Free Web NovelChapter 444: Chapter 444: Delivering Food
Xu Ancheng handed the binoculars to Yi Roujing, gestured to her, Yi Roujing took them with confusion, and when she looked again in the distance, the tiger was nowhere to be seen, "Hey, where’s the tiger?"
"Gone." Xu Ancheng replied, "It came to deliver a thank-you gift."
Having experienced wolves delivering prey before, Xu Ancheng accepted this quite naturally, "It must know that you saved the tiger cub."
"How does it know?" Yi Roujing asked curiously, "Is it the smell?"
"An animal’s sense of smell is unmatched by humans." Xu Ancheng replied, "Let’s go take a look."
"Bring the gear." To be on the safe side, Yi Roujing and Xu Ancheng both took hunting rifles. When they walked out of the farmhouse and reached the fork in the road, they saw the still slightly warm bodies of a wild deer and a foolish roe deer lying on the ground. It was a bit of a surprise, a stag with decent-sized antlers and a deer whip—these are excellent medicinal materials.
The weight wasn’t light either, Xu Ancheng lifted the wild deer, weighing around seventy to eighty pounds, and the foolish roe deer was around forty to fifty pounds. The two returned to the farmhouse, fastened the main gate, and saw Wu Guofang and Ni Yanqing standing in the yard.
"Where did these come from?" Ni Yanqing asked in astonishment. He had heard the sound of the farmhouse gate opening and came out to check out of concern, Wu Guofang had done the same.
They then saw Xu Ancheng coming in with a piece of prey in each hand while Yi Roujing held the hunting rifle.
"What if I told you the tiger brought them, would you believe it?" Xu Ancheng asked with a smile.
"Be serious." Ni Yanqing glared at Xu Ancheng.
"It really was the tiger that brought them." Xu Ancheng said helplessly, "Earlier, we saw it through the binoculars, that tiger cub survived, and it must have sniffed its way here. These should be thank-you gifts."
"Really!" Ni Yanqing encountered such an event for the first time, finding it hard to believe, but Wu Guofang believed it.
"Animals are intelligent, sometimes more so than people, and they understand gratitude." Wu Guofang seemed to recall something, "Since we’re already up, I won’t go back to sleep. I’ll handle these two things; the hides are good material for making warm boots."
"Brother Wu, leave the antlers and the deer whip for me to cut; they are excellent medicinal materials." Yi Roujing said.
Wu Guofang twitched his mouth; should such words like ’deer whip’ be spoken by a lady?
"I thought we wouldn’t get to eat roast venison this time, but it came true." Ni Yanqing decided not to go back to sleep either, "Ancheng, thank you for watching the night, I’ll go help Brother Wu."
Then the three happily went off to deal with the game, leaving Xu Ancheng alone in the yard feeling speechless.
After cutting the antlers and the deer whip, Yi Roujing began the preparation, and it wasn’t until late morning that she finished.
"Sister-in-law, come have breakfast, you’ve worked hard without rest."
Ding Anmin got up at five in the morning. After seeing the processed deer and foolish roe deer by Wu Guofang and Ni Yanqing’s work, she immediately took over. She sliced the venison that needed roasting, marinated it with spices to infuse flavor, cut some for stewing, and for the roe deer, soaked off the blood, blanched, and stir-fried the rest.
After handling these, when Feng Lishu and others had prepared breakfast, there was fish fillet porridge, wild boar porridge, with options to choose from, along with fried eggs, boiled eggs, freshly fried dough sticks, and cucumber salad, making breakfast abundant.
Yi Roujing had been occupied with the medicinal preparation, and no one dared to disturb her. Ding Anmin came to check several times, and finally, at eight-thirty, she was done.
"Sister-in-law, I’ve prepared them freshly fried and cooked for you. Go wash up first." Ding Anmin said, restarted the oil pot, fried a few dough sticks, and simmered the fish fillet porridge with the clay pot.
The rice had been soaked, and in fifteen minutes, the steaming fish fillet porridge was ready. Paired with crispy and fragrant dough sticks and some cucumber, Yi Roujing ate with great satisfaction.
After staying up all night, breakfast left them sleepy, leading Xu Ancheng and herself for a little nap.
So they didn’t know that at the same fork in the road, there was more wild game left behind again. This time it was a big bear, discovered by Wu Guofang, who witnessed two adult tigers dragging it to the spot, with a wobbly tiger cub behind them, attempting to head towards the farmhouse, but one of the adult tigers carried it away in its mouth.
Wu Guofang could barely manage to drag the bear alone, but he didn’t dare bring it directly into the farmhouse; he came in first to clear the area, worrying that the children might have nightmares at the sight.
"The bear has lots of treasures too; let’s wait till Yi Roujing wakes up to handle it." Ni Yanqing suggested.
Yi Roujing slept soundly until four in the afternoon; upon exiting her room, she was informed about the bear. Seeing the sizable bear over two meters long lying in the courtyard, she wondered if she was dreaming.
"Let’s get it handled; then we can go sell these bear paws and other parts. We can make quite a bit; let’s keep two for ourselves to eat." Jiang Bomeng’s eyes nearly stuck on the bear. He had never eaten it before but heard of it many times, never expecting such an opportunity.
Bear skin, gall, paws, bones, and meat. All are treasures. Yi Roujing didn’t keep anything this time. Except for the portions meant for eating, the rest were to be sold. Deer skins were fine for making boots, but bear skin was too conspicuous.
That evening, everyone at the farmhouse feasted: roast venison, stir-fried foolish roe deer, red-braised bear paws, and steamed bear paws with two options, paired with seasonal vegetables, with a reminder not to overeat at dinner.
Wu Guofang and Ni Yanqing arrived home at seven in the evening; the wild game sold for five hundred and thirty-five yuan, all of which they gave to Yi Roujing.
"You saved the tiger cub; the gifts are meant for you. We’re just tagging along to enjoy the feast." Everyone insisted, leaving Yi Roujing to accept it.
However, the tiger’s gratitude didn’t end there. Over the next few days, something was left at the fork in the road daily, be it wild game or dug-up ginseng and Lingzhi mushrooms.
"Could that tiger have become a spirit?" Ding Anmin expressed doubt after witnessing it.
On August 10th, Yi Roujing waited directly at the fork, but she wasn’t alone; all capable companions guarded the surroundings.
The tigers arrived right on time, bringing wild rabbits, pheasants, and an antelope.
The tiger cub walked more steadily, and upon catching Yi Roujing’s scent, it ran over, bypassing the two big tigers, and directly nuzzled her leg, exuding strong affection.
The two big tigers put down their offerings and didn’t approach further, watching their child bond with Yi Roujing.
"We’re heading back the day after tomorrow, so don’t bring us anything further." Yi Roujing said with a smile, not caring if they understood.
Among those present was He, invited by Yi Roujing and others. Seeing the tigers, his legs weakened, and he plopped to the ground, unable to get up until Yi Roujing introduced him and gently urged him toward the tiger cub, helping him stand, trembling.
Yi Roujing asked He to periodically check the area, and if there was any game, he’d take it to the commune for sharing. Better that acquaintances have it than let it go to waste or be picked up by others.
