On the road, both Wang An and Li Biao calmed down, and that sense of heart-palpitating dread gradually faded away!
Wang An said to Li Biao, "Biaozi, you know the rules of mountain hunting. Originally, I didn't want to go by the book, but with the way you performed..."
Before Wang An could finish, Li Biao’s face turned red, looking quite ashamed and indignant! He hurriedly interrupted Wang An and said,
"Brother Wang, I don't know what got into me today. Maybe it’s because my old man gave me a beating yesterday!"
Well, that was that—he wouldn't even let him finish his sentence! Fine, then let’s not talk about it! Everything would be handled by the rules. "Close brothers settle accounts clearly"—that’s the way it should be!
Wang An said calmly, "Alright, let’s drop it then. How do you think we should split these wild boars?"
Li Biao seemed quite generous as he said, "Brother Wang, I came into the mountains with you, just the two of us. You say how to split it, and that’s how we’ll split it!"
Wang An didn't take the hidden meaning behind those words to heart. "Fine, then we’ll go by our mountain hunting rules; it’s less of a hassle."
He did a rough calculation in his head: there were about 1,200 jin of boars (males) and over 1,200 jin of sows and yearlings. Li Biao was entitled to two shares.
That meant 350 jin of boar, and 350 jin of sow and yearling meat!
After calculating, Wang An said, "According to the rules, you get 350 jin of boar and 350 jin of sow and yearling, right?"
Li Biao did some quick math himself and, without a hint of hesitation, said, "Yup, that’s right!"
Wang An said, "You know how much these boars weigh, so let’s give you one 350-jin boar, one sow, and for the yearlings, let’s not chop them up—I’ll just give you one small yearling weighing about 130 or 140 jin. How does that sound?"
Li Biao thought for a moment before saying, "How about I don't take the boar, and I take a big yearling instead?"
Hearing this, Wang An was stunned; he didn't even know what to say! Out of brotherly affection, he had already intended to give Li Biao an extra 70 or 80 jin of meat, yet here he was, trying to play games with him!
Everyone knew that boar meat tasted bad and wasn't worth much. To think he wanted to trade 350 jin of boar for 180 jin of yearling...
Was this brother someone he had misjudged?
Everything that had happened today—from the road into the mountains, to the hunt, to the splitting of the meat—felt utterly bizarre!
Perhaps when he was older and had finally "woken up," he would look back on their brotherhood. Was that why he visited him in prison in his past life? After all, they were both in their late 40s or nearly 50 by then!
Thinking of this, Wang An pretended not to care and said, "No need. We caught so much! I don't care about that little bit of meat! Let’s just split it the way I said."
Neither of them spoke again as they sped home! They didn't even pay attention to the pheasants or hares that darted across their path.
Upon arriving home, Wang An gave his usual shout, and they began unloading the boars. After unloading one sow and three yearlings (two large, one small), Wang An drove the sled to deliver one sow and one small yearling to Li Biao’s house. As expected, no one was home.
They dumped the two pigs at the door of Li Biao’s outer room and returned to Wang An’s house for a hurried lunch.
During lunch, Wang An wanted to talk to Li Biao and try to reason with him, but every time he tried, Li Biao interrupted him. His words just wouldn't sink in!
Wang An gave up completely; there was no point. Let things take their natural course.
After lunch, Wang An and Li Biao headed back into the mountains.
This time, Wang An switched to the mare to pull the sled. The stallion had already run nearly 100 li; another trip would be too hard on the horse!
Luckily, he had two horses at home, otherwise, he would have had to wait until tomorrow to haul the remaining three boars.
On the way back and forth, the two of them barely said a word.
By the time they got home, it was past five, nearly six o'clock. In the Northeast, it was already pitch black!
After delivering Li Biao’s share of the boars to his house, Li Biao walked Wang An to the gate and said, "Brother Wang, when are we going into the mountains again?"
Throughout the day, Wang An had felt that everything had been "off" since they entered the mountains.
When Li Biao asked that, Wang An finally found the root of that awkwardness!
He didn't know how other hunters partnered up, but in his view, it was just what the hunters always talked about
"People and hearts, horses and saddles." Work together to catch the prey, and everyone happily splits the spoils! That was it!
But in his case, where exactly had things gone wrong? The root was Li Biao. Li Biao himself was the problem!
At least to him, Li Biao was a problem.
Looking back, they had played together since they were kids.
In so many situations, he was clearly in the right, but Li Biao would never listen! Even when he was wrong, he would neither admit it nor apologize.
Most of the time, he only listened when he had no other choice. And when he did listen and things went right, he acted as if it were only natural!
Back in school, among their group of troublemakers, Li Biao was the least liked, and he always ignored what Wang An said, doing whatever he pleased!
Yet Wang An treated him like a brother and always tolerated him. Whenever Li Biao got into trouble, Wang An would find a way to fix it, treating his mistakes as nothing, only for him to do it again the next time!
Just like today’s hunt—he didn't have a shred of self-reflection. He felt everything was his due, and he was completely righteous about it!
Because that was how they had always interacted!
But now, because he had been reborn, he had changed!
He would no longer continue that way of interacting! He no longer had the patience or the desire to tolerate him.
That was why, when Li Biao said things he thought were natural, Wang An felt even more uncomfortable.
In his past life, when Li Biao visited him in prison, he would always ramble on about their youth, reminiscing and reflecting!
He must have looked back on his younger self and realized how poorly he had acted, realizing how big of a problem he had been!
He concluded that they were simply incompatible. Li Biao had always been a jinx to him!
But wouldn't it be better to just go their separate ways and do their own thing?
He had finally lived a second life; he couldn't possibly wrong himself again!
Wouldn't it be better to just be happy? Why the hell should he let Li Biao drag him to his doom?
Thinking of this, Wang An didn't hold back at all and said, "Biaozi, we’ve been brothers for a lifetime! How do you have the nerve to talk about 'next time'? Do you think I haven't been screwed over enough?"
Hearing this, Li Biao actually chuckled and said, "Brother Wang, it’s so awesome going into the mountains with you! Look at all these wild boars we caught! Isn't that great?"
Wang An saw right through him, so he didn't get angry. He said, "The point is, what’s the use of bringing you along? You attract disaster! You invite trouble! You cause destruction!"
Li Biao didn't seem to grasp the meaning and continued with a grin, "But you’re there, Brother Wang! As long as you’re leading, that’s all that matters!"
Wang An said disdainfully, "Forget it. I don't owe you anything! Can’t I hunt by myself?"
Li Biao finally seemed to realize that Wang An didn't want to deal with him. His grin faded, and he seemed a bit displeased!
He looked like he was sulking, though Wang An couldn't see it in the dark. He heard Li Biao say, "And we’ve been brothers since we were kids! Is this how you treat a brother?"
Oh, for heaven's sake! His true colors were showing. He had wanted to save him some face, but it was impossible!
Even though Li Biao no longer mattered to him, those words still made Wang An very unhappy. He said in a heavy tone
"To be a brother, you need to have some dignity! If you don't even want your own face, what the hell is the point of being brothers? To tell you the truth, someone like you isn't worth a damn!"
After saying that, Wang An didn't bother with Li Biao anymore. He led his horse and walked home in the dark!
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