Chapter 299 - 251: Little Bear
Zhao Jun drew near and saw five dogs surrounding and tangling with a wild boar. Xiaohua, meanwhile, was bouncing back and forth to the side, barking incessantly but refusing to charge in.
"Go! Go!" Zhao Jun shouted. Hearing his cry of encouragement, the five dogs surrounding the boar pounced as one.
At the same time, Xiaohua saw Little Bear, the dog closest to it, lunge for the boar’s hind leg. It too shot forward and sank its teeth into the boar’s belly.
The boar snorted, white steam puffing from its nose and mouth. It swung its head to attack Daqing on its right, but White Dragon caught it by the left ear, holding it fast.
The boar spun violently, shaking off the six hounds latched onto its body, only to be bitten from behind by Hua Xiao’Er, who latched onto its groin.
The boar couldn’t bear this bite. It squealed and spun around, trying to gore Hua Xiao’Er, but in doing so, it exposed a large part of its body to the muzzle of Zhao Jun’s gun.
BANG! BANG! BANG!
After three gunshots, the boar collapsed, its head twitching slightly. A low growl rumbled from its throat as bloody foam frothed from its mouth.
The moment the gunshots rang out, Hua Xiao’Er and the other four hounds pounced on the boar, tearing at it viciously.
Xiaohua, however, stood to the side, pausing blankly for a few seconds before lunging forward to join the other hounds in tearing at the boar.
Just then, Li Baoyu and Tao Fei arrived, knives in hand.
"Whoa, Brother Zhao, job’s done already?" Tao Fei asked Zhao Jun in surprise. That was his signature catchphrase.
It wasn’t just Tao Fei who was surprised; Li Baoyu was stunned as well. To think that in the brief moment he and Tao Fei were delayed chopping at a tree stump, Zhao Jun had already killed the boar.
Hearing this, Zhao Jun just smiled and called Li Baoyu over to gut the boar.
Huang Gui had gotten his leg broken hunting this same boar, yet Zhao Jun had taken it down with such ease.
It wasn’t that Zhao Jun’s dogs were particularly incredible, nor was his marksmanship exceptionally good.
It was just pure luck.
Normally on a hunt, the dogs would chase the boar, and the men would chase the dogs and the boar.
But today, the boar had charged straight toward him. Zhao Jun had barely turned his head and run a few steps before he spotted it.
On top of that, the boar had given Zhao Jun a wide-open shot, and he sent it on its way with three quick rounds.
Li Baoyu went over to gut the boar, and Tao Fei quickly sidled up next to him. It was his first time on a mountain hunt, so it was only natural that he found everything fascinating.
Li Baoyu cut open the boar’s belly. As he started pulling out the pluck, he looked up at Zhao Jun and asked, "Brother, how should I feed them? Half-full?"
"Half-full," Zhao Jun replied.
They had headed up the mountain a little after eight o’clock, and it was now just past ten. They couldn’t head back yet; they still needed to take the dogs out for another run.
But just as Li Baoyu was cutting the boar’s heart in two, ready to give one piece to Hua Xiao’Er and the other to Daqing, Zhao Jun stopped him.
"Baoyu."
"Huh? What is it?"
"Don’t give that to Daqing," Zhao Jun said, stopping him. "Give it to the black bitch."
"Huh?" Li Baoyu froze, stunned.
Zhao Jun pointed at Little Bear. "She’s a proper lead dog. Hurry and give it to her."
Back in Yongsheng Village, Li Baoyu had hunted with Huang Gui before, but that was after Little Bear had been injured, so Li Baoyu had never actually seen her in action.
Now, hearing that Little Bear was also a lead dog, Li Baoyu quickly offered the piece of heart to her.
Little Bear was lying beside the boar, tail wagging, tongue lolling out as she panted heavily. But she wouldn’t take the piece of boar meat from Li Baoyu’s hand.
Li Baoyu held the meat out, motioning to her again and again, but even though Little Bear was drooling with desire, she refused to take it.
Zhao Jun suddenly remembered that Huang Gui always fed his dogs himself. ’Little Bear probably won’t eat food from anyone else.’
Zhao Jun walked over to Little Bear. Before he could even crouch down, she got up, trotted over to him, and placed her front paws on his pant leg.
Little Bear recognized Zhao Jun. She remembered that when her leg was broken, this was the man who had carried her down from the mountain on his back.
Seeing this, Li Baoyu asked, "Brother, you know this dog?"
Zhao Jun nodded. "Yeah, she belongs to Brother Huang Gui." As he spoke, Zhao Jun crouched beside Little Bear, gently pushed her down, then took the boar meat from Li Baoyu’s hand and stuffed it into her mouth.
This time, Little Bear didn’t refuse. She took the meat, ran off to the side, lay down, and began to eat.
Then, Li Baoyu cut up the liver, lungs, and stomach to feed the dogs, but he didn’t cut up any of the muscle meat.
After the dogs finished the pluck Li Baoyu had doled out, they all seemed to want more. They licked their chops again and again, savoring the grease left on their muzzles.
Just then, Li Baoyu cut a couple of sticks and used them to prop open the boar’s empty chest cavity. Then, he made a move to pack some snow inside.
"Brother Li, what are you doing?" Tao Fei asked curiously.
Li Baoyu said, "Oh, I’m worried the cavity will start to rot. We can just leave it here and have someone come haul it away tomorrow."
"No need, no need," Tao Fei said quickly. "Just leave it. When we go down later, we can just tell the militia. They’ll come up and help haul it back."
Hearing this, Zhao Jun asked, "Xiaofei, are there any rules here about what you take during the spring hunt?"
"Not really," Tao Fei said. "If you want it, they’ll bring it back for you. If you don’t want it, you can just have it split among everyone."
"Alright," Zhao Jun nodded. "In that case, when we get down the mountain, just tell them to haul it back and divide it up. Baoyu and I can’t use all this meat anyway."
It was true.
Yong’an Village was quite a ways from here. They couldn’t possibly drag a whole boar all the way back home.
After he finished speaking, Zhao Jun let out a sharp whistle.
Hearing the whistle, the hounds stopped milling around the boar and gathered by Zhao Jun’s side.
But to Zhao Jun’s surprise, when Little Bear saw that he was about to leave, she got up to follow him as well.
Zhao Jun looked at Little Bear trotting at his heels and waved his hand to shoo her back.
He had seen how devoted Huang Gui was to his dogs, and he knew that if Little Bear got lost in the mountains, Huang Gui would be heartbroken.
But no matter how Zhao Jun tried to shoo her away, Little Bear simply wouldn’t go.
Not only did she refuse to leave, she would occasionally dart off, sniffing this way and that.
Suddenly, a gust of wind swept through the mountains.
Hua Xiao’Er and Little Bear both snapped their heads up at the same time, noses twitching as they sniffed the air. Almost simultaneously, the two of them shot off down the slope.
But unlike Hua Xiao’Er, who ran silently, Little Bear barked as she went.
And at her bark, the rest of the dogs by Zhao Jun’s side all took off, with no exception for Xiaohua.
This was a trait of a lead dog like Little Bear—a running bark.
Generally, only female lead dogs barked like this; most male lead dogs would only start barking after they had caught up to their prey.
In hunting, a dog with a running bark could rally the Dog Gang.
Just as Little Bear’s bark had sent the other dogs running, this unified advance was far more effective than a scattered attack.
It was true that male lead dogs had superior fighting strength; they could hold prey at bay or even pin it down.
Female dogs, due to their physique, were weaker fighters, but their advantage was the running bark, which could rally the Dog Gang.
This was especially true when a female had pups. The young dogs only recognized their mother, not their father. When they were half-grown, they would follow her up the mountain. If the mother charged, the pups charged; if the mother bit, the pups bit.
This was the reason Huang Gui’s pack of dogs had been so formidable in a fight.
In his pack, several of the big black dogs were Little Bear’s own offspring. They followed her into the mountains, and the moment she barked, they would immediately follow her lead.
By now, Li Baoyu could also see how good the dog was. He sidled up to Zhao Jun and said, "Brother, that bitch is really something."
"Yeah." Zhao Jun nodded, but just as he was about to reply, he heard a series of groans coming from Li Baoyu.
Then Li Baoyu started complaining that his stomach hurt. Zhao Jun glanced at him and laughed. "You definitely ate too many steamed buns this morning."
The three of them had eaten breakfast together. Zhao Jun and Tao Fei were fine; only Li Baoyu was complaining of a stomach ache.
That could only mean one thing: it wasn’t a problem with the food, but a problem with Li Baoyu’s appetite.
"Brother, you guys go on ahead. I’ll catch up after I take care of business." Li Baoyu knew that with the dogs giving chase, Zhao Jun had to be there with the gun, so he urged the other two to go on without him.
"Alright," Zhao Jun said. "We’ll wait for you up ahead. Just catch up when you’re done."
"Okay, okay," Li Baoyu agreed hastily, then ran off toward a grove of trees.
Zhao Jun frowned, raised his gun, and fired a shot into the air over the woods.
The sound of the gunshot faded. Only small birds and animals scattered in fright, proving there were no large beasts in the woods. Only then did Zhao Jun relax. He shouted to Li Baoyu, "Baoyu, if you can’t find us later, just head straight home!"