The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

On the twenty-eighth day of the twelfth lunar month, the entire Zhao Family was up a little after five in the morning. After a quick breakfast, they divided up the chores and got busy.

Zhao Youcai was at the stove chopping scallions and preparing other ingredients, while Wang Meilan drew water to wash the bowls and chopsticks. Zhao Youcai had borrowed all the dinnerware from the canteen and had to return it when they were done.

Zhao Jun, meanwhile, took Hua Xiao’Er and Daqing out for a walk around the courtyard before leading them to the storeroom. By now, the two dogs’ wounds had healed and scabbed over. They would probably be fully recovered in a few more days.

Zhao Jun tied them up securely. If left loose in the storeroom, the two dogs might go after the three sheep. The Zhao Family was hosting a banquet for friends and relatives today; they couldn’t very well treat the two dogs to mutton.

After tying up the dogs, Zhao Jun went over to the corner by the west wall, where several tables were propped up.

They were folding square tables. Because they were usually kept folded and propped against a wall, Northeasterners often called them "stand-asides."

These tables were discards from the Forest Farm’s canteen from previous years. Zhao Youcai had picked out the ones that were still usable and brought a good number of them home.

Zhao Jun started moving the tables outside. He carried out eight in total, followed by a good number of the long, stacked benches.

Each table needed four benches, one for each side. With eight tables, that meant thirty-two benches.

As Zhao Jun was wrestling everything outside, Li Baoyu hopped the wall from next door and started helping him.

Once they had moved everything out, they found Li Ruhai waiting on the other side of the wall. Li Baoyu passed four tables and sixteen benches over, and Li Ruhai received them.

The two families were hosting the banquet together today, with each one setting up four tables.

Just then, Li Dayong returned from outside and passed a jug of liquor and two cartons of cigarettes over the wall.

"How’s your dad doing with the prep?" Li Dayong asked Zhao Jun.

"He’s busy with it," Zhao Jun replied with a smile, starting to carry tables and benches into the house.

Zhao Jun had just finished moving the tables and benches when Zhang Yuanmin and his family of three arrived.

Zhang Yuanmin came inside and greeted Zhao Youcai and Wang Meilan, "Uncle, Auntie." Zhao Youcai smiled, pulled Zhang Yuanmin’s little daughter over, and grabbed a handful of candy for her from his pocket. Then he told her to go play with Zhao Hong and Zhao Na in the inner room.

Yang Yufeng helped Wang Meilan wash dishes, while Zhang Yuanmin joined Zhao Jun outside to sweep the courtyard.

They had barely swept a few strokes when someone called from the courtyard gate, "Zhao Jun!"

Zhao Jun looked up, waved him over, and said, "Come on in."

The words had barely left Zhao Jun’s mouth when a young man walked in from outside. He was about Zhao Jun’s age, but the devil-may-care swagger in his walk made him look even more like a village loafer than Zhao Jun himself.

"Jinshan," Zhang Yuanmin said in greeting as he turned around and saw the young man.

This was none other than Zhao Jinshan, the same man Li Baoyu traded wild boar and Black Bear legs with for bullets. He was the son of Zhao Guofeng, the Village Chief of Yong’an Village.

Zhao Guofeng and Zhao Youcai were on good terms, so Zhao Youcai had invited Zhao Guofeng’s entire family. For some reason, though, Zhao Jinshan had decided to wander over by himself ahead of everyone else.

"Well, well! Zhang Daku... er, Big Bro, you’re here too?" Zhao Jinshan seemed surprised to see Zhang Yuanmin. He hadn’t expected the Zhao Family to invite him.

Zhang Yuanmin caught the flippant tone in Zhao Jinshan’s voice. He didn’t seem to mind, though, and just gave a small smile before lowering his head and continuing to sweep.

Seeing how things were, Zhao Jun quickly changed the subject, asking Zhao Jinshan, "Where’s Uncle Zhao?"

Zhao Jinshan didn’t answer. Instead, he pulled Zhao Jun aside and whispered, "Yesterday, your father went to see my dad and got three rifles and a hundred rounds of ammo from the Village Office. What’s he up to?"

Zhao Jun feigned a mysterious air, looking left and right. Once he had thoroughly piqued Zhao Jinshan’s curiosity, he whispered, "I heard... they might be going up to Beard Gully to fight the bandits."

"Get outta here!" Zhao Jinshan had been listening with his ears pricked, but his expression changed the moment he heard Zhao Jun’s words, and he gave him a shove.

Zhao Jun burst out laughing. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

There really was a place in the mountains called Beard Gully, where bandits had once set up camp to grow "tobacco."

Even now, you could still see the furrows in Beard Gully that they had dug to plant their tobacco back in the day.

Zhao Jinshan wasn’t much of a hunter; he’d only asked out of curiosity. Seeing that Zhao Jun was being evasive, he just asked, "The thing my uncle is planning to hunt... it’s not small, is it? Are you going with them?"

"I’ll see," Zhao Jun gave him a noncommittal answer.

Zhao Jinshan said, "They sent down another shipment of bullets before the New Year. I skimmed two packs. If you need them, I can go grab them for you."

"Sure," Zhao Jun agreed casually, though he was a bit suspicious. ’Why is Zhao Jinshan being so generous all of a sudden? Normally when I trade meat with him for bullets, I only get ten or twenty rounds. But today, he was offering two whole packs right off the bat. He knew what that meant. A standard pack of semi-automatic rifle rounds held five clips of five rounds each—twenty-five rounds per pack. Two packs meant a full fifty rounds.’

"But let’s be clear on one thing," Zhao Jinshan said. "Whatever you end up bagging, you have to give me a leg."

"Uhm..." Hearing this, Zhao Jun hesitated. After a moment’s thought, he said, "Can we talk about it then?"

At this, Zhao Jinshan smiled but nodded. "Fine. If you give me one, I’ll take it. If not, forget it."

With that, Zhao Jinshan turned and left.

Seeing Zhao Jinshan leave, Zhang Yuanmin sidled up to Zhao Jun and said in a low voice, "Brother, you should watch out for that kid. He’s not as decent as his father."

"Yeah, Big Bro, I know," Zhao Jun said, knowing Zhang Yuanmin meant well. He smiled and put an arm around Zhang Yuanmin’s shoulder. "Alright, the sweeping’s about done. Let’s go inside and warm up."

A little after eight o’clock, Lin Xiangshun and his family of three arrived. The moment Lin Xiangshun’s young son saw the puppy, Xiaoqing, he was rooted to the spot.