Chapter 30 – Chasing a Tiger to its Death (1/2)

With a rumble, Li Qingshan placed all of the game before grandpa Zang. “This should make up for the food I’ve eaten during the time I’ve spent here!”

There were gulps in the surroundings. In particular, the hunters who had just returned were dumbfounded. They had set off with a large group of people, working together in cooperation with careful preparation, yet the prey they had caught was still less than Li Qingshan’s hoard.

Even more to his surprise, grandpa Zang discovered that there were not even any wounds on many of the game. “Just how did you hunt?”

This was the question everyone present wanted answered. Li Qingshan considered it before replying, “With my hands!”

Everyone was taken aback in admiration, but they could not bring themselves to question him further.

Li Qingshan glanced at the prey the hunters had brought back from the mountains. “You’ve caught so much as well. You’re almost going to catch up to me. No, I have to put some more effort into it, or I can’t win.”

Grandpa Zang was unable to explain to him that the prey would be split between each hunter. On average, there was not even a prey for each hunter. Li Qingshan had basically won already after the first day of hunting.

Li Qingshan ate before returning to the mountains.

The hunters returned to the mountains in the north and told everyone what had happened in the village.

“How’s that possible?”

“You must have drunk in the village!”

“It’s true. There really was that much game.” They explained in a hurry.

“This kid!” Huang Binghu exhaled deeply and called out, “All of you put your back into it. Don’t fall behind him. If even all of us combined can’t match him alone, we’d better kill ourselves in shame!”

The hunters agreed loudly, and their morale swelled.

Huang Binghu secretly held back a series of coughs. He looked at the centre of his hand and saw some dark red blood.

On a path in the mountains, a convoy moved slowly. At the centre was a sedan chair carried by four men, and over a dozen guards and servants were gathered in the surroundings.

A fat man lifted up the curtains of the sedan, revealing his chubby face. He asked, “Advisor, how far are we from Qingyang city?” It was clearly late autumn, yet he was still drenched in sweat as he sat in the sedan chair.

A person dressed like a caretaker said, “Sir, it’s still quite far away. If we can arrive by tonight, we’ll be doing fine.”

The fat man placed down the curtains and muttered to himself, “Despite all of my knowledge at administering affairs, he actually sent me to such a remote place to be a district magistrate. Sir prefect really is befuddled.”

“Sir, you can’t say things like that. It’ll be bad if it makes it to the prefect.”

The fat official snorted and said nothing more.

Rwaar! A roar rang out from the thicket beside the mountain path.

The sedan chair fell to the ground with a thud, shaking up the fat official. “W- what’s happening? Is someone trying to murder me?”

“S- sir, i- it’s a tiger!” The advisor fell to the ground and pointed ahead with his trembling finger.

A magnificent tiger leapt down from the slope, landing on the mountain path. It glared at the sedan chair viciously as it stood there majestically. The tiger had a ‘王’ pattern on its head.

“Huff, tiger? What? A Tiger! S- somebody come quick and deal with this beast!”

The advisor was close to bursting out into tears. “T- they’ve all fled.”

The fat official lifted up the curtains of the sedan chair to look around. As expected, the chairmen, guards, and servants were nowhere to be seen, having all fled for their lives. They had reacted as soon as the tiger’s roar had rung out. As working people at the bottom of society, they were constantly vigilant.