The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Chapter 268: Chapter 231: Zhang Yuanmin Makes His Stand

Zhao Jun and Zhou Chengguo parted ways on their way down the mountain, each heading to his own home.

Just before leaving the mountain, Zhao Jun took off his white coat and untied his leggings, stuffing them both into his satchel.

He got home just after two in the afternoon, which surprised Wang Meilan. After asking him about it and learning that he hadn’t run into any trouble at work, his mother finally relaxed.

When Zhao Youcai came home that evening, Zhao Jun didn’t tell him about hunting the tiger on the mountain. He just ate dinner and went to his room to sleep.

It was only a little past six, but the sky was already dark. With no entertainment to speak of back then, going to bed early was hardly unusual.

It wasn’t just Zhao Jun. In the log haulers’ bunkhouse at No. 77 Logging Camp, many of the men, exhausted from a long day’s work, were already lying down. Some had even started snoring.

All the laborers had it tough, but the log haulers had it even tougher. They had to get up a little after two every morning to feed the draft animals, and by five, they had to be done with breakfast and ready to head up the mountain.

In the bunkhouse, over twenty men slept on one large, heated brick bed. Most of them were already lying down, either sleeping or chatting idly.

But one man was sitting up, propped against his pillow. By the light of the overhead kerosene lamp, he was engrossed in a comic book.

This man was none other than Zhang Yuanmin.

Just then, Zhang Yuanmin faintly overheard two log haulers chatting. They were on his left, three men down from him.

One of them, a man named Ma Xiaoguang, turned to the person beside him and said, "Hey, let me tell you something."

"What is it? Go on."

"Today, when I was hauling logs back with my little mare, I saw a lynx run past the side of the trail."

"So, you didn’t chase it?"

"I did," Ma Xiaoguang said, his voice dropping mysteriously. "And guess what I found when I followed it."

"What?"

Ma Xiaoguang said, "I followed the lynx tracks, and they led right into a cave."

"So? Didn’t you drag it out?"

"Nope." Ma Xiaoguang gestured with his chin. "It’s a goddamn Black Bear’s Den."

"What?" the other man exclaimed. "How could you tell?"

Ma Xiaoguang said, "The entrance to the cave was covered in a layer of frost. A Black Bear is definitely hibernating in there."

"Even if there is a Black Bear, we can’t do anything about it," the listener said. "For something like that, you need to find a real expert to hunt it."

Ma Xiaoguang smacked his lips. "Think about it, a single Black Bear gall bladder is worth over a thousand yuan. That’s more than we make in several years. What if a few of us go after it with Large Axes?"

"Screw that! It doesn’t matter how many years’ wages it’s worth, you can’t go." The man to Ma Xiaoguang’s right chimed in. "With a Large Axe, you could maybe take on a Celestial Granary at best. But this is an Earth Granary. How are you going to kill that? I’m telling you, just drop it. We don’t have the skills for that. Going would be a suicide mission."

Hearing this, Ma Xiaoguang rolled over to face the man on his right. "Elder Xu, what do you think? Should I go find that nephew of the old cook from No. 78 Logging Camp?"

"That won’t work," the man said, shaking his head. "There are conditions if you ask him for help. He’s got a gun and dogs; you won’t get more than a few pennies for your trouble."

"Oh, right."

"Heh heh heh..."

Just then, a laugh echoed from a short distance away.

Ma Xiaoguang looked toward the sound and saw Zhang Yuanmin sitting up in his bedding, watching them with a grin.

As his eyes met Ma Xiaoguang’s, Zhang Yuanmin snapped his comic book shut and burst into loud laughter.

"Who the hell is making all that racket?"

"If you’re not sleeping, doesn’t mean others aren’t!"

"Screaming your head off in the middle of the night, you got a death wish?"

In an instant, the bunkhouse erupted in angry muttering. Jiang Jinyou, who was sleeping to Zhang Yuanmin’s left, was also jolted awake.

Jiang Jinyou gave Zhang Yuanmin a shove and said drowsily, "Hey, Zhang, what are you doing, staying up in the middle of the night?"

The shove cut Zhang Yuanmin’s laughter short. He turned his head and patted Jiang Jinyou on the shoulder. "Jiang, my friend! Don’t go back to sleep. Get up, quick! Something good’s come up."

"You’re so full of shit." Jiang Jinyou got even angrier. "What kind of ’good thing’ could you possibly have in the middle of the night? Just go to sleep already! You’re always propping your eyes open with that stupid book. I don’t know what you expect to get out of it."

"Fine," Zhang Yuanmin said with a nod. "Don’t blame me if you don’t get up. When I take Ma Xiaoguang to hunt that Black Bear’s Den, don’t say I didn’t invite you."

"What was that?" Hearing this, Jiang Jinyou shot up in bed. He stared at Zhang Yuanmin in astonishment and asked, "What did you just say?"

Now, it wasn’t just Jiang Jinyou. Every log hauler who was still awake in the bunkhouse turned to stare at him.

This was especially true for Ma Xiaoguang, the one who had found the Black Bear’s Den.

"What’s this? Big Pants, you can hunt a Black Bear’s Den?" Ma Xiaoguang called out to Zhang Yuanmin from across the room.

Zhang Yuanmin gave a cold smirk, tilted his head up slightly, and looked down his nose at Ma Xiaoguang. With immense arrogance, he said, "Take the ’ah’ off the end of that, then you can talk to me."

Now, it wasn’t just Ma Xiaoguang who was stunned. The few log haulers nearby all stared at him in disbelief.

"Big Pants, a little shrimp like you can hunt a Black Bear’s Den?"

"You actually believe him? You’re listening to his bullshit? If a Black Bear comes out, you think he’ll be able to run away while trying to hold up those big pants of his?"

"Hahaha..."

The men erupted in boisterous laughter.

This round of laughter was so loud it woke up everyone else in the bunkhouse. A few questions later, they were all caught up on the commotion.

Facing the crowd’s doubt and ridicule, Zhang Yuanmin was completely unfazed. He just gave a cold smile, then raised his right hand. He held up three fingers, waving them in front of everyone. "This winter," he declared, "I’ve taken out three Black Bear’s Dens!"

"What?" The moment the words left Zhang Yuanmin’s mouth, the entire bunkhouse was stunned into silence.

Zhang Yuanmin’s sheer arrogance gave him the air of an expert. And his supremely confident words were enough to make the men start to believe him.