sbdcsierra Chapter 1779: Unhappy Retribution
Chapter 1779: Unhappy Retribution
Chapter 1779: Unhappy Retribution
The mountain area where several families used to gather wild vegetables and where Zhao Youcai hunted bears was one of the earliest forestry sections in Yong'an Forest Area, and was known locally as "Old Fifth Section".
Two days ago, as soon as the Zhao family issued the notice offering a large reward for the search of their dog, villagers from the four residential areas and even the surrounding villages flocked to Laowuban.
As Black Tiger ran along the timber transport road with Han Shengli's five hunting dogs, they encountered some villagers who had come into the mountains to look for it.
When these people saw a magnificent black dog speeding past them, they all thought of the Zhao family's lost dog notice.
But Black Tiger was too fast. By the time these people reacted, it had already disappeared, leaving only a series of strange barks echoing in the wind.
As these people turned their heads, they saw two black and three spotted hunting dogs chasing after the black tiger.
This road leads to Yong'an and Yongsheng. Seeing Hei Hu running towards the village, these people all turned back and went home.
Since Black Tiger has already gone back, what's the point of going up the mountain? It's the busy farming season, everyone has so much work to do, let's go home and get to work.
……
When Black Tiger entered the village, Zhao Youcai, who had just seen Zhang Jimin off, was sitting alone on a small stool in front of his house, smoking.
Zhao Youcai was heartbroken after Black Tiger was lost. But what he found even harder to accept was that Black Tiger had fallen into Han Shengli's hands.
Based on Zhao Youcai's understanding of Han Shengli, it's probably impossible for him to get Black Tiger back smoothly.
Zhao Youcai had taken Black Tiger up the mountain several times. Although the results were unsatisfactory, Zhao Youcai knew that Black Tiger was now a real big-headed dog.
That's a big-headed dog!
With the deaths of Hua Xiao and Qing Lang, and the passing of Qing Laohu, there are no more than three hunting dogs in the Yong'an Forest Area that can be called "Big-Headed Dogs."
The thought of his big-headed dog ending up in Han Shengli's hands, making money for Han Shengli, and contributing to Han Shengli's family's happy life made Zhao Youcai's heart ache like it was being pricked by needles.
Just as Zhao Youcai was plotting what methods he could use against Han Shengli, a strange barking sound reached his ears.
Zhao Youcai was stunned; he could hardly believe his ears.
"Woof woof woof..." At this moment, the backyard echoed with barking, and Qinglong and the other dogs barked to welcome Black Tiger's return.
"Tiger!" Zhao Youcai suddenly stood up, casually tossing away the half-finished cigarette he had just finished smoking. He shuffled towards the courtyard gate in his slippers.
"Awooo..." Before Zhao Youcai could even reach the gate, Black Tiger rushed into his own courtyard.
Black Tiger was overjoyed to be home. He rushed to Zhao Youcai, wagged his tail, and circled around him. Then he stood up, put his front paws on Zhao Youcai's chest, and stuck out his tongue to lick Zhao Youcai's face.
"Good dog! Good dog!" Zhao Youcai didn't mind at all, and instead happily stroked the back of Black Tiger's neck with both hands.
"Tiger's back," Zhao Youcai said with a smile, "Have you eaten? If you haven't, I'll give you some food."
As he spoke, Zhao Youcai looked at Black Tiger's belly and noticed that it was neither too bulging nor too flat, which meant that Black Tiger had eaten, but was not full.
This was exactly what Han Shengli was going to do today—he fed Black Tiger until he was half full.
No sooner had Zhao Youcai finished speaking than a dark figure flashed into view at the doorway.
While Zhao Youcai was still in a daze, a black dog darted in.
"Oh dear!" Zhao Youcai was startled, and just as he was in a daze, another black dog entered the Zhao family compound. Then came three spotted dogs.
"Whose dogs are these?" Zhao Youcai blurted out, not expecting a response. But as soon as he finished speaking, Black Tiger howled twice.
"Did you bring all of these back?" Zhao Youcai asked Black Tiger, but this time he didn't get a response. However, Zhao Youcai blinked, as if he'd thought of something, and his eyes lit up. He grinned and said, "These can't be Han Shengli's dogs, can they?"
Thinking of this, Zhao Youcai was instantly overjoyed. He laughed and hugged Black Tiger, giving Black Tiger two hard kisses on the forehead: "Good Tiger, you've made me so proud!"
In the mountains, Black Tiger barked and ran. The five dogs thought Black Tiger had spotted prey, so they followed closely behind.
The five dogs were a little confused, but they didn't know where to go in the unfamiliar environment.
At this moment, Zhao Youcai, who had come to his senses, released Black Tiger and then waved to the five dogs, saying, "Come, come, come! Come here, come here."
After saying this, Zhao Youcai made a sound to attract dogs, leading the five dogs to walk with him towards the warehouse not far away.
There were two empty warehouses on either side of the gate. Zhao Youcai chose the one further inside and brought the five hunting dogs and the black tiger inside.
As soon as the warehouse door closed, Zhao Youcai's expression changed immediately. He rushed over to a spotted dog, put his arm around its neck, and began to examine its fur.
On the spotted dog, Zhao Youcai saw old wounds from wild boar attacks and bear bites. Zhao Youcai knew in his heart that this was definitely a qualified, living hunting dog.
Domestic dogs are generally friendly, and hunting dogs are even more so. Although these five dogs were somewhat resistant to the advances of strangers, they did not mount any excessive resistance.
Zhao Youcai examined the five dogs one by one, growing happier with each look. With these five dogs, his dog gang would surely rise up!
"What's your name?" Zhao Youcai stroked the head of a black dog, his eyes darkening as he said, "My old black dog passed away two days ago, so... you'll be called Big Black."
As soon as Zhao Youcai finished speaking, another black dog next to him barked.
Zhao Youcai looked over upon hearing the voice, and as if he had thought of something, he tentatively asked, "Your name is Dahei?"
"Woof! Woof!" The hunting dog named Dahei barked twice in response to Zhao Youcai calling its name.
"Okay, okay!" Zhao Youcai said happily, "Then you can be called Big Black."
After saying that, Zhao Youcai looked at another black dog and said, "I already have a second black dog, so you can be called third black dog."
Upon hearing the name Sanhei, Heihu, who was flirting with the female dog nearby, turned around and glared at Zhao Youcai.
Meanwhile, the black dog, nicknamed Erhei, at Han Shengli's house, looked completely bewildered.
Zhao Youcai didn't care whether the black dog wanted to or not; he just smiled and stroked their necks with his large hands to show affection.
Just then, a jeep stopped outside the Zhao family compound.
Li Ruhai and Zhao Weipeng got out of the car and hurried into the courtyard. Li Ruhai called out as he walked, "Grandpa, Grandpa, are you not home?"
Upon hearing the noise, Zhao Youcai quickly got up and left the storeroom. Black Tiger followed him out, but the five dogs remained locked inside.
"Ruhai!" Zhao Youcai called out, and Li Ruhai turned around and said, "Grandpa, someone in Yongfu village said they saw a black dog by the edge of their field yesterday, I don't know..."
Before Li Ruhai could finish speaking, Black Tiger darted out from behind Zhao Youcai and pounced on him.
In the blink of an eye, Li Ruhai was almost knocked over by the black tiger, but luckily Zhao Jinhui caught him.
Li Ruhai instinctively hugged Black Tiger, and then Black Tiger licked him twice.
Li Ruhai didn't mind the dog at all, laughing as he rubbed Black Tiger's face and said, "How did you get back? Did you come back by yourself?"
“It didn’t come back on its own,” Zhao Youcai chimed in. Li Ruhai then asked, “Grandpa, who brought it back? Did we pay them?”
"Then you don't need to worry about it." Zhao Youcai waved to Li Ruhai first, then smiled at Li Ruhai before continuing, "Ruhai, I have a difficult task for you."
After Zhao Youcai finished speaking, he saw that Li Ruhai was expressionless and did not respond.
Zhao Youcai immediately became unhappy because he remembered that Li Ruhai always responded enthusiastically whenever Zhao Jun gave him a task. Why did the boy seem so unwilling when it came to his own?
Seeing Zhao Youcai's face darken, Li Ruhai realized what was happening and quickly said with a smile, "Grandpa, what's the mission? Tell me."
Hearing Li Ruhai's words, Zhao Youcai smiled and said, "Ruhai, go to Yongli again. When you get there, ask around. Find out how many dogs Han Shengli has, and what colors they are. Find out for me clearly."
"Grandpa, why would I ask about this?" Li Ruhai asked in surprise, "Don't Han Shengli, you, and my dad not get along?"
Zhao Youcai was taken aback by Li Ruhai's question and blurted out, "This kid... how do you know everything?"
"Hehe..." Li Ruhai chuckled smugly, "Grandpa, what's going on in this forest area that I wouldn't know about?"
Li Ruhai had already found out everything about the conflict between Zhao Youcai and Han Shengli.
The conflict between the two initially occurred in Dongdagou. At that time, Zhao Youcai was only eight years old, while Han Shengli was four months younger than Zhao Youcai.
It was a summer afternoon when Han Shengli ambushed and pushed Zhao Youcai into the East Ditch.
Fortunately, the water was shallow; when Zhao Youcai stood up, the water only reached his waist.
But Zhao Youcai held a grudge, and not two days later he pushed Han Shengli into a cesspool.
After having his mouth full of feces, Han Shengli couldn't eat for a month.
As for the conflict between Li Dayong and Han Shengli, it was entirely because Li Dayong and Zhao Youcai were inseparable. Although Li Dayong was young, he was tall and strong, and often helped Zhao Youcai beat up Han Shengli.
Zhao Youcai knew that there were some things he couldn't hide from Li Ruhai, so he immediately said to Li Ruhai, "Ruhai, do you know? Our Tiger was taken down by Han Shengli."
"Huh?" Li Ruhai frowned, denying Zhao Youcai's words, and said, "No way, sir. Before I went to Yongli's place the day before, I told Han Shengli's wife. I said that if we find Huzi, we will definitely reward him handsomely."
"That's right, sir," Zhao Jinhui added. "Isn't Tiger back now? If someone had picked him up, how would he have come back on his own?"
“He’s back,” Zhao Youcai sneered. “But I feel like Tiger ran back on his own.”
"Huh? Tiger came back by himself?" Li Ruhai asked. Zhao Youcai nodded and said, "I mean, it found its way home by itself. Oh no... it also brought back five dogs."
"What?" Li Ruhai and Zhao Jinhui were both taken aback when they heard this. Then they saw Zhao Youcai point to the closed storeroom and say, "I locked all five dogs in the storeroom. Two black dogs and three spotted dogs. I feel that they should all belong to Han Shengli's family."
After saying this, Zhao Youcai added, "Your brother Zhang's uncle, who's in the forest ranger team..."
"Ah, Zhang Jimin!" Li Ruhai knew who he was talking about and immediately replied, "He's a bit taller than my brother Zhang, not much taller."
“Yes!” Zhao Youcai nodded and said, “It’s him. He said Han Shengli hid Huzi in his house. If it were normal, would he hide a dog in his house? Zhang Jimin went to Han Shengli’s house this morning. Han Shengli said he would return the dog to us, but he ended up taking Huzi and his other dogs up the mountain again.”
I didn't ask Zhang Jimin what kind of dogs Han Shengli had. I just thought you could go and inquire whether these five dogs belonged to him.
“Alright, sir!” Li Ruhai readily agreed, “Since Han Shengli was unjust first, then we can’t be blamed for being unjust.”
Having accepted the task, Li Ruhai called Zhao Jinhui and walked out of the courtyard.
"Ruhai," Zhao Youcai caught up with Li Ruhai as he was about to step out the door. He grabbed Li Ruhai and whispered, "You can't just go straight to Han Shengli's house and ask him."
After saying that, Zhao Youcai added, "That old guy is cunning. If these five dogs belong to him, once he can't find them, he'll know you're asking about his dogs, and he'll know the dogs are in our hands."
“I understand, sir,” Li Ruhai said with a smile. “You can rest assured about what I do.”
"Grandpa!" As soon as Li Ruhai finished speaking, Zhao Jinhui asked Zhao Youcai, "What if the five dogs that Huzi brought back weren't his?"
“If it’s not his dog, I’ll keep it for now.” Zhao Youcai didn’t lie and directly stated his thoughts, saying, “If someone comes looking for it, I’ll return it to him. But if it’s Han Shengli’s dog, I definitely won’t give it to him.”
“That makes sense,” Zhao Jinhui agreed, and then left the Zhao family compound with Li Ruhai.
The two got into the car, and Li Ruhai, who was sitting in the passenger seat, said to Zhao Jinhui, "Brother Hui, when we get to Yongli, we won't go into the village; we'll head straight for their Beidadi."
"Huh?" Zhao Jinhui was taken aback, then turned to Li Ruhai and asked, "Ruhai, aren't we going into the village?"
“No.” Li Ruhai said decisively, “We’re usually on good terms with Widow Liu in the east courtyard of Han Shengli’s house. I’ll get the information from her by asking her a couple of questions.”
……
When Li Ruhai rushed to Yonglitun, Han Shengli and Gu Yang had already arrived at the place where Zhao Youcai had hunted the black bear a few days earlier.
When Gu Yang met Han Shengli, he told Han Shengli that there were bears eating bears. That was because after Zhao Youcai killed the bear, he skinned it, butchered it, and then fell asleep.
When Zhao Youcai woke up, it was almost dark. He rushed home in a hurry, without taking a single piece of bear meat with him. The next day, Zhao Jun and the others were busy looking for the black tiger on the mountain and didn't bother with the bear meat either.
In late May, as temperatures rose, the bear meat Zhao Youcai had left in the mountains had long since gone bad and rotted. The smell spread through the forest, attracting not only flies but also badgers, weasels, and eventually even a bear.
This morning, as soon as Gu Yang entered the forest, he encountered a black bear lying there gnawing on a bear paw that Zhao Youcai had removed. It was because of this scene that he said to Han Shengli earlier, "A black bear eats a black bear."
After releasing Black Tiger, Han Shengli followed the sound of the dogs barking towards the outside of the mountain. Gu Yang said they were going in the wrong direction, but Han Shengli said that to hunt dogs, you have to follow them; the barking of the dogs meant they had spotted their prey.
Who is Han Shengli? Gu Yang didn't dare to argue with Han Shengli, so he followed Han Shengli all the way up the slope.
But as they walked, the barking stopped. By the time the two stood on the firewood path, the six dogs had vanished without a trace.
Han Shengli guessed that since the dog had taken the path, it was probably heading towards the opposite mountain. So he took Gu Yang up the opposite mountain, but after circling around the mountain, they didn't hear a single bark.
At this point, Han Shengli finally sensed something was wrong and asked Gu Yang to lead him to the place where he had seen the black bear eating another black bear.
Han Shengli guessed that if the dog failed to catch the live black bear, it would run to where the dead black bear was.
When they arrived at the location, Han Shengli saw bear skin rotting on the ground, black bear skeletons gnawed clean by various animals, and tattered bear paws bitten beyond recognition, but he couldn't find any trace of the six hunting dogs.
Han Shengli was completely stunned; his mind was buzzing.
At this moment, the panic in his heart was exactly the same as that of Zhao Jun, who had lost Black Tiger a few days ago.
Tomorrow's extra chapter will be about going to Lingnan. In Lingnan, we'll be chasing away tigers, carrying a stone dragon, attending the Ginseng King Conference, and meeting a big boss...
(End of this chapter)