Yun Qi's sudden arrival surprised Hu Lingling and the others, especially when they saw her clothes that had been torn to shreds, which made them nervous.

"Why are you in such a mess? Did something happen?" Hu Lingling asked her anxiously.

Gao Liang disregarded the difference between men and women and began to grab his cousin's hand and look her up and down.

Yunqi quickly explained, "It's nothing. I just came down from the mountain. I've been there for over a month, and my clothes got accidentally damaged."

He then explained to them that he had been out helping to clear out the groups of animals and was now on his way back.

Hu Lingling and the others were relieved and started rummaging through their belongings, determined to cook some food for them.

Yunqi quickly stopped them, saying, "This time it's not just the two of us. There are still many people at the village entrance. We'll visit them individually next time."

Hu Lingling knew that Si Cheng couldn't possibly leave the others behind and come to her house alone, so she said, "Then you can rest here tonight and let A Cheng and the others rest at the village entrance."

After saying that, he turned to Gao Liang and said, "Go tell your cousin that Xiao Qi is resting here later. See if he can leave. If he can, let him come over too."

After Gao Liang left, he instructed Gao Zian to go to the backyard to catch a chicken and slaughter it.

Yunqi quickly stopped her, "Auntie, please don't kill the chicken. Just make some porridge or something. We've been on the mountain every day lately and have eaten a lot of meat. We're just thinking about having some plain porridge."

Hu Lingling thought it made sense. There were plenty of wild animals on the mountain now, and the village had set up some traps nearby. Although there were many rocks on the mountain, they still managed to catch something. This gave her an idea of ​​how abundant the wild animals were on the mountain.

She deftly rinsed the rice and put it in the pot, saying, "I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing that you're resting here? The village had even considered asking your village for help."

Upon hearing this, Yunqi looked at his aunt with curiosity.

Uncle Gao added from the side, "The village had just driven away those refugees and managed to replant some crops, but then wild boars came and ruined the fields. The village dug several traps near the areas where the wild boars often appeared, but they didn't get anything. So someone suggested that we go and ask you to come and help. Before we even set off, you ran into us."

Yunqi hadn't expected this coincidence; he might not be able to get back to the village on time again tomorrow.

When Gao Liang arrived at the village entrance, he found the village chief already talking to his cousin.

He simply nodded to Si Cheng and stood quietly to the side, listening attentively to their conversation.

I overheard my cousin saying to the village chief, "We'll take advantage of this time to wander around your area. Wild boars especially like to come out to forage at dusk."

Si Cheng knew that since he had already encountered this situation, he should definitely help. So he decided to go out and try his luck tonight, hoping that he could go home earlier tomorrow.

Village Chief Gao rubbed his hands together, somewhat embarrassed. "Why don't you rest here for a day and deal with it tomorrow? There's no rush. You've just come down from the mountain and haven't even had a meal yet."

"We can just have a simple meal later. We're used to being out every day anyway. But there are some things we need to say upfront." Si Cheng didn't want any trouble later.

Upon hearing this, Village Chief Gao became suspicious. "Is there a problem? If you have any requests, please feel free to make them."

He also knew that he had played a little trick beforehand by not mentioning any kind of compensation, so that he would have a chance to negotiate if they brought it up later.

But now that Village Chief Si has spoken, he knows there are some things that can't be avoided. It's not fair to make people do work for free, and besides, they might not even help.

Si Cheng wasn't a person who liked to nitpick, but he disliked the village chief's petty schemes, which is why he pointed it out.

“If we catch the prey this time, we won’t take it all, but we will take two-thirds of it.”

If Village Chief Gao had proposed the payment earlier, he would have only taken half at most. But now he has increased the payment significantly, intending to teach Village Chief Gao a lesson.

Upon hearing this, Village Chief Gao couldn't help but gasp. After all, that was a whole herd of wild boars. If they were all wiped out, how much meat could they get?

Yun Jianying, who had been standing to the side, spoke up in an annoyed tone, "Last time we went to Baijia Village to eliminate the wolf pack, we took all the wolves with us. It was only because Village Chief Bai asked us to do so that we did it."

Seeing that Village Chief Gao was still somewhat reluctant to leave, he continued, "Look at all the harvest we brought from the mountain this time. It's clear that we don't lack this much. But the rules have to be in place, otherwise we'll be working for free every day in the future."

Zhao Dongwei, standing to the side, said with a grin, "Actually, it would be better if you hadn't come to us. You could have just taken care of it in the village yourselves, and we could have rested earlier so we could have gone home earlier tomorrow."

"Why is it always your business?" Wu Tianxiang pulled Zhao Dongwei away and then said to Village Chief Gao, "These brats are always so irresponsible, saying whatever comes to mind. When they get back, I'll have their parents teach them a lesson."

Village Chief Gao was almost rendered speechless by their back-and-forth banter. Knowing he was in the wrong, he thought for a moment and readily agreed.

There will be many more dealings with Pinghe Village in the future, so we can't afford to offend them. After thinking it through, Village Chief Gao's smile became much more genuine.

"I'll go to the village later and find a group of young people to go up the mountain with you. It'll be a good opportunity for them to get some training. If they can learn even a trick or two from Village Chief Si, it will be enough for them to deal with some emergencies."

At this point, Village Chief Gao looked on with envy at the young people of Pinghe Village. The effects of their usual training were evident in them; their spirit and appearance were completely different from the young people in his own village.

Si Cheng had no objection to taking people up the mountain, because during this time, the people from Pinghe Village who went out with him had become more and more in sync with him, so he was very confident in dealing with the wild boar herd. Therefore, he didn't mind taking more people up and readily agreed.

Upon receiving confirmation, Village Chief Gao naturally dared not delay and excitedly ran back to the village to inform everyone.

Seeing that they had finished talking, Gao Liang approached them and said, "Cousin, I'll go up the mountain with you too."

At this moment, Gao Liang completely forgot what her mother had told her and only wanted to go up the mountain with her.

Si Cheng glanced at him. "You're just going to come up the mountain with us like this?"

When Gao Liang saw their equipment and then looked at his empty hands, he immediately turned around and ran home. Otherwise, if more people came from the village, he might not get a turn.

After running a few steps, he turned back. "Xiao Qi will be resting at home tonight. My parents were going to ask if you were free to come over and rest, but now it seems there's no need to ask anymore."