Elder Yang lifted the old clothes on top of the contents of the chest and took out a small jar from underneath. He returned to the kang table, placed the small jar on the edge of the kang, then went to a nearby shelf and took down two small bowls.
Once he was back by the kang, Elder Yang untied the hemp rope sealing the jar’s mouth, peeled back the oil-paper cover, and poured a full bowl of the wine into each of the small bowls.
The wine was very murky, as if it had something mixed in it.
"Come on, boys!" Elder Yang called out to Zhao Jun and Zhang Xuefeng, who were lying on the kang, as exhausted as dead dogs. "Have a drink. It’ll take the edge off."
"Wine..." Upon hearing this, Zhang Xuefeng struggled to get up from the kang, but as he tried to lift his body, he flopped right back down.
Zhang Xuefeng let out a groan and said, "Uncle, I can’t get up."
Zhao Jun sat up, picked up one of the wine bowls, and placed it beside Zhang Xuefeng’s head. "I’ll put it here for you, alright?"
"Mm," Zhang Xuefeng grunted, turning onto his side to grab the bowl and drink.
Just then, Zhao Jun said to Elder Yang, "Uncle, you can have this bowl. I don’t drink."
The old man chuckled and said to Zhao Jun mysteriously, "Go on and drink it, boy. This wine isn’t like other wines. It’s different."
"If he’s not drinking, give it to me!" Hearing that the wine was special, Zhang Xuefeng was suddenly energized. He reached out to Elder Yang and said, "Uncle, this is good stuff. Zhao Jun isn’t married yet, he can’t handle it."
"What are you talking about?" The old man chuckled. "What are you thinking? It’s not *that* kind of wine."
"Heh heh heh..." Suddenly, Zhang Xuefeng let out a series of moans, rolled over, and lay flat on his back again, a broad smile spreading across his face.
This scene left Zhao Jun completely dumbfounded.
Just as Zhao Jun was about to speak, he heard Zhang Xuefeng exclaim, "So relaxing! So relaxing! My whole body feels great!"
His outcry made Zhao Jun shudder. As his gaze shifted to the bowl of wine Elder Yang had prepared for him, he asked fearfully, "Uncle, what did you put in this?"
Zhao Jun was genuinely scared. Regulations weren’t strict out here, and many families in the mountain villages grew their own poppies.
However, the mountain folk mostly used it for medicinal purposes, for things like headaches, fevers, and diarrhea. It was even said to be an instant cure for canine distemper.
Seeing Zhang Xuefeng’s reaction, Zhao Jun was afraid the wine had been laced with something. It would be a huge problem if Zhang Xuefeng got hooked.
Hearing Zhao Jun’s question, the old man gave a mysterious smile and said, "There’s something good in your uncle’s wine!"
At this, the old man added in a firm tone, "Something so good, money can’t buy it."
"Right!" Zhao Jun couldn’t hold back any longer and nodded. "And selling that stuff can get your head chopped off."
"Huh?" Elder Yang was stunned for a moment, then he realized what Zhao Jun meant. He waved his hand dismissively at Zhao Jun and said, "What are you talking about, boy? Would your uncle give you that stuff to drink?"
Just then, Zhang Xuefeng, who had been lying down, suddenly sat bolt upright on the kang. He stretched his arms wide, working his chest, and then looked at Elder Yang with eyes full of craving.
"Uncle!" Zhang Xuefeng asked the same question. "What did you put in this wine? I was as tired as a son of a bitch all day, but after drinking your wine, my whole body feels so relaxed."
Zhao Jun glanced at Zhang Xuefeng in surprise, then also turned his gaze toward Elder Yang.
Elder Yang gave a faint smile. With one hand, he picked up the wine jar, and with the other, he took the remaining bowl of wine and placed it in Zhao Jun’s hands.
Then the old man walked over to the window, put the wine jar back in the chest, and covered it with the clothes.
When he returned to the kang, he sat sideways on the edge, looked at Zhao Jun, and asked with a smile, "Boy, everyone says you’re a great Hunter. You’ve caught Big Claw and even hunted the Pig God. So let me ask you, have you ever hunted a suspended sheep?"
"What?"
"What!"
Two "What"s—one in confusion, the other in shock.
Zhang Xuefeng was confused, wondering what a suspended sheep was, but Zhao Jun was utterly shocked.
In two lifetimes, he had heard the name of this animal, but he had never once seen it.
In his previous life, when he was a child, his grandma had told him stories about the suspended sheep. And she had heard those stories from his grandpa. Because that old man had hunted a suspended sheep back in the day!
Later, when Zhao Jun took to the mountains to hunt, he became very curious about this mysterious animal and even made special visits to several old Hunters.
Some of those old men had seen a suspended sheep, and some hadn’t. But Zhao Jun had never laid eyes on the mysterious animal, not even up until his rebirth.
However, he had later looked it up online on his phone and learned that a type of suspended sheep existed in the border regions. But when Zhao Jun recalled the stories the old-timers told, he realized the suspended sheep of the borderlands was not the same as the suspended sheep of Changbai Mountain.
The suspended sheep of Changbai Mountain was far more mysterious.
Online, there were stories of experts who had spent immense time and energy searching for the suspended sheep, as well as legends of the old Manzu khan, Nuerhachi, hunting them.
And in this life, when Zhao Jun went into the mountains with Xu Changlin to hunt Lynx, they had stayed in Xing San’s pit-house. He remembered one night, as the two old men were drinking, Xu Changlin himself had said he’d had experience hunting suspended sheep.
But the next morning, when Zhao Jun pressed Xu Changlin about it, Xu Changlin adamantly insisted it was just drunk talk and then clammed up about the suspended sheep completely.
Now, hearing Elder Yang mention the suspended sheep again, Zhao Jun looked at the murky liquid in his bowl under the dim light of the kerosene lamp, and another legend couldn’t help but spring to mind.
"Uncle!" Zhao Jun looked at Elder Yang and asked with some urgency, "Is this wine steeped with Suspended Sheep Blood?"
Elder Yang nodded, smiling without a word.
"Where’d you get it?" Zhao Jun pressed eagerly.
The old man jutted out his chin and said to Zhao Jun, "Drink it, and then your uncle will tell you."
At his words, Zhao Jun raised the bowl and drained the wine in a single gulp.