Chapter Fifty: A Guest Arrives at Mountain Village
Xiao Zhang Zhuang is more than 20 miles away from the county town, located at the foot of Funiu Mountain. It's a well-known hunting village with an area of several dozen square miles. There are not many entrances to the village, only over 200 people, but there are more than 40 skilled hunters who can go up the mountain to hunt. Among them, Zhang Jinquan, who lives in the east head of the village, has the best shooting skills and gets the most prey. The Zhang family has lived on Funiu Mountain for generations, relying on their guns to make a living in the mountains. Although taxes have increased in recent years, thanks to Zhang Jinquan's skills, his family can still afford to eat.
Today was another day for Zhang Jinqian to go up the mountain, early in the morning, his sister-in-law Yu Shi had already baked a large pancake for the two brothers and filled their water bags. She also put a small paper package in her husband's pocket, which contained salt. People who work on the mountain sweat a lot, drinking some salty water can replenish their physical strength, those who have been living in the mountains for a long time all know this. Zhang Jinqian saw the little movement between his brother and sister-in-law, but only smiled slightly and didn't expose them.
Zhang Jinqian's parents died early, and his older brother brought him up by himself. His sister-in-law, Yu Shi, was a childhood betrothed wife who had been arranged to marry his brother since she was young. After marrying into the family, she took charge of this poor household and even gave birth to two sons for his brother. Zhang Jinqian was very grateful to his sister-in-law, not only because she often secretly made delicious food for him, but also because she treated his brother well. Since childhood, his brother would save food for himself, while he had to eat wild vegetables all the time. Now that someone was finally treating his brother well, Zhang Jinqian was truly delighted from the bottom of his heart.
The two brothers left the house under their sister-in-law's repeated reminders, greeting familiar young people along the way and heading up the mountain together. The two brothers had divided their tasks the night before: Zhang Jinqian was in charge of hunting with a gun, while his older brother Zhang Jinshe was responsible for digging herbs. They would head back down the mountain before sunset. No matter whether there were any prey under the gun or not, they would put away their guns at the designated time. This was an old rule passed down from generation to generation in the Zhang family, and later on, the entire village of Little Zhangzhuang began to follow this rule as well. If the animals on the mountain were hunted too cleanly, there would be nothing left to hunt next time.
"Brother Jinquan, come quick, come quick! There are some horsemen coming from the foot of the mountain!" Zhang Jinyun, who had always been on good terms with Zhang Jinquan, ran over to call out to him to look down at the mountain. The village of Little Zhang was located in a remote mountainous area, and it was rare for merchants to come here. If the villagers wanted to buy something, they would have to walk more than 20 miles along the mountain road to the county town. As they looked down, they saw that the people coming from the foot of the mountain were all on horseback. The hunters on the mountain all turned to look down, and some simple-minded people who missed their homes had already started to go down the mountain. Zhang Jinsong was one of them.
"Let's go, we'll also go, or else bandits will come to harm us in Zhang Village." Zhang Jinquan had caught two mountain hares in his trap and hung them on the hunting spear. He led the way down the mountain, and the other hunters didn't have any intention of staying on the mountain either. They followed closely behind Zhang Jinquan, descending the mountain in a mighty manner. The horses were exhausted from running up the mountain, and by the time Zhang Jinquan and the hunters returned to Zhang Village, those horsemen had already entered the village.
"Gold Spring, come here, I was just about to look for you!" Village head Zhang Dapao waved his hand and beckoned as soon as he saw Zhang Jinqian entering the village. "I have a letter here, your legs are fast, help me deliver it to Old Ma of Kao Shan village, when you return, let your aunt cut a piece of cured meat for you to take back home." A folded paper note was stuffed into Zhang Jinqian's hand. Village head Zhang Dapao and Old Ma of 5 miles away in Kao Shan village were drinking buddies, Zhang Jinqian often helped these two old men run errands delivering things, so he was very familiar with Old Ma.
The mountain road in the fifth was just a matter of less firewood for Zhang Jinqian, and when he came back, he could also chop a bundle of firewood to bring back, and delivering messages to the village chief would not delay his household chores. After carefully putting away the note given by the village chief, Zhang Jinqian ran up the mountain road with two long legs, and arrived at Kao Shan Village in just one smoke's time.
Kao Shan Village is located on the west side of Xiao Zhang Zhuang, adjacent to Wild Ox Valley. The village is surrounded by lush mountains and clear waters, making it an ideal place for retirement. The village chief, Lao Ma Tou, lives in a two-room earth house at the east end of the village. He is a childless widower who lives alone, but his courtyard is quite large, with various herbs and vegetables planted there. Every time Zhang Jinquan helps the village chief deliver goods, Lao Ma Tou would give him some vegetables to take home. Over time, the two have developed a very harmonious relationship.
"Uncle Ma, this is a letter from our village chief that I was asked to bring over. He wants you to read it and give a response in person." Zhang Jinquan stood in the courtyard, wiping the sweat from his face with a towel, completely unaware of the pair of eyes staring at him from inside Old Ma's house. "Ah, okay, wait for a moment, I'll go write a reply." Old Ma smiled as he went back into his house, knowing that Zhang Jinquan respected him too much to enter his home uninvited.
Two men dressed as peasants were sitting on the large kang in the east room of Old Horse's house, but their bulging waists and sharp eyes had already betrayed them. One of the men, a dark-faced man, was half-kneeling on the kang, peering through the window slit at Zhang Jinquan standing in the yard. Seeing Old Horse walk in with a note, the other man, who looked slightly more refined, smiled before speaking, "Old Horse, is there news from that side?"
"Ha, you're quite clever, aren't you? It's really from Little Zhang Village that side. They said the people we've been waiting for have arrived and want us to arrange a meeting time. However, they only brought 10 people and didn't see any large items." Old Ma paused slightly here, looked at Sven Hansson's expression, and continued, "I think they might not dare believe us yet, so they put the goods elsewhere, not seeing the rabbit doesn't mean you don't scatter the hawk. But our few foreigners aren't here either, what will you do when you go to meet them? The letter from Big Cannon said that the other side seems to be people from the jianghu, and such people are very particular about jianghu rules. If we lose their trust, it won't be easy to handle."
"Damn it!" Before the elegant man could speak, the dark-faced man who was half-kneeling on the kang (a traditional Chinese bed) became unwilling. He glared with his two cow-like eyes and shouted, "We've even beaten those little devils, what's to fear from a few Jianghu (martial arts) practitioners? Tomorrow I'll go meet them, whoever dares to stare at us, I'll twist their neck off!" To prove his strength, the dark-faced man suddenly exerted force and clenched his fists. The joints on both fists crackled loudly.
"Alright, I know you're a tough guy." The two gentlemen and Old Horse Face burst out laughing, teasing the still-glaring Bull Demon while drafting a response to Zhang Dapao. They continued until Zhang Jinqian had drunk his third ladle of well water in the courtyard, at which point Old Horse Face handed him a letter and instructed him to deliver it to Zhang Dapao in person.
