The whole mountain is my hunting ground.

Chapter 1775 Dogs Recalling Bitterness and Humans indulging in Delusions

Chapter 1775 Dogs Recalling Bitterness and Humans indulging in Delusions

"A ginseng convention?" Zhao Jun was taken aback when he heard this, and then Zhao Youcai corrected Wang Meilan, saying, "What ginseng convention? That old man said it was the Ginseng King Convention."

Zhao Youcai was eavesdropping on Wang Meilan's phone call.

Hearing Zhao Youcai's words, Zhao Jun couldn't help but be a little surprised.

Both are large-scale conferences, but the "King of Ginseng Conference" sounds much more prestigious than the "Ginseng Conference."

"The Ginseng King Conference?" Li Baoyu interjected, "Who is the Ginseng King? Is there really such a powerful person?"

Li Baoyu thought the Ginseng King was a certain person, a ginseng leader.

"I don't know." Wang Meilan shook her head when Li Baoyu asked her, "He didn't tell me in detail. I told him that my brother wasn't home, and he said he would call again tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Li Baoyu turned to look at Zhao Jun. Zhao Jun, who had just taken a couple of sips of water to moisten his throat, said, "The Ginseng King isn't a person. It's the best ginseng that these ginseng bosses pick out and put in their ginseng pods. They then compare them in a pile."

In his previous life, Zhao Jun lived in Fusong County, Jilin Province, known as the "Ginseng Capital." The local government held an annual Ginseng King Competition to promote the development of related industries in the area.

During the two years when Zhao Jun was doing well, he was even invited to watch the excitement and bought some high-quality wild ginseng.

However, the Ginseng King Competition only started after the millennium. According to Zhao Jun's guess, the current Ginseng King Conference is probably a non-governmental organization used to promote exchanges and trade.

"So what if we have to compete?" Zhao Youcai asked curiously. "Whoever carries the ginseng king, what can they do about it?"

Zhao Youcai wasn't just being argumentative; he simply didn't understand the point of a group of people getting together to compare things. Was it just to let these guild leaders show off?

"Those who went were probably drug dealers and big bosses," Zhao Jun said. "People with money will buy whatever they can find, whoever has the best stick."

"Ah..." Hearing Zhao Jun's words, Zhao Youcai said, "Son, then we have to go."

Zhao Jun also wanted to go, because he was currently guarding several old ginseng farms. Besides the conjoined ginseng he had been eyeing for a long time, Zhao Jun believed he could also bring out many wild ginsengs of good quality.

These wild ginsengs all need a market. Previously, Zhao Jun sold ginseng to Daohua Pharmacy. He sold quite a lot on both occasions, but selling to individuals would definitely fetch a higher price than selling to the pharmacy.

As for the pharmacies in Hebei, such as Manager Huang of Huichuntang, they all have standard prices for the ginseng they buy. They can sell some common ginseng to them, but Manager Huang and his team dare not buy ginseng with no price, such as fourth-grade or fifth-grade leaves.

Therefore, this grassroots organization's gathering of the King of Kings was actually quite important to Zhao Jun.

"Mom, um..." Zhao Jun suppressed his frustration and asked Wang Meilan, "Did the old man say what time he would call tomorrow?"

Zhao Jun has to go up the mountain to find Black Tiger tomorrow; he can't just stay home waiting for a call.

“I arranged with him to call before eight o’clock,” Wang Meilan said. “He doesn’t have a phone at home, so he has to go to the village office to make the call. The village office should be open around seven o’clock.”

As Wang Meilan said this, her tone was filled with pride and self-satisfaction. She was proud and self-satisfied because her family had a telephone, and that they had it because of her.

"Sigh!" Suddenly remembering Black Tiger, Zhao Jun sighed with some worry and said, "Alright, then I'll wait for him at home for a while tomorrow."

After saying this, Zhao Jun turned to Wang Qiang and the others and said, "Uncle, let's leave at eight o'clock tomorrow."

As soon as Zhao Jun finished speaking, Li Ruhai said to Zhao Jinhui, "Brother Hui, let's leave at seven o'clock tomorrow morning and visit as many places as possible."

"Sigh!" Zhao Jinhui nodded emphatically. He was too fat; a leisurely stroll up the mountain was fine, but he was in a hurry to find the dog, and no one could wait for him.

This made Zhao Jinhui feel uneasy, as if he had become detached from the group. Just as he was considering whether he should lose weight, Zhao Jun gave him a task: to take Li Ruhai around to spread the word about finding the dog.

Zhao Jinhui took the task very seriously and said to Li Ruhai, "Ruhai, let's leave some dry food at home before we leave tomorrow, and we won't be back until noon!"

Zhao Jinhui and Li Ruhai didn't say that to impress Zhao Jun. The next morning, around six o'clock, they left home and took a jeep to the nearest village, Yongsheng Village.

Today, when they come to Yongsheng, they no longer go door-to-door to spread the word, as that would be too time-consuming. Instead, during this busy farming season, when some families are not home, Li Ruhai still has to go to the fields to spread the word.

It's a completely different place than home. Some families own dozens of acres of land, making it very difficult to promote.

So today, after Li Ruhai arrived at Yongsheng Village, he went directly to the village head Qi Shengli's house and asked Qi Shengli to make an announcement over the loudspeaker throughout the village.

Qi Shengli wouldn't normally concern himself with this kind of thing. These days, pet dogs don't have a high social status. If you need to find someone, making an announcement over the loudspeaker is fine, but using the loudspeaker to find a dog is inappropriate.

But when Li Ruhai said that if someone could find that big black dog for Zhao Jun, the Zhao family would reward him with a thousand yuan, that would be a big deal.

As Zhao Jinhui drove Li Ruhai out of the village, the village loudspeaker started crackling, followed by Qi Shengli's voice: "Now broadcasting an announcement: we have some wild vegetables to pick up on the mountain these days. If you see a big black dog in the old fifth class, bring it back if you can."

That's Zhao Jun's hunting dog from Yong'an Village. It's a big black dog, weighing over 130 pounds, with a fierce-looking head and wearing leather armor. Whoever can help Zhao Jun find the dog will be richly rewarded with 1,000 yuan. Um… please repeat that…”

When they heard the first part of the notice, the villagers didn't take it seriously. Some even looked disdainful when they heard that the dog belonged to Zhao Jun. Many people were about to say something sarcastic when they heard that Zhao Jun was giving them a thousand yuan as a thank-you fee.

This caused an uproar throughout the entire village!

A thousand yuan! Zhao Youcai has worked for twenty years, and his monthly salary is only a little over a hundred. In the Yong'an forest area these days, a thousand yuan is enough for an average family to get married.

Zhou Chengguo, who had just finished eating and was about to go to work, frowned and said to his wife, "We haven't found our dog yet."

Yesterday, Li Dayong and Lin Xiangshun notified each work group, including Zhou Chengguo.

Upon hearing this, Xu Haifen said, "Then I'll go up the mountain today to help my brother find the dog."

"You go, but don't go by yourself," Zhou Chengguo said. "Ask Sha Er'er's wife in the west courtyard, didn't she say she was going to gather vegetables?"

“Okay, you don’t need to worry about it,” Xu Haifen said. “I’ll go and see if I can help my brother find the dog.”

At the same time, another Zhou family was also discussing this topic. Zhao Chun was quite anxious because she knew that Black Tiger was missing, but her child was too young to be left alone, so she couldn't help Zhao Jun look for the dog.

Li Ruhai's second stop was Yonglitun. He arrived at Yonglitun at 7:30.

Li Ruhai decided to go directly to the village head. He handed over a box of Yingchun tea and explained the matter. Before the village head could even agree, the village head's wife, who was very familiar with Li Ruhai, agreed first.

As the jeep drove out of Yonglitun, a loudspeaker blared out a notice that was almost identical to that of Yongshengtun.

The news caused a sensation throughout Yongli Village. However, three families in the village had different feelings.

Han Wenxue and Pang Zhendong didn't even have time to eat; they slipped on their shoes and ran to Han Shengli's house.

At Han Shengli's house, Black Tiger was locked in the west room. The door was closed, and the north and south windows were boarded up, showing Han Shengli's determination to possess Black Tiger.

At this moment, Black Tiger was using its front paws to scratch at the wooden board nailed to the window frame. From the horn sound earlier, Black Tiger heard Zhao Jun's name.

Suddenly the door opened, and Han Shengli entered the room carrying a basin. The basin was slightly steaming, and it contained the dog food he had prepared for Black Tiger.

Han Shengli entered the room and called out to Hei Hu with a smile, "Come on, San Hei, it's time to eat!"

Sanhei was the name he gave to Heihu. He had two black dogs, one big black and the other second black, so he called Heihu Sanhei.

The announcement stopped after being broadcast three times. Then Han Shengli came in. Black Tiger put down his two front legs and glanced at Han Shengli sideways.

At first, Black Tiger had a good impression of Han Shengli, after all, this man had given him a good meal when he was starving.

But after following Han Shengli home, Black Tiger sensed a change in the way he looked at him. Especially after what that woman had said yesterday—that she wanted to take him home—Black Tiger understood. He hadn't quite grasped what Han Shengli had said about stopping Li Meijuan, but he understood that Han Shengli wasn't letting him go home.

After being locked in the west room, the upset Black Tiger started prying at the window. When Han Shengli heard this, he came in with a board and a hammer and banged the window shut.

Before Black Tiger could even get angry, Han Shengli's use of the nickname "Three Blacks" stunned him. Back when he was with the Zhao family, Zhao Youcai had called him "Big Black" for a while, which Black Tiger didn't like, let alone "Three Blacks."

Feeling quite pleased with himself, Han Shengli placed the bowl at Black Tiger's feet and laughed, "Eat up, Sanhei, what are you looking at?"

Anyone who's ever worked with dogs knows that newly arrived dogs need a few days to get used to before being taken up into the mountains. How used? There's a standard: when you call its name, it will run to you unconditionally.

To achieve this, it's easier to simply call the dog by its original name if it already has one. However, if you're renaming the dog, you'll need to let it get used to the new name first, which will take longer.

However, dogs are intelligent and perceptive. Even though its name was changed, it knew that people were calling it and quickly became familiar with it.

When he was at the Zhao family's house, Black Tiger ate breakfast around five or six o'clock every morning. Today it's almost eight o'clock, Black Tiger must be starving.

But when Black Tiger looked down at the dog food that Han Shengli had brought, its eyes were full of disgust.

After finishing his meal, Han Shengli boiled a pot of potatoes. He had stewed tofu for breakfast, and the leftover broth from the plate was poured into the potatoes. If this was divided among the six dogs, each dog could get about two small spoonfuls of broth.

Black Tiger hadn't seen such bad dog food in a long time. Zhao Jun also boiled potatoes every day, but his boiled potatoes also included cornmeal, with potatoes and cornmeal in a 50/50 ratio.

Not only that, the Zhao family even saved the leftover soup from the previous night to feed their dogs. The Zhao family, with over thirty people, ate a meal that was rich and oily—something Han Shengli's family could never compare to.

"Eat up, Sanhei." Han Shengli looked at Hei Hu and laughed, "Why are you looking at me? Eat!"

Black Tiger glanced at Han Shengli again, then lowered his head and took a bite, finding it really not very good.

"Eat up!" Han Shengli urged as he saw Black Tiger look up. "Eat up, it's so delicious."

Upon hearing this, Black Tiger licked the dog food with disgust. Dogs don't know what it means to appreciate the bitterness of the past, but once Black Tiger ate this dog food, he wanted to go home.

Just then, Li Meijuan's voice came from the outer room: "Dad, the third son and Zhendong are here!"

"Eat up, Sanhei." Han Shengli said to Hei Hu, then turned and yanked the door open, leaving the room.

The door is pushed from the outside in, and Black Tiger has to know how to pull it to get out. Although the door is not locked, there is a tattered cloth tied to the doorknob. When closing the door, the cloth is tucked into the crack, and it takes a lot of pulling and pushing to open the door. This door is too difficult for a dog.

Han Shengli went out of the house and saw Li Meijuan, Han Wenxue, and Pang Zhendong in the outer room.

"Third brother," Han Shengli asked Han Wenxue directly, "why didn't you two go up the mountain?"

Yesterday, Han Wenxue and Pang Zhendong couldn't bring back all the meat they dug out of the eggs; half a hindquarter and half a spare rib are still soaking in the river.

Before Han Wenxue could speak, Li Meijuan said to Han Shengli, "Dad, hurry up and let that dog out and send it back to the Zhao family."

"Give me something?" Han Shengli glared at him, annoyed. "What did I tell you yesterday?"

"Send it back, brother." Seeing that Han Shengli was still stubborn, Han Wenxue quickly said, "Didn't you hear the loudspeaker announcement? Whoever sends the dog back will get a thousand yuan from the Zhao family. What are we still thinking about?"

"Are you stupid?" Han Shengli, who had just glared at Li Meijuan, glared at Han Wenxue and said, "The fact that his family is willing to spend a thousand yuan to find the dog proves that the dog is valuable. Don't you think so?"

Han Shengli said this, and Han Wenxue was slightly taken aback. Then Han Shengli continued, "You don't know, Xue Baojun has told me several times that Ergudong's family has a big black cripple. That's a big-headed dog, a big-headed dog that can take on a 400-pound cannonball by himself."

Han Wenxue and Pang Zhendong were quite surprised to hear Han Shengli's words.

"Brother, really? Are you kidding me?" Pang Zhendong asked incredulously, "What kind of dog can take on a 400-pound cannonball all by itself?"

"Look!" Han Shengli said, "Around this time last year, in what was that place called... Xinlengchang, there was a case where several people were killed by cannonballs, didn't you know?"

Upon hearing this, Han Wenxue pondered for a moment and said, "Wasn't that cannonball killed by Zhao's army?"

“That’s right!” Han Shengli pointed behind him and said, “It was this dog that killed him. It was just this one dog. Xue Baojun went with it too. It was absolutely true.”

Hearing Han Shengli's words, Pang Zhendong asked, "Brother, if this dog is so powerful, why is the Zhao family so eager to find it?"

"Yeah, right," Han Shengli said. "With this dog in our hands, we'll make a fortune. You wait, Lao Qiu, let's take it up the mountain to hunt black bears. How much does a black bear's gall bladder cost? Mine's still worth about a thousand yuan, right?"

"Yeah, right!" Han Wenxue seemed to be persuaded by Han Shengli and nodded in agreement, "Isn't it over a thousand?"

"What are we still thinking about?" Han Shengli laughed. "We have to keep this dog. The Zhao family is rich; didn't they build their enclosure by beating dogs?"

That's true. Everyone in the Yong'an forest area knows that the Zhao family made their fortune through hunting by Zhao Jun. Legend has it that rows of bear gallbladders, worth tens of thousands of yuan, hung from the beams of the Zhao family's barn.

Thinking of this, Li Meijuan, Han Wenxue, and Pang Zhendong stopped trying to persuade Han Shengli to return the dog to Zhao Jun. Instead, they imagined the wonderful life they would have after making their fortune through hunting.

(End of this chapter)