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

The black bear fell heavily to the ground. Li Ju'an didn't dare to stop for a moment. He took out the empty bullet casing again, pried open the gun handle, inserted a bullet, closed the gun, and chambered a round.

As a hunter, one cannot afford to leave the rifle unloaded, otherwise, one will be unable to defend against any unexpected situation. As long as the other person is still in the mountains, the gun will not slip from the hand, nor will it be left unloaded.

Song Desheng blurted out in surprise, "Holy crap!"

Seeing the bear finally killed, he couldn't contain his elation and excitement, shouting and cursing the animal with particularly vile language. This is a unique human reaction after stress. He had been so terrified by the bear that his legs went weak and he had even dropped his rifle. Now that the bear was truly dead, he felt a sense of satisfaction at having avenged himself.

He kicked Black Bear hard in the chest, which was spitting blood, and laughed as he cursed, "You damn bastard! I could kill you with my eyes closed!"

Li Ju'an looked at his soaked crotch and said, "If you don't change your pants soon, the ice shards will freeze your balls solid."

Only then did Song Desheng belatedly realize that he had covered his frozen groin, his face turning pale and then red with embarrassment. If a young woman had come by and seen this, he would have no desire to live anymore; the whole village would have heard the story of how he was chased by a black bear, so scared that he wet his pants, which had frozen solid.

Li Guaizi first checked on the hunting dog Erhua. Heixiazi grabbed Erhua and shoved her under his crotch, almost landing squarely on her buttocks, but luckily Li Ju'an fired his gun. He still felt a lingering fear and heartache when he thought about it.

It is said that the life of a hunting dog is the heart and soul of a hunter. Many hunting dogs die by the tusks of wild boars, wolves, or bears. Each time, the hunter would make several small coffins, bury the dogs with tears in his eyes, and send them to the ground for a proper burial, as if they were brothers who had died with him, like family.

Erhua was injured and is walking with a limp. It will probably take her a while to recover.

Li Guaizi stroked the hunting dog's fur tenderly and said, "If it were in the past, this bear would have run away long ago. I don't know which bastard injured it. The bear was already annoyed, and today a bunch of people wanted to kill it, so how could it not be angry?"

Li Ju'an probably thought the same thing.

The wounded Black Bear's fighting prowess was fully restored, and the pent-up anger in his heart was unleashed, lashing out at the people and hunting dogs. He wondered to himself, could it be that Black Bear's warehouse had been discovered before?

The person who found the bear droppings earlier was Sun Weimin. Just now, Sun Weimin led his hunting dogs and family members into the mountains. The animals they brought were empty-backed, without sleds or skis, which clearly indicated that they had only recently arrived in the mountains and had not yet cleaned their barns.

If it wasn't Hei Xiazi who seriously injured Sun Weimin, then who else could it be?

Li Ju'an examined the black bear's body thoroughly and found a wound on its hind leg. It appeared to be still raw and was oozing thick blood. He couldn't tell whether it was from a hunting dog or some other wild animal. However, he was certain that there were no signs of traps on the black bear's hind or forelimbs.

Seeing that Li Ju'an was repeatedly examining the bear's legs and paws but was slow to open the abdomen, Song Desheng became anxious and shouted.

"What's the point of checking that thing? What can you possibly see by staring at it?"

Li Ju'an said, "Don't you usually go into the mountains to set traps?"

"Go down."

"That's it."

Hunters set traps and snares. There are also different types of snares specifically designed for small animals, such as weasels, pheasants, and greyhounds. These snares don't damage the fur; after killing the small animals, the skin can be sold to supplement the family income.

For dealing with large prey, such as deer, roe deer, muntjacs, and wild boars, serrated traps are used, specifically designed to clamp the animal's feet.

Li Ju'an first ruled out the possibility that Hei Xiazi had accidentally stepped on a serrated trap left by the hunter, and then deduced what had seriously injured Hei Xiazi.

He searched for a while, but apart from the injury on the black bear's hind leg, he didn't find any other clues.

It's strange, though. If the bear had been fighting to the death with other wild animals, it shouldn't have only suffered one injury. That wild animal didn't seem to want to fight the bear; it seemed more like it was deliberately provoking it.

Song Desheng shouted, "You two, one watch the dog, the other watch the bear's paw. If no one's going to gut it, I'll do it! Quickly lift this beast up!"

He alone wasn't strong enough to lift the black bear. Li Ju'an and Li Guaizi worked together to lift the heavy black bear by the back, turning it over completely to expose its chest.

Song Desheng worked very hard, and took the initiative to grab the knife to disembowel the black bear.

"This thing is so heavy, it weighs over 400 pounds. We can't rely on the mule for a while, so we'll have to make a sled to drag it down the mountain."

Li Ju'an remained silent.

Li Guaizi remained silent. The two men turned to look at Song Desheng.

As Song Desheng worked hard to cut the knife, he shouted, "Oh dear, it's me again? You can't treat people like this!"

Li Ju'an didn't give in to him either: "Just tell me how much effort you put in and that's it."

Song Desheng blushed.

He was so frightened by the bear's roar that he dropped his hunting rifle and ran for his life. Now, if he doesn't put in more effort, he won't get a share of the profits.

He quickly gave a couple of apologetic laughs, and swiftly began to cut, but then he was stunned: "Brother, how do I cut it open? This skin is so tough, it's taking so much effort."

Li Ju'an scolded him: "Go in a bit! You'll be very dirty."

He disliked Song Desheng's dirty work, so he told Song Desheng to go to the side and make a sled, while he personally cut open the sled.

When slaughtering large animals, be ruthless; when slaughtering small animals, be steady.

He took the handle of the scalpel from Song Desheng and began slicing at the bear's abdomen. Bears get incredibly fat around winter, practically dripping with oil. As soon as the abdomen was opened, the fat overflowed. He reached in and scooped it out, then removed the intestines and other offal, rubbing them back and forth in the snow.

Li Guaizi took the intestines and threw them onto a high branch, where they were hung as an offering to the Mountain God.

The intestines are the offal, the heart, liver, and lungs are called the lantern hanger. Li Ju'an looked inside the lantern hanger and carefully took out a cloth bag from the cloth bag.

Li Guaizi stared wide-eyed at the cloth bag: "You've prepared all of this? That's quite a lot."

He brought the cloth bag from home, intending to use it to store bear bile, keeping it close to his body. Because it's cold in winter, if the bear bile isn't protected, it will freeze in the snow and ice, reducing its value.

He carefully felt around inside the lantern hanging, and suddenly his expression sharpened—he had found it!

A bear bile appeared in his palm.

Li Guaizi beamed with delight: "Good heavens, it's Iron Gall!"

Bear bile can be categorized by value into vegetable bile, iron bile, and gold bile. Vegetable bile, when dried in the shade, is yellowish-green or bluish-green, with a poor luster and a brittle texture. A grade above that is iron bile; after drying, the inner bile powder is grayish-black. Supply and marketing cooperatives and pharmacies all buy it, and a pound can be worth around 2300 yuan. Whoever finds it is rich!

The next level up is the Golden Bear Bile, which is golden in color, transparent and shiny like amber, with a brittle texture and a bitter-sweet taste; it is the highest quality. In the past, it was said that one gram of gold could be exchanged for one gram of bear bile, referring to the Golden Bear Bile.

Golden gallbladders are rare, and Li Ju'an's ability to find an iron gallbladder is worth a fortune; he's struck it rich!

Li Ju'an carefully picked up the intact iron bladder, weighing it in his hand; it weighed less than a pound. He estimated that after dipping it in water and letting it air dry, it would weigh about six ounces. At a price of 2300 yuan per pound, this iron bladder should be worth at least 1300 yuan, enough for the three of them to split the profits.

Song Desheng quickly finished making the homemade sled, not feeling tired at all. He excitedly took the initiative to help, saying, "Brother! You've worked hard. Is the gallbladder all taken out? I'll divide the meat. This kind of chores is for us laborers to do."

This kid was afraid that he would be accused of not working hard when it came time to divide the work, so he was very perceptive and took the initiative to come and take on more tasks.