Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 478: You almost let the black bear escape. You are such a bad temper.
At four o'clock in the morning, the deep roar of a bear echoed in the forest. The black bear, which had gone mad due to the wire strangling its neck, rubbed its head against the bark of the tree. This form of self-mutilation might alleviate the pain of the wound on its face.

Xu Ning stood behind three connected crooked trees and slowly placed the 56 and a half in the middle of the tree trunks. He kept squatting to adjust the position.

Because the closer the forest is to the Hetao, the more lush the vegetation is, and there are many messy branches and half-man-high grass in front of him. Fortunately, he is on high ground, otherwise he would not be able to see the movements of the blind man clearly.

Xu Ning estimated that Sun Jiye and Liu Zhu should have arrived, so he pointed his gun at the crazy Hei Xia Zi.

But the opposite happened. The black bear seemed to have heard the noise. It turned around and ran towards the Toad Valley at the foot of the mountain, and the roar in its mouth stopped at the same time.

Xu Ning looked up in surprise. The black bear turned around and ran away, leaving him with a black butt. What should he do?

He quickly pulled out his 56-and-a-half rifle and headed down the mountain, shouting, "Uncle San! Shoot!"

Bang!
Sun Jiye's position was not very good either. He was to the side of Hei Xia Zi, but his vision was blocked by the branches. In addition, he had to wait for Hei Xia Zi to run down a few meters before he could fire his gun, otherwise he might easily hurt Liu Zhu and the other man on the opposite side by mistake.

"Fuck you! I'll kill you!"

Liu Zhu hated the black bear so much that he handed over his double-barreled shotgun and pulled the trigger. However, there were more small trees in front of him and the single-barreled bullet hit the tree trunk.

"Zhu Zi! Turn on the flashlights. Save some bullets and don't fire any gunshots..."

Xu Ning's reminder was crucial. Liu Zhu was a little too excited. After seeing the ferocious beast, he didn't consider the consequences of not hitting it. He only thought about killing the black blind man.

The black bear made faint roars as it ran towards Toad Valley. In its current state, it could not survive the hunter's gun. Bears are smart animals. Maybe if they see it standing upright and looking at people curiously, or if they see it waving at people in the zoo, they will think the black bear is cute.

In fact, this is not the case. Wild black blinds are very vigilant. Even if they are injured, they will run away without hesitation when encountering danger.

"Erning, there's a big ditch ahead!"

Fortunately, Sun Jiye reminded him in time, otherwise Xu Ning would have jumped into the ditch. He quickly stopped, then sat down with his legs on the edge of the ditch and slid down on his buttocks.

"Uncle San, don't let it jump into the river. The water is rising now, and we won't be able to catch up with it if it jumps into the river!"

The black bear ran down the mountain very quickly, and ran more than ten meters in just six or seven seconds. After Xu Ning climbed out of the big ditch, he vaguely saw a black shadow about to run to the bank of the Toad Ditch.

"It can't run away!"

Sun Jiye fired three shots in succession, two of which hit the black bear's butt, but its skin was thick and it didn't feel anything at all.

At this time, Xu Ning was standing on a big ditch and was about to run down the mountain when he suddenly felt that his vision became wider. The trees in front of him were scattered and messy, but there was a gap between him and Hei Xia Zi, just enough for him to see Hei Xia Zi's shaking head.

Its front limbs had already entered the river. Xu Ning decisively raised his gun and, with the help of the flashlights of Sun Jiye, Liu Zhu and the other three, he pulled the trigger with his index finger.

Bang!Bang!
Two bullets flew out one after the other, the sound of gunfire was deafening, and the next moment the black bear, who was about to jump into the river, dived headfirst onto the rocky beach.

"Fuck! Piss!"

When Liu Zhu saw Hei Xia Zi become paralyzed instantly, he immediately shouted, "Uncle Xu, it's accurate!"

The person following Sun Jiye was stunned. He didn't expect that Xu Ning could kill the black bear in the dark sky and on the edge of the mountain with such poor visibility. You have to know that Xu Ning's angle was very tricky. He was standing behind the right of the black bear, unlike Sun Jiye and Liu Zhu who were on both sides of the black bear.

"What a fucking jerk! No wonder he dares to call me Xiao Xupao."

Sun Jiye ran forward and said with a smile: "This is the best gun in Qing'an that I invited. Do you think the handle can be bad? Zhuzi, hurry up and shoot!"

"Got it."

Liu Zhu arrived near Hei Xia Zi first. The person behind him shone a flashlight, and he raised his double-barreled shotgun and fired two shots at Hei Xia Zi's head.

At this time, Sun Jiye and the other man came up to him, shone their flashlights around, and said, "If it moves half a step forward, it will fall into the river. Hurry and pull it out. Erning, your two shots were really accurate, one in the head and one in the neck. Look at the bloody hole."

Xu Ning came late with a 56 semi-automatic rifle on his back, and said with a smile: "Oh my god, it almost got away! I fired the gun. Just now when I climbed out of the ditch, I thought the view was good. Then I looked up and saw the head of the black bear. If I don't kill it now, how can I keep it for the New Year?"

"Hahaha, great job!"

Liu Zhu and his two companions dragged the black bear's body back five or six meters. Then Liu Zhu pulled out his boning knife and stabbed it into the bear's neck. The blood slowly flowed onto the stone beach.

At this moment, everyone was very relaxed, and Liu Zhu was especially happy. He had originally decided to return to the village when it was raining, but he never expected that after the rain stopped, he would see a new village!
Only Xu Ning stood at the edge of the mountain, sometimes using a flashlight to illuminate the river and sometimes looking into the distance.

Sun Jiye crossed his arms, glanced at Liu Zhu who was cutting open the black bear, and said, "Erning, what are you thinking about?"

Xu Ning turned around and said, "I still don't think it's possible. In just a short while, the river water has almost risen to my feet. Let's drag Hei Xiazi up the mountain again."

"Okay!" Sun Jiye urged without hesitation: "Zhu Zi, the three of you help Hei Xia Zi up the mountain."

"Where are you pulling it to? There is no flat ground on this mountain, it's all branches..."

Xu Ning pointed to a spot about thirty meters up the mountain and said, "Just pull it over there. It's not certain if we can open it up by the river."

"That's fine."

Liu Zhu inserted the boning knife into the bear's belly and cut out the gallbladder with a little force. Then he ran to Xu Ning and said, "Uncle Xu, keep this gallbladder."

Xu Ning was a little hesitant. If he accepted the bear gall without being polite in front of two unfamiliar people, it would easily give people something to talk about. If he was polite to Liu Zhu, what if the river flooded and drowned the five of them? What would they do?

Sun Jiye urged, "Erning, hurry up and catch up, the water will rise soon."

"Well, I won't be polite then."

Liu Zhu smiled and turned back to the black bear, saying, "Why are you being polite? If you hadn't come, we wouldn't have been able to find this black bear. The last twenty or so people couldn't find it, and I almost gave up when it rained heavily just now. Luckily you insisted on continuing to look for it."

Sun Jiye stepped forward to lend a hand and said, "Erning, you haven't eaten bear meat for a long time, right? When we take this black bear home, I'll leave two thighs and ribs for you."

Xu Ning smiled and said, "Okay, there happens to be a group of people building a house at home, let them all have a taste then."

"That's not bad. Building a house requires more than 20 people to help. It takes a lot of effort to prepare a meal a day..."

Sun Jiye looked at the people around Liu Zhu and said, "There are more than 40 people helping Erning's family. His family provides three meals a day."

"Oh my god, how much food do we need to prepare? Brother Xu, even if you are a good hunter, you can't do it like this."

Liu Zhu said: "My uncle Xu is very particular about his work. With so many people helping to build the house, the progress is fast."

"We built two houses, otherwise more than 40 people wouldn't be able to move around in front of the house. Okay, just leave it there, and quickly take out the lanterns and hang them up and go back."

Xu Ning explained that he had already put the bear gall into a small cloth bag and put it in the inner pocket of his jacket. This bear gall belonged to him. Sun Jiye, Liu Zhu and the other two had no objection. After all, Xu Ning came to help. If it weren't for him, they would definitely not have been able to shoot the black bear. Besides, he was the one who shot the black bear to death. Some people say that the mountain rules are made by the mountain runners, and they are also the first to break them. There is nothing wrong with this, because the people who make the rules are often the first to break them.

At this time, Xu Ning did not talk about the mountain rules, because Sun Jiye had revealed to him in Hamagou that Liu Zhu was willing, and he would definitely give those two people benefits. He couldn't let people go into the mountains with him and suffer for a night in vain.

When Liu Zhu threw the lantern onto the tree branch, the five people heard a loud "boom", and then the water level in the Toad Valley surged, the current was turbulent and fierce, and the sound of splashing was deafening.

Liu Zhu shouted loudly: "Thank goodness my uncle Xu reminded us, otherwise we would have been washed away by the flood."

"Not bad, little Xu Pao does have experience, has he encountered this before?"

Xu Ning waved his hand: "I have never encountered such a thing. I heard from the old people who hike in the mountains that if it rains in the mountains, you can't go to the river. It's just like when my parents told me not to go ice skating at the end of March when I was a child."

"That's right. I've been hiking in the mountains for more than ten years, but I basically never go into the mountains on rainy days, always on sunny days."

Sun Jiye nodded: "How can you go hiking in the mountains in June? The mountains are so densely packed with trees that you can't even go hiking. Besides, it's the busy farming season now and every family has to work on the land, so there's no time for hiking."

Liu Zhu tied up the disemboweled black bear with a rope and raised his head and said, "This is my third time going into the mountains in June. The previous two times were for walking traps and picking mushrooms..."

"Well, I don't dare to enter such a dense forest in summer or autumn. I have a wife and children at home waiting for food. I dare to enter in winter..."

The five people chatted while dragging Black Bear westward. There was no road in the mountain at all, so they could only go through the less dense forest. Even with three people dragging Black Bear, they walked very slowly.

They had only walked more than half of the way when the sky turned pale. By this time, the five of them were already starving. The biscuits, caozigao, wine and food had already been eaten. Liu Zhu slapped his thigh from time to time, regretting why he didn't take more caozigao.

Sun Jiye said: "It's not that bad. At worst, there is still a black bear. I'm really hungry now. I can roast some bear meat over a fire."

"I'm also very hungry. Besides, Wang Ye is waiting for the spirit to come out. It's almost six o'clock now. We have to work harder."

"Yeah, it's okay to go hungry."

After several people persuaded him, Liu Zhu felt better.

At around 7 o'clock, the five people finally walked out of the mountain. Just as they were walking on the mountain road leading to Dahe Village, Xu Ning saw a Dongfeng bus driving fast from behind.

When the driver of the Dongfeng car saw them dragging the black bear, he excitedly slapped the steering wheel and shouted, "Brother! You are so angry!"

Sun Lianjun, who was sitting in the passenger seat, blushed and was also very excited. He said, "I knew that Brother Ning's move would definitely work. My father also told me not to be too absolute, sister, right?"

Sun Lianfang stepped on the brake and slowly stopped the car. She said, "That's right. My father always taught me to leave room for what I say and do. He said I should leave room for others and myself. Do I need to use the room?"

"Hahaha, well, let's just take the flat road!"

After the car stopped, the two men pushed the car open and jumped out.

Sun Jiye asked with a smile: "How did you two know we were leaving the mountain from here?"

Sun Lianfang grinned and said, "How would we know? My dad sent five cars at around five this morning to go back and forth from our village to Xiaohetou. We've been driving around for more than two hours."

"Okay, this is a very stable job. Jun, please help Hei Xia Zi get the car on board. Your brother Zhuzi is almost exhausted."

In fact, Liu Zhu was the most energetic, because he had something on his mind, not only was he not sleepy, but he was very excited. He hardly took a break while pulling black bears in the mountains, he just kept pulling...

"I'm fine! Has my uncle Wang prepared the food at home?"

"It's ready. We won't eat before five o'clock."

We have to eat two meals this morning. The first one is at around four o'clock. One group of people has to go up the mountain with pickaxes and shovels to dig holes. The second group is the relatives and friends who follow the funeral.

It took a lot of effort to load this 400-pound black bear into the trunk. Xu Ning and Sun Jieye worked together to lift the bar. Liu Zhu and Sun Lianjun climbed into the trunk. Sun Jieye put his arm around Xu Ning's shoulders and got into the passenger seat. Sun Lianfang drove the car back to Dahe Village.

There was a mourning shed in the front yard of Lao Wang's house, with a group of people standing beside it. Sister Hong threw yellow paper into the brazier. There were five tables in the house, and the food on four of them had been touched. Only the food on the kang table in the east room had not been touched. People who occasionally came in to eat would just glance at the food on the kang table, then pick up their chopsticks and sit in front of the floor table to clean up the leftovers.

Wang Ye's mother was sent to the house next door, and the child was taken away by Sun Jiwei's wife. The Wang family was noisy and it was easy for the child to be bumped into. Wang Ye's father, who had lost a leg, sat on the edge of the kang in the west room, smoking with a sad face and looking out the window from time to time...

At this time, the Dongfeng bus stopped at the door. People standing in the yard, at the door, or under the wall all turned their heads to stare. When they saw that it was Sun Jiye, they all moved towards the front of the car.

"It's dead! It's in the back car, help the pillar to get it down."

"Got it."

Everyone moved to the rear of the car, and Wang Qiang, who was wearing mourning clothes, said, "Uncle San, there is food on the kang in the east room, go and have a bite."

"Oh, don't worry. Hong, let me introduce you. This is my niece's husband's brother-in-law, elder brother Xu Ning. It was thanks to him that we were able to find this black bear."

There were two lines of tears on Sister Hong's face. She said, "Thank you, Brother Xu, for your help. My Ye Zi can rest in peace now."

When Xu Ning got off the car, he was still holding a piece of yellow paper in his hand and said, "Don't be polite. Wang Ye and Liu Zhu went to the mountain to pick me up, so it's only right for me to see him off."

An old man stood at the door and said, "Hong, this guy didn't come empty-handed. You and Xiaoqiang should quickly prepare to return the favor."

"Eh!"

Hong Sao and Wang Qiang returned to the mourning shed. Xu Ning placed the yellow paper in his hand next to the brazier and bowed three times to the coffin. Hong Sao and Wang Qiang kowtowed three times in return.

Then Mrs. Hong burned a few pieces of the yellow paper sent by Xu Ning in the brazier and kept the rest, because the paper had to be kept for three years.

Outside the door, after the crowd unloaded Hei Xia Zi, they carried him to the gate of the courtyard. Liu Zhu looked up at the spirit shed and said, "Brother, I have avenged you! You can go with peace of mind. I can't just stare at what's going on at home. I will help those who need help!"

After saying that, Liu Zhu lowered his head and cut off the bear's head. He held the bear's head and placed it on the altar, then stuffed a few pieces of paper into the brazier.

Sun Jiye, Xu Ning, Sun Lianjun and others walked into the east room. Wang Ye's father was standing in the outer room with his crutches. He was in a daze for a few seconds after seeing them.

"Brother, please go to the west room. The master won't let you leave." Sun Jiye reminded.

"I know, I just can't sit still..."

"You must feel bad about this, but we have to live our lives our own way. We can't live in the past."

Wang Ye's father nodded: "I know, this is Xiao Xu Pao, right? I always hear Ye Zi talking about you."

"Uncle, my name is Xu Ning, you can just call me Er Ning."

(End of this chapter)