When we arrived in Shima County, it was almost noon.
"Everyone, come and see! Someone has killed the tiger in the Stone Marin Forest!"
After all, to eliminate harm to the people, the people rushed to tell each other and flocked to the streets to watch the excitement.
"Thank you so much..."
Liao Heng and Jiang Yun seemed to enjoy this love, laughing and thanking each other all the way.
Song Che lowered his hat. Master Jia failed to kill him once, and he might do it again. It is better not to be too high-profile at the moment.
"Get out of the way! Master Huang is here!"
A team of government officials pushed aside the crowd and carried them in a sedan chair. An old Confucian scholar in his fifties with a green beard got out of the sedan. When he saw the two white tigers on horseback, his eyes widened. He hurriedly came up and touched the tiger skin, unable to hide his greed.
"Three brave men, please follow me to take the tiger corpse to the county government. The county master will personally give you bonuses and reward you with money!" Master Huang greeted and asked for the sedan chair.
"Wait a minute." Song Che stopped him and asked, "Master, assuming we receive the reward, who will own these two tigers?"
Master Huang said: "Of course it belongs to the county government."
Song Che flatly refused: "We don't want the reward, we will sell the tiger ourselves."
Tiger skin, tiger meat, tiger gall, tiger whip, tiger bones, and even its excrement are all valuable, so you want to give away five hundred guan? This business is obviously not worthwhile.
Mr. Huang straightened his face and said, "Tiger hunting is to eliminate harm for the people, and the reward is given by the government. Naturally, this tiger is the prey of the government."
But Song Che was confident: "We are the ones who eliminate harm for the people, and we are the ones who kill the tigers. I want to ask, is there any reason to confiscate the prey caught by the hunters?"
"In my opinion, the five hundred guan reward should be given to us," Liao Heng appealed to the crowd: "Fellow folks, are you right?"
"That's right! A tiger that someone kills should return to that person!"
"Three heroes and good men, if you don't mind, come to my store and I will take care of you!"
The eyes of the people are sharp.
Master Huang didn't feel comfortable challenging him publicly at the moment, so he just asked: "Which village are you from?"
Song Che said: "I live in Yangzhou."
Liao Heng said: "I live in Bianliang."
Jiang Yun pointed his finger on the ground: "For the quilt, the ground is the bed?"
"Ha...it turns out to be three foreigners!"
Master Huang sneered, gave an unfriendly look, and sat back in the sedan: "Go to the county office and report this matter to Mr. Lu!"
After the government servants left, Yun Niang quietly returned to Song Che: "Master Huang is the second-in-command in the government office. Judging from the look in his eyes just now, he probably won't let it go. You are foreigners... In my opinion, it's better to do it now." If we catch up and give them two tigers, five hundred guan is a huge amount of money."
In the eyes of Song Che, a man with half a million taels of money, five hundred guan hair is nothing. Not to mention the amount of reward, the appearance of this Shima County official and businessman is really ugly! How can you give up money?
"I want to sell it myself," Song Che winked at Zhuangzhang and said with a smile, "and I want to make a fortune with you."
Yun Niang was filled with disbelief: "Don't be joking..."
Song Che didn't say much. Even if he got off his horse, the people in front of him were so enthusiastic. Isn't this the best time to do business?
He cleared his throat in the street and greeted loudly:
"Dear fellow villagers of Shima County, we three brothers were accidentally hit by a flood all the way from Bianjing and lost all our money. We passed by Shima Forest again and learned that a big insect was harming the area. It happened that our brothers had some As a matter of fact, I will beat these two tigers to death. One is to do good things and eliminate harm for the people, and the other is to earn some money!"
He added:
"But I'm definitely not asking for money from you fellow villagers. I'm going to sell these two tigers on the street!"
He asked again:
"I would like to ask you folks, have you ever tasted tiger meat?"
The people shook their heads one after another:
"Either it eats its meat, or it scares us when we see it. When it roars, we hide away!"
Song Che secretly laughed and said loudly: "Well, today everyone is going to take it orally. I'm going to cut this tiger into eight pieces and sell it to everyone at a low price so that you can have a taste!"
After that, he, Liao Heng and Jiang Yun moved the tiger off the horse, got a cart from the caravan, and spread the tiger carcass flat on it.
"Brother Jiang, it's up to you."
"It's at your fingertips."
Jiang Yun unsheathed his sword and used the sword instead of a knife to peel off the skin and bones from the tiger's head to its tail. His superb swordsmanship and skillful technique made the onlookers applaud in admiration!
After a while, two tiger skins were peeled off. Tiger skin is expensive and most people on the street cannot afford it.
There are two tigers, one male and one female. The male has a tiger whip, which is about two feet long and is very majestic. This great supplement costs more than tiger skin.
Song Che then took the tiger skin and tiger whip away and kept them for sale when there were big customers. The remaining bones, meat and internal organs were distributed on the street.
“Tiger meat can be eaten to strengthen the body, tiger bones can be used as a paste to remove blood stasis and strengthen bones, tiger eyes can be used to improve eyesight and refreshment, tiger gall soaked in wine can strengthen the body, and tiger liver can be used to detoxify and promote blood...
Does your child often have nightmares? Don’t worry, if you pierce these tiger fangs into a string and wear them around his neck, it will be like a tiger possessing you, keeping dirty things away..."
Since a tiger is a rare item, it must be given a rare price. If it is too cheap, it will arouse suspicion, and if it is too expensive, it will not be sold. Song Che sold tiger meat and bones for one tael of silver, claws and fangs for five to ten taels, and organs for twenty to fifty taels.
He was loved for killing harm to the people, and tiger meat was already rare. Coupled with Song Che's hawking skills, the people were all vying for a bite of the tiger soup!
"Everyone, please listen to me again!"
Song Che stopped the people buying meat and asked loudly: "Do you want to know how we dare to fight the tiger?"
Everyone was naturally curious.
Song Che continued: "Yesterday, the three of us passed by the Huaxi Tavern in the rain. We heard that there were tigers in the forest. To be honest, we felt a little timid. However! After eating the 'Huaxi Wine' brewed by the proprietress, we felt better. Being drunk makes you braver and stronger! To tell you the truth, when we hunt tigers, we are all 70-80% drunk!"
He then pointed to several large jars of wine on the bullock cart and said: "Today, the proprietress of the Huaxi Tavern happened to have brought several large jars of tiger-fighting liquor. After eating this Huaxi wine, I am not even afraid of tigers. Now it only costs fifty Wen Yijiao, first come, first served!”
One tael of silver for tiger meat may be a tight budget, but who can't afford fifty cents for tiger hunting wine?
"One part drunk, one part strong, these words are so true! Give me a triangle!"
"I'm going to give it a try too, and see if I can beat my tigress tonight!"
Folks in the countryside went home to get jars and jars, and competed to buy wine.
Yun Niang stood in front of the bullock cart, feeling at a loss for a moment.
"What are you doing, boss lady? Hurry up and get some drinks for the folks." Song Che urged with a smile.
Yun Niang cast a grateful look, picked up the ladle, and greeted the guests with the waiter.
Meats are sold on the left and wine is sold on the right. At that time, most of the county was bustling with activity!
