Chapter 45: Personal Testification
Translator: Sparrow Translations Editor: Sparrow Translations
This time, Village Chief Meng Bai was truly stunned. No matter how he tried to think, he couldn’t understand why would Li Zhuangshi give the Rock Formation Illustration to the Northern Mountain Village hunting squad.
The Rock Formation Illustration was the biggest advantage of the Southern Mountain Village.
After Ding Qingshan and the rest’s experiments, their hunting yield was indeed much greater than before. Li Zhuangshi giving the Rock Formation Illustration to the Northern Mountain Village… what was his purpose?
For money?
That’s not possible. If Li Zhuangshi and the Northern Mountain Village really underwent this trade, why would Zhang Yangping expose him?
Furthermore, why are Zhang Yangping and Fang Zhengzhi together? Furthermore, he even said that he was here to help Fang Zhengzhi testify. What was this all about?
A never-ending stream of questions caused Village Chief Meng Bai to have completely no idea what was going on.
"Yangping, please clarify what you had just said!" Village Chief Meng Bai picked up the illustration Zhang Yangping handed over. Looking at it, his face changed again. Because, this illustration was real.
Zhang Yangping knew that Village Chief Meng Bai would ask, hence already prepared his answer.
Thus, without missing out anything, he narrated how Li Zhuangshi secretly passed him the map, and then provided him information about Fang Zhengzhi’s whereabouts.
"So, you actually intended to ambush Fang Zhengzhi?" Village Chief Meng Bai almost didn’t dare to believe it.
"Yes!" Zhang Yangping nodded. Looking at Fang Zhengzhi who was at his side, his expression revealed a trace of guilt.
Village Chief didn’t say anything further. He grasped the cigar on his hand tightly, his withered palms even turning white from using too much strength.
Li Zhuangshi…
Why would you do this?
"Wife… get Li Zhuangshi and the Mrs Li over, and, at the same time call Fang Houde and Mrs Fang over as well. Don’t let anyone know about this!"
After giving his instructions, Village Chief Meng Bai once again moodily smoked his cigar. Pacing around in his small room, his expression was extremely anxious and he didn’t pay any further attention to Zhang Yangping and Fang Zhengzhi.
Fang Zhengzhi thought, since village chief had already called over his own parents, then there shouldn’t be much of a problem. Hence, he relaxed and smiled cheerfully, then leaned comfortably on the chair.
Zhang Yangping came today to testify, hence naturally he had already prepared to confront Li Zhuangshi personally. Thus, he also waited quietly for Li Zhuangshi to arrive.
...
Not too long later, Fang Houde, holding his walking stick and supported by Qin Xuelian, walked in.
Once Qin Xuelian saw Fang Zhengzhi lying on the chair, and Zhang Yangping sited beside him, then Village Chief Meng Bai anxiously pacing around, she was startled. Did Zhengzhi cause a trouble?
"Village chief, Zhengzhi is still young… if he caused any trouble, we are willing to assume responsibility!" Qin Xuelian immediately shouted out.
When Village Chief Meng Bai, who was smoking his cigar gloomily, heard this, he became even more anxious and waved his hand furiously. "Mrs Fang, please take a seat first…"
"Brother Yangping, did my son offend you in any way?" Fang Houde recognised Zhang Yangping and asked worriedly
"Oh, little brother Zhengzhi is your son?" When Zhang Yangping saw Fang Houde, he was similarly taken aback. He was quite familiar with Fang Houde’s personality, simple and kind, during every hunt he would definitely be at the front. He used to be a strong member of the Southern Mountain Village hunting squad, unfortunately, a few years ago, the Blue Fire Wolf…
Once he thought of the Blue Fire Wolf, Zhang Yangping’s eyes gazed at Fang Zhengzhi, who was sitting at the side.
"Houde… you have nurtured a great son!"
Very quickly, Zhang Yangping explained the reason for his arrival. But, he didn’t mention the Blue Fire Wolf incident. After all, things should be settled systematically.
Most importantly, in Zhang Yangping’s heart, he Southern Mountain Village people definitely knew Fang Zhengzhi’s abilities. As a stranger, praising Fang Zhengzhi would seem unnecessary. Furthermore, it could easily be misunderstood that Fang Zhengzhi was in cahoots with other villages.
After listening to Zhang Yangping’s words, Fang Houde’s and Qin Xuelian’s expressions immediately changed.
"The Li family wants to sabotage my son!" Qin Xuelian had been constantly concerned about Fang Zhengzhi, and was the first to react. Tears immediately welled up in her eyes. Her own husband had contributed so much to the Southern Mountain Village, yet they didn’t even a single benefit. Now when her own son had contributed the Rock Formation Illustration, he was plotted against!
"Mrs Fang, please mind your words, why would Li Zhuangshi sabotage his own people? Let’s wait until Zhuangshi comes before discussing this further!" Upon hearing, Village Chief Meng Bai became even moodier.
Li Zhuangshi was the hope of the Southern Mountain Village.
Furthermore, he was the only person in the Southern Mountain Village who was personally praised by General Li from the Divine Constabulary. As long as he passed the Law of Dao examinations, he had a high chance of entering the Divine Constabulary.
Colluding with other villages to sabotage Fang Zhengzhi?
If other villagers got to know about this, things would definitely go out of hand!
…
After a quarter of an hour, Li Zhuangshi and Mrs Li finally arrived, one followed by another.
Mrs Li’s expression was that of irritation. Li Zhuangshi was currently studying in the Hall of Dao, yet he was called out. This would affect his studies, who was to bear responsibility for that?
As she prepared to lash out, she saw Zhang Yangping and the yellowish paper illustration on Village Chief Meng Bai’s hands. Then, looking at Fang Zhengzhi and his family, the look on her face instantly changed.
"Village chief, the reason we did this, was for peace between the two villages, think about it… if we really had to fight on like this, the Southern Mountain Village would definitely suffer in the long term!"
"Shut up!" When Li Zhuangshi heard Mrs Li’s words, his initially somewhat calm expression completely changed. Naturally, he understood that they had been exposed.
But, as long as he didn’t admit it, what could these Southern Mountain Village people do to him?
But now, after Mrs Li’s words left her mouth, he had to act.
"You really… sigh…" In reality, when Village Chief Meng Bai saw that illustration, he had already understood. After hearing Li Zhuangshi’s and Mrs Li’s words, he confirmed his thoughts.
He sighed heavily, but in his mind, he was calculating quickly how best to settle this problem.
Under normal circumstances, the way to settle it would definitely be announcing it to the entire village, punish Li Zhuangshi in public and chase him out of the Southern Mountain Village...
But, could he really chase Li Zhuangshi out of the Southern Mountain Village?
Li Zhuangshi was the hope of the Southern Mountain Village, and most importantly, was the person noticed by General Li of the Divine Constabulary!
Village chief Meng Bai had completely no idea what to do.
On one side was hope, and the other side was reason...
Fang Houde and Qin Xuelian naturally also heard Mrs Li’s words. Fang Houde could temporarily restrain himself and waited for Village Chief Meng Bai’s decision.
Qin Xuelian on the other hand couldn’t endure it anymore.
Fang Zhengzhi was her own son, Mrs Li might be able to deceive others, but deceiving her? How could she even be deceived? Furthermore, Zhang Yangping had also claimed that Li Zhuangshi was the one who had provided information to Zhang Yangping about Fang Zhengzhi’s whereabouts.
The intention was too clear.
"Li Zhuangshi, you purposely gave the illustration to the Northern Mountain Village, then provided information about Zhengzhi’s whereabouts. Evidently, you intend to sabotage Zhengzhi. I’ll definitely not endure this, I will report it to the entire village, and let the entire village bring justice to our Fang family!" Qin Xuelian’s tone didn’t contain even the slightest intention to concede.