The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Sure enough, Lin Xiangshun arrived early the next morning—and quite early at that.

Lin Xiangshun first went to Zhao Jun’s house and greeted Zhao Youcai and Wang Meilan. He immediately urged Zhao Jun to hurry up, then stepped outside. Standing in the Zhao family’s yard, he shouted over the wall to his neighbor, Li Baoyu.

Li Baoyu came out with Zhao Jun’s shotgun, passed it over the yard wall to Lin Xiangshun, and then stuffed a large handful of shells into his hand.

Lin Xiangshun took the gun with a grin, slung it over his shoulder, and stuffed the shells into his coat pocket. He then turned and yelled toward Zhao Jun’s house, "Xiaojun, hurry up!"

Inside the east room of Zhao Jun’s house, Wang Meilan, who had just finished clearing the table, was about to take a basin to the outer room to wash the dishes. Hearing the shout, she couldn’t help but smile. She said to Zhao Youcai, who was frantically pulling on his clothes, "Look at Shunzi. The moment hunting is mentioned, he gets all antsy."

At this point, Wang Meilan glanced at Zhao Youcai and said irritably, "You don’t have to act like your butt’s on fire. I won’t make you wash the dishes today."

Normally, the household chores for the next few days were supposed to be Zhao Youcai’s job. But just now, as he was clearing the bowls and chopsticks from the table, Lin Xiangshun had burst in.

To help Zhao Youcai save face, Wang Meilan had said, "You don’t need to help me. Go get ready for work."

As soon as Zhao Youcai heard that, he dropped the bowls and chopsticks and started to put on his clothes to leave, afraid that if he didn’t get out of the house fast enough, he’d still have to wash the dishes.

But while he was in a hurry, Lin Xiangshun was in an even bigger one. He had popped into the house to call for Zhao Jun before going to get the gun from Li Baoyu.

With Lin Xiangshun gone, Zhao Youcai, terrified that Wang Meilan might change her mind, frantically pulled on his clothes.

Just then, a fully dressed Zhao Jun came out of the west room. He called out a greeting to Zhao Youcai and Wang Meilan, then pushed open the door and went outside.

"Xiaojun." Seeing Zhao Jun come out, Lin Xiangshun tossed two ropes to him and asked, "What were you dawdling in the house for?"

Without waiting for Zhao Jun’s reply, Lin Xiangshun hopped the wall into Li Baoyu’s yard.

Zhao Jun reflexively reached out and caught the two ropes Lin Xiangshun had thrown. He yelled after him, "Shunzi, what are you doing?"

"Leashing the dogs!" Lin Xiangshun said, holding a rope in one hand and pointing at Flower Cat with the other.

As soon as Lin Xiangshun came over, Da Huang tried to jump on him, and Flower Cat and Hua Lang also darted his way.

Only Xiaohua stood foolishly to one side, staring blankly.

Da Huang, Flower Cat, and Hua Lang weren’t acting this way because they wanted to bite Lin Xiangshun. It was because they saw his hunting gear. Having been cooped up at home for so long, they couldn’t contain their excitement.

But Xiaohua, having only been on a few hunts, didn’t understand yet.

Lin Xiangshun went up to Flower Cat and held out his hand. The dog offered its head, practically asking to be leashed.

"Good dog!" Lin Xiangshun reached out and stroked Flower Cat’s neck, then tied a slipknot around it with the rope.

Just then, Lin Xiangshun turned his head. Seeing Zhao Jun still standing there, he yelled, "Xiaojun, what are you gawking at? Go leash those two fatties!"

"Two fatties?" Zhao Jun froze for a second, then realized Lin Xiangshun must have meant Big Fatty and San Pang.

He looked at the two ropes in his hand and asked Lin Xiangshun, "Shunzi, are we only leashing these two?"

"Yeah!" Lin Xiangshun replied without looking up, busy leashing Hua Lang. "Aren’t these four dogs the new ones? Let’s take them out first and see how they work!"

Hearing this, Zhao Jun did as Lin Xiangshun said and leashed Big Fatty and San Pang. However, he leashed San Pang first, then Big Fatty.

There was a simple reason for this: Big Fatty was just too strong. The moment the hemp rope was around its neck, it started struggling desperately to get out of the yard, pulling Zhao Jun off balance.

Then, from not far away, came the sound of Little Bear’s whining and White Dragon’s urgent roars.

Just like a pet dog longs for a walk, a hunting dog loves going up the mountain, loves the hunt. The better the hound, the truer this is.

At that moment, Zhao Jun was being dragged outside by Big Fatty and San Pang. He couldn’t even go over to comfort Little Bear and White Dragon. He could only turn his head and shout, "I’ll take you two out tomorrow!"

The words had barely left his mouth before Big Fatty and San Pang dragged him out of the yard.

"Let’s go!" Lin Xiangshun, already waiting at the gate, saw Zhao Jun emerge. He took the lead, heading out of the village with Flower Cat and Hua Lang, while Zhao Jun followed close behind with Big Fatty and San Pang.

Back in the yards of the Zhao and Li families, the howls of Little Bear, White Dragon, and Da Huang could still be heard.

That’s right, they were howling now.

The three dogs sat in the yard like wolves, craning their necks and howling, venting their dissatisfaction.

Zhao Youcai came out of the house and saw the scene. He couldn’t help but curse, "What a rotten thing to do. Take two and leave two? Of course the two left behind are going to raise a ruckus!"

Meanwhile, Zhao Jun, the one being cursed as rotten, had already left the village with Lin Xiangshun and the dogs. The two of them were heading for Forest Class 48, where Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu had spotted the sounder of boars the other day.

But a full six days had passed since they’d spotted the wild boars. When Zhao Jun and Lin Xiangshun brought the dogs to the mountain ridge where the boars had run, Big Fatty showed no reaction at all.

This was what they called a "dry track."

When a beast leaves no tracks on the ground, a hunting dog can only find its prey by discerning its scent.

Lin Xiangshun pointed to the ridge beneath their feet and asked Zhao Jun, "So, you and Baoyu saw that gang of pigs go down from here the other day, right?"

"Yep." Zhao Jun pointed to the gully below. "The boars headed down into that gully that day, but we don’t know which way they went after that."

"Release the hounds!" At Lin Xiangshun’s command, Zhao Jun obeyed, undoing the rope knots on the necks of Big Fatty and San Pang.

After all, when it came to handling and training dogs, Lin Xiangshun was the expert. Even Zhao Jun couldn’t compare to him.

Suddenly freed from their leashes, the four dogs began to frolic, running and sniffing all over the place. Lin Xiangshun and Zhao Jun walked ahead, heading down into the gully, whistling as they went to call the dogs along.

Big Fatty was lifting its leg to piss on the root of a pine tree. It heard the whistle, but it couldn’t leave until it was finished.

Just then, Zhao Jun saw that San Pang, Flower Cat, and Hua Lang had all gathered around them. Only Big Fatty was missing, so he turned and called out for it.

Big Fatty had just finished its business and was pulling its leg back to run toward Zhao Jun. But as it passed a willow tree, it suddenly stopped. It stretched out its head, twitching its nose, and began to sniff at the dense growth of suckers around the willow tree.

New branches readily sprout from the roots of a willow, pushing through the soil in a ring around the trunk. In the Northeast, this is called "willow brush."

This "willow brush" formed a large, fluffy clump, and new buds were already sprouting on its twigs.

Big Fatty kept its nose outstretched, sniffing incessantly at the growth. Seeing this, Zhao Jun not only stopped himself from hurrying the dog, but also reached out and pulled Lin Xiangshun to a halt.

Lin Xiangshun glanced back, said nothing, and simply stood and waited with Zhao Jun.

They knew what this meant. A wild boar must have passed by and brushed against that clump of willow brush, leaving behind a scent that Big Fatty had now picked up.

But after sniffing for a while, Big Fatty ran over to Zhao Jun. Zhao Jun patted its head, then gestured down the slope with his arm.

Big Fatty trotted quickly down toward the gully, but after about twenty meters, it stopped and turned to look back at Zhao Jun.