Chapter 36: I Am Pregnant

Li Chaosheng saw the old steward so anxious and smiled, “All right, don’t be anxious. Get me a boning knife and I’ll help you slaughter them.”

“Got it! Your great kindness will be remembered, this old man here has taken note. Gouzi, get Brother Li a knife, take the one the master used when he was alive!”

After the old steward finished speaking, an idle man immediately fetched a crescent-shaped butchering knife. Li Chaosheng gripped the handle and could not help exclaiming, “Nice knife.”

After saying that, Li Chaosheng looked at the old temple keeper and said, “Brother Zhu, do me a favor.”

The old temple keeper then laughed and said, “You’re spot on! When I was a child we could not get enough to eat, so I’ve actually helped a butcher sell meat before. You kill, I’ll cut and divide.”

“Alright,” Li Chaosheng replied.

Zhou Bo then said, “I’ll do the catching.”

“Okay, thanks for your trouble, brother.”

With that the three men set to work, and two hours later six fat pigs were slaughtered and cut up. Seeing how quickly the three worked, the old steward kept giving them a thumbs up. Today they truly met masters. Even if the old master were alive he would have to concede, these pigs were slaughtered impeccably.

An idle man on the side even gave the three a nickname: The Pig Farm’s Three Heroes!

The nickname nearly made the old temple keeper’s nose twitch with rage. Couldn’t he have put the word ‘slaughter’ in the name? “The Pig Farm’s Three Heroes” sounded like they were the three strongest pigs, not the ones who slaughtered pigs!

The old steward also felt that “The Pig Farm’s Three Heroes” was too crude. He frowned and said, “What kind of shitty nickname is that? If you’re going to give a nickname, give a decent one. For example, ‘The Three Cleavers’ sounds much better than ‘The Pig Farm’s Three Heroes.’”

But some of the idle men were stubborn and insisted “The Pig Farm’s Three Heroes” fit their idea of great heroes. In their hearts they admired Li Chaosheng and the others. Comparison was truly the thief of joy. Yesterday they watched Young Master Zheng slaughter pigs, and today, after watching Brother Li slaughter pigs, the superiority was obvious. Clearly one was a master and the other was absolute trash.

Privately the idle men commented and gave Young Master Zheng a blunt assessment: useless at everything, first place at marrying a mother~

Of course this was all private. Publicly, Young Master Zheng was still the idle men’s money source, so they kept praising him: Young Master Zheng is mighty, Young Master Zheng’s great blade is unrivaled in the world…

After the pigs were slaughtered, the three bought half a carcass at cost for two and a half taels of silver. To show his gratitude, the steward also gifted Li Chaosheng and the others two pig trotters and half a portion of offal, including intestines, stomach, and liver…

The three were escorted out of the yard by the old steward amid profuse thanks. At the gate they saw a county physician rush into the yard. Li Chaosheng looked at the old steward and asked, “Who in the household is ill?”

“The matriarch. Sigh~ it’s a curse. The matriarch has had a hard life. Not only did she lose her husband, but in the blink of an eye the second madam and third madam have become her daughters-in-law. In the master’s lifetime, those two fought the matriarch for men, and now in death they fight her for sons. Who could bear that? Forget it, I won’t go on. You three take care.”

The three exchanged looks. Other people’s affairs were not their business. “Let’s go,” they said, and carried the pork up the mountain.

…

On the mountain, Ah Hong was staring at Du Yi inside the house, and Du Yi was splitting firewood. Seeing Ah Hong staring at him, he could not help asking, “What’s wrong?”

Ah Hong’s face was full of worry but she shook her head and said, “It’s nothing.”

Du Yi heard that and immediately frowned. “No, that’s not right. Are you hiding something from me?”

After hesitating for a long time, Ah Hong said, “My husband, why don’t we go down the mountain to live?”

“Why? Did relatives from your old home contact you? That would not make sense. This place is so desolate, how could they have sent you any news?”

Du Yi looked at Ah Hong puzzled. Ah Hong shook her head. “No, not that. I just feel a bit homesick.”

“I see. But I haven’t finished with the foxes in this mountain, I still have not avenged Father. I…”

“My husband, I-I’m pregnant.”

“Ah?”

Du Yi looked stunned.

“What? This… I’m going to be a father?”

Ah Hong looked at Du Yi and nodded slightly. But deep inside she was apologizing, “I’m sorry. To make you leave this mountain I had to deceive you, **my **husband.”

“My husband, for the sake of the child, stop killing. Think of it as accumulating virtue for the child. I’m begging you, my husband, come down the mountain with me.”

Ah Hong looked at Du Yi. Du Yi was stunned, then after a long silence he gritted his teeth, clenched his fist and said, “Fine, I will listen to you. We’ll…we’ll go down the mountain!”

“Ah, really? My husband, that’s wonderful. Then let’s leave right now,” Ah Hong said eagerly.

Du Yi froze and then said, “There’s no need to be so rushed. We need to pack and all that first. How about this: tomorrow I’ll go down the mountain and sell these fox pelts, then buy a house in the county seat. If we cannot buy one, we can rent. We need a place to settle first, then move.”

Ah Hong thought they would not be in time, so she said, “It’s fine, there are inns in the county seat. We can stay at an inn first! Let’s leave now!”

Du Yi heard that and looked at Ah Hong. “Are you hiding something else from me?”

Ah Hong thought, Oh no, my urging was too hasty, but she said calmly, “No.”

Du Yi, suspicious, said, “Really nothing?”

“Really nothing. I just want to go to the city early so if the child gives any sign we can promptly consult a physician.”

When Du Yi heard the word child, he immediately stopped saying anything else and nodded rapidly, “All right. But it’s late today and going down the mountain is unsafe. It’s best not to cause any stress to the pregnancy. Tomorrow! Tomorrow we’ll go down to the city to live!”

“Mm, thank you, my husband!”

Ah Hong hugged Du Yi, and neither of them noticed that at the back door a wolf squinted its eyes and said, “Red fox woman, red fox woman, you refuse to accept the mercy from my father and want to run instead. Fine, this time I’ll let my father take your life!”

With that thought the wolf dashed away. What the wolf failed to notice was that in the shadow of the house, two small paper dolls were lying on the wall.

As dusk fell, Du Yi went out and found his snare had caught two wild chickens. He brought them back to bolster Ah Hong’s strength. Just as Du Yi was about to light a fire and cook, the old temple keeper and two others came carrying half a carcass. After some pleasantries Du Yi could not refuse and accepted. The old temple keeper even prepared to personally cook two signature dishes for everyone to try.

The old temple keeper said that when he was young he had helped in a grand restaurant kitchen and learned two good dishes. Du Yi and the two others were skeptical, but the old temple keeper patted his chest and said, “Watch this.”

They immediately went to the kitchen. Li Chaosheng sneaked into the backyard, pretending to look at the scenery, but he put the two small paper dolls in his bosom. Little White immediately told him that Big Wolf had gone back to fetch reinforcements. Li Chaosheng was stunned by this and began calculating the forces of both sides. The other side had one wolf demon whose cultivation depth was unknown, but it had not transformed, so it should still be within what the three could handle.

As for the other two wolf demons, Big Wolf and Second Wolf, he had fought them before and they were not hard to deal with, so he could handle them. Regarding the wolf pack, with favorable terrain Du Yi could kill many. And there was the red fox woman. If a fight broke out, she would likely side with Du Yi.

With that calculation, he concluded that this battle could be fought and had chances of victory!