"Little Aunt, why did you stop?" Huangfu Xuan asked, his face full of confusion as Huangfu Yue halted.
Huangfu Jing, Huangfu Ying, and Huangfu Ling, along with the other young girls, were equally puzzled and all stared at Huangfu Yue.
"If I kick a stone and knock down a pheasant, what will you learn or do?" Huangfu Yue said with a smile.
This was her thought just as she was about to kick a stone. Since she was teaching the little ones, she had to give them opportunities.
"The pheasant has spotted us and wants to escape. Don't let it get away, quickly pick up stones and chase after it. I want to see who is good at it," Huangfu Yue called out to the little ones, pointing at a pheasant that had seen them and was quickly fleeing.
"Okay." The little ones quickly picked up stones and chased after the pheasant, throwing stones at it as they ran.
"Chicken, chicken, don't run, stop and let me hit you." Huangfu Ling, the youngest and slowest runner, missed the pheasant even after throwing several stones. The little girl was anxious and waved her small hands, shouting.
Huangfu Yue laughed as she watched, "Silly girl, why would a pheasant not run? Stop for you to hit."
Ling'er was truly endearingly silly!
"Ling'er, you're such a little silly," Huangfu Xuan teased his younger cousin. At the same time, he aimed his stone at the head of the pheasant that was darting about and threw it with force.
"I hit it!" Huangfu Xuan was ecstatic when he saw the pheasant's head jerk slightly from the impact of his stone. His body faltered, but he cheered happily.
His sisters all looked at him with envious eyes and praised him for being amazing.
Huangfu Yue's lips curved slightly. "Although you hit it, your force was incorrect, which is why you didn't knock it down. You see, the pheasant was only slightly affected, its head just tilted, and its body staggered a bit. Now it's running again."
"Oh!" Huangfu Xuan's smile vanished, and he frowned in a bit of dejection, but he soon relaxed his brow.
"Little Aunt, please teach me how to knock down a pheasant, just like you did earlier, taking it down with just one stone," Huangfu Xuan asked Huangfu Yue for help.
Huangfu Yue came to Huangfu Xuan's side. "I'll teach you how to hold a stone first. Your grip is incorrect, and it affects the force of your throw."
"Thank you, Little Aunt."
Huangfu Yue held Huangfu Xuan's small hand and taught him how to grip the stone. Once his posture was correct, she brought his hand to his eyes and taught him how to accurately aim for the center of the pheasant's head about ten meters away. Then, she guided his hand to throw the stone, simultaneously teaching him how to gauge the force...
"Remember, it's not about throwing harder. It's about hitting the mark with the right amount of force."
"Mm."
"Bang—" The pheasant was hit in the head by Huangfu Xuan again, but this time, it immediately fell to the ground, motionless.
Huangfu Xuan was stunned for a moment before he realized what had happened and excitedly cheered, "I knocked down the pheasant!"
He immediately ran towards the pheasant. Upon reaching it, he saw that its eyes were closed. He reached out and poked the pheasant, but it remained still and did not open its eyes.
Huangfu Xuan frowned again. "Little Aunt, come quickly and look at this pheasant. Why is it not reacting at all? I don't know if I knocked it out or killed it."
Huangfu Yue walked over, looked at the pheasant, and replied, "You killed it."
Huangfu Xuan's face showed fear. "What should I do? I killed it."
"There's nothing to be afraid of. You did very well... We are going to eat this pheasant later. If you didn't kill it now, others would have to. Xuan'er, you will have to learn to kill chickens, rabbits, and fish sooner or later... Slaughtering animals is something people must learn to do to survive, because to live, one must eat animals. Learning this early will be beneficial for you and will help us adults find food."
Huangfu Yue extended her fair, beautiful, and delicate hand, gently stroking her little nephew's head as she spoke with a gentle expression.
Huangfu Xuan's fear vanished. After listening to his Little Aunt, he was no longer scared.
"Little Aunt, can you take us to find new pheasants and teach us to kill them like big brother? We also want to learn to hunt and help you adults find food," Huangfu Jing called out, raising her small hand.
Huangfu Ying and Huangfu Ling quickly nodded, their faces pleading with Huangfu Yue.
Huangfu Yue naturally did not refuse. She nodded with a smile, "Okay. I'll take you to find pheasants..."
"Master, I've discovered a large pheasant nest about two hundred zhang to the southwest. There are two pheasants in the nest, and four more are active nearby outside the nest. You can take Miss Jing and the others to hunt them."
Xiao Hei's voice suddenly entered Huangfu Yue's mind. Huangfu Yue looked up at Xiao Hei, who was flying high in the sky, gazing into the distance.
It must have been that Xiao Hei, while surveying the distance from high up, heard their voices below and thus informed her of the prey it had spotted.
Huangfu Yue curved her lips and said in her mind to Xiao Hei, "Thank you. Let's go hunt pheasants together. According to you, there are six pheasants in total at the nest. That's exactly one for each of us five, plus you, the bird."
"Okay." Xiao Hei retracted its gaze, looked down at its master, and smiled happily. Compared to hunting alone, it preferred hunting with its master.
Huangfu Yue glanced back at the people from the royal manor. With Feng Maoyuan and his subordinates present, there should be no problems. Moreover, she had already thoroughly scouted the area previously following Xiao Hei's line of sight and found no danger, so she could rest assured.
With this thought, Huangfu Yue led the little ones to find the pheasant nest.
One zhang is about three meters, so two hundred zhang is about six hundred meters, a little over half a mile. It wasn't very far. After walking for a few minutes with her nephews and nieces, Huangfu Yue covered the distance and smoothly arrived near the pheasant nest, spotting pheasants playing.
Huangfu Yue told her nephews and nieces to make no noise, then taught the girls how to hold stones, aim for the pheasant's head, and then throw the stones to hit the pheasant's head, just as she had taught her nephew earlier.
Huangfu Jing, Huangfu Ying, and Huangfu Ling all learned diligently, so the results were quickly evident. After they threw their stones, they all successfully knocked down a pheasant each.
The little girls were overjoyed, and Huangfu Ling jumped up in excitement.
Of the four pheasants, the one that was not attacked and survived, seeing its companions dead, did not grieve but instead thought of escaping quickly, lest it be killed as well.
Seeing the living pheasant about to escape, Huangfu Yue immediately said to Huangfu Xuan, "Xuan'er, what are you still waiting for? Don't you see it's about to run? Hurry and pick up a stone and knock it down as I taught you earlier."
Huangfu Xuan quickly nodded, then bent down to pick up a stone and aimed it at the panicked, fleeing pheasant, directly at its head. In the next second, the pheasant fell.
Seeing that he had also hit it, Huangfu Xuan was incredibly excited and happy, clapping his hands with joy.
"Alright, Xiao Hei, it's time for you and me to go collect our chickens," Huangfu Yue said to the crow flying in the air.
The crow nodded and walked towards the pheasant nest with Huangfu Yue. The pheasants in the nest were still sleeping peacefully, unaware of the impending danger, so the outcome was predictable. Huangfu Yue and Xiao Hei easily dealt with them upon arriving at the nest, killing them all.