Zhao Lin recalled the crime investigation movies he'd seen. Cases were solved by analyzing witness testimony, physical evidence, motive, and the time and place of the crime.
'I'll analyze the current situation, one point at a time.'
'There are no witnesses. The bandits are all dead, and we're certainly not going to report ourselves.'
'If we clean up the scene promptly, no physical evidence will be left behind.'
'As for motive, we're all just ordinary mountain folk and Hunters. Normally, there'd be no reason for us to be enemies with the bandits.'
'But the fact that we entered the mountains on the same day the seven bandits "disappeared" is a problem.'
'Especially since so few people enter the mountains this time of year, it would be easy to track us down.'
'The bandits might not think we're capable of murder, but if they suspect us, it will be a huge amount of trouble!'
'We have to eliminate this risk.'
"What's an alibi?"
When Zhao Lin voiced his idea, Zhou Pao and the others looked at each other in confusion.
"It means that at this very moment, we aren't here."
Zhao Lin explained. Seeing their still-blank faces, he asked them a question.
"If you were the bandit chief or second-in-command and your men went missing, what would you do?"
The three fell into deep thought. After a moment, Liang Song said, "I'd send people to search everywhere. If I still couldn't find them, I'd ask around about who entered the mountains that day."
Zhou Pao's expression changed. "Right! If it were me, I'd think the same way."
He then grew worried. "Then what do we do? I didn't hide the fact we were going into the mountains from anyone. It was Old Zhuang who brought us in."
Zhu Dachun said, "Hearing you guys say it like that, we seem really suspicious."
The three of them simultaneously turned to look at Zhao Lin, thinking that since he had raised the issue, he must have a solution.
Zhao Lin didn't keep them in suspense and said directly, "While we can't hide the fact that we entered the mountains, we can change the time we returned to the village."
"We didn't return to the village today, but yesterday!"
Zhu Dachun asked, confused, "Yesterday? What do you mean?"
Zhao Lin glanced at him and smiled. "Brother Zhu is the perfect excuse."
"Me?"
Zhu Dachun was even more bewildered.
Zhou Pao understood Zhao Lin's intention and slapped his forehead. "I get it! We'll say that as soon as we entered the mountains yesterday, Old Zhu accidentally rolled down a slope and was seriously injured, so we had to turn back the very same day."
Liang Song also caught on. "So we sneak back to the village tonight, keep quiet, and then tomorrow tell people we came back a while ago!"
"Exactly." Zhao Lin smiled and nodded.
Zhu Dachun grinned. "Looks like I didn't get injured for nothing."
With the plan set, the most urgent task was to clean up the scene.
They loaded the bodies of the bandits and horses onto a raft, transporting them in several trips to a birch forest and throwing them into a pit hidden by the deep snow.
To be safe, they used the bandits' Sabres to hack the bodies to pieces, ensuring that even if someone found them, it would be difficult to determine the specific cause of death.
Before doing all this, they naturally had to loot the bodies.
The bandits didn't have many valuables on them. The belongings of all seven men combined only amounted to around twenty taels of silver and copper coins.
However, for these men who were dirt poor, it was still a considerable sum of money.
They also found a valuable-looking jade pendant on Diao Liu. Zhao Lin deliberately said nothing, wanting to see how the others would handle it.
Zhou Pao only glanced at it before stuffing the pendant back. Liang Song and Zhu Dachun had no objections, simply pretending they hadn't seen it.
'They're reliable!'
Seeing that his companions were clear-headed men, Zhao Lin felt relieved. Many things are exposed due to greed and carelessness.
They couldn't take the two exotic beasts with them, so they found another hidden spot and buried them.
Zhou Pao only took the most valuable and easy-to-carry items: the bear gall and the porcupine bristles. As for the pelts and bones, which were large and difficult to handle, they had to reluctantly abandon them.
At Zhao Lin's suggestion, they threw away the raft as well. Since Zhu Dachun had trouble moving, Zhao Lin carried him on his back.
As evening approached, the mountain wind began to pick up. The four men braved the cold wind and headed out of the mountains.
"This wind is a good thing. If it snows again, I'm afraid no one but us and the heavens will know about this."
Zhou Pao cupped his hand over his mouth and nose, preventing the wind from rushing in as he spoke.
Zhao Lin wasn't as optimistic. There was no such thing as a perfect crime. A determined person could still uncover the truth from the smallest of clues.
'The best way to eliminate the threat is to wipe out the bandits completely, but I don't have the ability to do that right now.'
Arriving near Lao Gualing, the men crept to one side of the ridge to observe. They saw Old Zhuang sitting on his snow sled, shivering from the cold and glancing toward the mountains from time to time.
"Old Zhuang is a really dependable fellow." Zhou Pao pulled his head back, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
"This is good, too. He didn't see us come out. When you show up tomorrow morning, he'll really believe we came back last night."
Zhao Lin put Zhu Dachun down and draped a blanket over him. "When Old Zhuang asks why you didn't tell him sooner, what will you say?"
Zhou Pao's eyes darted around. "I'll just say Old Zhu was in bad shape, and I was too busy taking care of him to have a spare moment."
Liang Song interjected, "Let's give him the fare tomorrow. It's not easy for Old Zhuang."
Since they couldn't go back yet, the four of them went over the details of their story to make sure no one would let anything slip.
After about an hour, the sound of barking dogs arose. When they looked again, Old Zhuang was driving his snow sled away.
The four waited a while longer before coming down from Lao Gualing and making their way back in the dark. By the time they reached Zhou Pao's house, it was well after midnight.
They had been through too much that day. All of them were utterly exhausted, and they squeezed onto the heated brick bed and fell asleep at once.
Early the next morning, Zhou Pao, Zhao Lin, and Liang Song got up.
Zhou Pao went to find Old Zhuang to explain the situation. Then, he wandered around the village, intentionally-yet-casually spreading the story that they had gone into the mountains the day before yesterday, that Zhu Dachun had been injured, and that they had returned on the very same day.
Liang Song went to town to find a doctor and get some herbs for bruises and injuries to bring back for Zhu Dachun.
Meanwhile, Zhao Lin was in the backyard digging a pit. He buried everyone's blood-stained clothes and used weapons, then covered the spot with a stone slab, completing the final step in erasing all evidence.
By the time everything was done, it was nearly noon. The four of them had a simple meal and discussed their future plans.
Zhou Pao laid out all the spoils from their mountain trip on the table: a little over twenty taels in silver coins, a bear gall, and a bundle of porcupine bristles.
"Sorry, everyone. We nearly died, and this is all we got."
Zhou Pao said sheepishly, "Fortunately, the gall is a top-quality 'golden gall' and should sell for thirty to forty taels. The porcupine bristles are excellent for making combs, brushes, and writing brushes, and could probably sell for another twenty taels."
Liang Song tried to console him, "That's a lot. I've never even seen ten taels of silver in my life."
Zhu Dachun laughed. "You're not even twenty. What 'life' are you talking about?"
Zhao Lin quickly calculated. 'Even with just a three-tenths share, I'd get twenty taels. That's enough money to buy my brother's freedom.'
He pointed at the bear gall and the porcupine bristles and asked, "Brother Pao, where do you plan on selling these two things?"
A smile appeared on Zhou Pao's face. 'This younger brother of mine is young,' he thought, 'but he's incredibly cautious, maybe even overly so.'
"Don't worry, I'll take them to the neighboring county to sell. Even if they fall into the bandits' hands someday, they won't be able to trace them back to us."
Zhao Lin nodded and said no more, his eyes fixed on the silver coins on the table.
Zhou Pao, being perceptive, gathered the silver coins into a pile and pushed it in front of Zhao Lin.
"Younger Brother Zhao, you said your brother is serving hard labor and you need money urgently to buy his freedom, right?"
"It'll take some time to turn the bear gall and porcupine bristles into cash. Why don't you take this first, Younger Brother Zhao? Old Zhu, Brother Liang, what do you think?"
Zhu Dachun didn't even look at the money on the table. He said, "Younger Brother Zhao is the most capable and did the most work. I have no problem with whatever he takes."
Liang Song also said nonchalantly, "I'm not in a hurry."
A warmth spread through Zhao Lin's heart. 'I haven't known these men for long, but we've faced death together several times. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say we've forged a life-and-death bond.'
He didn't act coy. He counted out thirteen taels of silver and said, "This is enough for me. You guys use the rest for now. Thank you!"