overjoyed and quickly walked forward to pick it up.
The pheasant had already died. He weighed it in his hand; it was at most two or three catties.
After removing the internal organs and plucking the feathers, it wouldn't be enough for him to eat alone. He still needed to hunt other prey.
Zhang Dajian somewhat awkwardly pulled out the feathered arrow and put it into his quiver, then hung the lifeless pheasant on the rope at his waist.
He continued his search.
Two incense sticks later, he found another snow rabbit. No matter how agile and alert it was, it couldn't escape a single arrow.
The snow rabbit was very plump, weighing over three catties. The two pieces of prey were enough to fill him and Lin Wanru.
"That's enough. I need to go home quickly, otherwise my feet will be ruined by the cold."
Zhang Dajian suddenly remembered the leather boots Zhang Tiezhu wore. If he had those, hunting outside would be so much more comfortable.
He hung the snow rabbit at his waist as well. Zhang Dajian stopped thinking about it and quickly set off towards the village.
At this time, it was almost dark. Many villagers of Panling Village had wandered around the foot of the mountain for a long time but had gained nothing. They could only return home disheartened, chatting as they walked.
"Old Wang, how was your harvest today?"
"Didn't even hunt a single hair. What about you?"
"I'm a bit better than you, hunted a single hair. At the foot of this mountain, there are only small prey like pheasants and snow rabbits left. They are very cunning. If you're too far, you can't hit them; if you're too close, they'll notice you and run away."
"Yeah, no choice. We can only go home and drink wild vegetable and tree bark soup."
The villagers shook their heads and sighed as they walked home.
"Oh? Who's that behind? They actually hunted a snow rabbit and a pheasant! That's too amazing!"
The villagers all turned to look and saw Zhang Dajian's figure becoming clearer and clearer.
"Dajian? You actually hunted a snow rabbit and a pheasant? How... how is that possible?" The villagers exclaimed, their faces full of disbelief.
They were all veteran hunters, yet they still returned empty-handed.
And Zhang Dajian was a hooligan who had never hunted before. How could he possibly have caught prey?
Seeing the villagers' expressions, Zhang Dajian had no choice but to repeat his earlier explanation.
"What are those expressions? I'll tell you the truth, I'm a genius. I learn archery just by looking at it. It's just that I didn't need to do it before, since Zhang Da Shan was around."
"It's different now. Da Shan is gone, and only Wanru and I are left. I naturally have to support this family."
The villagers were somewhat skeptical. He spoke as if it were true, but they probably just thought he got lucky.
Seeing that others didn't believe him, Zhang Dajian didn't bother to argue. He quickened his pace, overtaking the others.
The sun was gradually setting, and Lin Wanru became increasingly worried. She paced anxiously inside the house, her face full of concern.
Every few moments, she would look out of the door towards the courtyard.
At this moment, she wished she could slap herself twice. Dajian had never gone hunting before, so how could she have been so foolish as to agree to it?
It was so cold outside, and there was snow at the foot of the mountain. Would Dajian be alright?
She waited for another incense stick. As the sun was about to set, Lin Wanru finally couldn't wait any longer.
She wrapped her cloth sheet tightly, and just as she opened the courtyard gate, she bumped into a strong figure.
"Dajian! This is great, you're finally back, you scared me to death."
Lin Wanru was so excited to see Zhang Dajian return that she jumped up and down, and Zhang Dajian's mouth instantly watered.
"Wanru, don't move. Look what I brought back." With that, he untied the pheasant and snow rabbit from his waist.
"A pheasant and a snow rabbit? Oh my god, you really hunted prey?"
Lin Wanru's face was full of shock; she had never expected him to actually be able to hunt prey.
Zhang Dajian was about to show off, but then he felt an unbearable pain in his feet.
"Wanru, never mind the prey for now, my feet are almost ruined by the cold..."
Only then did Lin Wanru notice his feet were already frozen red. She quickly helped him into the house and turned to the kitchen to boil hot water.
Soon, she came in carrying a wooden basin full of hot water.
"Dajian, quickly sit by the bed and soak your feet to warm them up."
Zhang Dajian was already freezing. He immediately came to the bed and put his feet into the wooden basin, letting out a comfortable sigh.
Lin Wanru squatted down, extended her tender hands, and personally began to wash Zhang Dajian's feet.
"Wanru, you..."
Zhang Dajian was incredibly moved. In his previous life, even his own mother had never washed his feet like this.
He never expected to meet Lin Wanru, who was so good to him, in this ancient era.
Lin Wanru was wearing a patched red dudou, with a cloth sheet wrapped around her. When she squatted, the cloth sheet slipped a bit, revealing her slender neck.
Zhang Dajian didn't dare to look too much and quickly averted his gaze to avoid being disrespectful.
Lin Wanru, however, didn't notice. Looking at his frozen red feet, she said with concern:
"Your feet are frozen like this. I need to rub them well for you, otherwise, you'll get chilblains. How does it feel, comfortable?"
Zhang Dajian closed his eyes comfortably: "Comfortable, it's really too comfortable."
Hearing his exaggerated voice, Lin Wanru let out a soft laugh.
"Look how engrossed you are. No matter how comfortable soaking your feet is, can it compare to marrying a wife?"
Lin Wanru's face instantly turned red: "Dajian, what I told you before, have you thought about it?"
Zhang Dajian was stunned: "What thing?"
Seeing how forgetful he was, Lin Wanru pinched his foot hard, "It's about marrying my two younger sisters."
Zhang Dajian's eyes widened, "Wanru, you really want to marry your two younger sisters to me?"
"Nonsense, can something like this be a joke? Be decisive. If you agree, I need to go back to my parents' house quickly."
"Agree! Of course, I agree!"
Zhang Dajian raised both hands in agreement, then his tone changed, and he looked at Lin Wanru: "You said before that if I marry them, you'd agree to anything within your power. Does that still count?"
"Naturally, it counts."
She suddenly leaned closer, her warm breath caressing his earlobe, "As long as you're willing to marry them, no matter what you want me to do... I'll obey you."
At the same time, a notification sound rang in Zhang Dajian's mind:
Lin Wanru's Affection +8. Current Affection: 70!