The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

"What the hell?"

Qin Qiang and the Tao Family Siblings—four pairs of eyes in total—all stared at Zhang Laibao as if he were an idiot.

"What?" Zhang Laibao looked completely bewildered.

Tao Dasheng sighed in exasperation before saying helplessly, "They’re home tonight, and you want to go steal their dogs? What are you thinking?"

Zhang Laibao said, "Brother Tao, aren’t you familiar with that dog? If you go, it won’t bite you."

Upon hearing this, Tao Dasheng turned his head away. He couldn’t even bring himself to talk to the guy anymore.

"Are you an idiot!" Tao Ersheng, remembering his own innocent black dog that had been injured, seized the chance to curse Zhang Laibao. "They have three dogs, and only Hua Xiao’er knows us. So we go into the yard, Hua Xiao’er doesn’t bark, but you think the other dogs will stay quiet? When they start barking, you think no one will come out? And when they do come out, you think they won’t beat you to death?"

"Ersheng!" Qin Qiang called out from his spot on the kang, stopping Tao Ersheng. ’After all,’ he thought, ’Zhang Laibao has people and a place up in the mountains where we can hide the dogs. It doesn’t matter if we can’t steal them today. We can just wait for a day when Zhao Jun’s family isn’t home.’

Tao Ersheng shot Zhang Laibao a glare and resentfully stood aside.

Zhang Laibao was angry, but when he remembered that he would need to rely on Qin Qiang and the Tao Brothers in the future, he could only force a shameful smile. "I was just getting anxious," he said. "My dad is planning to poison Zhao Jun’s dogs today. I figured if we don’t steal them, they’ll just be wasted."

"What?" The others were shocked.

Tao Dasheng and Tao Ersheng exchanged a glance. ’Everyone says that Zhang Zhanshan is worse than a dog,’ they thought. ’We’d never seen it for ourselves before, but today we finally have.’ 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Qin Qiang buried his face in his pillow, his expression hidden from everyone.

...

Dozens of people had gathered outside the gate to Zhao Jun’s family’s home, all pitching in to help skin the bear. The massive bearskin was soon hung up in their courtyard.

Li Dayong swung his axe down at the brown bear’s hip, severing an entire leg—Bear’s Paw included—and gave it to Wang Fu.

After Wang Fu left with his sled, Li Dayong began distributing the meat to the crowd. Just like that, over two hundred pounds of bear meat were given away.

Neither the Zhao family nor the Li family batted an eye at this.

First, Mountain Wealth should not be kept to oneself.

Second, after sharing in the meat today, these same villagers would report back if they ever saw bears or boars in the mountains.

The value of just one extra Bear Gall would more than make up for it.

Once the crowd had dispersed, Zhao Youcai went back inside to braise the Bear’s Paw. A single paw from this large brown bear was enough to feed both their families.

As Zhao Youcai braised the Bear’s Paw in the outer room, he kept glancing out the window next to the stove.

Wang Meilan, carrying a basket of dried chilies, noticed this. "I see you keep looking outside," she asked. "What are you looking for?"

"I’m watching our son," Zhao Youcai said. "He won’t come in. He’s just been pacing around out there."

Wang Meilan put down her basket and came to her husband’s side. Placing her hands on Zhao Youcai’s shoulders, she stood on her tiptoes to peek outside. She saw that Zhao Jun was indeed pacing back and forth in the courtyard. A thought suddenly struck her, and she said to Zhao Youcai, "Do you think our son wants to start dating?"

Zhao Youcai raised an eyebrow and nodded emphatically. "Yeah, probably."

It wasn’t just Zhao Youcai and Wang Meilan who noticed Zhao Jun’s odd behavior. When Li Baoyu came back from the outhouse, he saw Zhao Jun pacing in the yard, so he hopped over the wall. "Brother," he asked, "are we heading up the mountain tomorrow?"

Zhao Jun, preoccupied, merely tilted his head slightly toward Li Baoyu and grunted, "Hm?"

Li Baoyu said, "We could go set some lynx traps. Catch a few and come back, stew ’em up with some potatoes."

"Oh." Zhao Jun finally snapped out of his daze. "We’ll see about tomorrow," he said.

"Why ’we’ll see’?"

Instead of answering, Zhao Jun said, "Something might happen tonight."

"Huh?"

...

Zhao Youcai finished cooking the Bear’s Paw and put half of it in a large basin to take over to the Li Family. Wang Meilan stir-fried a dish of cabbage and potato slices. After a dinner of meat and vegetables, Zhao Jun returned to his room, sat on the kang, and closed his eyes to rest.

When the clock struck a quarter past eight, Zhao Jun heard the light in the east room click off. Only then did he turn off his own light, get up in the dark, pull on his padded cotton jacket, and leave his room.

When Zhao Jun stepped into the courtyard, the three dogs were already asleep in their houses. The moment he appeared, however, they heard the noise and got to their feet.

The dogs could recognize their master’s footsteps; they knew it was Zhao Jun, so they didn’t bark.

Da Huang and Xiaohua at Li Baoyu’s house next door also heard the sound, but they merely blinked once without so much as shifting their position, then went back to sleep.

Zhao Jun unchained his three dogs one by one and herded them toward the house. They were intelligent animals; they didn’t bark or make a sound as Zhao Jun shooed them. They obediently went through the door, and seeing that Zhao Youcai’s door was closed, they all filed into Zhao Jun’s room.

Zhao Jun went back inside and shut the door securely. He entered his room and, without even taking off his clothes, climbed onto the kang, burrowed under the covers, and immediately fell asleep.

The three dogs settled on the floor below the kang.

He had no idea how long he’d been asleep when, suddenly, he heard barking from outside.

It was Da Huang and Xiaohua from Li Baoyu’s house next door. Immediately, the three dogs in Zhao Jun’s room scrambled to their feet. They lunged at the window, pawing at the frame and barking incessantly.

In the east room, Zhao Youcai sat bolt upright at the sound. He reached over to turn on the light, then swung his legs off the kang.

He emerged from his room, a padded cotton jacket thrown over his shoulders, just in time to see Zhao Jun’s door creak open. Hua Xiao’er tried to slip through the gap but was scared back when Zhao Jun raised a leg.

"Why are the dogs in the house?" Zhao Youcai asked.

Zhao Jun casually shut the door, trapping the three dogs in his room. "Dad," he said to Zhao Youcai, "you’re just getting over your cold. Stay inside. I’ll go out."

Zhao Youcai knew at once that something was wrong, but he didn’t ask for details. He only said, "Be careful. If things look bad, shout for me."

"Okay," Zhao Jun grunted in acknowledgment, then pulled open the main door and walked out into the courtyard.

Zhao Jun had gotten up in such a hurry that he hadn’t checked the time. He didn’t know the exact hour, but he guessed it was late into the night.

In those days, the environment wasn’t heavily polluted, especially in the mountains. The night sky was filled with the moon and stars.

By the light of the moon and stars, Zhao Jun began to search the courtyard.

When he made his way over to Hua Xiao’er’s doghouse, he spotted something lying on the ground not far from it.

Zhao Jun went over and squatted down cautiously. It was a lump of sheep tallow.

Rage flared in Zhao Jun’s heart. He walked over to the woodpile in the north corner of the yard, pulled out a twig about the thickness of his little finger, and snapped it in half. Using the two pieces like chopsticks, he picked up the lump of sheep tallow and carried it back into the house.

Zhao Youcai was waiting for him in the outer room. Seeing Zhao Jun enter carrying the tallow with two sticks, he was momentarily confused. "What is that?"

"Sheep tallow," Zhao Jun said. He squatted down, placed the lump on the floor, and began to slowly pick it apart with the twig.

As Zhao Jun continued to pick and prod with the small twig, tiny white crystals began to roll out of the tallow.

Seeing this, Zhao Youcai’s brow furrowed. He immediately squatted down. Without touching them, he took one look and his face changed drastically.

"Medicinal Beans!"