HPDBC Chapter 1855 With Money Leading the Way to Lao'anzi
Chapter 1855 With Money Leading the Way to Lao'anzi
Chapter 1855 With Money Leading the Way to Lao'anzi
Zhang Guoqing and Zhao Youcai had worked together for over ten years, and he knew Zhao Youcai all too well what kind of person he was.
He had taken Zhao Youcai in as a client, but had failed to do anything for him. Although this was Zhao Youcai's fault, Zhang Guoqing knew he had to give Zhao Youcai an explanation.
So after leaving the office building, Zhang Guoqing went directly to the logistics team. Then, using the logistics team's phone, he obtained the contact number for the Xishantun headquarters through the forestry internal hotline.
As soon as the phone rang, Ma Ling called Wang Meilan to answer it.
Wang Meilan answered the phone and said "Hello," and then heard the other end ask, "Is this Cai's wife? This is Zhang Guoqing from the forest farm canteen."
"Oh, Director Zhang," Wang Meilan said upon hearing this, "Are you looking for Youcai? He's not home."
“I know he’s not home,” Zhang Guoqing said. “He just left the venue a little while ago. Before he left, he asked me to do something for him, but I didn’t do it. I thought I should tell him about it.”
"Huh?" Wang Meilan was taken aback when she heard Zhang Guoqing continue, "Doesn't he want to go back to the canteen? I just went to see Director Yan, but he didn't agree, so it didn't work out."
"Back to the canteen?" Wang Meilan frowned, and she quickly guessed Zhao Youcai's thoughts. Before Zhao Youcai was transferred from the canteen, he had skipped work twice to go hunting.
Now he wants to transfer back to the cafeteria; he's been cooped up at home and is trying to find ways to get out.
Wang Meilan deeply abhorred Zhao Youcai's behavior.
It's not that Wang Meilan wants to control Zhao Youcai or anything. If Zhao Youcai wants to go up the mountain to hunt a roe deer, a wild boar, or even a bear, Wang Meilan doesn't care.
But Zhao Youcai was determined to fight the tiger, so how could Wang Meilan ignore him?
"Oh, thank you too, Director Zhang," Wang Meilan said with a smile. "I'll talk to him when he gets back."
"Okay, then I'll hang up." Zhang Guoqing hung up the phone after saying that, while Wang Meilan on the other end of the line gritted her teeth and looked gloomy.
……
"Achoo!" Zhao Youcai suddenly sneezed in the jeep.
At this moment, he was unaware that his Zhonghua cigarettes had gone down the drain. Zhao Youcai rubbed his nose and looked out the car window.
Looking at the mountains, forests, green grass, and wildflowers, Zhao Youcai was full of ambition and high aspirations.
The group arrived at the Third Work Section and received a warm welcome from Section Chief Chen Liangyou.
Conditions at the work site were very harsh, especially at this time of year when green beans, eggplants, and other vegetables weren't yet available, and there were no refrigerators or freezers. The vegetables the workers ate were all small, locally grown crops from nearby reclaimed land.
The so-called side dishes here are lettuce, radish greens, cilantro, and stinky tofu, which are served with dipping sauce.
Chen Liangyou and Zhao Youcai were sworn brothers. Even though the working conditions were harsh, Chen Liangyou brought peanuts and canned food that he had carried up from the foot of the mountain, along with small river fish that the workers had caught in the nearby river and vegetables he had grown himself, and made four dishes for Zhao Jun and the others.
No matter how good the food at home is, it never tastes as good as food outside after a while.
Although the meal at the workshop was simple, Zhao Jun and his colleagues ate it with great relish.
Mix the small fish sauce into the cooked rice, then add a spoonful of fried peanuts. Finally, take a small amount of the mixed rice and place it on a lettuce leaf.
Next, chopped cilantro and scallion leaves are placed on top of the rice. Finally, it's wrapped in lettuce leaves and stuffed into your mouth—this is the local delicacy, rice wrap.
This way of eating is so delicious and goes perfectly with rice.
Zhao Jun quickly finished a bowl of rice, and then he picked up a cornbread.
He broke the flatbread into small pieces, then placed several pieces on lettuce leaves. Next, he added fish sauce, cilantro, and scallions, and finally rolled it up to create another type of rice roll.
The meal was quite enjoyable, and we ate early, finishing before noon.
After eating and drinking their fill, the group rested for more than half an hour in the forestry security office.
Then at 12:30 pm, Zhao Jiabang and Zhao Youcai took a car straight to Qingshilazi.
Once you reach the bottom of Qingshilazi, the Jiefang truck can no longer go up.
The eight members of the Zhao family gang squeezed into the jeep.
Zhao Jinhui was driving, with Zhao Youcai and Wang Qiang squeezed sideways into the passenger seat. In the back, Zhao Jun, Li Baoyu, and Xie Chen sat in their seats, with Zhang Yuanmin sitting on Zhao Jun's lap and Li Ruhai sitting on Xie Chen's lap.
The jeep drove along the side road, with Zhao Youcai in the passenger seat giving Zhao Jinhui directions. Every now and then, he would get out and look around, seemingly confirming his location.
"Alright!" After getting off the bus for the third time to confirm the direction, Zhao Youcai called Zhao Jun and the other seven to get off.
Everyone got out of the car, each carrying a gun, and followed Zhao Youcai, walking along the small side path straight up the southwest slope.
The narrow path was only wide enough for two people to walk side by side. Zhao Youcai carried his gun alone in front, followed closely by Li Baoyu and Li Ruhai.
At this moment, Li Ruhai was carrying the No. 16 rifle from his family. Although he was young, he had participated in militia training. However, most of his skills were just talk; his marksmanship was terrible.
But Zhao Jun didn't bring him out for hunting; he went for grazing in the mountains. Grazing in the mountains is different from hunting. Some of the children from the Shen Ding family started grazing in the mountains with adults when they were thirteen or fourteen years old.
Li Ruhai has made great progress recently and is extremely loyal to Zhao Jun, so Zhao Jun took him into the mountains.
Zhao Jun was confident that with so many men and so many guns, he could definitely protect Li Ruhai. Even so, Zhao Jun still had Li Ruhai carry a gun just in case.
As the group walked, a scream suddenly rang out. Zhao Youcai, who was walking at the front, was suddenly pulled to the front by a swaying shoulder.
The moment Zhao Youcai grabbed the gun, his small eyes gleamed.
Zhao Youcai gripped the gun with both hands, then released the safety with his back hand and strode forward.
At this time, the mountains were covered in green, not only with lush branches and leaves and shady trees, but also with some grasses as tall as Zhang Yuanmin.
In this situation, the trees and grass obscure the view, and no one can see anything more than fifteen meters away.
"Dad!" At this moment, Zhao Jun called out softly to Zhao Youcai, "It's a roe deer calling."
Zhao Youcai didn't utter a sound and stepped out of the woods.
Not knowing what had captured the roe deer, Zhao Jun hurriedly led Li Baoyu, Zhang Yuanmin, and Xie Chen to follow, leaving Wang Qiang behind to take care of Zhao Jinhui and Li Ruhai.
Seeing Zhao Jun leading his men to chase after Zhao Youcai, Zhao Jinhui rubbed his chubby cheeks and muttered to himself, "I still need to lose some weight."
"You're kidding me." Wang Qiang glanced at Zhao Jinhui and laughed, "You ate half a bowl of rice at noon, and you're still thin?"
Hearing Wang Qiang's words, a hint of embarrassment appeared on Zhao Jinhui's chubby face.
Zhao Youcai moved through the woods with his gun. Whenever there were branches or tall grass in front of him, he would support the gun with his left hand, briefly freeing his right hand to push aside the grass and branches. After passing through, Zhao Youcai would gently lower his hand, making no sound whatsoever.
His hand and foot movements were very coordinated, and his movements were extremely swift. Li Baoyu behind him had better footwork, but his skill was far inferior to Zhao Youcai's.
This old forest was a logging area in the forestry region for more than ten years. Back then, the forestry station planted some trees here. However, the mountains are high and the terrain is steep, and sleds are prone to slipping and causing casualties.
Using tractors for transportation would be too fuel-intensive. Therefore, after discussion among the leadership, operations were suspended.
However, this forest has been logged, and there are gaps and open spaces between the trees.
About twenty meters away from Zhao Youcai, in a clearing in the woods, a small animal was tightly gripping and biting a roe deer.
This small animal has a slender body, mainly black and yellow in color. It has short limbs, a triangular head, large and wide ears, and a long tail.
Despite being only a meter long from head to tail and weighing less than seven or eight pounds including its excrement, it was hunting a roe deer that weighed over thirty pounds.
The little beast was seen digging its front paws into the back of the roe deer's head, while its hind paws gripped the roe deer's neck, pressing itself tightly against the roe deer's body.
This small animal is scientifically known as the yellow-throated marten, but locals call it the honey dog. It is a ferocious creature with extremely strong fighting abilities.
The roe deer, being clawed and bitten by the yellow-throated marten, screamed and struggled. It leaped, kicked, jumped, rolled, and even rolled on the ground, but it could not shake off the marten.
Suddenly, a dark gun muzzle peeked out from between the green leaves.
"Bang!" As the roe deer rolled up from the ground with the yellow-throated marten, a bullet grazed the marten's back.
Although the shot missed its mark, the force of the bullet broke the yellow-throated marten's spine.
The yellow-throated marten didn't even have time to scream before it was sent flying.
Without the yellow-throated marten's claws and bites, the roe deer wiggled its white rump and leaped away, disappearing into the forest.
The roe deer ran too fast, so Zhao Youcai wasn't disappointed that he didn't get a chance to shoot it. The shot he had just fired made Zhao Youcai feel great; the frustration of being watched by the old man for so many days seemed to have been swept away with that one shot.
"Dad!" Zhao Jun, who had followed, saw Zhao Youcai put away his gun and asked, "What's that?"
"Go and take a look." Zhao Youcai nodded forward with his chin, and Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu stepped forward with their guns raised.
“Brother, there’s nothing here.” Li Baoyu looked around but couldn’t see any hunted animals.
"Find the bullet trajectory," Zhao Jun reminded him, referring to the trajectory of a bullet.
Seeing broken branches on the left, the two brothers went over and smelled a foul odor coming from the fallen grass.
Yellow-throated martens have a very strong odor. Mountain dogs eat weasels and foxes, but none of them eat yellow-throated martens. Even if you remove their odor glands, nobody would eat their meat.
There was no blood around, so Li Baoyu grabbed the yellow-throated marten by its tail and lifted it upside down.
Seeing the yellow-throated marten slumping over, Li Baoyu whispered, "It wasn't killed by gunfire, it was just a lucky shot, the bullet just went off."
As Li Baoyu said this, he saw Zhao Jun wink at him. Understanding the signal, Li Baoyu quickly changed his words and said, "My goodness! You can't find another one like this in the whole country. This is killing without bloodshed."
Zhao Youcai, who came from behind, gave Li Baoyu a cold glance and thought to himself, "You little brat, I heard what you were saying."
At this moment, Zhang Yuanmin and Xie Chen followed. Zhao Youcai picked up his gun, sat down imposingly on a tree branch, and then, while taking out cigarettes from his pocket, looked at Zhao Jun and ordered, "Quickly whistle and tell your uncle and the others to come up quickly."
After saying that, Zhao Youcai muttered under his breath, "Dawdling."
Hearing this, Zhang Yuanmin and Xie Chen didn't dare to say a word. Li Baoyu coughed lightly and bent down to ask Zhao Youcai, "Uncle, did you throw away this honey dog?"
"What are you throwing away?" Zhao Youcai glared at him with his small eyes and said, "Take it."
"Take...take it?" Li Baoyu was taken aback and hurriedly asked, "Grandpa, what are you going to do with it? You can't eat it or sell it."
"Then don't worry about it. If you're told to take it, then take it." Zhao Youcai said bluntly, but he still handed out a Zhonghua cigarette to each of Li Baoyu and the other two.
Zhao Youcai is a complex and emotionally volatile person, but he's never stingy with his own people. When Wang Qiang and the other two arrived, they each received a Zhonghua cigarette.
After finishing his cigarette, Zhao Youcai pointed to the right and said, "I stopped that honey dog from biting the roe deer, and then the roe deer ran over there."
"Huh?" Zhao Jun was taken aback and said, "Dad, are we chasing roe deer?"
"What are you chasing after, roe deer?" Zhao Youcai glanced at Zhao Jun and said irritably, "I mean we should go that way too."
As he spoke, Zhao Youcai stood up and then said to the others, "Ruhai, follow me. Jinhui, follow Qiangzi. The remaining four of you will split up and go your separate ways. Before you go, keep an eye on the red pine trees around you. If you see an old man in a tree, whistle."
Zhao Youcai had made good arrangements. The eight people were divided into pairs and went their separate ways to search for Lao Zhao. Moreover, he and Wang Qiang were responsible for taking care of Li Ruhai and Zhao Jinhui, who were considered burdens, so they could handle any unexpected situations well.
But Zhao Youcai, too engrossed in his role, seemed to have forgotten that the seven people who came up the mountain with him today were from the Zhao Family Gang, not his Zhao Family Hunting Gang.
However, of the seven people present, apart from Wang Qiang, the others were all Zhao Youcai's juniors. And in front of the younger generation, Wang Qiang didn't dare to disrespect his brother-in-law.
And so, following Zhao Youcai's instructions, the Zhao family gang divided into groups and began their operations.
Zhao Youcai, carrying a gun in one hand, led Li Ruhai through the woods. After taking a couple of steps, Zhao Youcai's small eyes darted around, and he thought, "Going up the mountain with them... isn't so bad, huh? Dayong and Shunzi are busy with work, and Xiaoduzi and his gang have men and dogs. If I go out with them a few times, won't I be able to take them all?"
Just as Zhao Youcai was lost in thought, a whistle came from the south.
Upon hearing the sound, Zhao Youcai paused and led Li Ruhai toward that direction.
At this moment, Zhao Jun was standing under a pine tree. He glanced at Lao Zhao in the tree and then praised Jie Chen, saying, "Xiao Chen, you have good eyesight! You can always see Lao Zhao!"
The two old burial sites, Huangnigangzi and Yangpohe River, which flowed into the shady side, were both discovered by Xie Chen.
Today, he saw the old man in this dense forest again.
Jie Chen grinned, feeling quite proud.
The four groups were not far apart, and Zhao Youcai and the others quickly arrived.
Then Zhao Jun and his seven men all looked up at the old man who had carved and slashed the tree with knives.
“This is a mountain that one person set off!” Wang Qiang frowned as he looked at the old man, muttering, “Setting off those… two seedlings of two Jiazi, one seedling of a lampstand, hehehe…”
As he read on, Wang Qiang laughed. He pointed at the pine tree and said, "This bastard, why is he carving these two lousy things? It's too much trouble."
"Slap!" Before Wang Qiang could finish speaking, he was slapped on the back of the neck by Zhao Youcai.
The slap wasn't hard, but Wang Qiang jumped in surprise and turned to Zhao Youcai, shouting, "What are you doing, brother-in-law?"
Zhao Youcai glared at Wang Qiang with his small eyes and said irritably, "That was carved by me! I'm such a loser!"
Upon hearing Zhao Youcai's words, Wang Qiang looked astonished, while Zhao Jun, Li Baoyu, and the others lowered their heads and hid their laughter.
Previously, when Wang Meilan presided over the trial of Zhao Youcai and Zhao Jun was on the jury, Zhao Youcai confessed that he had once kept a few small tung oil plants in this old village.
But to Zhao Jun's surprise, Zhao Youcai was a man who respected rules. After releasing the small sluice, he even knew to leave a mark on the tree.