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

Zhang Yingnian dared not speak his anger, but could only make a threat before leaving: "You've got guts! There are so many wolves in the mountains, and you wander around there every day. Why doesn't a wolf come and bite you to death?"

He ran away after making those threats, genuinely afraid that Li Ju'an would find something to use against him and report him.

Li Ju'an pondered the matter repeatedly, realizing that he also needed to be wary of what Zhang Yingnian had said. Last time, he had taken down the entire pack of one-eyed wolves. But later, the white-haired male wolf, severely wounded, escaped and even caught up with Lu Zhiqiang, causing Lu Zhiqiang's hunting rifle to explode in fright.

He always felt that the bear's wandering around instead of hibernating wasn't so simple. Especially since the bear's trunk was covered with claw marks from its comings and goings, indicating that it wanted to hibernate but was constantly disturbed by something, entering and exiting the top of the tree several times. When it became really agitated, it went to the production team's pig farm to bite the pigs, and that's when he stumbled upon it cleaning the barn.

He had a gut feeling that the white wolf held a grudge and wouldn't let him off so easily. Since the beast held a grudge, then he wouldn't be so ruthless. It was always better to strike first than later.

Before leaving, Song Desheng enthusiastically put his arm around Song Desheng's shoulder and whispered, "We just chatted with the old man who sells flying dragons. There's something really fierce in the gully behind his village. It killed all the cattle in the village. It's a big guy."

The lynx is a very wild animal with strong attack power and extremely high agility.

Song Desheng spoke with great enthusiasm. The neighboring village's cow was killed, and this kid looked so excited, almost eager to try it himself.

“Li Ju’an, that thing is a lynx! We’ll use explosives to blast it, skin it, and use the skin for lynx fur coat linings and lynx fur coats. The price would be amazing! We could export it to the Americans, and those foreigners would buy it for $550 a month, and they still couldn’t get it. They’d be fighting over it!”

Li Ju'an wiped the spittle off his face, which Song Desheng had excitedly sprayed. He was disgusted. "Go away, get out of here. You still want to use explosives? You'll blow the skin to shreds, and you still want to export it? Dream on. You've only got a taste of the profits, and now you're having these crazy ideas. Do you even know how to catch a lynx?"

How do we catch it?

Li Ju'an looked up and met Song Desheng's humble yet very serious face, which amused him.

"Lynxes are stronger than wolves and incredibly agile. You're just carrying a gun into the mountains without even a dog; that's called 'hunting.' If you want to hunt lynxes, you need to know how to find prey, which involves tracking. You need to track lynxes and set traps. You don't know anything, just yelling and shouting, 'Hey bro! I want to hunt lynxes!' Bullshit! Forget about lynxes even bothering to bite you; you won't even see a tuft of their fur. How pathetic!"

"Brother, if you don't want to fight, then don't fight. You don't have to use such nasty language."

He finished his rapid-fire tirade, and Song Desheng could have cried from the sheer volume of his words.

Li Ju'an glared at him: "I'm just trying to wake you up. Don't think you can get rich by hunting just because you've just received some shares and tasted the sweetness. If you want to sell animal hides, you might as well set traps to catch raccoons, big pelts, or foxes."

The sable, or sable fur, is quite valuable once its pelt is completely removed. It's even more valuable than the iron gallbladder inside a bear gallbladder, instantly providing enough food for a family.

But even the most experienced hunters are incredibly lucky to catch a large hide in the Xing'an Mountains. Catching just one or two a year is considered extremely lucky. That would guarantee the whole family a year's worth of food, clothing, and other necessities.

Li Guaizi smoked a cigarette, listening with a grin as Li Ju'an conned Song Desheng, without saying a word.

Upon hearing that the price of a sable was even higher than that of bear gallbladders, Song Desheng realized that he had already received 310 yuan after splitting the profits with the other two. If he were to personally set the wooden traps and catch a sable, wouldn't he be able to pocket over a thousand yuan all by himself? He was overjoyed with excitement, and before he could even speak, he stomped his feet and turned to go to the supply and marketing cooperative to see if they sold any wire rings so he could quickly make the wooden traps.

After Song Desheng had run far away, Li Guaizi took a puff of his cigarette, squinted, and exhaled a smoke ring. He said, "You're a cunning fellow. If you let him use a wooden board clamp to catch a big leopard, and he manages to catch just one in ten years, I'll change my surname to yours."

The success rate of using wooden traps is inherently low, but the advantage is that it won't damage the fur, resulting in a perfectly intact sable pelt. Furthermore, sables are extremely rare; even the best hunters might only manage to catch one or two a year. Li Ju'an gave Song Desheng a direction, essentially asking a novice to do something completely impossible, while vigorously encouraging him and dangling a rosy promise in front of the newcomer.

As Song Desheng entered the supply and marketing cooperative, he turned back excitedly, cupped his hands to his mouth, and shouted, "Li Ju'an! If I catch Da Pi, I'll be rich and treat you to dragon meat!"

Li Ju'an laughed and scolded, "You're so stingy! You've made a fortune and you're only treating me to dragon meat? Why don't you bring me something more exotic?"

After coaxing Song Desheng, he turned to Li Guaizi and said seriously, "You really want to see him go hunting wildcats? Wildcats roam the back gully of the next village, which is full of wolves. This kid loves to hunt wildcats and doesn't track them. He doesn't even have a dog. If he goes into that dangerous place, he might not even see a wildcat, and he might even run into a wolf and die."

Li Guaizi also looked serious, thinking that this made sense. He glanced at Li Ju'an and said, "You may be cunning, but you're not a bad person and have a kind heart. You want to keep the mountain weasel for yourself, huh?"

Li Ju'an laughed, "Who wouldn't want to? Don't you want to too? That's a mountain cat."

The two men looked at each other and laughed. "Nothing ventured, nothing gained," they thought. Lynx bones were also called "false tiger bones." Li Ju'an remembered that in his previous life, in the winter of 1989, when he was doing business in the south, he had seen a lynx pelt sell for 1300 yuan. What a temptation! At that time, the daily wage in the south was only ten yuan. The lynx was a treasure trove from head to toe.

Li Ju'an found a carpenter in the county town and had several wooden cabinets made. The Li family didn't have much furniture, and as he and Li Xiao grew older, they ran out of storage space. The family's money was barely enough for food and clothing, so they couldn't afford to buy new cabinets. Now that he could provide for the Li family, he naturally wanted to improve their lives in terms of clothing, food, housing, and transportation, starting with a few large pieces of furniture.

The large wardrobes popular in the 80s were all handmade, with each chisel, rivet, adze, and plane stroked. When he entered the shop and found the carpenter, Old Zhang, the carpenter was chiseling the main and secondary cabinets and assembling drawers.

Carpenter Zhang didn't even look up: "Solid wood or plywood?" The cabinets were mostly made of solid wood, but some had a plywood back panel.

"They must all be solid wood."

Li Ju'an paid the deposit and ordered not only a custom-made wardrobe but also tall and short cabinets. He wanted the wardrobe to have a vermilion mirror finish, wood grain paint, carvings, handles, and glass panels—he wanted everything.

Old Zhang, the carpenter, glanced at the deposit and called out, "Leave your phone number, go back and wait. I'll get yours done as soon as this batch is finished."

"Okay!"

Li Ju'an and Li Guaizi took the forest farm's small train back together. The two were from the same family village and always traveled together.

On the little train, he saw the old hunter who had come with him that morning again. The old hunter nodded at him, his face full of wrinkles with a smile. If it weren't for Li Ju'an, he really wouldn't have been able to sell the dragon meat so quickly.

Li Ju'an knew the old hunter was from the next village, so he handed him a Daqianmen cigarette. Daqianmen wasn't expensive and was easy to smoke, making it a favorite among many locals.

"Hey bro, have all the pheasants been sold?"

This morning, the old hunter brought not only grouse meat, but also pheasants and sand pheasants. These are collectively known as pheasants.

Pheasants, scientifically known as *Pheasantia serratifolia*, are beautifully colored with two long tail feathers. Sand quails, also called bearded partridges or spotted quails, have tender meat, making them a top-quality delicacy; they are also said to have medicinal properties, such as treating rectal prolapse.

The old hunter took the cigarette, and before he could even strike a match, Li Ju'an struck one for him and lit it.

He took a deep, satisfied drag of his cigarette, exhaled a white smoke ring, and chuckled, "Young man, you want to ask about the mountain fox, don't you?"