novelden Chapter 201: The dirty tricks
Chapter 201: The dirty tricks
Li Xiangyang returned to the village when it was completely dark.
The lights were still on in the livestock shed, and Wang Ergou's figure could be seen from afar.
"You're back?" Wang Ergou greeted Li Xiangyang as soon as he saw him, his eyes lighting up when he saw the roe deer on Li's back. "Wow, it's huge!"
Li Xiangyang put the roe deer down and stretched his aching shoulders: "I was lucky today. If it weren't for a little mishap, I might have caught some more prey."
"What happened?" Wang Ergou asked as he helped hang the roe deer on the beam of the livestock shed.
"We encountered a brown bear," Li Xiangyang said casually. "It just woke up from hibernation and is looking for food."
Wang Ergou paused in his work: "That's dangerous enough."
“Yes, so I didn’t fight. Besides the brown bear, I also encountered the old wolf king and got half a carcass from it.” Li Xiangyang didn’t go into details, instead asking, “How are the livestock?”
"Everything's fine," Wang Ergou said with a smug look on his face. "I fed him gradually, just like Dr. Qian said. Old Hei is full of energy now."
Li Xiangyang nodded: "That's good. By the way, did Ma Hongxia come today?"
At the mention of this, Wang Ergou's face turned red: "She came. She, she taught me to read."
"So, how many have you learned?"
"I can recognize more than twenty," Wang Ergou said, scratching his head sheepishly, "but my handwriting isn't very neat. Hongxia said it looks like chicken feet."
Li Xiangyang smiled: "Take it slow, things will get better."
“You’re right,” Wang Ergou sighed. “Staying here to look after the livestock isn’t bad. At least I can see her often and learn something from her.”
"Alright, we've already given away half the meat, so let's not buy any more. We'll keep it for ourselves. I'll take the hides with me and save them up to sell in town later..."
After giving half of the roe deer meat to Wang Ergou, Li Xiangyang walked home.
Under the moonlight, the village was quiet, broken only by the occasional bark of a dog.
Since her mother went to work at the agricultural bureau in the city, taking Xiaohua with her, the house has felt unusually empty.
Although he knew they were doing well in the city, Li Xiangyang still felt a pang of loneliness every time he opened the door to his empty home.
"Never mind, I should get some rest," he murmured to himself.
Just as I was about to take out my keys to open the door, I suddenly heard footsteps behind me.
Li Xiangyang turned around and saw the old Party Secretary walking towards him with a cane.
"Xiangyang," the old Party Secretary said gravely, "you've come back just in time. There's something I need to tell you."
"What is it?" Li Xiangyang put away the keys.
Given the old Party Secretary's personality, if he comes to him at this time, it must mean he's in trouble.
"Today, militiamen from Shanhe Village and Xigou Village came to the village and asked if I had seen any poisoned wild animals in the mountains recently," the old Party Secretary said in a low voice. "The situation there has been quite serious recently, and they've already reported it to the county."
Hearing the old Party Secretary's words, Li Xiangyang frowned: "Poisoning? Who could be so ruthless? We haven't found anything here."
"Absolutely, that's ruthless." The old Party Secretary nodded. "If they poison the water source, it'll be dangerous for both people and animals. So I'm thinking you should be extra careful when you go into the mountains recently, and it would be best to catch these people."
As the old Party Secretary said, if poison were really put in the water, it wouldn't just be wild animals that would be in danger, but also people and livestock.
Li Xiangyang felt a chill in his heart.
He had seen this kind of thing many times in his previous life.
Some people are willing to resort to such despicable means in order to get rich overnight.
Not only did they harm the wild animals, but they also ended up getting themselves killed.
“I understand,” Li Xiangyang nodded. “I’ll keep an eye out. If I find out who did it, I’ll definitely get them arrested for you.”
"Good." The old Party Secretary patted him on the shoulder. "I trust you, sir. By the way, are your mother and Xiaohua settling in well in the city?"
"That's great," Li Xiangyang said with a smile. "My mother is now working in the logistics department of the Agricultural Bureau, and Xiaohua's school has also been arranged."
"That's good, that's good." The old Party Secretary nodded with satisfaction and turned to leave.
"Don't rush off, sir. I just caught a roe deer today; I'll share some with you."
"No, hunting isn't easy for you either. I appreciate the thought, but if you're free tomorrow, just come over for a visit."
The old Party Secretary waved his hand, politely declining Li Xiangyang's offer.
Li Xiangyang didn't insist and went home.
The room was pitch black, so he quickly lit a lamp, started stewing the roe deer, and after busying himself for a while, he finally got into bed.
Xuanmao and Xiaohu were already used to this kind of life; one jumped onto the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), while the other curled up in a corner.
The next morning, Li Xiangyang got up early.
What the old Party Secretary said last night made him uneasy.
After tidying up briefly, he went to the livestock shed first.
Wang Ergou was already busy there. Seeing him arrive, he quickly greeted him, "Brother Xiangyang, so early?"
"Hmm," Li Xiangyang nodded, "How are the livestock?"
"They're all doing well," Wang Ergou said, patting Lao Hei's neck. "We've been feeding them according to plan these past few days, and their spirits are much better."
Li Xiangyang carefully inspected the livestock and found that they had indeed recovered quite well.
"Don't let the livestock out these next few days. Yesterday, the old Party Secretary told me that people in Shanghe Village and Xigou Village discovered someone poisoning the mountains..."
Li Xiangyang briefly told Wang Ergou about the matter, which made the other party furious.
If it weren't for the fact that the livestock couldn't be fed for several days at a time, he would have loved to grab a gun right now, follow Li Xiangyang into the mountains, and shoot those bastards.
After saying goodbye to Wang Ergou, Li Xiangyang walked towards the old Party Secretary's house.
As soon as he arrived at the gate, he noticed that there were still several people standing in the yard.
Upon closer inspection, they recognized Zhou Guangming and Liu De as hunters.
It seems this matter is more serious than I imagined.
"Alright, I suppose everyone's here because of the poisoning incident on the mountain. The county has already sent people to investigate, but the mountains are high and the roads are long; they can't handle it alone."
The old Party Secretary said, his gaze sweeping over the group, "Let's get straight to the point. I asked Xiangyang yesterday, and we don't have anything like that yet. But since you've all come looking for us, it seems they've found our way here, so let's just come up with a plan."
"In my opinion, since everyone's here, let's not do anything else today. Let's focus entirely on searching for them in the mountains. Once we spot them, we'll quietly follow them, find out exactly how many there are, and then wipe them out in one fell swoop."
“These people are likely spreading the poison in different directions, so I suggest we split into several groups. One group will enter from the east pass, another from the west pass, and yet another from the north. This way, even if they try to escape, we can detect them in time.”
"I think that's a good idea. Once we spot someone suspicious, don't act rashly. If we're absolutely forced to expose ourselves, just drive them straight to the cliff to the south."
……