11: Chapter 11 Resentment

Everyone from Liu Village ran to the entrance of the valley, feeling tense.

From the silent forest came Zhang Youqiang's exaggerated laughter: "Hahaha! This male bear is enough for us to make a fortune; those bear paws alone can sell for dozens of taels of silver!"

The people of Liu Village looked toward the sound and saw Zhang Youqiang leading the way, riding Hunting knife and cradling some cloth in his left arm, appearing to be injured.

But the eyes of the Liu Village folk bulged as they stared at the several burly men behind Zhang Youqiang carrying a massive male bear. There was a deep, bone-deep wound on the bear's neck, and blood was still dripping steadily.

So the roar of the beast earlier was them hunting a bear?!

"Good heavens, that's incredible!" Wang Laosan exclaimed in awe, his eyes fixed on the giant bear, forgetting to even blink. The bear was like a small mountain; how many kilograms must it weigh?

A few members of the Chen family who weren't carrying any prey continued to flatter him.

"Indeed! With Brother Zhang leading us, we finally don't have to worry about the Tax Silver this year!"

"Our Brother Zhang is divinely brave and invincible. When the beasts of these mountains see you, they wouldn't dare do anything but take the long way around! Only you have the skill to take down such a massive bear!"

Zhang Youqiang felt a bit smug. He looked up at Ye Jing and the others, slightly surprised to see them carrying a doe and two fawns.

He walked forward with a smile and teased, "Your Liu Village actually has some skill, managing to catch a large deer! Impressive!"

As he spoke, he proudly patted the large bear beside him.

Ye Jing lit his pipe and marveled, "It was just luck; we happened to stumble upon them. But you all, being able to catch a bear! That is truly impressive!"

In his youth, he had encountered a bear of that size alone and knew well how dangerous they were; his words were sincere.

In Ye Jing’s eyes, Zhang Youqiang’s ability to lead a team to take down a male bear indeed showed he had some capability.

"It's nothing, it's nothing. Catching three deer is certainly not easy. After all, deer in the forest are gentle by nature; as long as you set the traps and wait patiently, you can catch them. Unlike this giant bear—fierce and powerful. Without real skill, one wouldn't even dare to get close."

These words were a backhanded compliment, secretly belittling Liu Village's prey as "having no difficulty."

Hearing this, Ye Yi and several other young men from Liu Village immediately flushed red. They wanted to retort but found themselves speechless.

After all, a large bear was indeed harder to catch than deer, and they couldn't help but feel envious of the Chen Family Village's harvest.

"If only we could catch a bear that big too," Ye Yi said enviously.

Wang Laosan added, "Forget a bear, even a wild boar would be the best thing ever!"

Seeing how envious they were, Ye Jing smiled and said, "Don't be envious. Our deer aren't bad either. Get some good rest, and we'll try our luck again tomorrow!"

Night fell.

The people from both villages rested near each other. The Liu Village folk gathered around the campfire to process their prey, while the Chen family members were busy handling the bear meat; there was little communication between them.

However, because the Chen Family Village had caught a bear, the Liu Village people couldn't help but feel secretly envious.

The next day, Zhang Youqiang led the Chen Family Village men into the mountains once more. They were in high spirits, vowing to catch another big prize.

As they left, several Chen Family Village men even gave a provocative "Hmph."

This made the Liu Village folk extremely irritated.

"What's with all that Divine Qi! It's just a bear!" Ye Yi cursed under his breath, and the rest of the Liu Village people felt equally indignant.

Ye Jing took everything in. He noticed that the Divine Qi in the valley seemed to have grown even thicker, with a faint hint of green.

"Dad! Let's head out too. We can't let this Zhang Youqiang keep trampling all over us!" Ye Yi said indignantly.

Ye Jing nodded. "Alright! Let's go try our luck nearby!"

The ten men from Liu Village ate a few mouthfuls of the flatbread they had brought, and after regaining some strength, they headed toward the mountains.

The mist outside the valley had thinned considerably.

Noon.

The group searched the outer forest for a long time, but aside from a few wild rabbits, they had no harvest.

On the contrary, the long hunt had left them exhausted, so they found a grove to rest in.

"There's one! Over there..." Suddenly, a villager came running over in a panic, his voice breathless.

Wang Laoer hurried to support him and asked, "What is it, Shuanzi?"

The villager named Shuanzi gasped for air before finally squeezing out a sentence, trembling with alarm: "I... while I was relieving myself, I saw... I saw a huge wild boar!"

At these words, everyone was startled.

Ye Jing stepped forward and asked sternly, "Are you sure you didn't see wrong?"

Shuanzi quickly replied, "It's true! It's so big! It's right nearby eating grass!"

Immediately, Wang Laoer shouted, "We have to leave here quickly!"

He reached for his pack, clearly terrified by the words "wild boar."

Wild boars were not to be trifled with. In the mountains, they had thick skin and sharp tusks; once they went into a frenzy, even a dozen men might not be able to restrain one. Moreover, they currently only had bows and wooden forks, without any proper traps prepared.

The Liu Village people immediately packed up to leave, their fearful chatter filling the air.

Only Ye Xuan stood still, his brow furrowed, his fingers unconsciously brushing the Hunting knife at his waist.

He suddenly spoke.

"We can't leave."

As the steady eldest son of the Ye family had suddenly spoken up, Ye Jing turned around in surprise.

Ye Xuan continued, "We've been out for so long and have so little to show for it. How will we explain this to everyone when we return to the village? Although this wild boar is fierce, it's also a massive prize. As long as we plan properly, we might be able to take it down!"

Hearing his elder brother's words, Ye Yi felt they made sense. He stepped forward and said, "That's right! Think about it, everyone. If we can hunt a wild boar, wouldn't that make those people from Chen Family Village see us in a new light?"

With these words, the rest of the Liu Village men were also stirred up.

"Yeah, how will we know if we don't try? Even Zhang Youqiang could catch a bear; we can't let him look down on us!"

"And if we can catch a wild boar, our Tax Silver will be taken care of."

"No matter how fierce a wild boar is, it's not as scary as Tax Silver. I don't want my whole family to end up as Corvée labor!"

The Liu Village men were gradually encouraged, the fear on their faces replaced by a desire to try, as if they couldn't wait to fight the wild boar for three hundred rounds!

At this point, Wang Laosan asked Ye Jing, who had been silent for a long while, "Elder Ye, what do you think?"

Wang Laosan asked Ye Jing to make the final decision. After all, Ye Jing was the oldest among them and an experienced hunter; with his approval, hunting the wild boar might yield twice the results with half the effort.

Seeing everyone looking at him with eyes full of expectation, Ye Jing thought that while hunting a wild boar was dangerous, it was worth a try.

Thus, he nodded and said, "We can try, but we must discuss a detailed plan!"

With that, Ye Jing gestured for all the villagers to gather around.

After hearing Ye Jing's plan, everyone showed expressions of admiration and quickly dispersed to prepare.

A stick of incense's time later.

Hiding in the grass, Ye Yi gripped his longbow tightly, watching the bushes ahead with intense nervousness.

There was a plump, sturdy wild boar using its long tusks to root through the ground for food.

According to Ye Jing's plan.

The strongest, Ye Yi, would take the lead as the person to lure the wild boar.

From fifty paces away, Ye Yi took a deep breath and fired an arrow at the boar.

The wild boar suddenly felt a dull pain near its head. The powerful arrow had only penetrated less than three inches into its neck; to its thick-skinned body, it was merely a minor wound.

It turned quickly and saw Ye Yi in the bushes provocatively waving his longbow.

The wild boar was instantly enraged and charged toward Ye Yi.

"Rumble!" The sound of the wild boar's charge was like muffled thunder rolling across the forest floor, its hooves sending fallen leaves flying and making the ground tremble. This boar weighed at least four hundred jin.

Seeing the wild boar charging over, Ye Yi's heart hammered.

He didn't dare hesitate for a second and ran toward the pre-set trap.

There, Ye Jing, along with Wang Laosan, Ye Xuan, and others, had constructed a "Beast-blocking fence" out of vines and sharpened wooden stakes.

As the wild boar approached, Wang Laoer and Ye Xuan pulled up the Beast-blocking fence.

The wild boar didn't hesitate at all. With a strike of its tusks, it easily knocked over the fence. It merely shook its head irritably and continued to chase after Ye Yi with a roar.

"Quick, stop it!" Ye Yi cried out.