For the better part of the past year, Zhao Youcai had been in a state of deep depression.
And the root cause of it all was his one and only "precious" son, Zhao Jun.
It wasn't that Zhao Jun wasn't an excellent young man; it was that he was *too* excellent.
Isn't there an old saying? Thirty years ago, a son was respected for his father; thirty years later, a father is respected for his son.
Take a simple example: whenever Zhao Jun went to eat at Cafeteria Number One, regardless of whether Zhao Youcai was there, the entire staff would treat him as if a high-ranking official were on an inspection tour, serving him the best food and drink they had.
That was a case of the son being respected for his father.
But Zhao Youcai was just a cook. To put it nicely, he was a master chef, but once he stepped outside the Forest Farm's gates, wasn't he still just a cook in the eyes of outsiders?
His influence was mostly confined to the Forest Farm, extending at most to the four family residential areas: Yong'an, Yongsheng, Yongfu, and Yongli.
But Zhao Jun was a different story. Never mind the authority he wielded as a Forest Farm inspector; the key thing was that over the last six months, the reputation he'd built for himself had grown ever larger.
When leaders from the smaller surrounding forest farms visited the Yong'an Forest Farm, the cafeteria director would introduce Zhao Youcai as the master chef of Cafeteria Number One. Those people would usually just give Zhao Youcai a smile; at most, they might offer him a cigarette.
But on one occasion, when the leadership from Red Flag Forest Farm came to Yong'an Forest Farm on a study tour, it happened to coincide with a newspaper report about the founding of the Ice City Zoo. As they looked at the illustration of the majestic Northeast Tiger in the paper, the men at the dinner table began to discuss the matter.
Then, Zhou Chunming mentioned that the master chef who had prepared their meal was from the same family as the young hero who captured the Tiger. In fact, they were father and son. As soon as the leadership from Red Flag Forest Farm heard this, they clamored to meet Zhao Youcai.
And the first thing the director of Red Flag Forest Farm said upon seeing Zhao Youcai was a sentence that astonished everyone present.
The director smiled and asked Zhao Youcai, "Master Zhao, you must be Zhao Jun's father, right?"
Everyone was surprised. Zhou Chunming hadn't mentioned Zhao Jun's name, so how did the director know it so clearly?
As it turned out, the Red Flag Forest Farm was not far from the Yongxing Brigade. Moreover, a small forest farm like theirs couldn't compare to the Yong'an Forest Farm, which meant the director of Red Flag Forest Farm was of a lower standing when dealing with men like Yu Xuewen and Tao Dabao.
Ever since Zhao Jun captured the Tiger, the spring hunt of '87 had become Yu Xuewen and Tao Dabao's favorite topic of conversation over drinks. Whenever they drank with outsiders, they would have to recount the tale, describing how brave and fearless the militia of their Yongxing Brigade was. Of course, they never failed to heap praise on Zhao Jun as well.
Over time, even though many people had never met Zhao Jun, they all came to know that there was an impressive young man in Yong'an Village.
The Red Flag Forest Farm director's respect for Zhao Youcai was a case of the father being respected for his son.
If something like this had happened twenty years in the future, Zhao Youcai would have been over the moon. But in the present, he only felt immense pressure and even greater losses.
The pressure came from his reputation; the losses, from his income.
Zhao Jun had made his name through hunting, but the former number one Cannon Shooter of Yong'an Village had been none other than Zhao Youcai.
In the past, whenever a beast was injuring people around the Forest Farm or the village, it was always Zhao Youcai who was called upon to deal with it.
Hunting such dangerous animals always came with a reward. A production brigade would give out work points and grain, while the Forest Farm and the family villages gave out money.
Zhao Youcai and Zhao Guofeng were close friends. For years, if the village offered a reward of ten yuan, Zhao Guofeng would help Zhao Youcai hide the true amount, reporting that it was only five.
In this way, Zhao Youcai had skimmed off a considerable amount of private savings for himself.
But now, in all the villages for miles around, among all those who roamed the mountains and the Hunters, the unanimously acknowledged number one was Zhao Jun.
It had to be said, this was no easy feat.
After all, since ancient times, it has been said that in matters of skill, there is no second place. Moreover, Hunters loved to boast and would never readily admit that another was better.
It was just like with Zhou Chengguo in the old days. Although his Spear Technique was godlike, Zhao Youcai had never submitted to him, neither in his heart nor with his words.
But Zhao Jun was different. His achievements were all hard-won in real combat. Just on the merits of capturing a fierce Tiger and hunting the Pig God, there wasn't a single Hunter in Lingnan, Lingxi, or the Hei and Ji Provinces who didn't respect him—with the sole exception of Zhao Youcai.
What made Zhao Youcai even angrier was that back when he had gone to Yongsheng Village to hunt the leopard, his in-law, Zhou Chunming, had told him over drinks that the Yong'an Forest Farm would not be using him for the specimen hunt this year.
Zhou Chunming had put it tactfully, saying only that Zhao Youcai shouldered heavy responsibilities at the cafeteria and that without him, half the workers at the Yong'an Forest Farm would go hungry.
'But it's not like I'm the only cook in Cafeteria Number One,' Zhao Youcai thought. 'And in all the previous years they've hunted for specimens, the Forest Farm never seemed to worry about the workers going hungry.'
On top of that, this year's specimen-hunting assignment had fallen to Zhao Jun. How could Zhao Youcai not understand what was going on?
The new generation was supplanting the old, and he, Youcai, was being left high and dry on the beach.
Compared to hunting animals that injured people, hunting for specimens was the real cushy assignment. It not only came with paid leave, but also a bonus.
The perks involved were enormous.
It was a contest for both fame and fortune.
That was why Zhao Youcai had been so insistent on killing the leopard—to prove that he wasn't over the hill yet.
But in the end, not only did he return in utter failure, he was also out eighty yuan. And when he got home, he had to undergo "labor reform" by washing clothes and cooking meals.
What Zhao Youcai found most unacceptable was that this wasn't just the situation at the Forest Farm; it was the same even in Yong'an Village.
Last month, Zhao Youcai had run into Zhao Guofeng on his way home. Zhao Guofeng told him that when he had gone to the township for a meeting that day, the township head had specifically mentioned something. He wanted Zhao Guofeng to help him procure four Bear's Paws, eight roe deer, and two wild boars after the first snow this winter.
In previous years, this job had always fallen on Zhao Youcai's shoulders. But that day, Zhao Guofeng said that the township head had requested Zhao Jun by name to procure these animals for him.