The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Early the next morning, Zhao Jun got up, ate, and then returned to his room to pull out his leg wraps and start winding them around his ankles.

Just then, Li Baoyu was muttering to the side. "Brother, take me with you," he grumbled. "It’s a chance to see the world; you can’t just leave me behind."

"Get lost!" Zhao Jun snapped. "What kind of ’world’ is this to see? You’re staying right here at home."

"Then why’d you even bring me here?" Li Baoyu turned away, showing Zhao Jun his back, and started sulking in silence.

For a hunter, tracking a tiger was the ultimate pursuit. Li Baoyu didn’t have the skills for it, but he wanted to see it happen. Afterward, he could go back and brag about it.

Especially with all the stories he’d read, he could invent his own tale of "Baoyu Fights the Tiger." He could tell it to his younger siblings at home and his neighbors and colleagues outside.

But Zhao Jun absolutely refused to let him go, which really upset Li Baoyu.

"Sigh!" Zhao Jun sighed, then found himself chuckling in exasperation. "Baoyu, listen to me. Today, we’re just going to scout the mountain. Tomorrow, when we go for the capture, you can come with me. I might even let you get in on the action."

"Really?" Li Baoyu spun around at once, his face breaking into a huge grin.

"Yes, really," Zhao Jun said, still annoyed. "Today we’re just scouting. I’m worried the tiger might attack again. Everyone else has a gun, but you don’t. What if something happens to you?"

Li Baoyu grinned. "I told you I should’ve brought that break-action shotgun of ours for me to use, but you wouldn’t let me."

Zhao Jun pursed his lips and shot Li Baoyu a sideways glance. "When we get back, we’ll figure something out. We’ll scrounge up a gun for you."

After what happened yesterday, Zhao Jun had been thinking it over. ’If Li Baoyu had a gun back then, Daqing probably wouldn’t have died.’

So, Zhao Jun decided that once they got back, he would get another gun and have Li Baoyu practice with it properly.

Zhao Jun knew that in the coming years, the price of Bear Gall alone would multiply several times over, to say nothing of everything else.

Just as Zhao Jun finished with his leg wraps, Li Yunxiang came in carrying a large basin filled with steaming hot cornmeal mash.

Li Yunxiang tilted the basin toward Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu so they could see inside. "I poured in the leftover cabbage soup from this morning," she said.

"Oh, this is wonderful." Zhao Jun quickly stood up and took the large basin from her. "We’re troubling you again, Auntie."

"You silly boy, always so formal with your auntie," Li Yunxiang replied with a smile. She glanced back toward the door before lowering her voice to speak to Zhao Jun. "Zhao Jun, you be extra careful on the mountain today. That Tiger Mother is ferocious. Don’t listen to the others. Capture it if you can, but if you can’t, just let it go."

"Okay, Auntie. I will," Zhao Jun whispered back.

Li Yunxiang nodded at Zhao Jun and headed for the outer room.

Zhao Jun set the basin on the kang and said to Li Baoyu, "Feed the dogs with this once it’s cooled down."

"Right, got it." Li Baoyu took the chopsticks sticking out of the cornmeal mash and gave it a stir. Seeing how thick and plentiful it was, he commented to Zhao Jun, "Auntie’s a really good person, isn’t she?"

Zhao Jun nodded. He took his gun down from the wall, slung it over his shoulder, and then pulled ten yuan from his pocket. He handed it to Li Baoyu, saying, "I’m off. The vet from the brigade is coming by later to give the dogs their shots. Give this money to him. It’s our dogs, so we should pay for it."

"Brother, I have money," Li Baoyu said, quickly trying to push the bill away.

Zhao Jun pressed his wrist down, using his fist to push Li Baoyu’s hand aside, and stuffed the money into his pocket. "Just take it," he said.

"Okay." This time, Li Baoyu didn’t protest. He put the money in his pocket and stood up to see Zhao Jun off.

Zhao Jun left the room and went to tell Tao Fulun and Tao Fei he was leaving. The grandfather and grandson walked him out, reminding him to be careful.

When they reached the outer room, Li Yunxiang joined the farewell party, walking Zhao Jun all the way to the courtyard gate.

Anyone who knew what was happening would know Zhao Jun was just heading into the mountains. Anyone who didn’t would have thought he was leaving for a long journey.

In truth, it was simply because Zhao Jun was going to face the king of all beasts.

"That’s far enough," Zhao Jun said, turning at the gate to face them. "I should be back around noon."

"Then I’ll have lunch ready for you," Li Yunxiang added. "We’ll stew a bear’s paw."

"That sounds amazing," Zhao Jun replied with a smile. At the same time, he glanced into the courtyard and saw Xiaohua standing there, looking at him with a lost expression.

Hua Xiao’Er, meanwhile, was lying in front of its kennel, watching him from afar.

Normally, whenever Hua Xiao’Er saw Zhao Jun in his hunting gear with his gun, it would get excited, straining against its rope and trying to leap toward him.

But today, it showed no reaction at all. When Zhao Jun had come out of the house moments ago, Hua Xiao’Er had just been lying there quietly, its chin resting on its front paws, basking motionless in the sun.

Zhao Jun turned away, walked to the brigade headquarters, and pulled the door straight open.

But when he lifted the thick cotton curtain, he was met with a room so thick with smoke it looked like a demon’s den.

Zhao Jun waved a hand in front of his face, and his eyes had to adjust before he could make out more than twenty people sitting in the room.

They were all men, each with a gun propped beside him and a cigarette between his fingers.

With more than twenty chain-smokers puffing away, an ordinary person wouldn’t be able to last a minute in that room.

Seeing Zhao Jun enter, Tao Dabao stood up. He took another hard drag from the Yingbin cigarette in his hand before crushing it out in the ashtray.

Then he said to Yu Xuewen, who was beside him, "Well, Elder Yu, we’ll be on our way then."

"Be extremely careful," Yu Xuewen said. "Capture it if you can. If you can’t, and you have no other choice... just kill it."