Liu Tiezhu and the others returned to the stone cave as the sky was fully bright.
Second Uncle and the rest hadn’t rested at all. Seeing that both of them were safe and sound, everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
“Tiezhu, how many people came? How did they get in?”
Second Uncle stepped up and immediately asked the key question.
“Thirty of them came, stumbled in by accident.”
“We’ve taken care of them all, but we still need to stay vigilant,” Liu Tiezhu said.
Liu Yusheng had told Zhang Jingyang to head south, and now all those men were dead.
Even if Zhang Jingyang were as dumb as a pig, he’d know they were hiding somewhere south of the mountain.
The good news was that the snow was still falling heavily, and the traces of their fight would soon be buried.
Besides that, no one was left alive, so Zhang Jingyang wouldn’t find it easy to pinpoint their exact location.
With this battle experience under his belt, he also knew where to set up more traps.
If Zhang Jingyang dared to send more people, he’d dare to keep killing.
With the traps backing them up and their position hidden, he wasn’t worried about Zhang Jingyang sending anyone else.
“This is all that bastard Liu Yusheng’s fault, stirring up trouble.”
Ergouzi spilled everything he’d learned from the big guy.
“That Liu Yusheng is a real menace.”
Even Big Brother, who usually had the best temper, couldn’t help cursing after hearing Ergouzi’s account.
Ergouzi said, “Brother Shan, you think Liu Yusheng’s a menace too, right?”
“Tiezhu and I plan to go to Liu Family Village to settle the score and get rid of this pest.”
On the way back, Liu Tiezhu had discussed with him finding a chance to eliminate Liu Yusheng.
That bastard had already told Zhang Jingyang they were hiding south of the mountain, and he could just as easily tip off the bandits about their hideout.
If they didn’t get rid of him soon, this stone cave hideout would eventually be overrun.
Big Brother warned, “Going out of the mountains now is too dangerous.”
“Zhang Jingyang lost so many men; he’ll definitely look for revenge. He might have people lying in ambush at the foot of the mountain, waiting for you to come out.”
“That’s why we need to move fast, strike before Zhang Jingyang can react.”
“They’d never expect us to be bold enough to leave the mountains at a time like this,” Liu Tiezhu said.
Sometimes, you had to go against the grain to succeed.
“I still think this is too risky,” Second Uncle said.
He understood Liu Tiezhu’s reasoning.
But nothing was certain. If Zhang Jingyang had anticipated his move, it would be dangerous.
“Second Uncle, everything carries risk.”
“Right now is the best time to deal with Liu Yusheng.”
“Once they’ve regrouped and prepared thoroughly, it’ll be much harder to take him out.”
“Besides, every day Liu Yusheng lives, we’re in more danger.”
“The bandits and horse thieves are already investigating my whereabouts. If Liu Yusheng leaks this to them, and they join forces to surround us, we won’t be able to hold out.”
Liu Tiezhu no longer held back, voicing the worries weighing on his mind.
At these words, everyone fell silent.
“Tiezhu, go ahead and do it. Second Uncle won’t stop you.”
“But you have to promise me one thing: never act on impulse.”
“You’re the pillar of this family now.”
“If anything happens to you, we won’t last long either.”
Second Uncle patted Liu Tiezhu on the shoulder, his face serious.
The others said nothing, nodding in agreement with Second Uncle.
Sensing the heavy atmosphere, Huang Xiumei called everyone to eat, steering the conversation away from the grim topic.
After breakfast, everyone went to their rooms to rest.
Liu Tiezhu, exhausted from staying up all night, collapsed onto the bed and was snoring in no time.
He slept until noon, wolfed down a quick lunch, then took Ergouzi back to the site of last night’s fight to set up more traps.
Last night’s battle had destroyed one grenade trap, two crossbows, and over a dozen nail traps.
He had to get them all reset before dark.
On top of that, he needed to spread nails around the area to ensure full coverage of the traps.
“Tiezhu, we’ve got to figure out a way to get more grenades.”
“One of those things packs the punch of several traps.”
The carnage from the grenade trap last night had left Ergouzi in awe.
It killed eight people in one go—that kind of power was unbeatable.
If they had a few more of those traps, they wouldn’t have needed to lift a finger last night to take out Zhang Minghai and his crew.
Liu Tiezhu laughed and scolded, “Dog, what are you thinking?”
“If these things were that easy to come by, I’d damn well set up dozens of them around here.”
“Then, not even a mosquito could fly in without catching a few blasts.”
Hearing this, Ergouzi couldn’t help but laugh too.
The two chatted as they worked, and by dusk, they had reset one grenade trap and five crossbow traps.
On top of that, planks studded with nails were laid out like they cost nothing, covering the surrounding area.
The density this time was five times what it had been before.
They marked the traps to avoid stepping on them themselves.
After finishing, Liu Tiezhu did a thorough check before leading Ergouzi back to the cave.
After dinner, Liu Tiezhu called Ergouzi over and handed him a Type 54 pistol with twenty rounds.
This pistol had been taken from Zhang Minghai, but there weren’t many bullets left.
After giving Ergouzi twenty, he only had thirty-seven left.
Ergouzi was thrilled with the pistol, boasting he’d use it to put a hole in Liu Yusheng’s head.
Worried Ergouzi might waste all the bullets in one go, Liu Tiezhu quickly warned, “Dog, this pistol isn’t for messing around.”
“Bullets for this thing are hard to come by, so try to conserve them.”
Ergouzi chuckled, “Tiezhu, I’m just bragging a bit.”
“This is for self-defense. The real killing will still be with the compound crossbow.”
Liu Tiezhu said, “Glad you know that.”
“It’s getting late. Time to move.”
Fifteen minutes later, the two were armed and mounted on their horses.
“Tiezhu, Dog, come back soon.”
Second Uncle waved, his old face etched with worry.
The others said nothing, but their expressions mirrored his.
“Second Uncle, don’t worry. We’ll be back soon.”
Liu Tiezhu gave him a reassuring look, then squeezed his legs. The horse neighed and galloped off into the distance.
“Dad, just wait for me and Tiezhu to bring back good news.”
Ergouzi grinned and quickly caught up with Liu Tiezhu.
Four hours later, Liu Tiezhu and Ergouzi stopped at a ridge thirty meters from Liu Family Village.
A fire blazed at the village entrance, where six armed men stood guard.
Seeing this, the two exchanged puzzled glances.
Ergouzi said, “What’s this? Those bastards are posting guards like a regular army.”
“Did they get word we were coming out of the mountains and set up defenses early?”
Liu Tiezhu thought for a moment and said, “Probably not.”
“It’s likely a temporary patrol the village set up because of the recent chaos.”
Ergouzi said, “So what now? With those guards, it won’t be easy to get in and deal with Liu Yusheng.”
Liu Yusheng’s house was near the village entrance, and with those men on watch, sneaking over would easily get them spotted.
Liu Tiezhu said, “Let’s wait.”
“That menace Liu Yusheng has to go.”