Reborn in 80: Starting with hunting in the mountains to get rich

Li Ju'an surveyed the forest environment; it was still in the Wild Boar Forest, surrounded by snow-covered ground. The heavy snowfall of the past few days had covered the bear tracks on the ground, making the claw marks invisible.

He figured out that the bear had entered the cave before the Great Smoking Festival and was now sound asleep. If it had only started hibernating after the Great Smoking Festival, the bear, still half-asleep, would have been able to smell him while he was still wandering around the area.

Sun Weimin furtively used a knife to carve on the tree. After marking the old hawthorn tree, he made sure no one was following him before quickly catching up with the group and heading down the mountain.

He thought to himself that once he borrowed the Lu family's big yellow dog again, he could call a few of his brothers to go into the mountains and raid the stock market. Who should he call? Lu Zhiqiang from the Lu family was a cunning fellow; he'd definitely want a bigger share. Lu Jinyang, on the other hand, was an honest man and easy to talk to. Last time he asked to borrow the yellow dog, it was Lu Jinyang who had agreed first.

He grinned, revealing his teeth, as if he had already hunted the bear. Bear bile, bear meat, bear skin, bear paws—every part of the bear was a treasure.

On the way down the mountain, all the hunters remained silent, keeping their mouths shut and focusing on their journey.

Old Qian was still carrying his youngest son's body, leading the mule that carried his second son's body down the mountain. His two dead hunting dogs, Big Flower and Blackie, were also hanging on the mule's back; the atmosphere was solemn and heavy. Several old hunters looked at Old Qian, their emotions inexplicably complex, and let out a long sigh.

In their youth, they disliked Old Qian and looked down on his wolf-hunting methods, which often resulted in the extinction of entire families. However, they had to admit that Old Qian was an excellent marksman and had a thorough understanding of wolf behavior. Now, Old Qian, who had spent his life hunting wolves, had his face and eyelids scratched by wolves, his eyeballs drooping as if they were about to fall out of their sockets, and his family and hunting dogs were all dead. This pain had infected the old hunters as well.

Old Zhang from the security department sighed and offered his earnest advice.

“You boys, don’t go hunting for extinct animals in the future.”

Sun Weimin was still thinking about calling the Lu brothers to go find the bear to clean his warehouse after he went down the mountain. He was grinning from ear to ear when he was suddenly called on by Old Zhang. It felt like he was daydreaming in class and being called on by the homeroom teacher to answer a question.

He quickly composed himself, nodded vigorously, and pointed at Li Ju'an.

“We certainly won’t go on a no-hunting hunt, but Li Ju’an might be a different story.”

He had just finished practicing Tai Chi when Li Ju'an hit him on the back of the head with a headbutt: "If you keep talking nonsense, I'll break your legs!"

Sun Weimin then dared not make any more remarks and reluctantly followed the group down the mountain. Even his enthusiasm for discovering the black bear's hibernation location had faded somewhat.

……

The hunting team from the forest farm has come down the mountain!

The hunting party descended the mountain several days earlier than expected, but fortunately, each hunter brought back a good amount of meat, enough for their family to eat for several meals. The next day was the Beginning of Winter, and everyone was making dumplings with plenty of oil.

When Yang Dezheng, the village head, heard the good news that the people hunting in the forest had brought down a large amount of meat, he was so happy that he couldn't stop smiling all day.

Old Qin, the foreman, didn't hesitate. He brought several kilograms of roe deer meat to the brigade headquarters, which made Yang Dezheng so happy that he couldn't stop smiling. He repeatedly agreed that next time the forest farm organized a hunting expedition, he would help arrange for the hunters from the family village to sign up.

Li Ju'an felt that if it weren't for the fact that the brigade leader Yang Dezheng didn't know how to hunt, he would have dared to carry a gun and rush into the mountains to hunt.

Along with the news of the hunting party, another piece of news spread throughout the village: Old Qian's two sons were gone, as were his two hunting dogs.

When the village women found out, they gossiped among themselves, shaking their heads and sighing, "What a tragedy!"

Li Ju'an returned to the Li family's mud house, carrying a full load of over 80 jin (approximately 40 kg) of meat.

He received four shares, two more than the usual two shares for hunters.

The Li family was filled with laughter and chatter. In the smoky kitchen, the mother, Song Lanhua, quickly wielded a spatula to stir-fry roe deer meat and made a dish of vermicelli mixed with cabbage hearts in a basin.

On the kang table sat steaming dishes of braised wild boar with radish, braised pork hock, radish and pickled cabbage stew with vermicelli, stir-fried roe deer meat, and mixed cabbage hearts... There were both hearty and cold dishes, and the main feature was the large portions! Large portions meant you would be full.

The aroma of meat and oil wafted throughout the entire village.

The village is bustling with activity today, especially for families who have hunted in the mountains. People are visiting each other's homes more often.

Song Lanhua wiped her hands on her apron and turned to call out.

"Li Xiao, go check on your Aunt Chen. If she's home, invite her over for dinner."

"Okay!"

Li Ju'an didn't ask his sister Li Xiao to go alone; he went with her to invite Aunt Chen. The Aunt Chen his mother mentioned was the widow of the Chen family, Old Tao's lover.

If even one aunt or sister-in-law in the village knew about this, the whole village knew. Old Tao's wife had died young, and the widow of the Chen family had also lost her husband. Now, her sons were in the county town and didn't need her to take care of their children. Plus, her parents had passed away, and she only had two married sisters. Her relationship with Old Tao could be considered a twilight romance. After gossiping for a while, the villagers eventually let it go.

The mother knew that Li Ju'an had received a favor from Lao Tao. Whether it was the tiger given away for free or Lao Tao teaching Li Ju'an marksmanship, the Li family had genuinely benefited. It was inconvenient for her to call Lao Tao directly, so she could only call the widow of the Chen family. She also asked the widow of the Chen family to take some vegetables back with her and share them with Lao Tao, as a way of thanking Lao Tao for taking care of Li Ju'an.

Li Ju'an put down the firewood he was holding and ran out with Li Xiao.

Qingchuan Dog Dahu, quick-witted as ever, saw the direction Li Ju'an was running and immediately understood, so he followed Li Ju'an and ran after him.

The old Tao family residence in the village.

At the entrance of the Tao family's old house, Li Ju'an ran into Uncle Lu.

Uncle Lu is asking Old Tao to borrow a hunting dog.

Uncle Lu was extremely agitated. He grabbed Sun Weimin's arm with one hand and pulled Sun Weimin's father with the other. He was so angry that his face turned red and his neck bulged. His eyes were bloodshot with rage, and the nerves in his temples were throbbing.

"Old Tao, tell me! How are we going to get into the mountains without borrowing a dog?"

"Our dog, Dahuang, is obviously in trouble! Sun Quande, you damn good son, you bastards borrowed my dog ​​and didn't even bother to look for it when it didn't come back?"

Uncle Lu was genuinely angry. He couldn't very well beat up a junior like Sun Weimin, but Sun Weimin's biological father, Sun Quande, had once sought his advice on hunting when he was young. So he grabbed Sun Quande's collar and roared at him.

The Lu brothers, Lu Zhiqiang and Lu Jinyang, were standing trembling on the side, their heads bowed and only daring to look at their toes.

Sun Weimin, who was originally fearless, was completely deflated. Facing the enraged Uncle Lu, he felt fear just like the Lu brothers. He had been frightened by Uncle Lu when he was a child, and the trauma left him with deep psychological scars.

Sun Quande pleaded with a forced smile, "Uncle, our families have been friends for decades, you have to trust me. Here's what I'll say, I, Sun, guarantee I'll find Da Huang for you! I'll bring him down the mountain safe and sound."

Uncle Lu was still roaring angrily.

"Damn it! It's all the Sun family talking nonsense! You borrowed my dog ​​and it hasn't come back, so why didn't you look for it? If it were your own dog, with its owner still in the mountains, and it got lost, wouldn't you have gone looking for it? Would you have wandered around in the mountains for days? Let me tell you! If anything happens to our dog, our two families will be sworn enemies!"