The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

In the Zhao Family’s storeroom, Zhao Jun took down a Bear Gall from a roof beam, tucked it into a small cloth pouch, and handed it to Zhao Chun. "Sis," he urged, "make sure you keep this safe."

"Don’t worry." Zhao Chun took the Bear Gall and carefully tucked it into the pocket of her padded jacket. She glanced outside and saw Zhou Jianjun pushing his bicycle out of the courtyard. Turning back, she whispered to Zhao Jun, "Little bro, now that you’re working, you’re an adult. You need to act like one."

A warmth spread through Zhao Jun’s chest. He nodded. "Don’t worry, Sis."

Just then, Zhao Youcai and Wang Meilan dug a Bear’s Paw and four wild boar tenderloins out of the snow. They hung them on Zhou Jianjun’s handlebars and the bike’s crossbar.

"Alright, I’m heading back. If you need anything at work, just find your brother-in-law."

"Got it." Zhao Jun walked out with Zhao Chun and said to Zhou Jianjun, "Ride safe, brother-in-law."

After watching the couple leave, the five members of the Zhao Family went back inside. As they tidied up the room, Wang Meilan asked Zhao Youcai, "Should we go discuss with Dayong House? About the dumplings for tomorrow night—are we using wild boar, or deer?"

"We’ll make both!" Zhao Youcai declared with a magnanimous wave of his hand. "The boy made us proud this year, and we’re doing well, so we’ll have two different fillings."

Wang Meilan laughed. "See? It’s all thanks to my son. I’ve been with you for so many years, and we’ve never had two kinds of dumplings for the New Year."

Zhao Youcai pursed his lips. "Just wait. After the New Year, I’ll take down that thousand-plus-jin boar for you, and we’ll use its meat for dumplings!"

"Oh, give it a rest. That meat’s too tough to even chew." Wang Meilan tossed the rag she’d just used to wipe the kang table aside. "I’ve been listening to you go on and on about it for two days straight, my ears are about to fall off. If you don’t stop, you can go spend the New Year up on the mountain with that boar of yours."

...

On New Year’s Eve, Zhao Jun was jolted awake early in the morning by the sound of firecrackers.

Before he could even climb out from under his quilt, the door was pushed open.

Zhao Hong and Zhao Na ran in, grabbing Zhao Jun’s arms and pulling him up. "Brother, take us to light the firecrackers!"

Still groggy, Zhao Jun let them pull him up. He threw on his padded jacket and pants, slipped on his shoes, and left the room.

The day they went to the market, Wang Meilan had bought five 100-crack strings of firecrackers. One for New Year’s Eve, one for New Year’s Day, one for the "Po Wu" on the fifth day, and one to be saved for the fifteenth day of the first month.

The last string was broken apart into individual firecrackers for her two little daughters to play with.

The moment Zhao Jun stepped out of his house, he saw Li Ruhai and Li Xiaoqiao by the gate, picking up duds. A few other children were hovering nearby, wanting to join in, but Li Ruhai had repeatedly shouted them away.

In any string of firecrackers, there were always a few that didn’t go off. As long as they still had a fuse, you could pick them up and light them individually. That’s what Li Ruhai and Li Xiaoqiao were doing now, searching through the pile of red paper scraps and spent casings.

The other kids around probably wanted to search for some too, but the string that had just been lit belonged to the Li Family. There was no way Li Ruhai was going to let them get a free ride.

When Li Ruhai saw Zhao Jun come out with a full string of firecrackers, he immediately scurried over. Zhao Jun handed the string to him and told him to light it with Zhao Hong and Zhao Na.

’He might be a bit of a blabbermouth,’ Zhao Jun thought, ’but he’s reliable when it counts.’ Li Ruhai readily agreed. He treated Zhao Hong and Zhao Na like his own little sisters, so Zhao Jun felt comfortable leaving the girls in his care.

Li Ruhai hung the string of firecrackers on the main gate of Zhao Jun’s family home. He picked up a wooden stick with a scorched, blackened tip and blew on it. The tip instantly glowed red, revealing a hidden ember.

Li Ruhai lit the fuse. Zhao Hong, Zhao Na, and Li Xiaoqiao stood to the side, covering their ears as they watched.

The one hundred cracks were over in a flash. The three little girls ran over to search for duds, while Li Ruhai stood guard, deterring the other kids who were hoping to snag a few for themselves.

Zhao Jun found the scene amusing. He shook his head with a smile and walked toward the Li Family Courtyard.

Inside Li’s House, Zhao Jun saw Li Baoyu squatting in front of the stove pit, burning something.

"Brother, you’re here."

Zhao Jun clapped him on the shoulder and walked into the inner room. He wished Li Dayong and Jin Xiaomei a happy New Year before coming back out to see what Li Baoyu was up to.

"Are you scorching galaha?"

"Yep," Li Baoyu said. "It’s the New Year, so I’m getting them ready for our sisters to play with."

Galaha are knucklebones—the joint bone that connects an animal’s thigh to its lower leg.

This particular bone is only found in the hind legs of animals like sheep, pigs, roe deer, and deer.

Sheep galaha are said to be the best. They’re squarish and small enough for a child to hold comfortably in their hand.

But sheep galaha were extremely rare. Pig galaha, by comparison, were much more common.

The animals in the mountains, like wild boars, roe deer, and deer, all had galaha.

Having hunted for many years, Zhao Youcai and Li Dayong had once amassed an entire pouch full of galaha.

Even more impressively, that pouch was filled exclusively with galaha from roe deer, which were just as good as those from sheep.

Zhao Jun remembered that when he and Li Baoyu were little, Wang Meilan and Jin Xiaomei would play the galaha game with them.

Sometimes, when Zhao Youcai and Li Dayong got home from work early, they would join in as well.

Later, that pouch of galaha became a toy for Zhao Hong and Li Xiaoqiao.

That was until last summer, when two relatives came to visit Dayong House—an old woman and her young grandson. They stayed for half a month, eating their food and helping themselves to their things.

During their stay, the young boy played the galaha game with the girls every single day.

When it was time for them to leave, the boy threw a tantrum, crying and screaming, insisting on taking the Li Family’s pouch of galaha with him.

What could be done?

It was just a pouch of galaha, but if they refused, the old woman would go back and tell all their relatives that Li Dayong and Jin Xiaomei were inhospitable.

They had no choice. With tears welling in her eyes, Li Xiaoqiao watched as the pouch of galaha was taken away.

Over the past few months, Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu had managed to scrounge quite a bit from the mountains. They’d taken down a good number of wild boars and roe deer, and had already collected more than a dozen new galaha.