The whole mountain is my hunting ground.

Chapter 1909: The first auspicious day for releasing the mountain, a joyous occasion for opening the mountain.

"Lan'er." Zhao Youcai smiled when he saw Wang Meilan coming over.

Seeing that Wang Meilan wasn't smiling, Zhao Youcai quickly pulled Gu Yang back and urged, "Say hello, my eldest apprentice."

Gu Yang stumbled as Zhao Youcai pulled him, and hurriedly said, "Lan... no, Master's wife!"

"You son of a bitch..." Zhao Youcai raised his hand and shoved Gu Yang.

"Ha!" Wang Meilan was amused by Gu Yang. She said to Gu Yang, "Kid, if you want to do loading and unloading, just wait at home for a couple of days. After your brother Jun gets through this busy period, he'll drive you to the loading yard."

To Wang Meilan's surprise, Gu Yang flatly refused her, saying, "Master's wife, no need, I'd rather learn from my master."

Wang Meilan: "..."

Unlike Wang Meilan's silence, Zhao Youcai was quite excited. He patted Gu Yang's shoulder heavily and laughed, "Good disciple, just learn from your master, and you'll be successful sooner or later. Even if you don't succeed, you'll still surpass your Uncle Qiang."

The "Uncle Qiang" that Zhao Youcai mentioned was none other than Wang Qiang.

Wang Qiang's marksmanship was not as good as Zhao Youcai's, but he was still a well-known gunner in the surrounding villages.

But Wang Qiang didn't hunt for money; it was just for fun. He was more interested in playing cards than hunting.

But in Gu Yang's view, Wang Qiang didn't do much work throughout the year. The reason Wang Qiang was able to live so carefree in those years was entirely due to his hunting.

“Master, I’ll listen to you!” Gu Yang declared to Zhao Youcai resolutely, “I’ll learn to shoot properly from you.”

"Sigh..." Zhao Youcai was very satisfied with Gu Yang's attitude. Once Gu Yang had mastered the skills, his Zhao Family Hunting Gang would have another great general.

Wang Meilan rolled her eyes at the two of them, then turned to go back inside. She had a mountain of things to deal with at home; she didn't have time to watch them act like dogs and hunchbacks.
"Lan'er." Wang Meilan had only taken two steps when Zhao Youcai caught up with her.

"What are you doing?" Wang Meilan glanced at Zhao Youcai and asked in a low voice.

"Lan," Zhao Youcai said to Wang Meilan with a big smile, "I'd like to take our eldest apprentice out for a stroll."

"Where are you going for a stroll?" Wang Meilan asked. Zhao Youcai replied, "To the edge of the southern land. I'm thinking of carrying a gun and seeing if there are any pheasants. I'll smash a couple and then come back to make soup for my old daughter."

Zhao Youcai's words sounded nice, but his true intentions were obvious to Wang Meilan.

Wang Meilan glared at Zhao Youcai, then looked back at Gu Yang, before pulling Zhao Youcai a couple of steps toward the front of the house and saying, "Fine, I can't keep you confined to your home every day. If you're happy to go out, then go."

Hearing Wang Meilan's words, Zhao Youcai's smile became even brighter. He never expected Wang Meilan to be so easy to talk to.

Just then, Wang Meilan raised her left wrist, pointed to the watch on her left wrist with her right hand, and said, "But let me tell you, if you don't come back before noon, you'll never be coming back in this lifetime."

It's just past eight o'clock now, and in four hours, I believe Zhao Youcai can't have run very far.

"Ah..." Seeing Wang Meilan's serious expression, Zhao Youcai quickly replied, "Don't worry, Lan, I'll be right back after my walk."

Zhao Youcai was speaking from the heart. His daughter-in-law's pregnancy with her grandson was a top priority for him, even more important than his obsession with hunting tigers.

"Well..." Wang Meilan thought for a moment, then instructed Zhao Youcai, "If you can't ride a motorcycle, just walk around and take a stroll."

Riding a motorcycle is fast, but Wang Meilan was also afraid that Zhao Youcai would speed off into the mountains.

“I don’t ride motorcycles,” Zhao Youcai laughed. “I don’t even take semi-automatic ones. I just take a shotgun, fill it with sand, and shoot some pheasants.”

"Nobody cares about you then," Wang Meilan said before going back inside.

Although Wang Meilan's tone was unpleasant, it sounded like heavenly music to Zhao Youcai's ears. For months, Wang Meilan had been watching him every day, preventing him from leaving the house or going up the mountain.

Now that Wang Meilan has finally relented, Zhao Youcai almost cried tears of joy.

Overjoyed, Zhao Youcai went inside to change into his mountain clothes, slung a satchel over his shoulder, and carried the rifle Zhou Chengguo had given to Zhao Jun. Then he went out of the house and, with Gu Yang, scaled the wall and left.

After leaving home, Zhao Youcai led Gu Yang southward, muttering to himself about hunting experiences along the way.

As they talked, the master and apprentice arrived in the southern land.

Zhao Youcai's promise to hunt pheasants to nourish Ma Ling's body was not just empty talk.

Pheasants are different from hazel grouse and sand grouse. Pheasants do not live in the deep mountains and forests; they live at the foot of mountains and on the edge of fields.

"Cluck...cluck..." The long, drawn-out call of a male pheasant rang out not far away. Zhao Youcai paused in his steps and raised his hand to signal Gu Yang to stop.

Immediately afterwards, Zhao Youcai swayed his shoulder, the gun slung over his shoulder swung forward, and the next second the gun was in his hand.

The moment he grabbed the gun, Zhao Youcai's eyes sharpened.

Just then, the sound of an animal calling came from not far away: "Moo..."

Zhao Youcai was slightly taken aback, thinking that there were people herding cattle ahead, and he had to keep a close eye on them to prevent them from hurting anyone or the cattle.

To Zhao Youcai's surprise, his beloved eldest apprentice hugged him tightly upon hearing the cow moo.

"Master, you can't hit it! That's an old ox!"

Fuck you!

……

Around 11 o'clock, the Zhao family group arrived at Lao'anzi in two cars.

Zhao Jun drove his jeep and first transported Xing San and the others up the mountain.

For two days after they came down the mountain, no one came to occupy Zhao's shack, nor did anyone come to visit their hamlet.

The supplies haven't been delivered yet, so Xing San can't start a fire, boil water, or cook. He can only gather firewood nearby for now.

Zhao Jun drove the jeep back down, cooperating with Zhang Yuanmin, Li Baoyu, and Xie Chen to transport things up, where Wang Qiang and a few others were waiting to meet them.

The Zhao family had so much stuff, including a lot of fried sticks and fried dough sticks. So by the time they finished, it was already past 3 p.m.

Xing San had already prepared the meal, and it was almost four o'clock when they finished eating. Although there was still some time before dark, Zhao Jun didn't lead his men to start raking the mountain. Instead, he took the lead and started transporting materials with everyone except Xing San.

The ingredients are fried sticks and fried plates, as well as some No. 8 wire.

Zhao Jun led his men to transport the materials towards Shitang and the river. When they reached the edge of the woods, Zhao Jun stopped, threw down the two fried dough sticks he was carrying, pointed to the not-too-dense trees on both sides, and said to Zhang Yuanmin, "Brother, build me a pillbox here."

"Brother, what are you going to do?" Zhang Yuanmin asked. Zhao Jun replied, "I'm squatting here, watching for any wild animals that come to drink water, and then I'll stab them."

"Oh my god." Hearing Zhao Jun's words, Wang Qiang frowned and questioned, "Nephew, can you really trust this?"

Then Wang Qiang added, "How many wild animals are likely to come over to drink water while you squat there?"

There's a saying in Yong'an mountain hiking: "Where there are mountains, there are rivers."

There is no shortage of water in the mountains, so there will not be a situation where a large number of animals gather in one place to drink water regardless of the danger.

If Zhao Jun were to walk along both banks of the river with his gun, there might be a chance he could hit something. But if he were to lie in wait here, the probability would be extremely low.

Especially since the edge of the woods is 200 meters from the riverbank, this distance really tests a marksman's skills.

Faced with the questions raised by Wang Qiang and Zhang Yuanmin, before Zhao Jun could speak, Xie Chen laughed and said, "Uncle, Brother Zhang, you two go ahead and do it. My brother Jun has his own brilliant plan."

Li Baoyu nodded emphatically, echoing Xie Chen's words, and said, "Yes, didn't you see my brother bring home about fifty catties of potatoes?"

Upon hearing Li Baoyu's words, Wang Qiang and Zhang Yuanmin both looked at Zhao Jun. They understood that Zhao Jun intended to scatter potatoes nearby to lure herbivorous and omnivorous wild animals to eat them.

Not only are most farm-grown vegetables not available this season, but wild fruits and dried fruits from the mountains are also out of season. There's relatively little edible food for wild boars and bears, but potatoes don't have a very strong flavor, so they might not be able to attract them.

Therefore, Wang Qiang couldn't help but raise his question again, saying, "Nephew, if you're going to stay here squatting, aren't you going to lead us to go hiking?"

“I’ll take care of it.” Zhao Jun laughed. “We’ll hunt in the mountains during the day, and I’ll come over and wait at night. We’ll shoot whatever we can.”

"Will you be able to keep an eye on it tonight?"

While explaining his plan to everyone, Zhao Jun led his men to build a lookout tower.

The observation tower was built using three trees arranged in a triangular shape, spaced one and a half to two meters apart.

The two ends of the frying rod are placed in the middle and on both sides of the two tree branches, and then wrapped, tightened and fixed with thin iron wire.

After laying two layers of frying rods horizontally and vertically, Zhang Yuanmin nailed another layer of frying board on top.

In this way, a watchtower of about three square meters was built.

The watchtower is about two and a half meters off the ground and is very sturdy. Even if Zhao Jinhui went up there, it wouldn't collapse.

Although it wasn't high off the ground, Zhao Jun couldn't possibly jump up there.

So, while Zhang Yuanmin, Wang Qiang, and Xie Chen were nailing boards on top, Zhao Jun, along with Li Baoyu and Zhao Jinhui, placed two small trees nearby and removed their excess branches.

Then place it horizontally and tie short wooden sticks to it, and a simple ladder is built.

After securing the ladder, Zhang Yuanmin and the other two successfully descended from the watchtower. It was already past six o'clock, but it wasn't dark yet in the mountains. Zhao Jun carried potatoes into the Shitan area.

About 40 or 50 meters away from the watchtower, Zhao Jun piled 50 kilograms of potatoes into three heaps.

After setting up the bait, Zhao Jun sounded the retreat and prepared to lead his men back to their hut.

It's impossible for prey to appear as soon as a trap is set. As Zhao Jun and the others were walking back, Wang Qiang suddenly exclaimed, "Where are Ru Hai and Ma Yang?"

"Oh dear! You're right!" Li Baoyu exclaimed, "Where did those two lads go?"

"Where did they run off to avoid work?" Zhao Jinhui said. "We didn't see them when we were working."

As soon as Zhao Jinhui finished speaking, a whistle was heard from the left.

The crowd looked in the direction of the sound and saw Li Ruhai peeking out from behind a tree, waving at them repeatedly.

"What are you doing?" Li Baoyu asked upon seeing this. "Didn't you bring any toilet paper?"

As soon as Li Baoyu said this, Li Ruhai glared at him, then called out, "Brother, come here," and disappeared behind the tree.

Li Ruhai's "sneaky" behavior successfully aroused the curiosity of Zhao Jun and his companions. They quickly followed him and saw Li Ruhai hiding behind a tree.

"Ru Hai, what are you doing?" Zhao Jun asked. "Where's Ma Yang?"

Li Ruhai pointed ahead and said to Zhao Jun, "Brother, your brother-in-law has seen something again."

"What?" Zhao Jun was taken aback, then overjoyed. He recognized the term as slang in the ginseng-hunting trade, meaning that wild ginseng had been found.

We just entered the mountains today, and haven't even started grazing yet, but Ma Yang has already made a fortune!
Li Ruhai led the way, with Zhao Jun and the others quickly following. After walking about fifteen or sixteen meters, they saw Ma Yang squatting next to a pheasant vine.

Upon seeing Li Ruhai arrive with his men, Ma Yang sprang to his feet and yelled at the top of his lungs, "Fool! Fool!"

Ma Yang's voice echoed through the mountains; the sense of ceremony was just too strong.

"What grade of leaf?" Zhao Jun asked. Ma Yang replied, "Fourth grade leaf!"

Today is June 15, 1988, the second day of the fifth lunar month. May is the time for wild ginseng hunting in Qingcaoshi, when the elephant trunk buds of the ginseng's above-ground stems unfold into leaves.

However, at this time the mountains are covered in green, and the above-ground stems of wild ginseng are also green, just like the green grass in the mountains, so you have to be careful to distinguish them.

But at this point, you can tell what grade of leaf it is just by looking at the leaves. You don't need to call it a sixth-grade leaf just because you see an elephant trunk bud, like before.

"How many seedlings!" Zhao Jun asked again, and Ma Yang replied, "They're all over the mountain!"

After the ritual of calling out to the mountain and responding to the mountain ended, Zhao Jun and the others walked quickly towards Ma Yang.

"Ouch!" Just then, Li Ruhai pushed Li Baoyu hard.

Li Baoyu's eyes widened, and just as he was about to speak, he saw Li Ruhai pointing at a wooden stick in front of his feet.

The stick is on the ground; not counting the part that's stuck in the soil, the part that's sticking out is more than 30 centimeters long.

Normally, Li Baoyu would definitely have seen it. But right now, he was so focused on going over to check on the ginseng that he didn't notice the stick.

At this moment, Li Ruhai pointed to the side of the wooden stick, and Li Baoyu immediately grabbed Zhao Jun.

Beside the wooden stick, two small leaves unfurled from the stem on the ground.

In mountain climbing, this is called "Er Jiazi". But you can't shout at the mountain like that; you have to shout "the key to opening the mountain".

This is because it's the first sign of a successful mountain trek, a very auspicious sign. In the trekking community, it's said: "If you see the key to open the mountain, this trek will definitely be fruitful."

According to the rules of the mountain climbing community, when several jujube trees are found at once, the best one should be chosen to shout when calling out to the mountain.

It's perfectly reasonable for Ma Yang to call it "Four-Grade Leaf." However, when it comes to obtaining the key to open the mountain, there are other rituals required.

At this point, Zhao Jun, as the leader, should lead everyone to kneel down, first use the club lock to lock the key to open the mountain, and then lead the ginseng gang to kowtow together and shout, "Thank you, Mountain God, and Old Leader, for bestowing the key to open the mountain."

However, Zhao Jun and his men came out to set up a lookout tower, but they didn't bring any equipment for launching the mountain, so they couldn't carry out the ceremony.

Therefore, Li Ruhai did not let Ma Yang make a fuss, thinking that he would come tomorrow to make up for the ceremony.

In his previous life, Zhao Jun worked in Luosha Mountain, a completely unorthodox method. But now that everyone in the ginseng gang believed in these things, he, as the leader, couldn't go against the crowd.

At this moment, Zhao Jun came up to Ma Yang, patted Ma Yang's shoulder hard, and then gave Ma Yang a thumbs up.

"Hehe..." Ma Yang grinned, his cheeks were red and his other cheek had a handprint on it, making him look quite comical.