Soon, the aroma of rice wafted through the house.
Yan Yu paused in his action of stuffing firewood into the stove and got up to serve the meal.
Husked rice, chestnuts, and beans were mixed into steaming hot food in the iron pot.
This was something Li Yuan would never have eaten in his past life, nor would he have thought of eating, but now he had no choice.
There was no flavor at all in his mouth, but Miss Yan had never tasted rich fish and meat, so it was fine for her.
After serving the two bowls of rice on the table, she brought over a bowl from the table, which contained chopped dried radish.
"Brother Yuan, I traded with Aunt Wang's family for this. It's salty and goes well with rice."
Saying this, Miss Yan picked a piece of the best-looking dried radish and placed it in her husband's bowl.
Li Yuan took a deep breath and began to fill his stomach.
This meal... was dry and coarse, without a bit of oil or fat.
He quickly finished eating, tossed aside his bowl and chopsticks, and lay back on the bed to continue resting.
Miss Yan ate slowly, suddenly looked at Li Yuan, and asked, "Brother Yuan, have you gotten stronger?"
Li Yuan said, "I stayed home without working, so I recovered."
Miss Yan said, "No, no, you really have gotten stronger... And your waist still has strength..."
After saying this, she suddenly blushed.
Li Yuan curiously asked, "Why are you blushing?"
"I asked Aunt Wang, and she said her husband is quite capable on the bed, but when I compare him to you, Brother Yuan, I find he's far off..." Miss Yan blushed even more and said, "Let's not talk about it."
As they were eating, a commotion came from outside. Miss Yan held her bowl and chopsticks, leaned against the door frame with one embroidered shoe over the threshold, peering outside.
"Hey, Brother Yuan, come and look..."
"What's the matter?"
"Come and see." Miss Yan beckoned with her hand, "The government officials have arrested Monk Pan and are taking him out of the workshop."
Li Yuan got up and walked over to take a look outside.
Outside, on the dirt path in the workshop, a bald, bruised man was walking with shackled hands, being led by a government official. Behind them was a swordsman in plain clothes, looking like he was with the official.
A group of people stood at a distance, gathered in threes and fives, watching from afar and quietly discussing among themselves, afraid of being overheard by others.
Miss Yan stood on tiptoe, watching, and muttered, "Why didn't Monk Pan run after killing someone? Was he waiting to be arrested?"
After watching for a while, she continued, "The Qian Family seems to have a good relationship with the government. The officials arrived so quickly. Brother Yuan, the Qian Family won't cause us trouble again, will they?"
Saying this, Miss Yan became uneasy again.
"Cause trouble? No way!"
Li Yuan responded casually and no longer concerned himself with her.
As for why Monk Pan didn't run, he thought about it for a moment and the answer was clear.
There were still people around the Qian Family. If a disturbance occurred, the nearby people would definitely show up, and they were all on good terms with the Qian Family.
Monk Pan wasn't some supreme martial artist. If a big fuss occurred, he'd naturally be subdued by the people who came.
He shook his head slightly, sighing softly in his heart.
But what could he do?
At this moment, he observed the "numbers" near the official.
The one holding the shackles had a knife at his waist; this kind of knife was a killing weapon, much better than his firewood blade, with a combined strength of "4~5".
The other in plain clothes was much more formidable, with a combined strength of "19~20".
How could there be such a big difference?
Li Yuan pondered for a moment and roughly understood.
This was probably not an ordinary ancient world, but at least a low-martial arts wuxia world.
The one with a high combined strength must have practiced some skills, right?
Before crossing over, Li Yuan had also read wuxia novels, where martial arts experts and ordinary people were like people from two different worlds.
...
...
That day, Li Yuan did not hurry out to hunt but prepared to observe for a while longer. He would wait until the situation calmed down before going into the mountains, as there were still a couple of large coins unused at home, enough to get by.
It was just that his stomach suffered a bit.
Enduring like this was better than carelessly losing his life.
In the dark, Miss Yan extinguished the candle, took off her cotton pants, curled up her fair long legs, and rustled into her husband's arms, snuggling under the quilt.
Li Yuan felt her shoulder, noticing she had lost quite a bit of weight, and he held Miss Yan tighter.
Feeling his movement, Miss Yan affectionately leaned closer to him, as inseparable as glue and lacquer.
Li Yuan thought about the numbers above the swordsman's head during the day and began to have pillow talk with his woman.
"Sister Yan, I've never asked, what's your relationship with Brother Yan?"
Brother Yan, whose name was Yan Mu, was an old friend with a certain heroic flair.
It was precisely this Yan Mu who had arranged for Yan Yu to stay with him before leaving and never returning.
Yan Yu blushed and said, "He's my nephew, I'm his aunt... I'm the elder in the family."
"Cough, cough..."
Li Yuan was a bit speechless.
How does one determine seniority here?
His brother's aunt was his woman? Then what did his brother call him? Brother-in-law?
Yan Yu blushed and said, "We each have our own ways of determining it..."
Li Yuan curiously asked, "But since you're Brother Yan's aunt, what about his parents? Why did he place you in my home?"
Yan Yu said sadly, "Our family was attacked by sea bandits, and I was the only one who survived.
Yan Mu said he was escorting a good official to Jade Capital City.
As for what to do, Yan Mu didn't tell me either.
I know he didn't tell me for my own good..."
Jade Capital City, which is the Imperial Capital...
But Li Yuan didn't care about this, he only asked, "So Yan Brother has great martial arts skills?"
Yan Yu said, "I'm not too sure either, Yan Mu was always outside. He only returned after our family was attacked by sea bandits..."
As she spoke, Miss Yan suddenly became enlightened, "Oh right, I remember him mentioning some terms, like the martial arts are divided into nine grades, and entry grade martial artists are invincible;
that the practice method is in the blood, pig blood nourishes pigs, dragon blood nourishes dragons;
and that the Sixth Grade Life Atlas can change fate..."
Martial arts divided into nine grades? Entry grade martial artists?
Pig blood nourishes pigs, dragon blood nourishes dragons? Life Atlas?
Li Yuan had found the answer.
This world not only had cultivation skills but was divided into nine grades. And maybe reaching the Sixth Grade would result in a qualitative change...
From now on, he had to be even more careful.
He fell silent, and Yan Yu also didn't speak.
Before long, the night air was filled with intimate sounds.
After a long time, Miss Yan fell soundly asleep, and Li Yuan turned his head to look at the repaired paper-covered window, remained silent for a while, and then slowly closed his eyes.
Sleep... what's the use of thinking too much?
...
...
Another three days passed.
The grain they bought previously had genuinely run out.
Yan Yu and Aunt Wang decided to go back to the black-hearted merchant's grain store to buy some more.
Uncle Wang originally worked at the county's inn, but the inn's business was poor these past few days, so he didn't go. With nothing to do at home, he took his son and daughter along to buy grain.
The two families lived close together and usually helped each other, and since the grain store was nearby, Li Yuan didn't bother to intervene.
The government was still around, providing basic security.
Buying rice from the grain store in broad daylight on the official road wouldn't be a problem unless bandits or sea bandits entered the county.
Today, he decided to go to the mountains and have a look.
...
Since Qian San's death, five days had passed.
Everything that had to settle had settled.
Outside, Monk Pan was imprisoned in the county jail, awaiting execution in a few days.
In the Little Ink Workshop, the five Qian brothers were not all hunters. In fact, Qian Da, Qian Si, and Qian Wu often worked outside. Now that the culprit was caught, they didn't bother with it anymore.
This left only Qian Er in the village.
Qian Er was a ruffian leader, with four or five followers under him.
He knew about Qian San's plan to "unite the hunters, then live lavishly and order people around."
With Qian San dead, he planned to continue the scheme.
But he didn't expect that day when Monk Pan exposed the Qian Family's plan before leaving the village.
How did Monk Pan know? God knows.
Maybe Qian San's wife was so frightened that she spilled everything then.
Because of this, several hunters in the village refused to comply and directly united.
Qian Er dared to come, they'd fight, not backing down one bit.
For a moment, Qian Er was at a loss. He couldn't hunt.
As for that Xiaofei, who obtained Uncle Cai Hua's hunting permit, he was just an immature ruffian. He could scaremonger people but had no ability to frighten beasts.
Thus, the opportunity for hunting presented itself.
Li Yuan decided to venture into the mountains and see.
His mouth had gone too tasteless; he needed some meat.