Chapter 58

Liu Ting fled with his men while Mu Yangling ran east. After running for a distance, she fished out a rabbit and slit its neck before throwing it on the road. Then, she continued to run forward quickly and threw down a rabbit with its neck slit…

She only hoped that this fresh blood could lure them over.

Mu Yangling stood in the forest and heaved a sigh of relief when she heard the commotion coming towards her. Then, she became nervous and quickly ran east.

Now that she had successfully attracted them, she had to make sure she didn’t get killed by them.

As Mu Yangling ran, she looked for tall and sturdy trees. After running for nearly seven to eight minutes, she finally saw a tree with branches that were as thick and leafy as an adult. In addition, the tree trunk was so tall that it extended beyond the forest. Without thinking, Mu Yangling swung her arms and climbed up.

A bear and a tiger were fighting vigorously. Although they each had their own victories and losses, when they suddenly heard such a huge commotion, they knew that a large wave of prey was attacking.

The bear and the tiger were not stupid. Should they continue fighting, it would only come to an end when either of them died. Since they now had more choices, they were naturally willing to continue living.

Therefore, the two of them simply bit each other warily before rushing towards the prey.

Their animal nature made them follow the fresh smell of blood where the path forked. In the end, after taking a few steps, they only found a rabbit that was bleeding.

The bear and tiger were instantly furious. They still did not know that they had been set up, and only felt that their prey was too stingy to have only left behind one rabbit that was not even enough to fill the gap between one’s teeth. There was no need for the two of them to fight over this mouthful of food. There were too many rabbits in the forest. If they wanted to eat rabbits, they could do so at any time.

Therefore, they continued to chase. In the end, when they reached the bottom of a big tree, the two of them lost track of their prey. Even the smell had faded.

The two of them paced around anxiously under the tree. In the end, the bear howled angrily at the tiger. Before winter came, they had to store enough prey. Otherwise, they would probably freeze to death and starve to death in the forest.

The bear attacked the tiger first.

Not to be outdone, the tiger arched its back and roared. It rushed towards the bear as well. The two of them instantly fought until the sky turned dark. From time to time, they would collide with the trees beside them, either knocking them down or rebounding. In the forest, the roars of the tiger and bear would constantly be heard.

Mu Yangling lay on the tree and hugged the branch under her tightly. She felt that if she lost her balance and was knocked down by the two below, that would definitely be the end of her.

In the end, the tiger was sent flying by the bear’s palm and slammed into the huge tree. Feeling a jolt, Mu Yangling closed her eyes tightly. Then, she heard the tiger howl. She hurriedly looked down and saw the tiger lying on the ground, on its last breath.

Mu Yangling lowered her breathing and curled up on the tree, not moving at all.

The bear tilted its head at the tiger and slapped it one last time, killing it for good. Then, it fell lying on the ground, too.

Although it had slapped the tiger to death, it had sustained significant injuries as well. It was lying on the ground licking its wounds.

It also knew that the smell of blood here would attract many enemies, so it simply licked its most serious wounds before standing up, picking up the tiger, and leaving.

Mu Yangling stayed on the tree. After confirming that the bear had disappeared, she quickly slid down the tree and ran in the direction of her home without thinking.

Halfway there, she met the ashen-faced Mu Shi, followed by more than 20 young men with clubs.

“Ah Ling!” Mu Shi yelled when he saw his daughter.

“Father.” Mu Yangling ran towards her father and said, “Father, the bear killed the tiger during a fight. Let’s go out quickly. Otherwise, it’ll be bad if the bear comes.”

Although Mu Shi wanted to teach his daughter a lesson, it was not the time to do so. He pulled his daughter and said to Liu Ting and the others behind him, “Let’s leave quickly.”

When the group of people left the forest, the entire village was waiting outside. Shu Wanniang’s eyes were red as she held her son’s hand tightly. When she saw her husband bringing her daughter out, she heaved a sigh of relief and hurriedly held her stomach as she went forward.

Mu Yangling obediently called out “Mother” and stood at the side.

Mu Shi nodded at Liu He and raised his voice. “Thank you, fellow villagers. It’s dangerous to head into the forest these days. Everyone, try your best not to go near. Regarding the hunting, we’ll come to a decision after I discuss it with my daughter and the elders in the village.”

Having benefited from hunting, the villagers were a little nervous when they heard this. They were afraid that Mu Shi would no longer agree to let Mu Yangling enter the mountain because of this incident.

“It’s all Dazhuang and Zhuzi’s fault. Ah Ling asked us to come out of the mountain a long time ago. If they hadn’t delayed us, we wouldn’t have been chased by the tiger and the bear. She wouldn’t have had to lure the bear and tiger away for us, using herself as bait.”

“That’s right. It’s all Dazhuang and Zhuzi’s fault. If not for them, we might not even have heard their roars. Ah Ling has been entering the mountains every day for three to four years, and has never met with any danger. She must have retreated immediately upon sensing the commotion.”

For a moment, everyone looked at Dazhuang and Zhuzi accusingly.

Liu Dazhuang was Liu He’s youngest son. At this moment, he was so ashamed that he wished he could crawl into a hole. However, Fang Zhuzi jumped up and said, “Bullsh*t, how did we delay everyone? If Ah Ling had discovered it earlier, would we have gone to relieve ourselves in the first place?”

No one expected Fang Zhuzi to be so thick-skinned. They were all stunned.

However, Liu Dazhuang suddenly ran to look for his father. He knew that if the village lost the chance to enter the mountains because of them, his family would definitely drown in spittle.

His great-grandfather, all the way to his father, had held the title of the patriarch of the Liu family. In fact, his eldest brother would be the next patriarch. If his family’s prestige decreased because of him and they eventually lost the position of the patriarch, he would not be able to absolve himself of the blame even if he died ten thousand times.

Therefore, without thinking, Liu Dazhuang went to his father and told him about the ginseng. He said in shame, “I wanted to dig out the ginseng so that our family could have more money, but Zhuzi and I have never dug it out before, so we didn’t dare to do it. That’s why we were delayed. Father, let’s tell the villagers about the ginseng as compensation.”

Liu He pondered for a moment before confirming, “You were the one who discovered the ginseng? Not Zhuzi?”

“I found it and told Zhuzi.”

“Who else knows about this?”

“Brother Ah Yuan also knows. I told him when he came to look for us later.”

Only then did Liu He heave a sigh of relief. He nodded as he said, “Very good. This way, we won’t have to worry about Fang Zhuzi objecting to us taking out the ginseng.” At the end of his sentence, Liu He gritted his teeth.

Knowing his son, he was certain it was Fang Zhuzi’s idea to hide this matter. It must have been Fang Zhuzi who delayed them from leaving.

Although his son had selfish motives, this child had always been soft-hearted and definitely could not have made this decision. Moreover, he did not know how to dig for ginseng.

Liu He felt it was a pity that his son had told Fang Zhuzi when he discovered the ginseng. With his character, he would definitely have run back to look for Liu Ting, and Liu Ting would definitely have told Mu Yangling. If that had been the case, even if they hadn’t managed to dig up the ginseng, it wouldn’t have delayed their escape.

However, this thought only flashed across his mind for a moment before Liu He rejoiced. Fortunately, Mu Yangling was smart. Otherwise, if someone died in the forest this time, he, Liu He, would be undeniably responsible. Reason being, this matter was caused by his son.

Liu He decided to bring his son to Mu residence, because Mu Shi had to be the one to make the decision.