There was still a lingering scent in the room that refused to clear out.
Yao Fulang, being no stranger to these things, walked in and instantly knew—the two had definitely been “trying for a baby” last night.
I mean, what kind of smell sticks around till morning? That strong? Yeah, okay. He smirked.
He strolled inside, openly enjoying Lu Liu’s awkwardness. Then he dashed outside to check—and yep, Li Feng had already taken the cart and left with Erhuang.
So he jogged back in and gave Lu Liu a proper round of teasing.
“You two didn’t sleep all night, huh? Ah, to be young again.”
Lu Liu didn’t even dare explain that they had actually slept—and then woke up to do it.
Moving quickly, he tidied the bedding and propped the windows open. The cold morning wind blew in, and within minutes, the air had cleared.
Yao Fulang chatted about running into Chen Fulang that morning and invited Lu Liu out for a stroll.
“Didn’t you say you wanted to look around the village? I’m telling you—now’s the time. Today is perfect.”
Lu Liu was puzzled. “Why’s today so perfect?”
He had been planning to do laundry and hang things out to dry.
Yao Fulang grinned. “Because you’ve got a very capable big brother, duh!”
Lu Liu laughed. “You’re not wrong.”
Obviously, the “meaning” Lu Liu took from that was not what Yao Fulang meant.
Still, Lu Liu thought it over and agreed. He was feeling a little tired anyway—stretching his legs would be a good break. Plus, he could bring up the little shop business while they were out.
They still had some liquor left at home too. That stuff was expensive—it’d be better to sell it sooner rather than later.
He told Yao Fulang to wait a minute, then rinsed his mouth, washed his face, checked the kitchen, and warmed up a bun for breakfast.
He even offered one to Yao Fulang, but the latter firmly declined.
“You already gave me two yesterday,” he said. “I’d feel shameless taking more.”
As they chatted, Yao Fulang added, “Makes sense though—your family used to run a shop, lived in the county for over ten years… Of course you know other shop owners.”
Lu Liu just smiled without saying anything. He finished his bun, headed to the backyard to feed the rabbits, saw the good weather, and quickly dragged out the straw from Erhuang’s nest and the mule pen to dry it all under the sun.
Yao Fulang was practically tapping his foot from impatience when Lu Liu finally came over, took his arm, and headed out with him to visit neighbors.
In the lower village, there were a few regular spots for hanging out.
In other seasons, people would find a breezy place to sit, or chat in someone’s courtyard. In winter, folks usually gathered indoors—unless the sun was out. Then it was all about catching those rays.
There was a kind of etiquette around whose house you could drop in on.
Generally, you went to homes that were warm, lively, and open to guests.
For now, Yao Fulang brought Lu Liu to his mother’s place first.
The Yao surname was the second-largest family name in the village. The original Yao ancestors were four brothers who had settled there generations ago. With those four as the roots, all their descendants were interconnected—branches of the same tree.
There were even intermarriages between the Yao and Li families. When Yao Fulang married Daqiang, they had even consulted a matchmaker for over ten days—just to make sure the two weren’t too closely related.
“If bloodlines are too close, you end up with a dumb kid,” they’d been warned.
Lu Liu had never heard that before, but he nodded and filed it away.
Then he asked, “Do animals have relatives too?”
Yao Fulang: “?”
Lu Liu muttered, “I want to raise a few more litters of rabbits. That female rabbit we’ve got—once her babies grow up, she could breed again, right? But now I’m thinking… maybe not. If they’re all from the same litter and start breeding, I might end up with dumb rabbits.”
Yao Fulang laughed. “For a second I thought you were insulting me.”
Then he added, “So what if you get dumb rabbits? It’s not like they’re sitting the imperial exam.”
Lu Liu, now well aware of exactly what “imperial exam” could mean: “…”
They were still chatting as they walked past Chen Fulang’s house.
Chen Fulang had married a man with the surname Wang—a small surname in this village. The man was a hunter and close friends with Li Feng.
Yao Fulang told Lu Liu, “You’ve probably seen him—his name’s Wang Meng. He’s best friends with your Daqiang.”
Lu Liu nodded. He’d seen the guy before, but he hadn’t realized Wang Meng and Li Feng were that close.
“Really? Best friends?”
He had thought Daqiang was closest with Sanmiao.
Yao Fulang had grown up listening to people gossip—and gossiping himself. With all that chatter in his ears since he was a kid, his mouth worked faster than his brain.
“All the top hunters around here? They’re almost all surnamed Li. Outsiders rarely get taught the real skills. Take the men from my mom’s side of the family, for example—they’re nothing special. What little they know, they pass down, but it’s shallow stuff. And even for Li men, not everyone gets the good stuff—it usually only gets passed from father to son.”
At that point, Yao Fulang suddenly realized what he’d just said, gave an awkward chuckle, and dropped the subject.
Behind the village loomed a mountain called Fentou Mountain—literally, Grave-Mound Mountain. It was a burial place. Most families only brought their kids to the base of the mountain to practice setting traps and shooting arrows. The rest of the skills—the real survival techniques—were deep in the forest.
To venture into the real wilderness took more than guts. You needed a seasoned mentor to guide you, hand-in-hand. If you couldn’t recognize the tracks of big game, you’d walk right into death.
A lot of people in the village were widowed—men and women both. Li Feng’s father had died before he could finish passing on his hunting knowledge. So Li Feng had grown up with only half the training, never even setting foot in the deep woods.
Sure, he could have learned from his uncles. But one of them—his youngest uncle—was still single and had plans of his own. He wanted to marry his sister-in-law.
His reasoning? “We’re all one family. I don’t mind helping raise my brother’s son. Just let me and her have a couple kids of our own too.”
Chen Guizhi wasn’t having it. The marriage talk fell apart, the two families turned cold toward each other, and when Li Feng followed his uncles into the mountains, they’d let him tag along, share a bit of meat—but never taught him the real stuff.
Everyone who remembered those events said that was why Chen Guizhi spoiled Li Feng now. Besides feeling guilty about how hard he worked to support the family, there was regret. If she had remarried, maybe her son would’ve had a safer path in life.
Yao Fulang glossed over that background, then continued telling Lu Liu, “Back then, other folks were trying their luck in the mountains too. Your Daqiang first started hunting with Wang Meng. The two of them would come running out, completely covered in blood—frantic, panicking—and not even a single rabbit in hand!”
Lu Liu’s face went pale. “Covered in blood?”
Yao Fulang nodded. “Yeah. Most of the time it was from the animals. My uncle said they didn’t know the signs of nearby predators yet, didn’t process kills fast enough, and couldn’t hide them properly either. They were basically feeding wild beasts every day. Lucky they didn’t feed themselves to them too.”
Li Feng had told Lu Liu plenty about the forest, but he’d left out the gory parts. When he did mention blood, it was in the context of tracking prey by blood trails. He also said they’d leave behind bones and scraps they couldn’t carry, to lure predators in—then ambush them with arrows.
They’d also forage for food in the woods—wild greens, fruits, edible roots, bird eggs, wild eggs. Meat was rare, usually roasted or boiled. After cooking, they’d rub it with salt to kill the gamey taste and swallow it down. No one was savoring the flavor.
In the early days, they ate a lot of snakes. Venture a little deeper, and you could whack five or six with one stick. You couldn’t not deal with them. Eventually, their menu expanded.
Lu Liu hadn’t realized how rough and dangerous things had been. His heart ached with sympathy.
Yao Fulang shrugged. “Men have their pride. My Daqiang never talks about how hard it is in the mountains. But what, you think I’m just some clueless little husband? He can’t hide stuff from me.”
Lu Liu: “…”
Well… he really was a clueless little husband.
As they were talking, they reached their destination.
Yao Fulang wrapped up the topic. “Anyway, your Daqiang and Wang Meng go way back. You’re bound to run into Chen Fulang eventually. Just keep your guard up.”
Lu Liu wasn’t worried. His brother had taught him how to deal with Chen Fulang.
Visiting neighbors basically meant hanging out and chatting. Lu Liu had seen Yao’s second sister-in-law before; they’d gone to the market together, though they’d split up after arriving in town.
Yao Fulang went inside and came back with two small wooden stools. Their village sat close to the forest, with plenty of trees and wood, so the men all had some woodworking skills. When guests came over, they could whip out a saw and knock together a stool on the spot.
This was Lu Liu’s first time visiting anyone in the village. Honestly, he hadn’t even done it in his old home, Lujiatun, so he was feeling a little excited.
He had a quiet, well-behaved nature. Sitting on the stool, he tucked his knees up, hugged his arms around them—very different from the usual pose, where people sat with their legs wide open, which was more comfortable and better for working with your hands.
He noticed everyone around him was doing needlework, and he made a mental note. Next time he visited someone, he’d bring his little embroidery basket too.
Lately, he’d been busy making gloves and hats. He still had the scrap fabric he’d bought at the market sitting untouched. He could use it to start sewing insoles.
