From the left, three men approached, each carrying four or five long, slender Fraxinus mandschurica sticks.

The man leading the way was short, looking to be only about five-foot-three.

The two men behind him were powerfully built, yet they walked timidly.

Li Baoyu fixed his gaze on the pair and sneered, "Well, well, if it isn’t Li Dachen and Li Erchen. What’s this? You two going to hunt a Black Bear’s Den again?"

The last time they met, Li Baoyu had still called them "brother." This time, however, he was using their full names.

Hearing Li Baoyu’s sarcastic words, Li Dachen and Li Erchen’s faces turned bright red, but they dared not say a word.

"Hey, Baoyu, how’d you know we were going to hunt a Black Bear’s Den?" The short man failed to catch the jab in Li Baoyu’s words and simply replied in surprise. "This fall, while I was picking Yuan Mushrooms, I found a big den in a linden tree. It’s an old one. A Black Bear had scraped the inside completely smooth, so we came to hunt it today."

"Heh." Li Baoyu let out another cold laugh, not sparing the Li Brothers any embarrassment. He said to the short man, "Brother Zhang, you still dare to hunt a Black Bear with these two? Aren’t you worried they’ll screw you over?"

The short man’s name was Zhang Yuanmin. His legs were so short that when he stood, it looked like he didn’t have any hips. As a result, no matter what kind of pants he wore, they always looked baggy in the crotch.

So, ever since he was a child, he’d had a nickname: Zhang Big Pants.

While foraging in the mountains last fall, Zhang Yuanmin discovered a tree hollow. There were Black Bear claw marks on the bark outside the opening.

Back in the fall, the Black Bear wouldn’t have moved in yet, so Zhang Yuanmin worked up his courage, climbed up, and peered inside.

The inside was perfectly smooth, without a trace of rotten wood. Zhang Yuanmin knew at once that a Black Bear had tidied it up, preparing to hibernate there for the winter.

From that moment on, Zhang Yuanmin had the idea of coming to kill the bear once winter set in.

But he didn’t have a gun, so he’d have to rely on a Large Axe. That was extremely dangerous, which meant he absolutely had to find some help.

So, Zhang Yuanmin sought out his neighbors, Li Dachen and Li Erchen.

The two families were next-door neighbors, just like the Zhaos and the Lis. Zhang Yuanmin figured that as neighbors, the two brothers had to be reliable.

The key was that on the day Zhao Jun saved the Li Brothers, he only took the Bear Gall and left the entire Black Bear for them.

The two brothers brought the Black Bear home. As their neighbor, Zhang Yuanmin came over to help skin it and took the opportunity to ask them about the hunt.

Naturally, Li Dachen and Li Erchen were too embarrassed to tell the truth. They just said they were on the mountain helping a trapper and had lent a hand.

After the bear was killed, the trapper took the Bear Gall and gave the Black Bear to them.

The words were spoken casually, but they sparked an idea in Zhang Yuanmin.

As soon as he heard the two brothers had experience with a Black Bear Den, he got the idea of asking the Li Brothers to join him on the hunt.

From that day on, Zhang Yuanmin asked them several times.

But the Li Brothers always made excuses and put him off.

The reason was simple: they were afraid.

After being chased and pounced on by the Black Bear last time, they had been scared witless. Forget hunting a Black Bear Den; even hearing someone mention a Black Bear gave them the jitters.

But why did they still come?

The reason was also simple: they needed money.

Both brothers were of marrying age, but because their family had struggled without a grain allotment for years, no girl’s family was willing to let her marry either of them.

As they say, men will die for riches, and these men had to work hard to get wives.

After much deliberation, the Li Brothers finally grabbed their axes and followed Zhang Yuanmin up the mountain. However, since Zhao Jun had confiscated their Mirror-Like Large Axe, they could only bring the family’s wood-chopping axe.

Along the way, Zhang Yuanmin picked out and cut down Fraxinus mandschurica trees as thick as a forearm, then carried them as they walked up.

It was exhausting work, carrying those long sticks through the forest. They were constantly getting snagged on branches and bumping into trees.

As they walked, the three heard a gunshot not far away. Zhang Yuanmin wanted to see who fired it. If it was an acquaintance, he could invite them to hunt the Black Bear together.

Although one more person meant one more person to split the money with, having a gun was, after all, a safer bet.

But after hearing what Li Baoyu said, Zhang Yuanmin knew there was a story there. He turned to look at Li Dachen and Li Erchen. When the two brothers met Zhang Yuanmin’s gaze, they quickly lowered their heads.

Seeing this, Zhang Yuanmin understood completely. He gathered the five Fraxinus mandschurica sticks on his shoulder, stood them on the ground, and turned to ask, "What’s going on here?"

"Brother Zhang, it’s like this." At this point, Zhao Jun spoke up and briefly recounted the events of that day to Zhang Yuanmin.

Before Zhao Jun could even finish, Zhang Yuanmin pointed at the two brothers and exploded, "Are you two even human? Zhao Jun risked his life to help you, and you just abandoned him..."

Li Dachen and Li Erchen were overcome with shame. Li Dachen stepped forward, bowed deeply to Zhao Jun, and said sincerely, "Brother, we were wrong. What we did was inhuman."

At this, Li Erchen also stepped forward and bowed. It took him several seconds to choke out a few words: "Brother Zhao Jun, I apologize. If you’re still angry, you can hit us a few times."

"That’s right," Zhang Yuanmin chimed in from the side. He pulled one of the five sticks from under his left arm, handed it to Zhao Jun, and said, "Brother, why don’t you take this and give them a few whacks."

Although Zhang Yuanmin said this, he was actually trying to resolve the conflict. Given what Li Dachen and Li Erchen had done, Zhao Jun would have been well within his rights to give them a sound beating. 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Moreover, if Zhao Jun really did beat them, the conflict would be resolved, which would actually be a good thing for the Li Brothers.

Hearing this, Zhao Jun smiled, shook his head, and said, "No need, Brother Zhang. What’s past is past."

"You guys go on and hunt your Black Bear’s Den. Baoyu and I will be leaving."

Since Zhao Jun had put it that way, Zhang Yuanmin knew that getting him to join their party was impossible.

He could, unless he kicked Li Dachen and Li Erchen out. But they were neighbors who saw each other constantly; he couldn’t bring himself to do something so humiliating.

So, Zhang Yuanmin could only say goodbye to Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu. As they were leaving, Li Baoyu added, "Brother Zhang, if you’re going with those two, you’d better be careful. Don’t let them abandon you if something happens."

"They won’t. They won’t this time." What else could Zhang Yuanmin say? That was his only possible reply.

As for Li Dachen and Li Erchen, they could only stand there in a daze, letting Li Baoyu verbally jab at them.

Zhang Yuanmin watched Zhao Jun leave, then turned back, his gaze shifting between the Li Brothers.

Li Dachen felt his skin crawl under the stare. Unable to stand it any longer, he asked, "Brother Zhang, what is it?"

As soon as Li Dachen spoke, Zhang Yuanmin fixed his gaze on him. "When we go after the den in a bit, if we run into danger, you two aren’t going to run, are you?"

"We won’t, we won’t." The two brothers waved their hands repeatedly, making all sorts of promises to Zhang Yuanmin.

Zhang Yuanmin nodded and asked Li Dachen, "Dachen, how exactly did you guys hunt that Black Bear? How did you manage to screw it up so badly?"

Li Dachen recounted their fumbled attempt from that day. When Zhang Yuanmin heard that they had tried to block the den’s opening with two large wooden logs, he laughed.

Zhang Yuanmin hoisted the five Fraxinus mandschurica sticks onto his shoulder and said to Li Dachen with a grin, "You two have no experience. You can’t block a den opening like that. Today, you watch and learn."

Li Dachen continued his story. When he mentioned that Li Erchen’s axe swing had missed the Black Bear, Zhang Yuanmin laughed again. He pointed at Li Erchen and said, "Your little brother has no experience, so why did you let him make the strike? Today, you watch and learn!"