The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

As soon as Wei Tie left, Wang Meilan asked Zhao Jun, "Why did you stop me?"

Zhao Jun shook his head. He knew his mother was truly kind-hearted, but the key was whether the other person was willing to listen.

How could anyone be happy about giving up a business that earns several thousand yuan a year just because of a Bear Nose and a saying from her father-in-law?

Zhao Jun turned and went back to his room, lying down on the kang. He was lost in thought for some time when he suddenly heard someone call him, "Brother."

"Hm?" Zhao Jun opened his eyes and saw it was Zhao Hong.

Zhao Hong said, "Brother Baoyu is roasting squirrels and wants you to come eat with us."

At the mention of food, Zhao Jun quickly got up from the kang, put on his cotton-padded jacket, slipped on his shoes, and followed Zhao Hong outside.

"Smells good." As soon as he stepped out of his house, Zhao Jun caught the fragrant aroma wafting from the next-door courtyard. He quickly lifted Zhao Hong onto the top of the wall and called out. On the other side, Li Ruhai was there to help her down.

Zhao Jun vaulted over the wall. In the Li Family Courtyard, a fire was blazing. Li Baoyu, Li Xiaoqiao, and Zhao Na were squatting around it. In his hands, Li Baoyu held three long bamboo sticks, each skewering a squirrel they had caught that morning.

"Big brother, hurry!" Zhao Na called out when she saw Zhao Jun arrive.

Zhao Jun walked over. Li Baoyu gave one squirrel to Li Xiaoqiao and Zhao Na, and another to Li Ruhai and Zhao Hong.

He and Zhao Jun shared the last and smallest one.

While roasting the squirrel meat, Li Baoyu had basted it with Black Bear fat until it was golden brown and crispy, then slathered on a layer of soybean paste and continued to roast it.

The roasted squirrel meat was incredibly chewy but not tough at all. Chewing it carefully revealed a faint sweetness, similar to pine nuts.

Splitting a small squirrel between two people didn’t yield much meat, but every bite brought a special sense of satisfaction.

The six of them finished the squirrel meat right there in the courtyard instead of going inside. Li Baoyu used a shovel to scoop up snow and extinguish the fire, then pushed the snow and charred wood into a corner against the wall.

Zhao Jun led his two sisters home. Since Zhao Na was still young, he didn’t have them jump the wall. Instead, they properly exited through the Li Family’s courtyard gate and entered their own house next door.

Just as Zhao Jun opened the door and let Zhao Hong and Zhao Na go in first, he heard someone call his name from behind: "Zhao Jun!"

Zhao Jun turned to see Wei Tie. He couldn’t help but feel a little puzzled. ’What’s Wei Tie doing here again?’

’Did he really come to give me money?’

’No way.’

While Zhao Jun was wondering, Wei Tie walked over and said, "Brother, I need to ask you for a favor."

"Oh?" This piqued Zhao Jun’s curiosity. He asked, "What is it? Go ahead, Brother Tie."

This time, Wei Tie didn’t look as awkward as he had before. His expression was normal as he said, "I want to ask you for a bullet."

"A bullet?" Zhao Jun was taken aback. He remembered that Wei Tie only set traps and never participated in big game hunts. He didn’t own a gun and didn’t know how to shoot. ’What does he need a bullet for?’

But for Zhao Jun, this wasn’t a big deal. Besides, Wei Tie was a good person, and he was willing to help him out.

"Brother Tie, come on, follow me inside. I’ll get you a whole strip," Zhao Jun said. Even though he had traded meat for those bullets, he wasn’t a stingy person.

"No, no." Wei Tie quickly grabbed Zhao Jun’s arm, repeating that it wasn’t necessary. He was probably afraid of running into Wang Meilan inside, who might bring up the matter of him trapping yellow foxes again. Wei Tie didn’t even dare to step through the door. He just said to Zhao Jun, "I don’t need that many. Just one is enough."

"Just one?" Zhao Jun was stunned. He asked, thoroughly confused, "What do you need it for?"

"Well..." Wei Tie hesitated for a moment before saying, "After your aunt talked to me today, I went back and asked a wise person about it. He said my wife—your sister-in-law—really has attracted something unlucky. But, brother, you know this too... if I don’t trap weasels, how am I supposed to make a living?"

"Right, right." Zhao Jun nodded repeatedly. "And then?"

"And someone else gave me an idea. He said to find a Cannon Shooter from a big game hunt and ask for one of his bullets. They say it can ward off... things."

"Ha, Brother Tie, you should have just said so," Zhao Jun said. "I don’t know who you talked to, but what he said is a real method."

At this point, Zhao Jun’s tone changed. "But my bullets won’t work. You need to find someone who uses a 16-gauge shotgun."

"Huh?" Now it was Wei Tie’s turn to be confused. Since he didn’t hunt with a gun, he didn’t understand the reasoning behind it.

Zhao Jun explained, "With our guns, once the bullet is fired, that’s it. A 16-gauge is different. After you fire a shot, the shell casing is left behind. You can reload that casing with powder for next time. It’s that kind of shell casing that will work."

"Ah!" Wei Tie had a sudden realization. Earlier that day, after returning from the Zhao Family’s house, he had ground up the dried Bear Nose and was just about to mix it with yellow wine for Pang Li to drink when he stopped.

He had remembered what Wang Meilan said, and the more he thought about it, the more uncertain he felt. For years, almost all the money he earned from trapping weasels had gone toward treating Pang Li’s illness. Over two thousand yuan a year was a huge sum in those days.

But even so, despite trying all sorts of folk remedies and visiting hospitals in the city and In the Town, nothing had cured her.

Right then, a wild thought entered Wei Tie’s mind: ’Could it be that I’ve actually offended some spirit?’ So he went to a certain house in the village to ask for advice.

This person told him that trapping weasels would never lead to prosperity. No matter how much money he made, it would always be lost to some unforeseen expense.

And the illness of Wei Tie’s wife, Pang Li, was that very expense. The crucial part was that the sickness had tormented Pang Li for so long that it had transformed from a spiritual ailment into a physical one.

To cure her completely, they had to treat the spiritual illness first, and only then the physical illness.

If the spiritual illness wasn’t cured first, no amount of money could cure the physical one.

To treat the spiritual illness, the first step was to stop trapping weasels, and then find a way to make amends.

This truly put Wei Tie in a difficult position. He had earned a lot of money over the years, but it had all been spent. Now, he didn’t even have five yuan to his name. If he stopped trapping weasels, how would he survive? What would they eat? What would they drink?

Seeing Wei Tie’s hesitation, the person told him to go home and think it over. 𝓯𝓻𝒆𝙚𝒘𝓮𝙗𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝒍.𝙘𝓸𝙢

On his way back from that person’s house, Wei Tie hadn’t gone far when he ran into the Village Chief, Zhao Guofeng.

Zhao Guofeng saw Wei Tie’s long face and asked him what was wrong.

When he heard Wei Tie’s story, Zhao Guofeng laughed. "Why are you listening to him? Stop trapping weasels? Why would you stop?"

"But my wife’s illness..." Wei Tie was truly caught in a dilemma.

Zhao Guofeng said, "Don’t listen to him. I’ll teach you a trick. Find a Cannon Shooter who has drawn blood on a big game hunt, get a bullet from him, and put it under your wife’s pillow when you get home. That’ll do the trick."

"For real?" Wei Tie was skeptical. ’Such a huge problem can be solved with a single bullet?’

"You don’t trust me!" Zhao Guofeng said. "You know Zhao Youcai, right?"

"Of course." Wei Tie thought, ’He’s a village celebrity. Who doesn’t know him?’

Zhao Guofeng lowered his voice mysteriously and said, "The two of us grew up together. I heard from Youcai’s father that whether it’s fox spirits or weasel spirits, they all behave themselves when they encounter a Cannon Shooter who has drawn blood on a big hunt."

You don’t go on the big hunts, so just find a Cannon Shooter, get a bullet from him, and bring it back. I guarantee it’ll work."

’It’s something Zhao Jun’s grandpa said again...’ Hearing Zhao Guofeng’s words, Wei Tie thought, ’Since this whole mess started because of what Zhao Jun’s grandpa said, this is perfect. I’ll just go ask Zhao Jun for the bullet.’