Rebirth in 1972: Redemption in Changbai Mountain

"It went so smoothly. I didn't expect taking down a leopard to be so easy." Gu Shaofeng was in high spirits.

"You kid, it's not that simple. You were just lucky. If your junior brother hadn't noticed something was wrong by the water and come back to investigate, we don't know how many more days we would have been wandering around in the mountains."

"Furthermore, in the forest, if the leopard spots us first, do you think you'll have the time to calmly plan and kill it before it knows anything?"

Wang Shouye hadn't expected the hunt to go so smoothly, completing the task on the second day. A hearty laugh echoed through the mountains, even the dogs nearby barked in agreement. Gu Shaofeng stepped forward, pressed his knee against the leopard's head from behind, and stabbed it in the throat; blood gushed out.

Afterwards, Gu Shaofeng carefully examined the leopard's wounds and then gave Zhou Rui a thumbs-up.

"Junior brother, Master was right, you really are this one. The bullet entered through the leopard's ear and went right through."

Wang Shouye teased Gu Shaofeng, "What? I remember hearing two gunshots, you missed?"

Gu Shaofeng wasn't angry at all at Wang Shouye's teasing, after all, he had a very fruitful day and had completed his task ahead of schedule.

"Hehe... I spotted the leopard too late. Just as I moved the gun over, the leopard jumped up in fright, and by the time I aimed and fired, it had already fallen. But that's fine too, if I had hit it, there would be an extra bullet hole in the leather, and I would have saved a lot of money."

"So you're saying you deserve credit for missing?" Wang Shouye said irritably. "If your junior brother missed and you missed your follow-up shot, this leopard would have gotten away."

"No, no, no, I didn't say I deserved any credit. My junior brother just got involved, didn't he?"

"Stop grinning and get to work. Try to get home early today." Wang Shouye gave Gu Shaofeng a playful kick. "Practice your shooting more, or I'll call you next time. You're not my only apprentice."

"No, Master, apart from Junior Brother, neither the second nor the third brother are as good at shooting as me. Next time there's something good, call me, don't call those two idiots." Gu Shaofeng said as he gutted the leopard. His skillful technique was worthy of having followed Wang Shouye for ten years; his ability to prepare prey was not low.

After feeding the hunting dogs, they skinned the leopard. This was the leopard's den, and there were no other wild beasts around, which was why the group dared to butcher the leopard here. However, this time it was Wang Shouye who took the knife, since this was a pre-order, and the price of the leopard skin was too high; even Gu Shaofeng hesitated to make a move.

The three of them pulled the leather open, and it shimmered even more brightly in the sunlight.

"It's really beautiful. Although it's not as thick as the leather used in winter, the color is truly dazzling."

"Yes, and this pelt is huge. I estimate this leopard is at least a hundred or so. The bullet went right through the ear, and there's not a single hole in the pelt. That's all thanks to your junior brother. For this pelt alone, I'm going to make Old Xing bleed a lot."

"Ah! Why is there such a large loss? Didn't we agree on three thousand yuan?" Zhou Rui was surprised, after all, he was right there when they were negotiating the price, and Old Man Xing did indeed gesture the number three.

Gu Shaofeng nudged Zhou Rui with his shoulder. "Junior Brother, are you sure you're not mistaken? Old Man Xing is placing an order. The price he quoted is just a middle price, which will fluctuate depending on the quality of the leather. With leather this good, we won't sell it for less than a thousand yuan more."

Wang Shouye explained to Zhou Rui, "Your senior brother is right. Old Xing only gave us a basic price; we still need to negotiate the specific price. Don't be fooled by the fact that we're raising the price by a thousand or eight hundred; he earns much more. It's just that we don't have the connections he has."

Zhou Rui nodded; he understood this principle. In later generations, fruit sellers didn't earn as much as distributors in a year. Why? Because farmers couldn't find channels to sell their goods, and a large portion of the profits went to middlemen.

Gu Shaofeng carefully folded the leopard skin and put it into Wang Shouye's backpack, along with a leopard whip wrapped in leaves.

"Master, what should we do with the rest?"

After thinking for a long time without finding a buyer for the remaining meat and bones, Wang Shouye finally said, "How about the three of us divide the remaining meat and bones and take them back to make wine? This leopard bone wine is quite good for treating rheumatism, and the meat is also nourishing, it's just not as delicious as other meats."

"I don't need that much, just a few bones and some meat. Last time I ate venison, it was so nourishing that I couldn't sleep at night. I'm just taking some things to Director Zhang at the forest farm. I can also sell him that leopard penis; he really likes those things."

"Okay, you take some, and Shaofeng and I will share the rest. I'll take it back to make wine, and you can come to my house to drink it after it's ready." Wang Shouye didn't try to persuade him any further. Zhou Rui was still young and didn't really need such nourishing things.

"Hehe... Junior brother, you still don't have a girlfriend, right? No wonder you can't even resist venison. You should hurry up and ask Xinghua to find you a girlfriend, these things will come in handy later. Hehe...!" Gu Shaofeng winked and made faces at the side, completely unbecoming of his upright and honest face.

Wang Shouye pressed his foot against Gu Shaofeng's buttocks: "Don't corrupt your junior brother, he'll only be sixteen after the New Year."

"This is outrageous! A sixteen-year-old sharpshooter. Why do I have to train until I'm over twenty and still have to keep training?" Gu Shaofeng covered his buttocks and roared to the sky.

Zhou Rui looked at Gu Shaofeng in front of him. This senior brother must have some kind of problem. He became so crazy after getting to know people. He didn't seem like a proper person at all.

The unscrupulous man ended up carrying the prepared leopard. There was no other way; the master was old and already carrying a leopard skin, and the junior brother was not yet an adult, so the strong and robust Gu Shaofeng had to bear the weight of the leopard himself.

On the way back, we passed by that badger den.

"How's it going? Still want to fix it?" Gu Shaofeng turned around and asked.

"All done. Uncle Wang and I are still empty-handed, aren't we?"

Yesterday's prey was scarce, all of which ended up in the bellies of the three men and seven hunting dogs. Zhou Rui and Wang Shouye were indeed empty-handed.

"Let's do it then." Gu Shaofeng threw the leopard on his shoulder to the ground. "I'll go collect dry firewood and leaves to smother these badgers."

Zhou Rui quickly grabbed Gu Shaofeng and brandished the firecracker in his hand. "Why do we need dry firewood? This is enough, isn't it?"

Gu Shaofeng's eyes lit up: "You really do have a way."

"It's not that your junior brother has a solution, it's that you're too stupid," Wang Shouye joked from the side.

So the group split up to find badger burrows, blocking all the entrances with stones, leaving only two open. One was used to throw firecrackers, and the other was specifically for waiting for escaped badgers to come to them.

Zhou Rui arrived at a relatively straight cave entrance, where a large rock was placed for backup. Wang Shouye and his companion were already prepared at another cave entrance, each holding a wooden stick.

Zhou Rui placed the firecracker head inside, lit the fuse, and quickly blocked the stone with force.

Bang, bang... Within three or four seconds, two explosions rang out from different locations, making it feel like the underground cave was about to collapse.

"Over there, there's still a hole that hasn't been plugged," Wang Shouye shouted, pointing to a smoking spot ten meters away.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Rui quickly drew his dagger and ran over. Before he even reached the spot, a head popped out. Zhou Rui stretched out his arm, the dagger flashed, and with a snap, sent the badger flying several meters away.

Then, like playing whack-a-mole, they would whack one out at a time, and whack two out at a time. Wang Shouye did the same, the two of them taking turns hitting them. Perhaps because that was the main entrance, more dogs escaped, and one even managed to get away with their sticks. But it was no use; it was quickly surrounded by seven dogs, worse than being hit with sticks, though its hide was probably ruined.

After waiting for a few minutes and no more badgers came out, Zhou Rui took out a firecracker.

"Let's bomb it again and see if any escaped."

"Sure," Wang Shouye and the other man agreed, since it wouldn't take much longer anyway.

bang... bang...

Ultimately, no more badgers escaped.