Chapter 2 – Cultivating by Eating Mea (2/2)

The elder brother was half-convinced. He also began to smile. “Brother, you sure have a fool’s luck. Once I take this boar to the market, it’ll definitely fetch a good price. We’ll stow it away for when you get married.” He also took note of the black ox. Thinking to himself, Perhaps there is no need to be in such a hurry to break him off from the family. The ox can do some farm work, right?

Li Qingshan saw the sister-in-law stir the pot in a manner where she only wanted to try a piece of the meat. His good mood from cooking the meat immediately vanished. With a smack, he knocked away the sister-in-law’s hand. “Don’t fiddle around.”

The sister-in-law backed away while clutching her hand. She wailed, “Look at your younger brother. I said that he would harass a woman like me while you’re not home, and you didn’t even believe me. Now that it has all happened right before you, you’ve clearly witnessed it all.”

Harass you? Li Qingshan only felt his stomach lurch. If your surname is Pan, I guess I could be worse off.1

The elder brother’s face immediately sank. “Is this how a brother-in-law’s supposed to act?”

Li Qingshan lowered his head. “I have my plans for this meat. I’m not young anymore. It’s time for us to separate.” This was something he had been considering while cooking the meat. He no longer wanted to yield in the face of constant abuse just to keep a roof over his head.

The elder brother never anticipated Li Qingshan to mention this matter before he could even bring it up. He was stunned at first before anger overcame him. A simple farmer like him was not a person who could hold back his anger. He clenched his fist and made his way up, planning to beat up Li Qingshan and drag away the wild boar before making any further decisions.

Sensing his hostility, Li Qingshan stood up as well. He was stern, but he felt rather afraid inside. His body had yet to develop completely, and after a day of tiresome work, he had not eaten. How was he supposed to face off against an adult man? He glanced at the black ox, but the bull only watched on like it was all a show, displaying no intention of helping out.

Just as he felt pained inside as he prepared himself for a beating, the elder brother stopped in his tracks and looked at Li Qingshan’s right hand.

His large, rough hands held a similarly crude knife. Since it was filled with impurities, it would still seem dull even if the blade was polished with care.

This was a knife that Li Qingshan had bought from the market with the money he had pinched and scraped together through the years. It had many uses. Earlier, he had used it to cut the meat.

Li Qingshan immediately understood that his elder brother was nervous. He was not nervous about himself but the knife. Before this moment, he had never realised that the low quality knife in his hands actually had the power to deter people.

Li Qingshan was only the average student in his past life. While he had been involved in a few fights before, they were merely disputes with fellow students. Even in his two lives combined, he had never pointed a weapon at someone.

Understanding this, Li Qingshan tightened his grip on the knife and purposefully waved it around like a wild beast baring its fangs; he did this despite being afraid of using it.

The elder brother immediately took a step back, and the sister-in-law stopped wailing about. In the end, the two of them actually backed out of the cowshed in great disappointment. They cursed him outside before returning to the house to discuss their ‘grand plan’.

Li Qingshan turned a deaf ear to it all. He even forgot about the smell of the meat. He only stared at his knife in a daze, which reflected a blurry face back at him. This piece of cheap junk that had cost him a few pieces of silver had just saved him from a physical beating. It had protected him from a series of humiliation and had protected his spoils.

While this was a principle that was as clear as day, he made him feel enlightened.

The black ox crouched before the trough and smiled at him.

The fire swayed, and a huge figure stood with a knife on the wall. At that moment, a youth had understood the exact value of strength.

Quite a while later, Li Qingshan sat back down and scratched his cheek in embarrassment as he looked at the pot. “Just how much longer does the meat need to cook for?” He had always been a person who liked meat with his meals. The past few years had really been tough for him. When their parents were still with them, he could get a few mouthfuls whenever there were festivities. Ever since their passing, he could only forget about it. The amount of meat they had was not even enough to feed the sister-in-law alone.

Even if a bottle of immortal pills were placed before him right now, it would not make him care as much as the pot of meat.

The boar was rather large. The pot of meat took half the night to cook.

The rising flames, the permeating fragrance, the hissing sounds, and the absorbed teenager formed an extremely simple and primitive scene despite the absence of a sentimental and poetic nature.

In the end, there was not even a grain of salt, let alone other seasonings, but Li Qingshan wolfed it down so fast that he almost swallowed his tongue. Without the slightest care about how fatty or lean the pieces were, several pounds of meat entered his belly. Finally, he even polished off the meat soup completely.