Chapter 15: Encountering Wolves

Chapter 15: Encounter with a Wolf

After the torrential rain, several days of scorching sun followed. The rice seedlings, already damaged by the flood, were now withered by the intense heat. In recent days, even the enticing aroma of meat from Zhao An’s house failed to distract the villagers of Zhao Family Village. Their faces etched with worry, they yearned for the sky to cloud over and the temperature to drop, offering their struggling seedlings a chance to recover.

At this time, Zhao An had little interaction with the villagers and remained unaware of their plight. His discomfort stemmed solely from the temperature soaring above thirty degrees Celsius, forcing him to endure long sleeves and trousers. While Zhao An also wished for cooler weather, his more pressing desire was to wear a short jacket, much like Qintong’s.

However, Uncle Hai adamantly refused to let Zhao An leave the house dressed in such attire. His gaze conveyed a clear message: if Zhao An dared to step out in a short jacket, Uncle Hai would surely drop dead from indignation. He even produced all his savings, telling Zhao An, "These coarse cotton clothes are indeed stifling. Young Master, why not take this money to buy a roll of light, breathable fabric? I'll have someone tailor it into clothes for you, and you won't feel hot."

The money Uncle Hai offered was precisely the fifty taels of silver left by Hu Sheng. Zhao An paused, reflecting on Hu Sheng for a moment, then earnestly told Uncle Hai, "Cotton clothes absorb sweat well, and I find them quite comfortable. You should keep this silver."

Zhao An then had a change of thought. The current weather was perfect for a mountain excursion. It would undoubtedly be cool up there, and walking mountain paths indeed required more substantial clothing. Before setting off, he had Qintong change into long sleeves and trousers as well. He then tasked Qintong with carrying a basket containing food, a water flask, and a makeshift fire starter crafted from wood shavings and grass fluff, planning to find an opportunity to boil hot water on the mountain. Zhao An himself carried two sickles and a small hoe in his own basket.

He made such extensive preparations because he intended to venture further than before. To cover as much ground as possible in the shortest time, he even bypassed some common medicinal herbs he spotted along the way. Moreover, with repeated trips up the mountain, his pace had significantly improved. Thus, in just over half a *shichen* (approximately one hour), they reached the stream where they had previously discovered strawberry seedlings.

They then followed the stream upstream. Although the path along the river was relatively easier to navigate, it also presented greater dangers. Fearing an encounter with predators coming to drink, Zhao An clutched a thorny vine, ready to use his power to entangle any animal and facilitate their escape.

Fortunately, they walked along the stream for one *shichen* (approximately two hours) without encountering any predators. Unfortunately, apart from fishwort, the riverbanks offered little more than water-loving moss and lichen.

Beyond its medicinal properties, lichen was also a palatable wild vegetable. So, Zhao An spent some time gathering a quantity, intending to blanch it and prepare a cold dish with aromatic vinegar dressing later.

With no other valuable finds, Zhao An and Qintong continued their journey. Eventually, they encountered two beautiful animals: a pair of pheasants, male and female. The male's tail feathers shimmered with a rainbow of colors in the sunlight, reminiscent of a legendary phoenix.

The plumage of this particular variety seemed even more vibrant than the tail feathers used as decorative plumes in Peking Opera. While Zhao An could appreciate their beauty, Qintong's immediate reaction upon seeing them was, "I wonder if this kind of wild pheasant tastes good."

"You can't eat this," Zhao An quickly interjected, cutting short Qintong's musings.

Qintong continued to gaze at the two pheasants leisurely strolling through the woods, eager to pounce and capture them. He asked, puzzled, "Why can't we eat them?"

"Because we can't catch them," Zhao An replied. What he truly wanted to say was that such uniquely colored rare animals should be preserved for future conservation efforts.

Although the concept of protected animals and plants had faded after the spiritual energy revival, those species that had already gone extinct could never reappear.

Qintong readily accepted Zhao An's reasoning, understanding that if they couldn't catch it, they couldn't eat it. Thus, he could only reminisce about the stewed fat hen and braised young rooster they had enjoyed a couple of days prior—the hen tender and flavorful, the rooster chewy and well-seasoned.

Zhao An couldn't help but marvel once more that despite decades as a steward, Uncle Hai's culinary skills for home-style dishes remained undiminished.

Seeing Qintong's expression, Zhao An knew exactly what he was thinking. A thirteen-year-old boy, in the midst of a growth spurt, possessed a hearty appetite, and his emotions were transparent. So Zhao An told Qintong, "I've taught you some ways to identify medicinal herbs. Help me keep a close watch today. If we find any valuable herbs, I'll have Uncle Hai buy another young rooster to braise when we get back."

The prospect of a hearty braised young rooster made Qintong abandon his fantasy about the two brightly colored wild pheasants he had seen on the mountain path. He focused wholeheartedly on helping Zhao An search for medicinal herbs.

Logically, in this mountainous region bordering Shu Prefecture and Jiao Prefecture, valuable medicinal herbs should be relatively easy to find. This was why even Changxi County town boasted a specialized herbal medicine shop that purchased herbs. Major pharmaceutical merchants from the prefectural city would even organize expeditions into the vast, hundred-thousand-mile mountains to seek out high-quality herbs.

Even though the great green mountain behind Zhao Family Village was merely the outermost fringe of these immense mountains, it remained an untouched forest. In an environment where the natural ecosystem had not been severely disrupted, the herbs growing there should be quite potent.

Zhao An suspected his difficulty in finding unique, valuable herbs amidst the endless wild grass, even with his Wood Element Supernatural Power, was due to his lack of experience.

However, in these rarely visited mountain forests, beyond the trees, only wild grass remained. Zhao An could only resort to the most painstaking method: identifying each type of wild grass one by one.

Finally, he discovered some medicinal plants, including clematis, agastache rugosa, and a particularly slender honeysuckle plant.

While none of these were considered precious herbs, agastache rugosa could be used as a seasoning, and honeysuckle planted around the house could repel mosquitoes. So, he gathered some of each and placed them in his basket.

Qintong, however, had found nothing throughout their journey. Seeing Zhao An repeatedly unearth herbs, he felt a pang of discouragement, fearing that Zhao An's promised braised young rooster might vanish. Even if it didn't, he would feel ashamed eating it without having contributed.

Driven by this determination, Qintong searched for herbs with even greater diligence. Finally, he spotted a plant Zhao An had previously described to him in detail: gastrodia, which grew near Jiao Prefecture.

This was the rhizome of an orchid. After late spring, it was no longer suitable for consumption, but this posed no problem for Zhao An whatsoever.

When he heard Qintong shout, "Young Master, come quickly! Is this gastrodia?" he excitedly began scrambling over a pile of loose rocks by the riverbank.

There he saw the beautiful flowering plant. Yes, it was indeed the gastrodia he remembered. In this era without artificial cultivation, while gastrodia couldn't command the same price as pseudoginseng (tianqi) or ginseng, it was still valuable enough to be profitable.

Just this single discovery made the day's trip worthwhile. Zhao An took out his small hoe and carefully dug around the gastrodia's root system, lifting it out with the surrounding soil intact. He meticulously pressed the soil around the roots before placing it in his basket.

He then had Qintong search the surrounding area, and together they found six gastrodia plants. Just as Zhao An was about to be overwhelmed with joy, he suddenly felt a malicious gaze fixed on him from behind.

He only had time to look up and see the terrified expression on Qintong's face before hearing a sharp, whistling gust of wind behind him. As for why he avoided it—of course, it was because he promptly threw himself to the ground.

When he looked up again, he met the eyes of a vicious wolf. This was no metaphor; they had truly encountered a wolf on the mountain.

Although they hadn't been unlucky enough to stumble upon a pack, this lone wolf was quite large, comparable to a small calf. Coupled with the bristly hair raised on its back and the wounds on its face and ears, Zhao An could confidently assert that it was a lone wolf, wandering after failing in a bid for pack leadership.

Zhao An gasped, a chilling suspicion forming in his mind: this creature must have been tracking them for some time, only choosing to attack when they found the gastrodia and their guard was down.

Clearly, this wolf's intelligence was not to be underestimated; it even employed rudimentary tactics. Just as Zhao An pondered how long the wolf had been following them, it suddenly launched another attack.

It shot forward like an arrow from a bow, its mouth agape, revealing a maw full of sharp teeth, and a foul, musky breath as it lunged towards Zhao An. Although Qintong had been frozen in fear moments before, this time, as the wolf attacked Zhao An again, Qintong reacted quickly. He grabbed stones from the ground and hurled them at the wolf. However, the creature had already leaped aside, rendering Qintong's hard-won counterattack useless.

Zhao An, however, remained composed. Even though his fingers were pricked by thorns and bleeding slightly, his gaze remained fixed on the wolf, unblinking.

Finally, when the wolf lunged to within half a meter of him, he immediately activated his power, causing the vine in his hand to grow to its maximum length. He then controlled his power to wrap the vicious wolf's body and limbs with the vine.

But its forward momentum did not diminish. If Zhao An hadn't rolled on the ground and moved quickly, he would have been struck by the thorn-bound, hungry wolf.

Yet, no mishaps occurred—Zhao An successfully subdued the wolf. He still tightly gripped one end of the thorny vine, then slowly channeled his power, pulling the vine. The wolf initially resisted moving, but the increasingly urgent stinging pain at its neck forced it to follow Zhao An's steps.

Indeed, after finding the gastrodia, Zhao An was not greedy and had already planned to head back. Now, having encountered this wolf, his plans remained unchanged; he continued on his way home.

He returned to Zhao Family Village in the afternoon, during the hottest part of the day. Standing on the steps outside his house, he saw all the farmers looking worriedly at their seedlings, now wilted by the sun.

In such circumstances, replanting was the only option. But for ancient laborers, gathering enough seedlings was already a formidable task, let alone replanting.

Under these conditions, everyone Zhao An saw wore a troubled expression. And they completely ignored Zhao An leading a wolf with a vine, making Zhao An—who had originally wanted to show off around the village and deter petty criminals—feel a sense of futility, like punching cotton.

After all, the reason he wanted to parade this wolf around the villagers was because just the day before, when he asked Uncle Hai to buy two puppies in the village, he had inquired at every dog-owning household, but none were willing to sell to them. So, upon acquiring this untamed wolf, Zhao An couldn't wait to take it out and show it off.

However, based on the current outcome, it was like casting pearls before swine.

In this situation, even though Zhao An didn't concern himself with agricultural matters, he became acutely aware of the villagers' hardships.

Some seemed to have accepted their fate and were already nurturing new seedlings, hoping to replant some rice before the weather completely cleared up.

Other villagers, whose families were not well-off, could not afford to recover after this disaster. They planned to cultivate some mountain land to plant more corn and sweet potatoes, hoping to avoid starvation by year's end.

Even in what appeared to be a relatively peaceful era, ancient common people truly could not withstand even the slightest disaster. While this so-called flood was merely an overnight stay for Hu Sheng in Zhao An's home (as Zhao An didn't farm), for the other villagers, it meant contemplating a year of severe hardship.

In fact, the amount of rice that actually reached their mouths was never much. For them, most of their staple food consisted of corn, sweet potatoes, potatoes, and the like. However, rice production was their primary economic source, used for paying taxes, buying salt, cloth, cotton, and other necessities for survival.

Without rice to sell, they would be forced to sell corn, sweet potatoes, and other coarse grains, which fetched meager prices.

In short, everyone was working as hard as possible to strengthen their resilience against natural disasters—everyone, that is, except for Zhao Tongming's family.

After losing fifty taels of silver and being confronted twice, their family was still plotting. They intended to seize this heaven-sent opportunity to acquire more children during the winter. With a little grooming, they could be resold for a substantial profit. Then, during the lean season next year, they might even be able to acquire some land.

However, their cunning plan was destined to fail this time. Because after Zhao An led the wolf home, under Uncle Hai's astonished gaze, he calmly produced a handful of strawberry seeds. He scattered them in a small bamboo basket, then channeled all his power into these unsprouted seeds. The strawberry seeds seemed to burst forth with incredible vigor, rapidly growing until they reached the height of a finger.

Without delay, Zhao An carried this basket of strawberry seedlings directly to Liu Huan's house. He proposed a cooperative plan: setting aside a piece of land in the Liu family's ancestral fields to grow strawberries. When sold, Zhao An would only take ten percent, leaving the remaining ninety percent to be divided equally among the villagers.

Liu Huan was naturally delighted to hear this news, especially when he learned that Zhao An could sell strawberries to Ruyi Restaurant for three copper coins each.

But Zhao An said, "However, I believe the market in Changxi County is not large enough. With just my family selling strawberries, we can maintain the price of three copper coins per strawberry. If everyone in our village starts growing strawberries, I think the market would definitely be flooded. At that point, we might not even be able to sell them for three copper coins per *jin* (approximately 0.5 kg)."

"So, my suggestion is: after the strawberry seedlings grow, we should pack them in bamboo baskets and transport them to more distant places to sell."

"This way," Zhao An concluded, "the impact of the flood on our village should be minimized."