Daily Intelligence System: Don't Kill Me, Honey!

Time always slips away when one isn’t paying attention—when Chen Jie came to, the eastern sky was already faintly hinting at the coming sunrise.

It must be almost four in the early morning.

Chen Jie took a rough cloth and wiped the sweat from his body before heading over to the household water tank, intending to take a sip of water.

However, he discovered that the water tank at home was nearly empty.

Seeing that there was still time, Chen Jie decided to fill up the family water tank. In the past, when he was not around, Su Yunjin would do the task of fetching water.

But she never used a shoulder pole and could only carry buckets by hand, which over time caused both her joints to become inflamed. Whenever it was damp or rainy, they would ache.

Chen Jie felt a pang of heartache when he thought about this; he had never heard her complain of the pain.

He picked up the shoulder pole and buckets and went beside the well to draw and carry water in one smooth sequence.

In no time, he had the water tank filled up. With his current physical condition, these chores were rather effortless.

After finishing these tasks, Chen Jie also chopped some firewood and moved it all into the house so his wife wouldn’t have to carry it herself.

Everything was prepared. Chen Jie left a note, picked up a stick from beside the wall, and set off for the mountain.

An hour later, Chen Jie arrived at Wild Wolf Gully and started searching but couldn’t find the injured Red-eyed Golden Chicken. Had he arrived too early?

Thinking this, Chen Jie found a clump of grass, kicked the surrounding weeds away, and sat down on a rock. The mountain morning was still a bit cold, and the dew-laden grass was wet and annoying.

Sitting on the stone, Chen Jie kept his eyes on Wild Wolf Gully, yet his breathing followed the Breathing Method of the Yang Chun Skill. It felt uncomfortable and awkward at first, but over time, the benefits became apparent.

It not only eliminated fatigue but also relaxed his mind, which was quite pleasant.

In this manner, Chen Jie waited a long time until he saw the sun had fully risen in the east, bathing the land in a layer of reddish glow.

Then, from a distance in the forest, a fluttering noise arose.

Thump thump thump...

Chen Jie looked over and saw a ’Phoenix’ descending from the sky.

No, not a Phoenix—a Golden Chicken. But this Golden Chicken was exceptionally beautiful, with multicolored feathers. Its belly was red, its back a pool of emerald green, and its wings shimmering with golden feathers.

Its claws too glimmered with a golden shine, especially its pair of crimson-red eyes, dazzling like gemstones.

”Red-eyed Golden Chicken!”

Chen Jie’s eyes brightened, and then he saw the Golden Chicken fluttering down from the air. Looking closer, he realized its wing was injured. By the time it arrived here, it was completely exhausted and couldn’t fly anymore.

Overjoyed, he quietly crept over.

Then, seeing the Golden Chicken standing guard on the ground, it looking around warily. Chen Jie adjusted his breathing to be extremely slow using the Breathing Method of the Yang Chun Skill, inching closer and closer. When he was close enough, he swung his stick with all his might and smashed it down.

The Golden Chicken hadn’t even had a chance to react. It turned only to be met with a stick that, if it were a person, would surely have dodged. But there was no escaping this blow.

Thump—the Golden Chicken didn’t even have the chance to cry out before it was knocked dead.

Chen Jie breathed a sigh of relief, took out the sack he’d brought with him, bagged the bird, and prepared to descend the mountain with his prize in hand.

But just then, a voice carried from a distance.

”Quick, quick, I saw that Golden Chicken fly this way. Catch it quickly; Master Yu will reward us.”

Hearing this, Chen Jie was startled. Good heavens, this Golden Chicken was someone else’s prey. He couldn’t let these people see him.

They were numerous and strong; he couldn’t fight them off.

Looking around, Chen Jie soon spotted a big locust tree not far away. It was very dense, and he quickly got to it, climbed up into it, and used the leaves to cover himself, pressing his body as close to the trunk as possible.

Using the Yang Chun Skill to hold his breath, he blended into the tree like a chameleon.

If not looked at closely, no one could see him.

Chen Jie hid on the tree trunk, and soon a group of people dressed like house servants rushed over and searched everywhere.

”This is strange, why can’t we find it?”

”Search carefully; I saw it with my own eyes—it flew this way!”

A group of people armed with sticks swung wildly in the underbrush, searching. But after a lot of thrashing around, they didn’t find the Golden Chicken.

At this moment, Chen Jie was perched in a tree, holding his breath, not even daring to let out a sigh. He was now very grateful for his quick action. If he was trying to catch it alive, just a little flapping or a mere cry from the Golden Chicken would have betrayed him.

They had searched for a week and had found nothing. Some people looked up, but the foliage of Chen Jie’s tree was indeed dense. Without a close inspection, nothing amiss could be spotted.

At that moment, someone said, ”Could it have flown up into a tree?”

Following this, a few of the house servants said, ”Let’s climb up and check.”

”Hey!”

Hearing this, several house servants almost climbed the tree, with one even coming right to the base of Chen Jie’s tree.

Chen Jie’s forehead was soaked in cold sweat. Fuck.

Just as a few men were preparing to climb the tree for a search, suddenly, not far from the valley, the cry of a wild chicken echoed, and then a very beautiful wild chicken took flight.

These house servants didn’t know that the Golden Chicken was in Chen Jie’s hands. They mistook the wild chicken for the Golden Chicken and started shouting, ”Where is it, hurry, chase it, chase!”

A group of people with sticks chased after it. Watching the house servants moving farther away, Chen Jie wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

He had very nearly given himself away. After waiting in the tree a while longer, he descended and hurried down the mountain, avoiding people as much as possible.

...

Early in the morning, Su Yunjin habitually got up to cook. Looking at the time, it should be almost three-quarters past the hour of Yin (4:45 AM).

Getting out of bed, and learning from yesterday’s lessons, today she was fully dressed, all buttons securely fastened before she stepped out of the inner room.

When she entered the outer room, she instinctively glanced at the bed and found it empty.

Hmm? Gone to the toilet?

Su Yunjin didn’t linger on the thought and went outside, only to notice when she looked down that the firewood by the stove was neatly arranged. She was startled—had someone been in the house?

No, could it have been the husband’s doing?

Thinking it over, Su Yunjin was surprised. It was so early, and considering the time to chop and stack the wood, how early must he have gotten up?

Looking toward the toilet, she thought, He must be in the toilet, right?

Thinking this, she scooped up a bowl of sorghum rice, and with a ladle made of gourd, went to fetch water from the water jar. Her mind wandered, recalling that the water level was low yesterday... she would have to fetch more later, but the water bucket was so heavy…

Lost in thought, she opened the water jar only to find it was full. Su Yunjin suddenly covered her mouth, a warm current flowing through her heart. She felt touched.

Did this man fetch water for her before dawn?

How could he be so kind?

She glanced in the direction of the toilet a few more times, continued washing the rice, cooking, but after waiting for a long time, Chen Jie still didn’t appear. She went to check the toilet.

”Husband, husband?”

Standing outside the privy, Su Yunjin called out twice, but there was no response.

”Husband, if you don’t come out, I’m coming in!”

Still no response. Su Yunjin, blushing, entered the privy, only to find it wasn’t as she had imagined—the place was empty!

Where is he?

Su Yunjin ran out with a panicked face. How could a person just disappear? Remembering yesterday’s incident with Ma Liu, she was even more anxious. She wanted to go to Uncle Erba for help, but just as she reached the door, she turned back.

She decided to return and wake Ruirui to keep watch over the house.

Back in the room, she glanced at the table unintentionally and saw a note.

She went over to read it and saw it read: I’ve gone out for a bit, brought back the water and firewood for you. Just stay at home and wait for me. Don’t worry!

Su Yunjin furrowed her brows, put down the note, her face full of worry. Where could he go before dawn?

And telling her not to worry, how could she not worry?