The township head had spoken. What more could Zhao Guofeng say?
Zhao Youcai, upon hearing this, was seething with rage. To hunt a mountain beast, they had to appoint a specific person? Was the prey Zhao Jun brought back somehow more special than anyone else's?
His source of income was gone, and the personal savings he'd painstakingly squirreled away had been confiscated. This deeply troubled Zhao Youcai.
But if Zhao Youcai were sixty this year, he would have just given up and lived out his golden years at home like Xu Changlin. With an outstanding son like Zhao Jun, he would have had no worries about retirement. He might even have been able to throw his weight around the house like Tao Fulun.
But he was only forty-five, still in the prime of his life. It wasn't time for him to step aside yet.
Therefore, Zhao Youcai couldn't relinquish his position as head of the family to Zhao Jun, even if it were only in name. What's more, he had to keep striving!
That's right. In just that short walk from the courtyard gate to the front door, Zhao Youcai had made up his mind.
Tomorrow morning, he still had to see Elder Jiang off, so there wouldn't be time. But the day after tomorrow, he was determined to find Zhang Lifu. He would ask Zhang Lifu to visit the shacks and dugouts in the mountains when he went up, and to ask those Elder Mountain Dogs if they knew where ferocious beasts like leopards or Lynx were active.
Back in the room, Zhao Youcai sat on the kang bed, his back against the cabinet, not saying a word.
Just then, in the outer room, Wang Meilan was cutting noodles while telling Zhao Jun what Jiang Zhou had just reported.
After listening, Zhao Jun asked Wang Meilan, "Mom, do I still need to go tomorrow morning?"
"You don't have to," Wang Meilan said. "Your dad and I will go in the morning. You can go in the evening."
"Alright." Zhao Jun chatted with Wang Meilan for a few more moments, then went into the inner room to see Zhao Youcai.
"Dad," Zhao Jun said with a smile, greeting Zhao Youcai. He didn't expect his father to simply turn his head away.
Zhao Jun froze, thinking, 'What's he sulking about now? He was perfectly happy a couple of days ago when I gave him the money.'
Though that's what he was thinking, Zhao Jun walked over to his father's side, pulled up a four-legged stool, and sat down. Then he asked, "Dad, I remember you've hunted Red Dogs before."
"Hmm?" At these words, Zhao Youcai's head snapped up. He looked at Zhao Jun and asked, "You ran into one of those things today, didn't you?"
"Yeah." Zhao Jun first nodded, then shook his head. "I knew it was a Red Dog, but I never caught sight of it."
"Hah!" Zhao Youcai tossed his head back proudly. "Those things are no easy hunt."
Zhao Jun couldn't understand the source of his father's pride, but this was his old man, after all. So, he simply smiled and asked, "Dad, I've heard people say Red Dogs are even tougher than wolves. Is that true? But we have Red Dogs around here, not wolves."
According to the Mountain Runners of the Northeast, wolves don't live in the mountain forests; they stick to the plains. Red Dogs, on the other hand, live in the mountains, so the two species never cross paths.
"That's right. There are no wolves in these mountains," Zhao Youcai said, suddenly sitting up straighter and leaning closer to Zhao Jun. "Around here, the only wolves are to the west, on the great plains of Liangdianzi."
At this, the urge to show off struck Zhao Youcai. He said to Zhao Jun, "You're young; you haven't seen any real action. I remember, I forget which year it was... back when we all still ate from the communal pot. There was an old Cannon Shooter over in Liangdianzi who killed a wolf, which brought a whole pack down on his village, surrounding it. So, the township sent a truck to take us Cannon Shooters out there to hunt them..."
"Mhm," Zhao Jun said, cutting his father off before he could finish. "And you shot the most, right? Dad, you've been telling me that story since before I can even remember."
"Get outta here!" Zhao Youcai glared at Zhao Jun and snapped, "You're just a kid, what do you know? Your old man has seen plenty. I've been eating salt for a lot more years than you have."
"Well, no kidding," Zhao Jun muttered under his breath, head down. "If you didn't eat salt, your hair would've turned white by now."
Zhao Youcai vaguely caught the words "salt" and "girl" and figured the little bastard wasn't saying anything nice about him. He immediately roared, "What did you say?"
"Nothing, nothing," Zhao Jun said. "But really, Dad, you've told that story at least eight hundred times. Forget me—even my little sister can recite it by heart."
With that, Zhao Jun turned to Zhao Hong, who was playing with Zhao Na on the kang, and called out, "Hey, sis, why don't you tell us Dad's wolf-hunting story?"
Hearing her brother call her name, Zhao Hong pouted in disgust. "No way. I've heard that story so many times growing up I'm sick of it."
"You little brat!" Zhao Youcai gestured threateningly at Zhao Hong in exasperation, though it was only to scare her. But Zhao Hong just ducked behind Zhao Na, pushing her little sister forward and saying, "Little Sis, our big brother wants to hear Dad's wolf-hunting story."
"Hunting wolves..." Little Zhao Na blinked her big eyes and said to Zhao Jun, "Once upon a time, in a village, there was an old Hunter... I can't remember his name. He killed a big gray wolf, skinned it, and stewed the meat..."
"Alright, alright, go on and play." Zhao Youcai waved his hands dismissively, shooing his youngest daughter away. Then he looked at Zhao Jun indignantly and declared, "Today, your old man is going to tell you one you've never heard before."
"Oh? Then tell me quick, Dad." Zhao Jun's curiosity was instantly piqued. He knew that when it came to hunting, any story his father hadn't told was bound to be one where he didn't come out looking good. Otherwise, he would have bragged about it long ago.
It was just like the time he'd hunted a tiger—Zhao Youcai had missed his shot and never spoke a word of it afterward.
"That year, we were on Liangdianzi hunting wolves. We caught a female that must have weighed seventy or eighty jin. By coincidence, the village party secretary's son had just returned from the army and was working security at the nearby Xinxing Forest Farm. While working on a road, he'd snared a Red Dog in the mountains." At this point, Zhao Youcai seemed to remember something, and he pursed his lips before continuing. "That first day, the two groups got into an argument over which was tougher, the wolf or the Red Dog. To settle it, they shoved both animals into the same cage."
When Zhao Jun heard this and saw that his father had trailed off, he grew impatient and quickly pressed, "And then what?"
Zhao Youcai let out a soft breath before saying, "The moment they faced off, the Red Dog tore the wolf's belly open. Its intestines and guts spilled all over the ground."
"They're that fierce?" Zhao Jun found that hard to believe.
Red Dogs, scientifically known as dholes, are also sometimes called "dhole dogs."
The animals weren't very large, forty jin at the absolute most. Zhao Jun remembered that when he was a child, the dholes his father brought home were always already skinned. After being drained of blood and gutted, they usually only weighed about ten jin; none were ever particularly big.
And size usually meant strength. A single wolf could weigh almost as much as two Red Dogs. Sure, everyone said Red Dogs were vicious, but wolves were hardly pushovers.
Zhao Youcai surreptitiously glanced at Zhao Jun. He felt the boy hadn't noticed anything amiss, but he still wasn't at ease. He quickly changed the subject, asking, "Was it when you were hunting the Black Bear today that you ran into the Red Dog?"
"Yeah."
Hearing this, Zhao Youcai asked, "So your dogs didn't go out?"
"No," Zhao Jun replied casually. "There was a leopard, so the dogs didn't dare."
"What!" Hearing the word "leopard," Zhao Youcai's eyes went wide, and he lunged from the kang to get right in Zhao Jun's face.
This gave Zhao Jun a huge fright. He jerked back, and the four-legged stool beneath him tipped over, sending him crashing to the floor.
"Brother!"
"Brother!"
Seeing Zhao Jun fall, both Zhao Hong and Zhao Na scrambled down from the kang. In the outer room, Wang Meilan dropped her knife and rushed in.
By the time Wang Meilan burst into the inner room, Zhao Youcai had already helped Zhao Jun to his feet. While dusting off his son's clothes, he cautiously watched his wife's expression. He gave Zhao Jun's arm a subtle, firm squeeze and said in the most pleasant, fatherly tone he could manage, "Son, why weren't you sitting more carefully?"
Zhao Jun shot his father a look and said irritably, "Dad, you scared me half to death, lunging at me like that! For a second there, I thought you were going to bite me!"