Chapter 152: Unexpected Situation

"Ping'an, you've arrived."

"Brother Fang, I haven't introduced them to you yet. These are my three cousins, Zhang Tiezhu, Tiejun, and Tiedan. They are all Purchasing Agents now, too."

"Good, good, good. Nice to meet you three brothers."

"Nice to meet you, Brother Fang."

"Hahaha, come, come inside, let's eat first."

"Brother Fang, I brought a few Steamed Buns. I'll have to trouble your wife to heat them up."

Fang Dahu's face turned red; he only then remembered he hadn't introduced Wang Zhaodi to them.

"Ahem, right, Ping'an, this is my wife, Wang Zhaodi, and my daughter, Fang Xiaoyun."

"Nice to meet you, sister-in-law." (x4)

"Nice to meet you all. Give me the Steamed Buns, hurry and go inside to sit. The last dish will be ready in a moment." Wang Zhaodi was quite poised.

"Congratulations, Brother Fang," Zhang Ping'an leaned in close to Fang Dahu and whispered.

"You rascal."

Inside the house, the table was already set with two meat dishes and one vegetable dish: braised pork with cabbage, stir-fried rabbit meat, and braised tofu with cabbage.

"Brother Fang, where are Xiaojun and Xiaoyun? Let them come over and eat with us."

"It's fine, they can just eat with your sister-in-law in the kitchen later. We men will have some wine."

"Alright."

Zhang Ping'an couldn't say much more; after all, most families were like this now. When guests came over, the women and children basically didn't sit at the table.

Soon, Wang Zhaodi brought out the last dish, shredded potatoes, along with the Steamed Buns.

"Eat slowly, brothers. If it's not enough, there's more in the pot."

"Alright, thank you, sister-in-law."

After a cup of wine went down, his whole body warmed up. The atmosphere at the table became lively, and time slipped away quietly amidst the clinking of glasses.

"Brother Fang, thank you for the hospitality."

"Hey, as long as you don't mind the simple fare, it's fine. Come, I've saved up quite a bit over the last half-year. I'll keep some, and you can take the rest away."

"Alright."

After weighing and calculating, there was one hundred and thirty-five catties of cured meat and ninety catties of fresh meat.

"Brother Fang, the cured meat is eighty cents a catty, and the fresh meat is sixty cents. That's one hundred and sixty-two in total. Please count it."

"Alright, *h-tui*... it's exactly right."

"Brother Fang, we won't stay any longer. We have to rush back to the city this afternoon."

"Alright, come find me for a drink whenever you're free."

"Alright."

Zhang Ping'an had just quietly left four packs of cigarettes and added some Space Water to their water vat. Since they treated him with sincerity, Zhang Ping'an wouldn't be stingy. Besides, Fang Dahu was an old hunter, and the procurement for the next few years would depend on these old hunters.

On the road, Zhang Ping'an didn't forget to repeat to the three of them what he had told Wu Guohua earlier.

"Alright, you guys head back first. I still need to make a trip to Li Family Village, then I'll head straight back to Sijiucheng. I'll credit each of you with thirty catties for today's procurement, so your procurement quotas for before the New Year should be about done."

"Of course, find time to show your faces at the Procurement Section; you can't just hunt in the village all the time."

"Understood, Brother Ping'an, we'll remember."

"Mm, go back. Think more about what I said today."

"Mm, alright."

After they walked far away, Zhang Ping'an stored most of the items from the tricycle into his space and hurried toward Li Family Village.

"Uncle Li, have a cigarette."

"Ping'an, you're a bit late today."

"Uncle Li, I took some newcomers to Fang Family Village for procurement to let them get familiar with the process."

"No wonder then. Come, I'll take you to the two families killing their New Year pigs. I reckon there's over a hundred catties."

"Alright."

At every house, Zhang Ping'an first handed out cigarettes and caught up, only weighing the meat at the end. He harvested another one hundred and twenty-three catties of meat from the two families.

"Uncle Li, thank you very much. It's getting late, I need to rush back as soon as possible."

"Alright, be careful on the road."

"Alright."

The sky was already dim, and it would take at least an hour to get back to Sijiucheng. However, Zhang Ping'an was skilled and bold, so he wasn't afraid.

He took out a Flashlight and placed it in front of the tricycle basket to light the way. Zhang Ping'an was traveling by the faint light when suddenly, his hair stood on end, and he instinctively dove to the side.

"Bang!" The moment Zhang Ping'an dove, a gunshot rang out by his ear. Zhang Ping'an then intentionally played dead and didn't move, activating his space scan.

"Boss, did you hit him?"

"Should have hit him. Let's move in and surround him slowly."

Under Zhang Ping'an's space scan, four people were slowly approaching. It looked like they all had significant killing intent and had likely killed many people, especially the one with the scar.

"Damn, the first time I travel at night and I run into highwaymen. But these people are truly arrogant, daring to do this right under the feet of the Emperor."

The four robbers approached cautiously. Because it was dark, they couldn't see clearly, but the two holding guns kept pointing them in Zhang Ping'an's general direction.

*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! * "Bang!" Four sounds of breaking air pierced directly through the chests of the four men. It was the five Long and Short Spears that Yi Zhonghai had given to Zhang Ping'an back then. Zhang Ping'an's shoulder was also grazed by a bullet, leaving a long, bloody gash.

"Blegh~" Once the four were dead beyond any doubt, Zhang Ping'an vomited. It was the first time in his past or present life that he had killed someone; his heart truly felt terrible.

After recovering for a while, Zhang Ping'an couldn't be bothered to deal with them. He simply treated his wound and pedaled the tricycle straight toward the Sub-bureau.

"Ping'an, what happened? Why is your arm covered in blood?"

"Li Ge, I ran into some highwaymen. I stabbed all four of them to death, they're still on the road."

"Ah? Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, my shoulder was grazed by a marble."

"Good, you rest first, I'll find someone to bandage you up."

Soon a doctor performed debridement, suturing, and bandaging, and Li Aiguo also drove off with his men, speeding toward the location Zhang Ping'an had mentioned.

"Doctor, I don't need anesthesia, you can just go ahead and suture it."

"Alright, then bear with it." The doctor thought Zhang Ping'an was trying to save them anesthesia, and he felt an extra bit of admiration for him in his heart.

"Brother-in-law, go to my mother-in-law's house and report that I'm safe, just say I'm here drinking and will go back later."

"Good, you rest first, I've already had someone prepare some food for you."

"Mm, good."

Ten-plus minutes later, Wang Zhiyong returned.

"I've already told them, but these injuries of yours..."

"It's nothing, I'll go home and change my clothes before heading over. Brother-in-law, don't tell Si Jie about this, otherwise the whole family will know."

"Mm, good." Wang Zhiyong nodded.

An hour later, Li Aiguo returned with his team, everyone's face showing joy.

"Ping'an, you've performed a great service. These four are all wanted fugitives, and they all have murder cases on their hands, especially that Daoba, he's a real desperado."

"But you really are bold, it was already dark and you were still bringing a cart of supplies back to the city. Fortunately, you didn't have any major trouble."

"I didn't expect this to happen either, I just wanted to hurry home, who knew I'd run into this."

"Alright, finish eating and then head back. Tomorrow we will go to your factory to deliver your reward."

"Good, sorry for the trouble, Li Ge."

"Mm, go back and get some good rest."

Zhang Ping'an pedaled his tricycle home first, washed the scent of blood off his body in his space before coming out. The wound had been stitched with over ten stitches, and Zhang Ping'an applied some of his homemade Golden Sore Medicine, rinsed his mouth with wine, and only then did Zhang Ping'an go to the Eighty-fifth Courtyard.

"Dad, Mom, Xiao Ling, I'm back."

"Ping'an, are you hurt?"

"Brother Ping'an, are you alright?"

Zhang Ping'an secretly slapped his forehead; how could he have forgotten that this whole family dealt with medicinal herbs? They had smelled the Golden Sore Medicine he had applied.

"Mm, I'm fine. It was cold and the ground was slippery, I accidentally fell and scraped myself, so I applied some medicine."

Wang Xiaoling was still very naive, but Wang Zhangzhi was not easy to fool. He had spent decades immersed in medicinal herbs, so he could roughly guess what kind of medicine Zhang Ping'an had used.

"Mm, as long as you're fine. Be more careful in the future." Wang Zhangzhi's gaze was meaningful.

"Cough, alright, Dad."

After everyone chatted for a while, Zhang Ping'an left, and Wang Zhangzhi walked him to the door.

"Ping'an, be careful in everything from now on, and think more about Xiao Ling and the children."

"Alright, Dad, I understand."

"Mm."