Chapter 168: Chapter 143: Tug-of-War with Xiong Ba
The day Zhang Yuanmin and Li Baoyu parted ways at the village entrance, Zhang Yuanmin went straight to the Li Family’s home.
As he entered the Li Family Courtyard, he saw Li Dayong climbing over the wall, trying to get to Zhao Jun’s family home.
Zhang Yuanmin thought, ’If Li Dayong leaves, who am I going to get dynamite from? I can’t let him get away.’
At that thought, Zhang Yuanmin let out a great yell, "Uncle Li!"
The shout made Li Dayong jump, and the leg he had just hooked over the wall slipped right off.
Li Dayong glanced toward the gate and saw it was Zhang Yuanmin. Annoyed, he asked, "Big Pants, what do you want?"
Zhang Yuanmin trotted over to Li Dayong and said, "Uncle Li, I need to talk to you about something."
Ordinarily, Li Dayong might not have given him the time of day. But he had recently heard that Zhang Yuanmin was getting close with the Zhao Family, so he asked patiently, "What is it? Go on."
Zhang Yuanmin grinned. "I want to get some dynamite from you. Some blasting caps... and some fuse, too."
Hearing this, Li Dayong looked Zhang Yuanmin up and down and asked, "What are you going to do with all that stuff?"
"Baoyu told me there’s a Bear Dominator Den in the mountains with a Big Bear Dominator living in it. I want to use dynamite to blow it to kingdom come."
"What was that?" Li Dayong frowned. "A Xiong Ba? How big would that be? If you blow it up inside the den, how are you going to get it out?"
Zhang Yuanmin didn’t hide anything from Li Dayong, laying out his brilliant plan in full detail.
After listening, Li Dayong thought it over. Zhang Yuanmin’s method seemed pretty good—no danger involved, and he could still kill the Xiong Ba and get the Bear Gall.
So, Li Dayong gave Zhang Yuanmin a rare compliment: "I’ll be damned. You’re actually pretty smart, kid."
Zhang Yuanmin chuckled. "Of course. Everyone says I’m the Little Zhuge of our Yong’an Village."
"Little Zhuge..." Li Dayong laughed. When it came to books, he was quite the scholar himself. He immediately retorted, "Just as long as you’re not a Jiang Gan."
"Jiang Gan?" Zhang Yuanmin paused, taken aback. "Who’s that? Which village is he from?"
Hearing this, Li Dayong shook his head speechlessly. He waved Zhang Yuanmin over to follow him.
Li Dayong led Zhang Yuanmin into the storehouse and took down an elmwood box from a high shelf.
Li Dayong opened the wooden box in front of Zhang Yuanmin. Inside were four small tubes of dynamite, similar in appearance to firecrackers, about four centimeters in diameter and wrapped in Butter Paper.
Besides these four small tubes of dynamite, there were also two blasting caps and a roll of fuse.
Li Dayong glanced at Zhang Yuanmin, closed the box, and said, "This is all I have left. You can have it all."
"Thanks, Uncle Li." Zhang Yuanmin picked up the box and said to Li Dayong, "I told Baoyu that if we take down this Xiong Ba, he gets a share."
Li Dayong was pleased to hear that. According to Zhang Yuanmin’s plan, killing this Xiong Ba was a sure thing.
"Uncle Li, I’m heading out now."
Zhang Yuanmin left the Li Family Courtyard with the box. Li Dayong went back to the wall between his and the Zhao Family’s property. Just as he put his foot on the wall again, Zhang Yuanmin’s voice sounded in his ear once more.
"Uncle Li."
"What is it now?"
Zhang Yuanmin chuckled. "Could I borrow your skis?"
"They’re in the storehouse. Go get them yourself."
"Alrighty then." Zhang Yuanmin retrieved the skis from the Li Family’s storehouse and left, carrying the box in one arm and the skis in the other.
Watching Zhang Yuanmin leave his home, Li Dayong waited by the wall for a few seconds. Seeing that he wasn’t coming back, he finally climbed over into the Zhao Family’s yard.
After leaving Li Dayong’s house, Zhang Yuanmin hurried home. He put away the box of dynamite and the skis, then went inside and sat on the kang, running his brilliant plan over in his mind.
Just as Zhang Yuanmin was tying his leg bindings, Yang Yufeng called from the outer room, "Your auntie brought over a rack of wild boar ribs and two pig thighs this morning. I’ll stew some ribs with dried potatoes for dinner tonight."
"Go ahead and stew them," Zhang Yuanmin said without looking up, still busy with his leg bindings.
Yang Yufeng added, "Brother Zhao Jun and his family have been so good to us. When he gets married, we should give them a generous gift."
"Mhm," Zhang Yuanmin said. "Once I kill the Xiong Ba today, we’ll have money."
"Say what?" The CLANG of an aluminum basin hitting the floor came from the outer room. Yang Yufeng rushed into the inner room, saw how Zhang Yuanmin was dressed, and demanded, "Where do you think you’re going?"
"I’m going into the mountains to kill a Xiong Ba."
"You’ve got to be fucking kidding me." Yang Yufeng panicked. Zhang Yuanmin had only hunted a Xiong Cangzi twice in his entire life, and both times he had narrowly escaped death. Now he wanted to go a third time? There was no way Yang Yufeng would allow it.
Faced with Yang Yufeng’s doubt and opposition, Zhang Yuanmin explained his brilliant plan to her as well.
"I’ll take the blasting caps and dynamite, go to that spot... blow its legs off! What’s there to be afraid of then? I’ll finish it off with my Large Axe!"
Yang Yufeng was still angry at first, but by the time he finished, a smile had appeared on her face.
Many of the Yang Family were hunters. She had never hunted herself, but she understood the basics.
Hearing Zhang Yuanmin’s explanation, Yang Yufeng couldn’t help but think it was an excellent plan.
And its brilliance lay in its high degree of safety—there would be no danger.
But even so, Yang Yufeng tried to persuade him, "Dear, why don’t you take someone with you?"
"Why bring someone else?" Zhang Yuanmin said. "If I bring someone else, doesn’t that just mean one more person to split the money with?"
"But it’d be safer," Yang Yufeng reasoned with him. "A Big Bear Dominator isn’t like other animals. Even if its legs are crippled, you won’t be able to get close with just a Large Axe. Wouldn’t it be better to find someone with a gun to go with you? After you injure the Xiong Ba with the explosion, he could finish it off with a couple of shots."
Hearing this, Zhang Yuanmin thought for a moment and said, "Fine. I’ll go get Chen Dalai."
"Oh, give me a break," Yang Yufeng said. "The last time you took him, you botched the hunt. Chen Dalai said when he got back that he’d never go into the mountains with you again."
"Hah!" Zhang Yuanmin stood up and sneered, "I’ll go ask him this time. Just you watch and see if he comes with me or not."
After saying this, Zhang Yuanmin headed out. Yang Yufeng quickly put on her padded cotton jacket to see him off.
Zhang Yuanmin went straight to Chen Dalai’s house and told him to come with him to hunt the Bear Dominator Den.
As soon as Chen Dalai heard this, he shook his head so fast it looked like a pellet drum.
Seeing his reaction, Zhang Yuanmin laughed heartily and explained his plan once again.
In just one morning, Zhang Yuanmin had already explained it four times.
But no matter who it was—be it Li Baoyu, Li Dayong, Yang Yufeng, or now Chen Dalai—as soon as they heard Zhang Yuanmin’s plan, they were instantly convinced.
Once Chen Dalai agreed, Zhang Yuanmin took him to Zhao Jun’s family home and borrowed Zhao Jun’s pair of skis as well.
Early the next morning, Zhang Yuanmin ate breakfast, got dressed, and left the house. He went to the storehouse, first slinging his Mirror-Like Large Axe over his back, then walked out of the courtyard carrying the box of dynamite in one arm and the skis in the other.
Yang Yufeng called out from behind him, "Dear, be careful."
Zhang Yuanmin met up with Chen Dalai, and the two of them left the village for the mountains, skiing all the way to the spot Li Baoyu had mentioned.
Looking up at the large, two-meter-high rock formation and then down at the stone cave at their feet, Chen Dalai asked Zhang Yuanmin, "Is this the place?"
"It is," Zhang Yuanmin said, looking around. "There aren’t any other rock formations around here. Besides, look at the size of this cave."
But Chen Dalai shook his head. "You can’t be sure."
An Earth Granary isn’t like a tree den. In the winter, if there’s a living creature inside a tree den, its breathing and body heat will cause white frost to form around the opening.
But with a rock den, there’s no way to tell.
"Wait, I’ll poke it with a stick." After saying this, Zhang Yuanmin walked to one side, used his Large Axe to chop down a small tree, trimmed off the excess branches, and began probing inside the cave with the resulting pole.
He had just started probing when he exclaimed, "Hey, there’s something in here!"
As he spoke, he felt the pole he’d stuck into the den get grabbed by something. What’s more, it was forcefully pulling the pole deeper inside.
"Agh!" Zhang Yuanmin’s immediate reaction was to grip the pole with both hands, plant his feet together, and pull back with all his might.
Seeing this, Chen Dalai was horrified and yelled, "Are you a fucking idiot? That’s the Xiong Ba!"
