Chapter 367 - 305: Staking out the Leopard
Zhao Jun turned around, went to say something to Du Chunjiang, and then came back to find Zhang Yuanmin.
When he got back to Zhang Yuanmin, he saw him holding out a handful of bullets with both hands, as if presenting a treasure.
Zhao Jun reached out, grabbed the bullets, and started putting them in his pocket. After finishing one handful, as he was taking the second, Zhao Jun suddenly sensed something was wrong.
"Big Bro," Zhao Jun said, looking at Zhang Yuanmin, "where did you get all these bullets?"
A 16-gauge shotgun could fire slugs or shotshells. The shotshells were what people later called buckshot or birdshot, and could be loaded with lead pellets or iron sand.
Zhao Jun weighed them in his hand and immediately knew something was off. These cartridges were definitely filled with lead pellets, and quite a lot of them too.
Zhao Jun then recalled that when he had visited Zhang Yuanmin’s house the other day, Zhang Yuanmin himself had said that Yang Yufeng wouldn’t buy him lead pellets. He could only fill his cartridges with a bit of iron sand, just like Elder Tao, to hunt things like sand partridges, francolins, jerboas, and wild ducks.
So, where did these lead pellets come from?
"Big Bro," Zhao Jun asked Zhang Yuanmin, "who loaded these cartridges for you?"
"Ah, haha," Zhang Yuanmin chuckled awkwardly, then laughed. "Chen Dalai gave them to me."
"Since when is he so fond of you?" Zhao Jun retorted. "You know how poor his family is. He has to ration his own gunpowder. You think he’d load cartridges with lead pellets for you?"
Seeing that he couldn’t fool him, Zhang Yuanmin immediately admitted his mistake. "Brother, your Big Bro has seen the error of his ways and pulled back from the brink. Please don’t tell your sister-in-law."
Ever since he started reading comic books, Zhang Yuanmin’s vocabulary had been growing by the day. He was now quite skilled at using idioms.
Hearing this, Zhao Jun understood what had happened. He glanced at Zhang Yuanmin, then turned to look at Du Chunjiang sitting under the large tree. He stuffed the bullets into his pocket and said to Zhang Yuanmin, "Big Bro, let’s go."
The two of them left the Logging Camp. Along the way, Zhao Jun began to lecture Zhang Yuanmin. "Big Bro, you keep talking about hunting a Black Bear, and you always go looking for Chen Dalai. Are his skills really up to the task?
"Don’t think you’re hot stuff just because you have a gun. I went hunting in Yongxing a couple of days ago and heard a story. Last year in Lingnan, a group of guys went to take on a Black Bear’s Den. There were five of them, with three guns. In the end, they didn’t kill the Black Bear, and of the five men, two died, one was crippled, and one was seriously injured."
"For real?" Zhang Yuanmin asked, his face a mask of astonishment. Five men with three guns surrounding one Black Bear, and two of them still died? That was terrifying.
Zhao Jun glanced at Zhang Yuanmin and nodded gravely.
He wasn’t just trying to scare Zhang Yuanmin. The incident he just described would happen five years from now, in his previous life.
That group of five men consisted of Chen Dalai, Tao Ersheng, Zhang Laibao, Li Dagua, and Zhang Yuanmin himself.
The three with guns were Chen Dalai, Tao Ersheng, and Zhang Laibao. Li Dagua and Zhang Yuanmin didn’t have guns but were armed with knives, ready to provide backup. But after the fight, of the three with guns, Zhang Laibao was seriously injured, and Chen Dalai was left disabled after a bear bit his left hand off at the wrist. Li Dagua was lucky and escaped unscathed.
As for Tao Ersheng and Zhang Yuanmin, they both lost their lives.
This whole group was made up of people he knew. Five men with three guns ended up in such a state. There was only one reason: the three men’s Spear Technique was no good.
Black Bears aren’t like wild boars. A wild boar runs when it hears a gunshot, but most Black Bears charge toward the gun, mauling one person after another.
"Big Bro," Zhao Jun said earnestly, supporting Zhang Yuanmin by the arm as they walked up the slope. "I had someone fix me up with some deer bait yesterday. In a few days, we’ll dig a deer pit. Once we bait a big one, I just want the Deer Heart Blood. You can take the leftover Antler Velvet and Deer Penis to sell for money. This summer, we’ll tend to our family’s land properly. Come August, you’ll come with me into the mountains, and we’ll dig for Ginseng. When winter comes, if I go hunting, I’ll take you with me. How does that sound?"
How could Zhang Yuanmin refuse such an offer? He agreed in a heartbeat, grabbing Zhao Jun and pouring out a stream of grateful words.
Looking at Zhang Yuanmin’s grateful face, Zhao Jun felt a wave of emotion. In his past life, he hadn’t known Zhang Yuanmin for long, but the man had helped him a lot. Yet before Zhao Jun could repay him, Zhang Yuanmin had been killed by a Black Bear.
They talked as they walked. Soon, they were approaching the place where Zhang Yuanmin had set his snares. Zhang Yuanmin pointed ahead and said to Zhao Jun, "Brother, it’s just up there. I set snares all around that area. If it comes, I wonder if we’ll catch it."
Hearing this, Zhao Jun pointed upward and asked, "After you gutted that roe deer, you threw its intestines and stuff up there, right?"
"Yeah, hung them on a tree branch," Zhang Yuanmin nodded. "I cleaned it out completely, but Chen Dalai didn’t want the innards."
"Alright." Zhao Jun took down his gun and tucked it under his arm. Then he said to Zhang Yuanmin, "Big Bro, there’s no telling when this thing will show up. If you get impatient, you can head home first. If you want to wait, find a shady spot. But remember: no smoking, and don’t make a sound. If you feel a cough coming on, cover your mouth with your hat."
"Got it, Brother. I’ll remember," said Zhang Yuanmin. "I’ll wait for you down here."
Zhao Jun parted ways with Zhang Yuanmin and walked up the slope, where he saw a lacquer tree. The roe deer’s intestines and stomach were hanging from its branches. And in a radius of several dozen meters around the lacquer tree, circles of roe deer snares had been laid.
That’s right. Zhang Yuanmin hadn’t set these snares for roe deer at all, but for that Wild Leopard.
Zhao Jun scanned his surroundings, then retreated twenty meters, moving behind a great red pine.
The base of this great red pine was over seventy centimeters wide. Zhao Jun ducked behind the tree and rested his gun across his knees.
Zhao Jun tilted his head slightly, peering out from behind the tree with his gaze fixed on the slope above him.
In his past life, he had dug for Ginseng in the Far East Mountains and had encountered a Far East Leopard before, so he knew some of its habits.
It had caught a roe deer here earlier but had been startled, abandoning its prey. It was bound to return within a few hours.
Moreover, Zhao Jun knew he would only have one shot. If he missed, the creature would definitely flee far away. Trying to track it down and corner it would be a complete joke.
Zhao Jun rested his hands on his gun and waited silently. He was very patient, his eyes unblinkingly scanning from side to side.
When lying in wait for a Northeast Leopard, you couldn’t rely on hearing. The creature was like a cat, moving without a single sound. To hunt one, you had to rely on sight—spot it the moment it appeared, and then kill it.
Zhao Jun waited for about an hour. Then, a beast appeared thirty meters away, revealing itself from behind a tree.
It was a leopard!
It had a small head, a long tail, and short, powerful limbs. Its yellow fur was covered in black, ring-shaped spots that looked like copper coins.
It crept low to the ground, pulling itself forward with its front paws. But after taking just one step with its left and one with its right, it paused. It cautiously raised its lowered head and scanned its surroundings.
After feeling it was safe, it would move forward two more steps, then pause again to observe its surroundings.
Its caution surpassed that of a Tiger and even a Lynx.
Its movements were light, its body never brushing against the slightest twig. Its paws made no sound as they touched the ground.
Zhao Jun silently gripped his gun, slowly raising it to his shoulder.
Looking back at the leopard, it had suddenly stopped. It hadn’t heard or seen Zhao Jun; it had seen the roe deer’s intestines and stomach hanging from the tree.
A moment ago, the scent of these things had made the leopard think that the roe deer it had wounded was still there.
But now, the leopard was confused. Why were these things hanging from a tree?
Just then, Zhao Jun abruptly revealed himself from behind the tree, brought the gun to his cheek, aimed at the leopard, and pulled the trigger!