Chapter 41: Finding Eggs, and the Tian Family's Young Lady Appears on the Mountain Again

Amidst a vast expanse of pristine white snow, two vibrantly colored wild pheasants flew in from afar.
For a moment, they strolled leisurely across the snowy ground; the next, they spread their wings and leaped onto a tree branch.
They kept clucking incessantly, showing not the slightest bit of fear that they might attract any natural predators.
In truth, wild pheasants had quite a few natural predators. Practically any carnivorous animal could prey upon them.
Yet, there were very few creatures capable of attacking them directly. Even if leopards or tigers knew how to climb trees, by the time they scaled the trunk, the pheasants would have simply flown away.
Eagles, falcons, and vultures would also hunt wild pheasants. But deep within this dense forest, the likelihood of them successfully catching a pheasant was not very high.
Even so, the pheasant population had never overgrown.
This was because they had one more deadly predator.
Human beings.

Chu Feng gently drew out his matchlock firearm. He poured gunpowder down the barrel, and then produced a fire starter.
Once the fire starter ignited the fuse, it would take roughly three seconds for the weapon to discharge. Those three seconds provided Chu Feng with the precise window he needed to take aim.
He did not rush to light the fuse. Instead, he stared unblinkingly at the two pheasants ahead, took a deep breath, and made sure both birds remained completely motionless right where they were. Only then did he raise his matchlock.
The distance between them was a little over thirty meters—roughly fifty paces.
For Chu Feng, who had once served as a soldier, hitting a target at this range was virtually a surefire hit, especially given the luxury of ample time to aim.
Taking one final, deep breath, Chu Feng touched the fire starter to the fuse.
Then, holding his breath and aligning the sights with the target, he locked his gaze onto the pheasant ahead.
With a sharp bang, the clucking sound vanished instantly.
One pheasant plummeted straight down from the branch into the snow below.
The other pheasant, utterly clueless as to what had just happened, hesitated on the branch for a long moment before frantically flapping its wings and flying away.

Although matchlocks were convenient, this inability to fire in rapid succession annoyed Chu Feng slightly. Otherwise, given the previous situation, he could have fired two shots in a row.
Still, a person should never be overly greedy. Bagging a wild pheasant with a single-shot matchlock was already a very decent haul.
These wild pheasants had exceptionally long growth cycles and grew to a massive size. Take the one right in front of him, for instance—it weighed close to ten pounds.
Having been struck by the firearm and falling from a great height, it was still not entirely dead.

Struggling on the ground, the pheasant twisted its body in a manner resembling a bizarre dance.
Stepping forward, Chu Feng placed his foot squarely on its neck, instantly ending the creature's agony.
To take a life was one thing, but there was no need to torture it.
Tossing the pheasant into his bamboo basket, Chu Feng resumed his search.
He made a point of avoiding the mountain peaks. Since the summit of the first peak was roughly the same height as the second, anyone standing there would have a clear view of the second peak.
If the government constables happened to spot him, nothing might come of it, but Chu Feng preferred to avoid unnecessary trouble.
He simply wandered around the outer perimeter for a while.

"Awooo!"
A wolf's howl drifted over from somewhere in the distance.
Judging by the sound, it seemed quite far away.
Chu Feng paid it no mind. Leaving aside the fact that he was fully armed, he remembered the day the black bear and the bandits had unleashed a flurry of attacks against the wolf pack, instantly slaying three wolves. One of them had a body length approaching two meters—clearly the alpha of the pack.
Now that the alpha was dead, the remaining pack was nothing more than a rabble of disunited wolves.
Chu Feng estimated they wouldn't casually wander far from the second peak.

The hunt continued. A single pheasant was definitely not enough.
When New Year's Day arrived, the villagers would inevitably exchange greetings and visit one another. Chu Feng had no intention of receiving guests at his home with meager ingredients.
According to the memories lingering in his mind, if his recollection served him correctly, there should be a pheasant nest up in the tree fork ahead.
The snow was falling heavily and swirling in flurries, blurring Chu Feng's vision somewhat. It wasn't until he reached the base of the tree that he clearly spotted the nest.
Nests like this could be found aplenty on the large trees along the outskirts, but finding them required patience and a certain degree of risk.
With the heavy snow filling the air, pine trees became exceptionally slick. One careless slip could send a person sliding right down.
Aside from the extreme danger, even if one managed to climb up, the pheasants would often catch sight of you lingering at the base and fly away beforehand, rendering the climb completely useless.
Consequently, very few people bothered to hunt pheasants this way.
Yet, when considering the total number across all the villages surrounding Mount Yulong, the figure was far from negligible. There were always a few brave souls who, like Chu Feng, risked venturing deep into the mountains to hunt.
The authorities either remained unaware of these people or chose to turn a blind eye. After all, times were hard for everyone right now; there was no need to push people to desperation.
Chu Feng was rather lucky. Throughout the entire area encompassing Taoyuan Village and Xiliu Village near Mount Yulong, he was the only hunter officially recognized by the government.
With no one to compete against him, he could hunt at his own leisurely pace.

After locating the pheasant nest, Chu Feng began to put his climbing skills on display.
Having labored to reach the very top of the tree, he discovered to his disappointment that the nest was completely empty.
Unfazed, Chu Feng moved on to scale a second tree.
Whenever he spotted a nest in the branches, he climbed up to check it.
After scaling over a dozen nests in this manner, he finally stumbled upon the prize he was looking for.
Eggs!
Bird eggs served as the highest-quality source of dietary protein.
Most of the eggs in this nest were fertilized. With proper incubation, they might even hatch into chicks.
Gathering a few more eggs and hatching a clutch of chicks to raise in his own courtyard would eventually establish a sustainable source of income.
One had to know that a wild pheasant fetched a hefty price in town; it couldn't be bought for less than a hundred copper coins, making it even more expensive than the meat of large livestock.
After all, game meat always commanded a high price no matter the season.

Spending the entire day searching pheasant nests yielded Chu Feng a total of ten eggs.
Though the number wasn't massive, every little bit added up.
Hatching these ten eggs into chicks, letting them grow slowly, and then having them lay more eggs for future hatching would eventually create an endless, self-sustaining lineage.
Who knew? Perhaps he could even pioneer a wild pheasant hatchery here in the Great Qian Dynasty and become an ancient capitalist of the realm.
The mere thought brought a flutter of excitement.

Dusting the accumulated snow off his clothes, Chu Feng packed his gear, preparing to head down the mountain.
Going any further would take him beyond the borders of Yulong Village. For the sake of safety, it was best not to stray too far.
Moreover, the village was far from peaceful.
Constables might show up at his home looking for him, and if they couldn't find him, they might end up causing trouble for his wife and child.
Until this matter was thoroughly resolved, Chu Feng figured he shouldn't wander too far.

*Awooo.*
The wolf's howl rang out once again.
What struck Chu Feng as somewhat strange was that the howling seemed to be getting closer and closer.
Frowning slightly, he walked up to a slightly elevated hillock and raised his head to look ahead.
To his surprise, a woman and three men were sprinting for their lives in a wild panic, pursued closely by a pack of eight wolves.
Humans stood no chance of outrunning wolves in the rugged mountains.
Yet these eight wolves didn't seem intent on launching a direct assault on the four people; instead, they paced alongside them, as if herding or driving them forward.
Squinting to look closer, Chu Feng noticed that all eight wolves bore visible injuries of varying degrees.
Weren't these the exact same wolves he had encountered a few days ago atop the second peak?

However, when Chu Feng shifted his gaze to the four fleeing figures, he froze in astonishment.
The woman leading the group, dressed in a light yellow skirt—was she not the young lady of the Tian family?