Abandoning literature for martial arts, starting by unleashing the beauty's bow.

Dusk fell, and the sky began to darken.

Lu Fengnian carried a load of thatch and arrived at the village entrance.

I intended to sneak into the village quietly.

Unexpectedly, under the old willow tree at the village entrance sat three people he least wanted to see: Aunt Ma, Sister Liu, and Aunt Zhang.

These three women were known as the three most gossipy women in Mao'er Village.

When they get together on ordinary days, they gossip about everyone, from the Zhang family to the Li family, without end.

Fortunately, the three women were chatting happily together and did not see Lu Fengnian.

Lu Fengnian lowered his head slightly, lifted the thatched load to cover his head and face, and slowly entered the village.

"Aunt Ma, you live close to the Lu family. How is that great scholar from the Lu family doing now? Has he eaten?" Sister Liu, with her round face, leaned close to Aunt Ma and asked softly.

Aunt Ma, who was sewing shoe soles, shook her head. "Probably not. Scholar Lu is very concerned about his image."

"That girl from the Li family wants to become someone else's wife; it won't be easy for her to swallow this resentment for at least ten days to half a month."

Aunt Zhang, with a slightly hunched back, added, "As the old saying goes, a scholar is useless in a hundred ways."

He usually seemed arrogant, wearing a short robe and walking with his chin up, looking down on everyone as if he were superior.

As a result, he couldn't even keep his own wife.

Lu Daxiucai deserved what happened to him.

Aunt Ma lowered her voice and said, "I heard something. The young girl from the Lu family has been arranged to marry Wang the Cripple from the neighboring village."

"Really?"

Sister Liu continued, "Wang the Cripple is old enough to be the father of the Lu family's little girl."

"So what if he's a father? Who told Wang the Cripple to be rich? Even if he can become a grandfather, the Lu family still has to marry him off. The dowry is two taels of silver."

Aunt Zhang added, "I have a niece who lives in the same village as Wang the Cripple. I heard her say that Wang the Cripple is now bragging everywhere that he's over sixty and can still marry a girl who's only sixteen, which is all thanks to the good deeds of his ancestors."

Aunt Ma spat, "What good deeds did their ancestors do? This old bastard, cheating and swindling, has done all sorts of bad things. He'll get his comeuppance sooner or later."

Sister Liu lowered her voice, "You can't say things like that carelessly, we can't afford to offend him. That Wang the Cripple has connections everywhere, he's protected by some big shot in the county."

Aunt Ma sighed softly, "Poor little girl from the Lu family, she's beautiful, hardworking, and filial."

What a beautiful girl, and that cripple Wang is going to ruin her.

Aunt Zhang sighed deeply, "The Lu family has ended up in this state because of that good-for-nothing Lu Fengnian. He dragged the Lu family down to this point, and he still has the nerve to go on a hunger strike."

The Lu family is incredibly unlucky to have gotten themselves into this mess.

Just then, Sister Liu suddenly looked up, saw Lu Fengnian, and jokingly said, "Who is this man? He didn't catch anything while hunting, but he carried back a load of firewood. He's quite thrifty."

Although Lu Fengnian covered his head and face with the carrying pole, his hunting bow hanging on the thatch was particularly conspicuous.

He ignored them, quickened his pace, and only wanted to get away from the three women.

However, these women, having married and had children, had lost all trace of feminine shyness. Seeing that Lu Fengnian ignored them, Sister Liu actually got up and chased after him, laughing as she said:

"It's not shameful to miss the hunt; it's shameful to be useless at night."

There's no need to hide your face. Let me see, whose man is this?

Seeing that he couldn't avoid it, Lu Fengnian simply turned around generously and called out with a laugh, "Sister Liu."

"Lu, the great scholar!"

Sister Liu exclaimed in surprise, her face filled with disbelief.

In his memory, Lu Fengnian had never done any farm work. He always wore that scholar's robe, his small hands were fair and delicate, and he was always clean and tidy.

But at this moment, he wasn't wearing a robe, just a gray short jacket, sweat dripping down his face and body, carrying a bundle of straw on his shoulder, looking no different from the other young men in the village who toiled in the fields for a living.

At this moment, Aunt Ma and Aunt Zhang also saw Lu Fengnian. Immediately, the two of them, like Sister Liu, were dumbfounded and extremely surprised.

"Lu Xiucai, did you go hunting?" Aunt Ma asked, her face full of doubt.

Lu Fengnian nodded. "I went to Blackwater Ridge to try my luck."

"You went to Blackwater Ridge?"

Aunt Zhang exclaimed in surprise, "How dare you, a scholar, do such a thing?"

Even experienced hunters rarely dare to go to Blackwater Ridge, yet you recklessly ran there.

"If anything were to happen to you, how would your mother live?"

Lu Fengnian smiled slightly, "I'm back now, aren't I? You guys continue chatting, I'm going home first."

He didn't want to get entangled with these three women any longer. After finishing his sentence, he strode past the old willow tree and hurried home.

Aunt Zhang shook her head. "Am I seeing things? Wasn't Lu Fengnian on a hunger strike? How come he suddenly went to Blackwater Ridge?"

Sister Liu chimed in, "Did the sun rise in the west?"

Aunt Ma thought for a moment, "I know this eldest son of the Lu family very well. He's definitely putting on an act for his mother and sister."

With his cowardice, would he dare go to Blackwater Ridge?

I think he somehow got hold of a bow and arrow, pretended to be something he'd never seen, then ran to the back of the mountain, cut a load of thatch, and came back.”

Sister Liu nodded, "It's pretty much true."

Aunt Zhang suddenly remembered something. "I suddenly remembered something. Isn't the girl from the Li family going to marry the eldest son of the Zhao family? The Zhao family is one of the top hunters in our village."

Lu Fengnian's sudden decision to go hunting is probably to compete with the eldest son of the Zhao family.

Aunt Ma nodded, "That makes sense, that should be the case."

Lu Daxiucai didn't care about anything. When his father died, he was calmer than anyone else. When the second son of the Lu family went to join the army in his place, he was more composed than anyone else.

He was particularly concerned about that girl from the Li family; she had just finished her hunger strike, and now she wanted to cause trouble for her in-laws.

Sister Liu scoffed, "I think Lu Daxiu has gone stupid from studying too much. Zhao Gang from the Zhao family started hunting in the mountains with his father when he was six years old. When it comes to archery, even the old hunters in the village can't compare to him."

Lu, the scholar, is so weak that he can't even kill a chicken. How can he compare to others?

Isn't it simply a case of an egg hitting a rock, or overestimating one's own abilities?

Aunt Zhang sighed deeply, "What a tragedy! I don't know what sins Liu Yunjuan committed to give birth to such a good-for-nothing son."

Aunt Ma added, "Just wait and see. Who knows, maybe Scholar Lu will get carried away and go after the Zhao family."

"Let's forget about the Lu family and talk about the Qiu family instead."

Sister Liu changed the subject, "I heard that Qiu Mingzhu sold his daughter to someone in the county to be his concubine."

Aunt Ma added, "Qiu Mingzhu is no good either, so eager to sell his daughter, he must be short of money to buy wine..."

…………

Lu Fengnian was already more than ten feet away from the old willow tree, but his hearing was extremely sharp, and he heard the three gossipy women's words clearly.

He shook his head helplessly and continued on his way home.

After walking for about forty paces, and turning past a muddy puddle, we saw two people walking towards us: a red-faced man with thinning hair and a dark-skinned young woman.

Lu Fengnian was visibly stunned the moment he saw the young woman.

Because she was none other than Qiu Qingbai.