Chapter 16: Scared the Hell Out of Me

Hu Yaozu moved quickly and soon returned to the Ji family courtyard with a handful of copper coins.

He opened his hand to reveal exactly twenty coins.

“Here you go, sister. Here’s your money.”

Hu Zhaodi took the copper coins and handed him a skewer of grilled meat.

Hu Yaozu’s eyes lit up as he took the grilled meat and stuffed it into his mouth, devouring it ravenously.

At his age, he had never eaten anything so delicious; it was even better than the leftover pork fat he was used to.

As soon as he tasted it, Hu Yaozu couldn’t stop. He finished the skewer in just a few bites and looked eagerly at Hu Zhaodi, saying, “Sister, I want more.”

Hu Zhaodi extended her hand. “If you want to eat, you need to bring me money. Didn’t I tell you? Twenty coins per skewer.”

“I don’t have any money left. Grandma only gave me twenty coins.”

“If you don’t have money, then don’t eat. If you want more, go back and ask for more money.”

Hu Yaozu swallowed hard, turned around, and ran out of the Ji family courtyard.

This time, Hu Yaozu took longer to return. It was easy to guess that Yang, his grandmother, was reluctant to give him silver to buy more grilled meat.

But Hu Yaozu was spoiled in the Hu family and would throw tantrums whenever things didn’t go his way.

As long as he resorted to his shameless tactics, Yang would surrender before long.

That evening, Hu Yaozu ate five skewers of grilled meat, and Hu Zhaodi collected one hundred coins from him.

Each skewer was quite substantial, and he ended up with a round, bulging belly.

Yang was pained to lose one hundred coins to Hu Yaozu for grilled meat and couldn’t sleep the whole night.

After eating, Hu Zhaodi returned to her room to practice her martial arts, sitting cross-legged on the bed.

Now, she needed to seize every moment to enhance her strength. Only by becoming stronger would she be able to avoid being bullied by anyone.

The next day.

As dawn broke, Hu Zhaodi got up to wash her face.

Aunt Ji was up early, preparing breakfast as usual.

When she arrived at the kitchen, Hu Zhaodi said to Aunt Ji, “Aunt, I’m going to take a stroll in the mountains and won’t be back for lunch. In the afternoon, around the hour of Shen, please have Uncle drive the ox cart to the place we went to yesterday and wait for me.”

Aunt Ji turned around with a smile and said, “Zhaodi, I’ll make you some wild vegetable pancakes to take for lunch. Your uncle needs to get up soon, and I’ll have him accompany you into the mountains. I can’t feel at ease with you going into the mountains alone!”

“Aunt, there’s no need to make wild vegetable pancakes. I have some grilled meat left from last night, and I’ll take a little with me. Uncle doesn’t need to go so early; if he goes too early, he’ll just be waiting there. Don’t worry about me; I have self-defense items. I’ll head into the mountains first.”

Aunt Ji hurriedly objected, “You should at least have some breakfast before you go. The porridge will be ready soon.”

Hu Zhaodi shook her head. “No, Aunt. I ate too much last night and I’m not hungry right now. I’ll be off.”

After saying that, Hu Zhaodi turned and left the kitchen, grabbing a backpack and a cleaver from the courtyard before striding out.

By the time Aunt Ji chased after her, Hu Zhaodi had already gone far away.

“Alas! How can the Hu family treat such a diligent and sensible girl so harshly?”

After leaving the village, Hu Zhaodi took out some bread and milk from her space, eating as she walked.

When she reached the mountains, the sun had already shown half its face.

Looking up into the depths of the mountains, she stepped into the wilderness.

As she walked, she thought about how she must have been struck by lightning to end up in this world. If she wanted to go back, would she have to be struck by lightning again?

But if she got struck and returned, that would be fine. However, if she couldn’t go back and ended up in the underworld, that would be a huge loss.

Having survived so long, she decided against seeking out lightning.

If I really can’t go back, then I’ll just have to make the best of it. After all, I won’t starve to death.

The treasures of the deep mountains were abundant. As Hu Zhaodi walked, she gathered medicinal herbs and occasionally came across a few non-toxic mushrooms.

Today was a lucky day. After about a stick of incense’s worth of time, she encountered two wild chickens and even found a nest of wild chicken eggs.

She placed the wild chickens and eggs into her backpack and continued on her way.

Before she knew it, Hu Zhaodi was going deeper into the mountains.

Suddenly, her sharp eyes spotted a red ganoderma, about five hundred years old.

“Wow! I’m going to get rich!”

With this red ganoderma, buying land and building a house in Dawai Village wouldn’t be a problem at all.

Staying with the Ji family wasn’t a long-term plan. She originally intended to earn some silver and go to the county town to buy a residence.

But now, she had changed her mind.

There were countless treasures in the deep mountains. Wouldn’t it be nice to live a carefree life guarding such a treasure?

She took off her backpack, harvested the red ganoderma, and stored it in her space before picking up her backpack and cleaver, planning to continue onward.

Suddenly, a chill ran down her back, and a sense of danger swept over her.

Glancing back, she dropped her backpack and grabbed her cleaver, bolting away.

What the hell! She had encountered an adult tiger!

This was life-threatening!

Hu Zhaodi still hadn’t cultivated any internal strength; how could she possibly be a match for a big tiger?

Right now, staying alive was the most important thing!

She knew that with the tiger’s speed, catching up to her would be a piece of cake.

She couldn’t run in a straight line; she had to zigzag around the trees and find a chance to climb up.

Though she was fleeing, her mind was racing, thinking about how to divert the tiger’s attention and find an opportunity to get up a tree.

She stored the cleaver in her space and, concentrating, took out a piece of pork from her space supermarket, throwing it with all her might to her right.

Sure enough, the tiger was attracted by the piece of meat and turned toward it.

Seizing the opportunity, Hu Zhaodi scrambled up the tree like a frantic monkey.

However, a piece of meat wouldn’t distract the tiger for long. The tiger looked at Hu Zhaodi, exerted its powerful hind legs, and leapt toward her as she clung to the tree trunk.

Hu Zhaodi’s heart sank to the bottom. At her current height, she could easily be caught by the tiger.

This was it!

Just a few days after coming back to life, she was about to die in the jaws of a tiger!

Just as the tiger’s gaping mouth was about to bite her rear end, a sharp sword, glinting coldly, flew from behind her right and struck precisely into the tiger’s right eye.

With a howl of agony, the tiger collapsed to the ground.

Hu Zhaodi broke out in a cold sweat but remained calm, using her arms to turn and jump down from the tree.

With a twist of her wrist, the cleaver instantly appeared in her hand as she approached the blinded tiger, raising the cleaver and putting all her strength into it, unhesitatingly striking the back of the tiger’s head.

The tiger had tried to get up and pounce on Hu Zhaodi again, but with a loud thud, its massive body fell once more.

“Whew!” Hu Zhaodi exhaled deeply, her legs giving way as she sat down on the ground.

“What the hell! You scared the crap out of me!”

Suddenly, her eyes caught sight of the long sword embedded in the tiger’s eye. Hu Zhaodi jolted and quickly got up from the ground, shouting, “Who is the hero who saved me? Please show yourself!”

The surroundings fell silent, and Hu Zhaodi frowned slightly.