Chapter 575: Chapter 439: There Must Be a Big Score Here
“Well…” Dou Baoguo said hesitantly, “I can watch things for you, that’s fine. But the key is, is it safe to go after that Big Cannon Egg?”
“I’ll go take a look first,” Zhao Qingzhu said. “If we can take it down, we’ll kill it. The boars are fat this time of year. A three-hundred-seventy or eighty-jin one should yield two hundred fifty or sixty jin of meat, right?
I’ll give you two of the legs, and you can use them to grease some wheels. We’ll give the rest to the trappers under us. A good meal will make them work hard with peace of mind.”
“Well… alright then.”
Once they had an agreement, Zhao Qingzhu downed the cabbage and potato soup in front of him. He then stood up and left the shack with Niu Guoliang. Niu Guoliang drove the cart and Zhao Qingzhu rode along as the two of them left the Logging Camp, heading straight for the mountains.
Meanwhile, Zhao Jun and Jie Chen were also leaving home.
They didn’t bring the dogs today, so Zhao Jun sat in the passenger seat as he and Jie Chen drove toward Zhang Yuanmin’s house.
When they reached Zhang Yuanmin’s house, Jie Chen honked the horn twice, and Zhang Yuanmin came jogging out from the courtyard.
Zhang Yuanmin squeezed into the passenger seat, and Jie Chen started the car. With Zhang Yuanmin giving directions, they too headed into the mountain forest. However, they were going in a completely different direction from Zhao Qingzhu and Niu Guoliang.
…
The Fragrant Musk Deer, scientifically known as the forest musk deer, usually goes out to eat and drink once in the morning and once in the evening.
After their morning outing, they find a resting spot, where they lie down to ruminate and relax.
In winter, Fragrant Musk Deer, like other animals, stay in spots sheltered from the wind and facing the sun.
In spring, they generally hide in thickets. In summer and autumn, they tend to stay on rocky crags or steep mountain slopes.
The den of Fragrant Musk Deer that Zhang Yuanmin had discovered was located in the funnel-shaped Jumping Stone Pond. Its surrounding rock walls were smooth and steep, difficult for a person to navigate, but this was nothing for a Fragrant Musk Deer.
These animals are adept at scaling cliffs, and their hearing is sharp. To catch them, one usually has to set traps along their regular paths.
But it was impossible to set traps in the rocky den where this group lived, which was why Zhao Jun had previously suggested an organized hunt to corner them.
When the three of them reached the spot, they peered down into a large, rocky basin about ten meters deep. It was filled with jagged, jumbled rocks, and they couldn’t see where the Fragrant Musk Deer were hiding.
But with this terrain, all it would take was for either Zhang Yuanmin or Jie Chen to go down and startle the Fragrant Musk Deer. When they ran up to escape, Zhao Jun could pick them off one by one with his rifle.
As they got closer, Zhao Jun surveyed the shape of the mountains and the lay of the land, feeling a sense of familiarity. Just then, he heard Zhang Yuanmin shout, “Brother, I’m heading down!”
Zhang Yuanmin had brought a large coil of rope from home. He had already tied one end to a big tree and the other around his waist.
“Brother, wait a minute!” Zhao Jun suddenly stopped Zhang Yuanmin, waving him over. “Untie the rope and follow me!”
“Alright!” Without asking any questions, Zhang Yuanmin immediately untied the rope from his waist upon hearing Zhao Jun’s command. He coiled it up section by section, then finally undid the end tied to the tree.
After stowing the rope, Zhang Yuanmin and Jie Chen hurried to catch up with Zhao Jun.
Zhao Jun had carefully climbed onto a large boulder and was now standing on it, surveying the surroundings.
After observing for a few minutes, Zhao Jun crouched down on the boulder and said to Jie Chen, “Give me a hand.”
Hearing this, Jie Chen quickly raised a hand. Zhao Jun lowered himself, bracing one hand against the boulder while pushing off Jie Chen’s palm with the other as he descended.
Jie Chen gave an upward push with that hand while using his other to steady Zhao Jun, who landed firmly on the ground.
“Let’s go!” Zhao Jun pointed to the southwest and led the two men away.
Only then did Zhang Yuanmin ask, “Brother, are we not hunting that den of Fragrant Musk Deer anymore?”
Zhao Jun chuckled and looked at Zhang Yuanmin. “Brother, why do you want to hunt them?”
“To hunt them…” Zhang Yuanmin paused, then answered, “For the musk sachet, of course?”
Zhao Jun smiled. “Brother, with Fragrant Musk Deer, the does and their fawns don’t have sachets.”
“That’s right,” Zhang Yuanmin said. “Only the males have them… oh…”
Realization dawned on Zhang Yuanmin. Fragrant Musk Deer are solitary creatures. For a whole den of them to be found together, it had to be a mother with her young.
It was currently September. Female Fragrant Musk Deer usually give birth in July or August, meaning the fawns were at most two months old. Even if some of them were male, they wouldn’t have developed musk sachets yet.
“Brother!” Zhang Yuanmin had figured it all out, but one thing still puzzled him. He asked Zhao Jun, “If you’d told me earlier, would we not have come?”
Zhao Jun simply smiled without answering. There were some things he couldn’t explain to Zhang Yuanmin.
From the very beginning, Zhao Jun knew it was impossible to get any sachets from this den. He had only wanted to check the area and find the Fragrant Musk Deer’s foraging grounds.
After all, Fragrant Musk Deer living in a rocky den couldn’t survive by eating stones. And among their preferred foraging grounds were mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forests.
And mixed coniferous and broad-leaved forests were precisely where Ginseng grew.
After hiking over a ridge and walking a bit further, the three men arrived at a mountainside. Zhao Jun pointed nearby and said, “Brother, cut a few sticks!”
“Right, right!” Zhang Yuanmin immediately drew the Invasion Blade from his back and chopped down two nearby Yulin Pines.
As Zhang Yuanmin was trimming the Yulin Pines, he noticed what looked like knife or axe marks on a nearby tree, but they were too old to be seen clearly.
Zhang Yuanmin had a rough idea of what Zhao Jun was up to, and knowing he shouldn’t speak carelessly at a time like this, he simply whistled twice.
Zhao Jun, who had been looking down the slope, heard the whistle and quickly gestured to Jie Chen. The two of them hurried over to Zhang Yuanmin.
The first thing Zhao Jun did upon reaching Zhang Yuanmin was not to speak, but to give a nod, signaling for him to show them what he’d found.
Zhang Yuanmin also said nothing, simply pointing. Zhao Jun leaned in to get a closer look. It appeared to be an Elder Zhao left by a Mountain Man, but it only recorded that seven people had once found Ginseng here.
However, it didn’t record when this happened or what quality of Ginseng they found.
Zhao Jun turned back, smiled at Zhang Yuanmin, and gestured to the Elder Zhao. “This group of Mountain Men didn’t have much etiquette.”
“Yeah…”
Zhang Yuanmin chuckled, but before he could finish, he saw Zhao Jun hold out a hand toward him.
Zhang Yuanmin handed the trimmed sticks to Zhao Jun. After taking one, Zhao Jun knocked it against the tree, then said to Zhang Yuanmin and Jie Chen, “Brother, Jie Chen, you two kneel down. Kowtow to our predecessors here and ask them to bless us.”
Jie Chen understood some of the traditions, so he immediately knelt upon hearing Zhao Jun’s words. But he noticed that while he and Zhang Yuanmin were kneeling, Zhao Jun himself was walking toward the slope. Jie Chen quickly turned to the man beside him and asked, “Brother Zhang, Brother Jun told us to kowtow, so how come he isn’t?”
By this time, Zhao Jun had already reached the foot of the slope.
It was a vast slope, and Zhao Jun’s gaze swept back and forth across it.
Normally, starting in July or August, the Ginseng seeds mature. These fiery red seeds are known as Red Hammers.
That single spot of red in a sea of green helps a Mountain Man find Ginseng. Moreover, tall grass doesn’t grow where Ginseng is found.
This slope was no exception. But even with Red Hammers present, you’d have to be very close to spot them.
But Zhao Jun was different. When he searched for Ginseng, he never relied on seeing Red Hammers.
Zhao Jun stood on the slope, waiting. As a breeze blew past, causing the blades of grass to dip, he observed them carefully.
After about five or six minutes, Zhang Yuanmin and Jie Chen had long since finished their kowtows and were waiting behind Zhao Jun. But as long as Zhao Jun was silent, no one dared to speak. As long as he stood still, no one dared to move.
And Zhao Jun was still waiting.
He was waiting for the wind.
Another breeze drifted by, and the grass dipped with it.
After the Start of Autumn, some of the grass had already begun to yellow. After comparing them several times, Zhao Jun noticed that the blades of grass to the south, including the yellowed ones, were glossier than those to the north.
Zhao Jun raised the makeshift rope-pulling stick in his hand and struck a nearby tree. He was about to step forward when he suddenly turned and looked back at the tree with the Elder Zhao carving.
‘There’s definitely a huge score here!’ Zhao Jun was certain. ‘And more than just one!’