Chasing Jade (Zhu Yu)

After a spring rain, the vegetation on the mountains grew even more lush.

The soldiers had been hunting frequently in recent days and were quite familiar with the nearby woods. They had set traps and made some animal snares, but perhaps because they had been hunting in the same area for several consecutive days, even after checking several pre-set traps, they had little to show for it.

Along the way, Fan Changyu didn’t even spot a single rabbit.

The young officer leading the group said, "If we want to bag something worthwhile, we’ll probably have to split up and search deeper into the forest."

After a moment’s thought, he divided the hundred or so men into small teams of ten. A few were left behind to continue hunting in the previously searched areas, while the rest followed him deeper into the mountains.

Fan Changyu was grouped with the two personal guards secretly sent by Gongsun Yin, assigned to hunt in the outer perimeter. It was clear they had been instructed to keep her from venturing deeper into the woods, where she might encounter danger.

Changyu had suggested swapping with soldiers heading into the old forest, but the young officer issued a military order. Knowing she was still disguised as a common soldier from Jizhou and that this was a military operation, she didn’t press further.

The group wandered through the woods but only managed to bag a few pheasants. They raided a nest and collected quite a few wild eggs, which one soldier had to carry in his bundled-up shirt.

Having experience hunting in the mountains with her father, Changyu remained vigilant, scanning the surroundings. The rain-soaked ground was soft, making it easy to spot tracks.

She noticed signs of a large animal climbing the slope and disturbing the pine needles at the edge of the deeper woods. "These look like wild boar tracks," she told the team. "If we follow them, we might find a boar’s den."

The personal guards hesitated at the prospect of entering the dense forest. "But Miss Fan," one said, "Captain Yang ordered us to stay in the outer perimeter and await further instructions..."

Changyu thought for a moment. "How about this—you wait here, and I’ll go in alone to check. Since I’m not part of your army, Captain Yang’s orders don’t apply to me. That way, you won’t be disobeying orders."

The two guards inwardly groaned. Captain Yang had specifically told them not to let Changyu venture into the dense woods for fear of her coming to harm. If they allowed her to go in alone, they’d be courting disaster.

One guard quickly countered, "Then why don’t you wait here, Miss Fan, and we’ll take a few men to search for the boar’s den?"

Military scouts were meticulous, and following tracks wouldn’t pose much risk.

Their repeated objections made Changyu feel like she was holding them back. She looked at the guard and said, "I’ve hunted in the mountains with my father many times—I know what I’m doing. You don’t need to treat me with extra caution just because I’m a woman. If I were going to be a burden, I wouldn’t have come with you in the first place."

Truthfully, Changyu was starting to regret her decision. These men were being overly cautious, and she wished she had just acted on her own.

The two guards couldn’t argue. Along the way, they had noticed that Changyu was no delicate lady—she hadn’t even broken a sweat after walking so far, clearly trained in martial arts. After some hesitation, they followed her into the dense woods.

Ancient trees towered overhead, and the morning mist lingered after the rain. The two guards repeatedly called out to the others to stay close.

As Changyu followed the tracks, she periodically marked the trees along the path with her butcher’s knife.When she noticed the claw marks on a pine tree, she suddenly halted, crouching down to examine them. Frowning, she said, "It doesn't seem like a wild boar..."

No sooner had she spoken than an earth-shattering roar erupted from ahead.

A massive black bear stood not far away, its mouth holding half of a bloodied bird wing as it glared at them with a savage glint in its eyes, clearly guarding its meal.

The personal guards and soldiers felt their hearts tighten with fear. One of the guards grabbed Fan Changyu's sleeve and pulled her back, urging, "Miss Fan, run! It's a black bear!"

Changyu had experience hunting wild boars and bulls with her father, but she had never hunted a black bear before.

While the guards were panicking, she merely frowned, calculating whether it was worth the effort. Killing this bear would take considerable work. She had never tasted bear meat and wasn’t sure if the entire animal was edible. If they only took the paws, it wouldn’t be worth the trouble.

As she was being pulled back, she hesitated for a moment before turning to two of the guards and saying, "Maybe we should kill it. It’s not easy to find prey like this."

The guards and soldiers stared at her in disbelief, unable to tell if she was terrified out of her wits or simply fearless out of ignorance.

Among wild beasts, bears and tigers were notoriously the hardest to hunt. With only ten men armed with swords and ordinary bows—no crossbows or spears—how could they possibly take down a bear?

Their retreat seemed to provoke the bear. With a sudden shake of its head, it flung aside the crane in its jaws and charged straight at them.

Everyone scattered in panic, making it harder for the bear to chase any single target.

The more agile ones climbed trees like monkeys, but the bear simply rammed its body against the trunk, toppling a tree as thick as a bowl. A soldier clinging to it screamed as he crashed to the ground.

To prevent the soldier from being mauled, Changyu knew the bear’s nimble limbs made it hard to lasso like a boar. Still, she unhooked the long rope from her waist and flung it around the bear’s neck.

Bracing one foot against an ancient tree, she wrapped the rope around her hands and pulled with all her might.

The bear, caught by the neck, was yanked backward before it could strike, slamming onto the ground with a thunderous crash.

The terrified soldiers gasped in astonishment, never expecting Miss Fan to possess such strength. Recovering quickly, they rushed to help pull the rope.

The two personal guards, more experienced in combat, seized the chance to stab at the bear with their weapons.

The bear thrashed wildly, its massive paws flailing, forcing the guards to keep their distance. They managed only two shallow wounds on its back—hardly life-threatening for the thick-skinned beast. Instead, the pain enraged it further, and its claws snapped the rope.

Changyu and the soldiers, who had been straining with all their might, stumbled backward.

Freed from the choking restraint, the bear turned its fury on the two guards. Outmatched, they could only dodge desperately under its swiping paws, shouting at Changyu, "Get Miss Fan out of here!"

But Changyu couldn’t abandon them. She hefted her heavy cleaver and hurled it at the bear, embedding it in its back. The wound wasn’t deep enough to kill, but it succeeded in drawing the bear’s full attention.

With a furious roar, the beast turned and lunged straight at her.Fan Changyu had the soldiers scatter while she herself lured the black bear toward the bamboo grove. During the retreat, her butcher knife slashed across the bear’s chest, though the wound wasn’t deep.

Enraged by the pain, the bear rampaged through the underbrush, smashing everything in its path. Once Changyu reached the edge of the bamboo grove, she swiftly chopped down a thick bamboo stalk, sharpening one end into a crude spear. Instead of retreating further, she charged straight at the bear with the spear in hand.

The bamboo spear’s length gave her an advantage. From a distance of about ten feet, aided by her running momentum, she drove it straight through the wound she had made earlier, piercing the bear’s heart. The beast roared in agony and snapped the spear with a swipe of its paw.

Changyu planted a foot against a nearby bamboo stalk, using it to propel herself upward as she drove her butcher knife deep into the bear’s chest wound. Foul-smelling blood splattered all over her, even splashing across her face.

She didn’t so much as blink, her ferocity making her seem like a leopard locked in a life-or-death struggle with the bear.

Only after the bear collapsed with a thunderous crash did Changyu shake the blood off her knife, muttering almost to herself, “Hunting a bear really is tougher.”

Years ago, her father had hunted bears to supplement their family’s income, but back then, she hadn’t realized just how dangerous it was.

The personal guards and soldiers finally caught up, staring in shock at the dead bear and Changyu, whose clothes were now stained with blood. They swallowed hard, their expressions a mix of disbelief and bewilderment, as if they were dreaming.

This seemingly gentle and harmless girl had single-handedly taken down a bear?

If word of this got back to the army, no one would believe it. Just what kind of monster was she?

The two personal guards who had accompanied Xie Zheng to Qingping County had seen Changyu toss men overboard with one hand on the boat. Their expressions were slightly more controlled, but they suddenly exchanged a glance: If this girl ever fought their Marquis, who would win?

Changyu wiped the blood from her face with her sleeve, the killing intent in her eyes fading as she reverted to her usual harmless demeanor. She asked, “Should we just take the bear paws, or bring the whole thing back?”

The soldiers hesitated, but one of the personal guards spoke up, “Supplies on the mountain are already scarce. Might as well take the whole bear.”

Everyone agreed, quickly fashioning a makeshift sled from bamboo and vines to haul the carcass.

The soldiers and guards took turns pulling the sled, sparing Changyu from further exertion.

However, the heavy load slowed their return. Along the way, they encountered a young officer who had successfully hunted a wild boar. When he learned that Changyu had taken down a bear, his jaw nearly hit the ground.

The group continued their journey with mixed emotions—joyful yet uneasy. Just as they emerged from the forest, the sound of a horn calling for reinforcements echoed from the foot of the mountain.

The young officer cursed, “Damn it! The rebels are attacking the mountain!”

He quickly assigned a dozen men to continue transporting the game while the rest followed him to reinforce the main mountain pass.

Unsurprisingly, Changyu was once again tasked with hauling the game. She didn’t mind—until her keen nose caught the scent of roasting meat.

She asked the guards and soldiers, “Do you smell that?”

The men, who hadn’t had a proper meal in ages, swallowed hard. After days of thin gruel and bland vegetables on the mountain, even the thought of salt made their mouths water—let alone the rich aroma of meat.The personal guard questioned a soldier who had run up the mountain to deliver a message and then reported, "The rebels are attacking the mountain while roasting meat at the base to entice us to surrender, aiming to demoralize our troops."

Fan Changyu thought this tactic was too underhanded and wondered if Old Tao and the reinforcements from Yanzhou and Ji Provinces could come up with any countermeasures below.

Noticing her concern, the personal guard said, "The men of Yanzhou have backbone. Even if we were left with only roots and tree bark, let alone the fact that we still have provisions on the mountain, we wouldn’t be swayed by such crude tactics from the rebels!"

They were at the boundary between the camp and the forest, where the view was unobstructed. Looking down, they could even make out the number of tents set up by the rebels at the foot of the mountain.

Fan Changyu observed that the rebel tents outnumbered those on the mountain by at least two to one and frowned. "The rebels have more men, and they’ve blocked all the roads."

But the personal guard countered, "Miss, don’t just look at the arrangement of the rebel tents. The rebels withdrew half their forces, so they should have fewer tents. But they didn’t strike camp—first, to confuse us in case of a night attack from the mountain, and second, to intimidate our new recruits into thinking their numbers are overwhelming."

On her way here, Fan Changyu had heard Old Tao talk about warfare, but without concrete examples, she had only grasped bits and pieces.

Now, hearing even a lowly soldier in the Yanzhou Army speak so knowledgeably, she couldn’t help but praise, "You know so much!"

Realizing he might have said too much, the personal guard quickly added, "After spending so long in the army, you pick up a thing or two."

Curious, Fan Changyu asked, "Then how do you estimate their actual numbers?"

"By the cooking smoke," the guard replied. "Tents can be faked, but the smoke from cooking fires can’t. The number of stoves needed depends on how many people are eating, so you can estimate their numbers from that."

Fan Changyu glanced at the thick smoke rising from below and then at the sparse wisps behind the mountain. Drawing her butcher’s knife, she widened her honest almond-shaped eyes and earnestly suggested, "There are fewer people over there. Should we launch a surprise attack?"