LHBP | Chapter 4

…… Gu Yun stood there in a daze for a moment before walking over to the tree. Because the rabbit had run so fast and struck with such force, the gray-furred thing had already gone stiff. Gu Yun grabbed the rabbit by the ears and lifted it to weigh it in his hand. It really was not light, at least three or four jin. Gu Yun immediately felt less tired. He had thought he would be going hungry at Noon today, but he had not expected an extra meal to land in his lap so soon. On the way here, he had seen a mountain stream not far off. Gu Yun carried the rabbit straight there. Since he had no proper tools on hand, he had to find a few sharp stones and painstakingly clean the rabbit. Then he gathered some firewood nearby, found an open patch of ground, lit a fire, and prepared to roast the rabbit. Gu Yun’s skills were pretty good, and the wild game in the mountains was different from the purely artificially raised meat of modern times. Wild rabbits ran around the mountains all the time and ate wild grass and fruit, so even without much seasoning, the roasted meat was still delicious. Luckily, this was the front mountain and there were no large beasts around, or else Gu Yun would not have dared to have an open-air picnic here so brazenly. After a satisfying meal, he finished off the entire roasted rabbit. This was the best meal he had eaten since arriving in this strange new world. Once full and rested, Gu Yun put out the fire and checked the surrounding area to make sure there were no embers left. He dared not be careless in the mountains. Even a tiny spark could cause a major disaster. Everything was cleaned up properly, and Gu Yun was just about to leave when he suddenly spotted an old man walking out of the woods ahead, carrying a bamboo basket and a medicinal hoe. Looking closer, it was the doctor who had treated him yesterday. Doctor Wang apparently recognized him too. He frowned and said, “Your body is in no condition to be running around. Why did you come up the mountain?” In his memory, this Doctor Wang was still a fairly conscientious doctor. Hearing that, Gu Yun hurried to explain, “I felt much better today after taking the medicine you prescribed yesterday, so I thought I’d come up the mountain and find something to eat.” Doctor Wang had also seen the situation with the Gu family when he made his house call yesterday. As the saying went, where there was a stepmother, there was a stepfather too. He figured a half-grown child like Gu Yun probably had a hard time in the Gu family, which was why they had to come into the mountains to find food and fill their stomach. He looked at the male omega in front of him. Gu Yun was wearing gray coarse cloth clothes that had been washed so many times they had gone a little white, layered with patch after patch. He was skin and bones, with a yellowish face, obviously someone who had never had enough to eat since childhood. His wife had passed away early, and he had no children, so he could not help feeling a little more sympathy for this half-grown kid. Then his gaze fell on the bamboo basket in Gu Yun’s hand. Looking closely, he saw it was full of neatly bundled medicinal herbs. “You know medicinal herbs?” Gu Yun set the bamboo basket down on the ground and said a little embarrassedly, “I only know some common ones, so I picked a few. Doctor Wang, please take whatever you can use.” Doctor Wang stepped closer and took a look. He found that the herbs had been processed very cleanly and neatly, and even the ones that needed their roots and stems for medicine had not been damaged. They could be prepared directly after taking them back. “You handled these herbs well. I’ll take all of them. If you come across more of this quality in the future, you can bring them to Mingde Village.” He was old now, and traveling back and forth into the mountains to gather herbs had become rather tiring. Herb gatherers usually ran deep into the mountains to look for expensive medicinal materials like ginseng. They hardly ever bothered with these common, cheap herbs. So his stock of medicinal materials was incomplete, and often after writing a prescription, he still had to tell the patient to go to the town pharmacy for medicine. Now that he saw these well-processed herbs, and because he also wanted to help this child, he offered to buy Gu Yun’s herbs. Gu Yun had actually been worrying about where to sell them. The pharmacies in town definitely had fixed suppliers, and they would not care about his small-time efforts. He had originally planned to sell them to the village herbal doctor, but he had not expected to run into Doctor Wang like this. Hearing that, he nodded happily. With this, the startup money for his snack stall could slowly be saved up. Doctor Wang counted the herbs. “These are all common medicinal herbs. They’re usually bought by the jin, five wen per jin. Yours are about ten jin altogether, so that’s fifty wen. Is that all right?” Gu Yun knew Doctor Wang would not cheat him. Right now he had practically nothing on him, so being able to earn fifty wen was already very good. “Yes, thank you, Doctor Wang. Next time I gather herbs, I’ll bring them straight to your house.” Doctor Wang nodded. “I went out to gather herbs today and didn’t bring any money. Do you want to come back home with me to get it, or take it when you bring the herbs next time?” Gu Yun glanced at the sky. It was already close to evening. If he made a trip to Mingde Village and came back, it would be dark, and he had nowhere to hide money in the Gu family anyway. Gu Yun said, “It’s getting late. I need to head back early, so I’ll take the money when I bring you the herbs next time.” Doctor Wang said, “All right. It’s getting late, and it’s not safe for a young male omega to be in the mountains alone. You should go back early.” After saying goodbye to Doctor Wang, Gu Yun headed downhill with light hands and light feet. In less than half an hour, he was down the mountain. The Gu family lived at the head of the village, so once Gu Yun came down the mountain, he had to pass through most of the village to get home. When he went up the mountain in the morning, the villagers were all busy in the fields, so he had barely met anyone on the road. But now it was late afternoon, just the time when everyone was coming home after finishing their fieldwork. As a result, Gu Yun received plenty of looks along the way, some kind, some gleefully mocking. Even with his thick skin, Gu Yun could not stand so many gossiping stares, so he could only quicken his pace and hurry home. As he was walking, he saw someone running toward him from afar. “Gu Yun, I came to see you this morning, but Gu An said you weren’t home. Your body still isn’t well, so how can you go running around? Where did you go? Why are you all dusty?” Gu Yun looked at the person running over, then sifted through the original owner’s memories before finally remembering that this person was named Yu Qiu, the original owner’s only good friend in life. The Yu couple had fled famine from the south more than ten years ago and later settled in Peach Blossom Village. Outsiders were usually given wasteland, and the yields there were not high. Fortunately, the Yu couple were capable, and they also had a tofu-making skill passed down from their ancestors. Their family grew soybeans on the wasteland and opened a small tofu workshop in Peach Blossom Village. So the Yu family’s life in Peach Blossom Village was fairly good. The couple only had this one male omega child, so they cherished them very much. Yu Qiu was the same age as Gu Yun. The Yu couple were both kind-hearted people, and feeling sorry for his situation, they often secretly sent food to Gu Yun behind the Gu family’s back. Seeing the worried look in the other’s eyes, Gu Yun felt warm inside and smiled. “Qiu-ge'er, I’m fine. I just wandered around.” After looking at his face and seeing that he really did look much better, Yu Qiu finally let out a breath. Then he suddenly remembered something else and quickly pulled Gu Yun into a corner nearby, saying softly, “I saw Cui Guizhi going to Matchmaker Wang’s house this morning. Didn’t Gu An already get engaged to Zhou Ruiwen from Mingde Village? Zhou Ruiwen is a scholar, so there’s no reason for the Gu family to be dissatisfied, and your family doesn’t have anything else to ...” While speaking, he glanced at Gu Yun. “She wouldn’t be trying to find you a marriage match, would she?” Matchmaker Wang did not have a good reputation in Peach Blossom Village, because she was extremely unprofessional. As long as the money was enough, she would match up anything at all, and could even sell the dead as if they were alive. So ordinary respectable families would not go to her for a match. They would rather walk farther and ask a matchmaker in another village. Gu Yun nodded calmly. “Probably.” Hearing that, Yu Qiu became even more indignant. “I knew Cui Guizhi had no good intentions. Going to Matchmaker Wang to find you a match, she’s trying to push you into a fire pit.” He was furious. This person was far too vicious. They were basically trying to ruin Gu Yun’s entire life. Gu Yun comforted them. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to marry.” Yu Qiu was still a little worried. “But since ancient times it’s been parents’ word and the matchmaker’s match. How are you going to refuse?” Gu Yun smiled confidently. “After falling into the water this time and walking past the gates of hell, I’ve figured a lot of things out. I’m not going to let them keep bullying me without fighting back anymore.” Yu Qiu looked at the confident and calm Gu Yun in front of them, and only felt that they seemed like a different person. They said with relief, “It’s best that you think that way. If you need my help with anything, just say so.”