Brother Dog saw the ugly expression on the Chief’s face and assumed that he had been bullied by An Jiuyue. He hurried forward, eager to appease him.
He slipped in a comment about their plans to teach An Jiuyue a lesson tomorrow, wanting to inform the Chief in advance so that it would be easier to proceed.
However, the Chief slapped him again before he could finish speaking. It was so painful that he almost cursed.
“I think you are the ones who deserve a beating!”
The Chief was furious. He wanted to kick every single one of them out of the village!
“Do you have nothing to do? In that case, I want all of you to go out and dig up wild vegetables from tomorrow onwards! Whoever doesn’t gather enough to eat will starve!”
“Chief, this…” The man standing next to Brother Dog panicked.
It’s still raining outside. Where are we going to get food? An Jiuyue brings us food every day, so shouldn’t we stay in the cave?
“Who do you think you are? Are you An Jiuyue’s ancestor? Are you entitled to everything she has?” the Chief rebuked, not giving the man a chance to speak.
“I think all you heartless things deserve a beating! She has been giving you food and water, but you are so ungrateful! Go and look for food yourselves!
“You are all grown men with hands and feet. Don’t you find it embarrassing waiting for a woman to bring you food and water? Weren’t you talking about how much you looked down on An Jiuyue?
“None of you are allowed to eat the meat! This belongs to An Jiuyue. I’m afraid you will have a stomachache if you eat it!”
The Chief’s exclamations made a few men choke in surprise. “Huh?!”
Stomachache? They were healthy! They could stomach several bowls of meat easily.
“Please don’t do this, Chief. We just got out of the floodwaters. We must eat nutritious food to prevent falling sick. This is good meat!”
“Let’s not talk about this anymore, Chief. Jiuyue is so capable! None of us can compare to her. We’ll praise her.”
They stopped spouting nonsense and quickly responded with whatever the Chief wanted to hear.
They did not mind praising An Jiuyue a little as long as they could eat the meat—they were even willing to worship her as a deity!
The Chief snorted, “Hmph!”
They have been idle for too long. He decided they would have to start searching for food from tomorrow onwards. Otherwise, they would start thinking that the porridge and meat fell from the sky!
…
An Jiuyue was ready to make a trip into the mountains.
However, a figure stood before her, holding the bow she had left behind at the treehouse.
An Jiuyue was silent.
She had left her bow behind to mislead Qian Jiyun into thinking she was not preparing to enter the mountains.
Why is this man so annoying? Must he follow everywhere I go?
Had she not been aware that this man did not know her true identity, she would have thought that Qian Jiyun was on to something. Why would a grown man like him follow her into the mountain?
“Why… why are you here?”
“Master, he must be waiting for you! What else can he be doing?” Wei Na replied immediately.