Chapter 3: The Mysterious Chen Qingqing

Just as Lu Chuan was feeling excited,
a voice suddenly echoed from a distance.

“Help… someone help…”

It was a woman’s voice—faintly familiar.

Lu Chuan paused for a moment, then followed the sound.

It came from the base of a cliff. Though called a cliff, the drop was only about 10 meters.

A woman in a padded coat was clinging to a rock with one hand,
struggling to keep herself from falling.

“Chen Qingqing?”
Lu Chuan squinted and realized he knew this woman.

She was the daughter of Widow Wang in the village. Chen Qingqing’s father had been a hunter but was killed by a tiger during a hunting trip.

Since then, Widow Wang had raised Chen Qingqing alone. Life had always been hard for them—they were considered one of the more pitiful households in the village.

Hearing a voice above, Chen Qingqing looked up.
The moment she saw Lu Chuan, she cried out,
“Lu Chuan! What are you doing here? Please, help me! Find something and pull me up!”

“Hold on. I’ll find a rope,” Lu Chuan replied with a nod.

But he couldn’t help wondering—why on earth was Chen Qingqing climbing the mountain alone in this freezing weather, and how did she end up in such a dangerous place?

Now wasn’t the time to ask.

Lu Chuan searched the forest for some vines, braided them into a rope, and lowered it down the cliff.

Chen Qingqing clutched it like her last lifeline.
With great effort, Lu Chuan hauled her up.

Though she was wearing a padded jacket, it was already torn in several places, even revealing some skin underneath.

She stood there, shivering violently.
Her cheeks were flushed purple from the cold.

“What are you doing on the mountain in this kind of weather?” Lu Chuan asked.

Chen Qingqing gave a somewhat embarrassed smile.
“My mother’s sick. We don’t have money for medicine or treatment, and we still need grain for the year-end tax. I had no other choice… I came to the mountain hoping to find some herbs I could use or sell.”

“But before I could even find any, I slipped and fell.”

Lu Chuan nodded.
But just as he looked at her again, something surprising happened.

A panel appeared above Chen Qingqing’s head.

Name: Chen Qingqing
Age: 16
Beauty Score: 94
Affection Level: 47
Current reward if taken in:
– Basic Medical (Qihuang) Skill
– Basic Farming Skill
– Basic Forging Skill
– Intermediate Hunting Skill

Lu Chuan sucked in a cold breath.

This panel system—he was starting to understand it more clearly now.

Apparently, the panel only triggered for girls above a certain beauty threshold.

As for the affection level—
It seemed that every 10 points unlocked a skill or talent.

Judging by Chen Qingqing’s stats:
– Skills unlocked before 30 affection were all basic.
– After 30, it seemed to unlock intermediate abilities.
– Maybe higher levels would unlock advanced ones later on.

He would have to test this theory further in the future.

But there was one thing that confused him:
Chen Qingqing’s beauty score—94?

No matter how he looked at her, she didn’t seem that attractive.
Sure, she wasn’t ugly, but she definitely wasn’t that pretty.

She was, at best, average.

Could it be that the system’s standards of beauty were different from normal humans’?

Lu Chuan frowned slightly.
He thought to himself: This girl might be a tough one to take in. Widow Wang may not agree… How should I go about this?

“The mountain is sealed with snow right now—it’s extremely dangerous up there!”
Chen Qingqing lowered her head, feeling wronged. “I-I know… but my mother…”

As she spoke, she nervously fidgeted with the hem of her clothes.
“Brother Lu, do you still have any money at home? If you do… could you lend me a little?”

Lu Chuan felt awkward.
This girl really didn’t know how to talk.

“There’s barely enough at home,” he replied. “Just today, officials came to the village to assign wives. I accidentally offended the guy in charge, so I was forced to choose two.”

“It’s already registered. Soon I’ll have to pay the year-end food tax. My family needs to provide enough for three people now!”

Scratching his head, Lu Chuan added, “If things weren’t so tight, I wouldn’t be out here hunting.”

“Brother Lu, are you going hunting? Could you take me with you?” Chen Qingqing asked.
“I-I may not know how to hunt, but I’m strong! I can help carry things. Just give me a tenth of the meat—enough to get my mom a bit of nourishment. Maybe she’ll recover faster that way…”

Lu Chuan looked at her and said, “You should go back and at least change into a better coat.”
As he spoke, he awkwardly gestured toward her exposed shoulder.

“Ah!”
Only then did Chen Qingqing realize her jacket had torn.
She quickly tried to cover up, but in doing so, her flat, pale belly was exposed instead.

“Pfft…”
Lu Chuan couldn’t help but chuckle. He took off his own straw raincoat and handed it to her.
“Here, wear this. Go home and rest. If I catch anything, I’ll bring some to your house.”

No way I’m dragging a burden like her along.
If she followed him around, he wouldn’t even be able to use his storage space freely.

“Brother Lu, but if you give me your coat, you’ll be cold…” Chen Qingqing said worriedly.

“I’m fine,” Lu Chuan replied. “I’m wearing cotton inside. The straw raincoat is just for the snow. Looks like it won’t fall again for a while.”

“Don’t just stand there. Hurry home.”

After sending Chen Qingqing on her way,
Lu Chuan stayed near the riverside.

By late afternoon,
he’d already caught two wild hares and a pheasant that came to drink.

This is the benefit of guarding a respawn point, huh?
Lu Chuan couldn’t help but feel pleased.

Before leaving, he fetched some river water and washed away the blood stains on the riverbank.
Forest animals are cautious.
The smell of blood might alert them and scare them off from returning.

“This should be enough for today.”
Lu Chuan opened his portable storage space and looked at the animals lying inside:
a roe deer, two hares, and a pheasant.

His heart swelled with excitement.
The feeling of a successful hunt was just too satisfying.

He began making his way down the mountain the same way he came,
the sky gradually darkening.

But as he descended, Lu Chuan suddenly sensed something unusual.
Not far ahead, two small creatures were rolling around in the snow.

The creatures sensed someone approaching and immediately arched their backs,
growling at Lu Chuan.

“Damn—two young green wolves?”
Lu Chuan’s eyes sharpened as he stepped forward quickly.

The wolf pups instinctively backed away,
but then, as if realizing something, they snarled at him again, backs arched high—
ready to pounce at any moment.

“Hah… feisty little things, aren’t you?”