Chapter 288: Chapter 242: Worthy of This Life
Inside the Black Bear’s chest cavity, its heart, liver, gall, and spleen were all gone. Only a piece of brisket cartilage was left dangling.
Hearing Xing San’s cry of alarm, Zhao Jun examined the wounds on the Black Bear’s sides and realized what had happened. His single shot had entered under the bear’s armpit and passed through its chest, severing the brisket cartilage. This caused the entire cluster of thoracic organs to drop into its abdominal cavity.
Sure enough, when Zhao Jun cut open the Black Bear’s belly, he had to pull the liver and gall out from among the intestines.
That’s a bear for you. Its thoracic organs were dislodged, it fell from a tree five meters high, and it still fought with the dogs for nearly twenty minutes. Its life force was truly tenacious.
Zhao Jun removed the Bear Gall, put it in a small cloth pouch, and said to Xing San, "Uncle, I’ll hold onto this for now. Once I sell it, I’ll bring you the money."
"Yeah, that’s fine." Xing San waved his hand dismissively, then pointed at the Black Bear and said to Zhao Jun, "Dig out that kneecap for me. I’ll take it home to soak in wine."
"Alright."
Bear kneecaps, also known as "fake tiger bones," were used to make medicinal wine for treating rheumatism and rheumatoid arthritis.
Zhao Jun skillfully carved the kneecap from the bear’s leg and handed it to Xing San. After Xing San placed it in a small cloth sack, Zhao Jun asked him, "Uncle, do you want the Bear Nose?"
"No." Xing San shook his head. "I don’t have any use for that thing. You take it. Give it to whoever can use it."
"Okay then." Zhao Jun cut off the Bear Nose, then looked up at Xing San and asked, "Uncle, after we skin and dress this bear, there’ll still be a hundred pounds of meat or so. I can find a sled for you to haul it back. If you store it in a shady place, it should last you a while."
"I’ll have to trouble you then, my boy," Xing San said. "I won’t stand on ceremony then. I’ll take it back, render some fat, and bury the lean meat in the deep snow on a North-facing Slope. It’ll last me a good half a month."
By April, the snow on the sunny slopes of the mountain would have melted, but the snow on the north-facing slopes would last until mid-April or later. Burying the bear meat in it would keep it fresh for another twenty days without any problem.
Zhao Jun cut off some bear meat to feed the dogs and asked Xing San, "Uncle, are you able to walk on your own now?"
"I can. Don’t worry, I’m alright now."
"You gave us quite a scare," Zhao Jun said with a smile, pointing to the slope they had climbed. "I’ve got the dogs with me, so I won’t walk you down. Just follow this slope down, and when you reach the bottom, head south. Once you get on the sled path, go east until you reach the No. 77 Logging Camp. Find their Leader, Du Chunjiang, and tell him I sent you. Ask him to have his younger brother bring a sled to help you haul this Black Bear back."
"Will it be alright to owe him a favor like that?" Xing San said, a little hesitant. "I don’t want to cause you more trouble."
"It’s no trouble," Zhao Jun said. "I have some business with him, so he’ll be more than happy to help. I won’t let him lose out in the future."
"Ah, alright then." Hearing this, Xing San smiled at Zhao Jun. "If you put it that way, then I won’t stand on ceremony."
"That’s the spirit." Fearing Xing San might forget, Zhao Jun repeated the instructions one more time, "Uncle, make sure you remember: go to the No. 77 Logging Camp, find Du Chunjiang, and have him arrange for his third younger brother to help you."
"Yep, got it," Xing San said as he picked up his rifle and tapped it to knock the snow out of the barrel.
Once he was done, Xing San said to Zhao Jun, "Well, my boy, I’m heading off then."
"Alright. Take it slow, then."
Not long after Xing San left, Zhao Jun finished feeding the dogs. He had only cut a strip of meat from the Black Bear’s belly, leaving the rest, including the Bear’s Paws, for Xing San.
As for that strip of meat, he planned to take it back to feed Xiaohua, Li Baoyu’s dog.
Xiaohua was the offspring of Xu Changlin’s old female dog and a Cyan Wolf. Her pedigree was definitely not a problem. As long as a good lead dog guided her a couple of times, Xiaohua would absolutely turn out to be a great hunter.
If he hadn’t been hunting a Black Bear today, he would have brought her along. He’d just been worried her inexperience would get her hurt if she charged in recklessly.
But this was fine too. Giving her this meat to eat would get Xiaohua interested in Black Bears early on. If she really was the makings of a lead dog, it would become clear once they were up in the mountains.
Zhao Jun whistled, and the four well-fed dogs scrambled to their feet and followed him back home.
Back home, after settling the dogs, Zhao Jun went inside and gave the Bear Gall to Wang Meilan.
"Oh my!" The moment Wang Meilan saw the Bear Gall, she broke into a grin so wide it couldn’t be contained. Wiping her hands on her apron, she said with a laugh, "My son got another Black Bear!"
Zhao Jun took off his padded cotton jacket, hung it behind the door, and looked outside with a smile. "Ma, there’s no Black Bear meat to eat this time."
"Who did you give it to?" As they say, no one knows a son better than his mother. Wang Meilan knew her boy had a good heart, just like her.
"Yeah," Zhao Jun said. "There was an old man in the mountains, all by himself and having a hard time, so I gave it all to him."
Wang Meilan added firewood to the stove pit as she said, "That’s fine, give it to him. It’s not like our family is wanting for a meal."
In this day and age, there were probably very few people in the entire Forest Area who could say something like that.
But Wang Meilan, with a son as capable as hers, had that kind of confidence.
After scalding the Bear Gall in a large pot of boiling water, Wang Meilan sliced some pickled cabbage to temper a broth and cooked some dried noodles for Zhao Jun.
With the Qingming Festival just around the corner, the pickled cabbage would soon go bad. Wang Meilan planned to take all the cabbage out of the crock later and make a batch of pickled cabbage dumplings.
If they didn’t eat it now, they’d have to wait until winter came again.
When the noodles in seasoned broth were ready, Zhao Jun held his small basin and slurped them down noisily.
In those days, dried noodles were a real delicacy—not something you could get even if you had money. This bundle had been painstakingly saved up, bit by bit, by Zhao Youcai from the leadership’s food rations.
After finishing his noodles, Zhao Jun took a nap and woke up to find it was already dark. He lay on his side, thinking about a few things, when he heard Li Baoyu’s voice from the outer room.
Knowing the kid would be coming in any second, Zhao Jun got up from the kang.
Sure enough, the door was pushed open and Li Baoyu came in with a grin. "Brother," he said, "how big was the bear you got today?"
As soon as Li Baoyu got home, he saw that their Da Huang’s belly was round and full, and the dog was lying in its bed groaning contentedly. He knew right away that Zhao Jun had killed another bear.
"Around two hundred jin," Zhao Jun said after a moment’s thought. "Did you talk to Second Brother about taking time off?"
"Yeah, I did," Li Baoyu said, sitting sideways on the kang. "I’m not an official employee yet, so no one at work really minds me. As long as Brother Shunzi gives the nod, I’m good to go."
"You’ll get your official post soon enough, don’t worry." Zhao Jun laughed. "Your father’s been transferred to the dispatch office. How could they not give you a permanent spot?"
Zhao Jun wasn’t exaggerating. The Forest Farm’s dispatch office managed not only production scheduling but also vehicle dispatch.
If the son of the dispatch team’s deputy chief couldn’t even get a permanent position in the motor pool, wouldn’t that be the biggest joke in the world?
It was just that Li Dayong had only been in his new post for a few days, so he couldn’t immediately arrange a position for his own son.
But Li Baoyu’s appointment to a permanent position definitely wouldn’t be delayed for long.
’This is probably one of the changes my rebirth has brought to the people around me,’ Zhao Jun thought.
In his past life, Li Dayong had been nothing more than an ordinary worker by the time he retired, and Li Baoyu had to work in the motor pool for three years before he was made a permanent employee.
"Baoyu, stay for dinner tonight. Auntie is making you dumplings."
Just then, Wang Meilan’s voice came from the outer room. Hearing her words warmed Zhao Jun’s heart. ’If my rebirth can make life better for the people around me,’ he thought, ’then it will all have been worth it.’
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