CHAPTER 124: CHAPTER 100: HUNTING

Zhang Guoqing brought along his hunting musket, bow and arrow, and other hunting gear, stealthily slipped out from the back door with a bamboo basket on his back, and quickly headed towards Daqing Mountain, avoiding people along the way.

He had no idea how long Daqing Mountain was, as the peaks were connected one after another, with villages in between some of them. Since the age of five, he had followed his grandfather from the south to Tiger Gully and could still see the distant peaks to the south. Going north to the neighboring county, he could see small hills one after another. Daqing Mountain did not belong to their county, and the neighboring county was at the northernmost part of Daqing Mountain. "Living by the mountain, one survives on the mountain; living by the water, one survives on the water." Every family living by the mountain depended on Daqing Mountain to sustain generations.

Zhang Guoqing headed towards the north. In his memory, in the direction of the neighboring county, there was a small hill with a mountain col. The entire mountain col was large, with a dense forest, and not far away, there was a sizeable brook.

On several occasions, he discovered a group of pigs appearing in that clump of forest looking for food, with an old sow often bringing piglets to play by the stream. Upon hearing any noise, they would run into the dense forest. A group of wild boars is easier to handle than a solitary pig. If a solitary pig appeared, he would have to weigh whether it was worth it or not. People often say, "One pig, two bears, three tigers," referring to a solitary pig.

Thinking about that 800-900 pound solitary boar, with its long tusks and aggressive wild nature that charges at people and animals, Zhang Guoqing felt somewhat tense. This time, he was hunting wild boars because he knew this group would be easier to deal with. He chuckled to himself at the thought of the group of pigs coming out for a stroll at dusk.

Zhang Guoqing walked lightly, constantly listening to the surroundings. The nearer he got to his destination, the denser the trees became. In recent years, with fewer hunters around, the paths once traveled were gradually disappearing. Now overgrown with weeds and brambles. Zhang Guoqing used a machete to carve a path, finding along the way many common medicinal herbs, even numerous wild mushrooms and fungi in damp, shady spots, and various wild vegetables on the ground.

Feeling future resource scarcity, Zhang Guoqing silently regretted not bringing Jiao Jiao. If they had her space, they could store everything at any time without worrying about collecting too much to carry back.

Thinking about the large snowfall sealing off the mountains until spring, day after day of radishes and cabbage without any green vegetables and endless frozen meat and cured wild game was unpalatable. He couldn’t help but slow down, taking note of landmarks along the way, planning to bring Zhou Jiao next time. Besides mushrooms and wild vegetables, there were thick layers of chestnuts under a few chestnut trees and ripe pears hanging on a nearby wild fruit tree.

Upon reaching his destination, Zhang Guoqing stretched his limbs, sorted his gear, and then quietly headed towards the brook.

Perhaps due to its proximity to the neighboring county and being a small hill, fewer people came here. The wildlife’s alertness was significantly reduced. Before reaching the brook, he had already caught a few wild hens and several fat rabbits. There were surely more around, but pressed for time, his target was wild boars, and he let the other small animals go all along the way.

He found that walking in the forest came especially easy, his hearing more acute, with a natural sense of impending danger — as if born a hunter. Since crossing over, he hadn’t personally hunted yet; now he understood why felt so pleasant in the woods.

By now, he was used to his great strength. Gradually accustomed to controlling his strength, unlike at first when he would shatter the heads of wild chickens and rabbits, leaving their scalps torn. The prey he’d caught then was too bloody even to look at. Now, a single stone broke the skull without tearing the skin or spilling blood. Even the bow and arrows he brought seemed unnecessary.

"Autumn rabbit, cured duck, spring wild chicken," hill folks are extremely particular about this in hunting. Autumn’s rabbits are the fattest, cured ducks in December are the juiciest, and spring wild chickens are the most tender.

Recently, with Zhou Jiao in confinement, the wild chicken would be perfect for nourishing her body. Zhang Guoqing didn’t care about these particularities anymore. As long as it was nutritious, taste could wait until next time. So, with a handful of small stones, he hit several wild chickens and let most of the rabbits go, even going as far as to crazily steal nest after nest of wild chicken eggs, stopping only when he feared too many would break.

From afar, animal noises came from the grasslands. Zhang Guoqing pricked up his ears; upon hearing the rough breathing and rustling movements — it was wild boars.

He immediately held his breath, cautiously creeping forward. There he saw on the grassland by a small brook, two big wild boars with piglets foraging and playing by the water.

Zhang Guoqing found an upwind position. Picking a spot, he aimed his arrow at the largest one, then decided to take an axe and place it at his right-hand side. With a gentle pull, the arrow directly targeted the largest wild boar. On his first try, it shot straight through the boar’s skull, causing it to collapse with a thud. Terrified, the other three wild boars dashed madly toward the dense forest not far away. Zhang Guoqing immediately threw the axe, felling another one. The remaining two piglets ran into the forest. He didn’t plan to chase after them; he’d already achieved his goal.

The two wild boars he felled weighed nearly 600 pounds in total, with the largest being about 300 to 400 pounds. Parading it through the village in broad daylight would surely draw attention, and he cared little for idle chatter.

With time slipping away, Zhang Guoqing immediately dragged the wild boar to the stream. Unloading the bamboo basket, he skillfully used a butchering knife, efficiently splitting the wild boar into two halves, without peeling the bones or ribs. Leaving the pig’s head and discarding the inedible parts, he roughly rinsed it with stream water, bundled it with hemp rope, careful to conceal its shape. Wrapping it with dry twigs and thatch outside before tying it all together with hemp rope.

After tidying up, with daylight still lingering, he hoisted the wild boar onto his back, grabbed the bamboo basket, and quickly headed out. Exiting the outer perimeter, and with night falling, he avoided people and safely got home.

Having been mentally strained throughout the journey, carrying over 500 pounds of wild boar, it was his sheer strength that kept him going; once he relaxed, Zhang Guoqing felt quite exhausted.

Everyone in the Zhang family kitchen gathered round to help. Lin Lishan hurried over upon hearing from Xi Zi. She had heard about Zhang Guoqing’s strength, but didn’t expect he’d bring back two wild boars after only a few hours out. It usually took three to four people without guns to take down a single wild boar in the army.

Even though he was tired, Zhang Guoqing asked Mother Zhang and the women to place the iron pot on the stove, boiling two pots of water, deftly and carefully pouring it over the four slabs of the wild boar’s dark skin. While hot, he quickly scraped off the pig hair until it was clean.

Lord knows how many pots of boiling water it took, but the four slabs of wild boar were all shaved clean. He first cut out the backbone, ribs, then the pig head, tail, feet, and shanks, following with the pig leg bones, leaving behind mostly meat.

The wild boar meat was mostly lean, with little fat, just as there was hardly any oil at home.

Zhang Guoqing had Mother Zhang find clean clay pots, placing half the fat inside, glistening and enticing. The fat on these two boars would provide plenty of oil, enough for her to use for a full year, as meals at home often had no trace of oil.

Zhang Guoqing then placed four slabs of ribs, eight shanks, and the pig head together, dividing the remaining into chunks, placing them in four bamboo baskets.

Seeing her son finally done, Mother Zhang, her heart continuously pounding at the sight of the meat, asked him, "Xiao Wu, when did you go out? How did you hunt so much meat; these are two wild boars!"

Lin Lishan also chimed in, "Did you go specifically because I’m heading back to Beijing tomorrow? It’s so risky with the sky all turned dark. That’s deep forest, are you fearless? This boy, you’re far too daring."

Seeing everyone enthusiastic yet worried, Zhang Guoqing quickly reassured them, "Don’t worry, I checked beforehand, there was no danger. I’ve been too occupied to go earlier. But knowing my mother-in-law’s leaving tomorrow, and wild boars come out at dusk to feed, I felt it wasn’t risky, focusing only on them and heading straight to the location. One good thing, there were four, but lost two small ones. I’ll wait until they grow bigger and then hunt them, treating them as if we’re raising them. Although I returned late, I was waiting for nightfall outside the forest before coming back safely. Haha, really nothing to worry about, I’ve hunted wild boars loads of times."

Hearing his recount, everyone relaxed; he wouldn’t act without reason. Having checked beforehand and returned so swiftly meant everything was well thought out.

Mother Zhang asked the household’s eldest to clean the offal, the second to marinate the pig head, tail, feet, and two shanks, while she took two chunks of meat and some bones to share with Uncle Zhang and Uncle Zhang’s family.