Bend the Iron Rod

Clank, clank.

The kitchen cleaver, specially sharpened and cleaned for this task, almost chipped its edge before one of the Mountain Drum's tusks was wholly removed from the root.

After the tusk was cleaned, Chi Qiaosong felt very satisfied as he examined it closely in his hands.

Mr. Chi had already ridden his bicycle to town to get the second uncle. He also planned to borrow a tractor from there, or else they would have no way to transport the Mountain Drum.

Mrs. Chi squatted on the ground, happily scooping up all the earth mixed in with the blood from the Mountain Drum.

The soil soaked in the boar's blood was rich in nutrients and could be used to fertilize the small vegetable garden.

The truth was that Chi Qiaosong also wanted to fertilize his field, but not much soil was soaked in blood, so he did not fight for it. He sat by the farmhouse, looking at the lentil seedlings swaying in the one-acre field, and he was in a good mood.

...

Grade 1 field: One acre

Fertilizer Storage: None

Spirit Root Source (1): Bay tree (Crazed Bull Heavy Fist, Completed)

External Spiritual Root (0): None

Spirit Plant: Lentils

...

The information was updated again, and the Crazed Bull Heavy Fist was showing as having been upgraded from achievement attribute to complete attribute, meaning that Chi Qiaosong had now perfectly mastered this martial art.

The next time there was a change, it would probably be when the lentils ripened or when the military academy restarted again, so he could learn another set of martial skills.

Evening time.

The beeping sound of the tractor slowly approached from the foot of the ridge. The second uncle happily drove the tractor near the Chifamily'ss residence.

No road led to the farmhouse, so the tractor could not get any closer.

Several of them had to work together to drag the Mountain Drum up and onto the tractor. All of them were sweating and exhausted when it was done.

"Dad, uncle, have you found a buyer?"

"Grand Ink Ridge Hotel. They said that if it is a Mountain Drum, they will pay three dollars a pound for it," the second uncle said excitedly.

The cost of living in Daxia Republic was not so expensive. Pork was usually one dollar per pound. Wild boar was about a dollar fifty. For the Mountain Drum to command three dollars per pound was indeed a generous price.

Chi Qiaosong'ss little uncle worked as a clerk in a grain store and made, at the very most, 50 dollars a month.

Of course, selling meat alone would not be the most profitable way to go.

If the Mountain Drum was taken apart, its skin and pelt could be sold for a higher price separately. However, they didn't think it was a good idea to cause too much commotion, so it was easier just to sell the whole animal to the restaurant.

"I'll go with you."

"Yes, you come along to ensure we are not cheated." By now, Mr. Chi was very convinced of his son's ability.

Covered by a thick plastic tarp, the Mountain Drum was tightly tucked in. Chi Qiaosong jumped onto the vehicle and sat on the plastic tarp. The second uncle drove the tractor to the city under cover of the night.

"Xiuyuan, what are you doing with a tractor?" The villagers at the foot of the mountain heard the noises and came out, holding the bowls of rice they were eating.

The second uncle's name was Chi Xiuyuan.

The second uncle smiled and replied, "My brother wants to sell some grains that had been in storage for a while."

Selling grains from the storage was an excuse the Chi family decided on to cover up the fact that Chi Qiaosong had been able to kill a Mountain Drum.

The trip into Ink Ridge County went smoothly, and they headed straight to the Grand Ink Ridge Hotel. This was the most upscale hotel in the county, the only hotel with a three-star rating. The upper echelon in the county always took their guests there.

They drove the tractor to the loading dock, and the hotel manager brought a crew over. When they lifted the plastic tarp and saw the MountainDrum's corpse, they couldn't help but exclaim, "It's a massive one. It probably took thirty or forty years to grow to this size!"

"Mr. Tao, take a look.." Mr. Chi rubbed his hands together.

"Let's weigh it."

"Okay."

Everyone worked together to lift the Mountain Drum onto the scale, and it came out to a total of one thousand one hundred and twenty-five pounds. The price of three dollars per pound came out to three thousand three hundred and seventy-five dollars.

"How much?" Mr. Tao turned to ask the accountant behind him.

The accountant reported the number. "One thousand and one hundred pounds without the skin. The total is thirty-three hundred dollars."

Mr. Tao nodded. "Give them twenty-three hundred dollars."

When Mr. Chi and the second uncle heard that number, they responded anxiously, "Mr. Tao, you made a mistake. It should be thirty-three hundred, not twenty- three hundred."

That's true; I should have paid you thirty-three hundred dollars, but don't you see that a tusk was missing? With a missing tusk, this Mountain Drum doesn't look so good, and I have to make it up somehow," Mr. Tao said solemnly.

The second uncle added hurriedly, "The tusk can't be eaten, and it doesn't affect the meat itself."

However, Mr. Tao wouldn't budge. He insisted that he had to deduct a thousand dollars just for the missing tusk.

Seeing that Mr. Chi and second uncle were at an impasse, Chi Qiaosong interrupted the argument and said, "If you want to deduct the money for a missing tusk, the deal is off. We are not selling it to you."

Mr. Tao gave Chi Qiaosong a sideways glance. "You already got it all the way over here. Where else are you going to take it?"

As soon as Mr. Tao finished speaking, the restaurant staff who were around seemed to close in on them. In these troubled times of warlords and such, even if society was civilized, instances of the strong eating the weak were not unheard of.

But Chi Qiaosong was frightened by none of it.

It showed his unparalleled strength and courage if he could bring down the Mountain Drum by himself, but there was no reason to use force unnecessarily. After all, such a grand hotel in Ink Ridge County must have powerful backing.

For now, he knew he couldn't afford to poke this hornet's nest.

He looked at the iron rod used to lift the Mountain Drum and took it in his hand. As Mr. Tao watched him with a bit of confusion, he slowly increased the power in his hands until the iron rod that was as thick as a baby's arm was bent in half.

Clank.

As he tossed away the rod, Chi Qiaosong said calmly, "Mr. Tao, it's not appropriate to insist on a deal that we don't agree with."

Something changed in Mr. Tao's eyes, and after a while, he laughed suddenly. He took a business card from his pocket and handed it to Chi Qiaosong. "Did you think I was being serious? I was just joking. Thirty-three dollars it is, not a penny less. Here is my business card. In the future, if you catch anything big, just send them to us."

When he saw this, Chi Qiaosong took the business card and looked at it before putting it in his pocket. "Of course."

Mr. Tao beckoned the accountant, "Mr. Tan, pay them."

After counting thirty-three blue one-hundred-dollar bills, all the money was handed to Mr. Chi. Mr. Tao politely walked them out himself.

Watching the tractor drive out of the loading dock, a clerk asked, "Sir, did we overpay?"

Mr. Tao narrowed his eyes and replied, "That's not important. What's important is that we made a friend."

...

...

...

"Goodness, it's fortunate that Qiaosong was with us. Otherwise, we'd have been cheated for sure." After the second uncle returned the tractor, he was still talking about it on the way home.

If Chi Qiaosong did not demonstrate how he could bend the iron rod with his bare hands, revealing his strength, Mr. Tao probably would have gotten the Mountain Drums for twenty-three hundred dollars.

Mr. Chi was a little worried, however. "Qiaosong, do you think they will follow us home?"

"It's fine."

Chi Qiaosong was not too concerned.

He kept a low profile simply out of prudence. He was afraid to expose the existence of the Golden Finger. Nonetheless, that acre of the field could be taken back into his mind at any time. He was not afraid of someone else taking it from him.

In another few years, when he was more accomplished in martial arts, he would not need to worry about anyone or anything else.

Only then did Mr. Chi and second uncle resume their way home, less worried. When they got home, Mrs. Chi and second aunt had been anxiously waiting for them all this time.

Dinner was ready and had been kept warm in the pot.

"You are back. Did everything go well?" Mrs. Chi asked anxiously.

"It went very well. Let's eat first. We are starving."

After dinner, Mr. Chi began dividing up the money. "When Qiaosong went to the military academy, the tuition was fifteen hundred dollars, and we borrowed twelve hundred. We have to pay back that money first. The two of you gave us two hundred dollars at the time. Take these two hundred."

"We..." The second uncle was reluctant to take it.

Mr. Chi shoved the money in his hand, "Don't be like that, just take it!"

Then he took nine hundred out of the remaining nineteen hundred dollars and handed the sum to Chi Qiaosong. " Didn't you say you need money? You are now the pillar of the family, so you should keep some money on you."

Chi Qiaosong did not hesitate and immediately put the money in his pocket.

Mr. Chi then divided the last thousand dollars in two, half of which he took for himself and the other half he stuffed into second uncle's hand.

"We'll split this money, and each of us gets five hundred dollars. I can't run a business, so I'm staying here working the fields and crops, and this five hundred will subsidize the family nicely. You and Yuping take this money and see whether you can start some small trade yourselves. It's not a secure livelihood to always work those temporary jobs."

The second aunt was overjoyed as she said, "Elder brother is right, of course. We have wanted to start a small trade ourselves for some time."