The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu arrived home just after eight o’clock.

Zhao Jun was worried his sisters might be asleep, so he didn’t have Li Baoyu drive the car all the way to their gate. Instead, they parked in an open space seventy or eighty meters away.

Then they got out, carried their things, and walked home. This way, the dogs in both their yards, who knew them well, wouldn’t start barking.

By now, the sky outside was dark, but lights were on in both houses. Their families were waiting up for them.

The two went their separate ways. As Zhao Jun entered his yard, Cyan Dragon and Black Dragon, who were shut in the warehouse, barked a couple of times. As for the other large dogs, aside from Black Tiger whining twice, the rest all got up to greet him but only wagged their tails.

Zhao Jun, carrying two net bags and two butter-paper packages, reached his front door. He tried to shift everything into one hand so he could open the door.

But the moment his hand touched the doorknob, he heard his father, Zhao Youcai, bad-mouthing him to Wang Meilan from inside.

"Look at that kid. He doesn’t even take his job seriously, just runs around all over the place. And look, it’s already dark, and he’s still not home."

"What are you talking about!" Then, he heard Wang Meilan say, "Wherever my son goes, it doesn’t interfere with his work. Besides, he isn’t off doing something bad. The boy took the ginseng he harvested in the mountains to Lingnan to sell it. That’s worth several thousand yuan."

"Oh, give me a break," Zhao Youcai said dismissively. "Who have you ever heard of selling ginseng for several thousand yuan? You believe anything that kid says?"

"So I shouldn’t believe my son? I should believe you instead?" Wang Meilan’s tone immediately turned hostile. She snapped, "You know exactly what you’ve done, don’t you?"

Zhao Youcai suddenly remembered he was still in the doghouse and his bravado instantly deflated. He muttered, "He probably made a little money and went out eating and drinking with Baoyu."

Zhao Youcai gritted his teeth as he said this.

Hearing this, Wang Meilan shot Zhao Youcai a look, then curled her lip and said, "I can’t be bothered with you. Just quiet down. I haven’t even asked you where you got the hundred-some yuan to buy that sheep yet."

Zhao Youcai had spent eighty yuan on a large ewe in Yongsheng Village. But let’s not forget, the two lambs Zhou Jianjun bought were also put on his tab.

In this regard, Zhao Youcai was actually quite considerate. He’d quietly taken the blame for all the sheep himself so as not to put his son-in-law in a difficult position.

Of course, he had his own little scheme. If the truth ever came out, he could report the expense as one hundred yuan. Since he had actually only spent eighty, he could pocket the remaining twenty.

Listening from outside, Zhao Jun was getting furious. ’This father of mine is always stirring up trouble behind my back. It’s obvious he’s trying to get Mom on his side to come after me.’

If Wang Meilan wasn’t there to stop him, there was really nothing Zhao Youcai could do to Zhao Jun.

Zhao Jun was angry. ’I’ll just light his fuse today,’ he thought, ’let him sweat a little. That’ll keep him from spending all his free time plotting against me.’

With that thought, Zhao Jun called out from the doorway, "Ma, I’m home!"

Inside.

Wang Meilan was in the outer room by the stove, using a fire poker to shift the red-hot wood in the fire pit.

There weren’t many pieces of wood, but they were burning bright red, keeping the food in the pot warm.

A mother’s heart aches for her son. Even with Zhao Youcai constantly stirring the pot, saying Zhao Jun was out stuffing his face, Wang Meilan had still saved a meal for him.

Hearing Zhao Jun’s voice outside, Wang Meilan quickly got up from her small stool and said with a smile, "My son is back!"

The moment Zhao Youcai heard this, he hurried into the inner room. He was counting on Zhao Jun for his monthly allowance, and it would be incredibly awkward if his son had overheard him bad-mouthing him just now.

No sooner had the words left Wang Meilan’s mouth than Zhao Jun walked in.

Zhao Jun entered, lifting both hands. "Ma," he said with a grin, "look at the great stuff I bought for you!"

"Brother!"

"Brother!"

Before Wang Meilan could reply, cries of "Brother!" came from inside. Hearing the words "great stuff," the two little girls, Zhao Hong and Zhao Na, tossed aside the knucklebones in their hands, jumped off the kang bed, and ran out without even putting on their shoes.

In the instant Zhao Jun was taken aback, his legs were seized by his two sisters. The two little girls looked up at the things in his hands and said in unison, "Brother, we missed you to death!"

’Good grief!’

’They haven’t seen me for one day and they already missed me to death.’

Zhao Jun chuckled. Just as he was about to speak, he felt Zhao Hong let go of his leg. The little girl asked quizzically, "What is this stuff you bought?"

The net bag above Zhao Hong’s head was filled with cans. The little girl didn’t know what they were and, assuming it wasn’t anything tasty, turned her gaze to the butter-paper package on the other side.

"You kids! Running around barefoot!" Wang Meilan grabbed one of the girls and started pulling them both back inside.

Zhao Hong and Zhao Na didn’t dare to act up, but they turned their heads to look pleadingly at Zhao Jun.

Zhao Jun smiled and followed them inside. He placed everything on the edge of the kang bed and saw Zhao Youcai sitting there, leaning against a cabinet, feigning sleep with his eyes closed.

’Just a moment ago he was out in the kitchen talking smack about me, and now he’s asleep?’

Seeing this, Zhao Jun quickly asked Wang Meilan, "Ma, what’s with Dad?"

"He’s drunk," Wang Meilan said irritably. "Don’t know who he was drinking with. He came back this afternoon and threw up. Then tonight, after sobering up, he wolfed down three bowls of sorghum rice."

"Oh." Zhao Jun looked at Zhao Youcai. He suddenly recalled a day in his past life. It was snowing heavily, and Zhao Jun had gotten back late to the Forest Farm from the inspection team, by which time the cafeteria had no food left.

That day, Zhao Youcai had cooked a private meal for the leadership at noon and had a few drinks with them. When he saw Zhao Jun arrive, the tipsy Zhao Youcai stopped the apprentices who were about to help and personally went into the kitchen to cook a bowl of hot noodle soup for his son, even adding two poached eggs.

Back then, Zhao Jun wasn’t on speaking terms with his father because Zhao Youcai had remarried. So Zhao Jun sat in a corner of the cafeteria eating his noodles, while Zhao Youcai sat two tables away, not saying a word, just quietly watching him.

Later, when Zhao Jun was working as a migrant laborer, the boss at the construction site would short-change the workers by just boiling some dried noodles for them every night for dinner.

Dried noodles twenty years later were nothing like the ones from twenty years before. Only on holidays would the black-hearted boss add a single poached egg for each of the workers.

Back then, every time Zhao Jun took a bite of that, he would remember the drunken Zhao Youcai who had still cooked noodles for him that day.

’Fine,’ Zhao Jun sighed inwardly, speaking to Zhao Youcai in his thoughts. ’I’ll let it slide since you’re drunk. I won’t stoop to your level today.’

Of course, this was just Zhao Jun’s way of giving himself an out. He knew perfectly well that after the whole afternoon’s ordeal, Zhao Youcai was long sober. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been so coherent when he was bad-mouthing him earlier.

Just then, one of the butter-paper packages was torn open by the two little girls. Although they had never seen this kind of candy before, Zhao Hong and Zhao Na instinctively figured out how to unwrap them and eagerly popped the sweets, rice paper and all, into their mouths.

The moment the candy was in her mouth, Zhao Hong mumbled indistinctly, "Brother, this is delicious!"

"Your brother isn’t delicious, the candy is," Zhao Jun retorted with a laugh. He then unwrapped a candy, held it to Wang Meilan’s lips, and said, "Ma, you have a piece."

Wang Meilan’s heart swelled with joy at her son’s thoughtful gesture. She lowered her head slightly and opened her mouth to accept the candy.

Just then, Zhao Youcai, who was off to the side, made a "hmm" sound through his nose. He slowly opened his eyes, putting on a groggy, half-asleep expression, and said to Zhao Jun, "Ah, Son, you’re back."