The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Wang Meilan didn’t crack a smile the entire evening.

’Feeding a dog malted milk... How could Zhao Jun even think of something so ridiculous? If outsiders found out, what would they say?’

’Has the Zhao family’s eldest son gone mad, or is he just a fool?’

’Did he hunt too many Black Bears recently and think he’s suddenly rich?’

Wang Meilan could just imagine the nasty things people would say—things far worse than this.

The point was, what Zhao Jun did was just plain wasteful.

But Zhao Jun had already bought the malted milk, had already fed the Qing Gou pup one meal, and had even put it on a tab at the little store. Wang Meilan couldn’t just refuse to pay, could she?

Wouldn’t that be even more humiliating?

Having to hold her nose and accept this expense obviously left Wang Meilan feeling very unhappy.

And the result of Wang Meilan’s unhappiness was that when it was time for dinner, she scowled at Zhao Jun throughout the entire meal.

After dinner was over and Wang Meilan had finished washing the dishes, Zhao Youcai finally came home from work.

When Zhao Youcai got home, he walked in and saw the look on his wife’s face, immediately asking what had happened.

After hearing Wang Meilan finish her story about Zhao Jun’s ridiculous stunt, Zhao Youcai thought for a moment before saying, "It’s fine. The ewe I’m raising at the cafeteria had her lambs. I’ll bring her home tomorrow and let the puppy drink her milk along with them. That’ll solve it."

Every autumn, the Forest Farm cafeteria had to stock up on nearly 110,000 pounds of Chinese cabbage. This supply would feed the Forest Farm employees from November all the way to the following April or May.

You could say this cabbage was the main source of vegetables for the Forest Farm workers for nearly half the year.

With so much cabbage, there were bound to be plenty of rotten or wilted leaves, which were mostly used to feed pigs and cattle.

As the undisputed authority in the Forest Farm’s main cafeteria, Zhao Youcai had skimmed off some of those leaves to raise two sheep: a ram and a ewe.

After winter set in, seeing that the ewe was pregnant, Zhao Youcai slaughtered the ram.

After slaughtering the sheep, Zhao Youcai gave half the meat to his in-laws and divided the other half into several portions for a few of the farm’s leaders.

As for the ewe, she was spared because she was pregnant and had been well-fed by Zhao Youcai ever since.

Then, half a month ago, the ewe gave birth to two little lambs.

The three sheep—one large and two small—were Zhao Youcai’s private property. He hadn’t brought them home because the family didn’t have enough spoiled cabbage leaves to feed them.

But today his son had brought home a dog and wanted to feed it malted milk. How could he stand for that?

He had no choice. He would have to bring the ewe home and have her feed the puppy along with her own lambs.

Wang Meilan had no objection to this plan. Even if it meant sacrificing some of their potatoes to feed the ewe, it was still better than feeding a dog malted milk.

At this thought, Wang Meilan said to Zhao Youcai, "In that case, I’ll go down to the cellar tomorrow and pull up a sack of potatoes."

"No need," Zhao Youcai said. "We’ll have to get Shunzi to drive the sheep back tomorrow anyway. I’ll have him bring a few sacks of cabbage leaves while he’s at it."

"Oh, that’s wonderful!" Wang Meilan was overjoyed. Now she wouldn’t even have to prepare food for the ewe.

Growing happier the more she thought about it, Wang Meilan said to her husband, "Youcai, why don’t you have him bring back a lot more cabbage leaves? I could raise a couple of rabbits, too."

"Forget about raising rabbits for now," Zhao Youcai said. "Hurry up and go to your son’s room and get that container of malted milk. Feeding that to a dog... what was he thinking?"

"I’m going right now!" Prompted by her husband, Wang Meilan suddenly remembered the malted milk was still in Zhao Jun’s room. She quickly got off the kang and headed for his room.

"Mom! Mom!" Just then, Zhao Hong called out to her.

"What is it?"

Zhao Hong opened a cabinet built into the kang and, to Zhao Youcai and Wang Meilan’s surprise, pulled out a container of malted milk.

Zhao Hong said, "Mom, you don’t have to go. My brother said this is for me and our little sister to drink."

"What..." Wang Meilan sat back down on the edge of the kang. She took the small container from Zhao Hong, weighed it in her hand, and asked in confusion, "If he’s giving this to you two, then what’s he going to feed the dog?"

Zhao Hong replied, "My brother said you should make some rice porridge for the dog tomorrow morning."

Then, as if remembering something, she quickly added, "Mom, remember to make it thick."

"I..." Wang Meilan didn’t know whether to be angry or happy. After a moment’s thought, she just huffed and said, "That little rascal has learned to order his mother around now."

Zhao Youcai sat up on the kang, turned Zhao Hong to face him, and asked his second daughter, "Rice porridge is fine for tomorrow, but did your big brother say what he’s going to feed the dog after that?" 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Zhao Hong looked at her father and smiled. "My brother said that as for what to feed it in the future... Dad will figure something out."

"I..." Zhao Youcai blinked. He suddenly had the urge to storm into the opposite room and give Zhao Jun a good thrashing.

He didn’t have a good reason to hit his son today, other than the feeling that if he didn’t do it now, he might never get the chance again.

But the thought was fleeting. What remained in Zhao Youcai’s heart was mostly the satisfaction of a father. ’My son’s grown up. He knows how to play mind games with his old man now.’

’Still, the kid handled that pretty well.’

Thinking about how many people at the Forest Farm had been praising Zhao Jun for his recent accomplishments, Zhao Youcai felt a swell of pride.

That night, with a full belly, the little Qing Gou slept soundly in the dog-fur hat. But the next morning, a little after four, it started WHIMPERING as it tried to crawl out of the hat.

Its constant WHIMPERING woke Zhao Jun up.

This time, Zhao Jun didn’t let it pee in the room. He took it outside and brought it right back in as soon as it had done its business.