Chapter 53 - Passerby

Biaozi walked down the mountain in a daze. The familiar path felt like traveling through a corridor of clouds. It was surreal to see the person ahead of him dragging an enormous tiger with each hand.

Like an oversized sleigh leaving two trails in their wake, the two of them arrived at the entrance of the village with two dead tigers.

The Ma Family Village was eerily quiet. A cold wind blew a fallen leaf through the entrance, making the entire village seem deserted.

Biaozi scratched his head in confusion and asked, "What's going on here?"

Ye Beizhi shook his head to show that he didn’t know and didn’t care to find out, either. He then headed directly towards Ma Hong’s house, with Biaozi hurriedly following behind him.

At this point, Ye Beizhi asked, "How much can a tiger sell for?"

Biaozi forced a smile and said, "Ignoring the Tiger King, just selling the big one would make you set for life in a place like the Ma Family Village."

Ye Beizhi nodded thoughtfully.

They arrived at Ma Hong's house without incident. Since the tigers were too big to carry inside, Ye Beizhi left them outside by the door and knocked politely.

Knock, knock, knock—

"Who is it?" Ma Hong called out from inside.

"It's me," Ye Beizhi said simply.

The sound of things clattering came from the house. After a moment, a voice came again, "Ye... Brother Ye?"

"Yes."

"Are you..." The voice hesitated. "A person or a ghost?"

Ye Beizhi awkwardly touched his nose. "A person."

The door opened a crack, and Ma Hong's cautious eyes peeked out. He and Ye Beizhi exchanged a glance.

"It's really you, Brother Ye!" Ma Hong burst through the door and exclaimed in surprise. Ma Xiuxiu ran out from inside and hugged Ye Beizhi tightly.

Ye Beizhi nodded at Ma Hong and patted Ma Xiuxiu on the back, signaling her to let go.

"Brother Hong..." Biaozi, who stood by the roadside, waved at Ma Hong.

Ma Hong turned around to welcome Biaozi, but his hand stopped mid-air. His expression froze on his face as he finally noticed Biaozi standing beside two tigers.

"That-that's..." Ma Hong stiffly turned his head to look at Ye Beizhi.

Ye Beizhi glanced at him, then at the two tigers, and said, "Biaozi said they're worth something, so we brought them back." After saying this, he looked at Ma Hong to confirm that he hadn't dragged them down for nothing.

Ma Hong looked like he couldn't decide if he wanted to laugh or cry too. He nodded repeatedly instead and assured, "Yes, yes, they can be sold."

At this moment, Biaozi quickly hugged Ma Hong before asking, "Brother Hong, what's going on here?"

"What do you mean, what’s going on?" Ma Hong was still mentally processing the tigers and felt even more confused than Biaozi at this point.

"Where did everyone go?" Biaozi looked around again, still not seeing anyone in the village.

"Ah! That's right!" Ma Hong suddenly realized, turning to the equally stunned Xiuxiu, saying, "Xiuxiu, go tell everyone there's no need to pack. Tell them the tiger is dead."

He explained to Ye Beizhi and Biaozi, "Everyone thought the two of you were done for, so they're either hiding in their homes or packing up to flee. Anyway, how did you do it?!"

When Biaozi heard Ma Hong ask, his face filled with admiration as he looked at the man who had done the impossible. Ye Beizhi was nonchalantly dusting off his clothes, so Biaozi gathered himself then enthusiastically began recounting their hunt through the forest.

Ma Hong listened in stunned amazement and then looked at Ye Beizhi in a new light. His mouth was wide open as he glanced back and forth between the tigers and Ye Beizhi.

Despite living in his house for so long, Ye Beizhi had never shown any signs of possessing martial arts skills. Although he mentioned having skills before going up the mountain, Ma Hong assumed he knew some basic self-defense techniques. He never expected something so extraordinary.

At this time, villagers began to emerge one after another. They gathered around the dead tigers, pointing and whispering among themselves, occasionally casting furtive glances toward Ye Beizhi and Ma Hong.

Ye Beizhi suddenly tapped Biaozi and pointed toward the back of the crowd. Biaozi followed Ye Beizhi's gaze and saw a figure start running away. From the way they ran away suddenly, Biaozi instantly knew who it was, it was Haozi.

"Hey, isn’t that Haozi?" Ma Hong asked the two, "But why is he still running away ?"

Biaozi gritted his teeth, his eyes reddening. "That bastard! He used me to escape from the mountain!"

"What exactly happened?" Ma Hong asked seriously.

"After you all went down the mountain, he tripped me in front of the tigers, then ran off. He tried to leave me and Brother Ye behind as tiger food!"

Biaozi snorted coldly as he continued, "We would have been in a tiger's belly by the time he returned to the village and no one would have known what he had done.

Hmph

, if it weren’t for Brother Ye, he might have actually gotten away with it!"

Ma Hong's face turned red with rage, his anger palpable as he cursed, "What a vile person!"

At this moment, some of the hunters filtered through the crowd to talk to Biaozi. Some patted Biaozi on the shoulder, while others hugged him, but they all showed great concern for what he had been through.

One relieved hunter greeted Biaozi and said, "I was so sad when Haozi told us you weren’t coming back, but it looks like I worried for nothing! I just saw Haozi on his way home, so he probably doesn’t know about what’s happening here. I’ve already sent someone to call him over!" He pointed. "Look! There he is!"

Everyone looked in the direction he was pointing and saw two young hunters on either side of Haozi, leading him towards them.

Haozi’s fake smile was more like a grimace, and he struggled fiercely. The onlookers thought he was fooling around with the two hunters and laughed loudly.

"Damn him!" Biaozi spat and took giant strides towards Haozi.

Seeing Biaozi coming, Haozi redoubled his struggle and shouted, "Stop! Let me go! Quick, let me go!"

The two young hunters were bewildered. Haozi had been unwilling to come to begin with, and started throwing a tantrum now.

Biaozi rolled up his sleeves, raised his palm up high like a bat, and swung it towards Haozi’s face!

Haozi’s face was filled with despair as a slap loomed larger and larger in his eyes.

Pah!

The crisp sound of the slap echoed throughout the village.

The villagers' cheers fell silent as they looked for what happened.

A few hunters ran over and restrained Biaozi, who wanted to continue slapping Haozi.

"Biaozi! What’s the matter with you?"

"What are you doing?"

"Biaozi, what happened?"

𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝕨𝕖𝗯𝚗𝚘𝕧𝕖𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝕞

Biaozi shook off the crowd but remained silent, glaring angrily at Haozi, who was lying on the ground. Seeing Biaozi's emotional state, Ma Hong stepped forward and recounted what had really happened. The crowd hushed, their emotions were complicated.

Out of the corner of his eye, Ma Hong noticed Ye Beizhi silently walking back into the house. Ye Beizhi was packing his things by the time Ma Hong went back home. Deep down, Ma Hong knew the reason but he couldn’t keep himself from asking, "Brother Ye. What’s this about?"

Ye Beizhi glanced over and continued packing. "It's time to go," he said.

Ma Hong was still for a while before he nodded.

"Take those two beasts," Ye Beizhi abruptly said, "Biaozi said they’re worth a lot."

"How could I do that!" Ma Hong protested, "You killed them, so they should—"

"I can't take them with me," Ye Beizhi said calmly, "Sell them and let Xiuxiu study where she wants."

Ma Hong wanted to object, but couldn't say anything.

Ye Beizhi lowered his head and took out the machete. He gently stroked the blade and returned it to Ma Hong.

"It can't hurt to learn... Xiuxiu is smart."

Ma Hong took the machete, nodded silently, and said no more.

"I'm leaving now," Ye Beizhi said. He set a packed bundle over his shoulder. "I don't know how to tell Xiuxiu... I hope she won't cry again."

Ma Hong wanted to see him off but Ye Beizhi convinced him to stay. He watched as the figure shrank into the setting sun and eventually disappeared beyond the horizon.

The people of the Ma Family Village were busy celebrating around the Tiger King. No one noticed that a passerby, who had stayed in the village for half a month, slip away into the sunset.