I began to understand the myriad things by chopping wood

Chapter 10 Tiger Trouble
After lunch, Xie Yuan took a nap in his wooden house.

He had patched up the holes in the house long ago, and used his savings to buy a thick quilt, so that the little house at least had warmth to protect it from the wind and rain.

After waking up, he stretched, picked up the axe beside the bed, and prepared to start chopping wood in the afternoon.

He is undeterred by thunder and rain. Even when it rains, he has to make room in the house to chop firewood. Li Lan wonders how this boy became like this?

"Time waits for no one."

Xie Yuan shook his head, and after he went out, his eyes suddenly fixed.

His face was as gloomy as water. He walked out of his courtyard and came to a dead tree about 20 or 30 steps away. He shouted at a skinny man:
"Didn't I tell you to get out of here? Why are you still standing here watching?"

The thug had already seen Xie Yuan coming, and had a cowering and unconvinced expression on his face:

"Xie Yuan, did you dig the road to this village? It's not far from here. Can't I just enjoy the cool here?"

Xie Yuan looked at the dead tree with all its leaves fallen, then looked at the person in front of him.

When the cold wind of early winter blew, the thinly dressed ruffian hunched his shoulders and shivered slightly.

He sneered:
"I told you not to let me see you at the door, or else don't blame me for being rude."

The thug's neck shrank, apparently remembering Xie Yuan's big axe.

Then he stiffened his neck and said stubbornly:

"This is the doorstep of Wu Laosi's house, not yours or Li Lanhua's! It's fine if you care about your own family, but you're also caring about Li Lanhua. Did you take advantage of Wang Lei's absence to sleep with your sister-in-law?"

Xie Yuan had no expression on his face and slapped him directly.

As a result, the thug had obviously expected this and dodged away flexibly, causing his slap to miss.

As he walked, he turned around and said viciously:
"You wait for me!"

Xie Yuan looked at the gangster's back with a frown on his face.

He had heard these harsh words so many times that he didn't take them to heart; but Zhang Er's men had been appearing in the area too frequently recently.

The thugs seemed to have changed their strategy and did not come forward to harass him. Instead, they stared at him from a distance with their green brows and green eyes, making Xie Yuan feel uncomfortable.

Not only did they keep an eye on Xie Yuan, they also stood outside Li Lan's house. Wang Lei had already entered the city, and Li Lan and Hu Wa were so scared that they didn't dare to go out recently.

Xie Yuan didn't know what they were planning, but he obviously wouldn't indulge them. He chased them away with his axe a few times, driving them further and further away.
But the thugs are like flies, they can't be driven away and they keep hanging around.

It's not that you're afraid of thieves stealing, but that you're afraid of thieves thinking about it. This is more of a headache for Xie Yuan than the previous harassment. After all, they didn't do anything, they just looked around. If Xie Yuan hit someone with an axe, he would be considered to be in the wrong.

A scoundrel is a scoundrel, and he has plenty of ways to disgust people.

If we could really chop them up, that would be easy...

boom.

Xie Yuan returned to the yard and split a piece of firewood into two halves.

[Chopping wood: (821/1000)]

Looking at the numbers in front of him, his expression relaxed a lot.

"Come on, come on."

"As long as you advance in chopping wood, everything will be fine."

Xie Yuan was chopping wood in the yard, and he felt very motivated as he watched the progress increase bit by bit.

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

Xie Yuan looked up and was a little surprised.

A big man with a dark face was standing outside the courtyard gate. He was carrying a hunting bow and wearing a fur coat. It was Zhu Dongming.

"Brother Zhu? Why are you here? Come in and sit down."

Xie Yuan welcomed Zhu Dongming into the yard, looked around, sighed, and could only find a clean wooden stake for him to use as a chair.

The Xie family really had no chairs or benches, so they could just use a pile of firewood.

Zhu Dongming didn't mind either. He sat casually on the wooden stake and said in a deep voice:
"Yuanzi, there have been a lot of big insects in the mountains recently, you know that, right?"

"I know. Two people were bitten to death in the village next door."

Xie Yuan nodded. He had been very careful when he went up the mountain to cut trees recently. He never dared to go deep into the forest and always kept an eye on the surroundings.

If he had a choice, he would never go up the mountain at this time. But there was no other way, the Zhang brothers were no less dangerous than a tiger.

Xie Yuan had no choice but to stop, as there was a tiger in front and Zhang behind. Fortunately, iron poplars were not particularly rare and there were many in the shallow parts of the forest, otherwise he would have had to cut down the bald trees again. "Thanks to Brother Zhu's reminder, I haven't been to the mountains recently, otherwise I might have suffered as well."

Xie Yuan expressed his gratitude at the right time.

Zhu Dongming waved his hand:

"Nothing. Well, since you know, I'll tell you straight away.

"Recently, many people are afraid to go up the mountain. As you know, the people in the village are all dependent on the mountain for their livelihood, and few of them have fields.

"Winter is already miserable, and it can't go on like this. The village chief felt that we couldn't wait any longer, so he asked me to lead a team to explore and find out if we could kill the big insect.

"There are only four people in our village who can hunt, including me. I think if I want to hunt big beasts, I need at least five people. Unfortunately, there is no one else in the village who can do it, so I came to you."

After hearing this, Xie Yuan stood there in a daze.

ah? I?
Fighting a tiger?

Xie Yuan pointed at himself in disbelief:

"Brother Zhu, you think too highly of me. I'm just a woodcutter..."

Zhu Dongming raised his hand to stop him from talking, shook his head and said:

"Yuanzi, you have a strong fist, a fast axe, and quick reflexes. I think you can do it."

Xie Yuan felt something was wrong, his body tensed up, and he said stiffly:

"Brother Zhu, what are you talking about? You're being too kind."

He subconsciously tightened his grip on the axe, exerting force with his knuckles.

Zhu Dongming had sharp eyes and saw clearly what he was doing. He took a step back silently and said:
"Yuanzi, if the prey is killed by being smashed, the blood can splatter several feet away. If you don't want to attract wild beasts, you have to clean up the surrounding area.

"But it's okay. It's your first time, so it's normal to be unskilled. I've taken care of it for you."

Xie Yuan was shocked. He pursed his lips tightly and stared at Zhu Dongming.

Zhu Dongming pulled away a little and whispered:
"Don't worry, I will only applaud what you do and won't tell anyone.

"Fighting a tiger is a big deal. I'm not sure if I can handle it with just four people. I need your help. Yuanzi, we're all from the village, let's go together!"

Xie Yuan was silent for a long time before he nodded and said:
"Since Brother Zhu thinks highly of it, then fine."

Zhu Dongming was just showing a smile when he heard Xie Yuan say:
"But I need five days."

"Five days?"

Zhu Dongming frowned slightly and nodded reluctantly:
"Okay, but you can only wait five days at most! Yuanzi, there's no point in delaying this."

"I know."

After Zhu Dongming left, Xie Yuan let out a long sigh and sat down on the ground.

"I was seen..."

Xie Yuan sighed and thought silently.

"Zhu Dongming said he wouldn't tell anyone, so why did he expose this?"

He had no choice but to agree.

"He seems to have no ill intentions, but this kind of thing..."

Xie Yuan had other thoughts for a moment, but Zhu Dongming was obviously very cautious.

He was not to the point of losing his mind. If he really attacked Zhu Dongming, there was no guarantee that no one else would see him. How would he be able to stop then?

In stories, there are often tragic villains who have no choice but to go down a dead end because of a single thought. He doesn't want to be such a person, hiding in the mountains and forests to avoid wanted orders for the rest of his life, living in fear all the time.

Besides, he is not a real devil who kills people without blinking an eye, so how can he just do it?

I really want to go fight a tiger...

Xie Yuan was reluctant because hunting tigers was very dangerous, but he had no choice but to go now.

Fortunately, he gained five days, which was enough for him to take his woodchopping to the next level.

Xie Yuan picked up the axe, piled up the firewood, and chopped it again and again.

(End of this chapter)