Chapter 336 - 274: Bankrupting the Village Office
"What’s up?" Zhao Jun replied to Zhao Guofeng with a smile, but he wasn’t taking it seriously. Zhao Jun knew perfectly well that you couldn’t trust a drunk’s promises; Zhao Guofeng would probably wake up tomorrow and forget he’d said anything at all.
Zhao Guofeng said, "Let’s cut to the chase. I don’t need you to hunt a Tiger. Just hunt wild boars and Black Bears for me. Get me as many as you can before May first."
"Heh..." Zhao Jun chuckled. "Uncle Zhao, I’m working at the Forest Farm now. I don’t have any time to hunt. Why don’t you ask someone else?"
"I’m not asking anyone else, I’m asking you." Zhao Guofeng stared at Zhao Jun and said, "It’s already spring. The trappers will all be down from the mountains in a few days. What are you so busy with?"
"Well..." Zhao Jun was tired and, deep down, didn’t want to continue this pointless conversation with Zhao Guofeng. He smiled and replied, "Okay, let’s just say that for now. I still have some things to take care of up at Logging Camp 79. We can talk more after I’m finished. How’s that, Uncle Zhao?"
"Not good enough!" By now, Zhao Guofeng wasn’t completely hammered, but he was in that fuzzy, half-comprehending state. He could sense that Zhao Jun was resisting his proposal. "Kid," he said, "you hunt wild boars and Black Bears, and I’ll give you money."
"Heh..." Zhao Jun chuckled again and then asked, "Uncle Zhao, how much money are we talking about?"
Zhao Guofeng looked straight at Zhao Jun and paused for about two seconds before speaking. "Size doesn’t matter. We’ll weigh them after you bring them back. For wild boar, I’ll give you twenty cents a pound."
"How much?" That single sentence got Zhao Jun’s attention. His eyes nearly lit up.
"Twenty cents!" Zhao Guofeng held up two fingers, turning his hand over to show Zhao Jun. "You don’t have to skin it. Just bleed it out on the mountain. After that, I’ll send people to haul it down. We’ll weigh it when it gets here—hide, hair, and all—and I’ll pay for every pound."
"Deal!" Zhao Jun’s attitude completely changed. He agreed at once. "Uncle Zhao, it’s getting late. Let’s head home for now. I’ll come over to your place tomorrow, and we can discuss this properly."
"Okay!" Zhao Guofeng, assuming Zhao Jun hadn’t eaten yet, waved a hand. "Hurry on back, then. Come find me tomorrow."
"You two take care now, Uncle Zhao." Zhao Jun stopped to the side and waved goodbye to the father and son. Watching their swaying, unsteady backs, Zhao Jun smiled to himself.
You couldn’t completely trust a drunk’s words, but if this deal turned out to be real, Zhao Jun was prepared to go all out.
It was almost seven o’clock when Zhao Jun got home, but Zhao Youcai still wasn’t back. When Zhao Jun asked, Wang Meilan said that Li Dayong had come by earlier with a message from him. There was a reception at work today, so he’d be home late.
Zhao Jun went to his room and soothed his three injured dogs. Then he poured hot water into a basin, sat on the edge of the kang, and soaked his feet. ’I’ve been roughing it out there for over a week,’ he thought. ’Tonight, I can finally get a good night’s sleep.’
Just as Zhao Jun was drying his feet, he heard the door to the main room slide open. An aluminum lunchbox clattered onto the kitchen stove, followed by the voices of Wang Meilan and Zhao Youcai.
"You’re back?" Wang Meilan said, pointing to Zhao Jun’s room. "Our son is home."
His own son had been away from home for nine days. A father should have been longing to see him, but the moment Zhao Youcai heard Zhao Jun was back, his first reaction was to ask Wang Meilan, "Where are the dogs?"
He hadn’t seen any dogs in the yard when he came in!
The question made Wang Meilan pause. She lowered her voice and said to Zhao Youcai, "Let’s go in this room. I’ll explain."
Zhao Youcai’s eyes instantly widened. He glanced at Wang Meilan, then immediately headed for Zhao Jun’s room.
Just then, Zhao Jun’s door opened. Facing Zhao Youcai, he called out, "Dad."
Zhao Youcai stopped, looking at Zhao Jun without speaking. Then, Da Huang peeked its head out from the doorway.
If Hua Xiao’Er had been there, no matter how severe its injuries, it would have made some kind of noise upon hearing Zhao Youcai’s voice, even if it couldn’t stand.
And so, Zhao Youcai understood in an instant.
Staring at Zhao Jun, Zhao Youcai asked, "Where’s the dog?"
"Dad," Zhao Jun answered. "We left Hua Xiao’Er on the mountain."
"Did you get revenge?" Zhao Youcai didn’t ask how the dog died, only if they had avenged him.
Zhao Jun nodded, then shook his head. "We caught a Big Claw over by Yongxing. When we were trying to capture it, forty or fifty men couldn’t hold it down. Our Hua Xiao’Er chased it down and sank his teeth into it twice, and after that..."
At this, Zhao Jun’s voice grew choked, each word more difficult to say than the last.
"I know." Zhao Jun didn’t continue, and Zhao Youcai didn’t want to listen anymore. Besides, he had already guessed what had happened.
Zhao Youcai tilted his head and said to Wang Meilan, who was wiping away tears beside him, "What a good dog. Our Hua Xiao’Er could take on a Big Claw..." Before he could finish, Zhao Youcai turned and returned to his room.
Wang Meilan said nothing, simply lowering her head as she went to the stove to open the aluminum lunchbox Zhao Youcai had brought back.
Zhao Jun pressed his lips together and turned back into his room.
「The next morning.」
When Zhao Jun woke up, Zhao Youcai had already left for work.
After a breakfast of stewed cabbage with glass noodles and sticky bean buns, Zhao Jun grabbed his tools and ledger. "Mom, I’m heading to work," he said to Wang Meilan on his way out.
"Okay, son. Take care."
Zhao Jun nodded and left the house, heading straight for Zhao Guofeng’s home.
People who drink too much tend to wake up early the next day.
Zhao Guofeng was already up, had eaten breakfast, and was just stepping out with his hands clasped behind his back, heading for the Village Office.
Seeing Zhao Jun approach, Zhao Guofeng called out from a distance, "Zhao Jun, off to work?"
Zhao Jun walked right up to Zhao Guofeng and smiled. "Uncle Zhao, about what you said yesterday... were you serious?"
"What was that?" Zhao Guofeng looked at Zhao Jun with a blank expression.
Zhao Jun sighed inwardly but patiently reminded him, "Last night, you asked me to hunt wild boars for you. You said you’d have them brought back to be weighed and pay me twenty cents a pound."
"Oh, that," Zhao Guofeng said, nodding. He looked at Zhao Jun. "It’s a deal!"
He might have been drunk yesterday, but he’d had the idea even before he started drinking.
In fact, he had considered it quite thoroughly. After all, the mountain beasts came in various sizes, and Zhao Guofeng worried that Zhao Jun might try to fool him with small ones, which was why he had agreed to pay by the pound.
At the same time, Zhao Guofeng decided he would also find Wang Qiang and Chen Dalai later today, if he had time, and ask them to go hunting too. ’After all,’ he thought, ’it’s already April 8th. There are only about twenty days left until May first. No matter how capable Zhao Jun is, could he really hunt ten wild boars?’
In Zhao Guofeng’s plan, Black Bears were a tough catch, but he needed at least twenty wild boars.
That was almost one a day. There was no way a single person could accomplish that!
"Then we have to be clear about this, Uncle Zhao." Zhao Jun wouldn’t normally be so insistent, but when it came to money, he needed a firm promise from Zhao Guofeng. "You can’t be joking with me," he said.
"You kid..." Zhao Guofeng chuckled. "Just go hunt. The Village Office will pay you when you’re done. We won’t short you."
Even after that, Zhao Jun pressed on, "Uncle Zhao, what if I hunt a lot?"
"A lot?" Zhao Guofeng looked at Zhao Jun and laughed. "The more, the better. You just go all out. I want to see just how many you can hunt."
"Heh," Zhao Jun chuckled, speaking to Zhao Guofeng in a half-joking tone. "Then it’s settled. If I bring back fifty or sixty wild boars, you still have to pay me, Uncle Zhao."
"Hahaha..." Zhao Guofeng burst out laughing at his words. He clapped Zhao Jun on the shoulder and said, "Kid, stop teasing me and get to work. Go up the mountain when you’re not busy. Go all out. The Village Office will pay you even if you bring back a hundred."
"Okay."
Zhao Guofeng didn’t believe Zhao Jun for a second; he just thought the young man was joking.
But as he walked away, hands clasped behind his back, Zhao Jun watched his retreating figure and muttered with a smile, ’He told me to go all out... I’ll show him. I’ll hunt enough to bankrupt his Village Office.’