Zhang Cheng hunched over, his hands tucked into his sleeves, his collar turned up, burying most of his face in his clothes, as he slowly made his way toward the village.
The snow on this day is very humid.
His cotton shoes and trousers were already soaked through, and a gust of cold wind made him shiver.
"Er Gouzi, it's Er Gouzi!"
"Er Gouzi, have you caught up with them yet?"
Zhang Cheng looked up and saw the villagers running towards him in the distance. A smile appeared on his lips, and he quickened his pace to meet them.
"Er Gouzi, how are you?" Zhang Jucai's face hardened, and he quickly took off his cotton-padded coat and wrapped it around Zhang Cheng.
As the man drew closer, everyone could see that Zhang Cheng's face was frighteningly pale, and his lips had turned purple.
"Sword Master, quick, carry Er Gouzi on your back."
"The humidity is too high, we can't let him be exposed to the wind, so take off your coats and cover him with them."
"Shoes! Take off Er Gouzi's cotton shoes!"
These villagers, seasoned veterans of venturing into the mountains, knew exactly what to do the moment they saw Zhang Cheng's appearance.
Zhang Jianhao rushed to Zhang Cheng and bent down, "Brother, come on up quickly!"
This time, Zhang Cheng didn't hold back. He genuinely felt weak, his hands and feet were ice-cold, and he was almost numb.
Before long, the group returned to the village.
Inside the mud house.
The stove was stuffed full of dry firewood and burning brightly. Zhang Cheng lay on the wooden bed, covered with two thick quilts.
"Here it comes, ginger water is here!" Zhang Da Tou Tou carried a bowl and carefully approached the bedside. "Er Gouzi, drink some ginger water first to warm yourself up."
"Mmm!" Zhang Cheng propped himself up and drank in small sips.
After he finished drinking a bowl of ginger water, the old village chief leaned closer and lowered his voice, "Er Gouzi, where is that person? Did he run away?"
"Kill him." Zhang Cheng's voice was soft, but tinged with exhaustion.
"That's good!" The old village chief visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
None of the dozen or so people in the room felt that Zhang Cheng had done anything wrong by killing Li Yuanyang.
"Sigh!" The old village chief found a small stool, sat down, and sighed. "Li Hangyang, Zhong Weiguo, and Liu Jiandang are all gone. Zhang Peng's right leg is broken too... looks like he'll be lame. We need to go to the county and report this to the police station after the snow melts. Otherwise, we won't be able to explain ourselves if their families come looking for us later."
"As for those three desperados... humph, they've been left with Lord Mountain Lord!" The old village chief scoffed, then suddenly laughed. "Lord Mountain Lord was on his deathbed, but when he saw those three corpses, heh, he was like he'd taken a magic pill..."
Zhang Cheng's eyebrows twitched, and his lips twitched slightly. The old village chief was truly ruthless; he fed the corpse to the tiger, leaving no evidence, not even a trace.
"Village chief, has Lord Mountain Lord left yet?" Zhang Cheng asked.
"No!" The old village chief's smile vanished instantly, replaced by a bitter expression. "We tried to scare it with firecrackers, but it just wouldn't leave. I think it was just a final burst of energy before it died, that's why it was eating so heartily... Alas, if the mountain lord really dies behind our village, that's bad luck, extremely bad luck!"
The old village chief was really having a headache about what to do with the injured tiger.
Zhang Cheng was at a loss. If he hadn't been reborn, he definitely wouldn't believe these things, but now, he'd rather believe it than not.
The old village chief chatted with Zhang Cheng for a few more minutes before leaving with a worried look on his face.
As soon as he left, the others greeted Zhang Cheng and dispersed.
Shi Yangyang lowered her head and moved to sit down next to Zhang Cheng, her beautiful eyes filled with worry.
Zhang Cheng smiled slightly, reached out from under the covers, gently patted the back of her hand, and lowered his voice, "It's nothing, you're just a little cold, you'll be fine after a nap!"
Shi Yangyang blinked but didn't say anything. He was torn. Should he tell him that he was actually faking his madness?
Seeing his wife's appearance, Zhang Cheng was quite happy. Had her condition improved again? In his mind, Shi Yangyang wasn't born with a mental problem; her sudden outburst over a year ago must have been due to some major trauma. Since that was the case, he shouldn't provoke her further; he should go along with her in everything, and perhaps her illness would heal on its own.
"Second Uncle!"
Just then, Er Ya, heavily pregnant and leaning on a cane, walked unsteadily, which made Zhang Chengxin's heart clench, and she entered the mud house.
"Second Uncle, I brought you some food!" Er Ya slowly shuffled to the bedside, placed a piece of wolf meat wrapped in dried lotus leaves next to Zhang Cheng, and grinned, "Second Uncle, eat more meat, it will help you recover faster."
"Sister-in-law, your belly is so big now, you shouldn't go out too much. It would be troublesome if you fell or bumped into something!"
"It's alright, I'm being careful!" Er Ya shook her cane, then looked at Shi Yangyang, "Sister-in-law, please take good care of Uncle, I'll head back now!"
Meanwhile, at the back of the village.
A group of elderly women arrived again, carrying yellow paper and incense sticks, and knelt and worshipped the tiger lying in the snow from a distance.
With a pained expression, the old woman pulled out a small piece of wolf meat and threw it forcefully towards the tiger. Then she clasped her hands together and prayed, "Lord Mountain Lord, please bless Er Ya and give our Zhang family a son..."
The little bit of meat each family has is something they wouldn't normally eat themselves. But now, they're all taking it out as "offerings" to the mountain lord.
The large, striped tiger drooped its head, closed its eyes, and didn't even glance at the wolf meat and cured meat thrown at it.
It was really full.
On the snow around the tiger, red blood froze into lumps of ice, along with pieces of tattered clothing and bone fragments that were too tough to chew—it was a truly gruesome sight.
That's strange.
Not a single one of those old women was afraid. In their eyes, those scoundrels deserved to be eaten by the Mountain Lord.
Just as the group of old ladies finished their prayers and were about to leave, the big tiger, which had been keeping its eyes closed, suddenly opened them.
"roar!"
A deafening roar echoed across the surrounding area.
"Is Lord Mountain Lord angry?"
"What's going on? We've been feeding and treating him well, so why is Lord Mountain still unhappy!"
The old women panicked, but none of them ran away... Instead, they all knelt on the ground and kowtowed repeatedly.
The large, striped tiger's eyes gleamed coldly. It propped itself up on its front legs, dragging its injured hind legs, and slowly began to move.
"Lord Mountain Lord is leaving!"
"Lord Mountain Lord isn't angry..."
"Tomorrow is the fifteenth, the Year of the Tiger is coming to an end, and that's why the Mountain Lord left. He was afraid of delaying our welcoming of the Rabbit God!"
The Year of the Tiger has passed, and the Year of the Rabbit has arrived. Once the fifteenth day of the first lunar month is over, the Year of the Tiger is officially over, and we must welcome the Rabbit God to bless the new year.
This is superstition, but it's also a custom!
The magnificent tiger has now left, dragging its injured leg. In the eyes of the old women, it was their sincerity that moved the Mountain Lord. Otherwise, even if the Mountain Lord stayed here, the Rabbit God wouldn't come to bless their village.
Once the lame "Mountain Lord" leaves the village, he's no longer a sacred creature; at best, he's just an injured tiger.
Many young and strong men in the village were plotting to take advantage of its illness and kill it.
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