A Little Jade in Goddess Gorge

Chapter 13: Return to the Maiden Home

Unexpectedly, both Liu couple learned at the same time that the brothers are from Goddess Gorge village.

Old man Liu's face darkened, "Our family's Xiao Yu doesn't need to go to a place like that. What will happen with her reputation?"

"What's wrong with Goddess' Ravine? We brothers are honest and hardworking, we won't treat her badly." Li Shu answered hastily.

There were many families in the Goddess' Gorge that shares wife due to poverty, so the brothers didn't realize that other places weren't like their village. In fact, most girls from the villages nearby took chastity as a really important virtue, so their village was seen as barbarian and low in others' eyes.

"You.. you folks... Ah how to explain this." Old man Liu sigh. "The most important is we won't let Xiao Yu marry you guys."

Li Mo's face is pale, but Li Shu doesn't take provocation at all, "What do you mean by this? We spent money on her, so she is our wife."

"No, I won't accept it. Isn't it just a few silver? How much was it, I'll return your money."

"You!"

Li Mo holds his brother tightly, afraid that he really going to jump and hit the old man. "Third brother, shut up. Grandpa, we know she was kidnapped by traffickers so the sale was not lawful. We come here today just to take her home, don't worry."

"Big brother?"

Yu Xiao and Grandma Liu also come out from the inner room worried about the noise. "Grandma don't worry about it, I have discussed it with him. It's just that ten silvers is a lot of money, so I would need to stay with them a while until I repay the money."

"No, no, girl you might not understand. You are an unmarried girl, you can't stay in unrelated men's house?" Grandma Liu said worriedly.

"Didn't I already stayed with them for a night?" Yu Xiao laughed. "Besides, I live in the mountain, so who would care about my reputation?"

Grandpa Liu sighed, "Girl, we talked about this. You can't stay there forever. Your siblings have grown up, haven't they? It's time for you to settle down and have your own family."

"Grandpa, I don't want to talk about this. I have my own family." During the worst time of her life, the mother wolf picked her up and she found more happiness than any human life ever gave to her. As long as her siblings didn't abandon her, there is no way she will abandon them.

"Actually it might not that bad. I have a lot of things at home, maybe we can sell something for money?" She turns to the more sensible one of the two brothers. "Big brother, is that fine? Could you follow me back?"

Li Mo nodded. 

Grandma Liu gave Yu Xiao her fur clothes and shoes, and stuff that she left yesterday, and they make their way out in the mountain.

The old couple sighed. "The older one seems like an honest, reasonable man. If they come here to ask for her hand for him, it's a different matter." Said the Grandpa. 

"She is quite stubborn, and she is not really ours so we can't force her to do anything." Grandma is worried about her reputation. 

Hopefully nothing bad will come out of this, because she still wants the girl to marry and live in the village.

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Yu Xiao and the brothers walking deeper into the forest. She occasionally singing some folk song that she usually sings to the wolves, so her siblings could hear her.

On the way, she found yam and wild vegetables. Li Mo and Li Shu are impressed that this mountain has more things than the mountains near their village. They also go to the mountains a lot for hunting, but there are a lot of things they never have seen before.

They heard some short calls from a wolf, and Xiao Bing come over happily. 

"What is it boy, you caught something?" Yu Xiao patted him happily.

Xiao Bing motioned to them to follow. Soon they arrived in a place where there is a lot of vines draping between trees. 

A big deer was caught in the vines, it's majestic antlers are just making it harder for him.

Yu Xiao noticed how the deer has been tangled for a while, its breathing is heavy and it looks visibly stressed. It seems like it's trying to pull away for hours as it's injured in places where it got tangled. Moreover, it seems like some beasts also tried to take advantage as there is some bite wound on its legs. Xiao Xue is guarding it closely but didn't attack.

Yu Xiao observed the buck from a safe distance. They don't usually attack bigger animals as she told her siblings not to kill more than they eat, especially something this beautiful. 

However, with the injuries and how bad the deer looks, it looks like the animal won't survive. She regrets that they didn't find the animal earlier, she might still able to save him then. She approached the animal slowly and say some comforting words.

The brothers doesn't want her to get close to the animal, it might injure her, however, Yu Xiao just calmly walk behind the animal and hit the deer with a big branch from behind.

The brothers are shocked. Li Shu can't keep quiet anymore, "Is it dead?". 

"No, just fainted, can I borrow your knife?"

She then put it on the animal's temple and use her weight to push it to the animal's head. "His injury is too severe." She found it a bit ironic, few years of veterinary school, and working in a pet shop, but the only knowledge she uses now is how to put down an animal quickly.

The brothers are amazed by her decisiveness. "It's good, it's good." Li Shu said quickly. "Venison tastes very good anyway, it is really big so we will eat well tonight."

She laughed and think about how much men could eat. She is relieved that at least the deer won't be wasted. She was just thinking about how to bring the deer back when Li Mo and Li Shu already tied it up on a branch and lift it between their shoulder.