Chapter 6: Borrowing Three Coins from You

"Take a look and tell me what this is worth," Yu Chengfeng said, sitting down.

The shopkeeper, who had been beaming at the sight of the game, was about to exchange pleasantries when he caught sight of Yu Chengfeng’s face. He froze in astonishment.

"It’s you?" The shopkeeper frowned. "You hunted these?"

"Who else?" Yu Chengfeng replied.

The shopkeeper examined the game with a suspicious gaze, but his eyes lit up the moment he saw the white fox.

A prize find!

He quickly suppressed his excitement and began inspecting the fox for wounds. No matter how high the quality of the fur, the condition of the pelt depended on where the arrow had struck. If it had been pierced through the back, the pelt’s integrity would be severely compromised; a single hole was impossible to mend.

However, after feeling over the entire body of the white fox, he could not find a single wound.

"Caught in a snare?" The shopkeeper checked the neck and limbs again. Animals caught in snares usually suffered fur damage from violent struggling. If the damage was severe, it would have been better if it had been pierced through the heart by an arrow.

To his bewilderment, there were no signs of a struggle on the neck or limbs. The fur was perfectly smooth throughout. If properly skinned, it would yield a flawless white fox pelt.

"Don't worry about how I caught it. Just name your price," Yu Chengfeng said, noticing the suspicion in the shopkeeper's eyes. His expression grew displeased, and his tone turned cold.

"For this old badger pelt, I’ll give you one coin. For this small one, three coins. And this white fox pelt... I’ll give you one tael." The shopkeeper offered a high price, feigning reluctance.

Yu Chengfeng sneered, snatched the fox carcass back, and said, "Just settle up the four coins for the others. I’ll take this white fox pelt to the shop across the street."

The shopkeeper’s offer was absurdly low. Fox fur was already expensive, and this was a pristine white fox pelt without a single blemish. If a skilled craftsman skinned it, it would fetch at least ten taels, and if sold to a wealthy noblewoman, even more was possible.

"No, no, wait!" Seeing the white fox pelt he had just held slipping away, the shopkeeper hurriedly called him back. "The price, the price is negotiable."

"Let me confirm one more time: did you really hunt this white fox yourself?" The shopkeeper invited Yu Chengfeng into the back room and served him a cup of tea.

In his eyes, the infamous good-for-nothing before him couldn't possibly have caught such a creature. He hoped to find out which hunter had achieved such a clean kill so he could collaborate with them.

To his surprise, Yu Chengfeng sipped the tea slowly before replying, "It was me. Not just the fox; I hunted these badger pelts too. If someone hadn't scavenged one of the others, I might have brought back two white foxes!"

"It really was you!" The shopkeeper's eyes widened, filled with disbelief.

"It was!" Yu Chengfeng set down his cup and threatened, "If you keep stalling, I’m taking the fox to the shop across the street!"

"No stalling, no stalling. How about this: from now on, bring all your game to me, and I’ll pay you a higher rate, alright?" the shopkeeper said with a smile. If the quality of the pelts Yu Chengfeng brought remained this high, he would be rolling in money.

"How about seven taels for the fox and the two badger pelts?" The shopkeeper held up seven fingers.

Yu Chengfeng considered it, found the price fair, and nodded in agreement.

The shopkeeper immediately fetched seven taels of silver and personally escorted him to the door with a beaming smile.

With a pouch of silver, Yu Chengfeng first went to the apothecary. Wei Nanfeng was busy organizing the medicine cabinet and frowned the moment he saw him, assuming he had come to borrow money again.

Just as he was about to scold him, Yu Chengfeng placed a silver ingot on the table and said, "Doctor, this is to pay you back."

In Northern Yan, silver was generally divided into large ingots of ten taels and small ones of five taels; anything smaller was broken silver. However, few commoners possessed such large ingots, so they often recast broken silver into smaller, standard weights, usually one or three taels. The ingot on the table was a one-tael piece.

"This... what is this?" Wei Nanfeng asked, looking from the silver to Yu Chengfeng, his eyes full of astonishment.

"Did you steal this!?" Wei Nanfeng finally asked after a long pause.

"No, I earned this by hunting and selling game. Please rest assured, Doctor." Yu Chengfeng felt a genuine fondness for the old man. In the original owner’s memories, this doctor had often urged him to turn over a new leaf and had frequently helped his family out of pity for his wife, Anning.

"Good, good. A prodigal son returns," Wei Nanfeng sighed, moved by the change in Yu Chengfeng’s demeanor.

"But I only lent you three coins. You’ve returned far too much," the doctor protested.

"Please use the rest to prepare some tonics to strengthen the body. Anning is frail; it's time she recovered her health," Yu Chengfeng replied.

The old doctor was deeply comforted. He busily prepared five or six packages of medicine, and when Yu Chengfeng left, both his hands were full.

Afterward, Yu Chengfeng went to the butcher and the grain merchant, bought twenty jin of fine rice and twenty jin of meat, and headed home.

Upon arriving, he found Anning sweeping the courtyard. Despite shivering in the cold, she worked diligently. Yu Chengfeng watched her for a moment. Anning didn't look up until she went to fetch water and jumped in surprise at the sight of him.

Yu Chengfeng couldn't help but sigh; how could the original owner have failed to cherish such a gentle and virtuous wife?

"I'm back. I’ll fetch the water in a moment. You haven't eaten meat in a long time, have you? Go start the meat porridge; I’m going to take some to Gou-dan’s mother," he said, handing the rice and meat to her.

Anning stared at the two heavy bags in shock. Since the death of Yu Chengfeng’s parents, she had rarely tasted meat.

"Don't worry, eat up. It wasn't stolen or robbed. From now on, things will get better, and I’ll make sure you have meat every day," Yu Chengfeng said with a kind smile.

Seeing this, Anning carefully took the items into the kitchen.

Yu Chengfeng went to fetch the water. By the time he returned, the faint scent of meat was already drifting from the kitchen.

Inside, Anning stood entranced by the rare aroma. Could it be that he had truly changed? Were his promises to never hit her again and to provide a good life for her actually true?