Chapter 4: Taking in the Wolf Pups

Even though they were fierce, they were still just wolf pups—no real threat to Lu Chuan.

He walked closer and picked the two little wolves up in his hands. They squirmed and struggled hard, trying to break free.

Lu Chuan activated his Beast Taming Skill, gently soothing the two young blue wolves.

After just a moment, the pups calmed down in his arms, nudging their heads against him as if pleading for something.

Lu Chuan paused, then seemed to understand.

He set them down on the ground.

The pups, taking short, wobbly baby steps, bounded toward a thicket of dead branches nearby.

Lu Chuan followed, and within the withered brush he found an adult blue wolf with one leg covered in blood—it looked like it had broken its leg from a fall.

Sensing Lu Chuan’s approach, the blue wolf summoned its last ounce of strength and stood up with difficulty, eyes fierce and flashing. It growled low and threateningly, warning him not to come closer.

“Don’t worry, I mean no harm,” Lu Chuan said softly, stretching out his hand and cautiously approaching. “Let me look at your wound. If I treat it in time, there might still be hope.”

Truth be told, whether it’s a dog or a wolf, their self-healing ability is quite strong. Most injuries can heal on their own.

But once they can’t recover naturally, it’s usually a slow death—especially in the wild, where getting food and nutrition is hard, which impacts healing.

The blue wolf seemed to sense that Lu Chuan had no ill intent and began to relax, licking its wound with its tongue.

Seeing that the wolf had dropped its guard, Lu Chuan carefully approached, gently lifting its injured hind leg.

After examining it, he sighed in relief.

It looked like the injury was just from a fall—nothing too serious. It had temporarily lost the ability to walk, but it wasn’t a permanent problem.

Thinking this, Lu Chuan picked up a sturdy stick nearby. After hesitating a bit, he tore off a strip of cloth from his own clothing and carefully bandaged the wolf’s leg.

With the added support, the wolf shakily stood up.

The two pups quickly ran over and nuzzled the adult wolf carefully.

The blue wolf looked up at Lu Chuan. In its eyes was a flicker of hesitation—almost as if it were weighing something.

Lu Chuan himself was wondering whether he should use Beast Taming to try and subdue the adult wolf too.

But just then, the wolf nudged its two pups toward Lu Chuan with its snout—gently pushing them in his direction. Then it turned to stare back toward the forest, as if it still had unfinished business there.

The pups whined and snuggled into the adult wolf’s side, reluctant to leave. But with another low, affectionate growl, the wolf encouraged them to go.

The two wolf pups, visibly reluctant, slowly toddled toward Lu Chuan.

He crouched down and gently scooped them into his arms. “From today on, you’ll follow me,” he said softly.

These pups, once grown, would surely become his best companions.

Cradling the pups, Lu Chuan began heading back down the mountain. The adult wolf limped behind, keeping a fixed distance—not too close, but never straying far.

Because of its injured leg, their descent was slow.

Just before reaching home, Lu Chuan picked up a long, sturdy branch, stripped it of its side branches, and used it to hang the wild chicken, rabbits, and the dumb deer he had hunted.

Carrying everything on his shoulders, he swayed down the path—headed home.

The blue wolf had stopped at the mountain slope, standing tall and proud atop a boulder. From that vantage point, it could clearly see Lu Chuan’s home.

Inside the house, Su Ruan and Bai Siyu heard movement and came out to check—only to see Lu Chuan returning with a full load of game.

They were both so shocked they couldn’t speak.

“You…”
Su Ruan stared in surprise. “You were gone for less than half a day and already caught this much?”

Was this a joke?
When had hunting ever become this easy?

“Just lucky,” Lu Chuan replied with a smile. “I found a flowing river that hadn’t frozen yet. These animals were all heading there to drink.”

As he spoke, he laid the game on the ground.
“Let’s cook this wild chicken for dinner today.”

When he looked up, both Su Ruan and Bai Siyu’s faces instantly turned red.
They hesitated, looking a little embarrassed.

“I… we don’t know how to cook…” Su Ruan admitted.

Lu Chuan’s eye twitched hard.

So these women weren’t ordinary. In this day and age, even girls from modest households were taught basic cooking. Women who knew nothing about kitchen work usually came from noble or prestigious families.

Looks like he’d really “won the lottery.”

“But don’t worry!” Bai Siyu said quickly, her face flushing deeper. “I’ll learn. I also know needlework, weaving, and some farming—I won’t be a burden!”

Lu Chuan nodded.
“Then I’ll handle dinner for today.”

In less than half an hour, the rich aroma of chicken soup was wafting from the table.

After putting down his chopsticks, Lu Chuan smiled and said, “Let me explain the situation at home.”

“In about half a month, we have to pay the annual grain tax.”
“It’s one shi (stone) of grain per person—that’s 100 catties.”
“So we’ll need 300 catties total. But right now, there’s only 50 catties left at home.”

His tone was helpless.

“So for the next few days, I’ll need to hunt and sell what I catch in town to trade for grain.”

At that moment, Bai Siyu frowned and spoke up seriously.

“Three hundred catties won’t be enough.”

“According to what I’ve heard, the local officials have tampered with the scales this year.”

“Grain that would normally weigh one jin (500g) will only register as 8 liang (400g) on the tax scale.”

She went on, “That means we’ll need at least 375 catties just to scrape by. Otherwise, the officials won’t let us off easily.”

Su Ruan was stunned. “They dare do something like that?”

“Why are you surprised?” Bai Siyu gave a bitter laugh. She opened her mouth to say more but held back and just shook her head.

“Right now, market prices are still high,” she added.
“Grain costs about 30 coins per jin, and meat is around 100 coins per jin.”
“Considering waste and other losses, you’ll need to hunt at least 200 catties worth of game to cover this tax.”

Lu Chuan nodded.
She wasn’t exaggerating at all.

The dumb deer he brought back weighed around 50 catties, which seemed like a lot, but most of it was bone. After bleeding it out and butchering, only about half would be sellable meat.

“Woo…”
Just then, a soft whimper came from nearby.

The little wolf pups looked up, their fluffy heads tilted and noses twitching.

They were clearly asking, “What about our food?”