Free Web NovelChapter 10: Chapter 10: The Tiger Menace
After lunch, Xie Yuan took a short nap in his wooden cabin.
He had long since patched the holes in the cabin walls and used his savings to buy a thick cotton quilt. At the very least, the small hut now offered warmth and shelter from the wind and rain.
When he woke up, he stretched languidly, picked up the logging axe he kept by his bed, and prepared to start his afternoon’s work of Chopping Wood.
He was relentless, working rain or shine. Even when it poured, he would clear a space in his cabin to chop wood. Li Lan couldn’t help but wonder, why was this kid pushing himself so hard?
"Time waits for no one."
Xie Yuan shook his head. As he stepped outside, his gaze suddenly hardened.
His face was grim as he walked straight out of his yard. He stopped beneath a withered tree about twenty or thirty paces away and barked at a scrawny man standing there:
"Didn’t I tell you to get lost? What are you still doing here, staring?"
The thug had already seen Xie Yuan approaching. His expression was a mixture of fear and defiance.
"Xie Yuan, did you build the roads in this village? You call this not far enough? What’s it to you if I feel like cooling off here?" freёweɓnovel.com
Xie Yuan glanced at the withered tree, which had lost all its leaves, then back at the man before him.
An early winter wind blew, and the thinly-clad thug shivered, hunching his shoulders.
He let out a cold laugh.
"I told you, don’t let me see you near my home. Otherwise, don’t blame me for what happens next."
The thug flinched, clearly remembering the sight of Xie Yuan’s massive axe.
But then he stiffened his neck and said defiantly:
"This is Wu the Fourth’s damn house, not yours, and not Li Lanhua’s! It’s one thing to run your own life, but now you’re meddling in Li Lanhua’s too. Did you climb into your sister-in-law’s bed while Wang Lei was away?!"
Xie Yuan’s expression remained unchanged. He simply swung a slap at the man.
But the thug had clearly anticipated it. He dodged back with surprising agility, and the slap hit nothing but air.
As he backed away, he twisted around to spit venomously:
"You just wait!"
Xie Yuan watched the thug’s retreating back, his brow furrowed.
He’d heard those threats so many times they were old hat, so he paid them no mind. But lately, Zhang Er’s men had been showing up in the area a little too frequently.
The thugs seemed to have changed their strategy. They no longer approached to harass him, but simply watched from a distance with greedy, envious eyes, making Xie Yuan’s skin crawl.
And it wasn’t just him they were watching. They would also just stand around outside Li Lan’s house. With Wang Lei away in the city, Li Lan and Huwa had been too scared to even leave their home recently.
Xie Yuan didn’t know what they were plotting, but he certainly wasn’t going to tolerate it. He had chased them off with his axe several times, forcing them farther and farther away.
But the thugs were like flies—impossible to get rid of. They just kept buzzing around the area.
It’s not the thief who steals, but the one who’s always watching that you have to fear. This was even more of a headache for Xie Yuan than their previous harassment. After all, they weren’t doing anything, just looking. If Xie Yuan were to attack them with his axe, he would be the one in the wrong.
Scoundrels will be scoundrels; they always have ways of making your life miserable.
’If only I could just chop them all down, things would be so much simpler...’
THWACK.
Xie Yuan returned to his yard and split a log in two.
[Chopping Wood: (821/1000)]
Looking at the numbers before him, his expression softened considerably.
"Almost there, almost there."
"As long as Chopping Wood levels up, everything will be fine."
Xie Yuan chopped wood in his yard, blow after blow. Watching the progress bar tick steadily upward filled him with motivation.
Suddenly, there was a knock at his gate.
Xie Yuan looked up, a little surprised.
Standing outside the gate was a large, dark-faced man. He carried a hunting bow on his back and wore a jacket of animal hide. It was Zhu Dongming.
"Brother Zhu? What brings you here? Come on, come in and sit down."
Xie Yuan welcomed Zhu Dongming into the yard. He glanced around and, after a moment’s hesitation, could only find a clean tree stump for him to use as a stool.
The Xie family genuinely didn’t own such things as chairs or stools; piles of firewood usually did the trick.
Zhu Dongming didn’t seem to mind. He sat down casually on the stump and said in a low voice:
"Yuanzi, you know about the big cat causing trouble on the mountain recently, right?"
"I know. Two people from the next village were mauled to death."
Xie Yuan nodded. He’d been extremely careful when felling trees on the mountain lately, never daring to venture deep into the woods and always keeping an eye on his surroundings.
If he had a choice, he would never go up the mountain at a time like this. But he had no choice. The threat from the Zhang Brothers was no less than that of a tiger.
With a tiger in front of him and the Zhangs behind him, Xie Yuan couldn’t afford to stop. Fortunately, iron poplar wasn’t particularly rare, and there was plenty in the shallower parts of the forest. Otherwise, he would have had to go back to cutting down ’scab’ trees.
"And thanks to your warning before, Brother Zhu, I haven’t gone deep into the mountains. Who knows, I might have been a victim otherwise."
Xie Yuan offered his timely gratitude.
Zhu Dongming waved his hand dismissively.
"It’s nothing. Alright, since you already know, I’ll get straight to the point.
"A lot of people are too scared to go up the mountain lately. As you know, most folks in the village live off the mountain. Very few have farmland.
"Winter is already hard enough. We can’t let this go on. The village chief thinks we can’t wait any longer and asked me to put a team together to investigate, and hopefully, kill the big cat.
"There are only four hunters in our village, including me. I reckon we’ll need at least five men to take on a big cat. Unfortunately, there’s no one else in the village who’s up to the task, so I came to you."
Xie Yuan heard this and froze on the spot.
’Huh? Me?’
’Hunt a tiger?’
Xie Yuan pointed at himself in disbelief.
"Brother Zhu, you think too highly of me. I’m just a woodcutter..."
Zhu Dongming raised a hand to stop him and shook his head.
"Yuanzi, you’ve got a ruthless streak, your axe is fast, and your reflexes are sharp. I think you can do it."
Something about that sounded wrong to Xie Yuan. His body tensed, and he said stiffly:
"Brother Zhu, what are you talking about? You’re flattering me."
He subconsciously tightened his grip on the axe, his knuckles whitening.
Zhu Dongming had sharp eyes. He noticed the movement of Xie Yuan’s hand, silently took a step back, and said:
"Yuanzi, when prey is bludgeoned to death, blood can spatter for dozens of feet. If you don’t want to attract predators, you have to clean up the entire area.
"But it’s fine. It was your first time, so it’s normal to be inexperienced. I’ve already taken care of it for you."
Xie Yuan’s heart pounded in his chest. He pressed his lips together tightly, staring at Zhu Dongming.
Zhu Dongming took another step back and lowered his voice.
"Don’t worry. What you did... I can only applaud it. I won’t tell anyone.
"Hunting the tiger is a big deal, and I’m not confident with just four men. I need your help. Yuanzi, we’re all from the same village. Let’s go together!"
Xie Yuan was silent for a long time before finally nodding.
"Since Brother Zhu thinks so highly of me, alright then."
Just as a smile began to form on Zhu Dongming’s face, he heard Xie Yuan add:
"But I need five days."
"Five days?"
Zhu Dongming frowned slightly but reluctantly nodded.
"Fine, but five days is the absolute maximum! Yuanzi, there’s no use in dragging this out."
"I know."
After Zhu Dongming left, Xie Yuan let out a long breath and slumped to the ground.
’I was seen...’
Xie Yuan sighed and thought to himself.
’Zhu Dongming said he wouldn’t tell, so why bring it up at all?’
’It was to force my hand.’
’He doesn’t seem to have any ill intentions, but something like this...’
For a moment, other ideas crossed Xie Yuan’s mind, but Zhu Dongming was clearly being very cautious.
He hadn’t lost his senses. If he really made a move on Zhu Dongming, there was no guarantee someone else wouldn’t see. When would it ever end?
He didn’t want to become one of those tragic villains from the stories, who make one wrong decision and are forced down a dark path for the rest of their lives, spending their days hiding from wanted posters in the mountains, living in constant fear.
Besides, he wasn’t some bloodthirsty Demon who could kill without batting an eye. He couldn’t just attack someone at the drop of a hat.
’So I really have to go hunt a tiger...’
Xie Yuan was reluctant. Hunting a tiger was incredibly dangerous, but now he had no choice but to go.
Fortunately, he had bought himself five days—enough time to raise Chopping Wood to the next level.
Xie Yuan picked up his axe, set up a log on the chopping block, and began to split wood, one swing after another.
