Chapter 16: Third Uncle Su Yuanzheng, Eldest Son Su Dayong

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In the end, Su Yu said nothing. He neither admitted nor denied it. His father had merely spoken offhandedly and did not punish him, so the matter naturally came to nothing.

“Um... I’ll head home first and bring my younger brother and sisters over to help.”

Perhaps sensing the tension in the air, Huzi made a quick escape and said no more.

Good lord, Brother Yu was something else. He had hired killers to—bah, hired someone to beat people up. What a badass.

Huzi strode home and called for his younger brother Xiaoben, his third sister Su Rou, and his fourth sister Su Qianqian. Together, they headed to Su Yu’s house.

Su Yu’s father returned to his room, while Su Sheng came out. When he saw the game Su Yu had taken from the back basket, he was utterly astonished. Little Su Jing stood beside them, practically drooling.

Though Su Jin was still being punished, he could see everything clearly and watched them intently.

“Good heavens, don’t tell me you shot all of these with a bow and arrow?”

His elder brother wore an expression of disbelief. After all, hunting game with bows and arrows had gradually fallen out of use in this era. Everyone preferred hunting with guns, or at the very least, old shotguns.

Su Yu naturally knew that guns were more effective, but they were expensive. Even an old shotgun cost twenty or thirty yuan, and that was the price for having a blacksmith make one. A finished gun would likely cost even more.

A Hanyang rifle, for instance, was already obsolete, yet still cost around eighty yuan. Its rifling was nearly worn smooth, and people still dared to ask that kind of price.

A Type 56 semi-automatic rifle could sell for a thousand yuan. Even a Hanyang rifle, which required the bolt to be pulled after every shot, was worth more than a hundred. In short, the more time a weapon saved, the more expensive it was.

A Type 56 could hold ten rounds and fire semi-automatically without requiring the bolt to be pulled each time. That alone greatly increased a hunter’s safety. After all, if the first shot missed the target, every second mattered—time was life.

“Heh-heh. I’m simply gifted. I asked Grandpa Huzi for some pointers, and in an instant, I became Hou Yi reborn.”

Su Sheng naturally did not believe him, but he did not press the matter.

“Brother Yu, I’m here.”

Before long, Huzi, Xiaoben, Su Rou, and Su Qianqian all arrived.

Seeing so many people, Su Yu’s father knew they had come to eat meat. He also stopped making Su Jin continue his punishment. The boy was already fourteen or fifteen and in the middle of adolescence; some dignity had to be spared.

Thus Xiaoben and Su Jin played together, while silly little Su Jing went into the room with Huzi’s two younger sisters, chatting and laughing.

Su Yu’s father did not sit idle either. He came out to help clean and prepare the hunted animals.

There were two rabbits, three pheasants, a hedgehog, eight gray marmots, and a badger. Altogether, there had to be dozens of pounds of meat—a truly substantial haul.

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“Prepare all the rabbits. Skin the marmots and stew them. Stew the hedgehog too. Keep the three pheasants. Clean the badger, skin it, and sell the meat.”

“Sell all the badger meat? Shouldn’t we keep some to render into fat?”

Su Yu considered it and decided that made sense.

“All right, then. We won’t sell the badger. Lean meat alone wouldn’t be easy to sell anyway, so we’ll keep it for ourselves.”

At that point, Su Yu’s father spoke up. “Since we’re not selling the badger, cut off some meat and send a portion to your Third Uncle and your grandfather.”

Su Yu and Su Sheng exchanged a glance but did not object.

“Dad, I have no problem sending some to Third Uncle. But if we send it to Grandfather’s household, are you sure any of it will actually make it into my grandfather’s stomach?”

Su Yu’s father naturally understood what he meant. The younger members of the two families were constantly at each other’s throats, and he knew exactly where the conflict stemmed from. Unfortunately, there was nothing he could do to resolve it.

“We’ll make the offering and burn the incense. As for who ends up eating it, that’s beyond our control.”

The meaning was simple. There was no way to hide the fact that they were stewing meat at home. Their neighbors would certainly smell it, and in the countryside, whenever a family ate something good, the entire village would know by the next day. There was no helping it. Rural life was desperately poor, and even a little meat was enough to make people envious.

“All right. I’ll deliver some to Third Uncle. You can take some to Grandfather’s house. I’m not going.”

Although Su Yu possessed memories from two lifetimes and had a mental age far beyond that of a young man, his current body was still only nineteen. His reaction was perfectly reasonable.

“Don’t look at me. I’m definitely not going either.”

Su Jin refused at once. What a joke. Su Youqing had blocked his way and given him a thorough beating that very afternoon. If he went to that family’s house now, would he not be delivering himself straight to their doorstep?

Su Yu’s father had no choice but to make the deliveries himself. If he failed to do so, people would accuse him of being unfilial. His parents were still alive, and if he had good food but did not give them any, the villagers would gossip endlessly, leaving him no room to defend himself.

Su Yu did not stop him. Although the meat had not been obtained by his father, they still lived under the same roof. If people called someone unfilial, they would not blame Su Yu—they would blame his father. Su Yu could not allow his own anger to drag his father into a storm of public opinion.

One should never underestimate rural gossip. Public opinion could be terrifying, and words could kill.

After the badger was killed and skinned, twenty pounds of meat remained. The intestines and other organs, together with the bones, weighed roughly another five pounds. Thus, from a twenty-five-pound badger, they had twenty pounds of usable meat.

Su Yu’s father placed it on a wooden board and cut it in half, then cut each half in half again, producing pieces of roughly five pounds each.

“You take this five-pound piece to your Third Uncle. I’ll take this one to your grandfather.”

His father was quite generous. He did not feel the slightest pang about giving meat to Third Uncle, because Su Yu’s Third Uncle, Su Yuanzheng, had always treated their family well.

He remembered clearly that when his younger sister had once gone to university but could not afford the tuition, Third Uncle had borrowed money from all over the place to pay it. The reason their own family had not borrowed the money was simple: they had been dragged down by the eldest uncle’s family, and no one had dared lend them anything.

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Although that incident had not happened yet, Su Yu knew it would. He could not forget the kindness shown in his previous life merely because he had not yet incurred that debt in this one.

“All right, I’ll take it over.”

Su Yu picked up a fatty piece and turned to leave. Su Sheng, meanwhile, lit a fire and prepared some wood ash to help clean the marmot hides. He worked on the badger and rabbit skins as well.

“Third Uncle, Third Aunt, are you home?”

A little girl opened the door. She was Su Xiaotong, Third Uncle’s daughter. Third Uncle had only one son and one daughter, and both of them would eventually become university graduates. His eldest son, Su Dayong, was only a few months older than Su Yu. Just imagine—seven years later, when he was twenty-six, Third Uncle would still be supporting him through university, while also sending his daughter to university.

It was clear that Third Uncle was a man of considerable foresight.

He had even been willing to borrow money to pay his own younger sister’s tuition. He was decisive, farsighted, and possessed a mind of his own.

“Oh? Brother, what brings you here?”

“Xiaotong, I brought you some meat. Let me in.”

As he spoke, he stepped inside. His Third Aunt and Third Uncle came out to greet him.

“Oh, it’s Su Yu. What brings you here?”

“Heh-heh. Huzi and I went hunting in the mountains today, and we had quite a good haul. This is some badger meat. Dad asked me to bring you a portion. I specifically picked a fatty piece for Third Uncle. Render it into oil and use a little when stir-frying vegetables—it’ll be absolutely delicious.”

“Why are you being so polite? Come inside.”

Third Uncle said nothing, but Third Aunt was clearly much more welcoming. She pulled Su Yu into the house and took the badger meat from him.

“Dayong, your cousin Su Yu is here. Stop pretending to be dead in your room and come out.”

Su Dayong, the son of Third Uncle Su Yuanzheng, was also his only son. Having only one boy was quite rare in this era. Of course, with Su Xiaotong, he was not technically an only child, but families with just one son were uncommon nonetheless.

“Oh, it’s Su Yu. I heard you went into the mountains and rescued Old Man Huang from the neighboring village. Is that true?”

It seemed the news had finally begun to spread. After all, Old Man Huang’s wife and daughter had been coming and going from Li Youcai’s house. It would have been difficult for no one to notice.

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