Flip the table and divide the family property! Take his wife and daughter into the mountains and eat

Old Sun's hand, which was gripping his pipe, suddenly froze.

His previously squinted eyes suddenly snapped open, and in that instant, a chilling glint of light burst forth from his cloudy eyeballs.

He stared at Zhao Shanhe for a full three breaths before letting out a cold laugh and leaning back against the wall again:

"What, killing a few bandits and black marketeers isn't enough? You want to go and rub a tiger's whiskers?"

Zhao Shanhe did not respond to that sentence.

He simply sat by the brazier, looking down at the flickering red stars.

The firelight cast his shadow obliquely onto the earthen wall of the dugout, and the shadow trembled with the flickering flames.

After a long while, he finally spoke:

"Uncle Sun, it's not that I want to touch the tiger's whiskers. It's just that I can't avoid this matter."

Old Sun sneered, exhaling a pungent smell of tobacco from his nostrils:

"There are plenty of unavoidable things in this world. You, Zhao Shanhe, aren't the King of Hell. Do you have to clean up every mess yourself? How many heads do you have to throw yourself into the tiger's mouth?"

Zhao Shanhe paused for a moment.

The firewood in the brazier burned low, and the red light reflected on his tired face, bringing back the lingering smell of gunpowder from the previous night.

"Ivanov gave me the medicine, and Old Xu's arm was pulled back from the brink of death. I promised him, and I have to repay that favor."

Ivanov risked his life to help me, as did Old Xu's arm, and then there was the subsequent machine factory.

Old Sun didn't say anything, but just tapped his pipe against the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) intermittently, making a dull thumping sound.

Zhao Shanhe continued:

"And there's the Red Star Machinery Factory. The fur processing line there is short of people right now. It's not that they're short of hard laborers, but they're short of someone who can keep the whole line running. Ivan has that in mind. He's a veteran technical expert from the Soviet State Fur Factory. He's been doing this for over ten years. He's proficient in everything from tanning and cutting to adjusting the machines."

"Once this kind of person enters the factory, the Hongxing factory production line can take root and stabilize."

Old Sun raised his eyelids, his cloudy eyes revealing a scrutinizing gaze:

"so what?"

"So this tiger isn't just something Ivanov wants; I need it too. This pelt can earn me favors, and more importantly, it can secure the Red Star Factory's future for the next ten years."

Zhao Shanhe's voice was lower, but it carried a cold, hard quality, like raw iron.

Old Sun stared at him for a long time. His eyes, cold and deep in the firelight, seemed to see right through Zhao Shanhe. After a moment, the old man suddenly spoke:

"Zhao Shanhe, you're a good hunter. But do you know what a good hunter fears most?"

Zhao Shanhe didn't answer, but simply waited quietly for what was to come.

"It's not that I'm afraid there are no roads in the mountains, nor that I'm afraid there are no bullets in my gun. It's that I'm afraid you'll come back alive every time."

Old Sun put the pipe to his mouth but didn't light it; his voice slowly deepened:

"Every time you accomplish a life-or-death task, others will think you can do the next one too. If you can drag medicine back from a pile of corpses today, tomorrow someone will ask you to go into the deep mountains to hunt tigers. The more capable you are, the more troubles this world will pile on you; the more you kill, the more others will think you deserve to kill. In the end, you are not the hunter, you are the knife in other people's hands."

The room fell silent, save for the occasional crackling of sparks.

Zhao Shanhe stared at the brazier, remaining silent for a long time. Finally, after a long while, he whispered:

"I know. Actually... I'm also a little reluctant to do this anymore."

Upon hearing this, Old Sun's hand holding the tobacco pouch trembled slightly.

"Collecting hides, working in factories, fighting with those Russians. It's not that I don't know how tiring or dangerous it is. Sometimes I want to shut myself in, stay with Lin Xiu and Niu Niu, and have a few days of peace. But now I'm caught in the middle. If I quit, what will happen to the people who followed me?"

Zhao Shanhe raised his eyes and looked at Old Sun:

"Old Xu is still in the hospital, Dazhuang almost lost his life, and Jianmin and the others have been running around for me. Hundreds of experienced workers and laborers in the factory are watching me. I pushed the project forward before they dared to follow. Now that we're halfway there, what will they do if I say I'm quitting?"

Old Sun remained silent, taking deep drags on his unlit cigarette.

"I just want to give them one last push. To get the Red Star Factory up and running, to get the experts on board, and to stabilize the foreign trade route. Once the people who have followed me are all established, then I'll step down."

Old Sun scoffed:

"Retreat? Can someone like you ever retreat in this lifetime? You always think that once you get over this hurdle, it'll be over, but mountains have no end, and neither do people's hearts. You think you're the one pushing the cart, but actually you've long since become a piece of wood under the cart. The cart rolls forward, and you have to roll with it."

Zhao Shanhe did not refute.

Old Sun lit a cigarette, took a couple of puffs, and his tone finally softened a little:

"However, the fact that you said you didn't want to do it anymore means you're not really crazy. Right now, your mind is all muddled, you haven't slept all night, and your eyes are bloodshot. Even if I say too much, you probably won't listen. Go back to sleep."

"I'm awake now. Bring the Black Dragon and the Azure Dragon over tomorrow so I can take a look."

Zhao Shanhe raised his eyes:

"Black Dragon too?"

"bring."

Old Sun said coldly:

"The Siberian tiger Ivanov wants is a monster that's become a spirit in this old forest. Those things have been lurking deep in these mountains for who knows how many years; they're no ordinary beasts. If you want to skin it alive, you'd better be absolutely certain. Zhao Shanhe, think about it, it's been almost half a year since you've seriously ventured into the deep forest, hasn't it?"

Zhao Shanhe pursed his lips and didn't reply.

"For the past six months, you've been stuck in the village collecting hides and sitting in the factory working on the machines. You've had too much of a peaceful life. Your trigger-pulling hands probably only recognize the smell of money now, not the smell of blood. Your dog is the same. Eating fine food and sleeping on a warm kang, its wildness has probably been completely extinguished by Lin Xiu and Niu Niu."

Old Sun slammed his pipe heavily on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), sending sparks flying everywhere.

"Going into the mountains now is too dangerous. The dog's wild instincts need to be rekindled, and your instincts for killing in the wild need to be sharpened again. If you take two 'domestic pigs' to fight that old mountain king, you'll both become that beast's winter food in less than 45 minutes. I need to test your mettle before this trip to the mountains."

Zhao Shanhe's heart sank when he heard this; he knew the old man was hinting at something.

In the past six months, he has indeed gotten used to the roar of the machines at the Red Star Factory and the hot meals at home.

That fierce determination to lie in wait for three days and three nights without sleep in the freezing cold seems to have become somewhat blurred amidst this clamor.

"I'll do as you say."

Zhao Shanhe stood up and pulled up the military overcoat with dried bloodstains.

"I'm going back to sleep. I'll bring the dog over before dawn tomorrow."

Old Sun waved his hand, not even raising his head, just staring at the last embers in the brazier:

"Get lost. If you bring back two useless bastards, you can keep this whole trip to the mountains to yourself. Ivanov's little problem isn't worth as much as your head."

Zhao Shanhe didn't waste any more words and lifted the curtain, letting the morning light into the courtyard.

The wind was still cold, but the fire in his heart burned even brighter because of Old Sun's words.