16: Chapter 16 A Triumphant Return

"You only want the fox pelts?"

Zhang Youqiang stroked his chin, looking somewhat surprised upon hearing Ye Jing's words.

Ye Jing nodded, while those from Liu Village broke out in a hubbub.

Wang Laosan hurriedly stepped forward and asked Ye Jing, "Elder Ye, have you gone muddled? Although the fox fur is valuable, the meat weighs dozens of catties. It could be sold for quite a lot at the butcher shop! This isn't even as good as a thirty-seventy split!"

"Father, what do you mean by this?" Ye Xuan and Ye Yi, who were standing nearby, were quite puzzled.

Ye Jing waved his hand and faced their doubts, saying, "Rest assured, I have my reasons!"

Having said that, Ye Jing looked at Zhang Youqiang, his tone becoming firmer. "How about it? Do you agree?"

Seeing this, Zhang Youqiang thought for a good while. A fox's meat weighed several catties. While the fur was valuable on the market, it usually only fetched a few hundred wen; it could never surpass the value of the fox meat no matter what.

According to Ye Jing's method of division, their Chen Family Village would still take the lion's share and wouldn't lose out. Thus, he smiled and said, "Fine! It's not that I, Zhang Youqiang, am bullying anyone; it was you, Old Man Ye, who proposed it!"

Once everyone had agreed, they immediately hurried back.

After skinning the foxes, they took the shortcut without stopping to rest.

The mountain forest was heavy with humidity, which easily bred rot. They needed to sell the game they carried as quickly as possible.

The group did not return to the village but went straight to Yuanhe Town.

It was noon in Yuanhe Town. The streets were bustling with people, and the sounds of hawking and bargaining rose and fell in succession.

The people from the two villages, carrying heavy prey on their backs, attracted many gazes as soon as they entered the town.

The coarse cloth bags on the backs of the Liu Village people were bulging, while the people from Chen Family Village carried bundles of skinned fox carcasses. The stench of blood wafted with their footsteps, causing many passersby to avoid them.

"To the fur shop first!" Ye Jing made a prompt decision and led the Liu Village people straight toward the fur shop.

Seeing this, Zhang Youqiang also led his own villagers toward the restaurant, feeling very smug in his heart: This old man Ye Jing is truly muddled. To give up dozens of catties of fox meat just to keep a few pieces of fur!

The shopkeeper of the fur shop saw Ye Jing entering with a group of villagers. Seeing them travel-worn and dusty, he was just about to become impatient.

Then Ye Yi and Ye Xuan lifted a large bag of fox pelts and placed it before the counter, untying the bag to reveal the fiery-red fox fur.

The shopkeeper's eyes instantly lit up. He hurriedly left the counter and stepped forward to inspect them. "Good heavens, these are pure Fire Fox pelts! The fur is glossy, the color is even, and there's no damage. These are truly top-grade goods!"

As he spoke, he stroked the fur with his hand, his face full of joy. "Where did you hunt these? I haven't received such high-quality Fire Fox pelts in quite some time!"

Ye Jing smiled faintly, not saying where they were hunted, and simply asked, "Shopkeeper, give us a fair price!"

Hearing this, the shopkeeper carefully counted the pelts, his abacus clicking and clacking loudly.

"Fire Fox pelts... eight hundred wen for each adult pelt and three hundred wen for each small one. You have twenty-three adult pelts and four small ones here, which adds up to nineteen taels and six hundred wen!

But since your fox fur is of such fine quality, I'll round it up for you to twenty taels of silver. What do you think?"

"Twenty taels of silver?!" Wang Laosan cried out in surprise. Even Ye Xuan and Ye Yi widened their eyes, their faces full of disbelief.

What did twenty taels of silver represent? It was enough for a farming household to live on for three years!

A few fox pelts were actually worth this much!

The corners of Ye Jing's mouth curled up slightly. He had heard the shopkeeper mention before that because the Yan State was at war, hides and furs were scarce, so pelts were priced even higher than before. Pelts could be sold for a lot of money.

Each of them could be split two taels of silver, which could be described as a guaranteed profit.

Meanwhile, on the other side.

The Chen family members carried the fox meat to a small restaurant in the west of the town.

The restaurant owner flipped through the fox meat they had brought, his brow furrowing slightly. "For this fox meat, I'll calculate it at one tael of silver per animal."

"One tael per animal?" Zhang Youqiang felt something was wrong upon hearing this. "Pork can sell for over sixty wen per catty. This is wild game; how can it only be worth this much?"

The restaurant owner pointed at the fox meat and said, "This fox meat has a strong gamey smell and the meat is tough. It can't compare to pork or mutton. No one is willing to eat it; I'll have to make it into jerky before I can sell it."

Zhang Youqiang felt that something was amiss. He hurriedly asked, "Boss, how much are fox pelts worth on the market right now?"

The restaurant owner thought for a moment and said, "Fox pelts? I know about that. Isn't there a war coming up? The price of fur has gone up. It seems one can sell for eight hundred wen!"

"Eight hundred wen..." Zhang Youqiang only felt his head buzz. He finally understood why Ye Jing had insisted on the pelts.

He had been played by that old fellow Ye Jing!

The prices of fox meat and fox pelts were different. Furthermore, there were only ten people from Liu Village, while there were over twenty from their Chen Family Village. The twenty-odd taels of silver from the fox meat would only amount to a bit over one tael per person when split among them. It couldn't compare to Liu Village at all!

Zhang Youqiang's chest felt tight with anger, but it wasn't easy to lash out. With a grim face, he said to the Chen Family Village people, "Let's go! Sell the rest of the prey!"

He was full of resentment, thinking only that this matter absolutely could not be left at that!

At this time, the group holding the silver from the fox pelts was in an exceptionally cheerful mood.

Ye Jing then had the Liu Village people sell all the wild game they had obtained from the mountains to Zheng Dali's butcher shop. Seeing so much prey, Zheng Dali was naturally overjoyed and accepted all of it.

"Uncle Ye, you guys are truly amazing to have caught so much prey!" Zheng Dali was also surprised.

Ye Jing smiled and said, "Brother Zheng, name a price."

Hearing this, Zheng Dali began calculating the price. "Uncle Ye, for this wild boar—skin, meat, and bones included—I'll take it for fifty-five taels of silver. How Does that sound?"

"Fifty-five taels?!"

The others from the village were also extremely shocked. Ye Jing pondered for a moment; the price was quite fair. So he asked, "What about the other prey?"

"A Doe weighing over twenty kilograms along with its fawns is twenty-five taels. The remaining Pheasants and hares, if sold by the kilogram, bring the total for all the prey to one hundred taels."

Ye Jing felt there was no problem after hearing this. The price was even higher than usual. So he smiled and said, "Deal."

Zheng Dali smiled and gave the money bag to Ye Jing. "Check it over and see if it's one hundred taels of silver."

Ye Jing felt the weight in his hand. Seeing the wide eyes of the villagers beside him, he smiled and handed the money bag to them. "Everyone, count it and see if the amount is correct!"

The villagers touched the hot silver, their hands trembling uncontrollably, fearing this surprise was a dream.

Their eyes welled with tears of excitement, and they wished they could go back into the mountains to fight once more.

"Elder Ye, thank you so much. If it weren't for you, how could we have returned from the mountains in one piece!"

"That's right, these past few days were truly fraught with danger. It's all thanks to you!"

The people of Liu Village could not stop thanking Ye Jing.

Ye Jing waved his hand and said, "This is everyone's credit. If the fellow villagers hadn't worked together with one heart, how could we have had such a harvest?"

His gaze swept over the joy on everyone's faces, and his tone was gentle yet solemn. "Silver is good, but one must have a life to spend it. Being able to return with a full load this time was entirely due to Heaven's favor. However, the mountains are dangerous; from now on, you cannot rashly go deep based on a burst of hot-bloodedness."

Recalling the dangerous encounters of the past few days, especially that eerie demon fox, everyone nodded with lingering fear.

"That demon fox was truly sinister." Wang Laosan patted his chest, still feeling a lingering fear. "When that thing pounced over, I thought I was going to be finished there. Thanks to Elder Ye's quick reactions, that arrow even saved that fellow Zhang Youqiang's dog life!"

"Isn't that right!" a villager took up the conversation. "It still has to be Elder Ye who is amazing! Leading us into the mountains, not only did you find wild boars, but you could also neutralize miasma poison. Even the foxes were only caught because of the traps you set!"

"It's all because Elder Ye led us well!" someone shouted, and everyone immediately chimed in.

"If Elder Ye didn't know the ways of hunting and how to deal with demonic creatures, how could we have gotten these benefits!"

"And Elder Ye is truly heroic. In the mountains, he doesn't seem like an old man at all; instead, he's even more formidable than the young people!"

Ye Jing looked at the impassioned villagers before him, a gratified smile appearing on his face.

They praised Ye Jing's prowess, and with Ye Jing taking the lead, they divided the silver according to how much effort each person had contributed.

With more silver in hand, Ye Jing also called his two sons to the market to buy some meat, grain, and oil to take back, so the family could have a good meal.