The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

The Dongfeng Defense Field was a factory that produced firearms and ammunition, located about ten miles from Yong’an Forest Farm.

Hearing that Zhou Chengguo was about to request leave, Zhao Jun quickly stopped him. "Brother, don’t take time off. You’re the only one in the equipment department; they can’t spare you. How about this: I’ll ask around first, and if that doesn’t work out, I’ll let you know."

"That works too." Zhao Jun didn’t stand on ceremony with Zhou Chengguo, and Zhou Chengguo spoke plainly in return. "Brother, if you can’t sort it out, just tell me. I’ll go over there and get it for you."

"Alright, Brother, I got it," Zhao Jun replied. He suddenly remembered his brother-in-law hadn’t come to work today and asked Zhou Chengguo, "Brother, my brother-in-law didn’t come to work today. Do you know why?"

"I do." Zhou Chengguo nodded twice. "Something showed up in the mountains near our homes. It’s killed about ten dogs this past week. Your brother-in-law took time off because of it."

"Killed about ten dogs?" Hearing this, Zhao Jun’s brow furrowed. He asked, "Where would our village even get that many dogs? Didn’t the Big Lonely Pig take care of most of them last time?"

Zhou Chengguo let out a hearty laugh and pointed at Zhao Jun. "And isn’t that all because of you?"

"What?" Zhao Jun was taken aback. "What are you talking about? How is this because of me?"

Zhou Chengguo said, "Brother, I heard you didn’t just get the Pig God, but you also took down that whole herd of wild boars—seventy or eighty of them.

After that, your Village Chief was trying to sell the wild boar meat. He insisted on selling it to Elder Qi from our village for thirty-five cents a jin. Elder Qi asked for a lower price, but he wouldn’t budge. In the end, Elder Qi got mad and backed out of the deal. He then told all the hunters in our village to go into the mountains and hunt wild boars themselves, offering to buy whatever they caught for thirty cents a jin.

But of course, those hunters didn’t have any dogs left. When they heard they could get thirty cents a jin for wild boar, they all went to Lingnan to buy new dogs. Things went great for the first couple of days; they bagged a lot of boars. But who would’ve thought some new creature would show up and wipe out several packs of dogs."

A long mountain range, the Changling, divided two provinces. On this side of the range, where Zhao Jun’s family lived, was Hei Province. The other side, Lingnan, was in Ji Province.

Unlike Lingxi, which was close to the Forest Farm, Lingnan was mostly populated by farmers. With no farm work in the winter, they would go into the mountains to hunt. Consequently, Lingnan had many hunters, and many hunting dogs.

Little Bear’s previous owner, Huang Gui, had come from Lingnan. Qin Qiang and Zhang Laibao had also gone to Lingnan to buy their dogs.

But what made Zhao Jun curious was what kind of animal could injure so many dogs.

"Brother, was it a Big Claw?" Zhao Jun asked Zhou Chengguo.

Zhou Chengguo shook his head. "The first day Jiang Ming went up the mountain, it rained. The creature left a paw print in a mud puddle."

Zhao Jun asked eagerly, "What did it look like?"

Zhou Chengguo made a circle with his hands, slightly larger than the mouth of a teacup, and said, "The print was about this big. Looked like a cat, but it wasn’t a cat. Looked like a dog, but it wasn’t a dog."

At this point, Zhou Chengguo lowered his hands and looked at Zhao Jun. "Brother, do you know what it is?"

Zhao Jun nodded. "It’s not a Big Claw, and it’s not a Lynx."

Zhou Chengguo nodded without a word.

Zhao Jun opened his mouth, not making a sound, but just from the shape of his lips, Zhou Chengguo gave him a thumbs-up.

Zhao Jun smiled slightly and asked Zhou Chengguo, "Brother, you didn’t go take a crack at it?"

"Nope." Zhou Chengguo shook his head. "It’s not winter. The trail is dry. How could anyone track it?"

’That’s right, it’s not winter anymore.’ Unless it was right after a rain, animals didn’t leave tracks, making them impossible for people to follow.

Hearing this, Zhao Jun laughed loudly. "What hunter could see a creature like that and not get an itchy trigger finger?"

"Heh heh..." Zhou Chengguo chuckled. "Brother, you said it yourself. I’m the only one in the equipment department. I’m stuck here day in and day out, how could I possibly get away?"

"That’s true." Zhao Jun had just started to nod when he realized something was wrong. He quickly asked Zhou Chengguo, "Brother, then who did my brother-in-law get to go up the mountain with him?"

This animal, while not as powerful as a Big Claw, was definitely stronger than a Lynx. Trying to corner it with dogs was a waste of lives; you had to rely on men with guns to figure something out.

’But in all the villages around here, there were only a few hunters with that kind of skill. Zhou Chengguo was one, I’m another. Besides the two of us, who else could Zhou Jianjun find?’

"Your dad!" Zhou Chengguo grinned. He looked at Zhao Jun and laughed for a good while before saying, "Your dad took time off, and you didn’t know? Brother, you didn’t go home yesterday?"

"I..." Zhao Jun was speechless. What could he possibly say? As close as he was with Zhou Chengguo, he was still an outsider. He couldn’t just tell him about the problems with his own father.

Zhao Jun sighed silently. ’I did go home yesterday. I even opened a bottle of liquor for him.’

Seeing Zhao Jun’s silence, Zhou Chengguo didn’t know what was going on with the father and son. He just said, "Yesterday at noon, I ran into your brother-in-law while getting food at the cafeteria. We both went to your dad’s service window. While we were in line, your brother-in-law asked me to take a couple of days off. But with May Day coming up, the Military Department is coming down to inspect the equipment, so I didn’t dare leave.

While we were talking, your dad overheard. Elder Zhao said he would go, but your brother-in-law said no, he wanted to ask you instead. When your dad heard that, he got all worked up."

"Sigh!" Zhao Jun sighed heavily in his heart. ’What a dysfunctional family.’

Zhou Chengguo was a decent man. During lunch yesterday, he’d heard Zhou Jianjun mention that Zhao Youcai had gotten old these past two years. Before the new year, he went into the mountains to hunt wild boar and barely made it back out.

Thinking of this, Zhou Chengguo assumed Zhao Jun was worried about Zhao Youcai’s safety. ’Zhao Jun is such a filial son,’ he thought. ’Zhao Youcai is truly a lucky man.’

So, Zhou Chengguo patted Zhao Jun’s shoulder and said, "Alright, Brother, don’t you worry. After work, I’ll go to your brother-in-law’s place and check on Elder Zhao. If things are really bad, I’ll talk to Farm Director Zhou and get someone to cover for me, then I’ll go up the mountain with your dad."

"It’s fine, Brother." Zhao Jun was grateful for Zhou Chengguo’s kind intentions. "Don’t take time off. It’s normal for that creature to travel dozens of li in a single night. It’s near your place today, but tomorrow it might run over to our side. Just let my dad go by himself. He probably won’t be able to track it anyway."

The two chatted for a few more minutes before Zhao Jun stood up and took his leave. He left the equipment department and headed straight for the dispatch group.

After arriving at the dispatch group, he knocked on the door and said he was looking for Li Dayong.

A moment later, Li Dayong came out. Seeing it was Zhao Jun, he quickly asked, "Xiaojun, what brings you here? Is something up?"

"Uncle Li." Instead of answering, Zhao Jun asked a question of his own. "You didn’t go with my dad?"

"Huh? I have a meeting today," Li Dayong said reflexively, then added in surprise, "How did you know? Your dad said not to tell you."

Zhao Jun gave a helpless purse of his lips. Just as he was about to speak, he heard a voice from behind him, "Well, if it isn’t Zhao Jun."

Zhao Jun turned around and saw it was Wu Feng, the leader of the dispatch group. He quickly greeted him, "Leader Wu."

"Hey," Wu Feng replied. "Here on business?"

"Yeah." Zhao Jun couldn’t say why he was really there, but then he remembered about the deer medicine and said to Wu Feng, "I’d like to make a phone call."