Chapter 192 The Dog Afraid of Leopards
"Haha, Brother Liu, didn't Xiping learn all his skills from you?"
If it weren't for his older brother's generosity in passing on all his best skills to Xiping, he wouldn't be where he is today.
The child is still young and easily praised, but this praise might lead to trouble someday.
Sheng Liancheng, who was standing to the side, saw Wang Jiachuan's predicament. In front of so many people, he couldn't let Wang Jiachuan lose face.
So Sheng Liancheng quickly spoke up and joked with Liu Changde, which helped to ease Wang Jiachuan's embarrassment.
Liu Changde was just standing up for his apprentice, and since Sheng Liancheng changed the subject, he couldn't say anything more.
So everyone laughed it off, and the matter was considered closed.
The leopard is dead, and Sheng Xiping and the others have returned safely. The farm can finally rest easy now.
Everyone present breathed a sigh of relief; the heavy weight on their hearts had finally been lifted.
Wang Jiachuan insisted on inviting Liu Changde and his son, as well as Sheng Xiping and the others, to his home for dinner.
Unable to refuse, Liu Changde finally nodded and went to the Wang family's house with Sheng Liancheng and Lao Hu for a while.
The younger ones first dragged the leopard back to Sheng Xiping's house, and after they were tidied up, they went to the Wang family's house for dinner.
This arrangement serves two purposes: firstly, it allows young people to go home and let their families know they are safe, so their families won't worry.
The other one was too conspicuous, so we quickly took it back, skinned it, and butchered it, so no one else had any designs on it.
And so, everyone went their separate ways to do what they needed to do.
Sheng Xiping and the others dragged the leopard back to the Sheng family home.
Before they could even enter, the two dogs, Leopard and Fat Tiger, in their kennel outside, probably smelled something unusual and tucked their tails between their legs, hiding inside without even daring to come out and take a look.
However, Erlang Shen and General Hei inside the house didn't smell the leopard; they only heard Sheng Xiping's footsteps.
Both dogs got up from the ground and started whimpering outside.
Sheng Xi'an and Sheng Xikang had rushed back to let their family know they were safe, so Zhang Shuzhen already knew that her son had led a group to kill the leopard.
Zhang Shuzhen figured she might have to invite them to dinner that night, and was thinking about cooking a couple more dishes.
"Mom, we're back. My dad and my master have been called away for drinks by Uncle Wang, and we'll have to go over there later too."
"You don't need to prepare dinner for us. Take the second and third sons to eat." Sheng Xiping pushed open the door and went into the house to tell his mother.
The two dogs, who had been wagging their tails and whimpering as they tried to jump on Sheng Xiping, froze in place the moment he pushed the door open and entered the house.
The tail stopped wagging, and the whimpering stopped; a hint of fear lingered in the dog's eyes.
"Erlang Shen, Black General, have you two been causing trouble at home?" Sheng Xiping asked the two dogs with a smile.
As a result, the two dogs tucked their tails between their legs and darted back to the west room, where they lay motionless on the burlap sack.
Sheng Xiping and Wang Jianshe, Liu Yujiang, and others behind him were all stunned.
"Xiping, what's wrong with your dog?" Wang Jianshe asked, puzzled.
"I guess we brought the leopard back with us and picked up its scent."
"Leopards are natural predators of dogs, these two are scared," Liu Yujiang explained with a smile.
Once that was explained, everyone understood, and they all laughed.
It was already dark outside, and without light, it was difficult to skin the leopard.
Sheng Xiping hurriedly went to the inner room to find a 40-degree light bulb and replaced it. Then, everyone worked together to carry the leopard into the room, where Sheng Xiping and Liu Yujiang worked together to skin the leopard.
After all that commotion, the whole room smelled of leopards.
Erlang Shen and the Black General were hiding in the west room, but for some reason, Erlang Shen peeked out from the west room again.
Upon seeing the motionless, already dead creature on the ground, Erlang Shen's expression changed instantly, and he barked several times towards the outer room.
"You bully who relies on his master's power! Now that you see the leopard is dead, you've got some nerve!"
Sheng Xiping was both angry and amused when he saw this. He casually threw a bone to Erlang Shen to test its reaction.
Unexpectedly, Erlang Shen looked at the bone, first leaned over to smell it, then stepped back, lowered his body, and made a whimpering sound towards the bone.
Then, Erlang Shen lunged forward, opened his mouth and bit the bone, but didn't gnaw on it. He jumped and pounced with the bone in his mouth, making whimpering noises. Anyone who didn't know better would have thought he had seen a mouse.
This whole thing left everyone bewildered. Everyone stared blankly at Erlang Shen, wondering what was wrong with the dog.
"Brother Xiping, did your dog get scared out of its wits by the leopard?" Zhang Zhijun couldn't help but mutter.
"I don't know. I guess he's afraid of the leopard, but he can't bear to part with the meat, so he's just showing off."
Sheng Xiping had never seen his dog behave like this before, and he was just as baffled.
Erlang Shen's actions also lured out the Black General who was hiding in the west room.
Seeing Erlang Shen facing a bone as if facing a formidable enemy, General Hei also bared his teeth and made a similar sound.
Sheng Xiping threw another bone to General Hei.
Unexpectedly, General Black took several steps back, then tentatively stepped forward to sniff a few times, called out to the bone a few times, and then turned and went back to the west room.
"Coward, a leopard bone can scare you like this."
When Sheng Xiping saw this, he was both amused and exasperated.
The black general escaped from the jaws of the leopard, probably terrified, as he didn't even dare to gnaw on the leopard's bones.
In the west room, General Hei, whether he heard Sheng Xiping's words or not, barked a few times, like a child arguing.
Sheng Xiping didn't take it seriously and continued working.
The leopard skin has been completely removed, and the internal organs were thrown up on the mountain and not brought back.
This leopard is male and quite large. Even after removing its head and internal organs, it still weighs over 100 pounds.
None of them had ever eaten leopard meat before, and they all wanted to try it. So they took out sharp axes, chopped up the leopard meat, and divided it among themselves.
Just as they finished their work, Wang Tianqing arrived at the Sheng family's house, saying that the meal was ready and inviting Sheng Xiping, Liu Yujiang, and the others to come over for dinner.
After tidying up, everyone left the Sheng family's house, but instead of going directly to the Wang family's house, they each went home first to return the meat.
The brothers Liu Yujiang and Liu Yuhe left their share of meat at the Sheng family's house for the time being, and then, together with Sheng Xiping, they left the Sheng family's house and headed straight for Wang Jiachuan's house.
"Auntie, this is the meat from the leopard we killed today. I don't know if it tastes good. I guess it's about the same as lynx meat."
"Later, put it in a pot and simmer it until it's very tender. Then cut it into chunks and stir-fry it with big chili peppers."
As soon as Sheng Xiping entered, he handed Tao Chunhong a piece of leopard meat weighing five or six pounds.
Leopards are also felines, and they spend their days running in the mountains and forests, so their meat must be particularly firm.
Although Sheng Xiping had never eaten it before, he took a sniff while peeling it and it didn't have any strange smell, so he figured it should be edible.
These days, meat is a rare commodity. No matter what kind of meat it is, as long as it's cooked well, it's edible.
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