The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Hearing his son shouting, Lin Xiangshun came over from the opposite house to have a look. He gently lifted Xiaoqing’s tail with a finger, then looked at Zhao Jun in surprise and asked, "Brother, this is a fine dog. Where’d you get him?"

In the hundred-li radius around here, if you said Zhou Chengguo’s Spear Technique was number one and his still-hunting was unmatched, then when it came to hunting with dogs, you had to hand it to Lin Xiangshun.

He was especially good at training hunting dogs; in fact, Zhao Jun’s family’s Hua Xiao’er was one of Lin Xiangshun’s proudest works.

But being number one at hunting with dogs wasn’t the extent of Lin Xiangshun’s abilities.

He was even better at coordinating with his hounds. During a hunt, as long as the dogs created an opening for him, he could seize the moment to fire and take down the prey.

Zhao Jun answered, "I bought him at the market the other day."

"Oh, right!" Lin Xiangshun slapped his forehead and laughed. "Yesterday when your dad had me haul those sheep, he mentioned it. I hear you’re even feeding the dog malted milk?"

Zhao Jun let out a laugh. "If I hadn’t used malted milk to feed the dog, he wouldn’t have let me take the sheep."

Just as they were talking, Zhao Jun’s uncle, Wang Qiang, arrived with his family of four.

Zhao Jun had been milling about the village lately and often heard people gossiping about his uncle.

He was gambling again today, he fought with his wife yesterday...

But Wang Qiang was a man who lived up to his name—his character was incredibly strong-willed. Gambling was one thing, and losing was another, but he never borrowed money from anyone. He certainly never asked his sister, Wang Meilan, and he never thought of sponging off his brother-in-law either.

When Zhao Youcai, who was in the middle of stewing Black Bear meat, saw Wang Qiang arrive, his eyes lit up. He pulled Wang Qiang aside and said, "Qiangzi, don’t leave right away today. I have something to discuss with you."

"Alright, Brother-in-law." Wang Qiang didn’t think much of it. He just assumed his brother-in-law wanted to look out for him and would give his family some meat and other dishes to take home after all the other guests had left.

After instructing Wang Qiang, Zhao Youcai shot a glance toward the inner room. Even though he didn’t see Zhao Jun, he thought to himself, ’You little rascal. If you won’t go with me, there are plenty of others who will!’

Wang Qiang had just stepped inside when the door was yanked open again. Li Dayong entered, carrying a large basin of deboned wild boar. He set it down by the stove and said to Zhao Youcai, "Big Brother, I’ve brought it over."

"Just put it there," Zhao Youcai said, then asked, "How’s the venison coming along?"

"It’s about eighty percent done."

Zhao Youcai instructed, "Take it out and braise it with that spice mix I prepared."

"You got it."

The two families prepared the feast together, cooking over two large stoves.

Wild boar stewed with vermicelli, deboned wild boar stir-fried with scallions, braised boar hock, red-braised bear meat, red-stewed venison, spicy shredded potatoes, and fried peanuts.

Under Zhao Youcai’s direction, the seven dishes were brought out one by one and set on the tables as the guests arrived. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

With the arrival of Zhao Guofeng’s and Han Dachun’s families, all the guests of the Zhao Family were present.

Zhao Guofeng’s family was large; he and his wife came with their three children, as well as an old woman who was Zhao Guofeng’s mother.

Han Dachun, on the other hand, was a colleague of Zhao Youcai’s from the Forest Farm’s canteen. The two were great friends. Every year, when Han Dachun’s family butchered a pig, they would invite Zhao Jun’s family over to eat.

However, Han Dachun and his wife were unable to have children, so it was just the two of them who came to the banquet.

There were now seven dishes on each table, with the final course still simmering in a large pot. This was the classic "Pig-Butchering Stew," a dish from the Northeast as famous as Chicken Stewed with Mushrooms or Pork Stewed with Vermicelli.

This dish could only be made at butchering time by collecting fresh pig’s blood, then adding master stock, eggs, and various seasonings, and stuffing the mixture into the pig’s small intestine.

The ends of the intestine were tied off, and it was put in a pot to cook.

Once cooked, it was sliced thickly. This was blood sausage.

A pot of pickled cabbage was stewed with pieces of pre-cooked pork belly and blood sausage—this was the Pig-Butchering Stew.

As the name suggested, it was a dish you could only eat when butchering a pig.

But for their feast, Zhao Jun’s family was using a wild boar hunted in the mountains. Its blood had been drained back on the mountain, and while the intestines had been brought home, they were all fed to the dogs.

With no blood sausage, they just added more meat. They had two whole boars, after all, so they could afford to be generous.

When the Pig-Butchering Stew was served, the banquet officially began. Zhao Youcai stood up, raised his glass, and welcomed his guests.

The banquet was lively, but all feasts must come to an end.

As dusk began to fall, only the Zhao and Wang families remained.

The four children played in Zhao Jun’s room while Wang Meilan and her sister-in-law, Zhao Ling, chatted in the outer room. Zhao Ling seemed to be venting to Wang Meilan, listing all of Wang Qiang’s wrongdoings.

At the most upsetting parts, Zhao Ling even began to cry.

Wang Meilan glanced into the inner room. She saw Zhao Youcai and Wang Qiang sitting on the kang talking, with Zhao Jun seated on a long bench below, keeping them company. Only then did she turn to comfort Zhao Ling. "There, there, sister," she said. "Don’t cry. It’s almost the New Year. After the holiday passes, I’ll have a talk with him and make him settle down."

In the inner room, Zhao Youcai and Wang Qiang were in a heated debate. The topic of their argument was how to hunt the Pig God.

The day before, Zhao Youcai had asked Zhao Jun to join the hunt, but Zhao Jun had refused.

This had made Zhao Youcai very unhappy.

In his opinion, ’When your old man asks you to join a hunt, he’s honoring you. If you refuse, then I’ll just find someone else. I’m sure as hell not asking you a second time.’

And so, Zhao Youcai had thought of his brother-in-law, Wang Qiang.

After all, Wang Qiang was an expert at still-hunting. Since the boar herd and the Pig God couldn’t be cornered by dogs, Wang Qiang’s particular skills would be perfect for the job.

The moment he heard Zhao Youcai mention the Pig God, the boozy haze from the 104-proof liquor seemed to lift from Wang Qiang’s eyes. His spirits instantly revived, and he began discussing the hunt animatedly with Zhao Youcai.

Zhao Youcai said he would go to the Village Office to borrow a semi-automatic rifle for Wang Qiang, but Wang Qiang rejected the offer.

Wang Qiang said that while his break-action shotgun couldn’t fire in succession like a semi-auto, its advantage was its stopping power. No matter how big the boar, a single shot could punch right through it.

Zhao Youcai agreed with this point.

However, when it came to choosing a strategy, the two of them argued nonstop.

In truth, if it were just a single large boar, no matter its size, three semi-automatic rifles would be enough to kill it a dozen times over.

The problem was that this Pig God was surrounded by over a hundred other boars and stayed in the very center of the herd. Trying to kill it from within a mob of a hundred boars was incredibly difficult.

This wasn’t a video game.

Trying to force their way in from the perimeter with just four men and four guns was impossible. Forty guns might be a different story.

So, after arguing back and forth, they still concluded they had to use Mazes to scatter the herd first.

And that brought them back to the problem Zhao Jun had raised the other day: once the Pig Gang scattered and dozens of boars came charging, what were the hunters supposed to do?

"Shoot from the trees," Wang Qiang said.

That was certainly safe, but once they were up in the trees, their positions would be fixed. The chances of success would be low and would depend entirely on luck.

Wang Qiang then suggested they first use Mazes to break up the herd, then shoot from the trees. If they hit the target, great. If they missed, they’d track it.

"A boar that big will leave tracks that are impossible to miss," he reasoned. "The first day, after being spooked, it’ll run nonstop until evening. We definitely won’t be able to keep up."

"But what about at night? It has to stop to feed, right?"

"Fine, even if it doesn’t eat, it still has to sleep."

"As long as it beds down for the night, we’ve got it. We get up early the next morning, head up the mountain, find it before it wakes, and kill it."

Hearing Wang Qiang’s plan, Zhao Youcai’s own liquor-hazed eyes brightened. He had only been thinking about finishing the job in one fell swoop and had forgotten they could split the hunt over two days.

As if offering a reward, Zhao Youcai refilled Wang Qiang’s enamel mug with water and laughed. "Qiangzi, you’re not as drunk as I thought! That’s a great idea. Why didn’t I think of it?"

Wang Qiang put the lid back on his mug and grinned. "Brother-in-law, you haven’t been hunting much these last few years. I bet your skills are getting rusty compared to mine. Let me tell you..."

"Let me tell *you*, you’re drunk," Zhao Youcai cut him off bluntly. "My skills are getting rusty? Have you forgotten that year we went to Black Bear Gully after that Black Bear that mauled someone? You were so scared your hands were shaking."

"Hahaha! I might not be good with Black Bears, but I’m a master when it comes to wild boars."

Zhao Youcai shook his head, smiling, when he caught sight of Zhao Jun out of the corner of his eye. He shot his son a smug grin. "What do you think, kid? Your uncle’s plan is pretty solid, right?"

Zhao Jun couldn’t suppress a smile either. In response to his father’s taunt, he just said, "My uncle’s plan is decent, but I’ve heard a boar that big can be a little too ’smart.’"

The moment Zhao Jun spoke, the smiles on Zhao Youcai and Wang Qiang’s faces froze. They exchanged a look, a seed of doubt planted in their minds.

They knew the "smart" Zhao Jun was talking about wasn’t supernatural, but natural cunning. For a boar to have grown so old, it must have survived previous hunts. It was what the old-timers called a "gun-dodger" or a "dog-dodger."

Any animal that survived being hunted by men with guns and dogs would become extraordinarily cautious.

How could a boar grow to that size without having faced its share of danger?

Zhao Youcai jutted his chin at Wang Qiang, as if to say, ’Well? What’s the plan? You got any other ideas?’

Without a moment’s hesitation, Wang Qiang declared, "If it runs, we follow. Worst case, we spend the night in the mountains. If we pass by someone’s shack, we’ll crash there for the night. If not, we’ll build a fire to stay warm. No matter what, we have to kill that thing!"

At Wang Qiang’s words, the way Zhao Jun looked at him changed. He’d always thought his own father’s obsession with hunting was extreme, but he never expected to meet someone even more addicted.