Yan Fei had realized that the trouble he’d stirred up was more significant than he had imagined, but he didn’t have any solutions. He was determined, dead set, on not admitting he was the one responsible, so whatever happened, happened!
It was still early in the day, so he took Xu Xiaoyan off to cook some food.
Regardless of whatever in the world was going on, having a full stomach was the most important thing.
Having just learned how to transform into a giant python, he needed more sustenance now more than ever. Moreover, he had transformed back and forth all night, using quite a bit of energy; his stomach felt empty if he didn’t eat something soon.
Heizi came back looking rather downbeat before they had finished cooking.
He immediately started ranting, "Well, we’ve got soldiers descending into the village, all armed to the teeth! The local patrol is carrying guns as well, going over to patrol the area around the West River. Their swagger is really something!"
Yan Fei was annoyed at Heizi’s lack of focus, "If they’re so impressive, why didn’t you continue watching?"
Heizi tilted his head back and grinned, "I’m not that dumb! They’re talking about a giant snake! What can some small handguns do against that? I think your big hammer is much more reliable, so I decided to stay here in the courtyard!"
This guy was indeed not dumb. Watching his triumphant departure left Yan Fei and Xu Xiaoyan speechless.
Seeing Xu Xiaoyan still looked worried, Yan Fei decided to expand his lie a bit further. "You know why I wasn’t scared when I saw the giant snake? I didn’t tell you before because I didn’t want you to worry. At that moment, I was thinking about capturing it, and we even had a skirmish."
When he said this, Xu Xiaoyan widened her eyes at him, and he continued with a dismissive air, "That snake doesn’t have any skills. It can only slither a bit. After it failed to bite me a few times, it tried to escape. But how could I let it go? I grabbed its tail and shook it around a few times, and it was out of luck."
"I didn’t have anything handy at the time, but since it was incapacitated, I thought about finding something to drag it back and kill it for its meat. But that rascal played dead; when I wasn’t paying attention, it slid into the river. I didn’t see it because it was pitch black, so it got away."
Xu Xiaoyan looked at him, fluctuating between belief and disbelief, "Really? Why didn’t you tell me before?"
"Of course, it’s true." Yan Fei was becoming more comfortable with his lies. "If it wasn’t for you calling me reckless and being scared of snakes, I would have told you earlier. Actually, it wasn’t that big. Just a small python. You’ve seen people catch snakes before, right? With my strength, it’d turn into a soft-shelled shrimp in a second. Simple"
The girl started to believe him, asking for more details.
Yan Fei sighed inwardly, trying his best to maintain his web of lies until the food was done, at last making her believe him.
As the two of them were eating, Lin Baoguo arrived.
Just as Heizi had reported, the local patrol had indeed come out with their guns. Lin Baoguo even had his gun openly displayed, probably to appease people.
When Lin Baoguo saw that they were consuming their meal nonchalantly, as though oblivious of the situation outside, he stared blankly at them.
Once he found out that they were already aware, he repeated the same set of words that Yan Fei had gotten tired of hearing by the afternoon: be careful, believe in the existence of the snake rather than dismiss it, and pay attention to any movement around them at night, etc.
Yan Fei was getting impatient. He thought about the sorry state the two men at the outpost were in at noon and quickly invited Lin Baoguo over, "Come eat something first! Like I said, I’m not scared, so you don’t have to worry!"
Lin Baoguo probably hadn’t had much leisure that day, going by the muddy state of his pants. He must have been hungry, because once Xu Xiaoyan served him food, he wolfed down half a plate of dishes with a handful of chopsticks.
After gulping down a full bowl of rice, he prepared to leave immediately, only turning at the doorway to comment on Yan Fei, "Were you bored or something that you set up this thing by the main entrance? Just trying to show off because you had too much to eat? I moved it aside."
As he spoke, he reached out to take it, apparently intending to set it aside.
Stretching his arm and pulling on it, he exclaimed, "Oh?", then felt it again with both hands. "This thing’s completely made of iron. What use do you have for it? I thought it was something else!"
"That’s the hammer I prepared. If a giant snake shows up, I’ll butcher it and stew it." Yan Fei chuckled gloatingly.
"Ha, keep fooling around! Is this thing iron all the way through? Must weigh around 200 catties, right? No, wait..." Lin Baoguo said, flicking the head of the hammer. "It’s solid? Well, isn’t that something. I bet even that snake’s skull isn’t as hard as this. Alright, alright, I need to get going. You take care!"
After bidding farewell to the hurried Lin Baoguo, Yan Fei and Xu Xiaoyan slowly began to tidy up their dishes.
Even before they had finished cleaning up, Lin Baoguo hurried back, immediately calling out to Yan Fei, "Xiao Fei, I need to discuss something with you!"
"What’s going on?" Yan Fei wondered. Lin Baoguo was talking to him in such a good-tempered way which was unusual. Why did it make him feel so uneasy?
"Aren’t we on patrol tonight? I’m thinking of having you join the patrol team as well. You don’t have to do anything else, you just need to carry your big iron hammer around with us a couple times, how does that sound?" Sure enough, it was not a good thing; they just wanted to seize him for laborious work.
"No ’um’, let’s get going. Hurry up. It’s getting dark. We need to reassure the people first, let them go home and prepare dinner!" As Lin Baoguo was speaking, he forcefully ’conscripted’ Yan Fei. Then he reassured Xu Xiaoyan: "Don’t worry, several of us have guns! Nothing will happen! We just need to show a presence!"
The pit he had dug himself was now big enough to ’bury’ him too.
Carrying the big iron hammer with a strained look on his face, Yan Fei followed Lin Baoguo towards the Village Entrance along the main road.
As he walked, he explained to Yan Fei. Hadn’t they brought guns just now? But some people said that the big python was too big, and these small pistols would not harm it. Given that, they probably couldn’t kill the large snake at all.
The armed forces from the county had gone to the villages near the border with the neighboring county. They were guarding the river side there strictly. The town was then given to their police stations to patrol. This was their last resort, to have Yan Fei carry the big hammer around.
As they neared the Village Entrance, more people were watching by the riverside. Once they arrived, Lin Baoguo shouted: "Everyone should feel at ease and go home! It’s no big deal, look, I have even brought out this big strong guy. See this big hammer? Whatever snakehead, nothing could withstand one hit of it."
After yelling, he called Yan Fei: "Come, Xiao Fei, give everyone a performance..."
He then pointed to a few huge rocks randomly scattered on the river bank, indicating for Yan Fei to perform smashing them with the big hammer.
Yan Fei was already the center of attention when he initially carried the big hammer. Now with everyone staring at him, he felt miserable.
It wasn’t the fact that he was being watched that bothered him; he couldn’t care less about what others thought of him.
But the key point was! If there really was a big python, he wouldn’t mind performing, just as a favor for his uncle!
But he knew better than anyone else that this was his own doing; He had dug himself into a pit, and now its his turn to jump in. It was incredibly frustrating!
He could handle being the center of everyone’s attention, but when he saw Lin Baoguo’s gaze, which was full of mixed emotions- hope, expectation, threat, Yan Fei simply... couldn’t be bothered to even talk anymore.
Back then, when he had lifted his hammer, he remembered saying to Xu Xiaoyan, "I’m thinking ... of performing on the streets with it. I do the knife dance, you collect money. If anyone dares not to appreciate our performance, I’ll teach them a lesson. Ask them if they’re scared of such a giant knife..."
Now the knife hasn’t been forged yet, the hammer had to be used for ’performing’. And it was a performance that was destined to not collect any appreciation fee.
What more can be said at this point?
It’s my hole to dig, my pit to jump in!
While thinking this, he lifted the hammer high in the air.
The hammer, imbued with Yan Fei’s frustrations, created a sound as it fell onto a large stone.
The large stone split into several pieces instantly, some pebbles splashed around, startling the people nearby.
But no one complained about being hit by the stone fragments. Everyone kept complimenting his strength.
But why is it that the more people praise him, the more frustrated he feels?
Yan Fei was at a loss...