Chapter 7: Trading Flesh for a Daughter
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Zeng Tianba began to ponder. His father was the village chief and a wealthy landlord, so there were certainly people who came to borrow grain from their household every year. However, they had to maintain their respectability, so there was no way they would allow interest to accumulate. Typically, it was just borrowing three jin of grain and repaying four jin after the harvest the following year.
As for meat... no one in the village dared to borrow meat at all. The two girls who had died before had borrowed grain they could not repay, which was used to offset their debts. During times of famine, having anything to eat was already a blessing; who could afford to hope for meat?
“Miao Qin took one jin of meat from me, and you still owe two jin?” Zeng Tianba confirmed again.
“Yes,” Su Yanwen said firmly.
He simply did not believe Miao Qin would return the meat. With a person like her, she would rather lose her life than give up the meat. The name on the receipt was Su Yanwen’s, apparently written by his worthless former self, and Miao Qin had taken the meat using that note.
Zeng Tianba nodded, glanced up and down at Su Yanwen, then continued, “There are also three jin of millet. Millet is quite scarce these days.”
“Three jin of millet can be exchanged for one jin of meat.”
Hearing this, everyone immediately looked at Zeng Tianba, but no one dared to speak. Their expressions clearly suggested they thought he was lying. Yet no one spoke up, tacitly accepting the price.
Miao Qin was surprised and whispered beside him, “You clearly said before that one jin of meat was worth ten jin of millet.”
That was the price when the children were sold.
Zeng Tianba’s expression suddenly turned cold. “What? You want to repay it?”
Miao Qin shrank back, hiding beside the others, clutching her sleeves, hunched over, too afraid to speak. No matter how arrogant she was in front of her family, before strangers, she was simply a coward.
Su Yanwen sneered, “You’re supposed to give me four jin of meat in total, right?”
“Yes.”
Zeng Tianba raised his chin. Su Yanwen’s confident correction unsettled him. If it came down to just this IOU, and with someone like him who would poison his own daughter, who knew what he might do?
Just in case, Zeng Tianba added, “If there’s meat, we’ll leave.”
“If there’s no meat, sorry, but we’ll still take this child away. When there is meat, then you can come to exchange.”
“No!”
Zhao Yue’e tightly shielded her daughter. She wouldn’t believe a word those people said. If they took her away, who knew if she would ever come back?
“I have meat,” Su Yanwen said casually. “I went hunting in the mountains last night, and today I’m using the game to redeem my daughter’s contract.”
“What? You went into the mountain last night?”
The exclamation came from one of Zeng’s helpers. Everyone exchanged incredulous looks.
“Heh, I thought Old Su was really capable, but turns out he’s still just a braggart,” Zeng Tianba scoffed.
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The tense atmosphere instantly vanished, replaced by ridicule. Laughter broke out in turn.
“Do you know what that big mountain is called?”
“It’s called ‘Oyrokhgüi’—meaning ‘Do Not Approach.’”
“There are not only mountain spirits there but all kinds of monsters. No one dares enter at night, and even in the daytime, people only dare to approach the edges.”
“As for what lies beyond the mountain, even the most experienced hunters wouldn’t dare venture there.”
At the mention of that mountain, everyone’s eyes filled with fear.
Someone even said, “Last night, the snow ghosts were out. How could anyone enter the mountain and come out alive?”
“Yeah, I even checked while sleeping; the snow ghosts came.”
“The mountain was filled with the cries of snow ghosts, with a white expanse everywhere, nothing visible.”
“In winter, you occasionally encounter snow ghosts. But this year is the year of heavenly punishment; almost every night, snow ghosts roam the mountain ravine.”
Everyone shuddered at the mere mention. Despite their burly frames, they lost their temper completely when facing these intangible spirits.
Zeng Tianba’s face darkened. Glaring at Su Yanwen, he ground his teeth, “My uncle was taken by a snow ghost. You say you went into the mountain last night? That lie is outrageous.”
“Su Yanwen, if you try to cheat me, I’m about to break your hand now.”
He signaled a few burly men beside him, who immediately stepped forward.
Su Yanwen rolled his eyes.
Snow ghosts? That was just wind-driven snow—nothing but a natural disaster, only on a larger scale, creating a terrifying spectacle.
In ancient times, people’s ignorance turned unavoidable natural disasters into mysterious and frightening legends through exaggeration and fantasy.
If it weren’t for the black wolf last night, Su Yanwen wouldn’t have made it out either.
Explaining natural disasters now was pointless.
Su Yanwen said simply, “I encountered a black wolf—completely black and bigger than a tiger. It saved my life.”
Wolf?
Fear flickered in their eyes, but when they heard “black wolf,” they calmed down.
“Hahaha.”
Zeng Tianba laughed aloud. “Even your lies aren’t believable. A wolf bigger than a tiger—come on…”
“Old Su, where’s your prey?”
As the men mocked, aunt Zhang appeared, holding two rabbits in her left hand and two sable weasels in her right, running over. Su Yanwen ran so fast she couldn’t catch up.
Seeing the scene inside, she quickly hid her hands behind her back.
“Rabbits!”
“Sables!”
The burly men exclaimed in surprise, their eyes greedier than wolves, itching to pounce and devour.
The silent Cao’er excitedly grabbed Zhao Yue’e’s arm. “Mom, Dad really brought back game!”
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“Dad really came to save me.”
A faint glimmer appeared in Zhao Yue’e’s previously lifeless eyes.
“It’s okay, Aunt Zhang. I promised to exchange four jin of meat for Cao’er,” Su Yanwen explained.
Aunt Zhang sighed in relief, came over, and placed the game in front of Su Yanwen.
Seeing the aggressive crowd and the vulnerable mother and daughter, she instinctively stood in front of them.
“Young master, there really is meat.”
“Look at these rabbits and sables—fresh! The meat isn’t even frozen solid; they must have been just caught.”
“So that means the kid really went into the mountain?”
The burly men’s expressions changed as they looked at Su Yanwen. This kid had guts!
“The snow ghosts couldn’t claim your life?” Zeng Tianba’s gaze grew wary. “And you still brought back the prey?”
He glanced at the sables on the ground.
“These wounds… these bite marks?”
One helper immediately examined them carefully, eyes widening like a cow’s. “These were made by a large animal.”
“Looks a lot like a tiger.”
In an era without guns, if there were tigers in the mountains, no one dared enter.
To them, tigers were invincible beings.
If Su Yanwen truly snatched game from a tiger’s jaws, that was terrifying indeed.
“Where did this stuff come from?” Zeng Tianba’s voice trembled slightly.
“None of your business,” Su Yanwen replied lazily.
He only said, “Anyway, we agreed on four jin of meat, so four jin it is.”
He tossed over two rabbits and one sable. “The extra is interest.”
“Hmph. Old Su, your mind’s sharp, but I said four jin of meat—not including the skin.”
Zeng Tianba said to a man beside him, “Skin them.”
In winter, fur-bearing animals have thick pelts but little meat. They look plump but are mostly fur.
Once skinned and gutted, very little remains.
Two snow rabbits plus two sables barely weighed four jin.
They often ate pork, but rabbit and sable meat was considered wild game, rarely enjoyed even by Zeng Tianba.
Today, he was just trying to cheat, claiming it was meat without specifying what kind.
Seeing them take all the meat away, Su Yanwen held out his hand. “Give me the contract.”
“You want the contract?”
Zeng Tianba took it, shook it, then quickly put it away with a cold smile. “You repaid the meat and millet, but what about my Da Huang?”
“That’s a living creature!”
“If you don’t compensate, do you think this matter will just pass?”
Having said that, Zeng Tianba stuffed the contract back into his clothes.