Stewing the Dog

At that moment, more than a dozen people had gathered around the Qiao brothers.

Most of them were village idlers. Without anyone noticing, the Qiao brothers had gathered them to their side.

"Old village chief, stay out of this.

That brat Song Cheng came to my house with a knife to hack someone down. He only had himself to blame for the beating I gave him."

Qiao Shanhe spoke coldly.

"You're old, so you should be enjoying a peaceful life at home. Don't come out and stick your nose where it doesn't belong!"

His words left the old village chief gasping for breath, his face turning alternately pale and green.

"How can you talk to the village chief like that, you little brat? When we were killing men on the battlefield, who knows where you little bastard were still suckling at the breast!"

The first to stand up for the old village chief were naturally the other old men, every one of them bristling and glaring.

But Qiao Shanhe paid them no mind. He sneered. "That's all stale sesame and rotten grain. You old things have one foot in the grave already, so stay out of this."

At that moment, the members of the Qin clan naturally stepped forward to defend the old village chief.

The two sides were at daggers drawn, their confrontation on the verge of turning violent.

This time, quite a few people stood by and watched.

Relationships in the countryside were tangled and complicated. Go back a few generations, and anyone might turn out to be related.

There were many matters people couldn't easily get involved in.

They were united against outsiders, but there were plenty of conflicts among themselves.

Qin Yan watched it all, his eyes narrowing slightly. The Qiao family had risen rapidly.

They no longer paid much regard to respected elders like the old village chief.

Quite a few people had noticed this too and had lost their sense of respect for the old village chief.

His prestige had naturally diminished a great deal compared to before.

In the future, perhaps no one would pay the old man any attention.

The Qiao family was challenging the old village chief's authority, seeking to become the local tyrants who stood above everyone else.

The old village chief also noticed the delicate situation, and his face turned ashen.

If a clash broke out, both sides would surely suffer. If anyone was killed or injured, even his fellow Qin clansmen might come to resent him.

He was caught between a rock and a hard place.

"Stop!"

The old village chief called for everyone to quiet down.

The Qiao brothers also gave the people around them a look, and the tense standoff immediately fell quiet.

"Qiao Shanhe, your family was in the wrong first. You must give the Song family an accounting!"

The old village chief's face was grim, but his voice was utterly resolute.

Whether for the sake of his own face or his authority as village chief, he had to step forward.

He had made up his mind to back the Song family. Otherwise, people's loyalties would scatter.

Seeing how serious the old village chief was,

Qiao Shanhe, who had been somewhat dismissive, slightly reined in his arrogant expression.

He was weighing the pros and cons. For the sake of a minor matter, going against the highly respected village chief was clearly somewhat hard to understand.

But he soon thought of a solution and smiled maliciously.

"It was indeed our fault that our dog bit someone. We'll definitely pay compensation, but give us a little more time."

The old village chief was taken aback. He hadn't expected the Qiao family to suddenly back down.

Qiao Shanhe looked at Song Cheng. "We'll pay for our dog biting your son.

But you came to my place unreasonably, wanting to hack someone down. You deserved the beating I gave you.

If you don't accept that, we can go to the yamen.

As for the money, I'm short right now. Come back in a couple of days."

With the Qiao family backing down, the matter was put to rest for the time being.

Only then did the crowd gradually disperse.

"Big brother, are we really going to pay?"

Qiao Shansheng's face was full of resentment. "That old bastard used his position as village chief to give us a hard time.

If he really pisses me off, I'll go break his legs."

Qiao Shansheng looked vicious. If his big brother hadn't stopped him today, he would have acted long ago.

"Pay? What are you thinking?"

Qiao Shanhe sneered. "We'll drag it out and just say we have no money to pay.

Doesn't that old bastard like standing up for people? This time, I'd like to see what he can do to us."

As far as my attitude goes, I'm willing to pay, but the problem is I have no money.

When the time came, they wouldn't be the ones roasting over the fire.

As long as they brought the old man down, the village would be a tray of loose sand. Then the Qiao family would have the final say over everything here.

Qin Yan helped take Father Song home and also saw Song Bao's younger brother. The broken limb had already been simply bandaged, and the piece of flesh on his face was almost falling off.

Even if he recovered, he would be disfigured.

The old village chief had also sent someone to fetch a barefoot doctor early on.

Everyone stayed at the house until the afternoon.

"Brother Yan, do you think the Qiao family will pay?"

Qin An couldn't help asking as they left.

"Almost certainly not." Qin Yan shook his head. "The Qiao family never intended to pay."

"Then what will Song Bao's family do? Uncle Song and Xiao Fu both have broken arms. I'm afraid the days ahead won't be easy for them!"

Chen Ergou said.

"Let's give them more help for the next little while."

Qin Yan spoke to the two of them.

"Okay!"

The two nodded.

After returning home, Qin Yan sat cross-legged and thought about what had happened that day.

It was an indisputable fact that the Qiao family no longer took the old village chief seriously.

Quite a few people had also gathered around the Qiao family.

Most were troublemaking hooligans who bullied honest people and kicked at widows' doors.

Besides them, there were also some clan brothers connected by family ties.

If things had really come to a head today, casualties would surely have been unavoidable.

"Those two brothers, Qiao Shanhe and the other one, don't strike me as much. But there's the third Qiao brother, Qiao Shanwei. I heard he's a minor boss in a gang and has already reached Martial Dao Initiation.

I wonder how strong he is!"

Qin Yan wasn't sure. If he had the chance, he still needed to go to town and see him.

"But tonight, I'll collect a little interest."

Night deepened, and clouds and mist hid the moon.

Darkness blanketed the entire village. The chirping of insects in the countryside reached his ears, with a dog barking once or twice now and then.

The Qiao home!

There was a sudden movement in the doghouse near the gate. A sturdy black dog poked his head out, his eyes glowing an eerie green as he looked around warily.

Bang!

A heavy blow gave him no chance to react. The black dog's head split open in an instant, and he collapsed stiffly to the ground without making a sound.

After twitching a few times, he went completely still.

"This big black dog really is fat. He must be close to a hundred jin!"

In the darkness, Qin Yan flashed a mouthful of white teeth. He took out a sack and stuffed the dog inside, then tapped the wall with his toes and easily vaulted over it.

"This smells really good!"

At the old house, Qin Yan had already skinned and gutted the black dog and stewed a pot of fragrant dog meat.

Qin Yan grinned as he spoke.

Before dawn, Qin Yan picked up a sack and went to Song Bao's house.

"Brother Yan!"

Song Bao was a little surprised to see him.

"Uncle Song and the others were badly hurt, so I brought them something nourishing!"

With that, Qin Yan handed him the sack.

When Song Bao opened it and looked inside, he was startled. Then he looked at Qin Yan gratefully.

Although it had been skinned, Song Bao recognized it as dog meat at a glance. And with a dog this big, it could only have been the Qiao family's black dog.