"Mother, a small kindness is repaid, a great kindness breeds resentment," Xu Fan calmly replied. "We can help them for a while, but not forever. If we teach them for free today, and they can't catch prey in the future, they'll only blame us for teaching them ineffective methods."
"By then, our family will be caught between a rock and a hard place. This is best as it is; those who want to learn should show sincerity, and those who don't, shouldn't try to take advantage."
Xu Chang nodded silently from the side.
He realized that his son saw things more clearly than he did, a man who had lived for half a lifetime.
Most people retreated in the face of difficulty, but there were always one or two who wouldn't give up.
The first to come forward was Xu Laosan's family.
Ever since Xu Fan publicly humiliated him last time, Xu Laosan had completely hated Xu Fan's family.
As Xu Family's life improved day by day, the jealousy and venom in his eyes were visible to everyone.
That afternoon, Xu Fan was in the yard, guiding Xu Chengbo in making more complex elastic traps.
[Trap Making (Beginner 98/100)]
[Trap Making proficiency +1]
[Trap Making proficiency +1]
[Trap Making has reached Beginner, promoted to: Trap Making (Skilled 0/500)]
A vast amount of knowledge about Trap Making instantly appeared in Xu Fan's mind.
It included not only snares and elastic traps, but also camouflage, bait preparation, and the placement of continuous traps, among other things.
Just then, the courtyard gate was pushed open with a "bang."
Xu Laosan's wife, a sharp-faced, monkey-jawed woman, barged in, dragging her son Xu Gou Dan, who was a spitting image of Xu Laosan.
"Oh, Aini sister! I've finally found you!" The woman wailed as soon as she entered, her voice so shrill it could pierce eardrums. "You must judge this for me! Your eldest son has led my Gou Dan astray!"
She shoved Xu Gou Dan forward. Xu Gou Dan's face was bruised all over, and his pants were torn in several places, making him look utterly disheveled.
"He… he learned from your eldest son to set snares in the mountain, and he ended up rolling down a slope, almost falling to his death! You tell me, will your Xu Family take responsibility for this?!" The woman stood with her hands on her hips, acting as if she wouldn't leave without compensation.
Yan Aini immediately panicked and rushed forward to check: "Gou Dan, are you alright? Where did you fall?"
"When did my elder brother teach him?" Xu Chengbo was furious and stood up, ready to argue.
Xu Fan stopped him, his gaze coldly fixed on the mother and son.
"When did I ever teach him?"
Xu Gou Dan's eyes darted around, and he stammered, "I… I just watched you do it, and I learned by myself…"
"You learned by yourself, fell, and now you come to me?" Xu Fan sneered. "Then if I watch birds fly in the sky every day, and one day I jump off a roof and break my leg, should I go find the birds to reason with?"
"You… you're twisting words!" The woman's face turned crimson, choked with anger.
"I'm twisting words?" Xu Fan took a step forward. "Just a few days ago, I said in front of everyone that the mountain is dangerous and not to enter it easily. You didn't listen and insisted on secretly learning."
"Now that something has happened, you come to my house to make a scene? Do you really think my words are just wind passing by your ears?"
The woman and Xu Gou Dan were so intimidated by Xu Fan's Aura that they retreated repeatedly, their faces pale.
"Scram," Xu Fan said only one word.
The woman wanted to say something more, but meeting Xu Fan's cold eyes, the rest of her words got stuck in her throat.
She dragged her son and ran away, scared out of her wits.
After this incident, no one in the village dared to come knocking for handouts anymore.
But Xu Fan knew that people like Xu Laosan would not let it go easily.
If they couldn't do it openly, they would definitely try something sneaky.
As expected.
The next day, when Xu Fan went to the mountain to check his traps, he found that two of the five traps he had set up yesterday had been deliberately damaged.
The method was crude, but the intent was very clear.
"Big Brother, it must be Xu Laosan and his gang!" Xu Chengbo's face turned green with anger. "Let's go settle scores with them!"
"No rush," Xu Fan stopped him, his eyes cold. "If we go to their door, they won't admit it, and we have no evidence. Since he likes to play dirty, then I'll play along with him to the end and let him know that some things shouldn't be messed with."
He had Xu Chengbo repair the damaged traps and then reset them in their original positions.
After doing all this, he pulled Xu Chengbo and walked deeper into the woods.
He utilized his newly upgraded Skilled Trap Making techniques, sourcing materials on the spot.
First, using his herb identification skill, he found a plant called "Ghost Thorn Vine." This vine was covered with tiny barbs, and its sap would cause severe itching and swelling if it touched the skin.
Next, he dug a half-person-deep pit on a frequently used path.
He didn't place sharp wooden stakes. Instead, he had Xu Chengbo go back and bring two buckets of accumulated feces and mud, which had been mixed with rotten leaves and stagnant water, stirring them into a nauseating, disorienting concoction at the bottom of the pit. Finally, he perfectly concealed it with leaves and loose soil.
[Trap Making proficiency +1]
[Trap Making proficiency +1]
"Big Brother, what are you doing…?" Xu Chengbo watched, dumbfounded, pinching his nose and retreating several steps.
"This is a small gift for those with sticky fingers," Xu Fan clapped the dirt off his hands, a mischievous smile playing on his lips.
That night, when the night was deep and quiet.
Two sneaky figures, guided by the moonlight, crept into Qingyang Mountain.
It was Xu Laosan and his precious son, Xu Gou Dan.
"Dad, do you think that kid will still have a catch today?" Xu Gou Dan whispered.
"Definitely! That kid is very strange! We'll just take his prey today, and see how arrogant he can be tomorrow. Let him know the consequences of offending us two!" Xu Laosan said through gritted teeth.
The two expertly made their way to the spot where they had damaged the traps yesterday.
"Huh? It's repaired?" Xu Laosan's heart leaped with joy as he looked at the intact trap.
He peered in, and the trap was empty.
"Come on, let's go to the next one!"
The two continued deeper, completely unaware that they had already stepped into the gift Xu Fan had meticulously prepared for them.
Suddenly, Xu Gou Dan's foot slipped, tripping over a tripwire disguised as a tree root.
"Ah!"
He screamed and fell forward.
At the same time, a vine, which had been poised and ready, was triggered. With a "smack," it slapped Xu Laosan's face, who was behind him, showering him with flying thorns and sticky liquid.
"Damn it! What the hell is that?!" Xu Laosan was hit so hard that he saw stars, feeling half his face go numb.
Immediately after, a burning sting and an unbearable itching sensation spread instantly. The sticky sap flowed down his face, carrying a pungent odor.
Before he could react, he heard a "plop," and his son, Xu Gou Dan, had already plunged headfirst into a mud pit emitting a sky-high stench.
"Dad, save me! It stinks so bad! There's something crawling in my pants!" Xu Gou Dan thrashed in the viscous cesspit, his cries changing pitch. Each struggle splashed a wave of foul odor.
For a moment, the forest was in chaos, filled with a terrible stench.
Early the next morning, the villagers witnessed a scene they would never forget.
Xu Laosan and his son, Xu Gou Dan, limped back from the mountain, covered in mud and thorns, their heads swollen like pig's heads from insect bites, emitting a nauseating stench, looking utterly miserable.
That intoxicating smell could be detected from dozens of feet away.
"Hahaha! Did they get bombed by a cesspit?"
"Look at his face, what's hanging there? Why does it look so much like a hornet's nest?"
"Serves them right! They never do anything proper, always thinking about stealing chickens and dogs. Now, they've fallen into a cesspit themselves, haven't they!"
"The smell on Gou Dan is even 'fragranter' than the latrine in our backyard!"
Xu Laosan and his son became the biggest joke in the entire village.