Chapter 43 – So Much Warmth (1)
Zhao Xi reacted swiftly and threw the weasel to the side. The shocked creature tensed up in the air, and a terrible, disturbing stench started to spread. It permeated every corner of the house, the courtyard, all the way to under the roof. After it landed lightly on the fence, it quickly scampered away.
As winter had arrived, the amount of food available in the mountains had naturally reduced. Perhaps due to difficulty in finding food, the weasel decided to sneak into the house to steal some food.
But … how did it sneak in? Wasn’t it afraid of all the herbs and sulphur placed around the house?
Zhao Xi had scattered large quantities of poisonous substances outside the house. As animals have a highly sensitive nose, they’re bound to avoid it upon catching a whiff of it. There’s no reason why the weasel should be an exception. Unless it had eaten some rare herb or medication or knew of the natural antidote to such poison. Is that why it wasn’t afraid?
If the weasel knew of a way around the poison, do the other animals know too? Of course, the weasel is very intelligent compared to the others. In fact, there’s an old saying that such animals have good intuition, understanding and intelligence resembling humans.
Now that it has escaped, would it inform the rest of the pack and start coming by every day?
Zhao Xi had scattered those poisonous herbs and sulphur around the house deliberately, precisely to prevent animals like weasels, foxes, or monkeys from entering. These animals always cause a mess when they enter the house. The blankets, pillow, kitchen would all be destroyed or left in a terrible clutter. It wasn’t that she was unwilling to feed them, but that they were always causing trouble and utter destruction. If it were something that they could take away with them, they would; if they couldn’t take it away, they would break it; they would even push her precious porcelain onto the ground right in front of her as if on purpose to provoke her.
Zhao Xi understood that by living in the valley, what she ate and used came from the forest, and she was definitely using part of the available resources that may be seen as a threat by the animals. However, she was only one person, just how much could she possibly eat?
Since all of them were using the forest’s resources, just like how Zhao Xi put up with them, shouldn’t they also exercise some tolerance, instead of causing trouble and breaking things everywhere? When she could no longer tolerate their presence and no longer felt the need to tolerate them, in her fit of rage, she had scattered poisonous herbs and sulphur around her house.
The animals were very alert. Upon catching a whiff of it, they immediately ran away without leaving a trace behind. Zhao Xi also finally found some peace again though some animals did still wander by every now and then, especially the monkeys. They would pluck wild fruits and use them to thrash her house, causing the exterior to be covered in the sweet goo of smashed fruit flesh, encouraging the growth of worms.
Zhao Xi considered herself as quite a peaceful person who had no strong dislikes or hates her whole life. However, the only thing she truly could not tolerate were these three animals – weasels, foxes and monkeys.
“Shen Fei!” Zhao Xi hid inside the room and closed the door immediately, trying to block the stench from entering. She had a special surprise to share with Shen Fei. Not caring about the situation, she slid off her bag and took out a box. “I found the brittle snake, your leg can be saved now!”
It was truly unexpected. She had spent the entire night on the tree, standing guard over the swamps to look for any movement. When dawn approached, she jumped off the tree with a loud thud. The disturbance shocked the brittle snake that was hanging down from the tree. Perhaps due to fatigue, or her being too focused on the situation on the ground, or that the night breeze was too loud and affected her hearing, she had not noticed the serpent that was hanging on the branch right above her.
The bones of the brittle snake’ were as its name, brittle, and when it fell onto the ground, even the crackle of its body as audible. At that time, half of Zhao Xi’s body was inside the mud of the swamps. Disregarding her own situations, she had immediately pounced onto the snake and kept it in a box. Only then did she take out a rope, hung it on a tree, and slowly climbed out of the mud.
As she was too dirty, she washed a little in the river before returning hurriedly. She couldn’t wait to share the good news with Shen Fei. At this moment while telling him, her body and clothes were still damp.
Shen Fei didn’t look as surprised or happy as she thought he would be. As she approached him, she saw that he retreated slightly, and his eyes revealed his avoidance.
“What’s the matter?” Zhao Xi hesitated for a moment before realising – it was the stench on her body caused by the weasel. As her nose was blocked, she couldn’t smell anything. “Is the smell that bad?”