Chapter 60: Retaliating Against the Tian Family, A Burning Spectacle in the Town

Afterward, Chu Feng brought Wang Wei and Sun Can back to the village, never mentioning the matter of revenge again.

During the past few days, Chu Feng acted truly like an ordinary mountain patroller in the village. Every day, with nothing better to do, he would take a stroll up the mountain, though generally he would not go beyond the first peak. Because the snow was getting deeper, he only patrolled the outer areas. After making his daily rounds, he would return home.

To help Benben quickly adapt to the feeling of accompanying Chu Feng on patrols, Chu Feng had taken Benben up the mountain with him over the past few days. Four legs were simply faster than two, and most of the time, Benben ran ahead of Chu Feng. Later on, Chu Feng also brought Huahua along. Huahua was lighter and could even walk across the snow—provided it was the frozen crust.

Everyone who met Chu Feng marveled at the two animals he brought along. A dog was one thing, but a large tiger cub could actually accompany Chu Feng day in and day out.

Chu Feng had no intention of hunting these days. The money earned from a bear and a tiger was enough that Chu Feng would not need to hunt on the mountain for the rest of his life. However, the ancient saying was never wrong: an innocent man bears a crime by harboring a jade ring. He had discussed this with Wang Wei and Sun Can as well. Even with a windfall of wealth, it could not be casually exposed. Chu Feng told them to live their lives just as normally as before. As for that money, they should act as if it did not exist.

Over the past few days, earth-shaking changes had been taking place in both the town and the village. The officials came to collect grain once more. The grain collected from Peach Blossom Village and Creek Village was not very optimistic, but everyone in Jade Dragon Village handed over their grain. To be honest, this was entirely thanks to Chu Feng.

Following this grain collection, the New Year was drawing even closer. Thus, the people in the town were astonished to discover that all the soldiers of Snow Iron City had returned to the front lines. The reason was that those Great Xia soldiers had suddenly launched an attack as the New Year approached, hoping to catch the Great Qian forces off guard. If not for Great Qian's constant patrols on the front lines, Great Xia might actually have broken through.

War broke out once again. The demand for grain was even greater this time. Unable to collect enough from the villages, the authorities had no choice but to set their sights on the town, targeting those who still had some savings left at home. As the wealthiest family in the town, Master Tian was the first to step forward, contributing five thousand bushels of grain.

When this news reached the ears of Wang Wei and Sun Can, the two of them were almost bursting with rage. They had claimed their family had no money, yet this five thousand bushels of grain was equivalent to five thousand taels of silver. Could this truly be called having no money?

At the same time, with the outbreak of war, military activities from the Great Xia side gradually increased. Liao Ziang specially brought government bailiffs up to instruct Chu Feng to pay closer attention to Jade Dragon Mountain over the next few days. Chu Feng merely nodded.

Two days later, during the night, Chu Feng summoned Wang Wei and Sun Can.

"The time for revenge has come," Chu Feng said.

The eyes of the two lit up instantly.

"Brother Feng, why choose to take revenge only now?"

This was something neither Wang Wei nor Sun Can could understand.

Chu Feng smiled and said, "If we had taken revenge on the very day we sold the tiger, how high do you think the chances would be of us getting caught?"

The two fell silent instantly. If they had sold the tiger at the Tian estate and then attacked the Tian family right after walking out, they wouldn't even have needed a government investigation; the surrounding eyewitnesses would have been enough to put them away.

Now, nearly ten days had passed since their transaction with the Tian family, and there had been no contact between them whatsoever. In other words, Chu Feng, Wang Wei, and Sun Can had no connection to the Tian family at present. Even if they truly struck against the Tian family, the authorities would never suspect them because they lacked a motive.

Taking advantage of the night, after ensuring Zhou Xiaoxiao and Chu Miaomiao were fast asleep, Chu Feng quietly dressed and left the room.

Wang Wei and Sun Can had been waiting there for a long time. Having lived in Jade Dragon Village for so long, they were quite familiar with the neighboring Snow Ridge Town. There was a curfew at night, and normally one could not enter, but these two knew of a secret passage that led into the town.

They carried a total of six animal-skin scrolls with them. By now, Chu Feng had grown used to calling these homemade explosives animal-skin scrolls. It was simply because there were no bamboo groves nearby; otherwise, Chu Feng might have used bamboo as a container material. Animal skin still absorbed some of the kinetic energy and reduced the destructive power slightly, but against the Tian family, it was more than enough.

They did not go to the Tian family's main residence, but rather to the back of the estate—the Tian family's granary. Although the Tian family had shorted them three hundred taels of silver, they had still given them two hundred taels, not bullying them too thoroughly. They didn't feel the need to take Master Tian's life, especially Wang Wei and Sun Can, neither of whom had ever killed anyone. At first, the two had been quite impulsive, planning to break in and fight Master Tian to the death. Later, after being stopped by Chu Feng and thinking it over carefully, they decided to burn down Master Tian's granary instead.

Anyway, the five thousand bushels of grain inside had already been transported away, and Master Tian had proclaimed to the outside world that his granary was currently empty, holding not a single grain. Burning an empty granary would exact revenge on Master Tian without having to worry about causing massive losses, and it would unburden the hearts of the three of them.

"Get some firewood, don't just think about the explosions."

"And charcoal, it can prolong the burning time."

"Don't light it now. If you light it now and then throw the animal-skin scroll in, it will just put the fire out."

"Add a bit of refined fire oil."

Although these items were quite expensive, Chu Feng and the other two had already begun subconsciously collecting materials for revenge prior to this. They had gathered quite a bit over the past few days, and the three of them intended to use all of it in this act of vengeance.

Once all the items were piled around the granary, the three of them lit the animal-skin scrolls in their hands, tossed them toward the Tian family warehouse, and turned to run.

As for how badly this warehouse would burn or what consequences it would cause, it no longer concerned the three of them. No one lived nearby anyway, and even if there was any grain inside, there couldn't be much. They just wanted to teach the Tian family a lesson, nothing more.

A violent explosion rang out, and flames instantly soared into the sky, looking exceptionally striking amidst the heavy snow.

The three of them happily left the town once again through the secret passage. Even outside the town, they could see the raging fire.

Wang Wei asked with some confusion, "Didn't they say the warehouse was empty? Why is the fire burning so fiercely?"

Sun Can shook his head and said, "Who knows? Stop looking, let's hurry up and leave."

"When we get back, don't forget to hide your animal-skin scrolls, the deeper the better, and don't tell your families," Chu Feng reminded them.

The two of them understood this much. They returned home late into the night, and when they left, none of their family members had any idea. When Chu Feng lay back down in bed, the quilt was still warm, as if he had never left at all.

It wasn't until the next day, when the authorities rushed into the village with men, that Chu Feng realized things had blown up. Du大海 began pounding furiously on Chu Feng's door. Chu Feng hadn't slept for long before he threw on a coat and walked out.

"Hurry up, let's go!" Du Dahai called out.

Rubbing his sleep-blurred eyes, Chu Feng asked with some puzzlement, "What's going on?"

"The county magistrate and the bailiffs have all come to our village!"

Hearing those two names, Chu Feng instantly woke up. The county magistrate and the bailiffs had come to his village? Could it be that these two had discovered something?

A bit nervous, Chu Feng followed behind Du Dahai, wondering whether he should flee. But his wife and children were all here—how could he possibly escape?

Liu Xi and Liao Ziang were both waiting inside Du Dahai's house. The warm kang bed was burning, so the two of them weren't cold. Liao Ziang held a map in his hand. Seeing Chu Feng arrive, he immediately said to Liu Xi,

"This is the mountain patroller of Jade Dragon Mountain. You've met him before; I don't need to elaborate on how capable he is. With his help this time, we'll surely accomplish twice the result with half the effort."

Hearing this, Chu Feng finally understood. It turned out they weren't here to look for trouble with him; he had simply frightened himself for nothing.