A beast, shaped like a large cat. It was taller than a dog, but not as long. Its body was stout, its tail short, and a tuft of black, upright fur sprouted from the tip of each ear.
The beast had a paw clamped on the Yellow Dog's neck, seemingly pinning it to the ground with no effort at all.
Da Huang, a dog weighing over a hundred pounds, was pinned by the beast's one paw. Its front legs and the entire front half of its body were pressed tight against the ground, but its hindquarters strained continuously, its back legs kicking at the dirt in a desperate struggle, yet it couldn't break free.
Just then, Hua Gou attacked from the side. The beast turned its head and bared its teeth at Hua Gou.
Shockingly, Hua Gou—the dog famed as the number one dog of Yong'an Forest Farm, the one that dared to fight Black Bears and wild boars—actually backed down.
BANG!
The gun went off.
The beast released the Yellow Dog and bolted.
Not far away, Zhao Jun, who had just loaded a single bullet into the chamber, raised his gun to find the beast, but it had already vanished.
"Quick, check on the dog!" Zhao Jun called out to Li Baoyu. The two of them hurried toward the Yellow Dog.
The Yellow Dog shook its head and staggered to its feet. Blood was flowing from its neck.
Zhao Jun reached the Yellow Dog, put down his gun, and unwrapped his leg bindings to wrap around the dog's neck.
Seeing blood soak through the bindings, Li Baoyu frantically started unwrapping his own.
The two of them worked for a good while before they finally managed to bandage Da Huang.
Looking at the Yellow Dog, which seemed to be okay for the most part, Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu exchanged a glance, a wave of fear washing over them in hindsight.
"Brother, was that a Tiger cub?"
"Yeah," Zhao Jun nodded. He knew "Tiger cub" was just what the mountain folk called that beast.
To be precise, that thing was called a Lynx.
Li Baoyu gently stroked Da Huang's neck and murmured, "I've heard my grandpa say those things are fierce, but I never expected Da Huang to be like a little kitten in front of it."
Zhao Jun shook his head, looking silently in the direction the Lynx had vanished.
Li Baoyu spoke again, "Brother, if you'd shot it just now, isn't its pelt worth even more than a Black Bear's gall?"
Zhao Jun laughed. "My friend, it had Da Huang pinned. How could I dare to shoot? What if I hit Da Huang?"
Seeing Li Baoyu still didn't get it, Zhao Jun added, "That shot I fired was into the air."
Hearing this, Li Baoyu finally understood.
Just then, Zhao Jun had already walked back to pick up the Bear's Paws he and Li Baoyu had dropped earlier.
Even as Li Baoyu took the two Bear's Paws, tied together with a rope, from Zhao Jun's hands, he still seemed a little reluctant to let it go. He asked Zhao Jun, "Brother, how can we hunt that thing?"
Zhao Jun shook his head. "It's tough. It's too alert and runs too fast. You can't get a clear shot."
"What if we borrow a few dogs to corner it?" Li Baoyu pressed.
Zhao Jun shook his head again. "If you can't surround it, any number of dogs will just die. If you do surround it, the dogs will swarm it and tear it to shreds."
At this point, seeing Li Baoyu was still confused, Zhao Jun explained, "You hunt it for the pelt, right? If it's torn to pieces, what's left?"
As they spoke, the two of them had already slung the Bear's Paws over their shoulders. Zhao Jun whistled, and the two hounds, their spirits a little low, got up, ready to head back.
Just then, Li Baoyu suddenly remembered something and asked, "Brother, does that thing live here at Naoxia Pond?"
"Mhm, that's right." Zhao Jun nodded, looking around. "It should live right around here."
"Then if we leave the Black Bear here, won't that thing get to it tonight?"
"Did you forget? That creature eats its food live. It doesn't eat carrion."
"Oh... right!"
...
Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu, each carrying two Bear's Paws, headed home with the two dogs.
As they walked, Hua Gou suddenly seemed to regain its spirit. It ran ahead, tirelessly dashing up ridges and down into gullies.
The injured Yellow Dog, however, was the complete opposite of Hua Gou. It stuck close to Li Baoyu's side, never straying a single step.
Li Baoyu noticed something was off with Hua Gou and asked Zhao Jun worriedly, "Brother, is Hua Xiao'er going to be okay, acting like this?"
Zhao Jun glanced at Hua Gou and shook his head. "It's fine. He's a stubborn dog. He lost face just now, and his pride is wounded."
By the time Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu were about to enter the village, it was already past one in the afternoon.
Outside the village were stacks upon stacks of branches.
Winter was coming soon, and the villagers had to prepare firewood.
This was where you could see the advantage of living right by the mountains. In their spare time, the villagers would go into the mountains to gather fallen twigs and branches.
When they ran out of space in their yards, they would create these stacks outside the village. The stacks were usually placed on the sunny side to help them dry and prevent dampness.
Zhao Jun took off his gun and tucked it into his family's woodpile.
The afternoon was different from the morning. The village was full of people coming and going. If he was seen carrying a gun, word would inevitably get back to his parents, and he'd probably get a good beating.
Sure enough, the moment they entered the village, the Bear's Paws on their shoulders attracted attention.
Fortunately, on the way back, Zhao Jun had already coached Li Baoyu on a story to tell people just like this.
Of course, his main concern was dealing with their parents.
So, from the moment they entered the village, whenever anyone asked, they said that the two of them had originally gone into the mountains to dig for badgers but had an incredible stroke of luck and found a freshly dead Black Bear.
Their story made the villagers incredibly envious. Everyone clamored that once they brought the Black Bear back tomorrow, they had to share some of the meat with everybody.
To this, Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu agreed in unison.
In those days, you could eat something all by yourself, but you had to do it behind closed doors.
This Black Bear was different from the wild boar the other day. When they used a cart to haul it back tomorrow, it would be impossible for people not to see.
Once they each got home, Zhao Jun hurried inside. After changing his clothes, he didn't even have time to eat before he started scrubbing the wok and boiling water.
He first scrubbed his family's large iron wok seven or eight times to ensure it was completely free of oil, then boiled a full wok of water.
Once the water in the wok was boiling, Zhao Jun took the Bear Gall out of its cloth bag, tied it with a thin string, and, holding the string, dipped the Bear Gall into the boiling water.
As the boiling water covered the Bear Gall, it quickly shriveled.
At that moment, Zhao Jun lifted the string, pulling the Bear Gall out of the water. He took it out of the house and went to the storeroom, where he hung it in a cool, shady spot.
What was Zhao Jun doing?
As it turned out, there was a whole process for handling a Bear Gall, from the moment it was removed from a Black Bear's abdomen to the time it was sold at the state-owned store.
After a Black Bear dies, the gall must be removed as quickly as possible. Otherwise, the bile will be absorbed by the liver. If that happens, the Bear Gall becomes worthless.
But if you took the freshly removed Bear Gall directly to the state-owned store, they wouldn't accept it either. They ran a general store, after all, not an apothecary.
The Bear Gall had to be taken home first and dipped in hot water.
The hot water dip would make the Bear Gall shrink. Then, it was hung in a cool, shady place. After some time, the Bear Gall would swell up again.
At that point, it was dipped in hot water again, and it would shrink once more. After shrinking, it was hung back in the cool, shady spot.
This process was repeated over and over until the Bear Gall no longer expanded after being dipped in hot water, no matter how it was hung. This meant the bile had been completely absorbed by the gallbladder wall.
A Bear Gall like this could then be taken down the mountain to be exchanged for money.