Zhao Jun quickly finished his flatbread and pickled vegetable strips. Then, he started to untie his leg wrappings. Once both were off, he got up to check on Daqing.

Daqing had just been swiped by the black bear. A large, palm-sized flap of skin on its back had been torn open, and it had lost a lot of blood.

After Zhao Jun killed the bear, Daqing had pounced on the carcass and started tearing at it. Zhao Jun had seen that the bleeding on its back had stopped, so he hadn’t bandaged it right away.

It wasn’t that Zhao Jun didn’t care for his dog. As they say in the Northeast, a dog is as precious as a hunter’s own eyes. No true hunter would ever mistreat his dogs.

But as clever as a dog might be, it wasn’t human.

This was especially true for a hunting dog like Daqing, who was in his first year in the mountains. If Zhao Jun had forcibly pulled him away from the black bear, Daqing might have gotten the wrong idea.

He might have thought his master didn’t want him to attack the bear, or that he wasn’t allowed to keep biting after a shot had been fired.

So, since the wound had stopped bleeding, Zhao Jun had left it alone for the time being. He wanted Daqing to remember this feeling.

When Li Baoyu gave Daqing its share of meat, the dog devoured it as if it hadn’t eaten in three days—even though it had already wolfed down four or five pounds of bear meat just half an hour earlier.

Seeing this, Zhao Jun was secretly pleased. ’Another year or so,’ he thought, ’and this dog will be the real deal.’

By now, Daqing had finished the meat and was finally full. He sprawled lazily beside the black bear, licking his front paws. The blood from his back had run down his legs, and he was savoring the taste.

Zhao Jun walked over and squatted beside him. Daqing tilted his massive head and nuzzled against Zhao Jun’s leg.

Zhao Jun stroked Daqing’s neck and examined the wound on his back.

The dog’s body had been hot from the intense exertion of fighting the black bear, but its surface temperature had gradually dropped after it stopped moving.

Here in the mountain depths, where temperatures were over thirty degrees below zero, the cold had frozen the torn flap of skin on Daqing’s back to the wound underneath.

Zhao Jun wrapped both of his leg wrappings around Daqing’s torso. Seeing that the dog’s movement wasn’t greatly affected, Zhao Jun was about to stand up when he heard Li Baoyu shout, "Brother, quick, come here!"

Zhao Jun got up and turned to see Li Baoyu squatting in front of Hua Xiao’er. His heart sank, and he quickly walked over.

When he reached Li Baoyu’s side, Zhao Jun saw that Hua Xiao’er’s left flank was stained red with blood.

Since Li Baoyu had called him over, it definitely wasn’t the bear’s blood. Zhao Jun reached out and gently parted the dog’s fur, revealing two bloody gashes across Hua Xiao’er’s left side.

It was a glancing blow from the black bear’s claws. It hadn’t been a solid hit, or a whole flap of Hua Xiao’er’s skin would have been torn away.

Just then, Li Baoyu finished untying his left leg wrapping and handed it to Zhao Jun to bind Hua Xiao’er’s wound. He then started on his right one.

After bandaging Hua Xiao’er’s wound, the two of them decided to head home. The black bear, gutted and drained of blood, still weighed nearly two hundred pounds.

Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu agreed that they might as well just tie a rope to the black bear and drag it back together.

Winter wasn’t like autumn. In autumn, the roads were all dirt and sand, and the high friction would have made dragging it a struggle. But now, the mountain paths and village roads were covered in snow, which made it much easier.

So, the two of them tied a rope tightly around the black bear’s hind legs. They carried the Bear Nose, kneecaps, and other choice parts separately, then began to drag the carcass down the mountain.

The path home was mostly downhill or on gentle slopes, so dragging the bear across the snow wasn’t too difficult for them.

Since both dogs were injured, they took their time walking back. By the time they reached home, it was already past six in the evening.

It wasn’t even the dead of winter yet, but the temperature in the Northeast Mountain Village still dropped to around thirty-five degrees below zero at night.

In this kind of cold, who would be wandering around outside if they didn’t have to? Every family had long since shut their doors to stay warm inside.

As Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu dragged the bear into the village, they ran into a few people. When they asked for some meat, Zhao Jun took out his Invasion Blade, carved a few strips from the bear’s belly, and handed them out.

The villagers who received the meat were all smiles.

Bear belly! That wasn’t meat; it was pure fat.

If they took it home and rendered it down, the oil would be enough to last their families for a month.

When they reached his house, the two dragged the bear into the Zhao Jun family’s yard. Inside, Zhao Youcai and Wang Meilan were eating when they heard the commotion. They came out to see that their son had brought home another bear.

"What are you two...?" Wang Meilan was at a loss for words. "Weren’t you supposed to be helping Xing Zhuyong hunt a bear? How did you end up bringing it to our house?"

"Mom, Mom, can you get us something to eat?" Zhao Jun said to Wang Meilan first, asking her to make a meal for him and Li Baoyu. They had only eaten two flatbreads for lunch and were starving after the long day.

"Oh, of course." Hearing her son was hungry, Wang Meilan didn’t bother with any more questions. She agreed and hurried back inside.

"Auntie, I’ll eat at my place!" Li Baoyu called after her.

"What are you talking about, going home?" Zhao Jun grabbed his arm. "They don’t know we’re back today, so your mom probably didn’t save you any dinner. It’s so late, everyone at your place has surely eaten by now. If you go back, you’ll just make her go to all that trouble. Just let my mom cook for both of us."

Li Baoyu smiled at that. "I was just thinking of going back to check on Ruhai."

Zhao Jun laughed. "Some big brother you are. Can’t you get your head on straight for one day?"

As Zhao Jun was saying this, he noticed his father, Zhao Youcai, squatting in front of Hua Xiao’er. The dog was licking Zhao Youcai’s hand, its breath forming constant puffs of white mist in the cold air.

Zhao Jun said, "Dad, can you hurry over to the Han family’s place and get Doctor Han?"

"Ordering me around now, are you?" Zhao Youcai shot Zhao Jun a cold glance. But he felt Hua Xiao’er still licking his hand and relented. "I’m only going for the dog’s sake."

With that, Zhao Youcai stood up and walked straight out of the yard.

Zhao Jun had a feeling that his father’s last words weren’t exactly a compliment, but there was nothing he could do about it. It was his dad, after all. He and Li Baoyu just herded the two dogs into the house.

The dogs rarely came inside, living in their doghouses no matter how cold the winter got. But when they were injured in the winter, they had to recover indoors.

They would stay inside until their wounds were fully healed.

This was just how it was, and there was no worry about them making a mess. Though they weren’t trained like modern house pets, they knew not to relieve themselves indoors.

Just then, Wang Meilan was about to light the stove and heat the oil for cooking. Seeing Zhao Jun bring the dogs in, she said, "Go to the storeroom and find a couple of burlap sacks. Spread them on the floor in your room so they don’t get cold."

"Okay." Zhao Jun pulled the cloth pouch with the Bear Gall from inside his coat and placed it by the stove. "Mom, could you scald the Bear Gall after you’re done with dinner?"

Having been married to Zhao Youcai for so many years, Wang Meilan knew all about hunting and exactly how to process a Bear Gall.

Wang Meilan took the pouch and looked inside. Her eyes instantly lit up, and an unstoppable smile spread across her face. Turning and seeing only Li Baoyu standing beside her, she shared her delight with him. "Baoyu, it’s a Copper Gall!"

Li Baoyu replied with a smile, "That’s right, Auntie. We really hit the jackpot this time."

Just then, Zhao Jun came out of his room and gestured for Li Baoyu to come in and sit down. 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Wang Meilan, meanwhile, took out a sharp knife. Pinching the tip of the blade carefully with her fingers, she offered the handle to Zhao Jun.

"Son, go carve a piece of meat from the inner thigh of that black bear."

"What for?" Zhao Jun asked with a grin, seeing the unabating smile on his mother’s face. "Is this to reward us?"

"Of course! My son brought home another Bear Gall."

Zhao Jun laughed heartily, took the knife, and pushed the door open. The moment he stepped outside, he heard a pleasant voice at the gate.

"The gate’s open. Anyone home?"

"Who is it?" Zhao Jun called out, though in his heart, he already knew who had arrived.

As he finished speaking, a young woman walked in through the yard gate.

She was young and pretty, with her hair in a thick braid. She wore a faded, floral-print, cotton-padded jacket with sleeve protectors over the arms, and she carried a basket in her hand.

"Zhao Jun," the young woman said as she came in, her eyes landing on him.

Zhao Jun froze. He opened his mouth, but no sound came out.