The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Li Baoyu leaned in too, grinning at the baby. Seeing the faint spots on the child’s face, he asked, "What’s this on his face?"

Zhao Chun laughed from the side. "He had a rash before the New Year. We have you two and that Bear Gall to thank for it clearing up."

The mention of Bear Gall suddenly reminded Li Baoyu of something. He turned to Zhao Jun and said, "Brother, I would have forgotten if you hadn’t brought it up. Did Brother Zhang go up into the mountains to take out that Bear Dominator Den?"

"Brother Zhang?" Zhao Jun froze. His gaze shifted from his little nephew’s face to Li Baoyu, and his smile vanished. "You mean Big Pants?" he asked.

"Yeah, of course it’s him. Who else could it be?" Li Baoyu replied as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

Zhao Jun asked urgently, "Which Bear Dominator Den is he going after?"

"The one you didn’t dare to..." Li Baoyu stopped mid-sentence, realizing something was wrong. He quickly changed his tune, "I mean the one over the peak where we set that large trap, the one inside Jumping Stone Pond."

"You..." Zhao Jun’s expression changed the moment he heard that. His voice shot up an octave, but then he remembered the little nephew in his arms and forced it back down. He glared at Li Baoyu and ground out, "You told him?"

"Yeah!" Li Baoyu admitted with a nod. "He even said that if he kills it, we get a share."

Hearing that he would be getting a share of a Bear Gall didn’t bring the slightest hint of a smile to Zhao Jun’s face. He stared at Li Baoyu and couldn’t stop a curse from bursting out: "He’s going to kill it? With what, his dick?"

"He... He said he’s going to use dynamite to blow it up." Li Baoyu was confused. If it had been anyone else, he might have thought, ’Is he just upset that someone else is going to kill it and get the Bear Gall?’

But Li Baoyu had been following Zhao Jun around since childhood; he trusted that Zhao Jun wasn’t that kind of person.

But he still didn’t get it. Zhang Yuanmin using dynamite on a bear seemed like a foolproof plan, so why was Zhao Jun reacting like this?

As Li Baoyu’s mind raced, Zhao Jun had already reached the side of the brick bed. He quickly handed the baby to Zhao Chun and said to Zhou Jianjun, "Brother-in-law, take me to your Village Office right now. I need to use the phone."

"Huh?" Zhou Jianjun was completely baffled. ’We had just agreed to head up the mountain, so why the sudden need to go to the Village Office to make a call?’

When he saw him just standing there, Zhao Jun grabbed him and started pulling him out the door. "Hurry, Brother-in-law," he said as they went, "this is a matter of life and death!"

Zhou Jianjun still didn’t understand, but the moment he heard "life and death," he rushed out of the house with Zhao Jun.

Li Baoyu stood frozen on the spot for a few seconds before scrambling to chase after them.

Zhou Jianjun led Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu to the Village Office. He pushed the door open to find it empty. The only telephone in the entire village was locked inside a wooden box.

The wooden box had a hole at one end for the phone line to pass through, but the main body of the telephone was completely enclosed. It was impossible to dial without unlocking it.

"Xiaojun, you wait here. I’ll go find someone."

Zhou Jianjun left the Village Office to look for Qi Shengli, leaving Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu alone in the room. Aside from the telephone and a few rifles, there was nothing of value in the spacious office. And since the guns and the phone were both locked up, it was figured that no one could steal them, and no one would dare to try.

"Brother, what’s going on?" Li Baoyu, sensing he’d made a mistake, asked Zhao Jun cautiously.

Zhao Jun glanced at Li Baoyu. ’I can’t really blame him,’ he thought, then gave a bitter smile. "Baoyu, it’s hard to say whether Brother Zhang is going to make it through the day."

"What’s happening? Tell me!"

Just as they were speaking, Zhou Jianjun returned, hurrying inside with Qi Shengli.

It turned out the Village Office hadn’t been empty after all. Qi Shengli had arrived early in the morning, but after drinking too much rice porridge for breakfast, he had slipped out for a trip to the outhouse.

He had just stepped out of the latrine when Zhou Jianjun dragged him back.

Zhao Jun stood up and said to Qi Shengli, "Uncle Qi, this is an emergency. I need to use the phone."

"No problem, go ahead." Qi Shengli pulled a ring of keys from his pocket. The ring was tied to a string, the other end of which was fastened to his belt.

Qi Shengli unlocked the wooden box and pushed it toward Zhao Jun. Zhao Jun picked up the receiver and immediately began dialing the number for the Yong’an Village Office.

The call connected almost instantly, and someone picked up. It was the familiar voice of Zhao Guofeng. "Hello, who is this?"

"Uncle Zhao, it’s me, Zhao Jun."

"Zhao Jun? Aren’t you over in Yongsheng Village? What is it now?"

"Uncle Zhao," Zhao Jun didn’t have time to waste on pleasantries. "I need you to go to Zhang Yuanmin’s house right away and see if he’s home."

"Huh?" On the other end, Zhao Guofeng was taken aback. ’Why is this kid always ordering me around?’ he thought. But what he said was, "He’s not home. I saw him and Chen Dalai heading toward the East of the Village when I was coming to the Village Office today."

Zhao Guofeng paused for a second before adding, "Looked like they were heading up the mountain."

Zhao Jun asked quickly, "How long ago?"

"They left... probably a little over half an hour ago."

Frustrated, Zhao Jun thought for a moment before saying quickly, "Then, Uncle Zhao, please hurry to my house and get my dad..."

Before Zhao Jun could finish, Zhao Guofeng cut him off. He glanced out the frost-covered window of the Village Office. "Your dad’s not home either."

"What’s my dad off doing now?" Zhao Jun was exasperated. ’Don’t tell me my old man organized another party to go hunt that Pig God,’ he thought.

"I don’t know," said Zhao Guofeng. "I just saw Lin Xiangshun drive past. Your dad was in the car with him."

"Just...?" Zhao Jun seized on the key word. "How long ago did they pass?"

"They just passed by."

Zhao Jun said urgently, "Uncle Zhao, please, go chase after my dad! Tell him to come back, I have something urgent to tell him!"

"This kid... It doesn’t matter how urgent it is," Zhao Guofeng said irritably. "Do you expect me to outrun a car?"