Chapter 465 - 394: Baoyu Opens Fire
Thanks to Liu Tiezui’s efforts, the marriage between Li Baoyu and Liu Mei was arranged. But from then on, Li Baoyu surpassed Zhao Jun to become public enemy number one in Zhang Laibao’s mind.
He had tried to cause trouble for Li Baoyu, both openly and secretly, a few times, but Li Baoyu just beat him up in the open every time.
After getting beaten a few times, Zhang Laibao had been acting much more docile around Li Baoyu lately.
But recently, he’d started asking for trouble again, this time with Zhang Yuanmin.
Zhang Yuanmin hadn’t stolen his girl, but Zhang Laibao claimed that Zhang Yuanmin had screwed him over.
To be more specific, it was about those two Little Black Bears.
Zhang Yuanmin had acted as the middleman, helping Zhang Laibao buy the two little bear cubs from Zhao Jun for one thousand yuan.
Ever since those two little critters arrived at Zhang Laibao’s house, his family had spent no small amount of money on them.
At first, because the family had nothing to feed the Little Black Bears, Zhang Zhanshan gritted his teeth and bought two tins of malted milk extract, which lasted them two days.
Then, Zhang Zhanshan even considered buying the nanny goat from Zhao Jun’s family, but he heard Zhao Jun wasn’t selling. So, Xu Meihua had to resort to making millet gruel every day, boiling the millet until it was mushy and feeding the entire mixture to the Little Black Bears.
Zhang Zhanshan had also used his connections to go to the Red Star Brigade and buy several large buckets of milk from the production team.
They managed like this until spring, by which time the Little Black Bears had grown to nearly twenty pounds and sprouted teeth. Xu Meihua began feeding them like dogs, boiling potatoes and chopping cabbage for them every day.
The potatoes they had stored last autumn should have been enough to last Zhang Zhanshan’s family until the new harvest. But with the sudden addition of two dogs and two Little Bears to the household, their potato stores started to dwindle.
With no other choice, the family of four—minus Zhang Zhanshan, who had to go to work—did what they could. Xu Meihua, Zhang Laibao, and Zhang Laifa, the mother and her two sons, would carry baskets on their backs up the mountain every day to forage for wild vegetables to feed the Little Black Bears.
But Black Bears are omnivores, not herbivores. Eating only greens gave them diarrhea.
Resigned, Xu Meihua could only chop up the wild vegetables and mix in some soybean cakes and cornmeal. But by then, the two Little Black Bears’ daily food intake was already quite significant.
Moreover, by the time June arrived, the mountain trees were in full leaf and the grass was thick and high. Coupled with the sweltering heat, it became impossible to go up the mountain to forage. Zhang Laibao’s family had to rely on their own grain stores, toughing it out to keep the two Little Black Bears fed.
When things got difficult, the two brothers, Zhang Laibao and Zhang Laifa, would spend their days fishing by the river. They even resorted to digging up mouse holes to catch mice to feed the Black Bears.
They held on like this until July, when the early potatoes, cucumbers, and tomatoes from their own garden were finally ready. Only then did the Zhang Family’s situation ease slightly.
But they hadn’t planted many potatoes, after all, and making them last until they could head into the mountains in autumn was going to be a challenge.
By this point, Zhang Zhanshan and his family were realizing more and more just how difficult it was to raise these two Black Bears.
Fortunately, the Start of Autumn was almost upon them. As soon as it arrived and the weather cooled, Zhang Laibao planned to take the two Little Black Bears into the mountains to set up a dugout shelter.
Then, they could simply let the two Little Black Bears forage for themselves in the mountains during the day.
So, the hardest part was just getting through the next few days.
But a blow came to Zhang Laibao when, one morning, he was out walking the Black Bears and ran into Xu Changlin, who was on his way to pick up tofu.
Although Xu Changlin had already hung up his gun and retired, the sight of the two Little Black Bears made his hands itch. He couldn’t resist taking a longer look.
Zhang Laibao, never one to keep good news to himself, saw the old Cannon Shooter taking an interest in his Little Black Bears. He couldn’t help but start bragging, laying out the grand blueprint Zhang Yuanmin had sketched out for him.
Getting carried away, Zhang Laibao went on to bring up how Xu Changlin had refused to sell him his dogs, saying that if it weren’t for that refusal, he never would have stumbled upon such good fortune.
But to Zhang Laibao’s surprise, after hearing him out, Xu Changlin just scoffed and called him an idiot.
Zhang Laibao protested, but Xu Changlin went on to explain that adult male Black Bears hunt and kill young cubs.
If he took these two little ones into the mountains and a big male Black Bear caught their scent, it would be a slaughter.
Hearing this, Zhang Laibao froze on the spot, petrified. He returned home completely dejected and told his family everything, throwing the entire Zhang household into chaos.
Zhang Zhanshan went to consult Qin Qiang specifically about this. Qin Qiang confirmed it was true, explaining it was a natural behavior for Black Bears. He added that a Black Bear’s nose is keen—their sense of smell is several times stronger than a dog’s. Unless Zhang Laibao stood constant guard with a gun, the two Little Black Bears would most certainly be in mortal danger.
Upon hearing this, Zhang Zhanshan angrily demanded to know why Qin Qiang hadn’t told him earlier. Qin Qiang’s reply was blunt: "You didn’t ask earlier." This infuriated Zhang Zhanshan so much that he nearly fainted on the spot.
Of course, Qin Qiang had his own calculations. Back when Zhang Laibao had believed Zhang Yuanmin, he had traded his bear-hunting dog for one of Qin Qiang’s dogs that only hunted wild boar. Qin Qiang had clearly gotten the better end of that deal.
Besides, Zhang Laibao had participated in militia training too few times; he was far from being proficient enough to carry a gun on his own.
Zhang Zhanshan was capable, but he had a job at the Forest Farm. He couldn’t possibly guard the two little bears day in and day out.
If the Zhang Family insisted on protecting the two Little Black Bears, they would likely have to beg Qin Qiang for help. In that case, Qin Qiang stood to gain even more.
When Zhang Zhanshan got home, he discussed the matter with his family. The plan was for Zhang Laibao to take the two Little Black Bears into the mountains at the Start of Autumn, with Qin Qiang and the Tao Brothers taking turns to guard them until the cubs went into hibernation. Then, they would let them live directly in the dugout.
By the following spring, Zhang Laibao’s Spear Technique would be honed. But this meant that if Zhang Laibao wanted to come down from the mountains and live a normal life, he would likely have to wait two years.