Chapter 451 - 383: Kicked the Bucket
Today, Big Fatty and the others had finally started barking and working as a pack, which made Zhao Jun ecstatic. After the boar hunt, he’d been so busy fawning over his dogs and boasting, completely forgetting to reload his rifle.
Later, Zhao Jun took a nap in the mountains. When he woke up, his only thought was to head home. He wasn’t prepared for another hunt, so the bullets never even crossed his mind.
And now, he was totally screwed.
Seeing the Black Bear charge straight for him, Zhao Jun spun around and ran, fumbling for bullets in his pocket as he went.
Normally, reloading a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle involved using a stripper clip with ten rounds. You’d press it into the internal magazine, push down on the top round with your thumb, and pull the clip out. The rifle would be loaded.
But now, Zhao Jun had no time to find a stripper clip. He frantically dug out a single bullet, pulled back the bolt, and tried to shove it directly into the chamber.
Just then, a chaotic mix of a bear’s roar and the dogs’ frantic barking erupted behind him.
Zhao Jun instinctively glanced back and saw that his eight dogs had managed to stop the Black Bear!
He’d never witnessed such a scene back when he only had four or five dogs. There was truly strength in numbers. The dogs latched onto the Black Bear’s hindquarters, pulling it off-balance and forcing the beast, which had been single-mindedly charging Zhao Jun, to a dead stop.
The Black Bear roared as a shadow flashed past on its right—it was Xiaohua.
The Black Bear swung its right paw to swat at her, but as it lifted the limb, its body pitched involuntarily forward and to the left.
The Black Bear collapsed, and the sound of barking dogs shook the heavens!
The eight dogs swarmed over the Black Bear like a tidal wave. A series of roars erupted as the bear thrashed about, trying to get back on its feet.
The dogs’ barks blurred into one continuous roar as they clung to the Black Bear, tearing and biting with all their might. But while they could hold down a four-hundred-pound wild boar, they couldn’t pin a Black Bear that weighed just over three hundred pounds.
Not even when this Black Bear had a broken foreleg!
Zhao Jun had fired three shots earlier. One had grazed the Black Bear’s left shoulder, another had punched clean through it, and the third had shattered its left foreleg.
The foreleg, which had been hanging on by just a sliver of flesh and skin, had finally given way when the bear tried to put weight on it, causing it to pitch forward onto the ground.
Kicking up a cloud of dust, the Black Bear let out a deafening roar as it rolled over and struggled to its feet. It then rose onto its hind legs like a man, raising its one good forepaw and swiping wildly.
"AWOO!"
"AWOO!"
San Pang and White Dragon weren’t fast enough to dodge and were raked by the bear’s claws, leaving several deep scratches on their bodies.
BANG!
A bullet tore through its chest. The Black Bear toppled backward, and Big Fatty immediately lunged forward, sinking his teeth into the bear’s nose.
The Black Bear didn’t even have time to swat at Big Fatty. It violently rolled over and thrashed about, trying to rise again. It managed to push itself up on its three legs, only to crash heavily back to the ground a moment later.
The Black Bear let out a series of low growls, its three legs scrabbling at the dirt, but it could no longer rise.
By then, Zhao Jun had managed to load another bullet. Seeing that the Black Bear couldn’t get up, he simply stood a short distance away with his rifle raised, watching quietly.
Only when the Black Bear lay completely still did Zhao Jun approach. He shooed away Big Fatty and White Dragon, who were close to its head, and then fired one last insurance shot into the bear’s skull.
Once he was sure the Black Bear was dead, Zhao Jun sent the other dogs away but called San Pang and White Dragon over to inspect their injuries.
Thankfully, the bear hadn’t managed to get a solid swipe in. Both dogs had only sustained superficial wounds, not even deep enough to require stitches.
Zhao Jun took some bandages and powdered painkillers from his satchel and dressed the two dogs’ wounds. Seeing that they could still move without any trouble, he finally went to roll the Black Bear over.
Only then did Zhao Jun realize he’d broken one of the bear’s forelegs. ’Come to think of it, this is the second time I’ve broken a Black Bear’s foreleg,’ he mused. It was precisely this that had turned a dangerous situation around and saved his hounds from serious injury.
Zhao Jun drew his Invasion Blade, gutted the Black Bear, and placed the Bear Gall into a bag. Then, he carved some meat from the bear’s belly to feed his dogs.
When it came to hunting dogs, some were hesitant to eat bear meat at first. But once they had a taste, they’d never forget it.
After all, bear meat was far more delicious than wild boar!
Although they’d eaten their fill around noon, all the excitement had worked up an appetite. The eight dogs ate all the meat Zhao Jun gave them. They ate until their bellies were swollen and bulging as they followed him home.
Zhao Jun had learned his lesson this time. Even though he knew the chances of running into more prey were less than one in ten thousand, he still fully reloaded his rifle’s magazine.
By the time he left the mountain, the sky was completely dark. Zhao Jun lit a piece of fatwood, and holding the smoky Pine Tree torch aloft, he quickened his pace toward home.
It was nearly seven o’clock by the time Zhao Jun reached the village. His eight dogs had already run on home ahead of him, but he happened to run into Zhao Youcai, who was on his way back from cooking a private meal at the Forest Farm.
Zhao Youcai was holding a flashlight and did a double-take when he saw his son. He frowned and asked, "What in the world happened to you? Where’ve you been off gallivanting now?"
Zhao Jun snuffed out the torch by jamming it into a nearby dirt pile. He didn’t answer, simply reaching a hand into his coat pocket.
When Zhao Jun remained silent, Zhao Youcai’s expression darkened. "I’m talking to you! Are you mute—Whoa, that’s a lot!" he exclaimed, his anger vanishing.
Staring at the five yuan Zhao Jun offered him, Zhao Youcai’s face broke into a wide grin. He snatched the money from his son’s hand, stuffed it into his own pocket, and then pointed at Zhao Jun, chuckling. "You rascal. The older you get, the more capable you are, hehehe..."
"Hehehe..." Zhao Jun chuckled along with him. "Dad, let’s get home. Look at the time. You already ate at the Forest Farm, but I’m still starving."
The two of them headed home together. On the way, Zhao Jun asked, "Hey Dad, did you give Uncle Zhang those soybeans?"
"Huh?" Zhao Youcai stopped, surprised. "How did you know about that?"
"I ran into him today," Zhao Jun said with a smile. "Dad, do you know what our Uncle Zhang used those soybeans for?"
"What for?" Zhao Youcai was completely baffled. "I told him to trade them for some firm and pressed tofu. Don’t tell me he didn’t? Did he press them for oil? No, that can’t be right. I gave him ten jin of rendered brown bear fat after your mom made it the other day."
"He’s feeding them to some little chipmunks."
"What?"
"He caught a couple of chipmunks up on the mountain," Zhao Jun laughed. "He’s feeding them soybeans and having them drink cold water."
"Huh? That’s just asking for trouble," Zhao Youcai said. "Didn’t you tell him that’s no way to feed them?"
"I forgot."
In the course of their conversation earlier, just as Zhao Jun was about to warn Zhang Lifu, the dogs had started barking. The interruption made him forget all about it.
He hadn’t remembered until he saw Zhao Youcai just now.
...
「The next morning」
Zhao Jun had just finished breakfast when Li Baoyu came looking for him.
The previous night, after returning, Zhao Jun had gone to find Li Baoyu. He told him that they’d drive into the mountains this morning to retrieve the Black Bear, and Li Baoyu could head to his job at the Forest Farm afterward so he wouldn’t miss any work.
They left the house and got into the truck. Li Baoyu drove toward the mountains, and just after they entered the foothills, they saw someone walking ahead on the firewood-gathering path with a large basket on their back.
Having just entered the mountains, the basket was naturally empty. Yet the person walked listlessly, shuffling their feet as if every ounce of strength had been drained from their body.
Zhao Jun recognized the man as Zhang Lifu. "Baoyu, honk the horn!" he told Li Baoyu.
"You got it!" Li Baoyu replied, then laid on the horn a few times.
Zhang Lifu heard the noise, stopped, and turned to look. When he saw Zhao Jun getting out of the truck, he just stood dejectedly on the side of the path, waiting for him to approach.
"Uncle Zhang!" Zhao Jun called as he approached. Noticing something was wrong, he asked, "What happened?"
"Ah, Jun," Zhang Lifu said, his voice hoarse. "Those two chipmunks... they’re both dead."
Hearing this, Zhao Jun couldn’t help but burst out laughing. "But weren’t they just ’cwunching and cwunching’ on the soybeans and ’sluwping up’ all that cold water?"
Li Baoyu, who was standing to the side, couldn’t help but chuckle when he heard that. He realized Zhao Jun was mimicking Uncle Zhang’s lisp.
"You kid... is this really the time to be imitating your uncle?" Zhang Lifu lightly smacked Zhao Jun’s arm, but then continued, "Last night, they were still ’cwunching and cwunching’ on the soybeans. They ’sluwped’ up lots of cold water, too. But this morning, I went to check... and they’d kicked the bucket!"