Chapter 1073

After making enough rope, the group used Er Gangzi's axe to chop several water willow sticks to serve as carrying poles.

After finishing the poles, they heard Er Gangzi say to Wang An with a chuckle:

"Young Master Xiao An, we'll just take those bear paws of yours down the mountain for you in a bit, don't you worry about it, hehehehe."

Upon hearing this, Wang An laughed and said:

"That's not necessary; these four things aren't that heavy, I can carry them myself, hahahaha."

Pang Uncle Yongxiang chimed in with a chuckle:

"We got all this meat and all these big bones for nothing without doing a thing, so we have to do some work for you, otherwise we'd feel too bad, hehehehe."

Another person also said:

"Brother Baoguo still has the bear skin to carry, so we won't trouble him; the four of us can each take one and bring them down the mountain on the way."

The last person wanted to say something else, but Wang An interrupted directly:

"I have hands and feet, why would I need you to do it? Hahaha, forget it, I appreciate the kind offer, just make sure you take care of your own share of the meat."

The group argued a few more times, but under Wang An's insistence, they eventually gave up the idea of helping him carry the bear paws down the mountain, though Er Gangzi still took the initiative to chop a carrying pole for Wang An.

To tell the truth, the big bear paws of an 800-plus jin brown bear were seriously not small; they looked about the same size as an adult's head.

Moreover, Wang An had chopped them off at the elbow joints of the bear's limbs, so the weight of each paw was not light at all, and the four paws combined weighed at least 90 to 100 jin.

Of course, a weight of eighty or a hundred jin was simply nothing to Wang An.

Immediately after, Huang Baoguo, Pang Uncle Yongxiang, and the other five men tied the strips of meat and bones one by one to the ends of their carrying poles with tree-bark rope. Huang Baoguo also rolled up the bear skin and tied it to his pole, while Wang An tied the four bear paws to his own carrying pole.

Perhaps feeling that carrying the bright, glistening meat like this was too eye-catching, they followed Huang Baoguo's suggestion and used weeds to cover the meat on their poles.

This gave the impression that everyone was just carrying two bundles of grass.

Finally, Er Gangzi pressed Yang Dachuan's hunting knife back onto the shaft of the spear and placed it back beside Yang Dachuan.

It must be said, Er Gangzi perfectly interpreted the four words "borrow well, return well."

Although Yang Dachuan was already dead, his spear still accompanied him by his side.

With everything prepared, Wang An carried the four bear paws, while Pang Uncle Yongxiang, Huang Baoguo, and the other five men carried the meat, bones, bear skin, and bear head, and they headed down the mountain.

It must be said, carrying things this way really saves much more effort than wearing them on one's back or shouldering them.

And the entire bear was thus completely packed up and taken away.

As for the already dead Yang Dachuan, the group didn't even cast a glance at him; for such a piece of trash, they could just notify his family when they got back and decide what to do then.

On the road, they heard Pang Uncle Yongxiang discussing with Huang Baoguo and the others:

"There are 26 households in our Weizigou in total, and we all get along pretty well. Besides our 5 households, there are 21 others. I'm thinking we five should each take out 8.5 jin of meat, totaling 42 jin, and then give each of them 2 jin to eat. What do you all think?"

Huang Baoguo was the first to agree:

"Mm, I think that's fine. Anyway, we all live in the same village, it's the thought that counts."

Er Gangzi, however, said with some dissatisfaction:

"In my opinion, it doesn't matter if we give it or not. When this bear came, everyone hid far away; no matter who you called, no one would come. They left our crops with nothing left, and now we don't even have rations for the winter."

Immediately after, Er Gangzi added:

"If it weren't for Young Master Xiao An's help today, that big bear would still be in the cornfield causing havoc."

It was clear that Er Gangzi still had quite a few complaints about the villagers not helping.

He just forgot that for something like hunting a big bear, if one didn't have a gun, it wasn't something an ordinary person could help with even if they wanted to.

If they had relied solely on the spears and axes in their hands to deal with the big bear, it would have truly been like a joke.

So, the fact that the villagers chose to stand by and watch couldn't really be blamed on them being heartless.

After Er Gangzi finished speaking, they heard Huang Baoguo say:

"Hi, there are only so many households in our village, no need to make things so awkward. Besides, when we watched that big bear causing havoc in the corn, weren't we just watching too? Whoever stepped up would have died."

After Huang Baoguo finished, the group fell silent. The other two men hadn't spoken at all, but it was clear they were leaning towards Er Gangzi's view.

It was understandable; after all, for people who lived solely on mushrooms and wild vegetables, this bear meat already in hand was precious food. Even if they sold it, it would be a significant amount of money, so if they had to share it out, no one would be willing.

Suddenly, Pang Uncle Yongxiang asked Wang An:

"Young Master Xiao An, do you think we should share some of this meat with the villagers?"

Wang An realized that the title "Young Master Xiao An" had completely stuck to him, because he had already said many times that he didn't like it, but Huang Baoguo wouldn't change it, and now it had even influenced these few drifters to call him that too.

Since he couldn't change it, Wang An simply stopped caring; it was just a title anyway.

Wang An was stunned for a moment upon hearing this; mainly, what did this have to do with him?

But after thinking about it, Wang An still said:

"Even if you don't share it with them, the neighbors all know. For those you feel you have a good relationship with, you have to share some. If you give to one and not the other, that's not right either. It's better to just do as you said, Grandpa Pang."

After Wang An finished, they heard Pang Uncle Yongxiang say to Er Gangzi:

"Look, Young Master Xiao An said so too, so stop being so stingy. What's the matter? You don't think you'll need the villagers for anything in the future?"

Actually, Er Gangzi knew this was the logic, he just couldn't get his head around it for a moment.

So after Pang Uncle Yongxiang finished, Er Gangzi said in a muffled voice:

"It's only 8 jin of meat anyway, so let's just give it."

Just like that, amidst the group's discussion, the six of them returned to Weizigou.

Having agreed to gather at Huang Baoguo's house after dropping off the meat at home, and then to send word to Yang Dachuan's family, the group went their separate ways home.

Soon, the few of them arrived at Huang Baoguo's house after dropping off the meat.

Wang An originally didn't want to get involved in Weizigou's affairs, but thinking of Yang Dachuan's two village-bully sons, he decided to go along and see.

Mainly, this damn Yang Dachuan had dared to frame him for no reason, and although Yang Dachuan was dead now, Wang An's belly full of fire was still suppressed inside.

So Wang An wanted to see if he could make the sons pay for the father's debts.

Of course, if the two brothers were reasonable, Wang An could let them off.

Thanks to "Emperor of the Great Empire" for the reward, thank you, thank you, thank you very much!

Wishing you, big brother, happiness and joy always, and may you make big and small fortunes every day!

(End of chapter)