The fierce tiger was shot in one leg, becoming even more frenzied. It raised its right front paw, as large as a palm-leaf fan, and swiped at Zhang Mancang.
Zhang Mancang’s face turned pale with fright. He rolled on the spot, tumbling down the slope for five or six metres.
The fierce tiger roared angrily, got up on its remaining three legs, and continued the pursuit.
Whoosh!
Another arrow flew in, hitting the left hind leg.
With both left legs pierced by arrows, the tiger immediately lost balance and fell sideways to the ground with a thud.
Even so, the tiger remained fierce, its two right legs thrashing and digging two large pits in the ground.
The roaring was deafening, scaring the village women until their faces were ashen.
Jin Feng, holding the crossbow from twenty metres away, fired another arrow at the tiger’s head.
With an arrow in its head, the tiger gradually stopped struggling.
Whether in his previous life or this one, this was Jin Feng’s first time facing a fierce tiger directly.
He had not felt it during the high tension earlier, but now that the tiger was dead, Jin Feng realised his heart was pounding like a drum, and his hands holding the crossbow were trembling uncontrollably.
Most of those women who had been clamouring loudly earlier were now scared weak in the legs, sitting on the ground shaking like chaff in a sieve.
They were still better off. Zhang Mancang, who had wandered to the gates of the King of Hell, was even worse. His buttocks were wet in a large patch, he was slumped on the ground shaking nonstop, his teeth chattering loudly, clearly terrified.
“My son!”
Zhang’s old mother ran over, dragged Zhang Mancang to the side, confirmed her son was alright, then knelt on the ground with a thud and kowtowed to Jin Feng.
With the old mother kneeling, Lin Yunfang and the little sister-in-law did not dare stand, quickly kneeling down as well.
Jin Feng was not accustomed to the ancient custom of kneeling and bowing, especially to an elderly person. He quickly reached out to pull Zhang’s old mother up. “Auntie, do not do this. You are so old, kowtowing to me, are you not shortening my life?”
“Little Brother Jin, this is a life-saving grace, you deserve it!”
Zhang’s old mother said crying. “When I go back, I will set up a longevity tablet for you, place it with the ancestral tablets, and worship it for generations!”
“No, no!”
Jin Feng and the arriving village chief together persuaded them and finally pulled the Zhang family members up.
The women, seeing the fierce tiger had been killed, also boldly gathered around.
In troubled times, everyone worshipped the strong.
No matter what Jin Feng was like in the village before, now everyone’s gaze towards him was completely different.
Jin Feng killing the fierce tiger in front of them, saving Zhang Mancang, made these women feel like they were dreaming.
But the tiger lying nearby reminded them this was not a dream.
“Jin… Jin Feng, you are really amazing, killing such a big tiger all by yourself!”
Xiaoyu stared at Jin Feng with sparkling eyes.
Which young girl does not dream of love? Jin Feng had studied from a young age, not exposed to wind and rain, his appearance naturally incomparable to other farm boys.
Not only Xiaoyu’s eyes were sparkling, other girls of marriageable age or women with daughters at home looked at Jin Feng the same way.
Previously, no girls were willing to marry him, fearing starvation after marriage.
But now they saw another side of Jin Feng.
If he could kill a tiger, could he not support a family?
Marrying a tiger-slaying hero, who in the village would dare bully her in the future?
The Third Aunt who had led the attack on Jin Feng earlier now felt her face burning hot.
“Little… Little Feng, earlier it was my fault…”
Third Aunt took the initiative to apologise. Jin Feng was too lazy to argue with a rural old woman, waving his hand. “It is alright, Auntie, it is all in the past.”
“Yes, it is all in the past, no need to mention it.”
The village chief patted Jin Feng’s shoulder, laughing heartily. “Well done! Haha, our Xihewan has produced a tiger-slaying hero. In the future, let us see who dares to look down on us!”
The surrounding Guanjiawan and Tianjiawan were clan villages of the same surname, while Xihewan was a gathering of pitiful people from all over due to wars and famines, naturally not as united as those clan villages, so Xihewan was often bullied by other villages.
Even when horse bandits collected protection money, each household in Xihewan had to pay two extra jin of grain.
Now it is good, Xihewan has a tiger-slaying hero. If other villages want to bully them again, they will have to think twice.
After all, every tiger-slaying hero is not simple, either a skilled hero or an old hunter good at making traps, neither type is easy to provoke.
…
At the foot of the mountain, Guan Xiaorou had been worried all along. After washing the dishes, she went out to find Jin Feng.
Just as she left the village, she heard the tiger’s roar.
Coming to her senses, she could not care about fear and ran madly to the back mountain.
It was already dark, and Jin Feng was surrounded by people. Guan Xiaorou looked around and did not see Jin Feng’s figure, immediately feeling all her strength drained, sitting on the ground and shouting heartbrokenly. “Husband!…”
“Here, here!”
Jin Feng heard Guan Xiaorou’s shout and quickly pushed through the crowd. “Did I not tell you to stay home? Why did you come up the mountain?”
“Husband, are you alright?”
The usually shy Guan Xiaorou, as if not seeing the surrounding people, got up and rushed to Jin Feng’s side, hugging his arm tightly.
Afraid that if she let go, he would fly away.
“I am fine.”
A warmth surged in Jin Feng’s heart. “Just a tiger, I killed it with two arrows.”
Then, pulling Guan Xiaorou through the crowd, he proudly pointed at the tiger on the ground.
Guan Xiaorou recognised at a glance that the arrow stuck in the tiger’s head, with only half remaining, was indeed Jin Feng’s.
Only then did Guan Xiaorou notice that all the surrounding women were looking at her with ambiguous expressions.
She quickly let go of Jin Feng’s arm, her pretty face blushing red.
“Jin Feng’s wife, your man is really capable, you will be blessed in the future.”
Third Aunt teased. “It is different after marriage, becoming a man who can kill tigers.”
“Auntie, do not say that. Xiaorou has thin skin, if you make her cry, I will have to coax her.”
Jin Feng saw that Guan Xiaorou was so shy she almost buried her head in her clothes, smiling as he protected her behind him.
“Yo yo yo, protecting her already?”
“Jin Feng’s wife, what is there to be shy about? Your husband killed the tiger, we are all happy for you.”
“I think you are jealous!”
“So what if I am jealous? Tigers are valuable, and sending it to the county office gets a reward. Are you not jealous?”
“Jin Feng’s wife has such a good life.”
Many women looked at Guan Xiaorou with thick envy in their eyes.
In this era, women’s status was low. Men beat or scolded as they wished. Men like Jin Feng who protected their wives were rare.
Most importantly, Jin Feng killed the tiger alone. Whether selling the tiger or the official reward, it was all his.
This was a large sum of money. Spending frugally, they would not worry for several years or even over a decade.
No mother-in-law oppressing above, the head of the family is a scholar who knows how to care for others, and suddenly getting such a large sum of money…
It would be strange if the other women in the village did not envy Guan Xiaorou.
