"What's wrong, Second Uncle?"
Second Uncle dragged the Mountain Lynx over, turned its body, pointed to its left eye, and said, "Take a look, birdshot blinded its eye."
With that, Second Uncle pointed to the lynx's flank. "Almost no fur in these spots. Someone definitely shot it."
Ning Jie glanced at it and said with a huff, "This isn't the seventies anymore. Mountain Lynx pelts aren't worth anything, and the meat doesn't taste good either. Why go out of your way to shoot a thing like this?"
Second Uncle stroked Dahei's head and sat flat on the ground.
"Who knows? Dammit, these hunters nowadays are getting less and less principled."
Ning Jie sat down as well, lit a cigarette, and looked up at the crooked-necked Manchurian ash tree Second Uncle had been crouching on just moments before. "Not bad, Second Uncle. That's over three meters high—you scrambled right up in one go?"
Second Uncle was over forty, bundled in a heavy cotton-padded jacket and trousers. Just jumping would be a stretch for him, let alone scrambling up a tree in no time flat.
Second Uncle shot him an annoyed look. "Damn it all, I was forced into it by the Mountain Lynx! I dropped my gun and went straight up in a single bound. I've never climbed onto a kang that fast in my life."
Ning Jie grinned from ear to ear, and Second Uncle gave the back of his head an irritated slap.
"Laugh, go on, laugh! If this thing had torn me apart, you'd be the one crying."
Ning Jie rolled his eyes. "It's not like you couldn't take a Mountain Lynx."
"Hmph."
Second Uncle let out an indignant snort. "Hell, I'm getting old. When I was your age, I could take on a four-hundred-pound wild boar with just a military knife. Now look at me—I feel like a wild lynx nearly took half my life."
Ning Jie nodded solemnly, holding back a laugh as he said, "Ain't that the truth. When you were twenty and went toe-to-toe with that wild boar, it snapped three of your ribs."
Hearing Ning Jie bring that up, Second Uncle instantly took offense.
"You little bastard, go ask around and see how many people have taken on a four-hundred-pound wild boar. Your Second Uncle is one of a kind in these mountains!"
Ning Jie shot him a sideways glance. "Oh, give it a rest. Didn't you tell me that when my dad was young, he could kill a black bear with a single long whip?"
At the mention of his older brother, Second Uncle's mood visibly darkened.
He sighed. "Ah, back then your dad learned the long whip from an old master from Hebei. Your dad had plenty of muscle; he used that whip to lash a millstone and actually cracked it by ten centimeters."
"The day he came back covered in blood and called for men to go up the mountain, we were all stunned. Such a huge black bear, and aside from its head and neck, there wasn't a single wound on it—its neck bones were literally shattered by your dad's whip."
"Later on your dad went to the battlefield and served as a bodyguard for a regimental commander... Ah..."
Second Uncle let out a long sigh. "The old folks always said your dad mastered the whip to perfection, but either it takes your life or it ends your bloodline. I don't see it that way. I think that even if your dad wasn't much of a father, and wasn't much of an older brother, he was still a real man through and through."
Ning Jie's gaze darkened. He had heard this story from Second Uncle many times.
Not only did he know that his father had taken a bullet for that commander, but he also knew that after the commander retired from active service, he had become the Secretary of the Municipal Party Committee in City B.
He had only found out about this in his past life back in 1987, when he went into the city, married Lin Yuezhi, and headed down south to dabble in the clothing trade.
A local thug named Toad, who was also in the clothing business, started giving him trouble. Back then, seeing red after going thirty-on-one, he drove a knife straight through Toad's neck.
Before he could even flee to the south, the police pinned him down.
Toad was the police substation chief in City B, and they had made it explicitly clear at the time that they wanted him dead.
When Second Uncle found out about his trouble, he took his father's medals for meritorious service and a black-and-white photograph of him with the Secretary, and managed to fish Ning Jie out.
He didn't want a repeat of that.
He had already made up his mind: before the Chinese New Year, he would take his father's leftover belongings and go find that Secretary. If you wanted to catch the big fish in the wave of economic reform, connections were paramount.
"Second Uncle, that commander is the Party Secretary in our city now."
Second Uncle looked at him deeply for a long moment before speaking. "You want to go look for him?"
Ning Jie nodded. Every step he took earlier now meant his plans could be brought forward by that much more.
"Second Uncle, I don't want to stay in the village my whole life."
"Ah."
Second Uncle sighed deeply, patted Ning Jie's shoulder, and said, "He owes your father a life. What you get out of it depends entirely on you. But remember this: your dad walked the straight path—don't drag his good name through the mud."
"Your Second Uncle has no education and no special skills, so I can't help you much. The other day you asked me what I'd do if one day the state banned hunting and came to collect all our guns. I kept thinking about that: if that day really comes, what would I be able to do?"
"I didn't sleep much that night. I kept thinking back to the early days of the production team, when all I wanted was just to have a hot meal. Then came grain coupons, all sorts of coupons—money wasn't worth anything, and having cash without coupons was useless."
"Who would've thought there'd come a day when nobody even wants to use grain coupons anymore?"
Second Uncle handed Ning Jie another cigarette. "Later on I figured out you might be right. When that day really comes, people won't need to go up into the mountains to hunt for food, and they won't need to trade pelts for money. By then, hunters like us won't have any reason to exist."
"Go find him, Second Uncle agrees. But Second Uncle still has to make one thing clear to you: no matter what you do, be decent and upright. You can play rough, and you can be ruthless, but you can't be a bad person or make yourself despised."
"Otherwise, what's meant to repay a kindness will end up feeling like settling a blood feud."
Ning Jie took a deep breath. Second Uncle had told him these exact words in his past life as well. It was precisely because of what Second Uncle taught him that through countless political crackdowns, even when his reputation was fearsome, he had always stood tall and unshaken.
"Don't worry, Second Uncle. I'll definitely listen to you."
Second Uncle patted Ning Jie's shoulder and asked, "When are you heading out?"
"Next month. I'll go get my bearings first, and then make another trip before the New Year."
"Alright. These next couple of days, let's round up some whole game, and gather some mountain goods and mushrooms for you to take to him."
After finishing their cigarettes, Second Uncle and Ning Jie headed back toward the middle of the mountain. Dahei followed behind them; the wounds on its body had stopped bleeding, but its breathing was noticeably heavy.
By the time they reached the sunny slope, the sun was already sliding down the mountain like it was clocking out early for the day.
The two of them went to check their respective trap lines. From far off, Ning Jie spotted several rabbits lying along the path.
Six out of ten traps had caught something. You had to hand it to them—there were still plenty of rabbits around, mainly because the creatures didn't have much meat and didn't taste particularly good.
People in the Northeast didn't prepare rabbit meat with the same culinary finesse as folks in the South. In the past, catching rabbits was purely a way to satisfy a craving when there was no meat to be had. Now that life was a little better, not many people cared to eat the stuff anymore.
After waiting a short while for Second Uncle, he came into view, carrying a wicker back-basket as he trudged heavily through the brush.