Reborn in the 60s, I hunt to support my family and even seduce the village beauty.

As Chang Kun was walking back with the little roe deer, Chen Jia's eldest son, Al'er's third son, came looking for him with the large blue roe deer.

"I told you, Brother Chang Kun would definitely be able to fight the idiot again." The third son of the Chen family chuckled.

"Brother, you're really good at hunting, and your marksmanship is excellent too." Chen Er came over and took the roe deer from Chang Kun's hands, only to find a bloody hole in the roe deer's neck, killing it instantly.

Chen Ada offered Chang Kun a cigarette, but Chang Kun refused. Chen then took a satisfying puff himself, pointing to the two roe deer on the ground and saying:

"That silly dog, its companion was killed, and it didn't even run away. It just stood there waiting foolishly. I'd heard local hunters talk about it before, and I thought it was a joke. But I never expected to actually see it today."

Chang Kun laughed too. It was indeed a fitting nickname; the name "Silly Robe" was well-deserved.

After wandering around all morning, I didn't find any black bears, but I did manage to hunt four roe deer. I left two at the base to eat slowly, and put the other two in my space to take home.

As the sun rose higher, Chang Kun and his three companions grew a bit tired, so they decided to gut and bleed the roe deer on the spot.

Following the custom of the people who go up the mountain here, Chen Ada hung the roe deer's intestines on a big tree as a sign of respect to the mountain god.

Then they dragged the roe deer back home.

After descending the mountain, as we passed Anmin Village next to the base, we heard cries and shouts.

"My brother! I'll avenge you!"

"Kill that damn black bear!"

Chang Kun turned his head and saw a shed set up by the roadside at the east end of the village, where a group of people were crying and shouting.

"What's going on?" Chang Kun turned to ask the three Chen brothers.

Older Chen, being older and more experienced, hesitated before saying, "This looks like a mourning hall?"

"Who would put a mourning tent outside the village? Shouldn't it be placed at the front door of the house?" Old Chen retorted.

"Anyway, there's only one road back, we'll find out once we get there."

The four of them slowly approached, and it was indeed a mourning hall.

Li Lei and a few other hunters were helping to greet the guests.

Upon seeing Chang Kun approach, Li Lei stepped forward to greet him: "Brother Chang, you've returned from the mountains?"

Chang Kun nodded and asked, "Brother Li, what's going on here?"

"It's Zhang Erdang's brother; he got into trouble with Black Bear!"

Li Lei's eyes were bloodshot. Zhang Erdang was his cousin. He usually disliked Zhang Erdang for his loud and boisterous way of speaking, but now that Zhang Erdang had died tragically, he felt a tightness in his chest.

"Ah!" The three Chen brothers behind him exclaimed in surprise.

Chang Kun's eyes widened. Just yesterday, those hunters in Anmin Village were searching everywhere for Zhang Erdang. How come they heard the bad news so quickly?

Li Lei spoke in a low voice, recounting what had happened.

Yesterday afternoon, they searched until dark, but they still couldn't find Zhang Erdang.

Zhang Erdang's family was extremely worried. This wasn't a child who ran off to play at someone else's house and forgot the time; Zhang Erdang was an adult who went to hunt black bears, so he must have gone into the mountains.

The mountains in Northeast China are endless. Once Zhang Erdang enters the mountains, who knows which peak he's on? It's getting late, and even if the whole village were to search for him, it would be in vain.

That night, none of the Zhang family members slept a wink.

Before dawn, Zhang's wife, Tao Dahua, approached Li Lei and begged him to take the dog up the mountain to find Zhang Erdang.

As a cousin, Li Lei took the initiative and, along with his dog and two brothers-in-law, headed towards the place where they had last chased the black bear the day before.

When the family's blue dog arrived at the field, it smelled the scent of a black bear, crossed three hills, and then started barking loudly.

Li Lei was very familiar with the barking of his dog, and when he heard the dog barking incessantly in one spot, he knew something was wrong.

He rushed over as fast as he could, and the scene nearly scared him out of his wits. His two brothers-in-law were so frightened that they stumbled back and fell to the ground.

It's unbearable to look at!

His cousin, Zhang Erdang, was left with only a bloody head and half a foot, lying like trash under a tree!

The dark red bloodstains had dried and were sprayed on the grass and soil under the tree, making it look just like a slaughterhouse!

It was eaten by a black bear, it's so tragic!

According to their local custom, people who are killed by prey are not allowed to return to the village to hold a funeral; they can only have a simple ceremony by the roadside outside the village.

Zhang Erdang's wife, Tao Dahua, had already fainted several times from crying. When she saw Li Lei talking to a few hunter-like men, she rushed over.

"Lei Zi, your brother was harmed by Hei Xiazi, you have to avenge him! Otherwise, he won't be able to rest in peace!"

Tao Dahua had no other choice; she knew that the best hunter in the area was Li Lei.

If he can't avenge him, Zhang Erdang might not even die in peace.

"Okay! Sister-in-law, don't worry, I'll take care of this!" Li Lei was also holding back his anger.

My brothers and I have been hunting for years, and we are strong and have never had any accidents. I never expected that such a serious matter as a death would happen.

"After I've taken care of my brother's funeral arrangements today, I'll go up the mountain tomorrow and place the black bear's head at his grave as an offering!"

In Li Lei's view, it was just a black bear, which he could easily catch. He had killed at least three or four black bears over the years.

He had completely forgotten the scene yesterday when Chang Kun led them to chase the mother bear. That mother bear was definitely not ordinary in intelligence; she knew when to advance and retreat and could not be treated like a stupid bear.

Chang Kun offered a few words of comfort to the three Chen brothers, then took the roe deer and left.

Li Lei, standing behind him, glanced at the bullet holes in the roe deer's body and nodded.

Chang Kun just arrived here yesterday and went up the mountain twice. He didn't have the help of hunting dogs, but he never came empty-handed. It seems he's quite skilled at hunting.

As soon as they approached the breeding base, Chen Asan rushed into the courtyard, shouting, "Brother-in-law, brother-in-law, Chang Kun has caught two big roe deer!"

On the way, Chang Kun promised them that he would kill a roe deer and eat meat together, which made Chen Asan very happy.

Having been at the breeding base for a while, although we can eat our fill, who cares about cornbread when there's meat to eat?

Zou Shengrong ran out upon hearing the noise, "Hey, Chang Kun, did you do this?"

Seeing his three brothers-in-law looking at Chang Kun with obvious deference, he understood.

"The prey you hunted wasn't the black bear the base needed, how can you do this..."

Chang Kun had already figured it out: the Northeast was rich in resources. If he stayed here for a few days, he could probably fill up the system space with just a few resources, and the rest would be hard to sell.

At this time, private sales were not supported; the goods could only be sold to state-run purchasing stations.

The price of meat at state-run purchasing stations was so low it was outrageous.

For example, the wild boar that Chang Kun had hunted before was sold to the director of the supply and marketing cooperative for 2.5 yuan per jin. Even so, the director of the supply and marketing cooperative still felt indebted to Chang Kun because it was extremely difficult to get pork in Beijing.

If sold to state-run purchasing stations, they can only fetch two or three cents per pound, a tenfold difference in price!

Since selling it would only earn a small amount of money, it would be better to be generous and share the meat with the people at the base.

Five people worked together to skin the two roe deer, chop them into chunks of meat, and stew them in a large iron pot.

That evening, we had stir-fried roe deer tenderloin with chili peppers, braised roe deer ribs, stir-fried shredded pork with pickled cabbage, plus chunks of meat dipped in salt powder—four hearty dishes in total.

Chang Kun ate with great relish.

I never expected Zou Shengrong to be such a skilled cook, even better than the chefs at the state-run restaurants.

It seems I'm in for a treat these next few days at the breeding base.

Meanwhile, Li Lei was at home cleaning his old friend, a 16-gauge shotgun. (This is a single-shot shotgun with a 16-gauge barrel; the original shotgun barrel has been removed and replaced with a .56 semi-automatic barrel, firing 7.62 intermediate-power cartridges.)

This gun cannot fire in bursts. After each shot, the empty cartridge case must be ejected and a new bullet loaded.

With just this gun, plus his two brothers-in-law and Zhang Erdang, a total of four guns, the four of them made a lot of big business in the mountains.

Now that Zhang Erdang is gone, he suppressed his anger and prepared to find the mother bear first thing tomorrow morning, shoot her in the eyes, and avenge Zhang Erdang.