The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

A good dog dies on the mountain.

This was an old saying passed down through generations of Hunters.

Just as it is a great tragedy for a General to die of old age in his bed.

Some might ask, ’But do dogs think that way?’

Yes.

Hunting dogs, especially the most skilled ones, refuse to accept old age.

When a dog grows old and its master stops taking it to the mountains, it won’t eat, no matter how well it’s fed.

In Zhao Jun’s past life, Xing Zhuyong, who had distinguished himself in a recent hunt, once owned a hunting dog. When the dog turned seven, Xing Zhuyong stopped taking it to the mountains.

Every time the dog saw Xing Zhuyong head into the mountains with other dogs, it would sit at home and howl.

A howl is different from a bark. A dog’s owner can hear the sorrow in its howl.

But it was old and couldn’t run anymore. During a hunt, if it charged too eagerly and a wild boar turned to gore it, the dog wouldn’t be able to dodge in time.

In the end, the dog starved itself.

Xing Zhuyong tried mixing wild boar fat into its cornmeal, but it refused to eat.

Xing Zhuyong offered it cuts of wild boar and roe deer, but it still wouldn’t eat.

In the end, that old dog starved itself to death.

Some may not understand it, but this is the way of a true hunting dog.

After Xu Changlin said, "A good dog should be allowed to die on the mountain," the old man straightened his back and gazed at the distant mountains.

His dogs weren’t old yet, but he was.

Starting the year before last, Xu Changlin found he could no longer climb the mountains. He pushed on until last autumn, when he took his three dogs up for a hunt. The dogs cornered a wild boar on a slope, and a fierce battle ensued.

But Xu Changlin, the Hunter, couldn’t run anymore. He trudged up the slope step by step. By the time he reached the top, the boar had escaped, and all three of his dogs were injured.

If Xu Changlin had been just a few years younger that day and arrived two minutes sooner, he could have shot the boar before it got away.

From that day on, Xu Changlin never went into the mountains again. He was afraid that his inability to keep up would get his three dogs killed.

But after that, the three dogs would often gaze at the mountains and howl, and their appetites diminished significantly.

That was why Xu Changlin had decided to sell his dogs.

Just then, Zhao Jun stepped forward and said to Xu Changlin, "Master Xu, my Brother Dalong is a decent Hunter."

"Mm," Xu Changlin nodded. "I know."

With that, the old man pulled the wad of cash Wang Dalong had given him from his pocket. He drew out two bills, handed them to Li Baoyu, and said, "Just have that Wang Dalong pay you back thirty tomorrow."

"This..." Li Baoyu looked at Xu Changlin, not understanding why he was doing this, and didn’t dare to take the twenty yuan.

Xu Changlin stuffed the money into the pocket of Li Baoyu’s cotton-padded jacket. "I don’t want to sell the dogs to Zhang Laibao," he said, "so I can’t let Wang Dalong pay this extra twenty."

"Master Xu, you..." Li Baoyu was even more baffled. ’This old man was acting like he’d die for money just a moment ago, so why is he giving back the cash he just pocketed?’

Zhao Jun said from the side, "Master Xu wants to find a good owner for his pack of dogs."

Hearing this, Xu Changlin gave Zhao Jun a deep look before saying, "That Qin Qiang is a bad sort. I deliberately asked him for three hundred to scare him off. Zhang Laibao is unreliable; I wouldn’t sell to him no matter how much he offered."

At this, Xu Changlin paused, then continued, "Since you two weren’t buying, I had no choice but to sell to Wang Dalong. The kid might be a bit flaky, but he’s decent to his dogs."

"Master Xu, you..." Zhao Jun started to say, then gave Xu Changlin a thumbs-up.

In his previous life, he hadn’t started hunting yet at this point.

Since he wasn’t hunting, Li Baoyu was just idling away the days at home with him.

Without the strange twist of fate brought about by the two of them, Wang Dalong’s Dog Gang wouldn’t have broken up. And Zhang Laibao would never have gotten the idea to buy dogs and start hunting.

So, in his past life, Xu Changlin had sold this pack of dogs to a Korean man named Jin Gaolai.

And in the autumn of 1987, Jin Gaolai went hunting in the mountains. His three dogs cornered a Black Bear, and after a fierce struggle, they forced it up a tree.

Jin Gaolai stood below, trying to aim his gun. He aimed and aimed but couldn’t get a clear shot. He finally fired, hitting the Black Bear right in the ass.

The Black Bear fell from the tree and charged straight at Jin Gaolai, ignoring the gun.

As Jin Gaolai was reloading for a second shot, the cartridge case expanded, and the gun misfired.

The three dogs couldn’t hold the Black Bear back anymore. In two leaps, the bear caught up to Jin Gaolai and swiped a paw across his head, tearing his scalp off.

The three dogs fought to the death to save Jin Gaolai.

With the three dogs covering his retreat, Jin Gaolai managed to crawl down the slope. He made it to a woodsman’s shack halfway down the mountain, where he was finally rescued, taken to the hospital at the foot of the mountain, and his life was saved.

But what about the three dogs? Everyone was focused on saving the man; no one paid them any mind.

That evening, Xu Changlin heard the news. The next morning, before dawn, the old man shouldered his gun and went into the mountains.

When he finally climbed that slope, he found the corpses of his three dogs lying there, surrounded by pools of blood.

The old man, who had just passed his fifty-ninth birthday, spent three days searching the surrounding ridges, his gun on his back.

On the third day, he shot and killed the Black Bear.

Many people said that Xu Pao was still as sharp as ever, able to enter the mountains alone and kill a bear for its Bear Gall to make money, even at nearly sixty.

But Zhao Jun had heard from Zhao Youcai that Xu Changlin had gone to avenge his dogs.

’If he were really just after the Bear Gall, why would he have sold his dogs? With dogs, wouldn’t he be able to earn even more?’

That’s how Zhao Jun knew that Xu Changlin didn’t just love money; he loved his dogs.

Arriving in the backyard, Xu Changlin handed the little calico dog to Li Baoyu. Then he said to the two of them, "Alright, fellas, it’s getting late. I won’t keep you. Come visit another day."

These were words of dismissal, and both Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu understood. They immediately bid Xu Changlin farewell and left, leading the little calico dog.

The little calico dog was only half a year old and didn’t seem to understand what was happening. It didn’t struggle, but as it left, it kept wagging its tail at Xu Changlin.

Xu Changlin watched the two boys and the dog disappear from the courtyard gate before turning back to the house.

He entered the inner room to see an old woman in a black, cotton-padded jacket sitting on the kang, wiping her tears.

"Still crying? Is there no end to it?" Xu Changlin grumbled as he sat on the edge of the kang. He picked up a mug from the small table and took a couple of sips of water.

The old woman said, "We raised them for so many years, and you just sold them, just like that."

"Sigh!" Xu Changlin let out a long sigh, took all the money out of his pocket, and handed it to the old woman.

The old woman sifted through the stack of bills with her fingers and asked in surprise, "Old man, how much did you sell them for?"

Xu Changlin took another sip of water. "The main pack for two hundred and eighty, and Xiaohua from the back for fifteen."

"How much?" the old woman exclaimed. Without even taking the money, she stood up. "You sold the three dogs for two hundred and eighty? You charged them that much? Will they be good to our dogs?"

Xu Changlin let out a long breath. "When they spend more money, they’ll know to take better care of them."

The old woman was taken aback by his words. Then she thought of the three dogs again. She had been the one to feed them all these years. Now that they were suddenly sold, she felt an emptiness in her heart.

At this thought, her eyes reddened again. Wiping her eyes, she picked up the money, turned, and placed it in the kang cabinet.

When she had put the money away and turned back, she saw Xu Changlin sitting there in a daze. It was only then that she remembered: the one most heartbroken by the sale of the dogs was her own old man.

But an old couple their age didn’t know how to comfort each other.

The old woman only said, "Old man, you rest a bit. I’ll go slice some meat and soak some glass noodles. I’ll make you stewed sauerkraut for dinner."

Xu Changlin didn’t speak, just sat there.

The old woman got up and went to the outer room to cook. After she left, Xu Changlin lowered his head and murmured, "This time, I don’t need to save any of the sauerkraut soup for the dogs."