The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

White Dragon sensed something was wrong and tried to pull its head out of Zhao Jun’s arm, but Zhao Jun grabbed its muzzle.

Zhao Jun tossed the spoon aside, reached out to stroke White Dragon’s neck, and said with a smile, "Alright, settle down. Hurry up and eat. After you’re done, we’re going up the mountain to hunt wild boar."

After Zhao Jun spoke, he noticed White Dragon was no longer struggling. He quickly and gently guided its muzzle over to the food bowl.

After Zhao Jun slowly let go of White Dragon’s mouth, the dog looked at him and began to swallow the cornmeal mush in its mouth.

"Go on, eat," Zhao Jun said, stroking White Dragon’s back and urging it to eat.

It didn’t need his urging. White Dragon began to wolf down its food. Its last meal had been at this same time yesterday; it would be strange if it wasn’t hungry.

White Dragon had just taken two bites when it suddenly lifted its head and barked twice toward the courtyard gate. Immediately after, Flower Cat from next door joined in, followed by Little Bear, Big Fatty, and the other dogs.

"Quiet down!" Zhao Jun shouted. White Dragon glanced back at him, then went back to lapping up its food.

The barking gradually died down as Lin Xiangshun entered Li Baoyu’s courtyard. From across the yard, he saw Zhao Jun keeping White Dragon company while it ate and couldn’t help but frown. "Why are you just now feeding the dog?" he asked.

He was itching to go hunting, and feeding the dog now was delaying their trip up the mountain.

Zhao Jun just smiled without answering. He saw Lin Xiangshun toss over two ropes, and then Lin Xiangshun went to leash Flower Cat and Hua Lang.

Zhao Jun wasn’t in a hurry either. He watched White Dragon finish the cornmeal mush and lick the food stuck to the sides of the bowl. Then, he picked up the Haraba bone, placed it in White Dragon’s bowl, and said, "Here, eat this."

White Dragon, which had just been licking the bowl, now lifted a paw and slapped the side of it. The food bowl tilted, sending the Haraba bone tumbling out. The bowl then flipped upside down on the ground, its edges rocking back and forth and clattering against the dirt.

Just then, Li Dayong came out of the house and called for Lin Xiangshun to come inside, sit for a bit, and roll a cigarette.

Lin Xiangshun was quite anxious, but he figured that since White Dragon had just eaten, the dog needed some time to rest anyway. So, he followed Li Dayong toward his house.

Seeing this scene, both of them were quite surprised. Li Dayong immediately asked, "Xiaojun, what’s this dog up to? It won’t even eat meat."

Zhao Jun walked over to the wall and explained the situation with White Dragon to the two men. Lin Xiangshun’s eyes lit up as he listened. He pointed at White Dragon and said, "Now that’s an interesting dog."

With that, he followed Li Dayong inside to roll a leaf-tobacco cigarette.

Zhao Jun returned to White Dragon’s side, picked up the Haraba bone, and asked it, "You really not gonna eat this?"

When White Dragon ignored him, Zhao Jun took the Haraba bone and went back into the house. He walked past Black Tiger, who was doing its best to be cute and win him over, but Zhao Jun paid it no mind.

This meat bone was meant for Black Tiger, but he had to wait until after he left with Little Bear and White Dragon. Otherwise, if he fed the meat to it now, Little Bear would get upset.

For a moment, Zhao Jun thought, ’Am I raising dogs? This is more like raising a pack of children.’

When Zhao Jun pulled open the door, he was met with Zhao Youcai’s expectant gaze.

Zhao Youcai was at the stove washing bowls. Seeing it was Zhao Jun who came in, his face instantly filled with disappointment. He lowered his voice and asked, "Why didn’t your Second Brother come in?"

All morning, Zhao Youcai had been waiting for Lin Xiangshun. As long as Lin Xiangshun showed up, he wouldn’t have to wash the bowls.

But he waited and waited, and by the time they finished eating and it was time to wash the bowls, Lin Xiangshun still hadn’t arrived. Under Wang Meilan’s silent gaze, Zhao Youcai had very consciously gotten off the kang to do the washing.

Finally, he heard dogs barking in the courtyard, followed by Lin Xiangshun’s voice. But in the end, Zhao Youcai was disappointed yet again.

Zhao Jun shook his head, craned his neck to look inside the room, and saw that Wang Meilan hadn’t come out. He reached into his pocket, pulled out two yuan, and tried to stuff it into Zhao Youcai’s pocket.

But unexpectedly, Zhao Youcai jumped back as if he’d been electrocuted.

Zhao Jun was stunned, but then Zhao Youcai sidled up to him and whispered, "You hold onto it for now."

"Oh, okay."

Seeing Zhao Jun agree, Zhao Youcai’s face broke into a smile. He picked up two aluminum lunch boxes from the stove and handed them to Zhao Jun, saying, "Dad got you six flower rolls today. You need to eat well on the mountain."

It was clearly a heartwarming scene, but for some reason, though Zhao Jun wanted to feel moved, his heart remained calm.

"Thanks, Dad." Zhao Jun took the lunch boxes, stuffed them one by one into his satchel, and then pushed the door open and left.

Just then, Lin Xiangshun finished his cigarette. Seen off by Li Dayong and Li Baoyu, he came out of the Li Family’s house and joined Zhao Jun. Together, they led the four dogs out of the village.

Along the way, Lin Xiangshun kept sizing up White Dragon.

"What is it, Second Brother?" Zhao Jun noticed his gaze and pointed at White Dragon. "It’s a cross between a Mengxi and a ’stupid dog’. Two years old."

"Ah!" Hearing that White Dragon was a Mengxi mix, Lin Xiangshun’s eyes lit up. "How’s its scenting ability?" he asked.

"I don’t know," Zhao Jun said, shaking his head. "I’ve never used it as a lead dog."

Although he said that, in his past life, Zhao Jun had hunted with Wang Dalong. Before Cyan Dragon had matured, White Dragon had always served as the lead dog.

However, its scenting wasn’t the best—it couldn’t track an airborne scent, so it was no good for dry ground trailing. But when it came to tracking footprints in the snow, White Dragon was perfectly fine.

Moreover, it had great stamina, a long chase range, and a vicious bite. With Cyan Dragon on one side and White Dragon on the other, any wild boar they latched onto usually couldn’t escape.

It’s just that White Dragon had a poor fate. When it went with Wang Dalong to the Red Star Brigade to help someone hunt for a specimen, Wang Dalong had an affair there. He was caught in a honey trap, blackmailed for two hundred yuan, and on top of that, he gave White Dragon away to them.

The dog had a stubborn temper. At its new master’s home, on its very first hunt, it got into a fight with the other pack of dogs.

When dogs fight, it’s hard to break them up. At home, if two dogs are fighting, you might be able to separate them by splashing them with cold water.

But if a whole pack starts fighting, there’s nothing you can do.

And if they fight in the mountains, you’re even more helpless. Eight men couldn’t pull them apart. In fact, the more people tried to pull them away, the more ferociously the dogs fought.

White Dragon was the newcomer, and its new master’s dogs didn’t help it. It fought six of them on its own. It managed to cripple two of the other dogs before being bitten to death itself.

Of the two dogs it crippled, one was the lead dog and the other was the second lead. This sent the owner into a rage. He threw White Dragon’s body directly into a ditch and didn’t even bother to bury it.

...

「Upon entering the hunting grounds」

Zhao Jun and Lin Xiangshun let all four dogs loose. Unlike Big Fatty, Little Bear, White Dragon, and Xiaohua vanished in the blink of an eye. Only Da Huang stayed close to Zhao Jun and Lin Xiangshun.

Lin Xiangshun was curious. He asked Zhao Jun, "Hey, why did Baoyu’s little Xiaohua run off too?"

"Her?" Zhao Jun laughed. "She seems to follow our Little Bear. Wherever Little Bear goes, she goes."

Hearing this, Lin Xiangshun nodded and said, "Ah, that’s good too."

This was a case of one dog training another. A young dog would follow an older one on a hunt and gradually learn the ropes.

As Zhao Jun walked, he recalled that back in the Yongxing Brigade, Xiaohua had always followed Little Bear.

She was the pup of Xu Changlin’s female ’Flower Dog’ and Cyan Wolf. Thinking of Cyan Wolf, he figured Xiaohua couldn’t be bad. Otherwise, Zhao Jun wouldn’t have told Li Baoyu to buy her.

As the two men were talking, White Dragon scrambled up from the bottom of a gully. It stopped to shake the grass and leaves from its fur, then dashed ahead again.

Seeing this, Lin Xiangshun said bluntly, "These four dogs today are way better than the four we had yesterday!"

Zhao Jun smiled at his words. Just as he was about to speak, a series of barks drifted over on the wind.

Little Bear had opened up!