Although the others couldn't see the signs like the stars, they knew this place was not safe to stay. However, the guards were too badly injured, and two of them were unable to walk on their own.
The two middle-aged men carrying herbs also came down from the tree, and they skillfully applied medicine and bandaged the wounded guards.
Those who could still walk could help each other. For the two guards who couldn't walk, the five brothers Fu tacitly cut tree branches, tied them together to form a raft, and put people on it. Zhou Sifu dragged one person, and Zhou Dafu dragged another.
The mountain path was too narrow for two people to be placed on a tree trunk. Otherwise, Zhou Sifu could have dragged two trees by himself. Humans are not wild animals that can be pulled or rolled around at will, so each person could only drag one tree.
Zhou Erfu then tied several more tree trunks together, with ten wolves tied to them. The remaining wolves were carried by two men carrying herbs, each carrying three wolves, while Zhou Sanfu carried two wolves.
The two men carrying herbs refused to drag the wolf away, their expressions quite arrogant.
One of the men, who looked like a scholar, angrily said, "You've already dragged ten wolves, and your brother has dragged two. Why are you so greedy? Why do you have to drag them all back? Are wild animals more important than people? The most urgent thing is to leave this place immediately, not to get caught up in a few wolves."
"They're both important. Besides, I, a child, had to drag ten wolves along the way. Are you two grown men really less capable than me, unable to carry two wolves? In any case, we saved your lives."
Why don't you know how to repay kindness? I didn't ask you to do anything, just to drag two wolves. You're making too much of a fuss. Instead of arguing, let's hurry back home."
Zhou Erfu glared at the man, showing no fear. He pointed at the guard leader and two less injured guards, "The three of you need to help too. Since you're lightly injured, each of you should drag two of them. Don't just stand there. We've tied you up, so you can drag them away."
"Should we delay too?" The head guard frowned, clearly unwilling. They were high-ranking guards of the Iron Manor, and only obeyed Lord Iron and Young Master Iron.
Now this country bumpkin is yelling at them to drag wolves back to the village, and he wants to refuse without even thinking.
“My second brother, fourth brother, Little Gray, and Little Black saved you just now. If it weren’t for them, you might all have been eaten by wolves. We helped you, so shouldn’t you help us too? What are you standing there for? Quickly drag the wolves back to the village. It’s too dangerous here, we can’t stay here any longer.”
Xingxing spoke up confidently, her expression unusually serious.
The guards were not happy after being scolded by a little girl, but what she said was true. If it weren't for their help, they would have really fallen into the wolf's mouth today.
Never mind, consider it repaying their favor.
The guard leader dragged the two wolves away expressionlessly, and the other two guards resignedly followed suit, pulling the wolves along with them.
The two herb gatherers looked grim, but they still had to reluctantly help drag the wolf back to the village.
Zhou Wufu carried Xingxing on his back and ran ahead quickly. When he got tired, he would put Xingxing down on a flatter path and let her walk on her own for a while.
After rushing for so long, the group finally returned to Yegou Village an hour and a half later. The guards threw down the vines used to drag the wolves at the end of the village and then quickly ran towards the Song Mansion. Before long, they were all inside the Song Mansion.
"So they were guards from the Song family? Who in the Song family is sick, and why would they send so many guards to escort someone into the deep mountains to gather herbs?" Zhou Sanfu stroked his chin thoughtfully.
It was evening, and the villagers who were helping Zhou Laoda build the house hadn't finished work yet. They had noticed the commotion outside the gate and all came out to see what was going on. They were all quite surprised to see so many wolves.
"You five boys killed this whole pack of wolves and dragged them back?"
Zhou Fagen asked in a trembling voice, "Oh my god, even strong men like us would be terrified if we encountered a pack of wolves in the mountains. We would have to find a way to escape as quickly as possible. How could we dare to fight wolves? Zhou Laoda's five sons are really awesome."
"What are you thinking? It wasn't us, it was the guards from the Song family next door who did it. We just happened to run into them. They were half of the wolves." Zhou Erfu felt it was fair; everyone had contributed, and the spoils were split equally between the two groups.
A group of people surrounded Zhou Erfu and the others, asking them all sorts of questions. After figuring out what was going on, they asked if they needed help killing the wolves.
“We definitely need your help. We’ll keep five wolves for the meat, and you can divide the rest among yourselves. You can’t take the wolf pelts.” Zhou Erfu made the arrangements very clear. Wolf pelts can be sold for money. Why did he go through all that trouble to drag all the wolves back? Wasn’t it for the wolf pelts?
Zhou Laoda and Zhao Guihua exchanged a glance. They didn't say anything for the time being, deciding to settle accounts with their sons after everyone had left that night. "Those brats are really something. They must have run off to the deep mountains. Otherwise, how could they have encountered a pack of wolves?"
They dared to hunt wolves; they were truly ignorant of the dangers of the forest.
After Zhou Erfu finished showing off to everyone, he ran to knock on the door of the Song family mansion. When the gatekeeper opened the door, he said, "Today, we and the guards of your Song family worked together to kill a pack of wolves. The villagers will be responsible for killing them. You can come and share the wolf meat later."
The gatekeeper asked him to wait a moment, saying he needed to consult with Master Song first.
Master Song did not come out to see Zhou Erfu, but instead sent a message through his steward, saying that the Song family did not want wolf meat and that the village chief should arrange for it to be distributed to the villagers.
The Song family was even more pleased, and Zhou Erfu was overjoyed. He ran back to help everyone process the wolf meat.
All twenty-six wolf pelts belong to him; he'll definitely be able to sell them for a lot of money.
All the men in the village came, dozens of them crowding by the stream to process the wolf meat. One of the burly villagers, holding a wolf lung, said, "Can we eat these offal? It looks like meat, isn't it a waste to throw it away?"
"Have you ever heard of 'wolf's heart and dog's lungs'? You dare to eat wolf's heart or something?" Zhou Fagen clicked his tongue and retorted to the man.
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