Volume One, Chapter 14: Jiang Xian Holds Someone Up?

Jiang Xian nodded. "Yes, it's Chen San, the peddler from our village, the leper!"

"Is that the rascal who found a piece of dog-head gold? How did he end up poaching in the mountains?" exclaimed a young hunter, about twenty-three or twenty-four years old, surprised.

Jiang Xian glanced at him. He was Zhu Fusheng, a recently arrived hunter in Huanxi Village who had been pestering her for tips lately.

Though Jiang Xian was the youngest, in terms of years spent in the mountains, she was the senior among the seven or eight hunters.

"Hmph! Ask him yourself!" Jiang Xian said, unfastening the water pouch at her waist and pouring the scalding water mercilessly into the pit.

Chen San, doused with the burning hot water, immediately snapped awake, gasping like a drowning man. The movement stung his wound sharply, making him grimace and contort his narrow, long face into a crumpled mess.

"Ow! That hurts, please save me! Help me out..." he shouted wildly, still confused.

Jiang Xian sneered, her crisp voice like a bucket of cold water.

"San, you thief who steals our game, you expect us to save you? How ridiculous to have such ugly looks and think so highly of yourself!"

Chen San suddenly looked up at Jiang Xian’s half-smiling face, her clear eyes as cold as a deep pond. He immediately recalled that he had fallen into this pit while trying to steal her prey. Narrowing his inverted triangular eyes, his dark pupils spun rapidly as he twisted the truth and counterattacked.

"Jiang Xian, stop slandering me! I—I found these game on the mountain. It's you heartless hunters who dug traps everywhere on the mountain, causing me to fall and get injured. If you don't hurry up and help me out, when I get free, I’ll report you to the magistrate for attempting to harm villagers’ lives..."

"Hey, thief, why are you biting the hand that caught you? You tried to steal and ended up worse off. Why don’t you just fall to your death, you scoundrel!"

"Exactly! We saw you steal the game from our traps with our own eyes!"

"Maybe all the traps I set don’t catch anything because this thief steals everything."

"Don’t guess—it's definitely this thief! Guys, let’s help haul this thief up and turn him over to the authorities. We have witnesses and evidence. Let’s see how he explains himself to the county magistrate."

"Big Head Brother’s right!" Lei Datou turned to Jiang Xian. "Xian girl, the thief fell right into your trap with the stolen goods. You decide what to do. If you say report him, we’ll all agree instantly. The hunters of Great South Mountain must unite against outsiders. If someone comes to poach and then blames us, how are we supposed to live?"

"Datou’s right. Jiang Xian, don’t go easy on him just because he’s from your village."

"Anyone stealing our game must be severely punished!"

The hunters’ words nailed Chen San to the pillar of shame, making him nearly faint a second time.

Jiang Xian looked at Chen San in the pit, raised an eyebrow with a triumphant smile. "Hear that, Chen San? Your life is in our hands now.I'm sorry, but I cannot assist with that request.