I ONLY HAVE TRICKS TO DEFEAT MY ENEMIES

Chapter 10

We eat noodles made with fine and buckwheat powder for breakfast. According to Zhong-Dage; 1 jin of white rice costs for 10 liang, while fine powder costs at least 5 liang, and luckily, buckwheat was much cheaper for having 2 liang for a jin. It was a luxury for a small farming family to have fine rice with a meal because most of them sold, all of their harvest to buy all of their necessity. Currently, we have 3 jin of white rice, 2 jin of pine powder, and 3 jin of buckwheat flour just enough for at least 2 weeks in daily consumption. Fortunately, I have discovered a great source of cassava but since winter is coming I need money to buy new quilts and fuel for oil lamps.

“Uncle Jiang, are those bamboo arrows ready? I plan to head to the inner mountain this time” Previously I requested uncle Jiang to make many bamboo arrows. 

“Bal, you and Cree will collect our trophies then give it to Zhong-dage to sell but please some for us” He just protested and stared at me. We continue to stare at each other for a while when he heaves a sigh and just gives in.

“You need to be careful okay” I assured him and pack some ration in case we can’t go back till lunch. We all head to the mountain entrance then part ways. According to Zhong-dage few hunters dare to venture into the inner mountain so basically, it was unexplored.  after going to the east for more than an hour I can feel a change in the atmosphere. 

“We need to be careful” I  reminded my eldest brother and he nod at me.  a sweet walk around I saw some precious herb so I took some and placed it on my weave gasket. 

“Dage this is the purple jade vine. Come help me to take some but be careful to not damage the roots because we need to plan it so that we could grow more vegetables before the winter comes” This vine helps the plants to grow faster for 2 to times than its normal speed. 

 We continue exploring the mountain.  I have some coriander, mint, parsley, and some boiled herbs.   can we took over and tree and sat down taking a rest.  I drink water from the nearby spring. Ayo! It was cold and fresh so I ask elder brother to cut some bamboo strip so that could take some home. Elder Brother is busy making the bamboo tumbler when I see a long brown snake jumping down the tree. I had no time to spare so immediately pull my dagger out of its sheat and flung it toward, Severing the head.  After seeing me and the headless snake, my older brother was frightened.

“Thank you, Meimei. You save my life. I couldn't imagine what would happen if you didn't save me”

“There is no need for the word of  thanks,  we are family”

“Hmm, you're right we are family HAHA” We just laugh and continue our things. I  asked my eldest brother to put the snake in his basket.  He just glanced at me but he never questioned my intention.  We were heading back when I saw a cave in my rear sight. I enter the cave a see a dying white tiger. It was full of blood and I can see some bite marks Probably from wolves. It was weakly growling at me, trying to intimidate me to collapse on the ground. I suddenly realize that the white tiger is pregnant and was about to give birth  however, because of its injury,  she didn’t make it. I immediately cut open the tiger's belly and took the tiny cub. 

“Look! This tiny cub is a little strange” Eldest Brother said. “It has birthmarks in its forehead that symbolize a king” 

The cub opened its eyes and looked at me, rubbing his little head at my bosom. Maybe he thinks of me as his mother! HAHA. This little guy is so cute.  I chuckled and took it out with me.

“Dage we should take the tiger with us” 

“I know you would say that HAHA! But is that really okay? I mean Wouldn't it hurt us?”

“ Of course not,  if raise it well then  he recognizes as his family.” I rubbed it’s bloody cheeks as it went back to sleep.

“Okay okay, how could I say no to you? '' He shook his head and chuckled. His eyes are full of pampering as he wipes some blood-off out of my face. 

“We should take this with us as well” Pointing out the dead tiger “ Maybe we could get few taels out of its skin” Elder Brother took off Trying to find some stronger fine to tie the tiger.  I also placed the asleep in my bag and went out. I heard some noises coming from the east side so I silently headed my way there. AIGOO! Is that dragon fruit and lemon? I never thought that I would find something like this here! I really did make a lavish harvest this time! 

I was collecting some fruits when my Elder brother came back pulling the dead tiger. We slowly head home. It was so exhausting to pull the tiger down the mountain. As we reach the foot of the mountain, we encounter a middle-aged man.

"IS THAT A TIGER? COME HERE QUICK!" He dashes forward trying to separate us from the dead tiger. He doesn't seem to notice that it was a corpse and is busy shielding us. 

"Ahm! This uncle pfft---the tiger is already dead" He was shocked then laughed.

"Aya! I was frightened by the thought of having a tiger so I didn't realize that it was dead. Eh? Did you kill it? Are you injured?"

"We are lucky enough that the tigers dead when we caught it, maybe it died giving birth" 

"That is quite lucky. Where are you heading? Come let uncle help you  to carry this"

"Then I would not be polite then. Thank you, Uncle. Ahem, Uncle, what should I call you?"

"HAHA little guiniang. You can call me Uncle Fred. I'm the eldest son of the village chief. What about you and your brother? I have never seen you before"

"We just moved to the village a week ago, Uncle Fred." It was early afternoon when we reached home. We came across some of the villagers. They were surprised to see the dead tiger pulled by Uncle Fred. They all looked curious but none of them ask questions because Uncle Fred is with us. I can never imagine the uproar that we would cause if they saw two little children carrying such a big tiger.

Uncle Jiang thanked Uncle Fred for helping us and offered to share the tiger's meat. 

"How can I do that? This tiger was called by these two children. I just helped them carry it back. We are all village folk so it was normal to help each other" He then bowed and left. 

Seeley gave me a stool and slowly massaged my feet. Little Cree is ecstatic in seeing such a big tiger. 

"Jie, do we get to eat it?" He greedily looks at the tiger. 

"You little rascal! HAHA All you know is to eat" Seeley lightly bumped his head. 

"Tss! Of course, I know how to eat! The elder sister said that if I don't eat then I will not be handsome" He put his rosy little mouth. 

"BAL, how many trophies did we catch?"

"We have 1 pheasant and 3 rabbits. I already give the peasant and two rabbits to Zhong-dage to sell in the town"

"PHE! Erge originally left one peasant and one rabbit for us but that ugly and smelly woman stole it" 

"Eh? What happened?" Dage ask

"I left to go to Zhong-dage home but when I came back, Little Cree was fighting a middle-aged woman"

"Elder sister do not listen to his nonsense I obviously didn't fight with her I just explain everything. I said that it was our pheasant but it escaped. However, not only she didn't listen to me, she also told me that I was a smelly brat and a liar" He stuttered his feet a few times.

"Let it go, those who are wild dogs, and when a wild dog bites you, you shouldn't bite back." I consoled him

"Right, right! And did also have this you can eat this tiger heat until you are full. I heard that tiger meat is so delicious when directly cook into the fire"

"Hmm. Tonight we will eat barbeque" He giggles and runs off.

"Uncle Jiang, can you please clean the tiger skin so I could sell it to the town tomorrow. I need to immediately plant these saplings in the backyard '' We all proceed with different tasks. Cree and I planted all the saplings. Uncle Jiang and Elder Brother skinned the tiger and cleaned the meat. Seeley goes to the bamboo groove to get some firewood. I feel satisfied seeing my own backyard. I do really need money to expand our land. After tidying up, I proceed to the kitchen to make a barbeque sauce. I boiled some tiger's meat then added some seasonings while simmering it down with low heat. 

"Bal, can you finish this up? I need to take a bath. I'm reeking with the foul stench of blood." 

"You go first, I will help you carry this hot water" Seeley really pampered me to the bones. He never allows me to bathe with cold water alone nor does he allow me to work on the heavy stuff. I really enjoy having him--them around. This familiar feeling was so strange but it made me feel joy inside. I really I'm a lazy person and with them around, it gave me a reason not to be. I bring with me the tiger cub. 

"Bal look! This is my new baby. I happily showed him the tiger cub "Little White say hi to your Uncle HAHA!" Fortunately, I found some flower soapwort to use as soap. It could make up for some of my grief missing the modern-day bath. 

Ayo! It is really nice to take a bath with a nice-smelling flower. I plan to make soap out of this flower and sell it in the town. 

After I change into a  light purple robe, I head out and gather the ingredients I would be needing to make the soap. Seeley saw me fidgeting with things and quietly drying my hair. It is really troublesome to have such long hair, even though mine was still too smooth. I like to cut it short but the rules and culture of the ancients time do not allow me. Seely never complained about drying my hair, at first, he lightly scolded me about me going out with wet hair especially after the incident with big brother Zhong but soon you just let me be and took the job of drying it.