After An Guoming left, he met up with a few buddies from the village. After a hushed discussion, they all dispersed.

Using various excuses, they lured Chen Mingliang’s younger brother Chen Mingyang, Miao Xiaohua’s older brother Miao Daniu, and Miao Erniu to an abandoned trap on the mountain.

An Guoming had cleared out the trap beforehand to make sure there was nothing lethal inside, but he had tossed in plenty of thorny black locust branches.

Chen Mingyang was the first to arrive. An Guoming knew he was greedy and couldn’t resist a small gain, so when Chen Mingyang saw a five-jiao bill lying over the trap, he ran for it without a second thought.

The next second, with a THUD, followed by a piercing shriek, Chen Mingyang was pricked by thorns and started howling in pain.

At that moment, he had no time to worry about the five-jiao bill as it was yanked away by a thin string.

Miao Daniu and Miao Erniu weren’t far behind. The two of them were brainless brutes, and when they heard Chen Mingyang had fallen into a trap, they came right over.

When they arrived, they weren’t paying attention either. Their feet slipped, and they rolled down the slope, landing right in the trap.

"Aaaah—!"

"These thorns are killing me!"

"Get up! You’re crushing me!"

As the three of them howled in the trap, An Guoming watched from the sidelines for a moment, his mission accomplished. Then, he turned and left.

’A little punishment in secret, followed by a proper beating out in the open. Perfect.’

’Best of all, getting beaten up is bound to hurt more when you’re already covered in black locust thorns.’

As An Guoming walked away, he wondered, ’Should I send my little sister this time, or my big brother?’

’If Big Brother goes, those guys will probably chicken out before a fight even starts.’

’But if Little Sister goes, there might be a few surprises.’

Lost in thought, An Guoming didn’t notice his surroundings.

"CLUCK—CLUCK—"

A colorful pheasant suddenly burst from a patch of grass, flying right at An Guoming’s face. He fell flat on his butt, his heart leaping into his throat in fright.

"Holy shit! You scared me to death!"

But when he saw it was a pheasant, all he could see was meat—delicious, fragrant meat.

Unfortunately, he had overestimated his own combat skills.

This was an exceptionally fat pheasant. And not only was it fat, it was also particularly aggressive. It would flap its wings and, with its sharp beak, peck him at every opportunity.

Whenever An Guoming tried to fight back, it would simply flap its wings and fly a good distance away, too fast for him to even give chase.

In the end, forget catching the pheasant; An Guoming was too busy dodging and protecting himself. He was completely outmatched.

"Big Brother—! Little Sister—! Where are you!"

Just as An Ning arrived, she saw the scene unfold. "I’m here!" she immediately called back.

An Guoming jumped in surprise. ’I was just muttering to myself,’ he thought. ’Am I hearing things now?’

Letting his guard down for a second, he forgot to shield himself with his arms. The pheasant seized the opening, launching a sneak attack straight at his face.

"Aaaah—!"

"Duck!"

At An Ning’s command, An Guoming instinctively ducked. A branch whistled over his scalp with a SWOOSH, carrying an unstoppable force. It pierced through the pheasant’s beak and into its brain. After a final, desperate flutter, the pheasant dropped from the sky, motionless.

An Guoming sat stunned on the ground, looking at the pheasant, then back at An Ning. Then at the pheasant again. And back at An Ning.

Finally certain of what he had just seen, he jumped to his feet excitedly. Pointing at the pheasant, he asked, "Little Sister, you can throw that accurately?"

An Ning’s gaze drifted away as she said evasively, "I don’t know. I just threw it by feel."

"By feel is good! That means you’ve got a good arm, and you’re strong, too...."

An Ning watched An Guoming muttering to himself, not understanding what he was up to. She simply walked over, picked up the "big sparrow" from the ground, and asked, "What’s this?"

"A pheasant!"

An Guoming ran over, his heart pounding, and pointed at the bird. "Little Sister, this is a pheasant! We have them on the mountain, but they’re too clever and hard to catch. Let me tell you, this is all meat! It’s delicious, and some people will pay good money for them."

"Oh..."

An Ning gave a simple "oh," not at all understanding her brother’s excitement. She did understand one thing, though: it was edible. Perfect for taking home to eat.

An Ning walked ahead, carrying the pheasant. An Guoming took a few deep breaths to calm himself, then began to ponder how he could convince his little sister to partner with him and turn this into a business.

"Little Sister, would you like to eat chicken like this every day?"

"Wouldn’t I get tired of eating it every day? Besides, I don’t even know how it tastes yet."

’Back in the interstellar age, you even had to switch up the flavors of your nutrient solution from time to time,’ An Ning thought.

"Hehehe, you’re right. We’ll talk after we’ve eaten."

An Guoming suppressed his excitement and followed An Ning down the mountain.

When they reached the foot of the mountain, they happened to run into Chen Mingyang and his two cronies, who were walking ahead, hissing and wincing in pain.

He asked in a hushed voice, "Little Sister, can you take on those three?"

An Ning looked ahead and guessed, "Are they the ones who bullied our little brother?"

"That’s them. Can you take them? On your own? I can’t help much."

An Ning gave An Guoming a confused look.

"Second Brother, why are you even asking? Of course I know you can’t help."

With that, An Ning shoved the pheasant into An Guoming’s hands and was about to charge in, but he pulled her back.

"Hold on. There’s an art to fighting. We need to win, but we also need to do it in a way that no one can find fault with us."

An Guoming held up the pheasant and, pretending not to see the three in front of them, shouted joyfully, "Little Sister, this pheasant is so fat! When we get home and stew it with some mushrooms, it’ll taste incredible!"

"And if we make some flatbread on the side and add some vermicelli... I’m telling you, that vermicelli will soak up all the meat juices. It’ll be so good."

An Ning wasn’t stupid. She understood what An Guoming was doing. ’Isn’t this what the instructors called ’luring the enemy in deep’?’ she thought. ’A tactic for when the enemy is strong and you are weak. It suits Second Brother perfectly.’

Still, she played along, her voice filled with excitement. "Let’s hurry, then! Home to eat stewed chicken!"

"You got it!"

Just as the two of them were about to pick up the pace, they came face-to-face with the trio, who had turned around.

An Guoming feigned terror, hiding the pheasant behind his back. An Ning put on an even better show of fear, ducking behind him.

Across from them, Chen Mingyang saw An Guoming’s posture and knew instantly that An Guoqing couldn’t be nearby. Otherwise, the kid would be acting way cockier.

With An Guoqing gone, that only left the wimpy Second An and the An family’s little mute. In that case, who this pheasant belonged to was suddenly up for debate.

The Chen family and the An family had reached a point where the adults didn’t fight, but the children were definitely at odds with one another. That was why they had cornered An Guoping in the first place.

"Second An, what do you think you’re doing with our pheasant? Hand it over."

"Chen Mingyang, you’ve got a lot of nerve. If you were just going to rob me outright, I’d at least respect you a little more."

Provoked, Chen Mingyang scoffed. "So what if I am robbing you outright? What are you gonna do? You don’t even earn as many work points in a day as an old lady. You’ve got no room to talk."

An Guoming appeared enraged, backing away as he spoke. "What the hell does how much I earn have to do with you? I eat my fill at home, that’s what matters!"

"Brother Yang, stop wasting your breath on him! Just grab it!"

"Yeah, grab it!"

After shouting, Miao Daniu and Miao Erniu charged forward. An Guoming secretly glanced at the slope to his left.

"Chen Mingyang, you’re shameless! How dare you try to steal our pheasant!"

After shouting this, An Guoming’s voice instantly dropped to a whisper. "Little Sister, get ’em! Beat ’em hard!"

"Leave it to me. I’m a total pro."