Chapter 1300: Wolf and Dog! III (1/2)
Chapter 1300: Wolf and Dog! (III)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
”Your Highness, everything is ready. He can go onto the stage at any time,” Su Shixuan said with a bow.
”Let him go then!”
Wang Chong waved his hand.
Su Shixuan quickly left to deliver the order.
……
Bong!
A few moments later, there was a banging of gongs and drums. All became still as a hunter wearing coarse clothes and a wolfskin tied around his waist was escorted to the stage by a Wang Clan guard. Behind him was none other than Su Shixuan.
Buzz!
The moment Su Shixuan and this hunter appeared, they immediately became the center of attention. The crowds quieted down, and even those Confucians who had vehemently been criticizing Wang Chong stopped and looked over.
”What's this fellow up to now?”
”No rush! Let's see what happens first!”
The Confucians turned to the stage to see how things developed. In their restaurants, Yao Guangyi, Li Junxian, the Grand Tutor, and the Crown Prince's Junior Guardian, as well as all the other great clans and nobles of the capital, quietly watched.
Su Shixuan didn't even glance down at the crowd. Once everyone had mostly become quiet, he turned to the hunter and asked, ”What is your name?”
The hunter raised his head and fearlessly said, ”Chen Dazhong!”
”How long have you lived in the mountains?” Su Shixuan asked again.
This sudden conversation immediately had everyone's attention, all of them finding it rather strange. Hadn't the Wang Clan arranged for this hunter to show up? Why did this conversation sound like they had no relationship whatsoever?
On stage, the hunter laughed and said, ”My family have been hunters in the mountains for generations. Since the time of my grandfather's grandfather, we've been living in that mountain village. When I was seven, I accompanied my father in hunting, and it's been forty-some years now.”
Su Shixuan knocked on the iron cage and asked, ”Did you raise this dog?”
”Heh, yes. Don't look down on its size. It has a very sensitive nose and is able to sniff out anything on the mountain from far, far away!”
All was quiet as the crowd was increasingly entranced. Some people were beginning to realize that this matter was not exactly what they had imagined.
”If you're a hunter, why did you come to the capital?”
Su Shixuan's question instantly had the interest of the crowd, and everyone stared at the hunter.
”Hah, because the King of Foreign Lands said that if I could answer just a few simple questions, I could get one hundred taels of gold from him, and then I can go back to my mountain. I wouldn't be able to make that much in a year, even if I spent every day of it hunting in the mountains. I only need to answer a few simple questions, so why wouldn't I come?” the hunter replied.
Bang!
The hunter's answer caused an uproar in the crowd, and within his restaurant, Li Junxian frowned. From the sound of it, Wang Chong had made no attempt to bribe this hunter into saying anything in particular. While it seemed absurd, he was confident that someone of Wang Chong's status would not have someone speak such a low-class lie in front of so many people.
But this only made Li Junxian even more confused as to what was going on.
”Then let me ask you, how did you get this wolf?”
Su Shixuan was emotionless as he once more spoke to the hunter.
This hunter was the chief hunter of his mountain village and was fifty-some years of age. He had a calm and composed personality, and it was only someone with this sort of personality that could remain so fearless and confident in front of such a large crowd.
”Heh, last year, I hunted down and killed a mother wolf. When I went to its den, I found several wolf cubs. In the middle of winter, with the mother wolf dead and no one to feed them, those wolf cubs would be doomed. At the time, I was somewhat unable to bear it, so I took the wolf cubs back home with me, deciding to have them be playmates for my son. These wolf cubs didn't eat dog food and starved to death, one after the other. In the end, this was the only one left. It guards my house for me and is quite a decent assistant,” the hunter said.
”Why does this wolf not eat the dog?” Su Shixuan asked again.
”This wolf cub was only able to survive by drinking the milk of this dog's mother, and it grew up together with this dog, eating, sleeping, and playing with each other. How could it eat it?!
”Right, Milord, is that all? If that's all your questions, I'll take the one hundred taels of gold, spend a few days in the capital, and go home. It happens to be hunting season.”
”There's one last question. Have you heard of 'Benevolence and Righteousness' and 'Might Makes Right'? Which one do you think is correct?” Su Shixuan sternly said.
Everyone waited with bated breath for the hunter's answer.
”Hahaha, on the road, I heard people talking about this. Everyone in the Great Tang is talking about these two books, and your people even brought up this matter to me on the road. I'm just a lowly hunter, so there's no way I could know anything about such high-level problems. But there's one thing that I do know. Although your lord says that all creatures are beasts, that tigers eating wolves and wolves eating dogs is the law of the jungle, this isn't an absolute. At the very least, the wolf that I raised will never eat a dog, at least not this dog that I raised.”
The hunter loudly laughed.
”Is that so? Are you really sure?”