Chapter 42.1

Translated by Aviana

Hi! The number of words in Chapters 42 and 43 has starkly increased from the previous words with approximately 4600 and 4700, respectively. As such, I am dividing the chapters into four parts.

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The young men, seeing three women standing from afar, were little astonished. But soon realized they must have waited here with worry in their hearts, without going back.

One of the young men yelled from there, “Yang shenzi, we found elder brother Tiezhu….” Lin Qingwan and the two people looked at each other, surprise and tears of joy evident in their eyes. Lin Qingwan rushed over to see Yang Tiezhu lying on the simple stretcher made by the youngmen using two branches.

shenzi: Aunt -used to address the older females.

At this moment, Yang Tiezhu was lying there with his eyes closed and complexion wan. His entire body, legs, shoulders, all were a mess, with blood staining all over. His shoulders were bound by a strip of messy cloth…

Yang Tiegen was walking by the stretcher with Dahei and Erhei following after him. Yang Tiegen’s appearance was a complete mess; most of his clothes were torn and hanging down, with blood stained all over him. However, he didn’t sustain any injuries, and the blood on him was all Yang Tiezhu’s. Dahei and Erhei were following his feet. Dahei and Erhei also cut a sorry figure, with all of their fur muddy. They didn’t even seem to have the strength to bark as they panted with their tongues out. Seeing Lin Qingwan come, they could only swing their tails weakly.

As he walked to them, Yang Tiegen anxiously said, “Second Brother’s injury is a bit serious. Although we have wrapped his wound, the bleeding hadn’t stopped.”

With the matter being serious, his usual lukewarm appearance changed.

At this moment, Lin Qingwan and Yang-shi also didn’t care about their grievance and tears and repeatedly urged the young men to carry him a bit faster. Yang-shi initially intended to request people to take him to the village physician, but after thinking over a bit, she asked a fast runner among the young men to go to Lizheng’s place and borrow their family’s old mule cart.

里正/里長 ( lǐ zhèng/lǐzhǎng): A village chief – main duties include managing household registrations and taxes

In the entire Luoxia Village, only Lizheng’s jia have a mule cart, and their mules run fast, without any jolts.

The group quickly divided and went on two different roads. After arranging everything, Yang-shi explained to Lin Qingwan, “The physician in our village won’t be of any help. He is only good with small headaches, fevers, and the likes. For Tiezhu’s injury, we must go to town. “

Yang Tiegen also felt that the second elder brother could only be examined in the town, the physician at the village won’t do. This time, it would be better for them to borrow a mule cart. A mule cart is quicker than an ox cart and could go to the town faster.

They haven’t walked for a while when they saw a man rush over with a mule cart. Sitting on the cart’s shaft was Lizheng jia’s second son, Daniu, and a young man who had gone to borrow the cart.

As soon as the mule cart drew near, both of them hopped off the cart, and with everyone lending a hand, they quickly lifted Yang Tiezhu up.

As the space in the mule cart was a bit less, only Lin Qingwan, Yang-shi, and Yang Tiegen went. Yang Tiegen sat in the front alongside Daniu, while Yang-shi and Lin Qingwan sat behind to look after Yang Tiezhu.

After all of them got on the cart, Danniu swiftly sped the cart.

Being aware that this was a matter concerning human life, Daniu drove the cart particularly at fast speed, as the whip in his hand fell onto the black mule without stopping.

Daniu said with distress whilst whipping the big black mule, “When we go back, I will give you more feed to eat and let you have a good meal.”

Lin Qingwan was also aware of the love farmers had for their domesticated animals. Feeling apologetic yet grateful, she said: “Younger brother Daniu, thank you so much.”

While keeping his attention on the road ahead, Daniu replied with a smile, “It’s nothing, Tiezhu and I usually have a good relationship. We both have grown up together since childhood. We are all from the same village, just a favor, nothing much.”

Although at this moment the sky was getting dark, the surroundings were still visible clearly. Daniu fixed his entire attention on the road ahead, not daring to get distracted.

Lin Qingwan smiled gratefully and lowered her head to look at Yang Tiezhu. The man, usually like steel at normal times, was now weakly lying down with his eyes closed, still unconscious. The wound on his shoulder was still bleeding, although not excessive, but it looked truly frightening when mixed with the bloodstain from before.

Yang Tiegen recounted in what circumstances he found Yang Tiezhu to Lin Qingwan —

When Yang Tiegen found him, Yang Tiezhu already didn’t have the strength anymore and had slumped down. Erhei beside him was glaring like a tiger watching his prey, continuously guarding him. Upon seeing Yang Tiegen, Yang Tiezhu mustered up few words before sinking into coma….

What happened was, after Yang Tiezhu went into the mountains, he wandered around the mountains for two days without catching sight of any suitable prey. Finally, he found a bear, and after expending tremendous strength, he caught the bear along with Dahei and Erhei.

After killing the bear, Dahei and Erhei saw a fox running towards them and ran after it to chase away. Meanwhile, Yang Tiezhu crouched down to handle the prey, thinking he could go home soon and see his wife, and inevitably relaxed and let his guard down.

It was precisely this short moment of relaxation and putting his guard down that caused Yang Tiezhu to be seriously injured.

It happened to be that the bear was not actually a single one, rather were two. One bear was male, while the other was female. The bear that Yang Tiezhu killed happened to be a female one. After the male bear came back, he found his wife was slaughtered by a man, and his eyes immediately became red, and without further ado, the male bear pounced on the man.

At that time, Yang Tiezhu was happily immersed in the thoughts of his wife. And by the time he reacted, he was already slammed by the male bear from behind on his left shoulder; he was almost sent flying away by that slam.

Under the attack, Yang Tiezhu seized an opportunity to roll to the side, also not forgetting to whistle in the process.

The male bear was raging with fury, and his strength when attacking was a bit stronger than usual. If it weren’t for Yang Tiezhu’s robust build and innately strong power as a bull, this slam would have made him lose consciousness like an average person.

Yang Tiezhu managed to retain his consciousness after being attacked. He knew that if he fainted right now, he would be screwed. After blowing a whistle, he used all of his willpower to fight with the bear….

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