Chapter 351 - 289: Going Home to Split the Money
"Huh?" After Zhao Guofeng spoke, he noticed Zhao Jun giving him a strange look. Without missing a beat, he added, "The bears are all coming out of their dens now. It’s the perfect time for you to go up the mountain and hunt a few more. That’ll keep them from chasing the villagers who are out foraging."
The reason sounded noble enough, but Zhao Jun was inwardly speechless. Not only was Zhao Guofeng the Village Chief, but he was also his father’s sworn brother, making him an elder.
Otherwise, Zhao Jun would have definitely hit him with a couple of sarcastic remarks.
’The man has some nerve,’ Zhao Jun thought. ’A minute ago he was clutching his jaw, whining about a toothache. Now he’s spotted a business opportunity and is already thinking about reselling bear meat.’
When Zhao Jun still didn’t say anything, Zhao Guofeng added, "Zhao Jun, my boy, don’t get the wrong idea. I don’t want the bear gallbladder. Just sell the meat to me. Your uncle will even pay you a little extra for it."
"Alright," Zhao Jun finally said. It wasn’t for any particular reason, really. It was just that the man had said quite a bit, and he couldn’t very well say nothing in return.
Zhao Jun said, "Uncle Zhao, I hear you. When I have some free time in the next few days, I’ll go up the mountain and take a look."
"Good, good."
"Well, Uncle Zhao, we won’t keep you. We’ll be heading out."
After saying this, Zhao Jun gestured to Zhang Yuanmin, and the two of them took their leave.
After leaving Zhao Guofeng’s house, Zhao Jun scanned the area, looking for a secluded spot where they could duck out of sight and he could split the money with Zhang Yuanmin.
But after looking for a moment, he couldn’t find a suitable place. Left with no other choice, Zhao Jun started walking toward his own house with Zhang Yuanmin in tow.
"Big Brother, come back to my place. I’ll split the money with you there."
Who wouldn’t be happy to hear about getting paid?
Zhang Yuanmin was thrilled, but what Zhao Guofeng had said sparked another idea in his mind. He said to Zhao Jun, "Brother, the Village Chief just said that if *we* hunt a bear, he’ll pay us for it."
"Big Brother, give it a rest. There’s no ’we’ in this," Zhao Jun said, shooting Zhang Yuanmin an exasperated glare. "He was talking to *me*! If you go hunting, your wife will divorce you."
"Tch, that woman..." Hearing Zhao Jun’s words, Zhang Yuanmin immediately dropped the subject of hunting a Black Bear. He started muttering complaints about Yang Yufeng, but he didn’t dare say them out loud, keeping his grumbling to a low whisper.
Zhao Jun shook his head helplessly. He knew how stubborn his friend could be, so he warned him again, "Big Brother, you heard the Village Chief. Bears attack people every year around this time. Don’t do anything foolish."
There are three situations in which a bear might attack a person. The first is when the bear is injured; an injured bear is the most dangerous.
The second is a head-on encounter, when a person and a bear are only thirty or forty meters apart. It becomes a staring contest: ’What are you lookin’ at?’ ’What, can’t I look at you?’
And then the bear shows you exactly what happens when you look at it like that.
The last situation is a bear with cubs.
A mother bear gives birth in the dead of winter, having her cubs inside the den. When spring arrives, she emerges with them.
At this time, if any person or animal gets too close, the protective mother will fly into a rage and fight to the death.
That’s why early spring is when bears are most likely to attack people, and when such incidents are most frequent.
Of course, you can’t blame it all on the bears. Early spring is the season for foraging wild vegetables. Living conditions were especially tough back then, and by springtime, most of the vegetables preserved from the previous fall would be gone. So, people would head into the mountains to gather wild greens.
Aralia shoots, fiddlehead ferns, dandelions... the variety of edible wild plants was endless.
Bears normally wouldn’t run into so many people, but with more folks in the mountains, the chances of an encounter—and an attack—naturally went up.
"Yeah, yeah, I get it, brother," Zhang Yuanmin said, nodding. "Your sister-in-law has been nagging me for the past couple of days to go foraging for wild vegetables with her. In fact, we were weaving baskets for it when you showed up, weren’t we? Brother, go tell your mom not to go foraging this year. Once I’ve gathered enough, I’ll bring some over for you guys."
"That’ll work." Zhao Jun smiled and nodded. He hadn’t wanted his mother, Wang Meilan, to go up the mountain this year anyway, and now what Zhang Yuanmin said gave him the perfect excuse to convince her.
As for Zhang Yuanmin, with Yang Yufeng keeping an eye on him, Zhao Jun figured he wouldn’t get up to any real trouble. Still, he added another warning, "Big Brother, if you and your wife do go, be extra careful of your surroundings. And whatever you do, don’t go stumbling right into a bear, you hear?"
"Don’t you worry about that," Zhang Yuanmin laughed. "Your Big Brother knows what he’s doing."
"Alright, then." As he spoke, Zhao Jun suddenly remembered something. He asked Zhang Yuanmin, "Big Brother, come May, aren’t we supposed to go hunt for velvet antler?"
"Yep, yep." Zhang Yuanmin’s eyes lit up as soon as his area of expertise was mentioned. "That’s the time. The big stags’ antlers will be covered in velvet by then."
As they talked, they arrived at the gate to Zhao Jun’s home. Zhao Jun led Zhang Yuanmin into the courtyard, where he saw Li Baoyu in the neighboring yard, feeding the dogs.
Li Baoyu looked up and saw Zhao Jun, greeting him eagerly. "Brother, you’re back!"
"Why aren’t you at work?"
Li Baoyu grinned. "The Village Chief borrowed a tractor from the next village, but he didn’t have a driver. I was helping him haul the wild boars."
Hearing this, Zhao Jun waved him over. "Come on, good thing you’re home. I’ll give you your share of the money."
"Alright, coming!" At the mention of money, Li Baoyu set the dog food bowl on top of the wall and vaulted right over it into their yard.
Zhao Jun led the two of them into the house. He opened the door to find that Wang Meilan wasn’t home; only Zhao Hong and Zhao Na were inside, playing.
Just then, Li Baoyu said, "Auntie is over at my place."
"Oh!" Zhao Jun led them into his room and sat on the kang. He pulled a wad of cash from his satchel, then looked at Li Baoyu and explained, "The total was over seventeen thousand jin. I waived the remainder for him, so it came out to exactly thirty-five hundred yuan. When Big Brother and I went just now, the Village Chief said he’d give us twenty-five hundred for now, and the rest later."
Even with good friends, it was important to be clear about things, especially when it came to money. This was precisely why Zhao Jun had insisted on bringing Zhang Yuanmin along to Zhao Guofeng’s house.
"It’s your call, Brother," Li Baoyu said with a smile. "We all know the Village Chief. He’s not going to short us."
Zhao Jun nodded and started to count the cash. First, he counted out eight hundred yuan and placed it on the low kang table in front of Zhang Yuanmin.
The money was right in front of him, but since Zhao Jun hadn’t said anything, Zhang Yuanmin didn’t reach for it.
Zhao Jun remained silent. After counting out another eight hundred yuan and placing it in front of Li Baoyu, he finally spoke to them. "Big Brother, Baoyu, for now you each get eight hundred, and I’ll take nine hundred. Once the other thousand comes in, I’ll pay you two the rest."
The money couldn’t be split evenly at the moment, so according to custom, no matter how much the others needed it, Zhao Jun, as the leader, had to take the largest share for now.
Seeing that neither of them had any objections, Zhao Jun raised his hand and gestured toward Zhang Yuanmin with a smile. "Big Brother, count it. Make sure it’s all there."
"Heh heh heh..." Sitting on the kang, Zhang Yuanmin snatched up the money and started giggling.
"I’m not gonna count it, brother," Zhang Yuanmin said with a laugh. "You think I don’t trust you?" As he spoke, he stuffed the money into his pocket, but as he did, his expression changed.
Zhang Yuanmin’s eyes grew red. He lowered his head and said, "Brother... if I wasn’t so broke, I never would’ve gone after that Black Bear. You think I’m not actually scared?"