Zhao Jun untied both of Li Hu’s leg wrappings, then looked over. Seeing that Li Baoyu had finished bandaging Xing Zhuyong, he shouted, "Baoyu, go gut it and take out the Bear Gall. Then skin the bear and feed it to the dogs."

"Don’t feed it to the dogs, don’t feed it to the dogs," Li Hu protested. His sudden shout startled Zhao Jun, who hadn’t been paying attention to him.

"What now?" Zhao Jun asked, confused.

Li Hu said, "Wouldn’t that be a waste? Let’s take it back and eat it ourselves."

"Just give it a rest," Zhao Jun snapped. He bent down, pulled the tobacco pouch from Li Hu’s waist, opened it, and grabbed a handful of tobacco leaves.

Zhao Jun crumbled the tobacco leaves in his fist and told Li Hu, "Move your hand."

"Easy, man," Li Hu pleaded, then carefully moved his right hand away from his left wrist.

Fresh blood had already soaked through the cotton-padded jacket around the injury. Zhao Jun pulled open the part of the jacket torn by the Little Black Bear, revealing a hideous wound.

The flesh was peeled back, revealing the bone beneath. It was a terrifying sight.

"Brace yourself! Don’t move, whatever you do," Zhao Jun warned him.

Li Hu nodded and bit down on the right sleeve of his jacket.

Seeing this, Zhao Jun sprinkled the crumbled tobacco onto the wound. He immediately felt Li Hu’s whole body jerk violently.

Zhao Jun first gently wrapped one of the leg wrappings around the wound. Then he pulled the torn jacket closed and used the other wrapping to secure it in place.

With Li Hu bandaged up, Zhao Jun turned and walked over to Li Baoyu, arriving just as Baoyu was removing the Bear Gall from the Little Black Bear’s abdomen.

Zhao Jun took the Bear Gall, walked over to Xing Zhuyong, and handed it to him. "Brother-in-law, you take this Bear Gall. Baoyu and I won’t take a share."

"Brother, I can’t accept this..."

"Enough, Brother-in-law. Don’t say another word." Zhao Jun bent down and pulled a cloth pouch, folded into a small square, from Xing Zhuyong’s jacket pocket.

Zhao Jun grabbed a corner of the pouch and flicked it open. He placed the Bear Gall inside, handed it to Xing Zhuyong, and said, "Uncle Hu and my dad are sworn brothers, so that makes us family. Brother-in-law, both you and Li San’Er were injured by the bear. I doubt either of you will be able to work at the Forest Farm this winter. Sell this Bear Gall and split the money."

"But..."

Zhao Jun didn’t give Xing Zhuyong a chance to argue, turning back toward Li Baoyu.

At that moment, Li Baoyu was skinning the Little Black Bear. The cub had only weighed around a hundred pounds when it was alive. Skinned, bled, and gutted, it would be less than eighty pounds of meat and bone.

Zhao Jun said, "Carve off some meat from the torso to feed the dogs. Leave the legs, paws, and the rest for them."

Li Baoyu grunted in acknowledgment and, after finishing the skinning, began to cut meat for the dogs. Meanwhile, Zhao Jun neatly laid out the Bear Nose, kneecaps, Bear’s Paws, and legs to one side.

Seeing that nearly ten pounds of meat had already disappeared into the dogs’ bellies, Zhao Jun stopped Li Baoyu. "That’s enough."

Li Baoyu paused. "Brother, they’re not full yet."

Zhao Jun said, "Let them save room. There’s another one up ahead."

"What?" Just as Li Baoyu was about to ask for clarification, Xing Zhuyong limped over.

Li Baoyu saw Zhao Jun give him a discreet hand signal and immediately fell silent.

"Brother," Xing Zhuyong said to Zhao Jun, holding the Bear Gall. "You two still deserve a share of this. When I sell it in the spring, I’ll bring you the money."

"Brother-in-law, forget about the gall." Zhao Jun pointed to the pile of Black Bear parts at his feet. "I’m leaving all this here for you. How you get it home is your problem."

"Huh? What do you mean, brother? Where are you going?"

"We’re heading home from here."

When he heard Zhao Jun was leaving, Xing Zhuyong quickly tried to make him stay. After all, he had invited them here. Not only had they saved him and Li Hu, but they had also given them the entire Bear Gall. Letting Zhao Jun leave just like that didn’t sit right with Xing Zhuyong.

Zhao Jun shook his head. "Brother-in-law, we’re going to cross this ridge and head home by way of the ’75. We won’t be going back with you."

"But..." Xing Zhuyong thought for a moment. ’I was the one who brought him here.’

But now, with his thigh bitten through by the Black Bear, Xing Zhuyong couldn’t drive the sleigh to take Zhao Jun home.

Besides, it was much closer to Yong’an Village from here than from Yongli Village.

With this in mind, Xing Zhuyong said to Zhao Jun, "Brother, with my leg like this, I can’t really get around. If you need to head back, I won’t stop you."

"Come visit me when you’re free."

"Alright," Zhao Jun said. "Well then, Brother-in-law, we’ll part ways here. You two be careful taking this stuff down the mountain."

Xing Zhuyong nodded. "Don’t worry, we’ll take it slow. If we can’t carry the meat, we’ll leave it on the mountain for now. I’ll have my wife’s third brother come get it tomorrow."

Since he had made up his mind to leave, Zhao Jun didn’t concern himself with how they would manage to haul everything home. He and Li Baoyu said a quick goodbye to Li Hu and started leading the dogs up the ridge.

"Big Brother!" Watching Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu depart, Li Hu cradled his left arm and moved to Xing Zhuyong’s side. "Are those two going after that big mother Black Bear?"

Xing Zhuyong pulled his gaze away from their retreating figures and sighed. "Whatever they’re chasing, it’s got nothing to do with us now."

Li Hu opened his mouth as if to say something, but didn’t know where to begin.

Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu hadn’t gone far up the slope when Hua Xiao suddenly bolted. It ran behind a large red pine, sniffed at the ground, and then took off at a run toward Gangjiansi.

Daqing was right behind. It also took a sniff behind the tree before tearing off in pursuit of Hua Xiao.

Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu went behind the tree to look. Four large paw prints were pressed into the snow. Noticing small shards of ice within the prints, Zhao Jun said to Li Baoyu, "That big mother Black Bear must have been waiting here for a while."

If it hadn’t been waiting long, its body heat wouldn’t have been enough to melt the snow, only for it to refreeze into ice.

Li Baoyu nodded. "Then why didn’t it come back to protect its cub?"

Zhao Jun shook his head. "Who knows what an animal’s thinking? Come on, let’s head up. It can’t have gotten far."

They hadn’t gone much farther up when they suddenly heard barking from the direction of Gangjiansi. Gun in hand, Zhao Jun broke into a run, heading up the slope.

Li Baoyu, meanwhile, scanned the area, chose a suitable small tree, and chopped it down. He then mounted his Invasion Blade on the trunk.

To the south of the ridge, on a gentle, flat slope, stood a large Black Bear. It weighed around two hundred and eighty pounds and had reared up on its hind legs, standing like a man.

It held its paws up near the white patch on its chest, its small eyes darting about as it scanned Hua Xiao and Daqing.

Hua Xiao and Daqing stood a few feet away, craning their necks and barking furiously at the Black Bear.

Suddenly, the Black Bear moved. But instead of attacking the two dogs, it whipped around and fled!