Chapter 010 - Ambition!
Li Yuan returned to Little Ink Village with a sack slung over his back. Since the pheasant hadn’t bled, there wasn’t the slightest whiff of blood on him. Still, there was no hiding his catch from those with sharp eyes.
Along the way, several people spotted him.
“Pipsqueak, did you bring something back?”
“Got lucky this time, huh? You didn’t just swipe some poor fella’s catch from a trap, did you?”
“What is it, a pheasant? A hare?”
Li Yuan only smiled. “Just a little pheasant I happened upon while strolling around. Pure luck, pure luck.”
When he got home, Yan Yu wasn’t back yet. He waited a while before hearing a noise at the fence. Peeking outside, he saw his wife in a dingy gray coat, looking rather plump around the belly—her face smudged with ash—pushing the gate open while carrying a large bamboo basket.
The sight amused Li Yuan. In these times, you couldn’t be too careful. A woman who was even slightly attractive could easily invite trouble. Maybe not today, but if times got any rougher and someone happened to set eyes on her, who knew what might happen?
In a chaotic era, it was best to act beneath notice. Even if you could eat ten portions, you only eat three; otherwise, someone was bound to come knocking.
The moment Yan Yu opened the door and spotted Li Yuan, she gave a little sigh and said, “Ahh, prices have gone up again. I had to haggle forever, and in the end I could only get one and a half kilograms of millet and one kilogram of beans for two large coins.”
As she spoke, her gaze fell on Li Yuan’s empty hands, and she looked a bit disappointed. “Didn’t manage to catch anything again today, huh?”
Though she understood her husband’s struggles, she couldn’t help feeling a bit annoyed.