During famine years, I had a divination slip in hand, and my whole family ate chicken, duck, fish, a

Thanks to Er Yatou, she never imagined that she would one day be a boss's wife!

……

After arranging things and leaving, Ye Qingqing suddenly called out to Ye Dazhuang, "Brother Dazhuang, I have something I want to tell you."

Ye Dazhuang looked down at her. "Hmm?"

Ye Qingqing tilted her head back and lowered her voice, saying, "Can I come up the mountain with you to hunt bears tomorrow?"

Ye Dazhuang frowned: "Hunting a bear?"

"Hmm, a hibernating bear, might as well take it down."

Ye Dazhuang's voice deepened, "Hmm."

Ye Qingqing smiled faintly, "You need to help me prepare. You have to help me gather what I need to bring... I don't dare tell Dad, he definitely won't let us go."

Ye Dazhuang stared at her for a few moments, then nodded. "Mm."

"Just the two of us," Ye Qingqing waved her hand. "We can invite the Zhao brothers along, but let's not disturb anyone else."

……

The next morning, Ye Qingqing got up.

She put on her padded jacket and wrapped herself in the cloak with the fox fur collar... Aunt Zhen gave it to her yesterday, and she couldn't refuse it.

The two left the courtyard quietly.

Ye Dazhuang harnessed the sled, laid out dry grass and thick felt on it, helped Ye Qingqing sit on it, jumped on himself, picked up a long pole and pushed off, and the sled slid off.

The cold wind felt like knives on her face, so Ye Qingqing turned up her collar to cover her face and huddled under the felt blanket.

The sled glided silently on the snow track, and a huge arrow pointed in their minds. Ye Qingqing led the group out of the hill and headed northeast.

The further they went, the denser the forest became, and the narrower the path grew. Eventually, there was no path at all, and Ye Dazhuang had to rely entirely on his senses to navigate through the trees.

The sled traveled through the trees for about the time it takes to eat a meal before a hillside appeared ahead.

Ye Qingqing suddenly called a halt, jumped down, and trudged through the deep snow to the bottom of the slope, where she squatted down and looked around.

The entrance to the cave was mostly covered by snow, leaving only a dark gap. There were several obvious scratch marks on the surrounding snow, and a few brownish-black hairs were hanging above the entrance.

"Right here!"

She stood up and patted the snow off her hands.

Boss Zhao walked over and took a look, then gasped in shock.

"Master, this cave entrance is well-hidden. Who would look this way unless they specifically searched for it?"

He turned to look at Ye Qingqing, his eyes filled with an indescribable meaning, but he didn't dare to ask a question: How did you find it?

Zhao Laosan's eyes widened. "Goodness gracious, how did you find this place...?"

Ye Dazhuang had already drawn his hunting knife and was quietly crouching down by the cave entrance to observe, "Let's smoke the stuff out first."

Zhao the eldest responded and quickly led the third brother to gather firewood.

Ye Dazhuang piled up dry branches on the left side of the cave entrance, lit a fire, and then pressed down a few handfuls of wet leaves. White smoke billowed and poured into the cave.

Ye Qingqing retreated behind an old pine tree and stood there, her hands tucked into her sleeves, her eyes fixed on the cave entrance.

Zhao Laosan brought back a bundle of wet branches, threw it onto the fire, and the white smoke immediately became thicker.

A moment later, there was a muffled sound from inside the cave, as if something had turned over.

Then came a low groaning sound, which caused the snow at the cave entrance to fall down in a flurry.

Old Zhao gripped his spear tightly, took a step back, and said in a low voice with a tense expression, "Master, they've arrived."

Ye Dazhuang stood directly in front of the cave entrance, spear held horizontally in front of him, and turned his head to say something to Ye Qingqing.

"Don't come any closer."

As soon as he finished speaking, a cloud of snow mist exploded at the cave entrance, and a black bear suddenly leaped out.

That creature weighed at least five or six hundred pounds, with glossy black fur. It was choked by the smoke and couldn't even open its eyes. It let out a muffled roar like thunder, and with a swipe of its front paw, it knocked down a tree about the size of a small bowl.

Zhao Laosan had never seen such a terrifying scene before. He was so frightened that he took a step back, slipped, and fell on his backside.

Ye Dazhuang's face remained expressionless, only his brows furrowed as he thrust his spear straight into the bear's ribs with a "thud..."

"roar……"

The black bear, in pain, roared and turned around, slapping Ye Dazhuang in the face with its paw.

Ye Dazhuang ducked to avoid it, and the spear tip pushed in another inch.

"careful!"

Zhao Laosan got up from the ground, howled, picked up a stick, rushed over, and poked the bear's butt.

The black bear was attacked from both sides, spinning wildly, its paws slamming the ground and sending snow flying.

Zhao Laoda seized the opportunity and thrust his spear into the bear's hind leg from the side, causing the black bear to stumble and fall to its knees in the snow.

Ye Dazhuang circled around to its left flank, aimed his spear at its weak spot, and with a powerful thrust of his arms, he sank the spear in halfway!

The black bear let out a miserable howl, its massive body trembling violently, its front paws still digging desperately at the ground.

Ye Dazhuang drew his hunting knife, circled around behind the bear, and slashed it on the back of its neck.

The black bear trembled and flailed a few times in an instant, then lay still.

The snow fell silent, leaving only the heavy breathing of the four people.

Zhao Laosan was the first to jump up, his face flushed red: "My God! He's...he's dead! He's really dead!"

Old Zhao, leaning on his spear, his hands trembling, grinned from ear to ear: "Good heavens... this must weigh over 500 jin (250 kg)!"

Ye Dazhuang took a couple of breaths and turned to look for Ye Qingqing. She came out from behind the pine tree, her face expressionless, and squatted down in front of the bear to take a look.

"It's quite big." She reached out and patted the bear's head. "Uncle Zhao, pack it up and take it back."

Zhao Laosan was still excitedly waving his arms and legs: "Brother Dazhuang, that was too ruthless! It went right through his ribs! My dad, did you see that? Brother Dazhuang's skills—"

"Shut up and get to work." Old Zhao kicked him and squatted down to untie the rope.

The four men tied the bear up and mounted it on a sled. Zhao Laosan insisted on leading the way, humming a little tune as he pulled, his joy impossible to hide.

When the sled entered Kaoshantun, the sun was just beginning to set.

Before she even reached her doorstep, Aunt Wang, who was chopping wood by the roadside, was the first to see her. She nearly smashed her axe into her foot: "Hey—what's that, what's that dragging?!"

Old Zhao shouted at the top of his lungs, "Bear! A hunted bear!"

Aunt Wang dropped the axe in her hand with a clatter to the ground, her mouth agape for a long time.

The news spread faster than the sled. By the time the sled arrived at the Ye family's courtyard, a crowd of twenty or thirty people had already gathered outside, three or four layers deep. Even two teenagers were perched on the wall of the Zhang family's courtyard next door.

"A real bear!"

"Alive or dead?"

"Nonsense, look at that blood, he's already dead."

"Who hit him? Dazhuang?"

"I heard that Er Yatou took her there!"

Hearing the commotion, Li Chunyan rushed out of the house. Seeing the large, dark bear on the sled, she opened her mouth, then closed it again, finally managing to stammer, "My dear mother..."

Ye Youliang strolled out of the house, a pipe dangling from his mouth. He glanced at the bear on the sled without even blinking, and tapped the end of his pipe: "Bring it into the yard."

The crowd erupted in a buzz.

"The second daughter of the Ye family is quite something!"