Chapter 58 Boasting

Feng Qin felt an even deeper sense of admiration for Zhao Mu’s arrangements.

As for Zhao Mu, he had two additional considerations in mind when making such a plan.

The first was that he truly had overslept that morning; otherwise, he certainly would have rushed to the city gate at the crack of dawn. After all, Qin Jian had no knowledge of him slaying a tiger, and failing to see him would naturally cause worry.

The second consideration was rooted in human nature.

Had he hauled a cartload of fish, those refugees would have felt zero psychological burden in looting it. They might even rationalize it by thinking that stealing was just stealing. As the saying goes, the law does not punish the masses; even if they struck an iron plate and the law actually began punishing the masses, it was still preferable to starving to death.

However, when confronted with a tiger—even a dead one—fear would still linger in their hearts.

"You and Little Shi go ahead into the mountains first. Big Brother Wang, Big Brother Wen, and I will haul this tiger into the city to sell it."

Having settled the arrangements, Zhao Mu ate a hasty breakfast and set off together with Wang Wu and Wen Zhi.

At this time, word had not yet spread about the increase of small animals in the mountains, so the number of refugees along the road had not diminished.

Just as Zhao Mu had anticipated earlier, seeing the three of them hauling a tiger from a distance, the refugees were astonished, but very few dared to approach. Toward a tiger, they felt an instinctive dread.

A tiger was not merely the king of beasts; in many folklore tales, it was also a symbol of the mountain deity. Often, the tiger went by another name:

—Shanjun!

Shanjun referred firstly to the tiger, and secondly to the mountain god.

In this manner, Zhao Mu, accompanied by Wang Wu and Wen Zhi, swaggered right up to the city gates of Taiping County.

Along the way, a few daring refugees attempted to come closer to see what was happening. But brave refugees were, after all, a tiny minority, and even as they gathered around, they dared not do anything. On the contrary, Wang Wu and Wen Zhi looked so fierce and malevolent that they directly frightened many people into fleeing.

Zhao Mu took all of this in. Once Wang Wu and Wen Zhi established a reputation, delivering fish into the city in the future would become much simpler. Unless someone organized those refugees, they would never amount to anything. Just as they feared a dead tiger, their terror of vicious lackeys and wicked servants was equally carved deep into their bones.

Though those high-ranking officials and nobles were utterly detestable, the vicious lackeys and wicked servants by their sides were like malevolent spirits serving the tiger, and their cruelty far surpassed that of their masters!

Although Wang Wu and Wen Zhi were not Zhao Mu’s slaves, nor did they possess the natural talent of wicked lackeys, if they were to exude just a hint of that demeanor, it was more than enough to bluff people.

While Wang Wu was warm-hearted, he was habitually humorless; he only needed to look a bit more stern for people to realize he was no pushover. Wen Zhi, on the other hand, was much rougher, and his facial features immediately gave off a don't-mess-with-me vibe. In Zhao Mu’s past life, he would have been the type whose identity card had to be checked eight hundred times even just riding a short-distance train.

Simply put, they looked very much like they had the potential of formidable henchmen!

With this pair combined, accompanied by a few other fierce-looking men, those refugees naturally did not dare to approach rashly.

As Zhao Mu was pondering how to arrange things further, the group arrived at the city gate.

Catching sight of Zhao Mu from afar, Qin Jian, who had been keeping watch at the city gate all this time, instantly let out a sigh of relief.

"Young Brother Zhao, you've finally come!"

Qin Jian hurried over, grasped Zhao Mu's shoulders, and looked him up and down carefully. "Was the road not safe today? Were you surrounded by those refugees?"

Sensing Qin Jian's genuine concern, Zhao Mu immediately shook his head and said, "Big Brother worries too much. Today this younger brother simply overslept a bit, which caused you anxiety. I must apologize to you, Big Brother!"

Hearing this, Qin Jian breathed a sigh of relief and said solicitously, "As long as you're safe. The roads haven't been peaceful lately; I heard that grain carts sent out by two different merchant houses were plundered. Next time you oversleep, there's no need to deliver fish; just send someone to drop a word."

Zhao Mu cupped his fists and said, "Actually, I didn't intend to deliver fish to you today, Big Brother."

"Huh?"

Qin Jian paused, looking puzzled. "Then... this..."

He instinctively glanced toward the flatbed cart, and when he clearly saw what was loaded upon it, his entire mind went blank!

"A... a tiger?!"

Qin Jian swallowed hard, his shock evident. "A tiger this big?"

By this time, the soldiers guarding the city gate had also noticed the situation.

"A tiger! They hunted a tiger!"

"Good heavens, a tiger this huge?"

"That must weigh several hundred catties, right?"

Amidst their gasps of astonishment, the soldiers cast their gazes toward Wen Zhi. Wen Zhi had previously served as their gate sergeant, so they had some understanding of his martial arts skills. Yet, to say that Wen Zhi could kill a tiger seemed utterly impossible to them.

"Big Brother Wen, did you guys hunt this tiger?"

Wu Ke, who had previously crossed paths with Zhao Mu and the others, couldn't help asking.

Wen Zhi broke into a wide grin and said, "Naturally! Little Brother Mu led us into the mountains to hunt it!"

"Little Brother Mu?"

Wu Ke was momentarily stunned and turned his gaze toward Zhao Mu. He and Zhao Mu could be considered acquaintances, but his impression of Zhao Mu had never been favorable. Later, upon learning that Wen Zhi had left the city with Zhao Mu, although he didn't hold high hopes for Wen Zhi's decision, deep down he harbored considerable resentment toward Zhao Mu. He even felt that had Zhao Mu and Wang Wu not come to rely on Wen Zhi, things wouldn't have reached the point where Wen Zhi and his wife divorced.

Yet, he had heard that yesterday Zhao Mu had brought a cart of fish into the city with Wen Zhi, selling them at a high price to Manager Qin of the Heavenly Fragrance Restaurant. And today, Zhao Mu and Wen Zhi had brought in such a massive tiger, which clearly meant their fortunes had vastly changed.

However, he felt no joy in his heart whatsoever; instead, he still felt that Wen Zhi throwing his lot in with Zhao Mu was a terribly mistaken decision. Although Wen Zhi's martial arts were decent, whether it was wading into water to catch fish or climbing mountains to hunt tigers, both were extremely dangerous endeavors. Who knew when an accident might occur? Minor injuries at best, loss of life at worst!

Wen Zhi didn't notice Wu Ke's expression and continued boasting, "Wu Ke, you have no idea how formidable our Little Brother Mu is. Following him out of the city this time was definitely the right choice..."

Listening to his bragging, Wu Ke didn't take it to heart; his gaze merely grew increasingly cold.

At that moment, the gate sergeant surnamed Li who had succeeded Wen Zhi noticed Wu Ke's expression and hurriedly interrupted Wen Zhi.

"Brother Wen, why don't you tell the brothers how you managed to bag this tiger?"

The sergeant surnamed Li knew of the deep bond between Wu Ke and Wen Zhi, and thus wanted to prompt Wen Zhi to change the subject.

Wen Zhi cheerfully chimed in, "Actually, it's nothing much. Yesterday after we sold the fish and returned, we had nothing better to do anyway, so Big Brother Wang wanted to go up the mountain to bag some game. How could a matter like that possibly leave me out? Who in Taiping County doesn't know that I, Wen Zhi, am without a doubt the finest hunter in Taiping County!"

"After heading up the mountain, we first bagged three wild hares and two pheasants. And just as we were getting ready to head back, guess what?"

"Ha! That was when we spotted the tiger!"