Chapter 76 – Hunting in the Snow (3)
“Hey! This slingshot is not half bad! Did your grandpa make it for you?” When Zhang Lihu saw the slingshot in her hands, he shoved the hare into Gu Ming’s hands and took the slingshot from her. He stretched it out a few times and felt that its elasticity was even better than his.
Gu Ye had taken apart a metal alloy sling shot and replaced the handle with a wooden one. Naturally the high-quality rubber band had much better elasticity than that of Zhang Lihu’s. No wonder Lihu didn’t want to put it down.
Gu Ming and Gu Ye didn’t want to hold Zhang Lihu and his father back so they parted ways quickly. The two of them headed toward their traps to check. The dried grass on top was it had collapsed from the weight of the snow and it was empty inside.
That’s because Yin Ba, the one who had been responsible for tossing preys into the traps, had finally been summoned by his master to return. He was so emotional he almost started crying. Yin Ba was, after all, a quite accomplished hidden guard of the Hall of Hidden Soul. What was up with him following behind a little girl day in and day out taking care of her?
Even though there were nothing in their traps, the two siblings didn’t exactly return empty-handed. Gu Ye shot one pheasant and three birds with her slingshot. Her incredible precision with her slingshot made Gu Ming envious and kept asking her to teach him how to use a slingshot.
“Gu Ye, was the old man that you saved really a reputable doctor? I heard that he was the one who treated and cured your grandpa’s leg?” asked Mrs. Wu with a smile as she walked up to the siblings when they returned to the village carrying with them their catches.
A hint of greed and envy flashed passed Mrs. Wu’s eyes when she saw the pheasant in Gu Ye’s hand. But, even though a pheasant was important, the assignment given to her by her husband was even more important.
“Whether my master is a doctor, or whether he’s an incredible doctor does not concern you.” Gu Ye did not like this Mrs. Wu a bit. Her shamelessness was astonishing. All she thought about all day long was how to take advantage of others.
“Master? The doctor took you as his disciple? Why her? She is still just a child!” Mrs. Wu was very alarmed by what she had just learned. She didn’t want more competition for her husband!
Her original intention was to find out when the skillful doctor was going to leave town. There were about thirty or so households in Qingshan Village and, every winter, a lot of them would get sick and that’s Mr. and Mrs. Wu’s main source of income.
Early that morning Wu Danggui ran into the crippled Fifth Gu and noticed that the condition of his leg had improved greatly. He didn’t even need to use a cane when walking in the snow. Slightly disturbed, he went up and asked and found out it was the man that Gu Ye saved from the mountain who had cured him. He was immediately alarmed: If that old doctor were to stay in his village for the entire winter, what would he live off of in the coming year?
That’s why Mrs. Wu waited for almost two hours in the cold weather for the two siblings to return. But the first new that she found out was the damned child Gu Ye had become the old man’s disciple to train to become a doctor. The old man was just staying at Fifth Gu’s house while recovering from his injury; he had got to leave one day. But if this brat learned his skills, their business would be ruined.
“I have never heard of a woman becoming a doctor. Think about it, there are lots of bodily contact when you examine a patient. You are a girl, if words got out that you touch men’s hands and bodies day in and day out, who’d want to marry you? Gu Ye-er, I only have your best interest in mind. This is not a good path for you!”
Mrs. Wu figured that bringing up concerns about her future marriage would be enough to deter this timid girl from wanting to become a doctor.