Return to 1983 Hunting Xing'an Mountains

Chapter 771 Chasing the Bear in the Dark, Late-Night Conversation, Brown Bear Jumps into River
Xu Ning and the others were located on a protruding mountain peak. As the saying goes, the higher you stand, the farther you can see. Standing there and looking southeast, they could see the peak of Daqingshan Mountain and Huolazi Mountain.

Looking in the direction Wang Hu pointed, there was a forest that had been completely cut down, leaving only saplings and shrubs planted in recent years. Although it was quite far from where Xu Ning was, probably more than 400 meters away, you could still see moving creatures.

However, when Xu Ning spotted the small moving black dot, he frowned and said, "From this distance, how can we even see anyone standing here?"

Li Fuqiang said uncertainly, "I think it should be visible, but I don't think it should be that big."

“Yeah, I think so too, bro. If a person is more than 400 meters away, they are basically just a tiny sesame seed, but this black dot looks more like a pumpkin seed.”

Upon hearing this, Wang Hu excitedly slapped his thigh: "Second Brother! This thing can't be a black bear, can it? It's quite far away, so it's normal that we can't see the color of its fur. I saw it crawling up the mountain..."

"Unexpected!"

Xu Ning nodded and smiled, "It's almost 3:30 now. If we chase after it from here, it'll probably be dark by the time we catch up with it. Wait a minute, I'll take another look at the track. It went down from the south. Although it's not heading towards Daqingshan, we can't be sure the bear might have changed course halfway."

Li Fuqiang said, "Brother, whatever you say, we'll do! Are you going to chase them away or not?"

"Chase them away! They've got their hands on us. If we don't chase them away, we'll be giving others a chance. We have to avoid any complications. Let's get in and out quickly, and go home as soon as we're done."

Guan Lei grinned and said, "Great! If we run into someone, we'll just ask them if they follow the rules."

Xu Ning strode down the mountain and said, "Let's take the shortcut down from here. If we run into anyone, don't worry. The pile of black charcoal we saw in the Eagle's Beak Cave has been gone for several days. I guess they've gone back by now, but we still need to be careful."

"Yeah! I'm afraid these people haven't left and are still wandering around in the mountains."

Xu Ning led the way, taking shortcuts was a skill in itself; if you didn't know the location and terrain, it was easy to end up taking a longer route.

However, Xu Ning has visited this area relatively few times, and only has a general understanding of the terrain and landforms, unlike his thorough knowledge of Ximaduozi!

"The wind doesn't seem as strong today as it was yesterday."

Li Fuqiang held a hard sugar cake in his hand, biting down on it with his teeth. He pulled hard to bite off a small piece, then melted it in his mouth with his saliva. He had to chew it a few times with his molars before he could barely swallow it.

Xu Ning, Wang Hu, and Guan Lei were in the same boat. Xu Ning said, "The mountain winds here are blocked. Once we cross the next mountain, the winds will pick up again. We'll have to check the wind direction then to decide whether to go east or west."

"Hey, second brother, give me a sip of wine, this sugar cake is a bit hard to swallow."

"Haha, I told you to eat more at noon, but you insisted on saving it for tomorrow. If we shoot down this black bear tonight, then we can have a hot meal when we get home, right?"

Wang Hu said, "I was thinking it would take two days to fight, but I didn't expect it to go so smoothly."

"Hey, don't say anything prematurely, we haven't even seen any livestock yet."

Wang Hu grinned: "Alright, Brother Qiang, wanna have a bite?"

"Just one bite will do, to warm me up."

They took turns drinking a couple of sips of wine to warm themselves up. After reaching the top of the mountain, they could clearly feel the wind speed increase. The biting cold wind stung their faces as if they were being cut by knives. All four of them put on face masks without saying a word. Xu Ning then pointed east without saying anything, and they headed northeast.

It was still winter, and the wind was coming from Siberia, so it was a northwest wind. There was nothing wrong with Xu Ning and the others standing still and walking northeast, since it was mostly downwind. However, this wind wouldn't reach the black bear's face, because it had already moved elsewhere.

Xu Ning stared at the bear tracks in the snow and the footprints not far away, and said expressionlessly, "There really is someone..."

"What do we do now, bro? Shall we hurry and chase after them?"

Guan Lei said, "We don't need to be afraid of one person's footprints."

Wang Hu squatted down, grabbed the snow around the footprints, and squeezed it, saying, "Second Brother, this footprint is a bit hard; it must have been there for two or three days. It doesn't look like it was left just now."

Li Fuqiang laughed and said, "It's definitely not from just now... Hey, yeah, brother, the footprints we left weren't very deep, but after stepping in them, the snow around the footprints was loose and not too hard."

Xu Ning stepped forward, touched it, and nodded: "Tiger is right, it really has been two or three days. Let's move on."

"It's quite unusual to see human footprints in the mountains. Do people often come here?"

Xu Ning said, "People from Wanye, Lingdong, and Xima villages can come here for a stroll, but why would they come to the mountains during the Spring Festival instead of staying home?"

"Maybe they're like us, taking advantage of the two days of the Lunar New Year to go into the mountains to hunt livestock for fun."

Guan Lei said, "He came into the mountains alone? That's not very realistic."

Although they were chatting, they did not slow down, striding forward while tracing the bear's tracks.

By this time, the sky had already darkened. After the sunset had shone brightly for a short time, it hid behind the mountains, and then the sky was shrouded in darkness, with only the moon and the twinkling stars shining.

The mountains are even more secluded, with an eerie feeling. For example, a sudden noise might come from the surroundings, but when you turn around, it's pitch black, and there's no sunlight. The biting cold wind is even more piercing...

Xu Ning stared down at the bear tracks by the moonlight, while the human footprints beside him had long since disappeared. Half an hour earlier, the human footprints had headed east.

He didn't let Wang Hu turn on the flashlight or light the pine torch, because they were hunting at the moment, and any actions that were not in accordance with nature had to be stopped. There was no fire in the mountains, so some livestock would instinctively hide when they saw a fire.

Li Fuqiang, holding the 56-and-a-half, was already on high alert. Guan Lei was also observing the surrounding situation. Xu Ning glanced at his watch and said, "It's 7:45 now. Let's continue for another turn. I remember there's a cave behind Daqingshan Mountain. Let's sleep there then."

"Okay, as long as I can shoot the black bear, I don't care if I don't sleep."

Guan Lei laughed and said, "If we can really catch a bear, wouldn't it be great to go home and sleep on a warm kang (heated brick bed)?"

"Absolutely! Lei Zi now understands the benefits of having a wife, kids, and a warm bed, right?"

"Absolutely. I didn't think much of it before, but my thoughts have changed since Lianfang got pregnant."

"They've matured."

Walking in the dark in the mountains is very slow. Even with moonlight, you need to keep your eyes on the ground carefully, otherwise falling into a dark pit or ditch can be life-threatening.

After walking another four or five miles, Xu Ning looked at the outline of Daqingshan Mountain and said, "We won't chase after them tonight. Let's go straight to Daqingshan Mountain and find a cave to sleep in."

"Okay! Shall we gather some firewood later? You must be hungry."

"We've been starving for ages, how are you three doing?"

"It's alright, but Tiger must be tired. He's carrying so much stuff and pulling the little sled..."

Wang Hu grinned and said, "I'm fine, this little thing is nothing to me."

"Let me get you some..."

"No need, Brother Lei. If you reach out, it might be inconvenient if something happens. I'll keep it."

After arriving at Daqingshan, the four of them followed the hillside and found a cave. This cave was dug by the group that had been digging pine cones earlier. The cave was pitch black. Wang Hu first took out his flashlight and shone it to make sure there were no other people or animals before throwing the things into the cave.

Then Li Fuqiang and Guan Lei lit the firewood they had gathered, Wang Hu sat next to the firewood pile to heat up his meal, while Xu Ning drew pictures in the snow with a twig on the other side. "What are you doing, brother?"

Xu Ning said, "I was thinking of drawing the movement trajectory of this black bear. When we spotted it, it was in the red pine forest near Huolazi Mountain. This is Daqingshan Mountain... But when we went up the mountain, I didn't see any bear tracks, which means it may have gone somewhere else."

Where did they go?

Xu Ning pointed to Erdaokanzi, which wasn't far from Daqingshan, and said, "Tomorrow we'll go directly to Erdaokanzi."

"Row."

"Let's eat first, Second Brother. You and Brother Qiang can go to sleep later. Brother Lei and I will keep watch for a while."

After finishing my meal, I glanced at my watch and realized it was almost nine o'clock.

They were both exhausted from the whole day, so Xu Ning and Li Fuqiang crawled into bed fully clothed and fell asleep without paying any attention to the cold mattress and blankets. All they knew was that they needed to sleep as soon as possible so as not to waste any time.

Xu Ning woke up at four in the morning. Li Fuqiang sat by the fire and took a sip of wine. Guan Lei and Wang Hu crawled into a quilt and snored loudly. They had hats and scarves on their heads and didn't dare to take off their face masks, because if they did, the cold wind would hit them in the face.

"You can sleep a little longer. I can manage on my own."

Xu Ning shook his head and pulled the mattress towards Wang Hu, covering him with the blanket. Then, he pulled Wang Hu's shoulder and turned to sit on the empty mattress, so that he and Guan Lei wouldn't have to sleep on the same mattress anymore.

Xu Ning, carrying the Type 56 pistol, came to the fire, sat on a tree branch, and asked, "When did you wake up?"

"It was around 2 o'clock, and neither of them woke me up. I slept until I naturally woke up."

"They just wanted us to sleep a little longer. Wow, this guy is really something else."

Li Fuqiang handed him the wine jug: "Of course! If I hadn't met you, if Leizi hadn't met you, what kind of life would we be living? You're my brother!"

"Brother, we've always been on each other's heels. Since we started mountain running the year before last, how many life-or-death situations have we faced together? Every time, you've stood by my side."

“I’m your older brother. If I don’t stand in front of you, am I supposed to hide behind you? I see happiness in our lives now, with both a son and a daughter…”

"I also have both a son and a daughter!"

Li Fuqiang smiled and said, "Yeah, after the baby is born, will you still be hunting livestock in the mountains?"

“We definitely have to fight. What I mean is, we can’t fight like we do now. Back then, running in the mountains was just a hobby; we couldn’t make money by hunting livestock.”

Li Fuqiang nodded in deep agreement: "Yes, I originally wanted to advise you, but you understand things better than I do."

"The main thing is to do business, and business is inseparable from human relationships. If I were to give money, I wouldn't have that much. I can only give some animal meat. This meat isn't free; it's something we fought for with our lives. It's a small gift but carries great meaning. Bear meat is a presentable gift that isn't too insignificant."

Li Fuqiang frowned and said, "Didn't you say before that you would cater to their preferences?"

"Yes! The person I'm giving it to likes to eat wild game and collects animal skins."

"Ah, that's okay."

"After this round of fighting, I estimate the next round will be after the spring, around the fifteenth of the lunar month, when I'll be working at the auto repair shop."

"Are all the paperwork done?"

"Yes, Uncle San has taken care of everything."

The two brothers sat by the fire and chatted from night until dawn.

Around 7 o'clock, it was already bright outside.

Xu Ning entered the cave and woke up Wang Hu and Guan Lei. The two sat up and went outside the cave to scoop up a handful of snow and rub their faces vigorously to instantly wake themselves up.

After they finished eating all the fried dough and pickled vegetables, they checked the guns and ammunition. Then Wang Hu led the small sled and followed the three of them down the mountain.

The fire had been extinguished, and the melted snow was quickly frozen again. After Xu Ning went down the mountain and found the bear tracks, they continued to follow them.

After traveling for two and a half hours, Xu Ning finally spotted a large brown bear with fur that was entirely brown and black.

The brown bear was no more than 200 meters away from them, drinking water on a riverbank that wasn't frozen.

Xu Ning grabbed a leaf and let it fly in the wind. After determining the wind direction, he found his way.

"Let's go around from this side. Tiger, you stay behind. The three of us will go forward. I'll be the main gunner, Big Brother the secondary gunner. Stone, watch out for your surroundings. Let's finish this quickly."

Wang Hu threw the small sled and his useless belongings on the spot, then followed the three men around to the vicinity of the river and hid behind a hillside.

Xu Ning observed that the distance between the hillside and the river was about seventy meters. With Xu Ning's marksmanship, he was sure he could hit the brown bear at that distance. Unfortunately, the brown bear was in an awkward position; it had its back to Xu Ning, meaning it had its rear end exposed to him. So, he could only wait for an opportunity.

"How about we walk a little further ahead?"

Xu Ning shook his head: "There's no cover in front, and it's downwind. If we go down, we'll easily alert it. Let's fight here."

"Row."

Hunting livestock requires patience; with enough patience, you're sure to seize the opportunity.

When the brown bear turned to the side, Xu Ning knew his chance had come, and he pulled the trigger twice without hesitation.

Bang bang!

After two gunshots, the brown bear paused for a moment, then leaped forward at a speed as fast as a large truck.

Li Fuqiang, holding a Type 56 semi-automatic rifle, and Xu Ning fired eight more shots in succession. These eight shots were aimed at a moving target that was moving at high speed, and there were trees in between that obstructed the view, so the accuracy was relatively poor.

"Hurry up and chase them!"

Xu Ning leaped off the ridge and slid down the slope. Tree branches tore his cotton-padded trousers and coat, but Xu Ning didn't care at all; he could accept this small loss.

"Brother, this beast jumped into the river!"

"Look, big brother, you stay where you are and keep the fire going. Stone, chase after me!"

"it is good."

The brown bear jumped into the river, getting soaked, and a trail of blood floated on the surface.

Without a doubt, Xu Ning's shot hit it, but where it hit is unknown.

(End of this chapter)