BANG!
A spray of blood mist erupted from the Black Bear's lower jaw. The bear's neck went stiff and its body froze for a moment before it crashed, rigid, onto the grass.
Zhao Jun broke open his rifle, reloaded, and snapped it shut before firing again. Then, he fired a third shot. Only when the Black Bear lay completely still did Zhao Jun let out a breath of relief and prepare to approach it.
Just then, the sound of barking drew near as Black Tiger arrived at Zhao Jun's side. He was truly different from other hunting dogs. Other dogs recognized the gun; they'd pounce on the prey and start tearing at it the moment they heard a shot. But not Black Tiger. He looked as if he were holding a knife and fork, ready for a feast.
"Brother!" Zhang Yuanmin appeared, pushing through the tall grass with a Large Axe in hand. He was short, and much of the surrounding grass was taller than he was.
Seeing the dead Black Bear on the ground, Zhang Yuanmin glanced around and asked, "Where's Gu Yang?"
Zhao Jun took the Large Axe from Zhang Yuanmin's hands, pointed to the right, and said, "Up in that tree over there. Go get him."
Zhang Yuanmin took two steps to the right and looked up into the tree. He saw a figure clinging to the trunk for dear life, all four limbs wrapped tightly around it, shaking like a leaf in the wind.
Zhao Jun first set down the Large Axe and rolled the Black Bear over. It was a sow, not too large, maybe a bit over two hundred pounds. Zhao Jun swung the axe, cutting open the area below its throat, then used the blade to split its chest cavity downwards.
They had left in a hurry and hadn't brought the Invasion Blade. Gutting the bear with an axe was much more difficult than using the blade, and Zhao Jun struggled a bit with the task.
While he was field-dressing the Black Bear, Gu Yang, sobbing, slowly made his way down from the tree not far away.
When Gu Yang's feet touched the ground, his legs gave out and he collapsed into a heap. Having survived the ordeal, he simply fell back and lay sprawled out on the grass.
Hearing the sound, Black Tiger trotted over. When he got close to Gu Yang, he caught a foul smell and started sniffing at his crotch.
"Hey!" Zhang Yuanmin, who was standing nearby, quickly shouted. Gu Yang looked up and saw the dog's glossy black eyes. Though it couldn't speak, its expression was full of mischief.
"Go on!" Gu Yang scrambled to sit up and pushed Black Tiger's head away. But as soon as he pushed it aside, Black Tiger just turned its head back and nosed at his crotch again.
"Get away!" This time, Gu Yang's voice was tinged with sobs. 'First the Black Bear, and now Black Tiger! This is just too much!'
Hearing Gu Yang's cry, Zhao Jun glanced over and barked, "Black Tiger! Get over here!"
At the command, Black Tiger happily scampered over to Zhao Jun. When he reached him, he obediently flopped onto the ground, his tail held high and wagging furiously.
By now, Zhao Jun had finished gutting the Black Bear and had removed its gall. Because they'd left in such a hurry, he didn't have a small cloth pouch, so he tore off the bottom of his tank top and used the large piece of fabric to wrap the Bear Gall.
Zhao Jun looked up and saw that Gu Yang was back on his feet with Zhang Yuanmin's help. But from the way he moved, he seemed a bit uncomfortable.
"What's wrong?" Zhao Jun called out. "What happened to your leg?"
"It's nothing!" Zhang Yuanmin called back. "He pissed his pants!"
Gu Yang quickly tugged on Zhang Yuanmin's arm. "Brother Zhang, keep your voice down."
"What's there to be afraid of?" Zhang Yuanmin laughed. "Your Brother Jun isn't a stranger."
With that, Zhang Yuanmin walked over to Zhao Jun. "Brother," he asked, "what are we gonna do with this bear?"
"Let's just leave it here for now," Zhao Jun said. "We didn't bring any rope, so we can't drag it back anyway."
As soon as Zhao Jun finished speaking, Gu Yang piped up from the side, "I brought rope!"
He'd been so determined to kill a Black Bear, how could he not have brought rope?
Hearing this, Zhao Jun looked him up and down. "Where's your rope?"
Gu Yang looked down, only to realize that the bag he'd been carrying over his shoulder was long gone, lost somewhere along the way.
"Forget it!" Zhao Jun stopped Gu Yang, who was about to start searching for it. He beckoned him over, held out the Bear Gall wrapped in the piece of his tank top, and asked, "This is the Bear Gall. What do you think..."
Zhao Jun let his sentence hang, but Gu Yang understood his meaning immediately. "Brother Jun," he said at once, "this Bear Gall is yours..."
At this point, Gu Yang noticed Zhang Yuanmin next to him and quickly added, "Yours and Brother Zhang's. I don't want any."
Zhao Jun nodded. As long as Gu Yang had this attitude, things would be easy. So, Zhao Jun said to him, "You're the one who baited this Black Bear. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have been able to shoot it."
Then, Zhao Jun looked at Zhang Yuanmin. "Brother, you take one-fifth. Gu Yang and I will split the remaining four-fifths."
"Sounds good!" Zhang Yuanmin grinned. "Brother, you call the shots!"
Zhao Jun nodded and said to Gu Yang, "Let's go. Go home, wash up, change your pants, and then come over to my place."
As he spoke, Zhao Jun pointed to the Black Bear on the ground. "I'll find a vehicle in a bit to haul this bear to my house. After that, you come over and take some of the meat home with you."
"Yeah!" As Gu Yang listened, tears started streaming down his face again. He sobbed and choked out, "I can finally get married now."
Just moments ago, in his despair up in the tree, Gu Yang had been thinking that even marrying into a wife's family would be acceptable. Now, hearing that Zhao Jun was going to give him a share of the Bear Gall, hope instantly flared back to life in his heart.
"What?" Zhao Jun and Zhang Yuanmin exchanged a look of confusion. 'We didn't really say anything just now,' they thought, 'what does this have to do with him getting married?'
Zhao Jun shook his head, handed both the rifle and the Large Axe to Zhang Yuanmin, and started walking toward the village. Lin Xiangshun had been home this morning; he'd go ask him to drive out and haul the bear back.
But after taking a couple of steps, he realized Black Tiger wasn't following him. He turned and saw the dog still lying next to the dead bear, wagging its tail and looking at him.
"Black Tiger! Let's go!" Zhao Jun called out.
"ARF! ARF!" Black Tiger answered with a couple of barks.
"Let's go! Home!" Zhao Jun shouted again, annoyed.
"ARF! ARF!" Black Tiger replied again.
"If you're not coming, then just stay here!" Zhao Jun snapped, turning to leave. 'Once I walk away,' he thought, 'Black Tiger will definitely give in and follow me.'
But to his surprise, Black Tiger just barked "ARF! ARF!" a couple more times, then lay down in front of the dead Black Bear and refused to budge.
It was then that Zhao Jun remembered the first time he'd taken Black Tiger hunting. The dog had gotten its leg broken by a deer's kick but still hadn't forgotten about eating.
And today, he wasn't even injured.
Zhao Jun didn't bother trying to drag Black Tiger away. They had to come back in a little while anyway. He headed back to the village with Zhang Yuanmin and Gu Yang.
Back in the village, Gu Yang went home to change his pants, while Zhao Jun and Zhang Yuanmin went straight to Lin Xiangshun's house.
After Lin Xiangshun got in the vehicle and started it, he suddenly said to Zhao Jun, "Xiaojun, this new Farm Director Dou... he's not someone to be trifled with."
"Ah," Zhao Jun grunted in acknowledgment, and the vehicle quickly left the village and arrived at the spot.
"ARF! ARF!" The moment Lin Xiangshun got out of the vehicle, he was startled by Black Tiger.
Zhao Jun walked up and aimed a kick at Black Tiger's rear. The dog dodged nimbly, nearly causing Zhao Jun to lose his balance and stumble.
Lin Xiangshun and Zhang Yuanmin reacted quickly, grabbing Zhao Jun from both sides to steady him. Lin Xiangshun laughed and asked, "Xiaojun, why are you hitting your dog?"
Zhao Jun pointed at Black Tiger and said to Lin Xiangshun, "He killed our big rooster this morning."
"Tsk!" Lin Xiangshun clicked his tongue. "Well, that's a bit out of line," he said, "but he just helped us out. You can't go hitting him right now."
"Helped my ass!" The mention of it just made Zhao Jun angrier. He didn't know that Black Tiger had actually contributed earlier and thought the mutt had just been running back and forth. He said irritably, "He didn't do a damn thing but cause trouble!"
"Alright, brother, calm down," Zhang Yuanmin mediated from the side. "Let's hurry up and get this bear back. We still need to process that Bear Gall."
Hearing Zhang Yuanmin mention this, Zhao Jun finally snapped out of it and helped Lin Xiangshun and Zhang Yuanmin load the Black Bear onto the vehicle.
Seeing the Black Bear loaded up, Black Tiger tried to climb into the truck bed; it wanted to stay with the meat. But one of its front paws was bent at an odd angle, preventing it from getting any purchase, and it couldn't scramble up.
"Xiaojun, give him a pull."
Hearing Lin Xiangshun tell him to get Black Tiger onto the truck, Zhao Jun shot the dog a glare and said irritably, "Forget him. Let him run behind the truck!"