Walking down the street with an empty basket on his back, Cheng Zongyang was lost in thought.
Zheng Yan was driving a hard bargain, but he wasn't wrong. What good was just the meat of a bear when all its most valuable parts were gone?
Bear meat might be beneficial to a Martial Artist, but only to a limited extent.
As for selling it to another Restaurant, the thought never crossed his mind.
He had sold his wares at the Celestial Fragrance Tower many times; you could say he was a regular supplier.
Zheng Yan had always offered fair prices in the past, which was why he always came here first whenever he had goods from the mountains to sell.
'If I sell it to another establishment, Zheng Yan will find out and surely hold a grudge. I'd make an enemy of him. He's a Martial Artist; I can't afford to provoke him. It's not worth putting myself, and even my family, in danger over a little extra profit.'
He could take it to the black market, but the only ones who could afford to buy a whole bear there were powerful families. And if he made too much money, he'd attract unwanted attention. The danger was still there.
'Maybe I should check the butcher shops?' Cheng Zongyang could only weigh his options.
Although a drought had struck Xiangyang Prefecture, life in the County Town was still relatively stable.
There hadn't been any major unrest for two years, so the Government Office's control was still effective.
Of course, Cheng Zongyang knew this control had its limits. When it broke, it would be like a bursting dam—unstoppable.
He dodged a few passing horse and donkey carts, turned down an alley, and was about to enter another street. But then...
"Have mercy, spare some coin."
"Young man, my child hasn't eaten in days. Please, show some kindness..."
"Please! I'm begging you, give me something to eat! I'm starving to death..."
"..."
Cheng Zongyang's heart hammered in his chest as he quickly backed away.
He hadn't expected to find more than a dozen beggars and refugees crowded into an alley that was only seven or eight meters long.
This surprised Cheng Zongyang greatly.
Was the Government Office really letting these refugees stay here as they pleased? Weren't they afraid of trouble if the numbers grew too large?
He had no sympathy to spare for others. It was only thanks to several years of savings that his own family wasn't living hand-to-mouth.
Likewise, if he hadn't obtained the Stone Ring, his family probably wouldn't have been able to hold on for much longer.
Instead of sympathizing with others, it was better to find a way to ensure his own family didn't fall into the same plight.
But after seeing the refugees on his way there, he had already given up on the idea of checking with the butcher shops.
It was better to sell it off quickly than to wait for a better price.
He had the Wilderness World. Even though it was only five square kilometers right now, there were more than enough prey and mountain goods for him to gather.
His priority right now was to find a way to make money and stockpile food faster. Sacrificing some profit for that was acceptable.
He took a different route to Chen's Clinic in the South City.
This was his second uncle's clinic, which had also been his master's.
His second uncle, Cheng Guangshan, had married his master's daughter while apprenticing, thereby inheriting everything. Grateful to his master, he had stayed on to work at the clinic even after finishing his training, and he also took care of the old man in his final years. He hadn't even changed the name on the sign.
He now had one son and two daughters, the opposite of Zongyang's own family.
South City, Chen's Clinic.
A clinic bearing the marks of time stood beside the main road. Inside, quite a few common folk were coming and going.
Some hurried away, clutching paper-wrapped Medicinal Materials; some helped frail-looking people inside; some faces were filled with joy, others with sorrow... a scene of the common people's hardships.
Cheng Zongyang paused for a moment before walking in.
Inside the clinic, many people were waiting to be seen, but there was only one Doctor. They had no choice but to wait, unless it was an emergency.
The one filling prescriptions was Cheng Zongyang's second aunt, Chen Qin. Her skills, passed down through her family, were beyond question.
Helping beside her was her eldest son, Cheng Zongwen. At fourteen, he was only a year younger than Cheng Zongyang and was his cousin.
His two younger female cousins were still small and weren't here.
It was the hot season, so nearly all the patients were suffering from heat-related illnesses. The family was extremely busy.
Seeing this, Cheng Zongyang decided not to disturb them. He took the hemp sack from his basket, and also pulled out two taels and five mace of silver.
The silver was the money for the grain his father had borrowed yesterday, calculated at today's prices.
"Zongwen."
His uncle and aunt were both busy, and Cheng Zongyang didn't want to distract them, so he approached his cousin, who was folding paper packets for Medicinal Materials.
"Ah, Cousin! What are you doing here?" Cheng Zongwen didn't stop what he was doing, skillfully packing the Medicinal Materials as he replied to Cheng Zongyang, his sweat-drenched face beaming with a smile.
"I came to drop something off. I'll just leave it here for you to look at when you're done. I'm heading out now."
He had wanted to ask about the price of the Bear Gall, but given the situation, he decided not to cause them any more trouble. He would come back when they were less busy.
"Zongyang, why don't you sit for a bit?"
Just then, Cheng Zongyang's second aunt, Mrs. Chen of the Cheng Family, noticed his arrival and quickly called out to him.
Cheng Zongyang politely declined, "It's alright, Second Aunt, you're busy. I still have some errands to run. I put the money and the items in the sack, so don't lose it."
With that, Cheng Zongyang waved to Zongwen and left the clinic.
At a blacksmith's shop, he spent 400 cents to pay for two custom-made knives.
One was a light knife for skinning and cutting meat, which cost thirty cents. The expensive one was the second blade, a heavy Bone-Cutting Knife weighing over thirty jin, meant for killing prey in the mountains and chopping bones. The seven or eight jin Firewood Knife at home was too light for him.
With these two knives, he had another means of self-defense in the Wilderness World.
This time, he found a remote, deserted spot and entered the Wilderness World.
He planned to extract the Bear Gall. He was also curious where exactly his arrow had struck the brown bear.
Arriving at the market hut, he found the brown bear lying intact on the ground, taking up a good portion of the small, cramped space.
He dragged it outside. With practiced motions, his hands flew, and he soon uncovered the bear's wound.
'Looks like I underestimated the lethality of the Ironwood Bow!'
The bear's hide was tough and its flesh thick, its muscles firm and dense. Yet that single arrow had torn through both layers of defense and pierced its lung!
He also noticed a second tear in the brown bear's lung—caused when the arrow was pulled out!
That was why the brown bear had died so quickly!
"No wonder," Cheng Zongyang murmured, then proceeded to cut out the brown bear's gall.
It was a black gallbladder, the size of his palm.
'What Grade is this?' Cheng Zongyang wondered.
He had heard that Bear Galls had Grades—Gold, Iron, and Vegetable—but since he had never hunted a bear before, let alone seen one, he had no idea which kind this gallbladder was.
But he didn't dwell on it. He gently peeled the membrane of fat from the outside of the gallbladder, tied it with a thin vine rope, and hung it up inside the hut.
Then he dragged the brown bear back into the hut to keep it fresh.
Since there was still time, Cheng Zongyang gathered his things, took his weapons, and left the market hut.
This time, he didn't head west. Instead, he went toward the spot where he had hung the rat meat that morning.
With the Ironwood Bow and the knives hanging at his waist, his courage had grown considerably.
He wouldn't even be worried if he ran into the Black Panther again.
Soon, he reached the trap he had set yesterday.
The rat meat was gone. Under the tree, however, there was a small puddle of blood that had mostly soaked into the ground, its dark color indicating it had been there for some time.
Besides that, there was also some animal fur.
Cheng Zongyang's expression was calm. He scanned his surroundings, then slowly crouched down to examine the scene.
The blood hadn't completely congealed, which meant it hadn't been too long. He picked up a small tuft of fur. It was black at the base where some Skin and Flesh remained, fading to gray at the tip. It carried a familiar, rank canine smell.
'A wolf?' Cheng Zongyang guessed uncertainly.
He looked at the ground. There were only drag marks, no signs of a struggle. This meant that after eating the rat meat and falling unconscious, the animal had been "scavenged" by another predator.
There was no fight, no struggle. It had simply been bitten to death and dragged away.