The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Because Zhao Jun made a hushing gesture, Zhang Yuanmin clamped his mouth shut, not daring to make a sound.

Then he saw Zhao Jun point at the snake slithering into the distance. Zhao Jun then rubbed his thumb and forefinger together, making a money-counting gesture. Zhang Yuanmin instantly understood and shouted, "A string of coins!"

Zhao Jun laughed heartily and replied, "Strings and strings of coins! The Elder Leader has granted us a vision!"

A "vision" meant finding Ginseng in a patch of land.

And a "string of coins" was a snake.

In the Northeast, traditional mountain men would never harm Fox Huang or snakes.

Fox Huang needed little explanation. In the culture of the Northeast, they were two great immortal clans. Moreover, both were known to be petty and hold terrible grudges, making them widely feared.

Snakes, while also among the Five Immortals, were not as renowned as Fox Huang. But in the mountain Forest Farms, snakes represented wealth and were thus called "strings of coins."

Especially for ginseng hunters, seeing a snake was a sign of a guaranteed big find.

So, after seeing the snake, Zhao Jun stopped watching from the sidelines. He joined Li Baoyu and Zhang Yuanmin in sweeping the hillside.

From top to bottom and back up again, they searched. Zhao Jun used both hands to carefully brush aside a patch of dead branches and rotten leaves, and there it was: a Ginseng sprout, its bud curled and bent, its tiny leaves tightly folded.

Zhao Jun crouched down, his face almost touching the ground. His eyes fixed on the sprout as he slowly counted the curled leaves in his head.

At this, Zhang Yuanmin and Li Baoyu stopped their search, standing guard on either side of Zhao Jun.

Zhao Jun counted them once, then once more. After double-checking, his face lit up with joy. He shot to his feet, faced the sky, and roared, "Ginseng! Ginseng!"

"What grade!" Li Baoyu shouted back.

Zhao Jun summoned all his strength and bellowed, "Sixth Grade!"

"How many stalks!" This time, Zhang Yuanmin and Li Baoyu yelled in unison.

There’s an old saying: a short wife has a loud voice.

Zhang Yuanmin was short, but his voice was incredibly loud. With him joining in, their combined shouts spread and echoed through the mountains.

"A whole..."

A-ROOO... GRRR... A-ROOO...

Zhao Jun took a deep breath, about to yell out the auspicious phrase, "The whole mountain is full of them!" when a series of roars echoed down from the ridge above.

"Crap!" Zhao Jun jumped, startled. He quickly crouched down and covered the Ginseng sprout with dead branches and leaves, then looked left and right to memorize the spot. He then did the same for the spot where the Fourth-grade leaves were.

Recognizing the cries of a Black Bear, Li Baoyu panicked too. He started banging his stick against a tree, trying to scare the Black Bear away, while catching up to Zhao Jun. "Brother, what do we do?" he asked.

Normally, if a person is far enough from a bear, making noise by hitting a tree can make it retreat.

But for some reason, this bear just kept roaring, as if it was posturing at Zhao Jun and the others.

"What else can we do? Run!" Zhao Jun pointed downhill, urging the other two to hurry.

Li Baoyu’s eyes lit up. "Right! We have the truck! Let’s just get down there and get in the truck!"

This time, Zhang Yuanmin didn’t offer one of his brilliant plans. He just pumped his short legs, scrambling after Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu. But his short legs made him slow, and in his panic, he yelled as he ran, "Brothers! Brothers, wait for me!"

The truck was right at the bottom of the slope. Once all three were inside, they could finally breathe again.

Zhao Jun was about to say something to Li Baoyu, but Zhang Yuanmin, sitting beside him, cut in, his eyes glinting. "Baoyu, hold on, don’t start the truck. I have a plan."

Zhao Jun put a hand out to stop Li Baoyu and turned to Zhang Yuanmin. "Go on, Brother. What are you planning?"

All traces of his earlier panic were gone. Zhang Yuanmin’s face was flushed with excitement as he said to Li Baoyu, "Baoyu, don’t drive off yet. I’m going to get out."

As he said this, he reached for the door handle.

This terrified Zhao Jun, who quickly grabbed him. "Brother, have you lost your mind?" he yelled.

The faint roars of the bear could still be heard from up the mountain. If Zhang Yuanmin got out now, what would happen if the bear came down?

That was just asking to be killed.

"Of course I want to live!" Zhang Yuanmin chuckled. "Who wouldn’t? Now, little brother, don’t interrupt. Listen to me."

At this, Zhao Jun shot Li Baoyu a helpless look. He turned back to Zhang Yuanmin, his face now a blank mask. "Fine. Go on."

Zhang Yuanmin chuckled slyly. "I’ll get out, yell a few times to lure the bear down, and then I’ll run. If it chases me, Baoyu, you drive the truck and run it over!"

"But..."

Li Baoyu started to object, but Zhao Jun secretly tapped him on the leg. Li Baoyu caught on instantly and swallowed the rest of his words.

Zhang Yuanmin was squeezed into the passenger seat with Zhao Jun, but since he was closer to the door, he didn’t see Zhao Jun’s subtle gesture. After unveiling his grand idea, he looked proudly from Zhao Jun to Li Baoyu, waiting for their praise.

But Zhao Jun just nodded, his expression still flat. "Sure, Brother. It’s a great plan. Go on, get out. We’ll do it just like you said."

"Haha..." Zhang Yuanmin, completely missing the sarcasm, let out a hearty laugh and pushed the door open. He leaned halfway out, then pulled back in. "Alright, brother, I’m off," he said to Zhao Jun.

Zhao Jun didn’t even look at him, just waved a dismissive hand. "Off with you, then."

In his haste, Zhang Yuanmin didn’t quite catch what Zhao Jun said. He jumped out of the truck, leaving the door open, and walked around the front toward the base of the slope, already yelling, "Hey! Hey!"

"Brother!" Li Baoyu was getting anxious now. "Are we really going to hit it? What if we damage the truck? How would we ever pay for that?"

"Hit what?" Zhao Jun snapped. He ducked his head to peer up the slope through the driver’s side window. Seeing no sign of a Black Bear, he relaxed and pulled the passenger door shut.

After shutting the door, Zhao Jun pointed straight ahead. "Let’s go," he said to Li Baoyu. "We’re going home."

"Huh?" Li Baoyu was dumbfounded. He glanced out his window at Zhang Yuanmin, who was now standing at the foot of the slope with his hands on his hips, yelling. Then he turned back to Zhao Jun.

"Go!" Zhao Jun repeated, his voice rising in irritation.

And how much did Li Baoyu listen to Zhao Jun?

Well, as his mother, Jin Xiaomei, always said, a single word from Zhao Jun held more weight with Li Baoyu than anything she and Li Dayong said combined.

Seeing that Zhao Jun was getting annoyed, Li Baoyu immediately started the engine and slammed the accelerator to the floor.

"Hey... Hey... Wait, hey, where are you going?" Zhang Yuanmin yelled at the mountain a couple of times before he heard a noise behind him. He spun around to see the truck disappearing in a cloud of dust.

This terrified Zhang Yuanmin. Walking home was one thing, but what if the bear from the mountain decided to come down right now?

At that thought, a jolt of terror shot through Zhang Yuanmin, and he took off after the truck.

He ran, waving his arms wildly and yelling, "Brothers! Brothers! Wait for me! Don’t leave me behind!"