Chapter 24: Two Roads!

“Nonsense!”

At that moment, a young man from the Zhao family stood frozen in place, not daring to move.

He shouted angrily,
“We only slapped Sun Zhi once—how could he possibly end up with leg pain and a stiff body?”

Lu Chuan spread his hands and replied,
“Maybe it’s because of his age, and his body is already weak. Having symptoms like that isn’t entirely unreasonable.”

Then he suddenly smiled.
“In that case, I’ll have to trouble all of you to wait here until Uncle Sun recovers.”

“Once you’ve apologized, you may leave.”

Zhao Dabao’s mouth twitched hard, a flicker of unwillingness flashing in his eyes.

It seemed he hadn’t expected Lu Chuan to be this unyielding. He snorted coldly and said,
“Lu Chuan, are you really going to be this ruthless?”

“We’re all hunters here. Out in the mountains, we run into each other all the time.”

“I don’t believe you’ll never need help someday.”

As he spoke, a trace of malice flickered in Zhao Dabao’s eyes.

But Lu Chuan caught it clearly.

He gave a cold laugh. He truly didn’t care about Zhao Dabao’s threat.

If he didn’t have even this bit of ability, how could he have dared to provoke these people in the first place?

It’s not that he couldn’t kill—
He just didn’t want to.

Like Zhao Dabao said, these days, too many hunters die in the mountains. One more or less makes no difference.

As long as things were handled discreetly, there wouldn’t be a problem.

“Is that so?”

Lu Chuan smiled and said,
“If things really come to that, even if you want to help me, Hunter Zhao, I wouldn’t dare accept it!”

Zhao Dabao’s face shifted unpredictably.

Of course, he knew Lu Chuan’s words were mocking him.

After a moment of silence, he said,
“Lu Chuan, we’ll take the blame for this matter.”

“Tell us how you want to resolve it—we’re willing to offer compensation.”

Zhao Dabao knew they couldn’t stay here any longer. But pushing any further would be irrational.

So for now, he had no choice but to back down.

He’d just have to find a way to settle the score later.

“You people from Zhao Family Village have been hunting in our village’s mountains for quite a while now. Don’t you think it’s about time you offered something as a token of respect to our village chief?”

Sun Zhi had been hiding in the back.

But he was definitely not someone who would take a loss quietly.

Though he appeared simple and honest, someone who had held the position of village chief for so long couldn’t possibly lack cunning.

To put it plainly—
He didn’t show up because he wasn’t suited for bargaining.

If the village chief himself haggled with the hunters from Zhao Village, it would strain relations between the two villages.

And if things really escalated—

If it reached the county authorities—

Zhao Family Village’s hunters might even find a way to shift the blame.

Lu Chuan, on the other hand, was perfect for this negotiation. If he could extract some benefits from Zhao Family Village, that would be ideal.

If not, it wasn’t a big deal either.

After all, these benefits never belonged to Shuangshui Village in the first place.

As the saying goes:
A scholar’s heart is never pure.

Lu Chuan didn’t bother hiding his intentions.

“Logically speaking, you’ve hunted in our back mountain for a total of three years. But I won’t push you too hard. Let’s make it simple: every month, you should pay Shuangshui Village 50 jin of meat.”

“Consider it a leasing fee.”

“For three years, that’s 600 jin of meat per year—”

“A total of 1,800 jin.”

“Hand that over, and all past grievances between us will be wiped clean.”

“From now on, bridges are bridges, and roads are roads—we go our separate ways.”

Lu Chuan curled his lips and said calmly, “What do you think?”

“Impossible!”

Zhao Dabao glared at him furiously. “Lu Chuan, don’t think for a second that we’re afraid of you!”

“We’re willing to show our sincerity, but don’t push your luck!”

At those words, Lu Chuan’s interest was immediately piqued.

“Oh? I didn’t expect Hunter Zhao to even know the phrase ‘pushing your luck.'”

He lowered his head slightly and continued,
“Then how about this—”

“Since you said I’m pushing my luck, let’s take it further. From today on, your Zhao Village hunting team will be disbanded. The forests near Zhao Village will fall entirely under the jurisdiction of Shuangshui Village.”

“No one is allowed to enter the mountains to hunt without permission.”

“As for you—”

“I’ll give your village 50 jin of meat every month. No delays, guaranteed.”

“If you agree right now, you can take 50 jin of meat with you today.”

“How about it?”

There was a mocking smile at the corner of Lu Chuan’s lips.

He knew Zhao Dabao would never agree.

Hunting in the mountains was risky, yes—but they were full of resources. Even with minimal effort, a single trip could easily yield 200 jin of meat.

That’s exactly why, despite the famine, Zhao Village had been doing exceptionally well.

Nearly every household in the village could still afford to eat meat.

But Shuangshui Village was a different story.

Even if they wanted to imitate Zhao Village, Shuangshui wasn’t a single-clan village.

There was little unity between households.

And there were few skilled hunters.

They had tried organizing hunting efforts several times, but internal bickering and selfishness always got in the way.

Eventually, they just gave up.

“You—You’re dreaming!”

Zhao Dabao was momentarily speechless, his eyes burning with anger as he stared at Lu Chuan. Then, as if he had suddenly thought of something, he sneered,
“Even if we wanted to hand it over, does Shuangshui Village even have enough hunters?”

“Are you planning to take on the entire mountain by yourself?”

He glared with wide, furious eyes.

Lu Chuan shrugged. “That’s none of your concern.”

“I’ve laid out two paths. Which one you choose is up to you.”

His voice was lazy and indifferent.

Zhao Dabao took a deep breath, trying to steady his breathing.
“1,800 jin is impossible. First, we simply don’t have that much. Second, we never intended to occupy that mountain.”

“It’s just that you have no hunters and couldn’t enter the mountains yourself.”

“You can’t pin that on us.”

His fists clenched tightly as he tried to reason with Lu Chuan.

“Imagine that—you’re actually trying to reason with me?”

Lu Chuan chuckled. Then, after pressing his lips together in thought, he said,
“1,000 jin.”

“As long as you provide that, we’ll call it even today.”

“From now on, when we’re in the mountains, we each rely on our own skill.”

His voice was cool and composed.

Zhao Dabao inhaled sharply. “Impossible. We haven’t been in the mountains for a long time—we don’t have that much game stored up.”

“No problem.”

“It can be converted into cash.”

Lu Chuan flashed a bright grin, showing his teeth.

“Right now, meat sells for about 150 qian per jin. For 1,000 jin, that’s just 150 taels of silver.”

“Pay up, and this whole matter ends here.”

“What do you say?”

Lu Chuan looked at Zhao Dabao with a smile he believed was friendly.