Chapter 388 - 323: Humble Courtesy
Zhao Jun waited for two full hours. He grew so antsy he couldn’t sit still and was even tempted to leave the two bears there and go see for himself what was happening with Li Baoyu and Zhang Yuanmin.
But just as he stood up, he saw Li Baoyu striding toward him.
’He has long legs and walks quickly. At that pace, he shouldn’t be only getting back now.’
"What’s wrong?" Zhao Jun asked as he went to meet him. "What took you so long?"
"Sigh! Don’t even ask!" Li Baoyu sat down on a nearby tree trunk and sighed. "Brother Zhang has been scared witless by that Black Bear."
"What the hell?" Zhao Jun grew anxious. He walked over to Li Baoyu, bent down to look at him, and asked, "Didn’t the Black Bear just scratch his back? ...Oh, right, it sat on him too. What’s wrong? Did it break his spine?"
As he spoke, Zhao Jun couldn’t help but panic. ’If Zhang Yuanmin is really crippled by that Black Bear, I’m going to be responsible.’
Li Baoyu looked up at Zhao Jun and said, "No."
"N... no? If not that, then what is it?"
Li Baoyu shook his head and gave a wry smile. "I finally managed to carry him to the truck. In the split second it took me to open the door, something darted out from the side. I was focused on the door, so I didn’t get a good look at whether it was Yellow Leaves or a big rat. Anyway, it terrified Brother Zhang. He started screaming his head off."
Hearing this, Zhao Jun put his hands on his hips, jerked his head to the side, and said with a furrowed brow and wrinkled nose, "The Black Bear has him completely spooked."
"So what do we do?" Li Baoyu asked.
"Let’s head back first," Zhao Jun said with a wave of his hand. "Look at the time. We need to get going."
Li Baoyu got up and, with Zhao Jun, dragged the Little Black Bear southward. Inside the Little Black Bear’s stomach were the four Bear’s Paws from the big Black Bear.
It wasn’t winter, so there was no snow on the ground, making it strenuous to drag the bear. By the time they hauled the Little Black Bear into the truck bed, it was nearly six o’clock, and the sky in the mountains had already grown dark.
Zhao Jun went to the front of the truck and glanced into the passenger seat. He saw Zhang Yuanmin leaning sideways against the seat, seemingly asleep.
Seeing that he was all right, Zhao Jun walked to the back, climbed into the truck bed, and sat with Little Bear and Da Huang.
On the way, Little Bear, who had just eaten its fill, threw up again, spitting out all the bear meat it had eaten not long ago.
Because of this, Zhao Jun had to get out of the truck again to scoop up some dirt and clean it.
When they finally made it back to the village, it was almost seven o’clock.
Zhao Jun told Li Baoyu to drive straight to Zhang Yuanmin’s house. Then he got out, went to the passenger side, opened the door, and patted the deeply sleeping Zhang Yuanmin.
He really must have been terrified. Despite how bumpy the ride back was, Zhang Yuanmin hadn’t woken up; instead, he was sleeping soundly.
Startled by the pat, the sleeping Zhang Yuanmin let out a shriek. Zhao Jun didn’t bother explaining. He just called over to Li Baoyu, and the two of them pulled Zhang Yuanmin from the seat, hooked their arms under his, and carried him toward the courtyard.
Zhang Yuanmin was short, and as the two men carried him suspended between them, his whole body swung back and forth like he was on a swing.
They had just reached the front door of Zhang Yuanmin’s house when, before Zhao Jun could step forward to open it, the door was forcefully pushed open from the inside.
"Yuanmin!" Yang Yufeng burst out of the house. Zhang Yuanmin had left in the morning and hadn’t come back all day. Even though Zhao Jun was with him, Yang Yufeng had still been worried.
She had just seen shadows moving into their courtyard from the window and had rushed out in a panic to see what was happening.
"Sister-in-law, quickly, make way for us."
At Zhao Jun’s words, Yang Yufeng darted to the side, clearing a path for Zhao Jun, Li Baoyu, and the man they were carrying, Zhang Yuanmin.
As the two men carried Zhang Yuanmin into the inner room, Little Lingdang was sitting at the kang table, studying for her classes.
Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu came in supporting Zhang Yuanmin, with Yang Yufeng close behind. She got onto the kang, pulled down the bedding, spread the quilt out, and then arranged the pillow.
Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu helped tuck Zhang Yuanmin into the bed, and he once again drifted off into a drowsy sleep.
Seeing this, Zhao Jun said to Li Baoyu, "Baoyu, hurry home. Take the Bear Gall and the Black Bear back. Tell my mom to boil some water to process the Bear Gall, and have Uncle Li and Aunt Jin skin the Black Bear. After it’s skinned, render the fat into oil and soak all the lean meat in cold water."
"Got it," Li Baoyu replied. He nodded to Yang Yufeng and left.
"Brother!" Once Li Baoyu was gone, Yang Yufeng finally asked Zhao Jun, "What happened to your big brother? What were you two doing?"
Because Zhao Jun had given him prior instructions, Zhang Yuanmin hadn’t even told Yang Yufeng that they were going into the mountains for Ginseng.
"Sister-in-law," Zhao Jun said frankly, not holding anything back. "For the last two days, I took Brother Zhang into the mountains. We found a few stalks of Ginseng, but today we ran into a Black Bear. I failed to protect him, and it managed to scratch him."
When Zhao Jun first mentioned foraging in the mountains, Yang Yufeng was quite surprised; foraging in early spring was unusual. But when she heard that a Black Bear had scratched Zhang Yuanmin, she heaved a heavy sigh. She glanced back at Zhang Yuanmin, then turned back to Zhao Jun and said, "I always said he’s too reckless for his own good. I knew this would happen sooner or later."
At this, Yang Yufeng added, "Brother, don’t you take it to heart. He’s a grown man. Does he really need you to look after him? I’m just grateful you brought him back alive. Otherwise, he’d go up the mountain to fool around on his own one day and die out there, and I wouldn’t even know."
Hearing this, Zhao Jun couldn’t help but wonder, ’Does she have some kind of second sight?’ She was frighteningly accurate. In his past life, Zhang Yuanmin had indeed lost his life in the mountains.
"Sister-in-law." Zhao Jun glanced up at the large clock on the wall before saying to Yang Yufeng, "I’m going to the Han Family’s place to get Doctor Han. I’ll have him give Brother Zhang a shot to prevent infection."