The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Zhao Jun left Zhang Lifu’s house and headed all the way back to Yong’an Village. As arranged, he went to Zhang Yuanmin’s house for dinner.

Yang Yufeng had gone to the little shop earlier and bought canned luncheon meat and fish. Then she went into the kitchen to fry up some small fish and make an omelet, stew badger meat with daikon radish, and braise frozen tofu with cabbage. She had prepared six whole dishes for Zhao Jun.

For a family that wasn’t very well-off, a spread like this was a considerable effort.

"Brother," Zhao Jun said to Zhang Yuanmin at the dinner table. "When you get a chance, you should go up there and take down all those snares you set."

The hand Zhang Yuanmin was using to raise his cup froze. Before he could speak, Yang Yufeng nudged him from the side. "They’re setting snares up on the mountain, and you’re setting them down below. That’s not right."

"Mhm." Hearing Yang Yufeng, Zhang Yuanmin turned to Zhao Jun and said, "Alright, brother. I’ll do as you say."

Zhao Jun smiled at his words. "What my sister-in-law said is one reason. But there’s another. I heard from Zhang Lifu that you’re not setting your snares correctly."

At this, Zhao Jun turned his gaze to Yang Yufeng.

Yang Yufeng was taken aback and shook her head. "Brother, I honestly don’t know anything about that."

There was a clear distinction between men’s and women’s affairs, and she knew very little about hunting, nor was she particularly interested. Before getting married, she’d listened to the elders talk about it at the dinner table and remembered a few simple rules, but as for the actual techniques, she was clueless.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yuanmin’s interest was piqued. He set his wine cup aside and eagerly asked Zhao Jun, "How am I doing it wrong? What did he say?"

"He didn’t get into specifics about what you’re doing wrong," Zhao Jun said before asking Zhang Yuanmin, "Are you using Oil Silk Rope for your snares?"

"Yeah!" Zhang Yuanmin nodded. "My uncle at the Forest Farm got the Oil Silk Rope for me."

"Right..." As soon as he heard that, Zhao Jun knew the uncle Zhang Yuanmin was talking about had to be Zhao Youcai. He then continued, "New rope?"

"Yup." Zhang Yuanmin held out his right hand. He curled his middle, ring, and pinky fingers into a fist, using his thumb and forefinger to form a circle. He gestured to Zhao Jun, saying, "It was a coil about this thick. I unraveled it."

The size Zhang Yuanmin gestured was thicker than an egg. That would be a cable made of twenty or thirty fine strands of Oil Silk Rope twisted together. You’d definitely have to separate the strands to make snares.

Hearing Zhang Yuanmin say this, Zhao Jun understood the situation even better. He immediately asked, "So you brought the new rope home and just set the snares right away?"

"Mhm," Zhang Yuanmin nodded again.

Seeing that Zhang Yuanmin genuinely didn’t get it, Zhao Jun asked, "Brother, after you unraveled it, you didn’t rub it with ash?"

"What?" Zhang Yuanmin looked at Zhao Jun, completely baffled.

Zhao Jun smiled and explained, "Brother, new Oil Silk Rope has an oily smell. You can’t just use it to set snares directly. It won’t work. You first have to take ash from the stove and rub the rope down to get rid of that smell."

"Ah..." Hearing Zhao Jun’s explanation, it all clicked for Zhang Yuanmin. Even though people call roe deer ’silly,’ a mountain beast is still clever in its own way. No matter how foolish it was, it wouldn’t stick its neck into a snare that reeked of oil.

"And another thing," Zhao Jun added, "When you brought the Oil Silk Rope home, you didn’t char it over a fire, did you?"

"No," Zhang Yuanmin said, shaking his head. He looked at Zhao Jun in confusion and asked, "But if I char it, won’t that weaken the rope?"

"You still have to," Zhao Jun said. "If you don’t char it black, it’ll reflect light." He chuckled. "If it’s all shiny and reflective, a roe deer isn’t blind. Is it going to walk right into that?"

"Ah..." Zhang Yuanmin looked as if he’d had an epiphany. He turned to Yang Yufeng and said, "Yufeng, did you hear what my brother just said? There’s a real science to this stuff!"

But his enthusiasm was met with a cold shoulder. Yang Yufeng just shot him a look and didn’t reply.

Sensing he was just asking for a snub from her, Zhang Yuanmin turned back to Zhao Jun. "Brother, I get it now. In a day or two, I’ll borrow a sledge and go up the mountain to cut some stakes. I’ll take down those snares and bring them back while I’m there. Then I’ll do it the way you said and reset them."

The "stakes" Zhang Yuanmin mentioned were the same thing Zhang Lifu had talked about with Zhao Jun that afternoon—willow saplings.

After being cut and brought down from the mountain, they could be used as trellises for vining vegetables like cucumbers and beans, or as pickets for fencing in a yard.

That’s why, depending on their use, people had different names for them.

Once the meal was mostly finished, Zhao Jun chatted with the couple for a while longer. Feeling tired, he stood up to say his goodbyes.

It was no wonder. He had left home on March 29th, spent a hectic seven days at the Yongxing Brigade, and hadn’t rested for a moment since he got back today.

Just as Zhao Jun left Zhang Yuanmin’s place and was on his way home, he saw the father-son duo of Zhao Guofeng and Zhao Jinshan staggering toward him.

’How did they get so drunk?’ Zhao Jun muttered to himself. He walked up to greet them. "Uncle Zhao, been drinking?"

"Ah, Zhao Jun." Zhao Guofeng squinted his drunken eyes. Seeing who it was, he replied, "A classmate came by. We had a meal at my place."

Among the mountain folk of Zhao Guofeng’s generation, not many had gone to school. Of those who had, many only attended for a few days, dropping out before they could even learn all their classmates’ names.

Zhao Youcai, for instance, never had a single classmate in his life.

"Jinshan, you two take it easy," Zhao Jun said, stepping aside to let the father and son pass.

But to Zhao Jun’s surprise, just as Zhao Jinshan was helping his father walk on, Zhao Guofeng pushed his hand away.

Zhao Guofeng stared at Zhao Jun and slurred, "Zhao Jun, you’re really something else now, huh."

"Huh? Haha..." Zhao Jun had no idea what he was talking about. He could only force a laugh and ask, "Why do you say that, Uncle Zhao?"

"Heard you were over at the Yongxing Team, helped them catch a Tiger?"

As soon as Zhao Guofeng said this, Zhao Jinshan, standing beside him, also stared at Zhao Jun with a face full of curiosity.

"That... How did you know about that, Uncle Zhao?"

"Never you mind how I know," Zhao Guofeng said with a forceful wave of his hand. "Our village is just too small. Otherwise, I’d organize a spring hunt myself."

"Heh..." Zhao Jun didn’t know how to respond to that, so he just offered a polite laugh. The Yongxing Brigade had ten production teams under its command. Any one of those teams was bigger than all of Yong’an Village. Of course *they* could organize a spring hunt, but how could Yong’an Village possibly manage it?

Zhao Guofeng knew this perfectly well, but he had his own agenda. May Day was just around the corner. Before then, he had to go to the township and the Town for meetings. It would be great if he could do something to impress the higher-ups.

But it wasn’t just an issue of the village’s size; the crucial part was having capable hunters. If he had tried to organize something this time last year, people like Zhao Youcai, Li Dayong, Wang Qiang, Lin Xiangshun, Xu Changlin, Wang Dalong, Qin Qiang, and Chen Dalai could have all participated.

But now? Aside from the first four, who were on good terms with Zhao Jun, the rest were either too old or injured. He’d even heard rumors that one got beaten up for having an affair, and another was so scared by something on the mountain he was never the same again...

Even among those first four, Wang Qiang was just a loafer, and the other three were always busy at the Forest Farm. None of them were people Zhao Guofeng could simply order around.

And now, as the drunken Zhao Guofeng looked at Zhao Jun, a thought flashed through his mind: ’The top hunter in Yong’an Village has to be Zhao Jun. The man can even catch a Tiger. Who else can possibly compare?’

Emboldened by the alcohol, Zhao Guofeng said to Zhao Jun, "Zhao Jun, my boy, can your uncle run something by you?"