Am I... cured?

It was a very strange sensation. The agony of before had cut itself down to his bones such that he would never forget it, but now there was no pain at all. He felt as though he had more energy than he could ever use up, and his mental state was excellent.

He was, however, genuinely hungry, so he stopped worrying about any of it and wolfed the bread down.

Niu Dashan wept for joy as he wolfed down the bread. "My illness really is cured..."

Finally, the Niu Clan had hope again.

The next day, Niu Dashan was out of bed and working. First, he went and borrowed some grain from his neighbors to keep his household going for the time being. Then, he went up into the mountains to hunt. The village lived off the mountains it was nested in, and the men of nearly every house were hunters.

Niu Dashan had once been a fine hand at hunting until his illness had put an end to it. Now that he was back in the mountains, he came down with a great deal of game. He had even taken down a black bear!

The whole Niu Clan village entered an uproar when they saw it.

"Dashan, that's really something!"

"Who could have thought that he'd be this good once he...