The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Speaking of which, Zhao Jun glanced toward the inner room. Not seeing Zhao Youcai, he asked Wang Meilan in surprise, "Mom, where’d Dad go?"

"He’s out looking for people," Wang Meilan said irritably. "He bagged a dozen or so wild boars up on the mountain the day before yesterday and left them all there. So now he’s out trying to find people to help him drag them back tomorrow."

Zhao Jun just smiled and said nothing. He returned to his room, took down his gun, and stroked it for a moment before hanging it behind the door.

Then, he took off his satchel, removed the white coat, and folded it neatly.

The satchel still held the eight traps from the Li Family. Zhao Jun picked up the satchel and was heading outside when he saw Zhao Hong emerge from the other room. She rushed over the moment she saw him.

"Brother," Zhao Hong said, "you and Brother Baoyu got some hazel grouse."

Zhao Jun put his arm around Zhao Hong and smiled. "It’s cold out, you shouldn’t have come out. Once Brother Baoyu’s done cooking them, I’ll bring some back for you."

"That’s not it," Zhao Hong whined playfully. "Brother, how come you didn’t catch a live one and bring it back for us?"

Zhao Jun froze for a second, then, realizing what she meant, patted her little head. "I’ll catch one for you next time," he said. "For today, let’s just eat."

"Okay, that works too."

Having placated his sister, Zhao Jun left the house and hopped the wall over to the Li Family’s yard.

He found Li Baoyu pulling down dried cornstalks from a stack for fuel, while Li Ruhai muttered nonstop in his ear.

"You caught so many, but you didn’t even think to save a live one for your little brother."

"Get lost." Li Baoyu brandished a piece of a stick at Li Ruhai and threatened, "Stop whining in my ear."

Just then, he spotted Zhao Jun and called out a greeting.

"Brother." Li Ruhai came forward as well. He obediently took the satchel from Zhao Jun, opened it, and sighed when he saw the eight traps inside.

Li Baoyu shot Li Ruhai a glare, then smiled at Zhao Jun. "Brother, it’ll be ready in a second."

"No rush." Zhao Jun helped Li Baoyu stack the firewood and get the fire started. The two squatted by the fire, warming themselves as they talked.

"Baoyu, I need to make a trip to Yongsheng Village in a couple of days."

"You’re really taking it back to him?"

Zhao Jun smiled at that. "We made a deal," he said. "We’d borrow his gun for a while, and once Brother Zhou was out of the hospital, we’d bring it back. You asked around yourself—he got home before the New Year. We could say it was inconvenient over the holiday, but what’s our excuse now?"

Li Baoyu nodded. Having been educated since he was young, he knew a man must be true to his word. It was just that there was one thing he still couldn’t let go of.

So, Li Baoyu pressed him, "Brother, what about that big brown bear at Jumping Stone Pond? Are we really not going to hunt it?"

It was true that hunters tended to exaggerate a bit when describing their quarry.

But judging from the paw prints Li Baoyu had discovered, that brown bear had to be over eight hundred pounds at the very least.

A bear that big would have a massive Bear Gall, which could easily sell for a thousand or so.

"Drop it, brother. We’re not hunting that bear," Zhao Jun refused outright.

"Well... alright then."

...

They lit a fire but added no more wood, letting the flames die down until the logs glowed like charcoal embers.

Then, Zhao Jun, Li Baoyu, and Li Ruhai worked together, arranging the hazel grouse one by one on the embers.

The hazel grouse hadn’t been plucked. Placed directly on the embers, their feathers instantly caught fire.

The feathers acted as fuel, and the fire flared up again, forcing Zhao Jun, Li Baoyu, and Li Ruhai to quickly back away.

However, they weren’t retreating from the heat, but from the unbearable stench of burning feathers.

Once the feathers on the grouse had mostly burned away, the fire died down again, leaving only the glowing heat of the charred logs.

Zhao Jun, Li Baoyu, and Li Ruhai edged closer and used small sticks to flip each of the hazel grouse over.

The birds were now charred black all over. Once flipped, they were left to continue cooking in the heat of the embers.

About half an hour later, the embers had gone out completely. Li Baoyu, wearing a pair of thick gloves, gathered all the hazel grouse and placed them into two large basins.

There were eighteen hazel grouse in total, nine for each family.

Zhao Jun carried his basin home. The moment he opened the door, both Zhao Hong and Zhao Na came running out.

Zhao Jun set the basin down in front of the stove and told Zhao Hong to grab a small saucer from the dish rack and pour some salt into it.

He himself picked up one of the blackened grouse, peeled back the scorched skin and feathers, and revealed the reddish-brown meat underneath.

The fire had charred the oily skin and feathers completely black, but the meat inside was cooked to a perfect reddish-brown, not burnt in the slightest.

Zhao Jun cleaned three of the grouse and placed them on a plate. He said to Zhao Hong and Zhao Na, who were practically drooling, "Go on. Take these inside and eat with Mom."

Wang Meilan had been so worried about Zhao Youcai last night that she hadn’t slept at all. She finally couldn’t hold out any longer and had just laid down on the heated brick bed for a nap.

She’d heard him return with the grouse, but she just didn’t feel like getting up from the heated bed.

"Mom!" Holding the plate while Zhao Na held the saucer, the two girls climbed onto the heated brick bed and called out to Wang Meilan.

But Wang Meilan just said, "You girls go ahead and eat. Mom’s not hungry."

Being young and not yet very considerate, when the girls heard Wang Meilan say she wasn’t eating, they simply leaned over the low table on the bed and began tearing off pieces of the grouse’s breast meat.

The outside of the grouse was cooked to a reddish-brown, but tearing it open revealed perfectly white meat inside.

And though it had been roasted right in the fire, the meat was incredibly tender, with a pleasant chewiness—not dry or stringy in the least.