Quick Transmigration: Even Extras Want to Be Leading Actresses

Chapter 183 Breakthrough Round (8)

The emperor then looked at Consort Cao with a serious expression: "And who are you, to have such insight?"

Because the girls were all selected from the common people, and many of them were illiterate.

"I'm just an ordinary palace maid," Consort Cao said snorting. She had just slept with her last night, yet the maid didn't recognize her today.

"You've been to school, so I should at least bestow upon you the title of 'Talented Lady'," the emperor chuckled.

Consort Cao couldn't understand: "You should think about whether your head will separate from your body."

The emperor no longer seems afraid.

"You two women and a eunuch, you only arrested me because you were bullied to the point of not being able to survive."

"I am not a petty person; I will let this matter go. Upon returning to the palace, I will conduct a thorough investigation. What do you say?"

"Heh." Consort Cao was too lazy to pay attention to this confident man.

Even she had no idea what Yao San Niang was thinking right now, that this damned emperor was still so certain.

Consort Cao fell silent, and the emperor remained unperturbed.

There was no escaping it, so I simply closed my eyes and rested.

Gu Shijiu finally reached the depths of the dense forest. She threw the emperor to the ground, and he fell flat on his back, looking extremely disheveled.

The emperor was about to get up and scold Gu Shijiu when the surrounding dust choked him and made him cough.

Gu Shijiu had already shaken off her pursuers, and after all that commotion, she was hungry again.

Fortunately, this is in the forest, where there is plenty of wild game.

Gu Shijiu broke off a branch from the tree, intending to prepare some food.

She hesitated slightly when aiming at her prey.

The emperor laughed at her from the side: "You don't really think that being strong can catch prey, do you? What can you do with a tree branch?"

Cao Xuanshi noticed her hesitation and stepped forward to ask, "What's wrong?"

Little Li, meanwhile, had already started preparing to gather firewood and start a fire.

Gu Shijiu looked left and right. There were quite a lot of wild game, but they were all protected animals: "These animals are at least level two protected animals. We can't kill any of them."

Only Consort Cao understood what was being said; her lips twitched, unsure of what to say.

They kill people indiscriminately and even plan to castrate the emperor, but they don't eat protected animals.

What kind of Schrödinger's law-abiding citizen is this?

She didn't say much. This Yao San Niang had her own set of rules for doing things, and it was best for others to mind their own business.

"Let's go hunt rabbits; most of the wild rabbits here are edible," Cao Xuanshi suggested.

"Rabbit meat is delicious!" Gu Shijiu smacked her lips. "But where can we hunt it?"

Little Li gave an idea: when he was a child, there were hunters in his village, and he had gone hunting with them a few times.

Rabbits prefer to live in areas with dense bushes, near water sources, and on small hillsides with abundant grass.

Early morning and evening are the peak times for people to go out to find food.

They'd been up all night, and it was now early morning; the rabbit should be out by now.

Little Li observed various traces in the woods, such as rabbit droppings and gnawed plants, to determine the rabbit's activity route.

Oh, and there are footprints too.

Rabbit footprints are small, with four toes on the front paws and five toes on the hind paws, and the footprints are oval in shape.

If the footprints are relatively fresh and the surrounding soil is still relatively moist, it means that they may have been active in the vicinity.

Following the various traces, Xiao Li finally heard a faint rustling sound.

He immediately gestured for Gu Shijiu to look ahead.

Gu Shijiu quietly approached the source of the sound, like a nimble raccoon, her steps light and silent.

Sure enough, a rabbit was squatting in a small clearing ahead, its ears perked up warily, seemingly sensing the approaching danger but unable to determine where it came from.

Gu Shijiu slowly squatted down, her eyes fixed on the rabbit. At this moment, she was completely focused, unlike her usual slow-paced self.

The rabbit's nose twitched nervously, and just as it was about to leap away, Gu Shijiu struck like an arrow released from a bow.

The twig she had casually snapped earlier flew through the air in a brief arc, heading with perfect precision toward the rabbit.

The end of the branch wasn't sharp, but it pierced straight into the rabbit's body. The rabbit struggled a few times, then stopped moving.

The emperor's sharp gaze fell on her. Just who was she?

Gu Shijiu then repeated the same method and caught several rabbits.

Alas, at least we have food to eat.

Gu Shijiu tossed a few rabbits to Xiao Lizi, who skillfully skinned, bled, and gutted them.

As for the tool, it was a dagger taken from the emperor.

He had just tried to use this dagger to take Cao Xuanshi hostage and make trouble for Gu Shijiu.

As a result, Gu Shijiu pierced his wrist with a pebble, and it's still dripping blood.

The emperor felt he was about to die from blood loss: "Help me take care of this."

All three pretended not to hear.

After processing the rabbit, Little Li used a sharpened twig to pierce its body and placed it above the campfire.

The rabbit's skin gradually turned golden and crispy as it was licked by the flames;

The oil began to seep out, dripping into the fire with a sizzling sound and releasing an enticing aroma.

Little Li sat to the side, his eyes fixed on the rabbit, occasionally turning the branch in his hand to ensure that every part of the rabbit was heated evenly.

Gu Shijiu was pleasantly surprised that the young eunuch could cook: "Did you learn this skill in the palace?"

Little Li spat: "Pah, people in the palace can't even get enough to eat, how can they learn any skills?"

I was born into a good family; my family has been farmers for generations.

However, by my father's generation, the family's life became increasingly difficult, and they had no choice but to surrender to the local powerful families, taking their land with them.

By becoming their tenant farmer, one doesn't have to pay taxes to the imperial court, only rent, and in good years, one can eat one's fill.

But a few years ago we suffered a disaster, and the rent did not decrease. The grain we grew was not enough to feed us, so we had to borrow grain from the landlord.

Unable to repay the loan the following year, they had to borrow again. Several years later, the land ended up belonging to someone else.

My parents both died of illness, and the powerful local tyrant, seeing that I was good-looking, insisted that I become his page.

But several of his pageboys died every year, so I took advantage of the opportunity when the court was recruiting eunuchs from the common people and went with them.

Otherwise, they would have no chance of escaping. Even if they did escape, they would be runaway slaves, and if they were caught, they would still die.

"Since it's such an unbearable life anyway, I might as well go to the palace; maybe there's a way out there."

The aroma of the rabbit meat in his hand grew stronger, filling the surrounding air.

The fragrance, a blend of the fresh scent of trees and the aroma of earth, is unique and enticing.

Cao Xuanshi sighed: "This is a typical case of land annexation, a sharp contradiction that appears at the end of every dynasty."

Driven to the brink of starvation, peasants repeatedly revolted, with the lucky ones establishing new dynasties, and the cycle repeated itself.

The emperor gave her a strange look, but didn't speak, keeping his head down as if he was thinking.

Gu Shijiu, half understanding and half not, stared at the rabbit meat in Xiao Li's hand: "When can we eat it?"