Chapter 35: Shameless greed
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
"What request?" Wang Anhua wasn’t surprised that Fang Zhengzhi would make a request, after all, he had already experienced Fang Zhengzhi’s shamelessness first-hand.
Village Chief Meng Bai frowned. He felt that it was inappropriate for Fang Zhengzhi to make such a request. After all, Wang Anhua was a Sir from the Hall of Dao. However, the illustration belonged to Fang Zhengzhi, hence he didn’t attempt to vocalize his thoughts.
"I would like to request Sir to copy out the illustration and give one to each member of the hunting squad" Fang Zhengzhi spoke his mind.
"Oh? What for?" Wang Anhua asked questioningly.
He had initially thought that Fang Zhengzhi would request for this to remain a secret or ask for some other benefits, but never did he think that Fang Zhengzhi would only request for him to copy it out a few times.
"Because, I’m thinking that.... if we make use of this illustration to set up the same trap at multiple locations within the Cang Ling Mountain, then, we can link up all these areas so that in the future, the prey would fall into the trap by themselves. All the hunting squad would have to do is to kill off the entrapped prey."
Fang Zhengzhi expressed his plans. He had wanted to copy the illustration by himself initially but having bumped into Wang Anhua, he decided to let him exhibit his generosity.
Saving more time to read books, what a noble and thoughtful idea! Thumbs up for myself!
In fact,, he had already prepared to give the illustration to the village from the moment he took it out.
The Southern Mountain Village hunting squad had played a huge role in the result of today’s yield. It would had been difficult to subdue all of the Northern Mountain Village hunting squad without getting injured, even if he had managed to trap all of them by himself.
That aside, what if he was the only person who could catch a single prey? That would indeed be very tiring.
Hunting....
It’s just a mean of survival. Fang Zhengzhi wanted to invest more effort into his studies and training.
Thus, giving out the rock formation illustration and hence bringing out its greatest potential, was the best way to go.
"Can... can this method really work?" Village Chief Meng Bai grew excited even before Wang Anhua could reply. If this method was carried out, it would have solved one of the greatest problem that had been pestering the Southern Mountain Village.
It didn’t just mean that the hunting squad would bring in more food, the greater benefit was that the safety of the hunting squad would increase substantially.
" Yes, I think this is doable!" Wang Anhua nodded his head as he looked at the illustration.
The villagers that heard this revealed an expression filled with shock and happiness. This was a great accomplishment that would prevent the Southern Mountain Village villagers from going hungry.
"If it was possible, it would be great!"
"Yes! It would be like having a hunting farm on top of Cang Ling mountain!"
"Village Chef, I think we can give it a try. Since the hunting squad would still continue to enter the mountain as per normal, all they have to do is to bring along an additional shovel. There wouldn’t be any harm in it!" Ding Qingshan, who had personally experienced the sheer potential of the trap, replied enthusiastically.
"Alright, alright ... we will give it a try! Hahaha...." Village Chief Meng Bai nodded. Thinking about what would happen once this plan was carried out to its completion, he envisioned piles and piles of prey stacked up highly.
Mrs Li’s face darkened. Darting her eyes back and forth between Fang Zhengzhi and the smiling Village Chief Meng Bai, she felt a sense of unease.
...
After the joy of a good yield gradually disappeared, Village Chief Meng Bai frowned again.
Because, he now faced a greater problem. It was something he had never even taken into consideration before, but in accordance to his promise to Fang Zhengzhi....
Every animal that Fang Zhengzhi caught belonged entirely to him.
Village Chief Meng Bai’s face alternated between red and white as he looked at the pile of animal, at a loss of what to do.
"Zhengzhi ... can I discuss something with you?" Village Chief Meng Bai put aside his cigar and quietly pulled Fang Zhengzhi to the side.
Fang Zhengzhi naturally knew what the village chief was about to say. He had robbed the Northern Mountain Village hunting squad, and now, the Southern Mountain village chief was about to rob him.
"Say what you wish village chief, I’m very easy to talk to! Moreover, I’m a person of great virtue, I’ll keep to my words, even if it means... death!" Fang Zhengzhi replied with an innocent expression.
Village Chief Meng Bai’s face instantly turned red.
Even a seven year old kid was able to keep his words. As a village chief, am I going to go back on them?
"This...this, haha..." Village Chief Meng Bai laugh dryly as he looked towards the pile of animals stacked up in the village square, then looked at Fang Zhengzhi’s tender face. It was hard for him to speak.
Fang Zhengzhi sighed silently to himself. He knew very clearly that his small arms could not save him. If he really wanted to take everything away, he was sure that the villagers would have some things to say.
Or,the villagers would not discuss about him. However, behind his back, they would criticize his parents for being unwilling to contribute to the village, and being unable to uphold the virtues that made one human.
Man can be greedy, however...
One cannot be shamelessly greedy.
If it was not for the help of the Southern Mountain Village hunting squad, the Northern Mountain Village hunting squad would not have surrendered so easily. Furthermore, it would had been impossible for him to carry all the animals down by himself.
"The amount of game is plentiful today, I believe they would take some time to finish by myself. Village Chief, please distribute some of it out. But, the Metal-Toothed Thorn Hog....." Fang Zhengzhi stopped speaking without saying anything further.
"Yes.....yes! I understand what you mean!" Village Chief Meng Bai instantly began to smile. Fang Zhengzhi’s intentions were clear, other than the Metal-Toothed Thorn Hog, the rest were to be distributed out.
Although the Metal-Toothed Thorn Hog had been taken away, there were still a lot of animals leftover. This left Village Chief Meng Bai extremely satisfied with this outcome.
However...
Even though Village Chief Meng Bai was satisfied, that didn’t mean that everyone else was as well.
The moment Mrs Li heard Village Chief Meng Bai announce that the entire Metal-Toothed Thorn Hog was to be distributed to Fang Zhengzhi, her face flushed red as if she had swallowed a fly.
She instantly couldn’t hold back any longer.
The Metal-Toothed Thorn Hog was a treasure. Not only was its meat more plentiful compared to that of other animals, its metal tusks were especially sharp. Being harder than raw metal, it could be used to make valuable tools that were worth silvers.
Usually, Village Chief Meng Bai would take one metal tusk for himself, and the other one would definitely fall into the hands of Li family.
But now, not only was she not given the metal tusk, she didn’t even manage secure a strand of hog hair.....
How could Mrs Li bear with this?
"How can village chief be so biased? According to usual practices, how can the rules be changed just because the yield is higher this time? Old Li from our family had led the hunting squad for the past few years and had also suffered his fair share up in the Cang Ling Mountain. Now that he entered the Hall of Dao, he has to study every single day. This is all for the village’s future! But now, we are getting bullied! I don’t accept this method of distribution!"