081, Bewitched—A Flamboyant Showtime!

"Qingxin, the beasts have all passed out!"

Watching the wild animals collapse one after another, Gao Shen quickly deduced that Qingxin must have added some kind of drug to the water, rendering the beasts paralyzed and unable to move. Gao Shen didn’t want Qingxin to be exposed to danger—if they could avoid a fight and subdue the beasts effortlessly, that was the best outcome.

"Come on, let’s go collect our catch!" Qingxin was delighted, especially at the thought of adding two little rabbits to their stock, which they could raise slowly. Hearing that her concoction had worked on the beasts, she was even more elated and immediately wanted to head over to where the animals had fallen.

Gao Shen hurriedly grabbed Qingxin’s arm, frowning with concern. "Be careful! Stay here for now. Let me check things out first."

He didn’t want her rushing forward in case some of the beasts had only been lightly affected by the drug and might struggle or attack if approached, which could be dangerous. Better to err on the side of caution.

With his military knife in hand, Gao Shen crept forward, examining each animal, nudging them with his foot to make sure they were truly unconscious and incapable of resistance.

Once he was sure, he waved to Qingxin, signaling that it was safe.

Qingxin hurried over to his side, beaming with pride. "Now we don’t have to worry about meat for a while! What a haul!"

A faint smile played on Gao Shen’s lips as he asked, "You used a sedative, right? Are you sure the meat will be safe for us to eat?"

Qingxin replied confidently, "Absolutely. I’ll use creek water to purify the meat during processing, and the powder itself has no harmful side effects."

"Good," Gao Shen said with relief. No matter how much they needed meat, their health had to come first.

He crouched down, prodding a goat, and decisively declared, "We need to process them quickly. Once the drug wears off, we could be in trouble!"

Qingxin nodded in agreement, but then frowned. "I’ve never butchered wild animals before—how do we do it? And won’t the smell of blood attract more beasts?"

"Animals have an incredibly keen sense of smell. If we process them here, the scent will definitely attract more, maybe even predators. But we can’t take them home to do it either, or we’ll never have peace. Who knows how far the scent of our wild vegetable soup carried? I’m worried other animals might come looking for it, so we can’t linger here," Gao Shen analyzed, deep in thought.

A brief silence fell over the woods.

Gao Shen looked up. "Qingxin, can your space take in all these animals?"

"It can," Qingxin admitted, "but there’s nowhere inside to keep them penned, and it’s full of precious flowers and herbs. I’m worried that once the drug wears off, the animals will destroy everything."

"Then let’s not waste time. Let’s slaughter as many as we can before the effect wears off," Gao Shen decided without hesitation.

"How about this: let’s not kill the goat or those three pheasants. I can keep them in the ‘Gleaming Brocade’—they’re easy to raise. When we get home, we’ll build a pen for them. As for the wild boars, the roe deer, and the muntjac, slaughter them quickly and we’ll figure out how to process them later when we need the meat," Qingxin suggested after some thought.

"Alright, let’s do it your way," Gao Shen agreed. They didn't have time to handle all the animals in detail, so the best they could do was quickly slaughter and store them to avoid attracting predators.

Without further delay, Gao Shen expertly dispatched six beasts with a swift stroke each. Qingxin immediately stored them in the ‘Gleaming Brocade’ before too much blood could seep out, then followed with the unconscious goat and pheasants.

Gao Shen covered the blood on the ground with earth to prevent the scent from spreading. Once he was sure everything was in order, he took Qingxin by the hand and led her down the mountain. Today’s trip had been an overwhelming success; there was no need to venture deeper into the woods.

They moved quickly, not stopping once, following the same route back down the mountain. When they passed the traps they’d set earlier, Qingxin tugged at Gao Shen’s sleeve, wanting to check if they’d caught anything.

"Don’t worry, we’re already far from where we cooked. Even if predators catch the scent, they won’t take this path down the mountain," Qingxin tried to reassure him.

"In that case, let’s take a look. We put in the effort, so let’s not let it go to waste," Gao Shen said, leading her over to inspect the traps.

Gao Shen had set ten traps of various sizes along the way. After checking each one, they found that only two had caught anything: two pheasants and a rabbit. For the two of them, it was an unexpected bonus—after all, when digging the pits, they'd had little hope of success and thought there might not be any game at all.

By three-thirty in the afternoon, Qingxin and Gao Shen reached the foot of the mountain. Qingxin immediately took out the largest bamboo basket, packed in some mountain goods, and placed a dozen or so common wildflowers on top. Then she prepared to carry a pheasant and a rabbit in each hand.

If they wanted to enjoy their meat openly, they had to make it look legitimate—after all, there was no way to keep the aroma from spreading! Oh, these were such simple times, yet even eating meat required consideration for others’ feelings. How exasperating!

Qingxin sighed inwardly for the umpteenth time.

According to their original plan, Gao Shen would return to the courtyard via a small path at the mountain’s edge, while Qingxin would take a longer route, show herself around, and then return home.

However, Gao Shen took the bamboo basket, slung it over his own back, and strode ahead, leaving Qingxin—still carrying the pheasant and rabbit—puzzled. Had the plan changed?

Qingxin quickly caught up and asked in confusion, "What’s going on? Are you planning to be open about it now?"

A glimmer of light flashed in Gao Shen’s eyes as he answered calmly, "Keeping a low profile isn’t going to work anymore. Besides, at this point, it’s impossible to stay discreet. Instead of being passive, we might as well be so bold that others can’t even hope to catch up!"

Wow! That was impressive—she liked it!

Qingxin grinned, wanting to give him a thumbs up, only to realize her hands were full with chicken and rabbit. She laughed, "Awesome! Let’s do it!"

So, the two of them deliberately chose to walk along the main road through the village, launching their high-profile showtime.

After all, gossip was already flying in the village. In the end, wasn’t it all just envy and jealousy? Qingxin understood that most of those talking were simple folk with no malice, just indulging in a bit of harmless chatter. But there were always a few who were genuinely envious or bitter—well, let’s add some fuel to their fire and make them even more jealous. Should be fun!

To maximize the effect, Qingxin even took out a roe deer for Gao Shen to carry. Let’s see what people would say—there were no rules about wild game in the mountains! If anyone was envious, let them catch some themselves.

Qingxin was inwardly delighted.

—Extra—
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