The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

"Brother," Li Baoyu said as soon as Zhao Jun came out. "I’ll drive you to the Logging Camp in a bit."

"Forget it," Zhao Jun said, shaking his head. "It’s not that far for me to walk. You’d have to take a detour to drive me. I’ll just go on my own."

"Alright, then." Li Baoyu glanced at the dogs in the yard and said to Zhao Jun, "The other day, Brother Shunzi said we should hold off a bit longer on Big Fatty and Flower Cat. What do you think...?"

"Let’s wait a couple more days," Zhao Jun said. "These dogs just got here. They aren’t familiar with us, and they don’t know White Dragon or Da Huang yet. They won’t be able to work properly in the mountains."

Li Baoyu blinked at his words and added, "If we wait any longer, the season will be over."

Seeing Zhao Jun nod, Li Baoyu added, "If we don’t take them out now, waiting until fall will cause delays."

Zhao Jun nodded again but said nothing. He understood the situation better than Li Baoyu, but things were admittedly complicated at the moment.

Zhao Jun watched Big Fatty licking its paws in front of the doghouse while San Pang nuzzled its head against Big Fatty’s shoulder. After a moment’s thought, he said to Li Baoyu, "Let’s wait another three to five days. By then, the lumber at the Logging Camp will be almost all shipped out. You can ask Second Brother for a couple of days off, and we’ll head into the mountains for a few hunts."

"Deal!"

With that settled, Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu walked side by side toward the courtyard gate. Just as they reached it, Zhao Jun stopped and said, "I was out this morning and ran into Zhang Laibao."

"Zhang Laibao?" Li Baoyu frowned at the name. "Now that you mention it, I’d forgotten all about him. I haven’t seen him for a few days."

Zhao Jun didn’t respond to that, simply continuing, "I saw him walking those two little Black Bear cubs around the village."

"Oh yeah," Li Baoyu said with a laugh. "I heard the Zhang Family has spared no expense. They’ve fed those little Black Bear cubs until they’re quite sturdy."

Hearing this, Zhao Jun thought back. "They must be thirty or forty pounds by now."

"Huh?" Li Baoyu said, surprised. "They’re growing that fast?"

"You bet," Zhao Jun said. "Their fur is all sleek and shiny. They looked good, from what I could see."

Zhao Jun’s comment confused Li Baoyu. "Brother, you don’t regret selling them to him, do you? Our dogs are trained for Black Bears. The moment they see one, they’ll try to kill it. We could never raise them ourselves."

Zhao Jun looked at Li Baoyu, waving a hand and shaking his head. "That’s not it. I’ve got my eye on their two little Bear Galls."

"Ah, haha," Li Baoyu laughed. "You may have your eye on them, but it’s not like he’s going to give them to you..."

He trailed off, then paused. "Brother, what are you getting at? Sounds like there’s more to what you’re saying."

Zhao Jun didn’t elaborate. He just led Li Baoyu toward the exit. When they reached the gate, he said, "I’m heading to Brother Zhang’s place to drop off his money and things. You coming?"

Li Baoyu’s share of the money had already been personally handed to Jin Xiaomei by Wang Meilan that morning. The two women had long ago reached an agreement: money should not pass through the hands of men.

Now, only Zhang Yuanmin’s share of the money was left to be delivered.

When Li Baoyu heard they were going to Zhang Yuanmin’s house, he immediately pointed toward his car. "Let’s go. I’ll drive you."

Zhao Jun didn’t refuse this time, letting Li Baoyu drive them to the outside of Zhang Yuanmin’s courtyard.

As they neared Zhang Yuanmin’s home, Zhao Jun sorted out the gifts in the passenger seat.

There were still two bags of "Little Rascal" snacks. One was for Lin Xiangshun, which Li Baoyu would deliver, and the other was for Zhang Yuanmin.

As for the ten remaining cans of Jianlibao soda, since it’s bad luck to give gifts in odd numbers, they couldn’t just be split in half. Zhao Jun decided to give four cans to Zhang Yuanmin.

Li Baoyu parked the car. He and Zhao Jun, who was carrying the gifts, entered the Zhang Family Courtyard. Li Baoyu walked ahead to the front door, knocked once, and then opened it, letting the encumbered Zhao Jun go in first.

"Oh! Brother!" Yang Yufeng, who was washing dishes in the outer room, greeted him with pleasant surprise. She then shouted toward the inner room, "Elder Zhang, our brother is here!"

After shouting, she quickly wiped her wet hands on her clothes and ushered Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu inside.

The moment Zhao Jun stepped into the inner room, he saw Zhang Yuanmin about to climb down from the kang bed.

Zhao Jun put the items he was carrying on the low kang table and asked Zhang Yuanmin in surprise, "Brother, you’re able to get up and walk?"

"I am!" Zhang Yuanmin laughed. "This time it’s not as bad as the last. Besides, it’s not my first time being mauled by a Black Bear. I’ve got experience now."

Both Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu chuckled at that. Yang Yufeng, who had followed them in, shot her husband a glare before turning to the guests. "Brothers, please, have a seat. I’ll go get you some water!"

"There’s no need," Zhao Jun quickly said, stopping her. "Please, don’t go to any trouble. We can only stay for a little while. We still have to get to work."

With that said, Zhao Jun opened his satchel, pulled out a thick wad of cash, and said to Zhang Yuanmin and Yang Yufeng, "The first day, my brother and I went for Ginseng. We found two Second-class stalks and one Miao Lantern Platform. The three of them sold for 165 yuan total, which we split half and half. The next day, he and I went out with Baoyu and found one Sixth-grade Leaf and one Fourth-grade Leaf. Those two sold for three thousand, eight hundred and eighty—"

"How much?" Zhang Yuanmin was so shocked he nearly leaped off the kang bed. He stared at Zhao Jun, utterly stunned, unable to believe his own ears.

"Three thousand, eight hundred and eighty!" Zhao Jun said with a smile. "The Fourth-grade leaves sold for one hundred and eighty yuan, and the Sixth-grade Leaves sold for three thousand, seven hundred."

He glanced at the couple, who were still too shocked to speak, and offered the money to Yang Yufeng. "The three of us brothers are splitting that three thousand, eight hundred and eighty. Your husband’s total share came out to one thousand three hundred seventy-five yuan and eighty-three cents. I rounded it up and brought one thousand four hundred for him. You can use the extra to buy him some good food to help him recover, Sister-in-law."

"Oh my! We can’t take this!" Yang Yufeng exclaimed, quickly pushing the money back. "Brother, we’re already so indebted to you! How could we possibly take this much money? Your husband barely did anything. If you insist, just give us two hundred yuan. That’s more than enough."

"Haha..." Zhao Jun just smiled. "That’s not how my family does things. Ever since my grandfather’s time, the rule has been that when you go into the mountains with your brothers, everyone gets an equal share, no matter how much work they did!"

"Just take it, Sister-in-law," Li Baoyu chimed in. "That’s how my brother always splits it with me, too."

"That’s right." Zhao Jun pushed the money toward Yang Yufeng with one hand and gestured to Li Baoyu with the other. "Baoyu has already gotten his share. This is for my brother here."

Seeing that Yang Yufeng was still hesitant to accept, Zhao Jun grinned. "Sister-in-law, if you don’t take it, I’ll just give it to my brother directly."

At that, Yang Yufeng immediately stepped forward and took the money with both hands. "Well, if you put it that way, Brother," she said with a laugh, "I’ll take it."

Just then, Zhang Yuanmin, still sitting on the kang bed, shot his wife a sidelong glance. He then turned to Zhao Jun and said, "Brother, I know you’re a true friend to us. Just remember this: I’ll never do anything to let you down in this life."

"Yeah, I believe you," Zhao Jun replied with a smile. He pushed the gifts he’d brought across the table. "Where’s Lingdang?"

"She has cleaning duty at school today, so she left early," Zhang Yuanmin said. He frowned as he looked at the gifts Zhao Jun had pushed forward. "Brother, you already brought money. Why bring all this stuff too?"

"I went to Lingnan yesterday and bought some snacks and drinks for the kid."

"Huh? These are drinks?" Zhang Yuanmin asked, looking at the Cans in surprise.

Zhao Jun picked one up. Without opening it, he showed Zhang Yuanmin and Yang Yufeng how to use the pull-tab. He also gave them a special warning to store the Cans carefully and not let them get punctured by anything sharp.

’After all, Zhang Yuanmin was a lot craftier than Zhao Youcai. If he thought up some other new trick, things could get really interesting.’

Just then, Yang Yufeng suddenly said to Zhao Jun, "Brother, around three o’clock this morning, Lingdang had a stomachache, so I got up to take her to the outhouse. The moment we stepped out of the yard, we saw Zhang Laibao walking those two Black Bear cubs right past our gate. He was muttering to himself as he walked. I couldn’t hear clearly, but it sounded like he mentioned your name."

Zhao Jun just smiled at her words and looked at Zhang Yuanmin. "Brother, you think he hates my guts?"

"Definitely," Zhang Yuanmin chuckled. "With the feud between his dad and my uncle, he was bound to hate you. That kid is bad news."

"See? Look at our brother here," Zhao Jun said to Li Baoyu, pointing at Zhang Yuanmin. "He sees things so clearly!"

"But of course!" Hearing Zhao Jun’s praise, Zhang Yuanmin practically grew an invisible tail that wagged straight up to the sky. He then declared to Zhao Jun, "Brother, your big brother here can grasp the state of the world without even leaving his cottage!"

"Haha..." Zhao Jun didn’t quite get the classical reference but knew Zhang Yuanmin was bragging, so he just offered a polite laugh.

He hadn’t expected, however, that someone would actually play along.

Li Baoyu stood up from the edge of the kang, leaned in close to Zhang Yuanmin, and said with a grin, "Brother Zhang, if you can figure out a way to get the galls from those two little Black Bear cubs, I’ll personally petition my brother to name you his official military strategist!"

The moment the words were out, Zhang Yuanmin’s eyes lit up. "Do you speak true?" he asked with delight.