Betrayal

Everything in the room could be taken in at a glance.

A wooden bed, a table with a broken leg, some jars in the corner, and a few strips of dried meat hanging on the wall.

"It doesn't look like there's much here. Could we really have wronged him?"

"Hey, there's a box here."

Laizi's sharp eyes spotted it, and he pointed to the corner.

Pizi strode over. A few stones were weighing down the box.

He lifted the lid and saw a ball of fur, a dark-brown animal curled up in the hay-lined corner.

Sensing the movement, the sable raised its head in alarm and let out a faint squeak.

"Oh, my goodness! It's a sable! And it's alive!" Pizi drew in a sharp breath, his eyes instantly bulging as his breathing quickened.

"Th-this thing would fetch a fortune in the county town!"

"Even if we split it three ways, each of us could get at least a few taels of silver."

"Brother Chen Qing, see? I told you I was right. This guy's definitely got something valuable!"

Pizi and Laizi were already fantasizing about taking the money to the county town's taverns and brothels to enjoy themselves.

Chen Qing stood behind the two of them, his brows tightly furrowed.

Truthfully, they were all hunters who lived off the mountains, and none of them were easy to mess with.

If someone shot an arrow into your back while you were out in the mountains, there'd be no way to guard against it!

So hunters from the same village usually only had minor disputes. No one deliberately let things get out of hand.

If they stole Li Yuan's sable, that would be a different matter altogether.

Cutting off someone's livelihood was no different from killing their parents.

"Brother Chen, are you afraid that guy will come after us?"

Pizi noticed Chen Qing's hesitation and asked at once.

"It's not that I'm afraid, it's just..."

"Damn it, the bastard snuck in here with us, and now he's still putting on an act."

Pizi cursed inwardly, but a smile spread across his face as he said:

"Brother Chen, every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost!

"Think about it. Your big brother needs money for the Martial Arts Hall, and we have taxes to pay. Money's needed everywhere.

"We'd be sacrificing just one Li Yuan to benefit all three of us."

Pizi kept trying to sway Chen Qing.

"Mm-hmm!" Laizi wasn't good with words. He exchanged a glance with Pizi and nodded along repeatedly.

"Your big brother's training at the Martial Arts Hall. Even if that guy finds out, would he dare come after you?"

"If he insists on revenge, then we might as well..."

As he spoke, Pizi made a slicing motion across his throat.

The reason Pizi had brought Chen Qing along was to have someone else take the blame.

They were afraid too—afraid Li Yuan would come after them if he found out!

With Chen Qing involved, they could claim the whole idea had been his, and had nothing to do with them.

"That's true. We could borrow it for now. Once my big brother's martial arts have improved and my life gets easier, I could always throw Li Yuan a bone."

Chen Qing was swayed by their words and began weighing the pros and cons.

After a moment, Chen Qing finally gave a firm nod.

Seeing that Chen Qing had agreed, Pizi and Laizi were overjoyed and hurried to grab the sable and carry it away.

"Idiots!" Chen Qing scolded. "You'd steal a gold ingot from someone else's house and then go around showing it off? Take the box too."

Now that he'd made up his mind, Chen Qing was on his guard.

The two men hurriedly lifted the wooden box and, after some fumbling, carried it out of Li Yuan's house.

The snow still hadn't stopped. Flakes drifted down, turning the ground white.

"Take the back paths. Fewer people," Chen Qing said.

They didn't dare take the main road. Instead, they chose secluded paths out of the village, planning to take the sable straight to the county town and sell it.

All along the way, Pizi and Laizi excitedly calculated how much they could sell it for, imagining how they'd use the money to win back their losses at the gambling den and have fun at the brothels.

Chen Qing, however, remained silent, watching the two men ahead of him with an unreadable gleam in his eyes.

Pizi's words kept circling in his mind.

Every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost!

"Even if it sells for more than ten taels, how much would I get after splitting it three ways?"

What if he had it all to himself?

As soon as the thought took root, it spread like a vine, growing wildly.

Chen Qing's breathing grew more and more ragged.

Pizi and Laizi were nothing but a pair of hangers-on. They mooched off him every day, lazy and good-for-nothing, and useless when it mattered.

Whenever they ran into danger in the mountains, those two were always the first to run.

"Those two are a blight on the village. I'm doing everyone a favor by getting rid of them." Chen Qing found himself an excuse.

Killing them would be like tossing two stones into the mountains—no one would ever know.

Out here in the wilderness, with snow blanketing everything, it was the perfect time to strike!

Chen Qing quietly felt the woodcutter's axe tucked behind his waist. Once the urge to kill took hold, it was impossible to suppress.

After walking for nearly half an hour, they reached a secluded hollow in the mountains. All around them, only the wind and snow howled.

Chen Qing glanced around, then suddenly stopped and panted.

"Let's rest a bit. Carrying this box is exhausting."

Pizi and Laizi didn't think much of it. They set the box down and dropped onto the snow, rubbing their sore shoulders.

"Damn, this box is heavy," Pizi complained.

"Heh, the heavier the better. That means we'll get more silver for it," Laizi replied.

Chen Qing walked behind Laizi and kindly brushed the snow off him. He chimed in, "That's right. Once we've sold it, we can all go to the brothels and..."

Before he could finish, a vicious glint flashed in Chen Qing's eyes. He suddenly drew his axe and swung it with all his strength at the back of Laizi's neck!

With a muffled thud, the expression on Laizi's face froze. He didn't even make a sound before pitching forward onto the ground.

Warm blood gushed out, staining a wide patch of snow crimson.

Pizi, standing nearby, was stunned by the sudden turn of events. He gaped at Chen Qing, frozen like a wooden chicken.

Then he looked at Laizi, still twitching on the ground, and found himself unable to say a word.

"Ch-Chen Qing... you..." Pizi trembled all over, his teeth chattering.

He couldn't begin to imagine that he would have to pay with his life over a little silver.

Chen Qing remained expressionless as he pulled out the axe, a few drops of blood splashing onto his face.

He walked toward Pizi step by step, his voice cold. "Alas, every man for himself, and the devil take the hindmost.

"Dividing the money from the sable three ways would be too little.

"Go in peace. May you be born into a better family in your next life."

"No! Brother Chen Qing! I don't want the money! You can have the sable! Let me go! I swear I won't..." Pizi scrambled backward in terror, pleading incoherently.

But Chen Qing didn't listen. He caught up in a single step and brought his axe down.

Pizi's pleas cut off abruptly, and he followed Laizi to his end.

Chen Qing looked at the two bodies, still warm in the snow. Their blood stood out starkly against the pure white ground.

"Those two were so poor they didn't even have two taels of silver between them."

After searching their bodies, Chen Qing quickly tidied up the scene, then tossed both corpses into the woods nearby.

The wild beasts would take care of them tonight.

Once everything was done, he didn't dare linger. He hoisted the wooden box onto his shoulder, figured out which way to go, and hurried toward the county town.

The snow fell thick and fast. Before long, it had buried every trace, as if nothing had ever happened.