Chapter Seventeen: Fighting for One's Life

  Yun Zheng came back when Yun Er had the fire burning brightly, but there was a big black circle on his mouth. This was the result of blowing the blowpipe upside down. He stood at the door with Yun San to welcome Yun Da home.

  "Got a bit naughty!" Yundai pulled out a handkerchief and wiped clean the black ring around Yun'er's mouth, then carried in a bundle and saw the pile of quilts, frowned, went back out, spread the quilt on the bamboo pole outside, placed a basin of hot water under it. It was too cold outside, so those lice all gathered at the warm place surrounded by steam. As the water temperature gradually dropped, they started to move house. Of course, the best place is the warmest place, so in an instant, many lice floated on the surface of the basin.

  Yun Da poured out the water in the basin, then entered the house, washed his hands and took out two pastries from his bundle to give to Yun Er, letting him fill his stomach first. He himself picked up the axe and prepared to go up the mountain to chop firewood, as there was really not much firewood left at home.

  Today's luck was extremely good, found a dead wax tree, this is the best firewood easy to burn and does not produce smoke, the tree was a bit big, it took a lot of effort to cut it down, by the time he had dissected the whole tree into wood blocks of roughly the same size, the sky had already darkened.

  Hurry to carry firewood and prepare to go down the mountain. After dark, it's not safe at all on the mountain. If you encounter a wild boar, it's okay, but if you encounter a leopard, that's trouble. This thing likes to forage at dusk the most.

  He walked with his head down, hurrying along, when suddenly he stiffened and fell to the ground. A gust of wind swept over his head, and before he could react, another gust arose. Yun Zheng grabbed a bundle of firewood in front of him, feeling himself being violently knocked forward, rolling down the mountain slope with the firewood. As they tumbled, Yun Zheng saw a light yellow leopard coming down the mountain slope.

  The soft grass helped him dissipate most of the force, fortunately, the firewood knife in his waist was still there. He rolled to the bottom of the slope, got up dizzily, and the anger in his chest could no longer be restrained. The grievances he had suffered these days burst out in an instant.

  "Bastard! I've fallen to this state, and you still want to kick me while I'm down!" He didn't feel any fear at all. A person who didn't even dare hit a dog in his previous life was now charging forward with a roar towards the leopard that was pouncing on him.

  The most important thing in fighting with beasts is momentum. The leopard turned a bend and didn't dare to collide with Yun Zheng, the axe in Yun Zheng's hand heavily chopped on the leopard's head, and the leopard let out a "wow" and disappeared into the bushes.

  Yun Zheng waited for a long time, but still didn't see the leopard coming out again. He couldn't help but burst into loud laughter, laughing so hard that tears streamed down his face. He knelt softly on the ground, as if all his strength had been drained away.

  Tears streamed down his face for a while, and when he saw the bats flying around to catch insects, he suddenly startled, wiped away his tears and stood up, pulled the firewood up the mountain slope, found his own carrying pole and struggled to carry the firewood, walking home. He was too careless just now, should have left at the first time.

  He was about to enter the village, so he washed his face in a small river and tidied up his clothes. Every household in the village was having dinner, and the aroma of rice wafted from each bamboo building. He didn't know whose family it was, but today they were surprisingly cooking cured meat, and the fragrance drifted far away...

  His clothes were torn with two big holes, most likely scratched by a leopard. Yun Zheng shifted the firewood to his other shoulder and smiled as he greeted the villagers eating at the entrance of the bamboo building. He walked into the village.

  Yun Er hugged Yun San anxiously waiting for him, and looking at Yun Er's muddy feet, it was clear that the child had run to the entrance of the village to look for himself countless times.

  "Big brother, why have you just come back?"

  "Oh, I found a wax tree, it was hard to get it right, so it's a bit late, are you hungry? Let's cook dinner quickly, we'll have something good to eat tonight." Yun Zheng smiled as he carried the firewood up to the loft, leaning against the eaves below. With this firewood, it would be enough for Yun Er to burn for two or three days.

  "Your clothes are torn." Yun Er pointed at Yun Zheng's back as he was washing rice.

  "Accidentally scratched by a branch, this is the clothes I wear when working, just mend it and it's fine." After finishing speaking, she put the rice into the pot, rubbed Yun'er's head, then took out a piece of black cured meat from her bundle, and started washing it vigorously in the rice water.

  "Liu Doutou didn't come looking for you to take the test today?" Yún èr helped Yún Zhēng hold the meat, so he could go pour away the rice water.

  "Today I'm being tested on the multiplication table. And they want me to come up with a rule, one that nobody has ever discovered before."

  "This is a bit difficult, the multiplication table means nothing to you, what kind of rule are you talking about?" Yun Er scratched his head, he had never thought that there would be any rules for the multiplication table.

  "You recite from 19 to 98,81, take a closer look at the numbers and see if there's any pattern. Let me tell you, the one who made this question is really a scholar. You've learned a bunch of nonsense, but don't know these fundamental principles? Think for yourself, if you can't even surpass the ancients, just wait and see how I'll deal with you."

  Yun Zheng said, his hands moved quickly and efficiently. He soon cut the cured meat into small cubes of about one inch on each side, put them in a clay pot to cook, and after the water had been boiling for about five minutes, he took out the meat pieces, blew cool air on his hands, sliced the meat into thin strips, also sliced radish, preparing to make stir-fried cured meat with radish for tonight.

  "I see, the tens digit is exactly 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8 and the units digit is exactly 9,8,7,6,5,4,3,2,1. What an interesting change." Yun Er quickly found out the difference.

  Yun Zheng rubbed Yun Er's head again and then started stir-frying the vegetables on a stone, but without chili peppers it was really dull. The flavor of the Sichuan pepper was strange, neither Yun Zheng nor Yun Er liked it.

  Although the things are simple, Yun Zheng never allows himself to make unpalatable food. Originally, there was nothing good, if the work is not done carefully, this life will be unbearable.

  Finely chopped scallions, finely minced ginger, a few peppercorns in a little oil burst, then use chopsticks to pick up and throw away, the scallions and ginger stir-fry out of fragrance before pouring in the cured meat to stir-fry, the small bamboo building is instantly filled with rich aroma.

  Yun San wagged his tail desperately, no matter how many times Yun Da kicked him out, he remained unyielding. The food was all cooked, and Yun Da piled a lot of cured meat on Yun Er's bowl, while he only had a few small pieces, the cured meat in Yun San's food bowl was more than his own.

  Yun Er wanted to give some of his food to Yun Da, but was rejected: "Go away, you're still growing and I don't have milk or anything to supplement you. You can only eat more meat, this meat is distributed according to need, don't be pretentious, hurry up and finish your meal, growing up quickly is the priority."

  Two people and a dog finished dinner, Yun Er squatted there carefully washing the pot, brushing and suddenly pounced into Yun Da's arms with tears saying: "You encountered a wild beast, didn't you? Don't lie to me, your back is bleeding..."