The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

It was just past 12:30 when Zhao Youcai and Zhou Jianjun got home. Their return startled the mother-in-law and daughter-in-law who were clearing the table.

Seeing her son walk in first, Hu Sanmei quickly asked Zhou Jianjun, "Son, how come you two are back so early?"

As soon as Hu Sanmei finished speaking, Zhao Youcai came in, carrying a burlap sack on his back. The ten jin of mutton in the sack Zhou Jianjun had brought back yesterday had barely covered the bottom.

But today, Zhao Youcai was carrying a sack that was more than half full, looking like it weighed at least forty or fifty jin.

"Ah, Dad, what are you carrying?" Zhao Chun hurried forward to help Zhao Youcai lower the sack from his shoulder.

Just then, Hu Sanmei gave Zhou Jianjun a gentle push. "Why aren’t you carrying it? You’re making your father-in-law carry it."

"Mom, I’m not feeling well today."

"Drank too much, didn’t you?" Hu Sanmei said irritably. "Chun’Er told you not to drink, but you wouldn’t listen."

Zhao Chun also shot Zhou Jianjun a glare, then opened the sack to look inside. She asked Zhao Youcai, "Dad, is this a roe deer? It’s not the Wild Leopard, is it?"

"Yeah. We’ll stew it for dinner tonight." Zhao Youcai tossed out the line and headed for the east room.

"Dad, you didn’t get the leopard?"

Zhao Chun asked again, but Zhao Youcai didn’t answer, simply sitting down on the kang.

Zhao Chun turned back to Zhou Jianjun. "When you and Dad left this morning, didn’t you say you were going to buy a lamb? You didn’t get the leopard, you didn’t bring back a lamb, and instead you came back with a roe deer."

At this, Zhao Chun’s expression darkened. "What happened? Did you use the lamb as bait for the roe deer?"

Her words were pure, unadulterated sarcasm. Zhou Jianjun gave a bitter smile and briefly explained what had happened, drawing another round of sighs from Zhao Chun and Hu Sanmei.

Another lamb wasted.

But when they heard from Zhou Jianjun that he and Zhao Youcai hadn’t eaten lunch yet, Hu Sanmei quickly washed a pot, boiled some water, and cooked them a pot of hot noodle soup.

Meanwhile, far away at the No. 77 Logging Camp, Zhao Jun and Zhang Yuanmin were eating in Leader Du Chunjiang’s shack.

They were also eating hot noodle soup.

Zhao Jun had come to the No. 77 Logging Camp as usual today to oversee the timber transport. Near the end of the morning shift, Zhang Yuanmin had come looking for him and joined him to scrounge a meal.

After finishing their noodles, the two rested for a bit in the shack, then bid farewell to Du Chunjiang, left the shack, and departed the Forest Farm, heading east.

After crossing mountains and ridges, Zhang Yuanmin led Zhao Jun to the front of a hillside. Before them was a stretch of the Qingtang Forest. Zhang Yuanmin pointed into the woods and said to Zhao Jun, "Brother, this is the place. My dad told me that since my grandpa’s time, our family has been digging deer pits in this forest."

"Every year around this time, as long as we dig a deer pit here, I guarantee a deer will die in it within three days."

With that, Zhang Yuanmin drew his Invasion Blade from behind his back and walked into the forest first.

Zhao Jun followed him into the woods and saw that Zhang Yuanmin had already cut a section of a branch. The stick was about a meter long and as thick as a wrist. Zhang Yuanmin used his blade to sharpen one end, then plunged it into the ground.

Once the stick was in the earth, Zhang Yuanmin took a small hammer from his satchel and began to pound the stick downward.

To avoid breaking the stick, Zhang Yuanmin hammered slowly. When most of the stick was driven into the ground, with only a handspan’s length left above the surface, he turned the hammer sideways. He struck one side of the stick, then hit the other side twice.

By doing this, the soil around the stick, which had been tightly packed, was now loose.

Zhang Yuanmin put down the hammer, grabbed the exposed end of the stick with both hands, and with a side-to-side wiggle, pulled it out of the ground.

Now, a hole slightly thicker than a wrist and over eighty centimeters deep appeared in the ground.

Zhang Yuanmin took a cloth pouch from his satchel, opened it, and poured a handful of coarse salt into the hole.

After pouring in another handful of coarse salt, Zhang Yuanmin took out a small cloth bundle from his satchel. He opened the bundle and took out a small paper packet from within.

At this point, Zhao Jun leaned in, watching Zhang Yuanmin’s actions with curiosity. "Big Brother, are you setting the poison now?"

Zhang Yuanmin nodded without a word. He opened the small paper packet and poured all the white, fragmented crystals from inside into the hole.

After pouring it in, Zhang Yuanmin added more coarse salt into the hole. He only stopped when the salt was about ten centimeters from the opening, at which point he tied the salt pouch shut.

Having done all this, Zhang Yuanmin stood up and explained to Zhao Jun, "Brother, there’s a real art to setting this poison. Too high is no good, and too low is no good either."

As he spoke, Zhang Yuanmin pointed to the hole and added, "Right now, the poison is about seventy-something centimeters below the surface."

What Zhang Yuanmin had just dug was, in hunter’s parlance, a "deer pit."

Zhao Jun knew how to hunt most things, but he didn’t know how to poison deer. Fortunately, Zhang Yuanmin was there to patiently explain it to him.

Digging the hole required no special explanation; there was no real technique to it.

The key was in placing the poison. The substance was potassium aluminum cyanide, a deadly poison. When Zhang Zhanshan had used sheep tallow to try and poison Hua Xiao’Er, that same potassium aluminum cyanide was what he’d wrapped inside the tallow.

There were two critical factors to poisoning deer. The first was the placement of the poison. As Zhang Yuanmin had said, it couldn’t be too close to the surface, nor could it be too deep.

When you dig a hole and sprinkle salt here, a deer passing by will smell it and come over to lick the salt.

Although the opening is small, the deer will chew at the dirt to widen it, and then lick up the coarse salt.

At first, the deer licks while standing. But as it gets deeper, it can only kneel on the ground, sticking its head into the earth to get at it, bit by bit.

Slowly, its entire head ends up buried in the soil.

At that moment, it licks the poison and dies instantly.

And when the deer dies, it remains in a kneeling position, its head stuck in the ground, not tipping or falling over.

Only in this way can you guarantee that the Antler Velvet on its head doesn’t break.

This was why Zhang Yuanmin had said that when placing the poison, too high was no good, and too low was no good either.

If it’s placed too close to the surface, the deer eats the poison and dies, its head pitches forward, and the Antler Velvet shatters on the ground. Then all the work would be for nothing.

You have to understand, back then, people didn’t yet value Deer Fetus. The most valuable parts of a deer were a stag’s Antler Velvet, followed by its Deer Penis.

And if the poison is placed too deep, the deer can stick its whole head in and still not reach it. It will just lick up the salt on top and leave.

As for the other critical factor in poisoning deer, it’s the efficacy of the potassium aluminum cyanide.

This potassium aluminum cyanide has to be instantly lethal. You have to guarantee that if a deer licks even a tiny bit, it will die without a doubt.

Otherwise, the moment the deer feels something is wrong, it will instinctively try to stand up. If the poison takes effect then, the deer will collapse, and the Antler Velvet will be lost.

Domestically produced potassium aluminum cyanide is average in potency. The best is German-made, with the kind made by the Wen Nu coming in second.

This poison is only used during production at certain large factories, which is why Zhou Chengguo said you could only get it by going to the Eastern Defense Field.

As for where Yu Xuewen got it, he didn’t say, and Zhao Jun didn’t ask. All he knew was that it came from Japan.

Zhang Yuanmin dug two deer pits in this patch of forest, then said to Zhao Jun, "Brother, we’re all set. You just go to work like usual. We’ll let the deer chew on this tomorrow and the day after. We’ll come back the day after tomorrow."

"Alright, Big Brother, I’ll listen to you." ’Zhang Yuanmin might not be good at hunting Black Bears, but he was an expert at poisoning deer. At a time like this, Zhao Jun had to listen to whatever he said.’

Zhang Yuanmin added, "Brother, when we come back, you need to bring your gun."

"Don’t worry, Big Brother, I know." Zhao Jun nodded. At this time of year, when bears had just come out of hibernation and were roaming the mountains for food, a dead deer was a massive attraction. So, it was common for a Black Bear to be lurking near a deer pit.

The two walked shoulder-to-shoulder down the mountain, chatting as they went. After walking for seven or eight li, Zhang Yuanmin said with some regret, "Brother, I spotted two Black Bears the other day. Why didn’t you go hunt them with me?"

Zhang Yuanmin had just finished speaking when he saw Zhao Jun raise a hand to stop him. Zhao Jun then walked southwest, straight to a Korean pine, and craned his neck to peer around its side.

’On his way down earlier, he thought he’d seen something on the tree trunk. Now that he was closer, he saw he was right.’

Just then, Zhang Yuanmin came over too. Seeing Zhao Jun circling the tree, he was about to speak.

But Zhao Jun raised his hand again and said in a low voice, "Big Brother, from now on, don’t say another word."

Zhang Yuanmin also shuffled to the side and looked up at the tree. When his eyes fell on a spot on the trunk where a piece of bark was missing, his heart jolted. He looked at Zhao Jun, his eyes full of astonishment.

"Elder Zhao! Brother, it’s only April!"

"Heh, what does the month matter?" Zhao Jun chuckled at his words. "Big Brother, go cut me a stick. You were pretty impressive setting up that deer pit earlier. Now it’s my turn to show you a thing or two."