1940s: I supported my wife and sister-in-law by hunting.

The slaps made his face turn red, and it swelled up quite a bit after just a few blows.

"It's my fault, it's all my fault, Xiaowen, you died so unjustly, it's all my fault that you were betrayed, it's all my fault!"

He was slapping himself repeatedly across the face while crying loudly.

Snot mixed with tears flowed down his philtrum and into his mouth.

Actually, Chen Gaoshan had noticed something was off about Zhang Baoguo since this morning when they were in Goubei.

This man had been listless the whole way, as if he had something on his mind. His eyes were unfocused, and just now he had rushed straight for Black Tiger Cave like a madman, regardless of life or death. It was clear that he had something weighing on his mind.

Upon seeing this, Chen Gaoshan stepped forward, reached out and grabbed his hand, his brows furrowed deeply.

"Stop hitting me, Uncle Baoguo. What's the use of slapping yourself so hard? What's done is done."

Zhang Baoguo's face was swollen and red, his eyes were red and swollen from crying, and he was so choked up that he could barely speak.

"I broke the teeth of that man-eating tiger."

"In the autumn, I went into the mountains to hunt roe deer and ran into this tiger. I got greedy and had to chase after it and fire a shot. I didn't kill it, but I broke two of its teeth."

"It ran away, but who would have thought it would come down the mountain and wreak havoc on the villagers!"

After hearing this, all of Chen Gaoshan's doubts were resolved.

He had been thinking that the tiger was probably old and toothless, unable to catch prey in the mountains, so it came down to eat people and became addicted to it.

It turns out it wasn't a tiger problem at all, but rather a human-caused disaster.

By artificially breaking its fangs, it loses its ability to hunt wild animals, forcing it to prey on the easiest targets—humans.

"So that's what it's all about. No wonder it only eats people and not livestock or wild animals. It can't tear open skin without sharp teeth."

Zhang Baoguo knelt in the snow, filled with deep regret.

I cursed myself in my heart again and again for being greedy and making trouble out of nothing.

If he had simply stopped and hadn't chased after the wounded tiger to finish it off, so many lives wouldn't have been lost, and so many kids wouldn't have died in Jiapigou, leaving everyone terrified.

Chen Gaoshan looked at his repentant expression.

This person is honest and has a good conscience. If it were someone with a darker mind, they would have kept this to themselves for the rest of their life.

But once this gets out, the families who were victimized in Jiapigou and Xiajiabaozi will definitely not let him off the hook.

After that, he couldn't face anyone in the surrounding villages at all.

Meanwhile, everyone around was busy with their own things and no one paid attention to what was happening here.

Zhao Guanqun was leading his young comrades in chopping wood and getting busy, preparing to build a sturdy sled and stretcher to pull the several-hundred-pound man-eating tiger and the villagers' bones back to Jiapigou.

There were also a few young men who, having finally made it into the mountains, were itching to catch a couple of pheasants or rabbits to take back to the company to improve their meals and have a good time.

That leaves Chen Gaoshan, Zhang Baoguo, and Ma Wanzhong.

Ma Wanzhong and Zhang Baoguo are of the same generation. Ma Wanzhong speaks bluntly and doesn't mince words or show any consideration for others.

Seeing Zhang Baoguo kneeling in the snow, crying and whining like a coward, he was furious.

He stepped forward, and without saying a word, kicked Zhang Baoguo right off the snowdrift and knocked him to the ground.

"You still have the nerve to cry? You should have either not fired the gun or just shot it dead. Your marksmanship is so bad, you crippled it instead of killing it. You're just bringing disaster to the village."

"You've killed so many people, and you still have the nerve to shed tears? Screw your crying, shut your mouth right now!"

Zhang Baoguo was kicked hard and lay on the snow.

He picked up the gag from his arm and wiped the snot and tears from his face.

He propped himself up and looked up at Ma Wanzhong and Chen Gaoshan with a pitiful expression.

"Then tell me, what should I do next? If this gets back to Jiapigou, I'll never be able to face anyone again. Everyone will hate me, and I might even have to pay with my life."

Chen Gaoshan looked at him and sighed.

"Uncle Baoguo, the root of this matter is indeed you. It was you who shot the man-eating tiger, breaking its teeth and forcing it to come down the mountain to eat people instead of going into the mountains to hunt wild animals."

But the one who truly committed evil was this beast, not you. You didn't intentionally try to harm the villagers.

"That's how things are. You have to think about how to compensate the family whose son died. If this man-eating tiger ends up being taken away by Eighth Master Hui, then we won't say anything more, and this matter will remain unresolved between the three of us. Whether you want to atone for your sins depends on your own heart."

"If we can keep this tiger carcass, we'll make good use of it. Although the tiger skin is badly damaged and won't fetch a high price, every part of a tiger is valuable. The tiger bones, the tiger meat, and even the tiger basket and hooks are all worth a lot of money."

"All the money from the sales will be distributed to the families of the villagers who were harmed by the tiger, as a form of compensation. Do you think this arrangement is acceptable?"

Upon hearing this, Zhang Baoguo immediately nodded.

"Sure, sure, whatever you want, I have no objection."

Seeing his spineless and cowardly appearance, Ma Wanzhong was filled with anger again and stepped forward to give him another kick.

"You were even selected! You dare to say no? If it weren't for your reckless charge into the cave, your willingness to take responsibility, and your status as a man with guts, you wouldn't have been chosen.

I can't even be bothered with you. You're just a clueless idiot, half-empty-handed fool. You might as well just let this beast eat you up. Let's do as Shanzi says.

Despite his cursing, Ma Wanzhong knew in his heart that if this matter were to get out, Jiapigou would definitely be in chaos.

He squatted down and looked at Zhang Baoguo.

"Let's get this straight: only the three of us know about this. We're keeping it to ourselves not to protect you, Zhang Baoguo, but to prevent the victims from getting further upset, creating more enmity, and turning a natural disaster into a man-made one. The village would be in complete chaos."

Chen Gaoshan nodded in agreement.

"Uncle Wan Zhong is right. You'd better be more careful from now on."

Zhang Baoguo nodded, not daring to shed tears, and wiped his face clean.

"I've remembered this. From now on, I will live to atone for my sins."

On the other side, nobody knew what the three of them had been talking about.

Ma Wanzhong finally had a chance to slit open the man-eating tiger's stomach, and as he ripped out its intestines, he almost vomited.

"yue~~"

Chen Gaoshan was sitting to the side taking a break when he heard Wan Zhongshu's commotion.

"What's wrong?"

"Ugh, damn it, this beast must still be craving something from yesterday that hasn't been digested yet. Look what this is."

He snapped off a tree branch, squatted down, and rummaged through the undigested pile of food—fingers, eyeballs, flesh with skin on—and then... damn it.

"That's fucking disgusting, yue~~"

Chen Gaoshan was incredibly sensitive; even his daughter's poop could make him vomit. What's more, this mess of soup, water, and undigested food on the ground was a double shock to his sense of smell and taste. He immediately stood up, leaned against a tree trunk, and started retching.

In the end, Zhang Baoguo endured the nausea, picked out some still-formable pieces, and wrapped them up. By time, these were all fragments of Wang San from Jiapigou.

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