My 1995 Small Farm.

Did you shoot a bear?
Chen Ling was extremely surprised to hear this.

They quickly asked how they managed to kill it, whether the bear had run down the mountain again or they had hunted it on the mountain.
The man said he met her when he went to the mountains to pick wild fruits.

Now that people know that wild fruits can be sold for money this year, many people from the village will naturally head to the mountains.

Same as Chenwangzhuang.

As the wild fruits dwindled, it became inevitable that they would venture further and further into the wilderness.

Encountering wild animals is a common occurrence deep in the mountains and forests.

At this point, you must bring a gun.

However, there are far fewer wild animals in the mountains here compared to Chenwangzhuang.

It's just the normal level of previous years.

Furthermore, meat is relatively scarce in the diet of black bears.

Compared to Wuyun Mountain, which is teeming with wild animals and bustling, even noisy, the mountains in this rural area can be considered a paradise for black bears.

It has no rivals such as jackals, tigers, or leopards that threaten it.

The remaining mountain birds and small animals.

No one dares to mess with it.

They can roam freely in the mountains.

Eat when you want to eat and sleep when you want to sleep.

With such a vast forest, you can wander around wherever you want.

How comfortable this kind of life is!

But the more this happens.

The more a black bear values ​​its territory, the more important it is to itself.

No one is allowed to offend.

Yes.

The comfortable environment didn't make this black bear lazy, indifferent, or unambitious.

Instead, they become increasingly unable to tolerate external disturbances.

Just then, a large number of villagers went into the mountains to pick wild fruits.

It's one thing if it happens once or twice.

I come to the mountains every day.

How could a black bear possibly endure that?

They will definitely attack people.

If you're caught off guard at the beginning, you might suffer a loss.

But after suffering a loss, he took a gun to seek revenge, and the black bear couldn't withstand the gunshot.

In the man's words, someone in the village was attacked by a bear, and the younger members of his family took guns to seek revenge.

This happened just this morning.

It hasn't spread too widely yet.

Otherwise, on market days, who knows how many people would be attracted to come and watch the excitement.

"I'll go join in the fun, and I can ask Old Brother Ba to help me find some livestock!"

Chen Ling exchanged a few jokes with the man, then picked up Rui Rui and headed out of the village.

Chen Ling was very familiar with the chicken farm of Bei Erwazi in Changle Village.

I bought a dairy goat the year before last, and last year I took it to vaccinate his chickens.

You could say they were very familiar with the process.

Just outside the village, some distance from the chicken farm, I saw a large group of people gathered there, creating quite a lively scene.

Chen Ling carried the baby to the front of the crowd and saw a dead black bear lying quietly on a door panel under a big tree outside the gate of Erwazi's chicken farm.

It looks like a pig slaughtered for the Lunar New Year.

Right now, this big black bear is being skinned.

"Oh my, Fugui's here too! Are you here to go to the market?"

Chen Ling had just walked over when Lao Ba saw him, without him even looking for him.

"Yes, I was thinking of buying a baby water buffalo. I heard you were watching a bear slaughter here. I've never seen anything like it before, so I came to take a look..."

As soon as Chen Ling started talking to Lao Ba, everyone around immediately knew who Chen Ling was.

The younger people, in particular, would call him over to go and see the black bear.

"Look, this is a big male bear! I just weighed it on the scale from the chicken farm, and it weighs over 300 pounds!"

"Good heavens, a male bear weighing over 300 pounds, you guys are amazing! You beat this bear up so easily... A male bear like that can kill hunting dogs like it's nothing..."

Chen Ling didn't immediately say that if someone encountered a male bear with a bad temper in the mountains, they would basically die.

"Yes, yes, this male bear is terrifying when it gets angry. It's not easy to deal with, much fiercer than the male wild boars. It's just that there are many people from our village who go into the mountains, otherwise my third uncle and his men would have lost their lives in the mountains this time!"

“Who says otherwise? Just like you said, Brother Fugui, when this male bear gets angry, it kills a dog like it’s nothing. One slap and it can knock a person’s head off!”

"I remember a few years ago, probably more than ten years ago, there was a village where a woman was taking her child to school in the township. On the way, she encountered this bear and was killed. Her child hid in the grass and survived... There was also an old hunter who picked up a bear cub and sold it to the zoo, but the mother bear ambushed him and killed him on the way!"

"Sigh, this thing is not easy to mess with. It's just that this bear went berserk and pounced on anyone it saw... To be honest, they heard that we killed the bear and looked pretty impressive, but actually we hid in the tree beforehand, lured it over, and killed it. We took a shortcut!"

"..."

After hearing this, Chen Ling shook his head: "What kind of trickery is this? We humans are better than these wild beasts because we can use our brains!"

"Hehe, I can't compare to you, brother, capturing a leopard alive!"

The group of people forgot about skinning and butchering the bear and instead surrounded Chen Ling, chatting about this and that.

These young people from the village often hunt in the mountains.

Apart from pheasants, rabbits, and wild boars.

Their favorite animals to hunt are bamboo rats and ground rats.

Because the villagers don't care about age, many people like to chase each other in the mountains.

But these days, hunting in the mountains isn't a lucrative business, and it's often dangerous.

So these people catch bamboo rats and field mice.

Many people in the village have also trained dogs.

Used as a rat-hunting dog.

They're similar to the snake-snake-hunting dogs used in Fenglei Town.

However, this group should not be underestimated. Regardless of age, they are not only good at using slingshots, but also at shooting.

During the off-season, many farmers would simply go for a walk at the foot of the mountain after dinner to hunt birds.

"Brother, are there any bears over there?"

"Yes, I even encountered one in the mountains. The bear had disturbed a beehive and was being chased by the bees, so it didn't pay attention to me."

Chen Ling was referring to the black bear he encountered in the sinkhole pond.

We almost got caught that time.

That was a large male bear, and it was incredibly fast when it ran.

Moreover, this thing is different from a wild boar; if its claws slapped him, Chen Ling felt he couldn't withstand even a single blow.

Otherwise, even if it takes a hit, we can still bring it into the cave.

At this point, more and more people came to watch the spectacle.

After all, today is market day.

Many people even jokingly asked who killed the bear and whether they should butcher it and put the meat out to sell.

As soon as someone asked this question.

The young men perked up and hurriedly asked Chen Ling, "Brother Fugui, I heard that bear paws and bear skin are quite valuable, is that right?"

Chen Ling laughed: "It's not just the bear paws and skin that are valuable; the bear gall bladder is the most valuable part of this bear!"

"Huh? How valuable is bear bile? Can it really sell for more than bear paws and bear skin combined?"

"You're absolutely right, especially this year when fur prices are low. Whether it's fox fur or bear fur, it's all half the price of previous years..."

"Huh? And what about bear bile?"

"I don't really know the price of bear bile, but everyone says it's more valuable than gold..."

Chen Ling didn't really know the price of bear bile these days, but he did know the price of gold.

Du Juan and her female apprentice would get together and talk all day long. Liang Hongyu had also said that she wanted to get some gold bracelets and small gold locks for her three little children.

Chen Ling was quite clear about it.

"Gold is worth over 160 yuan per gram now. Just imagine how valuable this bear gallbladder must be!" Upon hearing this, everyone, whether they were just watching the spectacle or had actually killed the bear, gasped in astonishment.

My head is buzzing.

I knew the bear's parts were valuable, but I never imagined they were this valuable.

Price compared to gold!

Good heavens, that's gold, nothing else.

Even if they are ignorant.

They knew how valuable gold was.

This thing has never been worthless, from ancient times to the present.

The second son of the chicken farm had eyes that turned as red as rabbit eyes.

"You guys are about to strike it rich! Killing a bear is worth at least a thousand dollars. It's like digging up a gold nugget from the ground!"

Damn it, it's true what they say, comparisons are the thief of joy.

He couldn't earn this much money even if he raised chickens for a whole year.

How can I not be envious?
Few people present weren't envious.

The young men who had hunted the bear were overjoyed: "Brother Fugui, where's the meat? Where's the bear meat? Is bear meat valuable?"

"It depends on where you sell the bear meat. If you take it out to other places, like the city or the province, it'll be a rare commodity and you can get a good price for it!"

Just like when he was selling vegetables at the market in the countryside, even though there were wealthy small business owners in the countryside who ran various small factories, their purchasing power was still not enough.

The price of bear meat won't go up.

The main problem is that it sells slowly.

This male bear, once gutted and skinned, must have at least two hundred pounds of meat.

This bear meat isn't particularly delicious either.

For example, in his later life, Chen Ling ate bear meat from Russia, as well as canned bear meat.

That tastes really not as good as the meat I usually eat.

And...

He even doubted whether the bear meat was real.

Although it was a local specialty that I bought.

However, the taste was different on both occasions.

My friend also said it could be a male and a female bear, or a large and a small bear, or a brown bear and a black bear, or a polar bear...

Chen Ling thought it was utter nonsense.

He'd never tried bear paw before, but since it's such a famous dish, it couldn't be too bad, and he was quite looking forward to it.

As he spoke, he himself became a little hungry: "You can take the bear meat and bear skin to the city to sell, and you can sell the bear paws to me."

As for the price of these bear paws, I'll give you two hundred each for now. You can go to the city and inquire about the price later; if it's less, I'll make up the difference...

"Just tell Old Bage at the livestock station when the time comes, and I'll give him the money when I go to the market."

"No need, no need, Brother Fugui, what you're saying is already too high a price! Actually, let alone buying it, if you want to eat these bear paws, just say the word, and we'll give you two for free!"

The young men quickly waved their hands, saying that what they said was sincere.

Chen Ling smiled slightly: "How could I take advantage of you? You risked your lives to come here."

He then pointed out eight hundred yuan, saying to Lao Ba, "This is the money I brought to buy cattle. I didn't expect to run into a bear. I'll have to get a bear paw to take back."

"If you want to eat, go get it yourself. Everyone knows how capable you are. Why spend money to buy this?"

Old Ba clicked his tongue, thinking that Chen Ling was wasting money.

He had become familiar with Chen Ling and treated him as his apprentice.

Just like Chen Ling said, this money is enough to buy a top-quality calf.

They ended up giving us four bear hooves, and that was it—they were gone after we finished them.

The people around him listened for a while and then teased, "That guy is rich, he's a millionaire, he can spend money however he wants, why do you need to worry about him, old man?"

Some people even started analyzing the situation on the spot.

It is said that Chen Ling once captured a leopard.

They even kept tigers; they were like living Wu Song (a legendary hero known for his bravery and strength).

Going to the mountains to hunt bears, all you need is one person and one gun; you might not even need to bring a dog.

They're really praising Chen Ling to the skies.

People in the countryside love to join in the fun; the more lively it is, the more people it attracts.

The chicken farm is in a lot of noise right now.

Everyone crowded around to look at the bear. Some of the little kids who came with the adults couldn't resist touching it, standing on tiptoe to pry open the bear's mouth and feel its teeth.

This made Rui Rui keep looking in that direction, wanting to get down from his father's arms and go over to take a look.

Chen Ling didn't notice the little thing in his arms' movements; he was talking to a few young men about the price.

"These bear paws, if sold individually, would cost between two hundred and four hundred yuan each. The hind paws are slightly cheaper than the front paws..."

Chen Ling had heard all this from the lynx: "If someone in the city offers a low price for the bear meat, go to the restaurant at Fugui Manor. It's run by the woman who used to run a freight station in our county. Go sell it to her and tell her I sent you."

Tell her to buy it at a fair price.

There's also bear bile. It's certainly expensive, but it's said that bear bile is graded, with some being more expensive than gold and others being much cheaper.

I don't really understand this.

You can also ask Mr. Sun, the owner of the restaurant, to take you to the pharmacy.

Our mountains produce a lot of medicinal herbs.

Large pharmacies in the city generally don't rip people off.

After he finished speaking, the group of young men were extremely excited.

"Brother Fugui, we've really benefited from your good fortune."

"Yeah, yeah, if we did it ourselves, how much less money would that thing sell for?! Just thinking about it makes me feel like I'd lose a fortune."

"..."

Because I had already heard of Chen Ling's name.

Now that I've met him, I've found that Chen Ling is even better than the rumors say, and he doesn't have that kind of arrogance that makes people uncomfortable.

He is a generous and cheerful person.

Especially on the issue of bears, he spoke his mind and even told them that they could get a better price if they sold them in the city.

If it were them, completely clueless, aside from the bear skin and paws, the rest of the bear meat would probably just be sent to the slaughterhouse.

Those bear bile users are even more likely to be scammed.

As a result, these young people admired him even more.

In a moment of impulsiveness, he was about to give him the bearskin on the spot.

People in the countryside don't say thank you.

The older generation doesn't talk about these things.

They will only show it through their actions.

"No, no, no, the price of furs isn't as high as in previous years, but you can still make money selling them. At your age, it's the perfect time to save money... Use the money to get married."

Chen Ling waved his hand and chuckled.

"Alright, that's enough. I have to get back before noon. Hurry up and cut this bear paw off for me."

To be honest, he's not a shy person.

But in the past two years, he has become quite a local celebrity. Now, many people come to his chicken farm. They heard that he spent 800 yuan to buy bear paws, and they all gossip about him.

That's one of the downsides about living in the countryside.

Sometimes I like to talk about people to their faces...

Especially when there are many people around, they get more and more excited as they talk.

It made him feel a bit uncomfortable staying there.

Of course, there were also some who spoke more seriously.

It was said that Chen Ling told these young men that bear bile was more valuable than gold... so they all said that since it was Chen Ling who said it, it must be true.

These young people are incredibly lucky.

The thought of a bear bile selling for one or two thousand yuan makes them somewhat tempted.

"Hmm, Daddy, this~"

"Oh, you want to pet the big bear? Wait, wait until these older brothers cut off its paws, then we can pet it." (End of Chapter)