Free Web NovelChapter 269: Chapter 231: Zhang Yuanmin Makes a Name for Himself (Part 2)
Little did they know, while it was true Zhang Yuanmin had gone after three Black Bear’s Dens, he hadn’t actually managed to take a single one. In fact, he’d had several near-death experiences.
When the group of trappers saw him acting like this, they thought that going after three Black Bear’s Dens in one winter meant he’d killed three Black Bears.
"Are you just blowing smoke?" Out of the twenty-odd men, there was at least one sober mind. A man named Li Yuan asked Zhang Yuanmin directly, "A short guy like you? If the tree hollow was a little high, you couldn’t even reach it with a ladder. So tell me, how’d you do it?"
Zhang Yuanmin let out a cold snort, craning his neck back arrogantly. "Fine. Your Brother Zhang will lay it all out for you today."
Several men instantly crowded around Zhang Yuanmin. As he sat in the middle, his short stature caused him to be immediately swallowed up by the circle of bodies.
But Zhang Yuanmin, full of bravado, declared loudly, "The first Black Bear’s Den I took on, I just chopped it down with a Large Axe. Nothing worth mentioning."
"Hey, don’t just skip over it..."
Li Yuan tried to say something again, but Zhang Yuanmin quickly cut him off, speaking faster. "The second den I took was a Celestial Granary. I brought along Chen Dalai from my village. All he had was a single-shot 16-gauge break-action."
At this, the crowd of trappers fell silent, all eyes fixed on Zhang Yuanmin. His story was so vivid and detailed, they couldn’t help but believe him.
Zhang Yuanmin continued, "We all know how tough a Black Bear is. If you don’t hit the head or the heart, it just won’t die. But I had a ruse that required no effort at all!"
"A goose? What about a goose?" one of the less educated trappers chimed in, confused. "You tied dynamite to a goose?"
"A ruse, not a goose! A brilliant stratagem!" Zhang Yuanmin explained, before continuing, "I had Chen Dalai just fire his gun. We smothered the Black Bear to death right inside its tree den."
"But wouldn’t the gall be ruined?" Even if these men weren’t hunters, they’d spent enough years knocking around the mountains to know a thing or two.
Zhang Yuanmin waved a dismissive hand at the man and said loftily, "Ah, that’s where you’re wrong. Before I went, I stopped by our Forest Farm and borrowed a chainsaw from Director Zhou in logistics. Once we shot the Black Bear dead inside, we just used the chainsaw to fell the whole tree."
"Wow! Now that’s a great idea," someone in the crowd exclaimed. "We’ve got no shortage of chainsaws at the Logging Camp."
"Yeah," another man chimed in. "We don’t have guns, but we could use a knife to poke it! Just stab it to death inside the tree and we’re golden."
"I’m telling you, Big Pants, you’re something else! Did you come up with that all on your own?"
"Naturally!" Zhang Yuanmin smirked, holding his head high as he scanned the crowd. "So, do you know how I took down the third den?"
Everyone shook their heads. They heard Zhang Yuanmin say, "For that den, I didn’t use a single knife or gun."
"Stop leaving us hanging! Just tell us already."
Zhang Yuanmin grinned. "I used dynamite."
Everyone: "..."
’So much for not using a knife or a gun. He used dynamite.’
Someone asked, "So you threw dynamite in there and sawed down the tree again?"
"Nope." Zhang Yuanmin leaned forward and lowered his head, prompting the others to lean in as well. They heard him say, "This was a stone den in Big Jumping Stone Pond. A chainsaw would have been useless."
"So if you blew up the Black Bear inside, how’d you get it out?"
"Who said it was a Black Bear?" Zhang Yuanmin’s eyebrow shot up. "This was a Big Bear Dominator!"
Xiong Ba!
The moment he said it, a collective gasp went through the crowd. Zhang Yuanmin raised two fingers again and announced proudly, "A twelve-hundred-jin Big Bear Dominator!"
"Good heavens! How big was its gall?"
"How big?" Zhang Yuanmin’s hand shifted, two fingers turning into three. "When we weighed the Bear Gall, it was over three jin!"
Hearing that Zhang Yuanmin even knew the weight of the Bear Gall, they were convinced he must have successfully taken down the Xiong Cangzi. The trappers immediately broke into a flurry of discussion.
"Elder Zhang, how did you manage it?" The only person in the entire Logging Camp who called Zhang Yuanmin "Elder Zhang" was Jiang Jinyou. All traces of sleepiness had vanished from him now. He asked, "Something that heavy... if you blew it up inside a stone cave, not even Elder Niu could have dragged it out."
"Hah, Elder Niu!" Zhang Yuanmin said with a look of disdain. "I placed the dynamite at the mouth of the cave, then I called it out. I let the Big Bear Dominator crawl out on its own. The moment most of its body was exposed, I lit the fuse and blew both its legs clean off."
As soon as Zhang Yuanmin finished, a chorus of amazed sighs filled the shack.
But just then, someone threw a bucket of cold water on the excitement. It was Li Yuan again. "So you’ve got dynamite and fuses," he said. "You can get your hands on that stuff, but where are the rest of us supposed to find it?"
"Yeah, seriously," Ma Xiaoguang added. "We don’t even have guns."
"Hmph." Zhang Yuanmin shot Li Yuan a contemptuous look, then turned to Ma Xiaoguang. "If you trust me, you’ll come with me tomorrow. I’ll show you how I take down this Black Bear without a gun and without dynamite."
"Elder Zhang, don’t be reckless," Jiang Jinyou said, sensing this was going too far. He quickly grabbed Zhang Yuanmin’s arm. "A Black Bear is no joke."
"Hah!" Zhang Yuanmin’s face was tilted so far back in defiance it nearly touched the ceiling. He pulled his arm free and said to Jiang Jinyou, "Wake up early tomorrow. You and Ma Xiaoguang, don’t go check your trap lines. Just listen to my plan, and you’ll see whether it’ll work or not."
Hearing this, a look of delight spread across Ma Xiaoguang’s face. Zhang Yuanmin’s tales of his exploits were just too impressive, and it really seemed like this Zhang Big Pants knew what he was doing.
’Besides, we’ll know if it’ll work by tomorrow morning. If it doesn’t, it’s not like we’ll lose any work time.’
With that in mind, Ma Xiaoguang said to Zhang Yuanmin, "Big Pants, then tomorrow I’ll—"
"What did you just call me?" Zhang Yuanmin raised a hand, cutting Ma Xiaoguang off. "You will call me Brother Zhang. Call me Big Pants again, and I’m not going with you. Don’t think you’re something special just because you found a Black Bear’s Den. I, Zhang Yuanmin, have killed more than my fair share of bears."
"Whoa, Brother Zhang, Brother Zhang! My mistake, my mistake," Ma Xiaoguang said, quickly correcting himself.
Just then, someone else sidled up to Zhang Yuanmin. "B— Brother Zhang, how about you take me along, too?"
"You?" Zhang Yuanmin glanced at him. "Five people would be a solid crew. Me, Elder Jiang, Xiaoguang... yeah, adding you would work."
"Thanks, Brother Zhang! Thanks, Brother Zhang!"
"Brother Zhang, take me too!"
"Take me!"
"Hah! Now you all know to call me Brother Zhang," he chuckled. "Don’t worry, don’t worry. This brain of mine is full of brilliant plans and clever schemes. If you don’t make the cut this time, I’ll take you the next time we find a Black Bear’s Den. It doesn’t matter if it’s a Celestial Granary or an Earth Granary, I can take them all down."
The more Zhang Yuanmin boasted, the wilder his claims became. Li Yuan, the skeptic from before, now pushed his way through the crowd and offered Zhang Yuanmin a fawning smile. "Brother Zhang, aren’t you still one man short? How about taking me?"
Zhang Yuanmin shot him a sideways glance. Just as Li Yuan’s heart was pounding with uncertainty, Zhang Yuanmin finally nodded. "Fine. You’re in."
With that settled, Zhang Yuanmin gave a grand wave of his hand, kicked his legs out, pulled the nearby quilt over himself, and announced, "Bedtime."
Zhang Yuanmin rolled over and was out like a light. But in the shack, none of the other trappers slept a wink that night.
’A single Bear Gall could sell for fifteen hundred yuan. Split five ways, that would be three hundred yuan each! For them, that was an unimaginable fortune.’
Despite the sleepless night, all the trappers still had to get up the next morning to feed the animals.
Only Zhang Yuanmin was left in the room, still sleeping on the kang.
When the trappers returned from outside around four in the morning, they saw that the kerosene lamp inside the shack was already lit.
"B— Brother Zhang must be awake." After the previous night’s events, the trappers had all forced themselves to change how they addressed Zhang Yuanmin, but it wasn’t a habit they could adopt overnight.
Jiang Jinyou took the lead and pushed open the shack door, only to find Zhang Yuanmin sitting cross-legged on the kang directly beneath the kerosene lamp.
"Elder Zhang, what in the world are you doing?"
Early to bed, early to rise. Zhang Yuanmin glanced at Jiang Jinyou but ignored the other trappers. He simply picked up a small picture book beside him and flipped to a dog-eared page. The illustration showed a one-eyed general fleeing in panic on horseback. Behind him, rendered in simple black and white ink, was a raging inferno.
And beneath the illustration was a short poem: "To let Xiahou first boast of his might, was to give Zhuge a chance to show his power. He would shatter the gall of Cao Man, a first victory for the master just leaving his hut!"
Even more noticeable was that above the name "Xiahou," someone had penciled in "Shah-hoe." This was because Zhang Yuanmin could barely read and didn’t know how to sound out words, so his sweet daughter had used this special method to help him.
Zhang Yuanmin glanced down at the book, then raised his head to face the crowd and began to recite his own version: "To let the Black Bear boast of its might, is to give Yuanmin a chance to show his power. He will shatter the gall of his workmates—a first battle for the new man at the Logging Camp!"
