The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Because he had upset Wang Meilan yesterday, Zhao Youcai got up before five this morning and personally made breakfast for the whole family.

When breakfast was ready, Wang Meilan still hadn’t gotten up, so Zhao Youcai had no choice but to take his bowl and eat alone by the stove.

After eating, Zhao Youcai went back inside. He first changed into his mountain trousers, then wrapped his puttees, pulled on his cotton-padded jacket, and finally slipped on his white overcoat.

As he took his gun down from the wall, he noticed Wang Meilan stir. Zhao Youcai whispered, "Meilan, breakfast is ready. Get up and eat in a bit, okay?"

The moment he finished speaking, Wang Meilan’s voice came through. "If you go showing off again and catch a cold, see if I don’t throw you out."

Zhao Youcai chuckled and pushed the door open, leaving.

After Zhao Youcai left, Wang Meilan got up from the kang bed and got her two little girls up to wash, dress, and eat.

By the time Zhao Jun woke up, got up, and finished his breakfast, it was already almost eight o’clock.

He wrapped his puttees, put on his cotton-padded jacket, and slung his gun over his back before heading out to find Li Baoyu.

It was hard to say whether the houses in this era had poor soundproofing or if Li Baoyu’s voice was just too loud, but as Zhao Jun walked past the window of the Li Family’s house, he could hear Li Baoyu inside telling some story about how he had single-handedly stabbed a black bear.

Zhao Jun didn’t catch the beginning or the middle of the story, but he heard Li Baoyu’s line—"I plunged my knife straight into that Black Bear’s heart!"—as clear as day.

Zhao Jun pulled the door open and saw Jin Xiaomei busy by the stove. He called out, "Auntie."

The moment Jin Xiaomei saw Zhao Jun, she smiled. "Xiaojun, you’re here! Come on in."

"Brother, come in!" Li Baoyu shouted to Zhao Jun from inside. He had just finished eating and was telling a story to his younger brother and sister.

The thing was, he had already told this story last night. But Li Dayong had been home then, so Li Baoyu hadn’t dared to embellish it too wildly.

Not like now, when he was coming up with stuff like stabbing a Black Bear.

Zhao Jun didn’t go inside. Instead, he asked Jin Xiaomei, "Auntie, where did Uncle go?"

Zhao Jun was a little curious. He had been right there yesterday when Zhao Youcai and Wang Dalong were making plans, and he clearly remembered them saying they weren’t bringing anyone else.

"Something came up at work." Jin Xiaomei seemed very happy. She grabbed a rag, wiped the water from her hands, and said to Zhao Jun, "Your uncle is being transferred to the dispatch department."

"Huh?" Zhao Jun was taken aback. ’In my past life, Li Dayong worked the same job until he retired,’ he thought. ’Why is there a change now?’

But seeing how happy Jin Xiaomei was, Zhao Jun had a guess. He asked, "Did the forestry center give my uncle a promotion?"

Jin Xiaomei nodded first, then said, "From what I heard from your uncle, when that Deputy Team Leader Qu retires in May, he’s going to take his place."

Hearing this, Zhao Jun grew even more puzzled.

Just then, Li Baoyu came out of the east room. "Brother, wait for me a minute. I’ll get my stuff, and then we can go."

"It’s fine, no rush," Zhao Jun replied. A possibility suddenly occurred to him. ’Maybe it’s because I took Li Baoyu to Yongsheng Village the other day and we made a name for ourselves. My biological father, Zhou Chunming, saw Li Baoyu and took note of Li Dayong.’

’Then, when he needed someone for a position, he arranged for Li Dayong to fill it.’

Zhao Jun mulled it over. That seemed to be the only possibility. Otherwise, if things had followed the trajectory of his past life, Li Dayong would have remained just a worker until retirement.

Zhao Jun didn’t say anything about it. He knew that if this was indeed the case, Li Dayong would sooner or later find out about this favor.

"Auntie," Zhao Jun said with a laugh, "if my uncle really takes charge of dispatch, I’ll have free rein over the acceptance team."

Good news always lifts the spirits.

Jin Xiaomei was beaming, slapping Zhao Jun’s arm. "Of course! No matter where your uncle is, he won’t let you be taken advantage of."

As the two were laughing and talking, Li Baoyu came out of the house.

Zhao Jun said to Jin Xiaomei, "Auntie, my mom’s smoking rabbits at home today. Could you help her out?"

"Sure," Jin Xiaomei agreed without a second thought.

But Li Baoyu, who was standing nearby, asked, "Why is my auntie smoking them? Did my uncle go to work?"

"I’ll tell you on the way," Zhao Jun replied to Li Baoyu. He then said goodbye to Jin Xiaomei and left with his friend.

As the two of them walked up the mountain, Zhao Jun told Li Baoyu about how Zhao Youcai had gotten up early to hunt Lynx with Wang Dalong.

When he heard that the dogs Wang Dalong had bought from Xu Changlin’s family had all died, Li Baoyu was full of regret. He kept shaking his head and repeating, "What a waste."

When they reached Yellow Mud Ridge, Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu split up. They worked all morning, checking all the snares they had set. When they gathered their haul, they found that, coincidentally, they had caught another seven rabbits today.

The two of them returned to the spot where they had killed the Black Bear yesterday. The fire they’d built had gone out, but there were still some dry branches left nearby.

They lit the branches, roasted two large flatbreads for a simple bite to eat, and then tied a rope around the Black Bear’s leg and began dragging it down the mountain.

The Black Bear had been gutted and bled, so it probably still weighed a little over two hundred jin. Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu chatted as they dragged the bear down the mountain.

Li Baoyu asked Zhao Jun, "Do you think my uncle and his partner will get that Lynx today?"

"It’ll be tough," Zhao Jun said. "Hunting in winter is even harder than in autumn."

"That’s true." Li Baoyu nodded. Then he suddenly remembered something and quickly asked, "What about that Pig God? Are we still going to hunt it?"

"We are!" Zhao Jun’s answer was decisive. But he immediately changed his tune, adding, "But now’s not the time."

Curious, Li Baoyu pressed, "Then when is the time?"

"We’ll wait for spring."

"Spring? Won’t it have run off long before then?" Li Baoyu was astonished. The mountain range stretched for a thousand li, spanning both Heilongjiang and Jilin provinces. There was no telling how many mountains and ridges it contained. If that wild boar took off, where on earth would they find it?

"It won’t get away." But Zhao Jun seemed very confident. "I can find it."

"Well..." Although Li Baoyu trusted Zhao Jun a great deal, at this moment, he couldn’t help but doubt his words.

The two returned to the village, dragging the Black Bear all the way home. People greeted them along the way, but no one followed them asking for meat this time.

After all, the meat from the Xiong Ba they had hunted a few days ago had just been distributed. People couldn’t just keep asking for more, could they?

Since they weren’t asking for meat, they couldn’t offer to help. Otherwise, the owner would be obligated to give them some.

So, no one offered a helping hand on the way. But someone did ask Zhao Jun, "Hey, Zhao Jun! I heard you pulled some Black Bear cubs out of a Xiong Cangzi?"

"Yep!" Zhao Jun casually replied.

Li Baoyu found it strange. He asked Zhao Jun, "Brother, who did you tell? How does everyone know?"

"Heh." Zhao Jun chuckled. "You must have told Ruhai when you got home. Once Ruhai knows something, doesn’t the whole village know it?"

As they neared Zhao Jun’s family home, the dogs in both the Zhao and Li Family courtyards started barking as if their camp was being overrun, their cries merging into one.

The dogs had smelled the Black Bear.

This made Zhao Jun sigh. There were fewer and fewer good hunting dogs in Yong’an Village.

Zhao Jun still remembered that the first time they came back from a bear hunt, they could hear dogs barking all over the moment they entered the village.

But today, from the village entrance to here, this was the first wave of warning barks from hunting dogs.

They had just dragged the Black Bear to the gate of Zhao Jun’s family home when, without any need to announce their arrival, Wang Meilan and Jin Xiaomei came out of the house.

"Hua Xiao’Er was howling in the house, so I knew you were back," Wang Meilan said as she came out, setting a basin on the ground. It was filled with all sorts of knives.

Since no one was asking for meat today, no one offered to help. Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu dragged the Black Bear directly into the courtyard to skin it there.

Leaving Wang Meilan and Jin Xiaomei to get started, Zhao Jun called Li Baoyu inside for a drink of water. But when they entered, they found that Zhao Youcai was already back and lying on the kang bed.

"Uncle." As a junior, Li Baoyu had to greet Zhao Youcai upon entering the Zhao Family home.

But Zhao Youcai didn’t answer. His back was to them, and he didn’t move.

"He’s asleep," Zhao Jun said, handing a tea mug to Li Baoyu. Li Baoyu didn’t think much of it and drank a few big gulps.

Once Li Baoyu finished his water, Zhao Jun had already hung his gun back up inside. The two of them then went out to the courtyard to help Wang Meilan and Jin Xiaomei deal with the Black Bear.

Because Jin Xiaomei and Li Baoyu were there, Zhao Jun didn’t ask Wang Meilan about Zhao Youcai.

The four of them were in the middle of skinning the bear when they heard a voice from outside the courtyard. "Is Zhao Jun home?"

As soon as the voice spoke, the dogs in the yard started barking again.

The four of them craned their necks to look. When she saw who it was, Wang Meilan immediately stood up, hastily wiping her hands on her clothes, not caring how much grease from the bearskin was on them.

Wiping her hands, she hurried toward the courtyard gate, saying, "Uncle Xu, come on in."

The visitor was none other than Xu Changlin.

The old man smiled at Wang Meilan and said, "Youcai’s wife, I won’t come in. I’m looking for Zhao Jun."