Chapter 27: Anger and Helplessness

In the morning, just after Wang An had finished breakfast and before he had even finished checking his gear, Li Biao arrived with a grin on his face, carrying a Water-Connecting珠 (a type of multi-shot firearm) on his back!

Wang An looked back and saw the palm print on Li Biao's large face, knowing immediately that a "war" must have broken out at Li Biao's house last night!

The result was a complete defeat for Li Biao! However, seeing the Water-Connecting珠 on his back, it felt as though Li Biao had actually achieved the ultimate victory!

Being the smart man he was, Wang An didn't ask; asking about such things would only cause embarrassment!

Instead, he greeted Li Biao with a smile and continued his inventory!

Ten minutes later, seeing Wang An harnessing the large Er-ma horse to the sled!

Li Biao asked in shock, "Brother Wang, did you buy both this Er-ma and that big stallion? When I saw that stallion yesterday, I asked my uncle about your family. He said you got it out there, but he didn't know the details!"

"Yep! I bought it! Is this horse impressive?" Wang An said with a smile.

"It's incredibly impressive! How majestic it must look to ride!" Li Biao said enviously.

"Hahaha, just follow me and work hard. When we go into the mountains, listen to me, and sooner or later, I'll get you one too!" Wang An said laughing.

"Then I'm taking you at your word. If you don't get me one, I'll ride off with your big stallion!" Li Biao said, patting the Er-ma's head.

"Hahaha, you've got some nerve!" Wang An laughed.

After hitching the sled, Wang An called out toward the house, "I'm heading out!"

The two men drove the sled, heading straight for the place Wang An hadn't managed to reach yesterday—the Wild Boar Forest.

On the way, Wang An heard no screams of animals, nor did he see any large game.

The situation he encountered yesterday was something that might only happen once in several years or even a lifetime!

It was simply that Wang An had seized the opportunity; he had taken a massive risk and succeeded only through a sneak attack!

Had he missed, the most likely outcome would have been the leopard simply fleeing!

But what if it hadn't fled? Given the ferocity and speed of a wild leopard, a distance of 200 meters would be covered in just a few seconds! The outcome would have been hard to predict!

Along the way, when they encountered a jumping cat that was worth hunting, they naturally couldn't pass it up.

He called the Er-ma to a halt and jumped off the sled! He stood firm, raised his gun to his face, and with a "bang," the jumping cat collapsed!

Seeing that Li Biao was still standing by the sled, Wang An didn't think much of it and happily ran over to retrieve the cat! He used a knife to bleed it out; it was good, at least three and a half catties!

The Type 56-1 semi-automatic was truly a hunting godsend; for a jumping cat, it was a "one shot, two eyes" affair. No matter where you hit, the first few days of hunting these cats were like this, though usually, people aimed for the head.

This time it was the back of the neck; the bullet wouldn't stay in the cat's body at all! It went in one eye and out another, though the exit wound was larger!

The pelt would definitely be discounted, or the supply and marketing cooperatives might not even accept it, but there was no helping such things!

There were quite a few jumping cats today; before long, they encountered another one. In truth, in the mountains, small animals like jumping cats, gray dogs, and pheasants were countless!

Even if hunting near the village, as long as your marksmanship was good, you could bag plenty every day!

In this era, large and small game were incredibly abundant! Otherwise, the government wouldn't have encouraged and supported everyone to hunt extensively!

Wang An signaled for Li Biao to shoot this jumping cat, but Li Biao shook his head!

Wang An looked at Li Biao, called the Er-ma to a halt again, jumped off the sled, stood firm, raised his gun, and with a gunshot, the jumping cat died!

Although Wang An was a good shot, he couldn't shoot while sitting on a moving sled—that was pure nonsense!

Only someone incredibly skilled could do that! Regardless, Wang An couldn't! Even aiming while on a moving sled was beyond him!

Wang An was very happy to have harvested another jumping cat!

He told Li Biao to go retrieve it, but Li Biao was actually unwilling, stammering as if to say he wasn't doing that kind of work!

Wang An froze for a moment, and then he was truly angry!!

No matter how good the brotherhood, there must be a hierarchy when entering the mountains! After all, "a household has a thousand mouths, but only one person in charge"!

Furthermore, the rules of mountain hunting were known to every villager!

Game is divided into shares. Everyone entering the mountains together gets one share per person, while the leader gets two shares exclusively.

If there is a dog, the lead dog gets one share (helper dogs don't count); if there is a gun, the gun counts as one share; if the mountain paths are too long and large livestock is used to haul the prey back, the livestock counts as one share!

Taking a jumping cat as an example: Wang An is the leader (two shares), Wang An himself is one share, the gun is one share, and the Er-ma is one share! Li Biao is one share, and his gun is one share.

The result is that this jumping cat must be divided into seven shares: Wang An takes five, and Li Biao takes two. That is the rule!

But rules are made by men, and Wang An didn't intend to follow them strictly! At the very least, he certainly wouldn't count those two leader shares!

However, even between brothers, accounts should be kept clear!

He thought it would be fine to discuss it after they caught the game; whether it was a little more or a little less, they could settle it on the spot! There was no need to be overly petty between brothers!

Because of his involvement in organized crime in his previous life and his half-life as a wanderer, Wang An had become naturally cold toward people, except for his family and kin! He didn't care much for social pleasantries!

Otherwise, even though the villagers didn't know about his large hauls, Wang An would have proactively shared some with his neighbors!

But if they didn't catch any other game in a while and only caught these two jumping cats, wouldn't they each get one?

It was just picking up a jumping cat, yet he was unwilling? Who owed whom?

Seeing Li Biao's reluctant attitude, Wang An said nothing!

He went and retrieved the jumping cat himself, bled it out—it weighed nearly 4 catties—and tossed it onto the sled!

They continued on the sled. Midway, they encountered two pheasants and another jumping cat, but Li Biao still refused to shoot!

It was still Wang An shooting, retrieving, and bleeding the prey himself! It had to be said, the deeper they went into the mountains, the thicker the game became!

They encountered a few more times, but Wang An missed them all, mainly because he was angry!

In hunting, if your mind is unsteady, no matter how good your marksmanship is, it's all for nothing!

Finally, Wang An couldn't take it anymore. They were both at an age of strength and vigor; although Wang An's soul was old, his body was young!

He called the Er-ma to a halt and said with a serious face but a calm tone, "Biaozi, why did you come into the mountains with me?"

Li Biao said, "To hunt big game! I wanted to ask you, why have we been obsessing over these little things all along?"

Wang An's anger flared even more: "You really have no idea of your own skill level, do you? Do you think big game is that easy to find? Do you think it'll just stand there politely waiting for you to shoot it?"

Li Biao actually got angry: "If we wanted to hunt these little things, there are plenty near the village. Why come into the mountains? Isn't that a waste of bullets?"

Hearing this, if it weren't for their brotherhood, Wang An would have truly wanted to tell Li Biao to get lost! So self-righteous and overly ambitious!

Suppressing his anger, Wang An said helplessly, "Fine. If you look down on these things, we won't hunt them. We'll go straight to the Wild Boar Forest, and then you'll see what you're actually capable of!"

As they spoke, the two drove the sled forward, no longer shooting at pheasants or jumping cats!

Li Biao simply didn't want to shoot, and he probably wouldn't have hit them anyway; Wang An was filled with rage and had no heart for hunting, so even if he fired, he wouldn't hit anything!

Wang An tried hard to calm his inner fury. In mountain hunting, being impetuous is a fatal mistake!

Furthermore, mountain hunting relies on the harmony of man and heart, horse and saddle! They must be tied together like a single rope, pulling in the same direction! Only then can one handle all manner of situations!

Although the two were good brothers and neither had bad intentions, they were clearly in a state where neither would yield to the other!

Wang An was starting to regret agreeing to take Li Biao into the mountains!

Knowing nothing and refusing to listen, yet wanting to achieve everything in one gulp!

Wang An knew how much effort it took to find game! He didn't know how to track, and when he saw animal footprints, he couldn't even tell how old they were!

If it weren't for his luck in "stumbling" upon wild boars or leopards!

Even catching a pheasant or a jumping cat would have made Wang An incredibly happy!

This was nothing but looking for trouble!

And so, one amateur hunter and one unskilled, self-righteous hunter, neither speaking a word, headed straight for the Wild Boar Forest!