After pampering two villainous cubs, the rough hunter becomes addicted to flirting with her.

As soon as she stepped into Chenjia Village, Shen Yu keenly sensed that the atmosphere around her was inexplicably eerie.

Last night, when she followed Li Xiaoyun into the village, she slept soundly in the back of the donkey cart. In addition, the night was dark and the whole village was quiet and utterly silent. At that time, she thought it was just the deep stillness of the night and did not notice anything unusual.

But today, with the sky bright and clear, the moment my feet touched the dirt road in the village, an unsettling feeling washed over me. This Chenjia Village, no matter how I looked at it, had an abnormal and strange quality.

A young woman washing clothes on the stone steps by the river caught sight of them. Her movements abruptly stopped, and she hurriedly gathered the clothes into a wooden basin. She squeezed the basin together with her, her eyes full of evasiveness.

The children who were playing by the threshing ground at the village entrance were like startled sparrows, instantly hiding behind the adults next to them, only daring to peek out with their little heads.

Even the elderly, women, and children who were chatting idly by the wall suddenly stopped smiling, shut their mouths, and stared at the group with alarmed expressions and wary eyes.

Even more timid ones, upon seeing them from afar, would scream as if they had encountered a ghost in broad daylight, and run home without even daring to look back.

Shen Yu was filled with doubts and secretly grumbled to herself. She asked, "What's going on... I feel like the villagers are all afraid of us?" Could it be that she injured those two villagers who caused trouble a few days ago, and now her reputation in the village has become extremely bad?

Shen Yu's guess wasn't entirely wrong; the village had indeed long since spread rumors that she was a fierce and ruthless shrew.

But if it were just because of her reputation, why would the villagers be so afraid of her?

Li Erlang snorted coldly from the side, his tone indifferent: "The one they are truly afraid of to the core is our eldest brother."

Li Xiaoyun? Shen Yu glanced at Li Xiaoyun, who was walking at the front, and thought to herself.

Indeed, Li Xiaoyun spends many years hunting in the deep mountains, and he carries a fierce aura from years of fighting wild beasts. In addition, he is tall and strong, with a full beard and a rough and rugged appearance, which naturally gives him an intimidating presence and makes people dare not approach him easily.

Even so, it shouldn't have frightened the villagers to this extent, right? They looked as if they had seen not an ordinary person, but a demon from hell.

As she was pondering this, Ya'er suddenly tugged gently at Shen Yu's sleeve.

Shen Yu looked in the direction she indicated and saw a little girl with a round face being tightly covered in the mouth by an old woman in front of a low mud-walled house not far away. The old woman grabbed her arm and hurriedly dragged her into the house, slamming the door shut with a loud bang.

Ya'er leaned close to Shen Yu's ear and whispered, "It's Da Niu and her grandmother." Shen Yu suddenly realized that it was Widow Ye's house.

She hadn't heard from this family since Widow Ye was expelled from the village for her misconduct.

Ya'er tilted her little face up, her eyes full of curiosity, and asked, "Sister, Da Niu used to bully me all the time, is she afraid of me now?"

Shen Yu raised her hand and rubbed her little head, pointed at Li Xiaoyun's back, and said with a smile, "With your big brother here, who will dare to bully you in the future?" Upon hearing this, Ya'er immediately beamed with joy. Her previous timid and shrinking appearance vanished, and she walked with her little back straight, head held high, swaggering like a proud little rooster.

Li Erlang remained indifferent, seemingly unconcerned about everything around him, and continued walking forward.

The group walked through the quiet village and reached the innermost corner of the village before arriving at Old Wu's house.

Old Wu bought this house for fifty or sixty taels of silver. It was a house with blue bricks and tiles, surrounded by a high stone wall, enclosing a small courtyard that belonged only to him.

In Chenjia Village, apart from the village chief's house, Old Wu's residence is the most grand and elegant.

However, Old Wu was a loner and usually kept to himself, rarely interacting with the villagers. In addition, he had a scar on his face, which made him look somewhat frightening. Even if he didn't leave the courtyard for ten days or half a month, no one in the village dared to visit him.

However, in the past two weeks, Old Wu's usually quiet home has become much more lively.

Li Xiaoyun stepped forward and knocked on the courtyard gate. Immediately, Old Wu's warm and cheerful voice came from inside: "Coming, coming! Let me see which distinguished guest has arrived..."

The courtyard gate creaked open, and Old Wu looked up to see Li Xiaoyun's family, all four of them together. He was so happy he couldn't stop smiling, his teeth showing.

His gaze swept over the group, and he muttered to himself, "These two little kids and Shen Nvniang are all pretty and delicate-looking, but Li Xiaoyun is all unkempt with a stubble and looks ugly, ruining this beautiful scene."

Old Wu quickly stepped aside to make way, calling out, "Quick, quick, come in! Little cook, oh no, Miss Shen, I've been waiting for you! A warm welcome! I've been so busy waiting for your second meal that I haven't been able to eat or drink properly these past few days, and I've even lost several pounds!"

Shen Yu was amused by his words and laughed out loud. She thought to herself, "How come I didn't notice in my previous life that this old man Wu was such a glutton?"

She smiled and replied, "Mr. Wu, you're too kind. Thank you for waiting."

The eldest son said, "Today I'll cook you a plump and tender pheasant. Just tell me how you'd like it."

The four followed Old Man Wu into the courtyard, where Old Man Wu immediately shut the gate tightly, as if afraid that someone outside would come in and disturb them.

He turned around, chuckling as he followed Shen Yu beside her: "Anything is fine with me. I trust Miss Shen's cooking skills; everything she makes will be delicious!"

Li Xiaoyun walked straight to the kitchen, unloaded the basket from her back and placed it on the ground, taking out the contents one by one: a small bag of flour, a few kilograms of rice, a handful of wilted vegetable leaves, two red-skinned sweet potatoes, and a few scattered, unremarkable ingredients.

Old Wu followed him into the kitchen, and upon seeing the scene, he was so angry he nearly fainted: "You brat, coming to my house as a guest and bringing such shabby and pathetic things! Pack them up and take them back right now, you're utterly destitute!"

After scolding Li Xiaoyun, Old Wu immediately put on a gentle smile, walked up to Shen Yu, pointed to the table piled high with ingredients beside the stove, and said, "Miss Shen, I knew you were coming to cook today, so I went to the market and the village head's house before dawn to gather these ingredients. I already have rice and flour at home, and these fresh vegetables and meats—use whatever you like. It would be best if we could use them all. My house is much better than Li Xiaoyun's dilapidated hut. Although it can't compare to the abundance at the town market, it has everything you need. Take a look!"

Standing aside, Li Xiaoyun, who had been publicly scorned, had a dark and gloomy face, and the atmosphere around him seemed to have become even more oppressive.

He suddenly remembered that a few days ago, this old man Wu had said that he wanted to recognize Shen Yu as his goddaughter, and alarm bells immediately went off in his mind.

He immediately grabbed Old Wu's arm and dragged him out of the kitchen without saying a word: "A gentleman keeps away from the kitchen. You shouldn't cause trouble there. Why don't you go and help me look after the two little ones? They love listening to ghost stories."

Upon hearing this, Old Wu's eyes lit up instantly, and he quickly said, "Oh? Really? Oh dear, what a coincidence! I heard a few days ago that a murder occurred in Lin Family Village, causing widespread panic and even spreading ghost stories. I was just looking for someone to share this with!"

Looking at Old Wu's enthusiastic expression, Li Xiaoyun's lips twitched, and she sighed inwardly.

I just hope his six-year-old sister won't have nightmares tonight because of these scary stories.

After Old Wu left the kitchen with a cheerful smile, Shen Yu looked at Li Xiaoyun and teased, "Young Master just said that a gentleman keeps away from the kitchen. Does that mean you're not a gentleman?"

Li Xiaoyun bent down and picked up the plump pheasant from the ground. He looked up at Shen Yu and said in a flat tone, "I am just a country bumpkin named Li Xiaoyun." After saying that, he turned around and walked out of the kitchen with the pheasant, obviously intending to help Shen Yu deal with the pheasant herself so that she wouldn't have to do it.

As Shen Yu watched his retreating figure, she pondered to herself: If you are truly just an ordinary mountain dweller named Li Xiaoyun, then who taught Li Erlang his early education? The background of these three siblings from the Li Xiaoyun family is truly an unsolvable mystery.

Listening to Old Wu's vivid storytelling coming from the courtyard, Shen Yu glanced at the ingredients on the table and got a sense of what was going on.

There are plenty of fresh vegetables available at this time of year, such as white radishes and carrots, all of which are fresh and crisp. With these ingredients, it's not difficult to cook a hearty meal.

She stuffed all the vegetables into a bamboo basket next to her, then carried the basket out of the kitchen.

She was genuinely curious about why the woman from Wujia Village would kill her own family.

In the courtyard, Old Wu was sitting at the stone table, mysteriously telling the beginning of a ghost story. Ya'er and Li Erlang sat on the stone bench beside him, listening intently with mesmerized expressions.

Li Xiaoyun, on the other side of the courtyard, filled a bucket with clean water, took out a gleaming sharp knife, and was preparing to bleed the pheasant.

Then Old Wu lowered his voice and slowly recounted, "That night, the moon was dark and the wind was high, and all was quiet. The woman picked up an axe from the corner of the yard and swung it down hard at the person sleeping on the bed—"

"Ah!" Ya'er screamed in fright, quickly covered her face, and buried her head in Li Erlang's arms, her small body still trembling slightly.

Meanwhile, Li Xiaoyun had already firmly pinned down the struggling pheasant, and with a swift and decisive motion, she began to bleed it. Her movements were clean and efficient, without the slightest hesitation.

Watching the scene of someone calmly handling a pheasant while telling a thrilling story, Shen Yu felt a sudden jolt. She walked to the stone bench under the eaves, sat down, took out the vegetables from the bamboo basket, and began to quietly pick and peel them, letting the sounds of the story and the water in the yard blend together.

Seeing the two children turn pale with fright, Old Wu chuckled softly, becoming even more interested, and continued, "With that strike, scalding blood instantly splattered all over the bed, and in no time, even the bedding beneath them was soaked in blood. But this was far from over."

He paused, deliberately keeping the audience in suspense, and seeing the two children looking at him expectantly, he continued, "Because the woman was blinded by rage, picked up her axe, and went to her mother-in-law's room..."