Chapter 38: A Little Injury Is Nothing to Fret About

Qian Weiguo did not show up at Wulipu. Instead, another old face appeared. Zhang Yang remembered him; he was the man who had come to curse them yesterday. He had a black mole on the right corner of his mouth with two stray hairs sprouting from it, giving him a particularly rat-like and shifty appearance. He had been standing outside rubbing his hands and stomping his feet, but as soon as he heard Zhang Yang and his group coming out, he immediately began to wail and moan.

"Zhang Yang, even if you’ve killed a wolf before, you can’t be so greedy as to think every wolf in the mountains belongs to you, can you?"

"Last night, it was only because all of us were there that we managed to keep the wolf our brothers worked so hard to hunt. Otherwise, it would have been renamed 'Zhang' again, wouldn't it?"

"We brothers came here for no other reason than to get an explanation..."

Before he could finish, Zhao Dong shouted back, "You want an explanation? You have the nerve to ask for an explanation? You really have some guts!"

"You trapped our men in a cave and beat them half to death! You stole their wolf! And you still have the audacity to go complain to the brigade leader?!"

"No! Forget the beating! You were ready to kill them!" Zhao Dong felt a chill run down his spine just remembering the gunfire from the night before. "The production brigade issued you guns and ammunition, and you turned your muzzles on your own people! You are all a bunch of bastards!"

The brigade leader coughed heavily. "Zhao Dong! Watch your tone!"

"Brigade leader! They are bullying us too much! That wolf was ours to begin with!"

The mole-faced man from Wulipu began to jeer. "Captain! Did you hear that? That’s exactly what they say! Anything in the mountains, as long as the people from Zhangjiatun lay eyes on it, it belongs to them! It’s our misfortune that the rest of us in the surrounding villages are starving! Who can rob like them?"

"They used to be careful and keep a low profile, but now that they've found an excuse to form a militia squad, they’ve started robbing in broad daylight? Just because you can hunt wolves, does that mean no one else can?"

"We came sincerely to ask for advice yesterday, and not only did Zhang Yang humiliate us—people old enough to be his uncles—but when we met in the mountains last night, he insisted that our prey was theirs! If the brigade leader weren't here today, who knows what you would have done—"

Zhao Dong pointed to the bump on his forehead. "What about us? How are we as rude as you? Robbing people, beating them, and even threatening their lives!"

The mole-faced man sneered, dismissing the lump on Zhao Dong's forehead. "Who knows where you tripped and fell last night? You want to blame that on us just because you have a bump?"

"You!"

"Stop arguing, all of you!" Zhang Haiquan rubbed his forehead. Early that morning, the people from Wulipu had come to complain, claiming the Zhangjiatun people were overbearing and, relying on their guns, had nearly robbed them of a wolf they had caught. Zhang Haiquan had found it suspicious from the start, but the complainants had been crying and shouting so loudly that it created quite a scene. He had entrusted the militia to Zhang Yang and hadn't been following the recent developments, so he thought he would use this opportunity to investigate. Times were hard, and if they started causing trouble, no one would have any peace. He hadn't expected them to be at each other's throats before he could even say a word. Their shouting was giving him a massive headache.

"We are here to discuss matters, not to bicker like a market square! Two grown men, shouting so loudly—your voices are shriller than the women’s! Aren't you ashamed?" After reprimanding them, Zhang Haiquan frowned and glanced at Zhang Yang. "Zhang Yang! You tell me! What exactly happened last night?"

Zhang Yang stepped forward. "You heard them; it’s pure fabrication."

"They were the ones who just shouted it themselves! Saying all the wolves belonged to them!" The mole-faced man retorted with a sneer. "I don’t know how many guns your Zhangjiatun squad has been issued to make you so arrogant and loud!"

This was a probe. Zhao Dong, being hot-headed, was about to reveal their true strength, but Zhang Yang held him back in time.

"I received one hunting rifle from Uncle Laode, and the brigade leader later issued four more, for a total of five guns," Zhang Yang said, his tone slow and steady. "When we went into the mountains last night, we only took one gun."

The mole-faced man tried to interrupt, but Zhang Yang gave him a look that made him inexplicably nervous. He forgot what he was going to say and shut his mouth.

Zhang Yang continued, "I think many people heard the intense gunfire in the mountains last night. We were indeed in the same forest, but I only fired two shots total." He gestured toward the room behind him. "The bullets the brigade leader gave me are still sitting in the house, untouched. If you don't believe me, the brigade leader can go count them himself."

At this, Zhang Haiquan understood. All that commotion last night had clearly been the work of the people from Wulipu. With so many of them firing so many bullets—waking up half the villages in the process—they had only managed to bag one wolf. The difference in competence was clear. The worst part was that they were here acting like bullies, insisting that Zhang Yang had tried to rob them. Since no one else was there, who could prove which side was telling the truth?

Seeing Zhang Haiquan's hesitation, Zhang Yang offered a suggestion. "Brigade leader, the burden of proof lies with the accuser. They claim we tried to rob them; they must provide evidence. Without evidence, they are just making it up. We didn't do it."

The mole-faced man jumped up. "If you didn't do it, why would we be hounding you? We aren't crazy!"

"We did not rob the wolf!" Zhang Yang suddenly raised his voice, startling the mole-faced man into taking half a step back.

"We spent the whole night struggling, just trying to get our brothers back!" Zhang Yang said.

Zhang Haiquan frowned deeply. "What do you mean?"

"Two of our brothers from the temporary squad were captured by them and thrown into a cave." Zhang Yang gritted his teeth at the memory.

Zhang Haiquan glared at the mole-faced man. "Did you capture people?"

"N-no! We didn't!" the mole-faced man stammered, his arguments crumbling.

Zhang Haiquan’s face darkened.

Zhang Yang continued, "If you didn't capture anyone, how did our brothers get so badly injured? Brigade leader, even if they hadn't come here to slander us first, I was planning to come to you as soon as I woke up! To protect the wolf they had surrounded—and to uphold the dignity of Zhangjiatun—those two brothers refused to let them just rob the prey! But because we were separated and arrived late, they used our brothers' lives to threaten us into handing over the wolf!"

"We were furious, but we thought: even if we aren't like them, with a gun for every person, we shouldn't be bullied like this. So we rushed in! And in the end, they used the butts of their rifles to beat us all! In this day and age, we only patrol the mountains for a bit of meat; we shouldn't have to risk our lives, right? So, after getting beaten and realizing we couldn't win, we accepted our defeat! As long as our brothers were saved, we were willing to let the injuries and the loss of the wolf slide!"