The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Having knocked around the Forest Farm for so many years, Zhao Youcai could naturally see what Zhao Jun saw.

Zhao Youcai knew this was more than just a chainsaw. It was connected to his son-in-law’s job, and even his in-laws’ standing at the farm.

So, the chainsaw had to be returned!

But in the end, Zhao Youcai didn’t make it out the door. Wang Meilan held him back, pleading, "What’s the use of going to find him? We need to figure out a plan, right now."

Zhao Jun added, "Dad, don’t worry. I’ll go up the mountain first thing in the morning."

Zhao Youcai glanced at Zhao Jun and let out a long sigh. He turned, went back inside, and sat on the kang. He lifted the lid of his tea mug, but as he picked it up, he slammed it down hard on the low table.

With a loud CLANG, the nearby Zhao Hong and Zhao Na, who had been playing, jumped in fright. Wang Meilan rushed forward with a rag to wipe the water that had splashed onto the table. "What are you doing? You’re scaring the children."

Zhao Youcai’s eyes were narrowed, and he exhaled heavily through his nose. He was clearly livid.

"Dad, calm down." Zhao Jun took the kettle and refilled Zhao Youcai’s mug.

Seeing how sensible Zhao Jun was, the fire in Zhao Youcai’s heart died down by more than half. He asked, "So what happened with that Big Pants? I thought it was supposed to be a sure thing."

Zhao Jun recounted what Zhang Yuanmin had told him. When he finished, Zhao Youcai let out a long sigh, and then he chuckled.

You had to admit, that Zhang Yuanmin was just plain unlucky. It should have been a foolproof plan, but it ended up going completely sideways.

Suddenly, Zhao Youcai asked, "Where’s that den he went after?"

Zhao Jun replied, "He said it’s south of Block 38, near the ridge by 56, at a place called Shan Erlie."

Zhao Youcai thought for a moment. "The linden tree den?" he asked.

"Yeah," Zhao Jun confirmed.

Zhao Youcai nodded. "Then I know what happened."

Seeing Zhao Jun’s puzzled look, Zhao Youcai explained, "That’s an old den. I hunted a bear there myself, about twenty years ago."

"Oh! No wonder," Zhao Jun said, the realization dawning on him.

There were some things that an experienced Hunter didn’t need to see with his own eyes. Just by listening to the details and analyzing them, he could piece together what had likely happened.

A Black Bear doesn’t just pick any random tree hollow to hibernate in.

First, the hollow has to be on the sunny side of the tree.

Second, a Hunter must have never taken a bear from it before.

You see, while a bear’s eyesight is poor, its sense of smell is incredibly keen—ten times more sensitive than a dog’s, if not more.

If a bear had been killed in that den, its blood would have splattered inside. For the next ten or twenty years, no other bear would use that hollow.

Even a bear just passing by that smelled the lingering scent of blood would give the place a wide berth.

On top of that, the tree had died a couple of years ago for some reason, allowing ants to tunnel inside and build a nest.

Now, bears are omnivores; they’ll eat just about anything. Despite their size, they’ll even dig around to eat ants.

But bears avoid trees where another bear has died, so it had become a haven for the ants. They multiplied inside the hollow, tunneling further and further and hollowing out the tree more and more.

Add to that the weathering and rot after the tree died, and the trunk was basically shot. Only a thin outer layer remained, but you couldn’t tell just by looking at it from the outside.

More than two decades later, the scent of blood had finally faded, and this winter, the den welcomed a new occupant.

But both Zhao Youcai and Zhao Jun knew that only a certain kind of Black Bear would take up residence in a hollow like that: a *zou tuozi*.

What’s a *zou tuozi*?

It refers to a Black Bear that has already started hibernating for the winter but is woken up for some reason. It leaves its den and is forced to wander through the snow and ice.

That kind of bear is called a *zou tuozi*.

When hibernating in a hollow, a bear’s body is warm. If it suddenly emerges, its Bear’s Paws are still warm.

When those warm Bear’s Paws touch the snow, they melt it. The meltwater soaks into the fur on its paws and freezes into ice.

With chunks of ice frozen to all four of its paws, every step is painful. On top of that, it’s cold and hungry, so the bear has to find a new den immediately.

And that’s why this Black Bear squeezed into that nearly rotten tree den.

When Chen Dalai fired his gun, the bullet pierced the wood and entered the Black Bear’s body. The bear, instantly enraged, lunged forward.

It never expected that this one lunge would be enough to shatter the rotten tree.

And so, a hunt that should have been foolproof ended in this disaster.

"Son," Zhao Youcai said to Zhao Jun, "are you going with Baoyu tomorrow?"

"Yeah."

Zhao Youcai continued, "You two be extra careful. That injured Black Bear can’t have gone far. It’s most likely hiding somewhere nearby and could easily attack someone."

"Okay, Dad, I know."

"Take the dogs," Wang Meilan chimed in. She understood enough to know that dogs would give their master an early warning and keep him from getting too close to the Black Bear.

Zhao Jun shook his head. "Hua Xiao’Er and Daqing are still recovering from their injuries."

"What about the new white dog?" Wang Meilan asked.

Before Zhao Jun could answer, Zhao Youcai interjected, "That dog’s no good for this. It’s only been with us a few days. If you take it up the mountain, it might run off, and then you’d have to search all over for it."

A dog has to bond with its master.

The white dog had just come from Wang Dalong’s house to Zhao Jun’s family and wasn’t familiar with them yet. Taking it into the mountains now, there was no telling if it would even help Zhao Jun.

More importantly, the dog would be likely to try and run back home, which would just create another problem.

After all, Zhao Jun wasn’t going up the mountain to hunt tomorrow; he was going to look for the chainsaw.

’What if he hadn’t found the chainsaw yet and the dog ran off? Should he look for the chainsaw first, or the dog?’

Hearing this, Wang Meilan sighed again, deeply worried about Zhao Jun. The plan had been for him to stay off the mountain until after the New Year, and he had been obediently following that. She never expected something like this to happen.

Zhao Youcai wasn’t at ease either. He said to Zhao Jun, "You should take Zhang Big Pants with you tomorrow. If there’s trouble, let him take the lead."

Zhao Jun thought for a moment. "Better not," he said. "I’m afraid he’d just cause more trouble."

"Hmm, that’s fine too." Zhao Youcai considered it, then added, "If you find the chainsaw tomorrow, bring it directly home. Don’t take it to the Forest Farm."

"With the New Year coming up, people from the Forestry Bureau are coming for a production inspection tomorrow. You bring it home first. I’ll get up early the day after tomorrow and return it. As long as we don’t hold up their inspection, it’ll be fine."

"Okay, I got it."

Zhao Youcai added another warning, "But if you can’t find it, come to the Forest Farm right away and tell me. I’ll figure something else out."

"Okay!"

The next morning, Zhao Jun was up a little after six. He first went to Li Baoyu’s house to tell him to get ready to go up the mountain, then returned home for breakfast.

Once he finished eating, he got dressed, slung his rifle over his back, and headed out.

Just as he stepped outside, he saw Li Baoyu climbing over the courtyard wall.

The two of them left the house together. As soon as they were out of the village, Li Baoyu craned his neck to look ahead. Pointing, he asked Zhao Jun, "Brother, who’s that up there?"

Zhao Jun looked. The man was on the shorter side and walked with a swaying gait. Who else could it be but Zhang Yuanmin?

After a moment’s hesitation, Zhao Jun called out to Zhang Yuanmin. "Brother Yuanmin!"

He figured Zhang Yuanmin was going to look for the chainsaw. With the injured Black Bear likely hiding nearby, he was worried the man would get himself attacked.

Hearing someone shout from behind and realizing he was the only person around, Zhang Yuanmin turned to look.

When he saw it was Zhao Jun, Zhang Yuanmin’s face lit up. He trotted over. "Brother! You just watch what I can do today."

A sudden sense of unease washed over Zhao Jun.