The large trees that had been battered by summer rainstorms and split apart by lightning had, by autumn and winter, mostly dried out.
Zhang Fangyuan had great strength. With loud grunts, he chopped the branches from logs thicker than his waist, gathered them up, and carried them to the edge of the mountain, piling them there to chop into firewood.
He carefully selected what he took.
Logs that were straight and smooth were generally not something he was willing to chop up for firewood. Such timber could be saved for building houses or repairing livestock sheds later.
It could also be carried to the lumber yard, where people would buy it. Depending on the quality and sturdiness of the wood, a log could fetch anywhere from ten to thirty wen.
Selling gathered timber could indeed make money, but it was work that required both luck and an enormous amount of physical strength.
Villagers without a physique like Zhang Fangyuan’s generally would not try to earn money this way.
Every year, there were people who strained their backs, twisted their ankles, or injured their tendons and bones from carrying logs down the mountain to sell.
Occasionally, when they wanted to improve their meals and buy a jin of meat to eat, there were indeed strong young men who would carry two tree trunks and pass through the village on their way to the lumber yard to sell them. But unless they were truly forced into it, they would never take this as work to make a living.
In half an hour, Zhang Fangyuan found more than ten pieces of timber. Only two of them were good-quality wood; the rest were crooked and twisted and could not be sold. He pulled a firewood knife and an axe from his basket and, right there, either chopped the bad wood into short sections or split them open directly.
Splitting firewood was tiring. Even though he had deliberately worn two fewer layers of clothing in winter, in less than the time it took to burn a quarter of an incense stick, he could work up a whole body of sweat. With no one around, Zhang Fangyuan simply stripped off his clothes and casually tossed them over the branches of a nearby tree. He was already thinking that after he slaughtered a few more livestock, he would use the money to buy a saw. Using only an axe and a firewood knife was simply too exhausting.
He was thinking about getting better tools, completely unaware that these axes and knives of his were already enough to make other people envious. Xu He, who had come up the mountain by the small path to gather firewood with only a sickle whose blade was dull and chipped, was one of those people.
Xu He held the carrying straps hanging from his shoulders with both hands, his fingers curled around them. The rope, about as thick as a thumb, was fine when the basket had no weight in it. But once it was filled with firewood and the rope dug into his shoulders on the way home from the mountain, it would tear a patch of skin and flesh every time.
Because of this, whenever he went up the mountain, he would deliberately gather the soft outer layers that came off palm trees. Once he had collected enough, he could take them home and sew them into carrying straps about half the width of a palm, which could greatly reduce the pressure from the load.
However, after he had just replaced the carrying straps on the basket he used most often before, his mother had taken it to use. He had no choice but to use another basket with thin carrying straps, so he deliberately made another trip up the mountain and gathered some firewood along the way.
He was distractedly thinking about whether he could collect more palm-tree outer layers today when he pricked up his ears and heard the dong dong of someone chopping wood, one strike after another without stopping, as if that person had an inexhaustible supply of strength. This could not help but make him quicken his pace.
Everyone liked to bring their firewood to the mountain clearing to chop or load it. For one thing, it was closer to the road down the mountain, making it easier to carry the wood down; for another, this area was more open, so they could keep an eye on the time and weather at any moment.
Xu He carried a basket much larger than his own body on his back, crawling up the mountain clearing like a stubborn little snail with great difficulty. Before he even had time to catch his breath, a tall man with his upper body bare, swinging an axe, suddenly entered his line of sight.
The man stood beside the pile of firewood like a mountain rock that even a violent gale could not move. His exposed back and arms were wheat-colored, tending toward the color of aged bronze. When he exerted himself, the veins on his arms bulged. At a glance, he was clearly someone with an abundance of strength.
No one knew how long he had been up the mountain. The chopped firewood at his feet was already piled as high as a small hill.
Xu He sucked in a breath of cold air. Only afterward did he realize he should avert his gaze. In his panic, he nearly tripped over a stone.
Zhang Fangyuan heard a sound behind him. Taking the opportunity to wipe away his sweat, he turned his head and glanced back. It was actually the youngest son of the Xu family.
The little ge’er walked sideways with his face turned slightly, moving lightly and carefully as though he did not want to make a sound and disturb anyone. He looked extremely similar to a small, dark, skinny monkey. Clearly, among the ge’ers his age in the village, he was considered fairly tall, but because he was too thin and slight, he was actually not even as sturdy-looking as those who were short and squat.
Among the village households in the countryside, not many men came from well-off families. Because of this, many were poorly nourished and not very tall. Thus, a little ge’er who was too tall and slender was actually not very popular with the men in the village.
Standing beside a man and being about the same height, without the feeling of being a delicate little bird leaning on him, was not the type most men preferred. However, ordinary families actually liked ge’ers with larger builds, because people like that were good at doing physical labor.
Zhang Fangyuan greeted him amicably. “Brother He.”
The little dark, skinny monkey looked up when he heard this. He had originally still been walking, but when he saw the person’s face clearly, his breathing stopped for a moment. He did not even answer, instead breaking into a small run and heading into the mountain.
Zhang Fangyuan watched the little ge’er’s back. He had heard people say that the Xu family’s youngest son not only looked completely different from his older sister, but his temperament could not compare to hers either. He was strange and withdrawn. When he met his elders, he would greet them, but most of the time he would not say another word, as though someone owed his family money.
With such a cold and unpleasant temperament, looking like this without much beauty and unable to speak in a way that pleased people, how would this little ge’er ever manage to marry in the future? Eight or nine times out of ten, he would have to remain at home as an old unmarried ge’er and pay the late-marriage tax.
He shook his head and withdrew his gaze. Suddenly, he caught sight of the cloth garment hanging from the tree branch. His arm felt cold, and only then did he abruptly realize that he was not wearing any clothes.
He awkwardly rubbed the tip of his nose. He had only greeted a fellow villager out of goodwill, but in the other person’s eyes, it probably looked more like he had deliberately teased him.
After chopping all the firewood, Zhang Fangyuan carried the two decent pieces of timber home. After making two trips back and forth, it was already past noon. He chewed on a baked flatbread, drank some water, and went back up the mountain.
By this time, there were more branches and pieces of firewood on the mountain clearing. There were also the small branches he had previously stripped from the large tree trunks because they were too small and he did not want them. They were neatly piled on the other side of his firewood pile. There was no need to think about it—it was firewood gathered by Xu He. He was nowhere to be seen now, probably having gone to look for more firewood.
Seeing that the sky was turning overcast and seemed about to rain, Zhang Fangyuan planned to check his traps and then return to finish for the day. Whether or not there was anything caught, he had to retrieve his hunting tools. The tools could not be left on the mountain overnight. There had been more people coming up the mountain recently. Not catching anything was one thing; losing the hunting tools would make the loss outweigh the gain.
He first stuffed a large basket full of the chopped firewood. But he had chopped too much, and the basket could not hold it all. He figured he would have to cut some banana leaves to cover the pile; otherwise, if the rain soaked all the firewood, it would be difficult to carry it down the mountain.
He picked up his sickle and was preparing to look for banana leaves when he saw Xu He approaching from the front. He was carrying some palm-tree outer layers on his back and holding firewood in his arms, looking at Zhang Fangyuan from not far away. He seemed hesitant about whether he should come forward and speak to him.
Zhang Fangyuan thought that Xu’s youngest son had seen that it was going to rain and wanted him to load the remaining dry firewood. Seeing the little ge’er was rather pitiful, he said, “It’s starting to drizzle. It’ll take you some time to chop the firewood and fill your basket. Once the mountain road gets wet later, it won’t be easy to go down. I’ll load the rest. There’ll be more than enough for you to gather and fill one basket.”
Xu He saw that the butcher looked somewhat gentler now that he was fully dressed compared to just before. He was a little surprised that Zhang Fangyuan would give him firewood, but he did not come forward to ask for any. Instead, he continued using his own dull sickle to laboriously chop the firewood he had dragged over, seemingly unconcerned as he asked, “Were the traps over by the wild chestnut trees dug by you?”
Zhang Fangyuan heard the hoarse voice he had heard yesterday at the Xu family’s house again. He raised his brows. “Mm. Did you catch something?”
Xu He continued chopping his firewood, but said, “I saw someone over there who seemed to be trying to dig up the trap.”
Zhang Fangyuan paused when he heard this, realizing something was wrong. He hurriedly grabbed his sickle and rushed toward the depths of the mountain.
Xu He saw the man running as fast as the wind, his brows knitting together. After a long while, he finally decided to follow and take a look.
Earlier, when he had gone farther into the deep mountain to collect palm-tree outer layers, he had seen a man from far away digging at the wild grass and branches covering a trap.
It was not strange to see people hunting in the mountains, and he had not intended to interfere with someone else. But that man’s actions were sneaky. He would dig for a while, then warily look around in all directions, just like a thief. Xu He felt that something was not right, but he also could not go forward and scold the man.
In the deep mountains and old forests, being bitten back by someone would already count as lucky. If he encountered someone without a conscience, who knew what other malicious intentions they might have? He carefully retreated back toward the mountain clearing. When he saw Zhang Fangyuan return, he was hesitating about whether to take the initiative to ask if the traps were his. Normally, he would not want to talk to an ordinary man for no reason, let alone a man with a reputation like Zhang Fangyuan’s.
But precisely while he was hesitating, Zhang Fangyuan spoke first, and even said he would give him firewood. Thus, Xu He decided to be warm-hearted and meddle in someone else’s business for once.
Zhang Fangyuan had long legs and ran quickly. Once he entered the deep mountain and got close to his traps, he lightened his steps. Sure enough, there was a thief squatting with his butt sticking up, trying to use a tree branch to hook up the iron-spike board inside the trap. Coming early was not as good as coming at just the right time.
With a bang, Zhang Fangyuan kicked the thief. The man was immediately kicked to his knees by the sudden blow. When he widened his eyes and saw that the person who had come was a tall and burly butcher with a fierce look on his face, he immediately clutched his kicked stomach and did not even dare to cry out.
“Spare me! Butcher Zhang, spare my life!”
Zhang Fangyuan hated people with dishonest hands and feet the most. He bent down, grabbed the slightly short and plump man by the back of his collar, and hauled him up.
“You knew it was Laozi’s stuff and still stole from Laozi! The most shameless pieces of trash are people like you. You think these trap markers were put there so you could recognize them easily and steal them? If hunters are frightened by thieves like you and stop marking their traps, then when villagers coming up the mountain fall into them, they’ll have you and your dirty hands to blame!”
“Your hands and feet are perfectly fine, yet you don’t do any proper work. I think there’s no need to keep them either.”
With that, Zhang Fangyuan threw the man hard onto the ground. He stepped on the man’s wrist, raised the firewood knife in his hand, and aimed it at the man’s hand, about to chop down.
A sharp scream suddenly rang through the mountain forest, startling the mountain birds in the woods into flight.
“Ahhhhhhh! My hand! My hand!”
Zhang Fangyuan looked at the man on the ground. The area between his legs was wet, and his eyes were filled with terror as he stared at the firewood knife that had missed his hand by only a few li. He was so frightened that he cried and howled.
Xu He, hiding far behind, also felt his heart rise to his throat. Zhang Fangyuan’s iron-blooded methods had frightened not only the thief; even Xu He was so shocked that a layer of cold sweat broke out across his back. Everyone said butchers were fierce. Before, he had only thought it was because they were decisive when slaughtering livestock. But thinking about it now, after slaughtering so many animals, who knew whether he might slaughter a person if someone provoked him?
He did not stay to watch what happened afterward. His legs somewhat weak, he returned to the mountain clearing.
“If you dare do this kind of sneaky, thieving business again, your hand won’t be this lucky next time.” Zhang Fangyuan kicked the thief in disgust. “Why aren’t you getting lost?”
The man did not dare even breathe loudly. Still shaken, he climbed up from the ground, cold sweat pouring down his body, and repeatedly kowtowed to Zhang Fangyuan as he begged for mercy.
“I—I’ll never dare again. I’ll never come up the mountain again!”
With that, afraid that Zhang Fangyuan might change his mind and give him a couple of punches, he hurriedly scrambled away on hands and feet.
Zhang Fangyuan spat. For some time now, hunters had often said that not only had their prey gone missing, but their hunting tools had disappeared as well. They had thought there was a blind bear roaming the deep mountains, causing everyone to become frightened and unwilling to casually go up the mountain to hunt. They had never expected it was this dog of a thing causing trouble.
He counted his hunting tools. Fortunately, he had arrived in time and had not lost a single thing. However, he had not even caught a skinny wild pheasant. In winter, there were many people hunting, whether professional hunters or half-baked ones who wanted to go up the mountain to improve their meals. There was less game and more competition, so naturally it was even harder to get anything.
Zhang Fangyuan was not disappointed. He gathered up his things and prepared to leave. When he saw Xu He still chopping firewood in the mountain clearing, he noticed that while the trees in the mountain were lush and one did not notice much, once they reached the mountain clearing where the trees were sparse, the fine rain was clearly visible.
Winter rain was not fierce, but it was cold. The threads of rain falling into one’s collar were cold, and with the wind blowing alongside it, they were even colder.
The loose hair on Xu He’s forehead was already soaked through and stuck to his face, and a layer of white frost-like moisture had also gathered over the top of his head.
He heard movement behind him and stopped the action of his hands. He saw Zhang Fangyuan raise his brows and glance at him, seemingly somewhat angry. Suddenly, the man strode toward him.
The broad figure brought along the cool wind and cold rain. While Xu He was still dazed, the man stretched out an arm and simply took the basket at his feet.