Reborn at 80: From Village Scoundrel to Billionaire

"Brother Liu Bei, you're finally back!"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a familiar voice rang out.

Liu Bei looked in the direction of the sound and saw Ai Changhe and two villagers from Aijiashan Village walking over together.

The three of them looked rather grim.

"Secretary Ai?" Liu Bei was somewhat surprised, putting the two children down. "What brings you here?"

"Oh dear, don't even mention it! What kind of wind is that there!" Ai Changhe shook his head, moving closer. "We've been into the mountains again since we last parted ways!"

"But we never found any white snake. Yesterday, we went into the mountains again. And guess what happened?"

"I can't guess. What's wrong?" Liu Bei shook his head.

"We didn't find the white snake. We didn't catch any prey. Instead, we lost five good dogs!" Ai Changhe's face turned ashen as he finished speaking.

Liu Bei: "..."

He doesn't use dogs when hunting. But for hunters in the mountains, dogs are both great helpers and friends.

Five were broken at once.

No wonder Ai Changhe and his ilk are in a bad mood.

"Secretary Ai, don't rush. Sit down and talk slowly. Wanqiu, quickly go and get some water!"

"Okay!" Lin Wanqiu nodded and immediately ran to pour water.

Liu Bei asked Zhao Chunyan and Su Yuehe to take the three children to try on the new clothes.

He personally hosted Ai Changhe and the other two.

A short while later, Lin Wanqiu brought over several glasses of water and placed them in front of Ai Changhe and the others.

Liu Bei asked, "Secretary Ai, what exactly happened?"

After taking a sip of water to moisten his throat, Ai Changhe quickly recounted the events.

After several fruitless trips up the mountain, he was still unwilling to give up, so yesterday he led the village hunters into the mountains again.

At first, everything was fine, and we didn't encounter any danger.

Once they entered the depths of Da Liu Mountain, the seven dogs they brought seemed to have discovered something, and they all howled and rushed into the dense forest more than a hundred meters ahead.

Ai Changhe and the others thought the dogs had discovered the white snake, and they all excitedly chased after it.

But we haven't gotten there yet.

Then we heard the dogs' pitiful screams coming from all directions.

Moreover, it was accompanied by the low growls of wild beasts, which sounded very frightening.

Ai Changhe and the others sensed something was wrong, their expressions changed drastically, and they rushed over.

When they arrived, they saw a black bear disappear into the deeper part of the dense forest.

Judging from the size of its silhouette, it should be a female bear.

The place where the mother bear left was a scene of utter devastation.

Of the six hunting dogs that Ai Changhe and his men brought, five died tragically, the worst being torn in two. Only one dog survived, but it lost a leg and could never hunt in the mountains again.

The depths of Da Liu Mountain are extremely dangerous.

Without the hunting dogs to guide them, Ai Changhe worried that if they continued deeper into the mountains, they might encounter danger without being able to detect it in time. So he made a snap decision, disregarding the burial ceremony for the five dead hunting dogs, and hurriedly carried the still-living dog down the mountain.

Although they returned alive.

But the five hunting dogs had been with them for many years; they were practically their brothers.

My brother is dead.

They weren't even given a proper burial.

They felt guilty and blamed themselves.

With the deadline for the task assigned by Sun Changhe drawing ever closer,

Ai Changhe was becoming increasingly anxious.

That's why he had no choice but to come and find Liu Bei in person.

"Oh! That mother bear was ruthless! In less than three minutes, she killed five of our dog brothers! And she ran away so fast, we didn't even have time to get revenge!"

"Secretary Ai, I understand how you feel!"

Liu Bei nodded. "If it were winter, the leaves would be bare, and she would have nowhere to hide. But it's summer now. The leaves are thick, so if she hides and doesn't want you to find her, it will be difficult for you to find her. Yesterday, even if you had chased her, it would have been useless! You might have been in the open while she was in the shadows, and she might have ambushed you. If someone had died, that would have been even worse!"

"That's true, but those five dog brothers really died a horrible death. They couldn't have died in vain! Sigh!"

Ai Changhe finished the water in one gulp, his face full of dejection.

These days, it costs a lot of money to buy a good hunting dog and raise it from a puppy to adulthood.

Even the most basic one costs more than ten yuan.

If they are top-quality hunting dogs, the number would be much higher.

They lost five at once and still haven't found the White Snake. This is a really big loss.

"Wait a minute!" After hearing Ai Changhe's sigh, Liu Bei suddenly realized something and asked with a puzzled look, "Secretary Ai, you just said that you took seven hunting dogs up the mountain yesterday, right?"

"yes!"

"Then why are there only six? Where did the other one go?"

"We didn't see it," Ai Changhe shook his head. "When we arrived, we only saw six. Five were dead, and one was still alive with a broken leg. At the time, we were only worried about the danger, so we carried the dog with the broken leg down the mountain without thinking much about it. Later, when we got back to the village, we realized one was missing. But we were worried about encountering the mother bear again if we went back up the mountain, so we didn't dare go in. We didn't even look for the dog!"

"Oh, I see. So you came to see me today because you want me to go into the mountains to help you catch the white snake, right?" Liu Bei guessed Ai Changhe's purpose.

"Hmm." Ai Changhe nodded, his eyes full of expectation. "Brother Liu Bei, a bloodthirsty mother bear has appeared on the mountain; it's very dangerous. But Boss Sun... he really needs the White Snake urgently. He's done our village a favor. We have to repay that debt. So we can only ask you to come out of the mountains. Please help us!"

As soon as this word comes out,

The entire Liu family compound fell silent.

Zhao Da'e stood to the side, her brows furrowed, her eyes filled with worry.

Su Yuehe clenched her fists, her body tense, clearly also very worried.

Zhao Chunyan, usually carefree and with a fiery temper, surprisingly didn't speak up to stop them this time. This was because Liu Bei was the head of the household. It would be against protocol for her to interfere when Liu Bei and the other men were discussing matters.

Lin Wanqiu remained silent, standing quietly to the side waiting for Liu Bei to make a decision, but she was more worried than anyone else.

When the three children heard that five dogs had died, they all burst into tears.

The youngest daughter, Liu Nian, cried her eyes out.

She cried and kept saying how pitiful the dog was.

Hearing his youngest daughter crying,

Liu Bei's brows furrowed more and more tightly.

Ai Changhe and the other two watched as Liu Bei's expression grew increasingly tense.

They were getting increasingly nervous.

Ten minutes passed in a flash.

Liu Beicai spoke again, "Don't worry. I promised Boss Sun last time, and I won't go back on my word. You should go back now. Once I catch the White Snake, I'll send someone to find you!"

"Really?" Upon hearing this, Ai Changhe and the other two were overjoyed.

Just now, after noticing that everyone in the Liu family looked strange, they were worried that Liu Bei wouldn't agree.

After all, that was a bloodthirsty mother bear.

A single misstep could cost you your life.

It's perfectly reasonable for Liu Bei not to want to go.

They couldn't force him to go.

But now Liu Bei is telling them he's willing to go up the mountain to catch the white snake.

They were naturally overjoyed.

"Brother Liu Bei, thank you so much!"

"You're too kind. Why don't you stay for a meal?"

"No...no, we'll head back now. See you next time!"

"Okay, see you next time!"

Soon, Liu Bei watched Ai Changhe and the other two leave.

Just left,

Zhao Da'e was the first to run over. "Xiao Bei, didn't you hear Ai Changhe say there are bloodthirsty mother bears in the mountains? Why did you agree to it?"