Sir Song, do you want to pledge yourself to me?

The ignored Song Jinbai looked at Ji Nuan holding the gift from Chen Yu, smiling with her eyes curved, and felt unhappy.

How could Chen Yu be so ignorant of etiquette? How could he just give hairpins to a girl casually, and twelve of them at once!

Song Jinbai couldn't bear to blame Ji Nuan for accepting things from others indiscriminately, so he could only transfer his resentment to Chen Yu.

He coughed lightly, interrupting the conversation between the two people in front of him, and said, "Mr. Chen, let's move the gifts into the house first, and then go up the mountain. It's getting late. If we delay any longer, I'm afraid we won't be able to get our prey to the table in time."

Upon hearing this, Chen Yu quickly responded, "Yes, yes, Ah Fu, move your things in quickly. Nuan Nuan, let's go visit my uncle and aunt, and then get ready to go hunting in the mountains."

Ji Nuan led everyone into the courtyard and introduced Chen Yu to Ji's father and mother. Then he called Ji Chuan and took Song Jinbai and Chen Yu up the mountain.

As they came in and left, the villagers sitting around started a new round of discussion.

Auntie Tian lowered her voice and said mysteriously, "I ran into that tall young man riding a horse to send our girl Nuan back the other night. What do you think? Is he interested in our girl Nuan?"

Upon hearing this, Xiao Cui'er's mother hesitated a little: "No way? He's a wealthy young man from the city, how could he be interested in the daughter of a peasant family like us?"

"That's hard to say." Another person interrupted, "It's hard to find a girl like Nuan in ten miles or eight villages. Rich families have many wives and concubines, so it's not uncommon for them to have an extra wife."

Uncle Zhou couldn't bear to listen any longer and interrupted them seriously: "Please stop talking nonsense here. You're ruining the girl's reputation."

Uncle Niu was afraid that they would go too far, so he simply asked loudly, "Yinzhu, are those two handsome young men the friends your Xiaochuan made in the city?"

Seeing this, Ji's father quickly stepped forward to explain, fearing that unnecessary gossip would spread in the village: "Of course not! Those two were people my daughter had saved before, and now they have business dealings with my daughter-in-law. They heard that our family is moving today, so they came to join in the fun."

Uncle Niu laughed when he heard this: "Haha, it's because your little girl Nuan is kind-hearted that she has such good relationships with people."

Ji's father took the opportunity to add another sentence, explaining in advance the reason why Ji Nuan was about to go out: "Yes, and Ping'an Medical Clinic has introduced another patient who needs a kind of medicinal material that even the largest pharmacy in the city does not have. In a few days, the boys in the family will have to accompany Nuan Nuan to other places to collect herbs." This not only explained Ji Nuan's whereabouts, but also cleverly avoided the villagers' groundless speculation.

Uncle Zhou changed the subject and said with a smile, "Oh, no wonder I saw your boys busy practicing horseback riding at the foot of the mountain yesterday. It turns out they were preparing for a long journey tomorrow."

~~~~~

Ji Nuan led everyone deep into the forest. As they walked, she took out a few sachets and handed them to everyone one by one, carefully instructing them, "Everyone, hang these sachets on your body, so that snakes, insects, rats and ants will not dare to approach."

Song Jinbai took the sachet from Ji Nuan, rubbed it gently, and asked curiously, "Did you make this yourself?"

Ji Nuan thought there was something wrong with the sachet and explained, "What's wrong? I bought the sachet and I prepared the herbs inside."

Song Jinbai: "It's quite useful in the wild."

Ji Nuan mistakenly thought he was asking about the soldiers again, so she responded directly and readily, "The recipe is actually very simple. I'll write it down for you when I get back, and you can give it to all the soldiers on missions in the field."

Song Jinbai looked at Ji Nuan and said sincerely, "Thank you on behalf of those soldiers!"

Ji Nuan smiled slightly, waved his hand and said, "It's nothing. It's my honor to do my part for the soldiers."

"There's a hare!"

Chen Yu suddenly shouted excitedly. He quickly put an arrow on the bow, wanting to show off his archery skills.

However, with a "swoosh" sound, although the arrow was fast, it failed to hit the target, but instead scared the hare away.

Ji Nuan watched from the side. She had originally thought that since Chen Yu had his own bow and arrow, he must be a good hunter, but she didn't expect the result to be so surprising. She shook her head slightly, secretly feeling a little amused.

Seeing that Chen Yu was still trying to catch up, Ji Nuan quickly stopped him: "Don't chase it, it's just a wild rabbit, it's not worth wasting time and energy. Let's go find the big guy."

Chen Yu's eyes lit up, and he asked curiously, "Big guy? Where is he?"

Ji Nuan pointed forward and said, "Follow me. There's a stream not far ahead. Animals often go there to drink water. Especially at a time like this, we might be able to encounter some large prey."

Ji Shan followed behind Ji Nuan and suddenly asked, "I remember you promised us not to go into the mountains. How come you're so familiar with the mountains now? You even know where the streams are?"

Ji Nuan's heart skipped a beat; she had completely forgotten about this. She feigned composure and forced a defense, "Haha, Third Brother, isn't it because I've been practicing martial arts well lately, and my courage has grown as well? Besides, I've only been to the mountains a few times, so I remember it clearly."

Ji Chuan obviously didn't quite believe Ji Nuan's words.

He jokingly said, "Really? Why do I find it hard to believe? How can someone who has only been here a few times be so familiar with this place? I think I should tell my parents and let them teach you a lesson."

When Ji Nuan heard that she was going to tell her parents, she immediately became anxious. She tugged at Ji Chuan's sleeve and pleaded pitifully, "Third brother, I really learned martial arts well, so I dared to go into the mountains. Look, I'm fine now, right? Please don't tell my parents, okay?"

Ji Chuan couldn't help laughing when he saw Ji Nuan's expression. He patted Ji Nuan's head gently and said, "Are you scared now? How can you be so brave, a little girl like you? I'll let you go this time, but don't take such risks again in the future."

Seeing Ji Chuan give in, Ji Nuan immediately nodded happily and agreed: "Yes, Third Brother, I understand." She also took the opportunity to praise Ji Chuan: "I knew that Third Brother is the best to me!"

Song Jinbai walked beside them, watching this scene with amusement. He thought to himself: This mountain has almost become her backyard, with a place like Taohua Creek. She said she had only been here a few times, but she was probably just trying to fool Ji Chuan.

After walking for about a cup of tea, we found three wild sheep drinking water leisurely beside a clear stream.

Ji Nuan and his group approached silently, and Chen Yu quickly drew his bow and arrow, ready to shoot. Given his previous impressive performance, Ji Nuan quietly picked up a few small stones, just in case—if Chen Yu missed again, she could quickly follow up with a strike.

With a "swoosh", the arrow flew through the air. Although it did not hit the vital point this time, it hit the hind leg of one of the wild sheep, causing the three wild sheep to flee in all directions while making "baa-baa-baa" sounds of fear.

Ji Nuan was quick-eyed and quick-handed. With a flick of his wrist, three stones flew out instantly and hit the wild sheep that were trying to escape accurately. They fell to the ground one after another.

"Hahaha, I hit it!" Chen Yu jumped up excitedly and ran towards the stream impatiently.