The tiger was furious and kept rubbing itself against the thorns, going in and out repeatedly. Garland held on tightly and refused to let go. The thorns tore his cotton jacket into strips. Seeing that he wouldn't come down, the tiger jumped onto the rocks and smashed its body forcefully against them. Garland was also battered until he was dizzy.

When the tiger was exhausted, Garland took the chance when it was not paying attention to turn around and whack it on the head with his club. The tiger's whole body shook and it let out another pitiful cry.

"Well done! Now the beast can't do anything to you!" Zakari cheered repeatedly, "Hit its head!"

Garland swung the wooden club in his hand and beat the tiger's head heavily. At first the tiger struggled vigorously, ramming itself against the rocks. After several heavy blows, the tiger went limp and stumbled to the ground, crushing Garland heavily underneath.

The beast's mouth was wide open, foaming slightly. After a while lying motionless upside down, it was not moving.

"Is the big tiger dead?" Saghi asked worriedly, poking his head out.

"Be careful, it might jump up again!" Zakari stopped him from approaching. Then he slowly walked over himself, picking up a large rock, and observed the tiger carefully.

The tiger did not move.

Zakari smashed the tiger's head fiercely with the rock. No reaction. He reached out and felt the tiger's pulse for a long time before nodding his head, "This tiger is probably dead."

"Then hurry and pull me out, I'm also being crushed to death..." Garland complained from under the tiger. So the three of them worked together to lift the tiger up before pulling him out.

Garland wiped the sweat from his forehead. Only then did he notice the small wounds all over his hands and face from the thorns scraping him.

"You're amazing!" Zakari gave him a thumbs up, "Thanks to your arrow piercing its skull, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to kill the beast so easily."

"You flatter me."

Saghi was especially delighted, throwing himself into his brother's arms excitedly, "Brother, I knew you're the bravest warrior among all the Cossacks!"

Garland stroked his head and smiled slightly, not bragging, just sincerely happy.

"What should we do about the mother tiger?" The girl walked over to the other tiger and gently stroked its head. That tiger was still alive, constantly making gurgling sounds, clearly also badly injured.

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"My fair lady, don't worry. We've killed the big tiger that was encroaching on your territory. You can go back and feed your cubs in peace."

The tiger slowly lifted its head, seeming to understand there was no more danger around. It slowly stood up, circling the girl twice. You could see it was still injured and moving with difficulty. The girl wanted to pet it again but the tiger ignored her. With a leap it ran to the cave entrance, roared once, then darted into the pitch-black cave and disappeared.

The girl asked anxiously, "Will it be able to safely return to its cubs?"

"That's up to fate, we can't do anything more," Zakari said, taking his sister's hand.

"Mm..." The girl nodded.

At last, the group could rest easy. Zakari used his sister's whip to tie up the front paws of the tiger, and his own headscarf to tie its hind legs. The tiger skin was extremely valuable and would require two people to carry it back, it couldn't be dragged. But this tiger weighed at least five hundred catties, there was no way the few of them could carry it back.

"We'll have to skin it first..." Zakari was very enthusiastic about this.

Garland waved his hand, "You go ahead, I can't be bothered with that."

"Hmm... before I start, I need to ask you little brother something," Zakari's eyes shifted.

Garland was puzzled, "What else do we need to discuss?"

"Hehe, little brother, come here," Zakari walked over and put his arm around Garland's shoulders, wanting to chat with him privately.

Seeing this, Saghi and the girl also drew near, trying to eavesdrop. There were only four people here, what private chat could there be. In the end everyone was whispering while avoiding the dead tiger.

"Little brother... we are all descendants of our ancestors, our bloodlines are connected. We live in the wilderness, so we should value integrity and not cheat others, right?"

"Yes, what is it?"

Zakari lowered his voice, "I said earlier that thanks to your piercing arrow, the tiger died, no one can deny that."

"Right."

"But I contributed too! If not for me, who is familiar with the terrain, guiding the way, you wouldn't have found the tiger's lair. You wouldn't have been able to save your brother, and we wouldn't have made it out of the cave either. And finally, it was under my guidance that we managed to kill the tiger successfully, am I right?"

"So?"

"What I mean is... this tiger skin..." Zakari hesitated, a shy smile on his face.

"What about the tiger skin?"

"So... we both contributed to getting this tiger skin, right?" Zakari said, "It's not about who did more or less. Both of our efforts were indispensable, neither of us could have done it alone. So the skin should be split evenly between us, right?"

"Alright." Garland readily agreed. He didn't particularly care about the tiger skin himself, the most important thing was his brother got out unharmed.

"But little brother, the thing about tiger skins is, they can't be split into halves! Separated, they're worthless!" This was Zakari's main point.

Now Garland was totally confused, "You said split evenly before, now you say it can't be split, so which is it?"

"Don't be angry, that's not what I meant." Zakari said with a smile, "The skin can't be split, but the money can be split! You risked your lives fighting the tiger for its pelt to sell for money, right?"

"Now I understand what you mean." Garland nodded. So the other party wanted the intact tiger skin, and would split the money with the brothers. Garland didn't really care, it would depend on Saghi's opinion. After all they had originally wanted the tiger as a gift.

Garland looked at Saghi, and Saghi glanced at the girl. Out of the four, she was the one who most wanted tiger skin clothing. Seeing her coy act, Saghi struggled over whether to indulge the girl before him, or argue reasonably to impress his future wife.

Seeing their hesitation, Zakari had a brainwave and asked again, "I don't know what you plan to use the tiger skin for?"