The whole mountain is my hunting ground.

Chapter 1764 Ginseng Profit Sharing: Using a Sheep to Lure a Tiger

Chapter 1764 Ginseng Profit Sharing: Using a Sheep to Lure a Tiger

The moment Zhao Jun saw the snake, he felt a chill on his face, and his whole body felt like it was being electrocuted, tingling and numb!

When Zhao Jun handed over the old village of Hama Gou in Lingnan to the Shao family, he mentioned that he was afraid of snakes. He was afraid of snakes not only venomous ones, but also non-venomous ones.

For some reason, Zhao Jun, who has been running in the mountains for two lifetimes, is not afraid of jackals, tigers, leopards, black bears, or brown bears, but he is afraid of snakes.

Suddenly, Zhao Jun felt a darkness before his eyes. But this was not because he had been bitten by a snake and was suffering from venom; rather, someone had blocked his way.

Zhao Youcai swept his spear horizontally, the butt of which grazed the snake's head. The snake's head plunged downwards, and its body and tail, which had been coiled around the tree, landed on the ground and swam quickly, as if trying to escape into the forest.

"Don't hurt my brother!" Li Baoyu arrived a step too late, but he strode forward and stepped on the snake's tail.

The snake paused, its head coiled backward, and Li Baoyu blocked it with his spear, causing the snake's head to coil around the spear and ascend.

Li Baoyu dared to act this way because he realized it was a non-venomous rat snake.

However, Li Baoyu and Zhao Youcai rushing over to protect Zhao Jun was an instinctive action for both of them.

At this moment, Li Baoyu grabbed the snake by its seven-inch mark with one hand, while Zhang Yuanmin helped by grabbing the snake's tail, successfully subduing the snake.

Seeing that they had the snake under control, Wang Qiang shouted, "Quickly, move it aside!"

Wang Qiang knew the snake wasn't poisonous, but he also knew his nephew was afraid of snakes.

Li Baoyu handed the snake he had shaped by hand to Zhang Yuanmin at its seven-inch mark, asking Zhang Yuanmin to deal with the rat snake.

Then, Li Baoyu turned around and helped the pale-faced Zhao Jun, saying, "Brother, Baoyu is late in protecting you. Were you frightened?"

He was definitely frightened. Zhao Jun exclaimed, "Oh dear, that scared me to death!"

"It's alright, brother-in-law." At this moment, Ma Yang leaned over and said, "This snake isn't poisonous, what are you afraid of?"

Zhao Jun had no interest in telling the boy about his fear of snakes. He simply called out to Zhao Youcai, "Dad, let's pack our things quickly and head home!"

"Yes," Zhao Youcai responded, and beckoned Lin Xiangshun and the others to go up and carry the meat.

Zhao Jun packed the ginseng-carrying equipment into his satchel, with Li Baoyu and Li Ruhai protecting him on either side.

"Huh?" Suddenly, Zhao Jun remembered something and hurriedly said to Li Baoyu, "Baoyu, didn't the higher-ups poison a little bear bully to death?"

"Ah!" Li Baoyu nodded and said, "Brother, we have enough meat here, do you need that?"

"We don't want that meat," Zhao Jun said. "Go and gut it and take out the gallbladder."

"Gallbladder..." Li Baoyu was about to say that so many days had passed, the gallbladder had long since run out of bile, and now only the gallbladder skin remained. But then, Li Baoyu understood Zhao Jun's intention.

After Li Baoyu left, Li Ruhai helped Zhao Jun find a tree to sit down and rest.

At this moment, Zhang Yuanmin and Xie Chen returned from dealing with the snake. Ma Yang asked Zhang Yuanmin, "Brother Yuanmin, did you throw the snake away?"

"No." Zhang Yuanmin said with a smile, raising his hand to pick up a dark green snake gall.

"Yuanmin, what are you doing with this?" Wang Qiang asked. Zhang Yuanmin replied, "I'm taking it back to soak in liquor, Uncle. This stuff is really good for you."

"Really?" Wang Qiang was somewhat skeptical. In those days, hunting was not prohibited, and there were many tonics in the mountains, so snake gallbladders were not highly valued.

"Snap!" Suddenly, a crisp sound came from the side. Zhao Jun slapped his thigh and got up, saying to Zhang Yuanmin, "Brother, how could you kill it?"

"Huh?" Zhang Yuanmin was taken aback, then heard Zhao Jun say, "That was a money-grubber, you shouldn't even hit it, why did you kill it?"

In the mountains, snakes are called "money strings." Seeing a snake in an old village is considered the most auspicious omen.

This is really bad. They killed this lucky guy and even dug out his gall to make wine.

Upon hearing Zhao Jun's words, Zhang Yuanmin was immediately at a loss.

These days, mountain runners are quite superstitious, and they are especially careful not to break the rules.

Zhang Yuanmin had a sudden inspiration and found an excuse, saying, "Brother, I thought this snake scared you, so I'll kill it to vent your anger."

Before Zhao Jun could say anything after Zhang Yuanmin said this, Li Ruhai beat his chest and stamped his feet, saying, "Brother Zhang, you're confused!"

"Huh?" Zhang Yuanmin was stunned, and Zhao Jun was also confused. Then Li Ruhai said, "That money-stringer was trying to sneak into my brother's arms. It was because Heaven was grateful for my brother's unparalleled benevolence and wanted to bestow wealth upon him. How could you kill it?"

Since creating the stories of "waiting to get rich" and "being rich and wealthy for life," Li Ruhai has become incredibly skilled at crafting stories about getting rich, learning by leaps and bounds without ever having a teacher.

"This...this..." Zhang Yuanmin glanced at the snake gall in his hand, then looked at Zhao Jun and asked, "Brother, what should we do with this?"

"So what should we do then?" Zhao Jun laughed. "Go back and soak the plants in alcohol if you want, and drink them if you want. After a while, when the seedlings have sprouted, we'll come back and turn over them again."

"Fantangzi" is also slang for ginseng hunting, meaning that the leader believes there are still ginseng in the area and wants to return to continue the search.

As he said this, Zhao Jun looked up at the mountain area and said, "We'll have a good match of sticks then."

If we search again today, we definitely won't find it, unless we tear up all the surrounding land.

At this moment, Zhao Jun paused for a moment, and then said, "I have a feeling that there will definitely be a big shipment in this area."

"A large shipment?" Wang Qiang's eyes lit up. "A sixth-grade leaf?"

"Hmm, we can't be sure." Zhao Jun nodded twice and said, "It could be one seedling with six leaves, or two seedlings with five leaves."

Zhao Jun hadn't expected that this old, dilapidated Huangni Ridge would actually have an old embankment.

"Oh my goodness!" Ma Yang exclaimed in astonishment, "Brother-in-law, how much does a sixth-grade leaf cost?"

Although this child doesn't run in the mountains, he lives near the mountains and has heard the legends of the fifth and sixth grade leaves.

“Then… a sixth-grade leaf is a hundred-year-old club,” Zhao Jun said. “That must be incredibly valuable.”

After saying this, Zhao Jun looked at Ma Yang and said, "Xiao Yang, you're lucky today. Otherwise, your brother-in-law might not have this fortune."

"Hehe..." Ma Yang grinned, then asked Zhao Jun, "Brother-in-law, how much can you sell those two clubs for?"

"Wow, this can sell for quite a bit." Zhao Jun smiled at Ma Yang and said, "At first, those seedlings were usually sold for a hundred or eighty yuan."

After saying this, Zhao Jun paused slightly, then added, "But the second seedling is valuable; it would normally sell for 18,000 to 10,000 yuan."

"How much?" Ma Yang's eyes widened instantly upon hearing this.

The Ma family was an ordinary working-class family; they had enough to eat and wear, but they were far from wealthy.

For Ma Yang, 18,000 was an astronomical figure.

“Nephew.” At this moment, Wang Qiang said to Zhao Jun from the side, “Didn’t you say that some rich boss was collecting stone dragons, wooden dragons, and little white dragons? Give this to him, and he’ll get at least 100,000 yuan.”

"One hundred thousand?" Ma Yang's eyes widened in shock, his heart pounding.

"That's a story for later, Uncle," Zhao Jun said. "Why? Because we promised the Shao family first, so we have to sell our stone dragon to them first."

"Once they sell their stone dragon, we'll ask the big boss over there if he wants our little white dragon."

As soon as Zhao Jun finished speaking, Li Ruhai said, "Brother, if he doesn't want it, we'll lose tens of thousands of yuan."

“There’s nothing we can do about it, Ru Hai.” Zhao Jun said without hesitation, “We have to follow the rules no matter what we do, especially with Shan Cai, we can’t be too shady. We’ll see how things go when it’s over.”

Hearing Zhao Jun's words, Li Ruhai didn't say anything more, but he nodded repeatedly.

Ever since leaving the guardhouse and following Zhao Jun, Li Ruhai has learned a lot from him.

Looking back on what he did last year, Li Ruhai now wishes he could slap himself twice.

At this moment, Zhao Jun looked at Ma Yang, whose eyes were glazed over, and said, "Little Yang, we'll talk about the cheap one later. As for the second seedling, the more valuable one, we'll split the lion's share."

"What?" Ma Yang looked at Zhao Jun in shock and said, "Brother-in-law, you're going to share it with me?"

"Ah!" Zhao Jun laughed, "This was brought out by you stepping on that bamboo shoot, so you've opened your eyes to this."

The entire process of ginseng enthusiasts searching for and carrying ginseng in the mountains is called "releasing the mountain" or "pressing the mountain." At the beginning, everyone lines up in a row, with each pair about ten feet apart, so that the tips of their sticks can touch each other when they are pulled together. Then, the process of moving slowly through the grass and searching for ginseng in a row is called "laying sticks."

During the process of arranging the sticks, someone saw the club and exclaimed, "Open your eyes!"

Ma Yang stepped on the stray hair, and while Zhao Jun was lifting the stray hair, he discovered the little white dragon. According to the rules of the trade, this was all considered as Ma Yang opening his eyes.

Having said that, Zhao Jun said to Wang Qiang, Zhang Yuanmin and the others, "Uncle, elder brother, and I are here. Baoyu isn't here, but Ruhai is. I'll say a few words after this."

Upon hearing Zhao Jun speak, everyone's eyes immediately focused on him. Then Zhao Jun continued, "We're not here to hunt in the mountains today, nor are we here to fight. These Sanmiao ginseng can't be considered ginseng gang members."

Upon hearing Zhao Jun's words, Wang Qiang immediately said, "Ah, nephew, it's alright. We didn't do anything, how could we share it with you two?"

In normal mountain grazing, even if you just follow the pack animals around, others will open their eyes and raise their heads to ginseng, and other members will get a share of the profits just for walking around.

But today, no one touched these two ginseng seedlings, and they can't get any dividends.

“No, Uncle,” Zhao Jun interrupted Wang Qiang, saying, “Shan Cai, everyone who sees it gets a share. The money from selling that little white dragon will be divided into ten portions. Take out one portion, and we twelve people will divide it equally, so everyone will get one. As for the remaining nine portions, I'll get five, and Xiao Yang will get four.”

One should never be too greedy or hoard wealth. Sharing one's wealth is a way to accumulate good fortune for oneself.

Herding ginseng is somewhat acceptable, but hunting involves making money through killing and harming living beings, so one should never be greedy for it.

Since hunting has never made anyone rich, Zhao Jun has always split the spoils equally with his companions, no matter how much money they made.

This may explain why Zhao Jun was able to make a fortune through hunting, even though others couldn't.

In the ginseng-hunting business, before the ginseng gang was established, Zhao Jun didn't care about the cost and split the profits equally with Zhang Yuanmin and the others for the first two ginseng deliveries.

But after the ginseng gang was established, Zhao Jun came according to the rules.

Today, carrying these three ginseng seedlings is equivalent to him and Ma Yang carrying them together. As the leader, he takes 30%, and as the head of the group, he takes another 10%. Then, since he carried the ginseng, he gets another 20%, making a total of 60%.

As for Ma Yang's forty percent, it consisted of side sticks and eyes.

Finally, adhering to the principle of not keeping all the money to himself, Zhao Jun set aside 10% of his own earnings and distributed them equally among everyone.

"Brother-in-law!" Ma Yang didn't know how Zhao Jun divided the profits, so he asked Zhao Jun, "How much is four...four shares?"

“This…” Zhao Jun hesitated for a moment after being asked by Ma Yang, and said, “I dare not say too much, but the minimum is three thousand yuan.”

"Three..." Ma Yang could hardly believe his ears. In the dead of winter, he chased pheasants and rabbits all over the land, earning only a few cents each. Three thousand yuan—how many rabbits would he have to chase?

"My God!" Ma Yang exclaimed, his face flushed and his eyes glazed over, as if he had downed a huge bowl of 52-proof sorghum liquor.

Seeing Ma Yang's reaction, Zhang Yuanmin and the others chuckled. Zhao Jun was speechless; his brother-in-law had never seen much of the world.

……

Before Ma Yang could even catch his breath, Lin Xiangshun and the others came down from above carrying sacks on their backs.

The sacks were full of bear meat, which they kept for their own consumption.

Only Zhao Jinhui, who was walking at the very back, was carrying four large deer legs, which he was taking home to feed his dogs.

At this point, the best cuts of meat from the little brown bear were also removed and put into sacks.

The men who stayed with Zhao Jun picked up sacks, and even Li Ruhai and Ma Yang carried forty or fifty pounds of meat. Only Zhao Jun, who had just been frightened, carried nothing and followed the others down the mountain.

Upon reaching the foot of the mountain, Li Baoyu loaded the meat, people, and dogs onto the truck, and drove home in his large Jiefang truck.

After leaving the mountain area, the car drove along the road towards Yong'an Village.

As the car passed the poplar grove east of the village, a herd of goats was seen walking along the edge of the grove towards Yong'an Village.

The flock of sheep included both black and white sheep, as well as large and small sheep. The large sheep were in front, and the small sheep were behind. Behind the flock, an old man was walking and herding the sheep with a willow branch in his hand.

The old man's surname was Niu, and he was a sheep farmer in the village.

Upon seeing the free-range old ox, Zhao Jun stood up and slapped the carriage twice heavily.

Li Baoyu, who was driving, slammed on the brakes and stopped the car. He rolled down the window and was about to ask what was wrong when he heard Zhao Jun shout down to the car: "Uncle Niu, sell me a sheep."

"What?" Old Niu Tou's hearing wasn't working well, so Zhao Jun got out of the back of the truck and went to find Old Niu Tou to buy sheep.

Upon hearing the commotion, Zhao Youcai hurriedly got out of the passenger seat.

"What are you buying this for?" Zhao Youcai asked. Zhao Jun whispered, "We're getting a big shipment today, we have to have some to eat."

"Taking the big goods" is slang in the scavenging business, meaning to have caught the big club.

"拉馋" is a local expression meaning "to satisfy one's cravings".

“You’ve been doing this all day…” Zhao Youcai glanced at Zhao Jun, then said to Old Niu Tou, “Uncle Niu, I want that big black one up ahead.”

“That won’t do.” Old Niu Tou tossed the willow catkin in his hand and said, “That’s a sheep. Pick another one.”

"I don't want anything else," Zhao Youcai said. "I just want this, the black fragrant meat."

"Then...then..." Old Niu hesitated for a moment, then said, "You have to give me a hundred dollars."

“One hundred coins, here you go!” Zhao Youcai said, slapping Zhao Jun with his hand. Zhao Jun stared blankly at Zhao Youcai, who then said, “I didn’t bring that much money with me when I went up the mountain.”

“I don’t have any money either,” Zhao Jun replied to Zhao Youcai, then said to Old Niu Tou, “Uncle Niu, I’ll take the sheep first, and I’ll bring you the money tonight.”

"That's alright." Everyone in the forest knew that the Zhao family was well-off, so Old Niu Tou waved his hand readily and said, "No rush. Just take it to me whenever you're free."

“Alright then, Uncle Niu.” Zhao Jun didn’t hesitate and immediately replied, “Then let’s catch some sheep.”

Zhao Jun ordered the sheep to be captured. Amidst a series of cries of "ma'er ma'er," the big black sheep was thrown to the ground by Li Baoyu. Jie Chen stepped forward with a rope and tied its four hooves.

Upon seeing the lead sheep captured, the two ewes tried to launch a surprise attack on Li Baoyu, but the black tiger on the cart let out two howls, which frightened the ewes so much that they swayed their rumps and ran away, shaking their milk cartons.

The big black goat was tossed onto the truck, and everyone else got in as well. Sitting in the back of the truck, Zhang Yuanmin patted the big black goat and laughed, "This goat must be incredibly delicious."

"Hehe..." Zhao Jun chuckled and said to Zhang Yuanmin, "Brother, your uncle used a cow to lure a tiger. Wait a couple of days and see if I can lure a tiger with mutton fat."

Zhang Yuanmin: "..."

　Today I'm going into town to buy some medicine and change my medication.

　　Updates have been delayed these past few days, but will resume tomorrow at 8 PM.

(End of this chapter)