The Entire Mountain Is My Hunting Ground

Chapter 281: Chapter 238: Bringing Zhang Yuanmin Home

At this, Zhang Yuanmin’s eyes darted, and he roared, "It just fucking hit me, you two bastards are pretty damn sly! We had a deal—you find the Black Bear’s Den, and I take you to kill the thing."

"Well..."

"’Well’ what!" Zhang Yuanmin raged. "We agreed to go together, but what did you two do? What, were you afraid I’d want a share of the Bear Gall?"

Zhang Yuanmin glared at the two Li brothers, letting them have it. "You motherfuckers went to tackle a Black Bear’s Den on your own, without telling any of us. And you still had the nerve to use my brilliant strategies and clever plans! When you couldn’t handle it, you come back and blame me? Are you even human?"

Just then, the other trappers in the shack caught on and began murmuring amongst themselves.

After getting an earful from Zhang Yuanmin, Li Yuan and Li Wei’s anger had long since vanished. They looked at him, faces burning with shame, but could only bite the bullet and say, "Brother Zhang, I was in the wrong. Your brother here, I’m a real bastard. You’re the bigger man, don’t hold it against me."

"Who? Who’s your Brother Zhang?" Zhang Yuanmin fumed. "Weren’t you calling me Big Pants?"

Dazed from the tongue-lashing, Li Yuan quickly forced a smile. "Brother Zhang, Brother Zhang, don’t be angry. Don’t stoop to our level. My brother and I, we know we were wrong. We’re nothing compared to you, Brother Zhang. That Black Bear is way out of our league."

"Hmph!" Zhang Yuanmin snorted, sitting back down on the platform. He picked up his chopsticks, grabbed the soup bowl, and took a huge gulp of radish soup.

Just then, Li Yuan shamelessly sidled up to him again and said with a grin, "Brother Zhang, you see, that Black Bear is out of its den now. I think we should go after it tomorrow."

"Go after it?" Zhang Yuanmin was taken aback and put his chopsticks down again. ’He knew perfectly well that a Black Bear is easy to kill when it’s in its den, but much harder once it’s out in the open.’

The crux of the matter was that all his brilliant strategies and clever plans depended on the Black Bear still being in its den.

Once a Black Bear was out in the wild, no amount of brilliant strategy or clever planning would work on it.

But now, all the younger guys were looking at him with eyes full of expectation, and Zhang Yuanmin felt he had no choice but to agree.

"Elder Jiang!" At that moment, Zhang Yuanmin suddenly spoke up, calling out to Jiang Jinyou. "Hurry up and eat. Rest a bit when you’re done, then the two of us are leaving."

"To do what?" Jiang Jinyou was off to the side, sipping radish soup to wash down a mouthful of cornbread. When he heard Zhang Yuanmin call his name, he thought he was about to be dragged out to chase the Black Bear, which gave him quite a scare.

Zhang Yuanmin said, "You’ll drive the sled. We’re heading to No. 78 Logging Camp to find our brother."

"Huh? Why are we looking for him?" Jiang Jinyou asked, confused.

"To hunt the Black Bear, of course," Zhang Yuanmin said. "It’s out of its den, and we have no idea where it went. It’d be better to have our brother bring his dogs. They can track it, which will save us from running all over the mountains."

This was all just an excuse from Zhang Yuanmin, but the others didn’t know that. They inwardly marveled at his extensive connections and resourcefulness.

Zhang Yuanmin, for his part, scanned the crowd, his gaze finally settling on Li Yuan and Li Wei.

He said, "I’ll find an expert to hunt this Black Bear. But let’s get one thing straight first: you two won’t be getting a large share of the Bear Gall."

"Okay, Brother Zhang. My brother and I aren’t greedy, a small piece is enough," Li Yuan replied with a chuckle. After almost facing the roar of a Black Bear, he finally understood that tackling a Black Bear’s Den was not something he could just casually attempt.

’As for how big his share of the Bear Gall would be, Li Yuan had already come to terms with it. He couldn’t kill the bear himself anyway, so it was better to let Zhang Yuanmin find someone who could. A small share was better than no share. Otherwise, he’d end up with absolutely nothing.’

After lunch, Zhang Yuanmin and Jiang Jinyou rested for a moment, then took the sled and headed for No. 78 Logging Camp to find Zhao Jun.

When they arrived at No. 78 Logging Camp, they asked around and were told that Technician Zhao was still sleeping in the Leader’s shack. Following the directions they were given, they made their way to the front of Yang Liang’s shack.

Just as they got there, Zhao Jun came out, pulling a dog-fur hat onto his head.

Once his hat was on, Zhao Jun looked up and immediately spotted Zhang Yuanmin and Jiang Jinyou.

Zhao Jun froze for a second. Still groggy from his nap, he wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

"Brother," Zhang Yuanmin said, immediately rushing over to Zhao Jun. He got straight to the point. "We came to ask you to go on a hunt."

"What?" Zhao Jun said, annoyed. "I just told you the other day. Why are you thinking about hunting again?"

"No, no," Zhang Yuanmin explained hurriedly. "Today some guys from our shack went after a Black Bear’s Den and flushed one out, but now they can’t handle it. So, I thought I’d come find you, brother, and ask you to bring your dogs to finish that Black Bear off. I’ve already told them, you only need to give them a small share of the Bear Gall."

Zhao Jun merely glanced at Zhang Yuanmin, then turned and started walking toward the Log Pile Yard. He tossed two words over his shoulder without looking back: "Not going."

"Come on, brother, why not?" Zhang Yuanmin jogged to catch up. "Brother, with your skills, you could track that thing down on skis. If you bring your dogs, it’ll be a piece of cake."

Zhao Jun stared at Zhang Yuanmin and asked, "Brother, tell me the truth. What really happened? Did you go hunting a Black Bear again?"

Hearing this, Zhang Yuanmin felt deeply wronged. This time, he really hadn’t been the one to start it.

But Zhao Jun didn’t believe him. Seeing that Zhang Yuanmin wouldn’t admit it, he turned to Jiang Jinyou. "Brother Jiang, you tell me. What’s the real story?"

So, Jiang Jinyou started from the day they had returned to the shack, explaining the whole situation to Zhao Jun from beginning to end.