Chapter 21: The Wolf Arrives

  (It's just a little bit away from the top of the immortal hero category recommendation list)

  Nothing unusual happened that night, and the next day Chen Jianchen got up early as usual. He saw Yining sitting cross-legged in the corner of the room with her eyes closed - she had opened her mind to spiritual things, learned Taoist magic, and could absorb and expel the spiritual energy of heaven and earth. Whenever she had time, she would sit in meditation to cultivate herself, vying for every moment, thus forgetting sleep and food, and ignoring the passage of time.

  Cultivate Tao, cultivate virtue, cultivating is originally quiet and solitary.

  Chen Jianchen didn't disturb it and quietly left the room.

  Abao got up early and made a rich breakfast. Chen Jianchen gave the two silver ingots he got from Wang Fu to Mo Sanniang. Mo Sanniang was shocked when she saw them, as she had never seen so much money before, and asked where they came from. Chen Jianchen replied that it was given by Wang Dafu as a reward for writing letters.

  Mo San Niang was overjoyed and happily accepted. The budget for Abao's vegetable shopping suddenly increased by 50%.

  Since Ah Bao moved into the Chen's house, she almost took charge of all household chores, busy with everything. Especially she can cook very well, really a virtuous woman who can both entertain guests and manage the kitchen, extremely kind and gentle.

  A child at home is worth more than a hundred elsewhere.

  Chen Jianchen couldn't stop praising, but every time he did, Ah Bao's face turned bright red with a mixture of shyness and delight, her beauty beyond compare.

  After finishing breakfast, Chen Jianchen returned to his room and asked Yin Ning what she wanted to eat.

  Yinniang replied: "After the little fox has attained enlightenment and obtained the method, it will no longer eat meat. Occasionally eating fruits and drinking clear water is enough."

  Upon hearing this, Chen Jianchen responded with a sound, and was about to go out to fetch some water when he suddenly heard the loud barking of hunting dogs and the clamor of people outside, as if something had happened.

  Hearing the fierce barking of dogs, Yinniang instinctively shuddered and moved closer to Chen Jincheng.

  Chen Jianchen furrowed his brow, comforted him with a few words and walked out to see what had happened.

  All I saw was a flurry of activity in the village, with many people gathering together and shouting.

  Chen Jianchen arrived, and the villagers all greeted him, making way for him.

  "What happened?"

  Just then Zhang Lao San said: "Mr. Chen, a wolf came to the village last night and ate one of Li A Da's mountain goats, leaving only a pool of blood."

  As expected, I saw Li Ah Dai sitting on the ground in our circle, crying and complaining loudly - for his family, a mountain goat was very valuable, being taken away by wolves to eat, it was like having a piece of flesh dug out from their hearts, extremely heart-wrenching.

  Wolf?

  Chen Jianchen was taken aback and hastily asked: "How could this be?"

  "Perhaps it's the cold weather and heavy snow that makes it hard for wolves to find food in the deep mountains, so they come out to attack domestic animals... Such things have happened before. I'm going to go hunting with Shui Shenghuo and others now. If we don't kill or drive away these wolves, they'll wait outside the village until nightfall and then sneak into the village to cause trouble."

  Although Zhang Lao San said that there were also cases of wolves entering the village to eat livestock in previous years, Chen Jianchen's mind was somewhat uneasy, always feeling that this matter was not simple and might be related to the wolf demon mentioned by Yin Ning...

  He understood some of the situation and went back to tell Yining.

  Yin Ning wrote on the white paper: "I also think it's a wolf demon, it doesn't dare to openly enter the village, so it looks for some livestock to bite and makes trouble, waiting for an opportunity."

  Chen Jianchen fell silent, lost in thought.

  "Sir, it's all because of Xiao Hu's mischief, if I leave, everything will be fine."

  Chen Jianchen smiled and said: "Now your affairs are mine, you can just rest assured and stay here."

  ……

  At dusk, a group of hunters who went out to hunt wolves all returned with their dogs. They had nothing to show for it and searched the surrounding areas of the village within several miles but did not find any traces of wolf activity.

  This is really unthinkable.

  Several hunting households have raised experienced hunting dogs, and if wolves appear, they will definitely be sniffed out. Is it because of the snow that the traces were buried?

  Everyone is unclear about the reason.

  In the evening, Zheng Dazha, the butcher in the village, returned. Unlike usual days, he was panting and sweating all over today. Someone joked: "Zheng Dazha, were you chased by a ghost? You ran so fast!"

  Zheng is a sturdy man with a thick waist and strong physique, one of the top two strongest men in the village. With his somewhat fierce temperament, he's basically someone nobody dares to provoke.

  Zheng Da wiped the sweat and said in a deep voice, "You don't know, I encountered wolves on my way back. Damn it, those beasts are getting bolder and more arrogant, daring to come out before dark."

  Hearing there were wolves, a crowd of people gathered around to listen to its words.

  Zheng Da Tu said: "I went to the countryside today to sell meat, and in the end, I only brought back a pig's head skin. Originally, I thought of keeping it for our family to stir-fry with wine tonight, but when I returned to the willow forest, a giant wolf suddenly followed me silently from behind. I estimate it was at least three feet long, over a foot high, and its fur was as black as charcoal..."

  The willow forest he spoke of is just south of Jingyang Village, not far away, only a few miles.

  Zheng continued: "At that time, I thought to myself, 'This beast is quite daring, it even dares to bite people in broad daylight.' So I took out a butcher knife to scare it..."

  At this time someone shouted: "You have a face full of flesh, holding a sharp blade, that black wolf must be scared to death by you."

  Zheng Da Tu's face was strange, with a lingering fear, and he said: "Scared to death! You really don't know, when I flashed the knife, that beast wasn't afraid at all, but instead showed off its sharp teeth, its eyes were deep and shining with a gloomy light, very intimidating. I'm considered brave, but looking into the beast's eyes, I was inexplicably frightened, and quickly cut off a pig's ear and threw it on the ground..."

  "What's the point of losing your pig's ear?"

  "You're silly, I lost the pig's ear, that wolf must have only eaten the pig's ear and ignored me...... Later, the black wolf indeed ate the pig's ear in one bite, but swallowed it in one mouthful and chased after me again."

  Everyone was shocked by what he said and no longer interrupted him, but listened quietly with rapt attention.

  "I'm not afraid of you guys laughing at me, but this is the first time in my life I've been so scared. Seeing the wolf made me rush, and I quickly cut more meat. As I was cutting, the last piece of pig head skin only had one pig nose left... damn it, tonight's dish to go with wine is gone."

  "What's next?"

  Everyone rushed to ask.

  I ran with all my might and finally got out of the forest, approaching this side of the village. On the road, I met a few people from the neighboring village, including Fang Dapao. When I turned back, that black wolf didn't chase me again, probably because it was scared away by the crowd.

  Everyone listened with bated breath, secretly relieved for Zheng Da, and thought to themselves: could it be that Li A'Da's mountain goat was eaten by this black wolf?

  It's highly likely after some thought.

  Such a ferocious and daring wolf is rarely seen, it's not easy to deal with. It seems that we need to discuss how to set traps at the village edge as soon as possible...

  They were discussing very fiercely, and no one noticed that not far away, Chen Jianchen was frowning and staring at the village entrance - his gaze seemed to have no specific focus, just looking far away.

  Another dark night has fallen...