Zhao Zheng nodded secretly. This was why he was willing to help Wu Yueying.
She was grateful, insightful, and more understanding than most people in the village.
"Okay, then, put your fingerprints on it." Zhao Zheng bought a box of ink from the mall, had Wu Yueying put her fingerprints on it, and then handed her a copy. "This contract comes in two copies. This one is for you. I'll keep this one. You can always redeem yourself with yours!"
"Thank you, Uncle Zhao. Oh no, thank you, Master!" Wu Yueying amended herself.
Zhao Zheng waved his hand. "You can continue to do what you said before."
Wu Yueying was a little surprised, but nodded.
"As for this sales contract, you follow my instructions..."
After a while, Zhao Zheng asked, "Do you understand?"
"I understand everything," Wu Yueying nodded heavily.
"Then keep it."
"Uncle Zhao, I'll be going back first."
After Wu Yueying left, Yang Zhaodi and Zhang Xiao'e came out. They didn't know what their father-in-law had talked about with Sister Yueying, but Sister Yueying was in a good mood when she left.
The next day, Zhao Zheng got up early for training as usual. After training, he stopped Niu Dalei and said, "Old Niu, I need your help with something."
"What is it?" Niu Dalei had been impressed by Zhao Zheng's methods over the past two days. He imitated Zhao Zheng's methods and had completely subdued the entire team of Team Six.
"I want you to help me put up the beams," Zhao Zheng said.
Niu Dalei said with some envy, "Old Zhao, you're really amazing! Others can't even eat, and you still have the mind to repair the house."
"Tiles are free, I burn them myself, and I can go to Jinji Mountain to chop wood, which doesn't cost much."
Zhao Zheng smiled bitterly and said, "The roof of our house is drafty and leaking, and I can't stand the cold anymore. It's not the busy farming season now, and there's no snow this year. I have nothing to do anyway, so I might as well fix the roof." Niu Dalei nodded
. He knew that Zhao Zheng had made some money digging bees a few days ago and had a few dollars in his pocket. Then he said with a sly smile, "You're probably thinking of getting married, aren't you?"
Zhao Zheng smiled and didn't deny it. "If you have a good girl, I'd introduce her to you."
Niu Dalei smiled but said nothing. It wasn't that he looked down on Zhao Zheng. Everyone in the village knew he was not good enough. Wouldn't he just end up a widow if he introduced her to someone else?
Wouldn't the woman scold him to death?
What did the woman Zhao Wei later married say about Zhao Zheng?
She said he was a eunuch, good-looking but useless, and she would never marry him even if she was beaten to death.
"When are you planning on putting up the beams?"
"In the next two days," Zhao Zheng said. "Old Niu, don't worry. You'll definitely get paid according to the market."
"Okay," Niu Dalei nodded. Times were tough these days, and few people wanted him. Even the landlords were tightening their belts. Occasionally, a wealthy family would hire them, and the wages were very low. "Putting up the beams is a bit troublesome, so I'll hire two more people to help!"
After the agreement was reached, Zhao Zheng said goodbye to Xu Youde and set off on his cart towards Jinji Mountain.
Besides bringing back the lumber for the house as needed, he also planned to go into the mountains and set more traps.
It wasn't convenient to go into the countryside lately, but he couldn't just sit back and enjoy the scenery.
He even had a bold idea:
hunting tigers!
Of course, not with a bow and arrow, but by setting traps, 'sitting by the tree and waiting for the tiger'!
He didn't dare go to Zhuzui Mountain, but Jinji Mountain was something he could try.
If he couldn't hunt tigers, wild boars or deer would work too.
He had to have a good reason to bring meat home every day.
The mall was certainly his support, but he couldn't get carried away.
If someone were to target him, the source of the meat would have to be considered. Only by being prepared
for danger in times of peace can one achieve long-term success.
Arriving at Jinji Mountain, Zhao Zheng placed a dozen small traps on the outskirts.
These only cost a couple of hundred coins, a pittance for him now.
He then spent another five hundred coins on three traps for hunting wild boar and deer.
As for the tiger, the trap would injure it, but not be enough to subdue it.
Of course, Zhao Zheng could smear some poison on it, but would the meat still be edible after being poisoned?
He also wanted to taste tiger meat.
Generally, tigers were hunted for their skins, but for Zhao Zheng, the skins weren't essential; he valued the tigers for their edible and medicinal properties.
Even those in the ruling class couldn't refuse such a gift.
"If poison doesn't work, then dig a tiger trap."
A tiger trap is a trap specifically designed for hunting tigers. These traps are often deeper than those used to catch other wild animals, and they have sharpened wooden spikes at the bottom to prevent the tiger from struggling.
"But tigers have great leaping abilities. Two or three meters is definitely not enough. Digging alone would take me ten days or half a month."
Zhao Zheng gave up the idea.
But then he remembered a stone pit he had discovered during his last foray into the mountains.
Both the depth and the internal space were more than adequate.
He followed his memory and found the pit.
It was narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, with a crack at the bottom. An adult could barely squeeze out, but a tiger certainly couldn't.
"Isn't this a natural trap?"
Zhao Zheng climbed down the rock face. Inside the cave were insects and he even saw a bat hanging upside down.
He looked up and estimated that it was at least four meters high, and the entrance was narrow. It was a natural trap.
Without tools, it would be incredibly difficult for the tiger to escape!
He took some wood from the warehouse, sharpened it, and inserted it into the bottom.
He blocked the cracks with large rocks, leaving no chance for prey.
After carefully climbing up, Zhao Zheng covered the entrance. The trap had a certain load-bearing capacity to prevent small animals from destroying it.
Only large carnivores could easily crush the trap.
He spent 130 coins to buy ten pounds of pork, and Zhao Zheng also sprinkled some pig blood around to better attract carnivores.
"If I can't hunt tigers, I can hunt bears or cheetahs."
Although Zhao Zheng didn't believe he could hunt a tiger,
he still had to give it a try.
Having done all this, Zhao Zheng stayed away from the trap.
After searching the mall, he found all sorts of chainsaws, priced from a few hundred to a few thousand wen.
However, the pictures were all gray, and they were unavailable for purchase.
"Why?"
Zhao Zheng was puzzled, but he didn't dwell on it for long. He
immediately took out his hacksaw and selected a pine log, about the thickness of his thigh, to use as a beam.
Pine wood is light and easy to transport. If he had chosen a heavy tree, it would be hard to justify transporting it all the way back.
After the tree fell, he used his axe to chop off its branches.
[Ding, felling pine logs, one jin four cents and five cents, worth thirty-five wen, store/sell?]
"Store!"
[Ding, felling pine logs..."
After chopping four or five logs, Zhao Zheng was about to call it a day when a loud tiger roar echoed from the forest behind him!