Reborn in 72, I hunt to support my family and spoil my younger sister rotten.

Chapter 272 Should we fight or not?

Zheng Dehou waved to several burly men: "Old Li, Old Zhang, Little Liu... you guys come with me and get ready to go into the mountains and bring back the rest of the wild boars!"

"Captain, I'll go too!" Li Xiangyang said. "The mountain path is difficult to walk, it's better if Wang Ergou and I lead the way."

Wang Ergou frowned upon hearing this, his shoulder still throbbing slightly, but he nodded nonetheless: "Yes, that place is hard to find. Let's go together."

Zheng Dehou glanced at their exhausted appearance and hesitated, "You two didn't sleep well last night, and you carried such heavy prey back. Why don't you rest for a bit?"

Li Xiangyang shook his head: "It's alright, Captain. It's dangerous in the mountains; you can't get by without someone to guide you."

"Okay, then you guys rest for a bit, have some water and something to eat, and we'll set off in an hour." Zheng Dehou patted Li Xiangyang on the shoulder and turned to arrange other things.

After saying goodbye to everyone and returning home, Li Xiaoyun looked at her exhausted husband with concern and handed him water: "I heard you hunted a lot of wild boars?"

Li Xiangyang took the bowl and took a big gulp: "Hmm, nine in total, we brought back three, the rest are still in the mountains."

"Are you going into the mountains again?" Li Xiaoyun frowned. "Look at you, you're exhausted."

"It's nothing, I'm just going to show you the way," Li Xiangyang reassured him. "With Captain Zheng and the others helping, I'll be back soon."

Li Xiaoyun sighed, knowing her husband's personality, she couldn't persuade him otherwise: "Then be careful, it's hot, and there are many snakes and insects in the mountains."

A moment later, Zheng Dehou drove up in an oxcart, accompanied by five strong men, each carrying ropes and machetes: "Ready? Let's go!"

Li Xiangyang handed the bowl to Li Xiaoyun, stood up, and said, "Don't worry, it won't be long before I get back."

Li Xiaoyun nodded and watched her husband leave.

The group headed into the mountains along the route they had come from.

Li Xiangyang and Wang Ergou led the way, with Zheng Dehou and the other villagers following behind.

The sun was high overhead, and the mountain air was hot and humid, with everyone drenched in sweat.

"How much further?" Old Zhang, who was following behind, asked, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

"We're almost there, about another half hour's walk," Li Xiangyang replied, slowing his pace to wait for everyone to catch up.

On the way, Zheng Dehou asked about the hunting experience the previous night. Li Xiangyang briefly recounted how he and Wang Ergou found the wild boar herd and how they successfully hunted down the wild boars that were damaging their crops.

"You truly are the best hunters in our village!" Zheng Dehou exclaimed. "If it weren't for your timely intervention, our village's harvest this year would have been in serious trouble."

Li Xiangyang waved his hand: "Of course, we're villagers too, the village's affairs are our affairs."

The group walked through the dense forest and finally arrived at the place where they had camped the night before.

"This is it," Li Xiangyang said, pointing ahead. "The prey is just ahead, not far away."

The group quickened their pace and soon saw the wild boar carcasses enclosed by makeshift fences.

"Wow, that's quite a lot!" Zheng Dehou exclaimed.

Everyone hurriedly started loading the items onto the vehicle.

Just as they were busy, the bushes in the distance suddenly shook.

Upon hearing this sound, everyone stopped what they were doing and looked over nervously.

"What is it?" Zheng Dehou asked in a low voice.

“I don’t know,” Li Xiangyang shook his head, “but there wouldn’t be any commotion in the mountains for no reason.”

After saying that, Li Xiangyang raised his hunting rifle and quietly approached, and Wang Ergou agreed.

Just as the two approached, a huge leopard suddenly leaped out and pounced on them!

"Leopards! Scatter!" Li Xiangyang shouted a warning.

The leopard was incredibly fast; before anyone could react, it had already pounced on Old Zhang, who was closest to it.

Old Zhang screamed in terror and raised his machete to defend himself, but the leopard's strength far exceeded his expectations, and it knocked him to the ground in an instant.

"Bang!" A gunshot rang out, and Li Xiangyang's bullet grazed the leopard's ear.

Startled, the leopard temporarily abandoned its attack on Lao Zhang and fled into the depths of the forest.

Only after the leopard escaped did the crowd recover from their shock and gather around Old Zhang.

Zheng Dehou looked anxious as he squatted down to examine Lao Zhang's injuries closely, asking nervously, "Lao Zhang, how are you? Where are you hurt?"

Old Zhang was pale and trembling slightly, but he still managed to force a smile and said, "Captain, I'm fine, I was just frightened. This leopard came too suddenly."

Seeing that he was alright, everyone breathed a sigh of relief, but their hearts were still hanging in suspense.

Zheng Dehou stood up and glanced at everyone: "Don't panic, everyone. The leopard has been chased away and probably won't dare to come back anytime soon. Let's load the wild boar into the truck and leave as soon as possible."

Everyone nodded in agreement and quickly moved all the wild boars onto the oxcart.

On the way back, Wang Ergou walked beside Li Xiangyang, itching to go, and couldn't help but lean close to Li Xiangyang's ear and whisper, "Brother Xiangyang, leopard, if we hunt it down, we can make a lot of money. Should we chase after it?"

Hearing this, Li Xiangyang frowned slightly, glanced at the exhausted group, and replied in a low voice, "Ergou, although it's daytime now, no one can guarantee that we won't encounter danger again after we leave. Let's do it next time."

Wang Ergou had no choice but to give up and followed the group forward, looking back every few steps.

It was already afternoon when we got back to the village.

The villagers gathered around to watch the prey, their faces beaming with joy.

"Thanks to Li Xiangyang and Wang Ergou, they not only rid the village of a pest but also brought back so much meat. Here's what we'll do: each household divide the meat among themselves. As for Xiangyang and Ergou, they risked their lives hunting and gave the most; they deserve a reward. In addition to the meat, we'll give each of you ten work points!"

The proposal was unanimously approved by the villagers.

Zheng Dehou then began butchering the wild boar meat, striving to be as fair as possible.

As dusk fell, the villagers each took their share of pork and went home.

Li Xiangyang and Wang Ergou also carried their respective portions and prepared to go home.

"Brother Xiangyang," Wang Ergou whispered, leaning close to Li Xiangyang, "that leopard..."

Li Xiangyang glared at him: "What? Still thinking about it?"

Wang Ergou chuckled sheepishly, "Hehe, yeah, that thing is way more valuable than a wild boar. If we manage to catch it, we'll be rich! Besides, we suffered a huge loss this time. After dividing the meat, we won't even have enough for bullets..."

“You, your mindset is really unacceptable,” Li Xiangyang quickly interrupted him. “If you go out and gain good relationships, we can earn some money by hunting. People will just be envious, they won’t do anything about it. But if you’re even a little reluctant to give it up, it doesn’t mean that others can’t report us…”

"I understand. You see, I didn't say anything when we were dividing the meat, right? Now the key is the leopard. We've already seen it, so give me a straight answer: are we going to fight or not?"