The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Zhang Zhanshan had collapsed!

Luckily, Dong Zhiming hadn’t gone far. He heard a THUD behind him, and when he turned around, he saw Zhang Zhanshan had fallen to the ground. Dong Zhiming quickly carried him on his back to the Forest Farm’s clinic.

The doctor at the clinic took one look and immediately told Dong Zhiming that Zhang Zhanshan had most likely suffered a cerebral hemorrhage. He couldn’t treat it and said they needed to rush him to the town hospital.

Then, the clinic contacted the dispatch group to have them send a vehicle to take Zhang Zhanshan to the hospital down the mountain.

And the person who answered the phone in dispatch was none other than Li Dayong.

When Li Dayong heard that Zhang Zhanshan had a cerebral hemorrhage, he couldn’t help but laugh out loud. But he didn’t delay. He hung up and immediately called the motor pool, telling them to send a vehicle to the clinic to rush Zhang Zhanshan down the mountain.

After the car had taken Zhang Zhanshan away, the Forest Farm called Yong’an Village to inform his family.

When Xu Meihua got the news, she assumed Zhang Zhanshan wouldn’t make it and fainted on the spot. After someone revived her by pinching the philtrum under her nose, Xu Meihua broke into loud wails. But Zhang Laibao and Zhang Laifa helped her onto a horse-drawn cart, and they hurried off to see Zhang Zhanshan.

News about Zhang Zhanshan traveled fast. By lunchtime, it had spread throughout the entire Forest Farm.

But after Li Ruhai had spread the word yesterday, not many people pitied Zhang Zhanshan today. In fact, the workers were all saying that he got what he deserved. They said it was retribution for all the rotten things he’d done.

In the first mess hall, the head cook, Zhao Youcai, started humming a little tune. The lyrics, however, were all about "brothers and sisters," making anyone who heard them feel a bit embarrassed.

As soon as his shift ended, Zhao Youcai rushed home in a hurry. Once there, he personally went into the kitchen and cooked up a table full of delicious dishes.

Zhao Youcai and Zhang Zhanshan had been fighting for so many years, and this time, he had finally brought Zhang Zhanshan down.

Of course, Zhao Youcai hadn’t forgotten who the greatest hero of this battle was. After he finished cooking, he personally went next door to invite Li Dayong’s family over for dinner.

The two families sat together in the courtyard, eating simple, home-cooked food and savoring the joy of their enemy’s downfall.

After drinking, Li Dayong returned home, washed up briefly, and lay down on the kang, fanning himself with a cattail fan, his eyes closed.

Jin Xiaomei was beside him, enjoying the gentle breeze from the fan without having to lift a finger.

Just then, Jin Xiaomei suddenly thought of Zhang Yuanmin. She remembered him from the day before yesterday, sitting on the kang in their west room, waving a cattail fan in his hand, looking full of confidence as he laid out his plan.

Jin Xiaomei couldn’t help but say, "You know, the person who really did the most to make this happen to Zhang Zhanshan was Zhang Yuanmin."

"Ha!" Hearing this, Li Dayong let out a cold laugh. "For you to say that, you’re underestimating your own son!"

"Huh?" Jin Xiaomei was taken aback. She rolled onto her side to look at Li Dayong and asked, "Is our Ruhai really that capable?"

At her words, Li Dayong’s fanning hand paused. He tilted his head slightly to look at Jin Xiaomei and said, "You call this capable? You think this is a good thing? I’m starting to think it might be a mistake to let Ruhai take care of us in our old age."

Whether this was right or wrong was impossible to see clearly at the moment.

But Zhang Zhanshan was in a miserable state. After being sent to the town hospital, the doctors there examined him and confirmed it was a cerebral hemorrhage.

The town hospital couldn’t treat a cerebral hemorrhage. They just put Zhang Zhanshan on an IV drip to stabilize him, then arranged for him to be sent to the city hospital.

By the time Zhang Zhanshan reached the major hospital in Ice City, underwent emergency surgery and treatment, and was wheeled out of the operating room, it was already two in the morning.

The doctors’ efforts weren’t in vain, and Xu Meihua’s four hundred yuan weren’t wasted. Zhang Zhanshan’s life was saved, but when he would be able to get out of his hospital bed was anyone’s guess.

Once Zhang Zhanshan was out of danger, Xu Meihua and Zhang Laifa stayed behind to take care of him, while Dong Zhiming brought Zhang Laibao back to the Yong’an Forest Farm overnight.

As soon as they returned to the Yong’an Forest Farm, Dong Zhiming took Zhang Laibao to see Zhang Guoqing. Since Zhang Zhanshan’s illness had occurred at the Forest Farm, they could argue it was a work-related injury, even if they had to stretch the truth.

Besides, given the current state of medical treatment, it was impossible for Zhang Zhanshan to ever return to work. His position would certainly be taken over by his son, Zhang Laibao. However, whether Zhang Laibao would become a kitchen helper in the mess hall or a regular worker would depend on his own preference.

But how could Zhang Laibao make such a big decision on his own? They would have to wait until Zhang Zhanshan was discharged from the hospital before anything could be settled.

And so, Zhang Laibao remained temporarily unemployed at home. But it was a foregone conclusion that he would start working at the Forest Farm. The Forest Farm job that Li Ruhai had been longing for was "easily" obtained by Laibao just like that.

...

A few days after Army Day, August 8th, 1987, was the Start of Autumn in the traditional Chinese calendar.

According to old tradition, one must "bulk up for autumn," which specifically meant eating dumplings.

Early that morning, Wang Meilan got up and made breakfast, but before she even had a chance to eat, she and Jin Xiaomei left the house with small baskets in their arms.

When Wang Meilan returned, her basket was filled with a huge slab of pork, weighing more than ten pounds, close to twenty.

Zhao Youcai came out from the inner room, glanced at it, and said to Wang Meilan, "That’s some nice meat."

"Of course it is!" Wang Meilan said with a smile. "It was a whole pork hindquarter. Xiaomei and I split it."

Zhao Jun, who had just finished eating, was about to go from the east room back to his own room when he saw the huge piece of pork Wang Meilan had bought. He asked, "Mom, why’d you buy so much meat? It’s not cold enough to make frozen dumplings yet!"

Wang Meilan shot Zhao Jun a look, smiled without saying anything, then took a knife and cut the meat in two. She took the hemp rope Zhao Youcai handed her, tied up the larger piece, and lifted it in front of Zhao Jun. "Here," she said. "Go take this to your father-in-law’s house!"