Chapter 144: The Rabbit

"Fubao, why did we come out? Isn't today's event a competition between men?" asked the young Miss Chen, watching Fubao as she stuck her rear end up, digging around in the bushes.

"Aww, staying in the tent is so boring anyway. We might as well wander around, maybe we can catch a rabbit or a pheasant," Fubao's voice drifted out from the thicket.

"Hmph, you can't even catch a rabbit if you try your hardest. Do you really think we'll find anything sticking our bottoms up in the grass like this?"

The young Miss Chen curled her lips and didn't move a muscle, considering she had no idea what kind of bugs or snakes might be lurking in there.

Just as she turned her head, she saw a rabbit glance at her, tilt its head, and knock itself dead against a nearby tree trunk.

The young Miss Chen: "..." What kind of bizarre sorcery is this?

"Ah, what is this? It's so ugly," Fubao suddenly cried out from deep within the bushes, tossing out a massive mushroom.

"What is that?" The young Miss Chen walked over, carrying the rabbit, and picked it up. She paused, her gaze locking onto it, then rubbed her eyes with her free hand and looked again.

"Waaah! Fubao, this is a giant lingzhi mushroom! We're rich!" The young Miss Chen hopped around on the spot, holding the lingzhi high.

"Lingzhi?" Fubao crawled out of the bushes, thinking the thing looked awfully familiar.

"This is a real treasure!"

"So this is a lingzhi? I thought it was just a big mushroom," Fubao muttered, curling her lip.

"Are you an idiot? Something this size can be traded for a ton of money!" The young Miss Chen gave her a look that said she had no appreciation for valuable goods.

"But I used to pick loads of these when I was little, and in the end, I just fed them all to Dahua," Fubao said, pointing at the lingzhi in the young Miss Chen's hand.

"Dahua? Who's that?"

"Oh! It's a pig my grandma raised. It had patches of color, so I called her Dahua."

The young Miss Chen: "..."

"You are simply squandering heavenly treasures! What a sin!" The young Miss Chen frantically grabbed Fubao by the neck and shook her.

Fubao: "..." Save me.

***

Meanwhile, the hunting party led by the Crown Prince was shrouded in a gloomy atmosphere.

Bai Zhuo's naturally austere face looked even more ascetic, radiating an icy aura, while the Crown Prince walked with his head held high, his nose turned up toward the sky in absolute arrogance.

The two of them ignored each other entirely, creating an extremely awkward surface calm. Accompanying them were several young nobles, including Gong Shaoyu and Gu Li, who had been dragged along to keep them company.

Logically speaking, Gu Li didn't need to participate in this competition, both because of his social standing and his frail health. But who could blame him for having such a nagging cousin?

***

Gu Li, trailing at the back of the procession, looked left and right, thinking that nothing particularly entertaining seemed to be around.

"Cousin, what are you looking at?" Gong Shaoyu asked quietly.

"I'm looking for pheasants or wild hares so we can have some extra food tonight," Gu Li replied.

"Bah! What's so great about those? Real hunting is about bagging impressive game like deer, roe deer, or bears," Gong Shaoyu said, shaking his head.

"Cousin, I think the biggest thing we'll manage to catch today is something small," Gu Li muttered, casting a sidelong glance at the front row of imposing, fierce-looking young nobles mounted on horseback, radiating a murderous aura.

Then, taking a look at their own frail statures, he decided they should just catch a rabbit and bolt before even their meager catch flew away.

As expected, Gu Li's prediction proved correct. Once they reached a certain clearing, the Crown Prince spurred his horse forward to hunt alone. Seeing that their leader had slipped away, the rest of the group naturally scattered in all directions.

"Let's go catch some rabbits," Gu Li said, tugging at his horse's reins and turning to Gong Shaoyu when he saw everyone else had vanished.

"Alright."

Bai Zhuo, who was still lingering in the same spot, glanced in the direction the Crown Prince had taken, gritted his teeth, and followed after him.

***

Compared to the peaceful rabbit-hunting endeavors of Gu Li's group, Fubao's side was far more lively. As the old saying goes: wherever there are rare and precious treasures, there is bound to be a guardian beast.

No sooner had Fubao acquired the giant lingzhi than she was chased deep into the woods by a massive raccoon dog. Strangely enough, it targeted Fubao exclusively, leaving the young Miss Chen to scramble up a tree for safety.

"Run, Fubao! Help!" the young Miss Chen cried out, trembling atop a tree branch while still remembering to shout for help.

"Gosh! Why does this raccoon dog only want to chase me?" Fubao had already tossed the lingzhi into some unknown corner.

The raccoon dog panted heavily, its red eyes locked tightly onto Fubao.

"Stop!" Fubao halted, raising her hand to signal the large beast to stop, though it was a bit too late.

Taken aback, the raccoon dog couldn't brake in time. Just as it was about to slam straight into Fubao, her eyes widened slightly, and at the very last fraction of a second, she zipped deftly to the side.

The raccoon dog???

With a resounding *bang*, peace was restored to the world.

And so, Fubao and the young Miss Chen marched happily back to camp, cradling the giant lingzhi and shouldering the foaming-at-the-mouth raccoon dog.

Naturally, this spectacle thoroughly shocked everyone present.

The happiest ones were the military generals: These two lasses have a bright future and must be properly trained!

"Good grief, did the two of you do this?" Bai Jie shrieked, pointing at the massive raccoon dog lying on the ground, its tongue lolling out and still frothing at the mouth.

***

"That's right, the two of us took it down. Jealous?" The young Miss Chen laughed to the heavens.

Fubao: "..." Stop laughing, your back molars are showing; you look genuinely ugly when you laugh.

Bai Jie: "..." Finding it somewhat hard to believe.

At that moment, Gu Li was gripping a rabbit by its ears, trying to haul it out of a burrow. Unfortunately, this particular rabbit possessed a fierce and unyielding spirit and simply refused to come out, even though both its ears were being yanked by the enemy.

Are you kidding? If it surrendered now, it would probably end up roasted as a spicy rabbit before long—the kind sprinkled with cumin and smelling exceptionally fragrant.

"I say, Cousin, you've been waging a half-day war with this rabbit. Are you going to manage it or not?" Gong Shaoyu squatted not far away, propping his chin in his hand as he watched the tug-of-war between man and beast. It had already been nearly an hour; was a single rabbit really this difficult to handle?

"Almost," Gu Li replied.

"Come on out, and I'll give you a carrot to eat later," Gu Li lowered his head again and muttered to the rabbit.

The rabbit: *Eat my foot, let's just be stewed together.*

"Come out already. Heave-ho, heave-ho."

The rabbit braced its paws hard against the inside of the hole and refused to budge.

"Hmph, Cousin, watch me," Gong Shaoyu said, producing a two-meter-long broadsword from somewhere, pointing it at the rabbit digging frantically in the dirt with an aura of pure murder.

"Since when do rabbits know how to pick soft targets? Hmph! Not even my own cousin gets pushed around by me, yet you managed to squeeze your way to the front. Come on, let me see just how tough you really are." Gong Shaoyu leveled his broadsword horizontally, uttering bloodcurdling threats in an offhand tone.

Gu Li swallowed hard. "..." Terrifying.

The rabbit awaiting execution: *So you're fierce, big deal.*

A moment later—

Fine, you really are a big deal. I'll come out, okay?

And so, Gu Li watched in bewilderment as the rabbit, which had stubbornly clung to the depths of its hole, hopped eagerly into the nearby game pouch and tied a neat dead knot around itself to trap inside.

Gu Li: "..." You can actually do that??

Gong Shaoyu withdrew his broadsword and snorted. Hmph, as expected, his old man's broadsword came in handy after all.