Chapter 26: Chapter 26: The Blood-Red Question Mark
Feng’Er was not a woman of courage, nor a faithful one.
After Brother Xiong left, she initially waited, but when the bad news ca, she decided not to wait anymore and hooked up with the strong and healthy Zhang Shisi from the village.
After their dalliance, Zhang Shisi inquired about Li Yuan’s situation, and Feng’Er said Li Yuan had been missing in the mountains for a month.
Zhang Shisi then asked about Li Yuan’s wife.
Feng’Er said too much, let sothing slip, ntioning how beautiful Yan Yu used to be and how she suddenly changed, leading Zhang Shisi to guess she might have "put on makeup," so he asked Feng’Er for help.
Initially, Feng’Er disagreed, but unable to withstand Zhang Shisi’s persuasion, she agreed to drug her, and then Zhang Shisi sneaked into the house at night.
After drugging her in the evening, she laid Yan Yu on the bed and returned ho as if nothing had happened.
That night, she couldn’t sleep.
By midnight, she suddenly heard screams outside, hurried to the window, only to see on the Yellow Mud Dao of the village, a spotted tiger dragging a person along the ground.
The screams were coming from Zhang Shisi.
Feng’Er’s mind went blank, buzzing, and she was so frightened that she dove under the covers, not daring to go out even by daylight, until she saw Lady Yan break in with a knife.
At this point, she couldn’t withstand the villagers’ questioning and confessed, weeping, "Sister Yan, I’m sorry, I didn’t an to harm you. I just wanted to rely on a man, just wanted to rely on a man... boohoo..."
Yan Yu looked at her coldly and said, "Report it to the governnt."
"Sister Yan, Sister Yan... I didn’t an to harm you, I didn’t an to..." Feng’Er cried and shouted.
Yan Yu was unmoved and asked, "Have you thought, if Zhang Shisi defiled , how would I be?"
Feng’Er instantly fell silent.
...
The Little Ink Workshop was noisy all day, perhaps out of fear the tiger might return in the night. As soon as it got dark, every household hid inside, closing windows and blocking doors.
Those with oxen, chickens, ducks, geese, or sheep led their livestock into the house to be tied up.
So were puzzled, wondering why the tiger attacked a person when the village had livestock.
After thinking it over, they concluded it was just Zhang Shisi’s bad luck running at night, and coincidentally being spotted by the descending tiger.
Who else would the tiger attack if not him?
At midnight.
Li Yuan quietly returned ho through the back door.
In the dark, Lady Yan threw herself into his arms.
Li Yuan said, "I really stink today."
Lady Yan tightly embraced his waist, pressing her face against his chest, and softly said, "I don’t mind your sll."
Saying this, she began to tug at Li Yuan’s pants.
After a muffled, passionate bustle.
Lady Yan lay in Li Yuan’s arms, gently asking, "Brother Yuan, did you really ta a tiger?"
Li Yuan said, "I told you before."
Lady Yan said, "I didn’t expect my man to have such skill, taming a tiger, it feels like a dream."
Suddenly, Lady Yan said, "It won’t bite you, will it?"
Li Yuan said, "No."
Lady Yan nervously said, "You better be careful. This tiger devours people, how can it be trained?"
"Don’t worry about that." Li Yuan changed the subject, "Tell
what’s happening here, there must be bloodstains left in the yard by that hooligan dragged by the tiger, right? Is there any suspicion?"
Lady Yan relayed the events in full detail.
Li Yuan couldn’t help but be surprised, her handling was incredibly prudent.
His own wife, unexpectedly had a cunning side.
"What about Feng’Er?"
"I asked the people in the workshop to report to the authorities, ntioning both the tiger and Feng’Er, but not a single governnt official has co yet." Lady Yan sighed, "I fear there are few officials left in the county... the world is... sigh..."
Li Yuan thought for a while and said, "Tomorrow night and the night after, I won’t be back. I’ll explore the mountain paths again.
If I find a way to a good place, I’ll take you with .
If I don’t, or the place is worse than Shanbao County, I’ll injure myself and return.
Starting now, I’ll only drink water without eating..."
Lady Yan wanted to say more, but thinking about how her man could even ta a man-eating tiger, what else was there to doubt?
Thus, she just leaned against her man and softly said, "Be careful..."
...
...
Next early morning.
Li Yuan returned to the mountain, sharpened the tips of five arrows, and carefully placed them in the quiver, then picked so suitable stones for slingshotting and packed them in the bag.
Carrying the Earth Bow, with a Firewood Blade tucked in his waist, he mounted the fierce tiger.
"Xiaohuang, roar! (Xiaohuang, go)"
"Roar? (Where to)"
"Roar! (Eat)"
After a brief exchange, the tiger began to run.
During this ti, the tiger had eaten plenty of at and was full of energy.
One human and one tiger traveled together, quickly passing through the mountain pass that separated Erchong Mountain and Triple Mountain. Sotis Li Yuan rode on the tiger, sotis they traveled together, and sotis they stopped to rest.
With Xiaohuang around, Li Yuan almost didn’t need to worry about getting lost. No matter how much they circled in the forest, the tiger could always find its way back to Erchong Mountain.
With this, their pace was much faster.
In just half a day, they had already covered the furthest distance that Li Yuan had ever reached before.
And he still had a day left.
Another half day passed, and the man and tiger were still in the mountains, surprisingly unable to find their way out.
"Xiaohuang, roar? (Xiaohuang, have you been here before)"
"Roar... (I have)"
Li Yuan glanced at Xiaohuang and noticed it was inexplicably lacking in spirit, perhaps it was tired.
He looked around. The deeper into the mountains they went, the denser the forest was, with strange plants filling his vision. Wild vines and air roots were everywhere, resembling large pythons and long snakes hanging all around.
Towering giant trees and the surrounding peaks together ford a world for giants, further highlighting his insignificance.
"Roar roar roar? (Is there a human village?)"
"Roar... (I don’t know)"
"Roar? (You don’t know?)"
"Roar... (Let’s go back)"
"Roar? (Why?)"
"Roar... (Let’s go back)"
As the man and tiger conversed, Li Yuan began to notice sothing strange, but perhaps it was because Xiaohuang wasn’t used to this place?
As night fell, they paused to rest for a while.
In this desolate mountain, occasionally so wild beasts would pass by, with numbers floating between "0" and "8
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