Chapter 13: Your Man is Impressive, Right?

Shen Jintao never expected him to say something like that. It was like a strong man acting spoiled, and the contrast was quite striking.

When Huo Beichuan said he wasn’t doing anything, he truly wasn’t. The house didn’t have the best soundproofing, and he didn’t want to make noise in the daytime, especially since the young woman would surely be embarrassed.

The two of them lay on the bed, with Huo Beichuan pulling her into his arms. Shen Jintao’s back pressed tightly against his hot chest.

Huo Beichuan buried his head into the back of her neck, his warm breath spreading over her most sensitive areas, causing Shen Jintao’s body to instinctively tense up.

Fortunately, she soon heard the sound of his steady breathing, which eased her. It wasn’t that she was resisting being intimate with him, but it was still daytime, and others were outside busy. If they did something now, they might end up being the subject of jokes.

She could clearly feel the powerful, steady rhythm of his heartbeat, which made her feel a sense of safety. Without realizing it, she drifted off to sleep.

When she opened her eyes again, the man was no longer beside her.

Shen Jintao looked at the sky, stunned.

She had actually slept until it was dark. Quickly getting up, she dressed and rushed out of the room.

“Jintao, you’re awake! Are you hungry? Dinner will be ready soon.”

Liu Guifen greeted her new daughter-in-law with a smile.

“Okay!”

Looking around, however, she still didn’t see Huo Beichuan. Shen Jintao couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed.

After all, she had just arrived at this new family, and the person she was most familiar with was Huo Beichuan. Although she had met her parents-in-law and others before, it felt different.

“After Beichuan woke up, he went up the mountain with a few of his brothers. I don’t know why he hasn’t come back yet, but don’t worry, they’re all good with their hands, especially Beichuan. He’s been going into the mountains since he was a kid, so it’s nothing serious.”

Liu Guifen, having been a daughter-in-law herself, naturally understood her daughter-in-law’s feelings.

“Is that so…”

Just as they were talking, a large group of people walked in. By this time, other families had already finished eating and were lying down, but the Huo family hadn’t had dinner yet.

The whole family was stunned as they looked at the big game the young men were carrying.

“This… this… this…” Liu Guifen couldn’t even complete a sentence.

“Today’s luck was good. We happened to come across this big one. We didn’t dare to come back directly, so we waited until it got dark, and everyone had already rested before coming back,” Huo Beichuan explained.

Shen Jintao stared blankly at the deer they had tied up, feeling a bit shocked.

There were mountains in their area too, but it was rare to see such a large deer.

As soon as she moved her gaze away from the deer, she met Huo Beichuan’s proud, teasing eyes, as if saying, “Wife, praise me, hurry up and praise me!”

“Hurry up, take this thing to the backyard. Eat first, eat first…”

Huo Chenggong pretended to be calm, puffing on his pipe, but his trembling hand betrayed his true thoughts.

At his age, Huo Chenggong had seen a lot in his life, and it was even said that when he was younger, he worked as a carpenter for the wealthy families in town.

Those rich families treated things like this as treasures, and yet his son had brought home such a big one.

There were still plenty of dishes left from the lunch banquet, all reheated in the pot.

Huo Nanxi and Huo Dongsheng, who had originally been annoyed from hunger, didn’t feel like eating anymore. They followed their brother to the backyard, their eyes never leaving the deer.

The deer was a stag, and its antlers were fully grown, big and impressive. Its large, watery eyes had long lashes. Tied up and thrown into the backyard, the deer seemed frightened, still trembling, but it dared not make a sound. It only looked at the crowd with pitiful eyes.

Huo Nanxi felt a little sorry for it, saying, “Big Brother, it looks so pitiful!”

Before Huo Beichuan could speak, Liu Guifen knocked her daughter’s head. “Pitiful? In this day and age, people are more pitiful than animals! You’ll only realize when you’re hungry!”

Shen Jintao thought her mother-in-law was right. Nowadays, people were even worse off than animals, working the hardest jobs and often going without food for days.

During dinner, Huo Beichuan talked about his experience on the mountain. He had originally planned to stay at home for only a short time, but he figured that when he had free time, he would take his brothers up the mountain to replenish supplies for the family, so that when he returned to the army, he wouldn’t have to worry about his wife not having meat to eat at home.

He never expected that today he would be so lucky. Not long after going up the mountain, they ran into this unfortunate deer. It took them a lot of effort to capture it alive.

They wouldn’t hunt large animals on the mountain, since they were all intelligent. Aside from these animals, there were also tigers, wild boars, and wolves, which were terrifying large creatures. If the smell of blood was too strong, it could attract those beasts, and they would never be able to get down the mountain.

“I’ll take half of this deer, and you all can split the rest. How about that?”

Huo Beichuan looked at Zhao Erzhu and the others. In the past, when they hunted, they always divided the spoils like this, because Huo Beichuan always did most of the work.

Zhao Erzhu and the others quickly expressed no objections, especially since if Huo Beichuan hadn’t taken action, they would never have caught up with the deer.

Aside from helping get it down the mountain, they didn’t contribute much.

Liu Guifen could barely hold back her smile. Fortunately, her son wasn’t foolish. If they were to split it evenly, she wouldn’t be happy. The deer was full of treasures, and she knew well what her son was capable of.

As the saying goes, “^[1]“A kindness of a grain of rice is repaid with a fight over a grain” is a Chinese proverb that means: Even a small favor or kindness (like giving a grain of rice) can lead to conflict or … Continue readingA kindness of a grain of rice is repaid with a fight over a grain.” If they split it this time, what would happen the next time they caught a big animal?

During this meal, everyone was absent-minded, all looking forward to butchering the deer.

Liu Guifen had already boiled hot water and was just waiting for the processing to begin.

Fortunately, their village was quite large, with only a few dozen households. It felt sparse when spread out, so even if there was some noise in the courtyard, they wouldn’t worry about others noticing, especially since it was already late at night.

Even though the deer had wide, wet eyes from fear, it couldn’t escape its fate of being slaughtered. The one who did it was Huo Beichuan.

Shen Jintao didn’t dare to watch and went straight back to her room.

She wasn’t a saint. She knew the importance of food, but that didn’t mean she could remain unfazed after seeing such a scene. In order to avoid throwing up later, she figured it was better to stay away.

The post-slaughter processing was left to the others. Huo Beichuan washed up clean and then entered the room.

“Wife!”

“Mm?”

“Your man is amazing, right?”

Shen Jintao felt like if this man had a tail, it would definitely be wagging by now.

“Pfft!”

Seeing his wife laugh because of him, although he didn’t get the response he wanted, Huo Beichuan was still happy. “Wife, I’m even more amazing.”

Shen Jintao stopped laughing and glared at Huo Beichuan. How could this man be so shameless?

Huo Beichuan grinned, showing off his big white teeth. “I meant I can also hunt tigers. What were you thinking?”

Shen Jintao: speechless