Of course not!
Wolves are pack animals with a strong sense of revenge. It's better to eliminate a potential threat than to leave it be.
To avoid leaving a hidden danger for oneself.
Song Qingchao retrieved the thrown mandarin duck axes from her spatial storage and then hurled them at the wolf.
She herself rushed forward, drew her dagger, and collected the last white wolf.
In the final moment, Song Qingchao's legs gave out, and she collapsed to the ground.
Her remaining strength was insufficient to keep her standing.
Her head began to feel heavy and fuzzy.
She released the mandarin duck axes she was gripping, clenched her fists, and desperately pounded her head.
Cannot sleep! Cannot sleep!
This was her only thought!
If she slept, she might never wake up again!
But in the end, she fell.
In the moment before losing consciousness, she saw the two elderly people shakily walking towards her.
...
"Miss? Miss?"
"Is she dead?"
"Don't talk nonsense, she's still breathing! This young lady is our savior!"
"But she's from Da Yuan."
"So what?"
...Song Qingchao didn't expect to open her eyes again.
However, before she could figure out her location, she was almost overcome by a pungent smell of blood, nearly causing her to faint again.
"Miss, you're awake?"
Song Qingchao propped herself up, holding her head. Moving caused a sensation as if all her internal organs had shifted.
"Hiss."
She inhaled sharply, then looked at the bandaged wound on her arm.
At this moment, she noticed that several layers of wolf hide were covering her body...
"Is there anything that feels uncomfortable?"
Song Qingchao looked up at the old woman with a concerned expression and then shook her head. "Did you save me?"
The old woman smiled shyly. "You saved us."
Song Qingchao's lips curved slightly. Then she glanced at the sky. She had to stop searching and head back.
However, the game she had hunted would likely be for naught.
"Does the young lady have a place to go?"
Song Qingchao nodded weakly. "Yes."
The sound of "creak creak" of treading on snow, accompanied by the "squeak squeak" of wheels, approached.
Song Qingchao turned her head warily, accidentally aggravating her wound and letting out another "hiss."
The old woman quickly supported Song Qingchao and explained, "My old man went home to get the ox cart. We thought if you had nowhere to go, we'd take you to our home first. If you have a place to go, we..."
The old woman became even more embarrassed as she spoke. "We want to go with you to repay your life-saving kindness."
Seeing a flicker of hesitation on Song Qingchao's face, she continued, "This old woman knows how to sew and can serve others. My old man isn't very capable; he only knows how to farm and raise some poultry. If you take us in, we won't ask for anything, just a bite to eat."
Song Qingchao paused for a moment before recovering. "May I ask you for a favor first?"
The old woman immediately smiled, revealing her teeth. "What's there to help or not help with? Just tell us, young lady."
"Uh." Song Qingchao tidied her hair, then pointed at the wolf carcasses. "I want to take them all back. There are the game I hunted about a kilometer ahead, and I want to take them back too."
She then pointed at the ox cart. "Use the cart to pull them. I'll walk back."
The old woman hesitated. "But the young lady's body..."
Song Qingchao waved her hand, indicating she was fine. Bringing back the game was the priority to win the competition.
She directly tugged at the old woman's hand and stood up. She then looked down at her soaked clothing.
Indeed, she felt warmer when wrapped in wolf hides.
She endured the nausea and wrapped the wolf hides around herself.
"How should I address you?"
"My old man's surname is Yu. You can call me Aunt Fang, young lady."
Song Qingchao nodded. "Aunt Fang, please follow my bloodstains. I need to go ahead."
Aunt Fang was immediately alarmed. "Young lady, your condition!"
"It's fine!"
Song Qingchao swallowed another pill and then, disregarding Aunt Fang's objections, directly charged out, gradually disappearing into the vast night.
Time was running out.
The nights in Mobei were long; even at youshi, it was already dark enough.
At this time, the seven brothers of the Zhou family had been waiting at the crossroads for a long time.
Behind them, their spoils of war were piled up like small mountains.
Looking at the similarly sized prey, Zhou Ri thought that the sickly one would definitely not have hunted more than them.
She hadn't returned by this time; she must have been too embarrassed to come back!
The more he thought this way, the more smug he became.
After all, being late meant immediate disqualification.
Zhou Yi was a bit anxious but remained composed.
"Master hasn't returned at this hour. Has something happened?"
Zhou Er, the most pragmatic, voiced what Zhou Yi was worried about.
However, Zhou San, the gentle one, comforted them. "Master is blessed by heaven; nothing will happen. If you're worried, shall we split up and look?"
Even the unreliable Zhou Si, Zhou Wu, and Zhou Liu were starting to panic.
In their memory, their master had never disappeared without a trace.
Only Zhou Ri remained casual.
Although he appeared indifferent to everything, he was actually unsettled, as this was his master after all.
Even though he was resentful...
That was different!
Just as everyone agreed to go out and search.
Song Qingchao returned.
However, the blood covering her body truly startled the Zhou brothers.
Zhou Yi, panicked, immediately turned Song Qingchao around to check if any flesh was missing.
Song Qingchao couldn't do anything about him and even laughed at his excessive worry.
"Relieved now?"
"Master, where did you go? How did you end up like this? If something happened to you, how would I explain it to Big Brother?"
Song Qingchao rarely saw the usually calm Zhou Yi display such an expression, so she quickly reassured him, "I'm really fine. Time is running out. Shall we quickly tally the game?"
Zhou Yi immediately started to complain. "You're like this, and you're still fooling around like a child?"
He took the cloak handed to him by Zhou San and directly draped it over Song Qingchao.
"I'm not." Song Qingchao found it impossible to explain herself. "The bet is important."
In the end, everyone had no choice but to comply with her.
After quickly tallying the numbers, Zhou Liu, with a meager advantage of one snake, became the second to last, just ahead of Zhou Ri.
Zhou Ri gnashed his teeth in frustration. If he hadn't been afraid to dig into the snake's hole, he wouldn't have been the last place!
However, he noticed there was no game behind Song Qingchao. "Where is your game?"
Song Qingchao glanced at the time. "It'll be here soon."
Everyone waited for a while longer.
Finally, at the last moment of youshi, they saw Old Man Yu arriving with the ox cart, a net bag of game tied to the back.
Everyone was stunned.
Song Qingchao, however, appeared nonchalant. "It seems there's no need to count. I've won."
Everyone accepted it, except for Zhou Ri.
Zhou Ri snapped his jaw shut and shouted, "Impossible! You must have had them help you!"
Song Qingchao shrugged her shoulders. "Aunt Fang, show him my weapons."
Aunt Fang nimbly retrieved two mandarin duck axes.
"Check the wounds yourself, young man. A bet is a bet."
She bent down, her faint eyes filled with a bright light. "Our toilet cleaner."