The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

You have to understand, Zhang Zhanshan was more than just a cook at Cafeteria No. 2. He was the head chef; the entire cafeteria was his domain.

In the past, whenever Li Ruhai ran into Li Baoyu, it was like a mouse seeing a cat. And since Li Baoyu listened to Zhao Jun, Li Ruhai had absolutely no voice when Zhao Jun was around.

But at this moment, faced with Zhao Jun’s skepticism, Li Ruhai lifted his chin slightly and said, "Brother Jun, you’re a decent hunter. But when it comes to spreading the word, I’m your man."

Zhao Jun: "..."

As they spoke, they arrived at Lin Xiangshun’s front door. Lin Xiangshun was already in his car, waiting.

He saw Zhao Jun and Li Ruhai approaching in the rearview mirror and honked the horn twice in quick succession.

For the past several days, Zhao Jun had been training with the inspection team, which was located near the Forest Farm, so he hitched a ride with Lin Xiangshun every day.

Today was no exception. However, because he had a lot to take care of at home, Zhao Jun was running a bit late. Worried they would be late, Lin Xiangshun honked to hurry him along.

As for Li Ruhai walking beside Zhao Jun, Lin Xiangshun just assumed they happened to be heading in the same direction.

But the passenger-side door opened, and Li Ruhai hopped in first, greeting Lin Xiangshun, "Brother Shunzi."

"Huh!" Lin Xiangshun was taken aback, but when he saw Zhao Jun get in right behind him, he looked to Zhao Jun for an explanation.

Zhao Jun squeezed into the passenger seat, pulled the door shut, and said to Lin Xiangshun, "Brother Lin, just drive. I’ll explain on the way."

...

That afternoon in Yong’an Forest Farm’s Cafeteria No. 2, a preoccupied Zhang Zhanshan was still personally at the stove, having cooked three large pots of pickled greens and tofu stew.

The main ingredient, "red-in-snow," is a variety of mustard green, also known as "spicy vegetable." In the Northeast, its leaves turn a purplish-red in the autumn and winter. This is why in the Southern Region it’s known as "mustard-in-snow," but in the Northeast, it’s called "red-in-snow."

Its leaves and stems are pickled and then stewed with firm tofu, creating the classic "pickled vegetable and tofu" dish often seen on television.

All the veteran employees of Yong’an Forest Farm knew that Master Zhang’s pickled greens and tofu stew was in a class of its own.

What’s more, Zhang Zhanshan personally led his apprentices in pickling the greens. He used a special method that made them perfectly salty and crisp. Paired with fragrant and tender brine-cured firm tofu, the final dish was a sublime combination of salty, crisp, fragrant, and tender. It was to die for!

Normally, the workers from the Forest Farm’s transport team didn’t eat at Cafeteria No. 2. Due to their connections with Lin Xiangshun and Zhao Youcai, they all went to Cafeteria No. 1 instead.

But today, Zheng Guoqiang from the transport team came to Cafeteria No. 2. He stood in line to get a mess tin filled with the pickled greens and tofu stew, then got a steamed cornbread bun and placed it on the lid.

Carrying the cornbread bun and the mess tin, Zheng Guoqiang went to a corner near the door and gave them to Li Ruhai, who was sitting on a long wooden bench.

"Thanks, Brother Zheng," Li Ruhai said sweetly, thanking Zheng Guoqiang.

Zheng Guoqiang shook his head and urged him, "Ruhai, why don’t you take your food and come eat with me at Cafeteria No. 1?"

At this, Zheng Guoqiang glanced toward the serving window on the far right before adding, "You spent all morning talking about Master Zhang’s family. I’m afraid if he finds out, he’ll make trouble for you."

"What’s there to be afraid of!" Li Ruhai picked up the cornbread bun, stuffed it in his pocket, and said to Zheng Guoqiang with a grin, "Brother Zheng, don’t worry about me. Go get your own food and eat."

"No rush, Brother Lin already got my food," Zheng Guoqiang replied. But despite his words, he was truly hungry. After saying goodbye to Li Ruhai, he left Cafeteria No. 2 and headed toward Cafeteria No. 1.

Once Zheng Guoqiang had left, Li Ruhai set his mess tin on its lid to use as a tray, then stood up and carried it toward the crowded center of the cafeteria.

He approached a long wooden table that could seat six people, where five men were already eating.

Li Ruhai leaned over and asked, "Excuse me, brothers, is this seat taken?"

"It’s free, go ahead," one of the men replied casually. But when Li Ruhai sat down, the man looked at him and did a double take.

The men of the Li Family were all tall. Li Dayong was five-eleven, and Li Baoyu was six-three. And at fourteen years old, Li Ruhai was already five-three.

His current height wasn’t considered short for those times. But he had a baby face, and anyone could see he was just a kid.

Most importantly, Li Ruhai was a new face around here.

So, someone at the table asked, "Hey kid, you new here?"

"Yeah!" Li Ruhai answered. Before anyone could ask another question, he gestured to his mess tin and said with a smile, "This dish smells incredible."

"Yep." The man sitting across from Li Ruhai picked up a piece of tofu with his chopsticks, popped it into his mouth, and smacked his lips twice before saying, "Master Zhang at Cafeteria No. 2 makes this dish better than anyone!"

"You like it, brother?" Li Ruhai asked. Without waiting for a response, he used his chopsticks to move a piece of tofu into the man’s mess tin. Then he did it again with another piece.

But the brine-cured tofu was so tender that the second piece broke in two against the chopsticks, falling into the man’s tin and splashing a few drops of hot broth.

The man wasn’t the least bit angry. He just smiled at Li Ruhai and said, "You’re too generous, kid. Go on, you eat it."

In those days, eating firm tofu was a luxury for some families, like having meat. And there weren’t that many pieces of tofu in Li Ruhai’s mess tin to begin with.

Li Ruhai just smiled at his words and said to the man, "Something happened at Master Zhang’s house last night!"

"Huh?" Li Ruhai’s abrupt declaration made everyone at the table freeze, their chopsticks hovering as they all stared at him.

The man opposite Li Ruhai glanced nervously toward the serving window, then lowered his voice and said, "Kid, you can’t just make things like that up."

"Make it up? We’re neighbors! Why would I lie?" Li Ruhai leaned in, but his voice didn’t drop a bit. "Just last night, Master Zhang’s son was trying to steal corn from someone’s field and nearly got himself shot!"

The story had a time, a place, characters, and a thrilling, action-packed plot.

By the time Li Ruhai finished, people from the two neighboring tables had turned their attention to him.

"How could Master Zhang’s son do something like that?"

"How could someone mistake him for a Black Bear?"

"How badly was he shot?"

In those days, eating was a serious business.

On a typical day, the workers would get their food and wolf it down. Once finished, they would hang around the cafeteria to chat and rest, only leaving when their lunch break was over.

As a result, the first half-hour of mealtime was usually quiet. The second half-hour, however, was always a deafening roar.

But today, barely ten minutes after mealtime had begun, the cafeteria was already abuzz. People were whispering amongst themselves, their heads close together in discussion.

Half an hour later, Cafeteria No. 2 had descended into chaos. The roar of the workers’ conversations was so loud it threatened to blow the roof off the building.

Just then, in the back kitchen, Zhang Zhanshan was having a meal with his apprentices. He frowned and asked them, "Why is it so rowdy out there today?"

One of them shook his head. "I don’t know. Maybe the Farm is handing out benefits again and everyone’s discussing it?"

"Doesn’t sound like it," another apprentice said. "I heard them mention ’Master Zhang.’ Master, they couldn’t be talking about you, could they?"

"Impossible!" someone else interjected. "Any skilled worker gets called ’Master’ these days. There are tons of Master Zhangs at the Forest Farm. Why would they be gossiping about our master?"

Meanwhile, Li Ruhai, holding his empty mess tin, walked briskly out of Cafeteria No. 2 and headed straight for Cafeteria No. 1.

...

After Zhou Chunming’s promotion to head of the Forest Farm, the Forestry Bureau had sent a new production director to Yong’an Forest Farm.

Being the production director, his job was to oversee production. And true to the saying "a new broom sweeps clean," this Farm Director Dou called a meeting for the entire dispatch team today. He spouted hot air for two hours and only assigned the preparatory work for the winter transport season right before the lunch break.

Because of this meeting, the entire dispatch team started their lunch break a full half-hour late.

Luckily, Zhao Youcai had saved some food for them, so the dispatch team wouldn’t go hungry.

As the team leader and deputy leader, Wu Feng and Li Dayong were naturally at the front of the line when getting their food.

After getting their food, the two of them found a reasonably clean, empty table and sat facing each other, ready to eat.

Just then, Wu Feng squinted at something behind Li Dayong and asked, "What are all those people doing over there?"

Li Dayong turned around. In the southeast corner of the cafeteria, a crowd of forty or fifty people had gathered. He tilted his head to listen and could faintly make out someone in the center of the group telling some kind of story.

Li Dayong turned back to Wu Feng with a laugh. "Maybe it’s one of the workers with nothing better to do, practicing a comedy routine for the gala."

Army Day was in two days. The farm had many veterans, so on that day, Yong’an Forest Farm would hold an outdoor evening gala with performances to honor the soldiers and their families.

The words were barely out of Li Dayong’s mouth when a sharp SLAP echoed through the room. It was immediately followed by a voice, raised by an octave, that carried clearly from the center of the crowd.

The voice proclaimed, "With the BANG of a single gunshot! To find out what happens next, you’ll have to wait for the next Chapter: *Gou Laibao’s Nighttime Theft of Autumn Grain; Han Baoyu Loses an Arm!*"

Li Dayong: "..."