The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

"No way!" When Wang Qiang refused, Zhao Jun cut in adamantly, "Uncle, no one hunts a Black Bear alone! Don’t say another word. I’m going with you!"

"But..."

Wang Qiang was about to say more, but Wang Meilan stopped him. "Qiangzi, listen to your nephew. Let him go with you. He’s a better hunter than your brother-in-law these days."

The words had barely left Wang Meilan’s mouth when the door was pulled open from the outside. Zhao Youcai stood in the doorway, a half-full sack of cornmeal slung over his back.

Wang Qiang turned and greeted him, "Brother-in-law, you’re back? You’re off work early today."

"Hmph." Zhao Youcai just grunted faintly, then turned his gaze to Zhao Jun.

Zhao Jun hurried forward and reached for the burlap sack on Zhao Youcai’s shoulder. "Dad, that looks heavy!"

"Hmph..." Zhao Youcai snorted, drawing the sound out.

Wang Meilan shot Zhao Youcai a glare, but she couldn’t very well scold him in front of her brother.

Zhao Youcai handed the burlap sack to Zhao Jun, then asked Wang Qiang, "Qiangzi, a Black Bear got into the fields?"

"Yep," Wang Qiang said with a smile. "I came over thinking I’d borrow the semi-automatic from Xiaojun. But who would’ve thought my nephew would be so concerned? He’s insisting on coming with me tonight."

Zhao Youcai glanced at Wang Qiang. ’He knew that both Wang Qiang and his sister were fiercely protective of their own.’ But he also knew it was only natural for an uncle to dote on his nephew, so he said flatly, "Fine. Let him go with you, then."

With that, Zhao Youcai gave a dismissive wave and went into the east room.

"That man..." Wang Meilan muttered, glaring at Zhao Youcai’s retreating back. She then turned to Wang Qiang with a smile. "Qiangzi, stay for dinner. Your sister will whip up a couple of eggs and make you dumplings with chives."

Wang Qiang loved dumplings, especially the ones with chives and egg. It wasn’t really the right season for chives anymore—the ones in the garden were about to flower—but it was only natural for an older sister to spoil her little brother.

"I really can’t, Sis. I’ve got to head back," Wang Qiang said with a smile to Wang Meilan. Then he called toward the inner room, "Brother-in-law, I’m heading out!"

"Yeah!" Zhao Youcai called back from the other room. "You’re leaving? Make sure Zhao Jun goes with you tonight."

Since Zhao Youcai had repeated himself, Wang Qiang knew the man was upset. But to Wang Qiang, Zhao Youcai wasn’t just his brother-in-law; he was like an older brother.

So, Wang Qiang just smiled, made a quick gesture to Zhao Jun, and left without saying anything else.

Zhao Jun quickly followed to see him out. Just as the uncle and nephew were parting ways, he saw Li Baoyu and his father, Li Dayong, returning from work.

What a harmonious father-son pair.

"Uncle!" Zhao Jun went up to greet Li Dayong. Seeing Zhao Jun, Li Dayong smiled. "I was just about to head to your house to look for you."

"What’s up, Uncle?"

"Brother," Li Baoyu chimed in. "A wild boar got into our field."

"Ah!" Zhao Jun looked at Li Dayong. "Uncle, were you looking for me so the two of us could guard the field?"

"Yep." Li Dayong nodded. "It’s already July. In about a hundred days, the winter transport production will start up again. We in dispatch have to plan the road repairs, and it’s been nothing but meetings these last two days. I can’t get away."

"No problem!" Zhao Jun grinned at Li Dayong. "Don’t you worry, Uncle. Baoyu and I will go tonight."

"Alright! You two be careful, then." Hearing that Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu would go together, Li Dayong finally relaxed and headed for his own courtyard.

"Hey, Baoyu," Zhao Jun said. "My uncle just left. A Black Bear got into his field."

"What?"

Li Baoyu froze. He was about to speak, but Zhao Jun cut him off. "Your two fields aren’t far from each other, so it’s no trouble for me to run between them. You’ve got the wild boar, so just fire a shot and then find a place to hide. Don’t let it get enraged and charge you."

"Got it! I’ll do what you say, Brother."

「Meanwhile, at Zhang Zhanshan’s house.」

Xu Meihua pulled four burlap sacks from behind a dish cabinet and handed them to Zhang Laibao. "Son, is this going to work?"

"It’ll work!" Zhang Laibao took the sacks. "Our Big Bear and Second Bear eat too much. We can’t afford to keep feeding them like this."

"Let him go," Zhang Zhanshan, who had also come home from work early, said from the inner room. "Er Gudong is busy building his house these days. He can’t be watching his field."

"Hmph!" Zhang Laibao snorted in the main room. "I’m not going after Er Gudong’s corn first. I’m going after Li Baoyu’s! That bastard! I’ll teach him to steal Liu Mei from me!"