Chapter 5

Autumn Noon.

The sunlight fell on Zhao Jun's body, not only warming him physically but also warming his heart, gradually calming his anxious mind.

"Truly, I have a second chance." Zhao Jun watched Li Baoyu cut the pig's liver to feed the dogs, feeling increasingly excited.

Since the hunting ban in 1997 and the gun confiscation in 1998, he hadn't gone hunting for over twenty years.

Many nights, he had dreamed of his days in the mountains, those familiar scenes often making him wake up with a heavy heart.

"Brother!"

Suddenly, Li Baoyu's voice broke through his deep thoughts in the afternoon sun.

"Hmm?"

Zhao Jun looked over, seeing Li Baoyu and the two dogs wagging their tails and licking their lips.

Zhao Jun said, "Hey! Feed them the liver... forget it, cut some belly fat and let them eat their fill."

"Sure thing!" Li Baoyu quickly cut strips of fat from the wild boar's belly, giving one to the spotted dog and one to the yellow dog, feeding them repeatedly.

In the mountains, when hunting, whether to pay respects to the mountain god was entirely up to personal belief. If you believed, you did; if you didn't, you didn't.

However, feeding the dogs was a fundamental rule of hunting.

After all, in large hunts, one had to rely on hunting dogs. These dogs would risk their lives to fight wild boars and black bears for their masters, a true act of loyalty.

Such loyalty must be rewarded.

The reward for the hunting dogs was to let them feast on the prey.

However, there was a difference: ordinary dogs wouldn't eat the internal organs of black bears but would eat those of wild boars.

Thus, in this era of scarcity, when people preferred fatty meat but disliked offal, the internal organs of wild boars became the exclusive food of hunting dogs.

If they hunted a black bear or a brown bear, since dogs didn't eat the internal organs, hunters would cut bear meat to feed the dogs. But if they hunted a wild boar, few hunters would cut meat, especially fatty meat, to feed the dogs.

So, if a hunter saw Li Baoyu cutting the wild boar's belly fat to feed the dogs, they would surely scold him for being wasteful.

After all, even in 1986, people's living standards were still low, and the rationing of grain and oil still existed.

This was less of an issue in the city.

But in rural areas, forest regions, and mountainous areas, the difference was stark. People worked hard all year round and rarely saw any fat in their diets.

So, even if they relied on the mountains for their livelihood, if a family could hunt a wild boar, a black bear, or a brown bear, it was better than a New Year's feast.

Especially in autumn, the season of abundant mountain produce and when wild animals fatten up.

Whether it was bears or wild boars, they spent their days eating walnuts, acorns, hazelnuts, and soft jujubes, and mountain grapes, accumulating a layer of fat.

Take the wild boar Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu hunted today; it was a female boar that weighed less than 250 pounds in the summer.

But now, it had grown to about 280 pounds. Just the large piece of fat on its belly, known as "nangnangchui" in Northeast China, could yield enough lard to fill two jars when rendered.

In this era of rationed grain and oil, a family of four or five might not even get that much oil in a year.

Moreover, after rendering the fat, the internal fat would shrink and turn into crispy, golden "oil threads." Dipped in salt, they were incredibly delicious.

So, in the eyes of some, Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu's actions were wasteful.

But in the eyes of the hunting dogs, their young master's actions were the greatest reward for their loyalty.

The two dogs didn't hesitate; they ate until their bellies were full and their throats were tight, then lay down to rest.

Seeing Li Baoyu finish feeding the dogs, Zhao Jun stood up and walked over to him, asking, "Where's the bag?"

"Ah!" Li Baoyu, who was squatting on the ground cleaning his hands and knife with leaves, was startled and suddenly remembered, "I left it up the hill."

Zhao Jun asked again, "What about the food?"

"Ah." Li Baoyu exclaimed again, "It's with the bag."

Zhao Jun said with a hint of annoyance, "Go get it, what are you waiting for?"

Hearing this, Li Baoyu got up and ran off.

The two had planned this hunt for many days. They had brought everything they needed, packing a whole sack of supplies.

The sack was originally carried by Li Baoyu, but he had left it aside while cutting the sticks and fitting the knives.

Now, while Li Baoyu went to fetch the items, Zhao Jun picked up the hand axe Li Baoyu had left behind and returned to the fallen tree. He cut a large branch from a wind-bent locust tree, about as thick as his arm, with branches growing in all directions.

He dragged it back to the wild boar and started cutting. He gathered the thinner branches into a pile and sharpened both ends with the knife.

The thicker branches were cut into smaller pieces without much care.

By the time Zhao Jun had finished cutting the branch, Li Baoyu still hadn't returned. So, Zhao Jun used the knife to cut a strip of fatty meat from the boar's belly.

The meat was perfect, with layers of fat and lean meat.

He cut it into large pieces and skewered them on the sharpened branches, one piece per branch, placing each skewer aside after finishing.

In no time, he had made nearly forty skewers of wild boar meat.

When Li Baoyu returned with the sack, his eyes nearly sparkled at the sight.

"Start the fire!" Zhao Jun pointed to the pile of thick branches he had prepared and said to Li Baoyu.

"Got it!" Li Baoyu exclaimed, dropping the sack and rummaging through it.

Two neatly folded burlap bags and a newspaper-wrapped package.

When Li Baoyu dropped the newspaper package, the folded corners unfolded, revealing two steamed buns, four cornmeal cakes, and several strips of pickled radish.

This was their lunch. The buns were from Zhao Jun's home, where his father, Zhao Youcai, was the chef at the forest farm canteen.

They say, "A chef who doesn't steal, the five grains won't grow."

In those days, as a canteen chef, whatever the unit had, the family had.

So, Zhao Jun's family had a relatively good standard of living. Even during the hardest years, they never went hungry.

Li Baoyu's family, on the other hand, had average conditions. The four cornmeal cakes were his mother's lunch for him before she went to work in the fields.

Of course, Zhao Jun had always taken care of his brother. They had planned to share one bun and two cakes each.

Li Baoyu then took out a military water bottle from the bag, unscrewed the cap, and handed it to Zhao Jun.

Zhao Jun didn't hesitate, taking the bottle and drinking two large gulps.

After Li Baoyu took the bottle back and drank some water, he screwed the cap back on and placed it aside. He then took out a small newspaper-wrapped package, which contained a box of matches.

Li Baoyu gathered a pile of dry leaves in a sheltered spot nearby. The leaves caught fire easily and burned fiercely.

He then threw the thick branches Zhao Jun had cut into the fire, and soon the crackling sound could be heard.