bookrebus Chapter 168 Are you crazy? The division commander's son is his lackey.
Chapter 168 Are you crazy? The division commander's son is his lackey.
The last tiger cub fell to the ground swiftly.
Several people worked together to drag the tiger cub out from behind the bushes, put it on the sled, and pulled it back.
Fueled by alcohol, Zhao Pao laughed loudly: "Tiger skins are the real deal. Small ones can sell for five or six hundred, while large ones in good condition and intact can fetch over a thousand. They're much better than big skins."
Li Ju'an, panting heavily, said, "In the end, Big Skin is still stronger; it's not difficult to fight him. Taking down these five tigers took half our lives."
The horse brought by Yingtun was frightened and was still kicking its hooves. Zhao Pao took a look and found that the horse had been knocked down by the tiger and had several wounds bleeding, but it could still stand up and was not seriously injured. Fortunately, it was just a tiger cub.
He quickly called over Veterinarian Zhang, who promptly applied some medicine to the horse.
Zhao Pao entered the forest ranger's house, turned to Li Ju'an and said, "Just go ahead and hunt the tiger skin. With such a big tiger there, the surrounding villages would be in an uproar, begging you to hunt it. How could you not find one? But tiger skins are becoming increasingly rare, and whether you can find one depends on luck and the intervention of the mountain god."
In large stores, the price of sable pelts, also known as large pelts, is similar to that of tiger pelts, both starting at over a thousand yuan, and the price increases every year. The fact that such a small sable pelt costs the same as a large adult tiger pelt shows that larger pelts are indeed more expensive.
Li Ju'an thought this made the same sense. Sables are too rare; you might not even find a single footprint while wandering the entire mountain. Siberian tigers are actually more numerous, and their presence makes a lot of noise.
He thought of the specimen-collecting task the forest farm had given him, which included a large piece of hide, and he sighed.
No wonder no one wanted to take on this specimen collection mission; it's just too difficult.
At night, the hunters slept fully clothed. Chen Xiangqian was still being cheeky, teasing Zhao Pao about taking the male deer penis: "What should we do with this deer penis? It doesn't taste gamey when we eat it like this."
The hunters all burst into laughter. Chen Xiangqian was a novice, knowing nothing and daring to say anything. They all wanted to make fun of Zhao Pao, but they didn't have the guts.
Zhao Pao had completed his tiger-hunting mission, and the last tiger was about to be caught in Li Ju'an's trap. In a good mood, he started talking a lot and began to chatter on and on.
Zhao Pao said, "Deer penis is simply hung on the roof beam to dry in the shade, and then soaked in a wine vat. It's that simple."
Chen Xiangqian stared wide-eyed: "That's it? You can eat it like this? Why not just soak it in alcohol?"
"Of course. Who soaks deer antler velvet directly in alcohol?"
He looked at Li Ju'an, who was peeling tiger skins with Lu Zhiqiang.
Li Ju'an looked up, his hands still peeling tiger skin, and said, "If you soak fresh deer antler in alcohol, the pungent smell is so strong you can't even drink it. If you want it to look nice, you can make it into a bow and arrow and air-dry it, then you can sell it at the county market. If you just want to eat it yourself, you can air-dry it and make it into pills, or soak it in alcohol with medicinal herbs, then the potency will be incredibly strong."
Song Desheng squatted down and looked on curiously, asking, "What kind of medicinal herbs are you using to make this wine? Can you buy them at a pharmacy? Are they cheap?"
Li Ju'an laughed at him: "You just got married and you're drinking this stuff? You still need to get a whole bunch of medicinal herbs, like donkey penis, dog penis, seahorse, giant gecko, agarwood, and cinnamon. Some of them aren't even available locally, so you have to ask the pharmaceutical factory to get them before you can make that kind of wine."
A dozen or so elderly hunters perked up at the news and gathered around to hear how to regain their former glory.
Zhao Pao cursed, "You guys shouldn't listen to that kid's nonsense. Little Li hasn't even gotten a wife yet, what does he know?"
He was initially quite upset about the matter, but Li Ju'an's provocation ignited a surge of anger within him.
Li Ju'an looked up and laughed, "Brother Zhao, I'm not kidding. You really should add more seahorses and geckos to the wine. Ordinary people can just drink regular dried deer antler wine, don't go overboard and get a sore throat. Brother Zhao, it looks like you need some strong medicine."
Zhao Pao cursed a couple of times, then thought about it carefully and actually went to Li Ju'an to ask for the prescription for the potent medicine.
Early the next morning.
When Zhao Pao woke up, he found that Li Ju'an, Lu Zhiqiang, and Song Desheng had already left the forest ranger's cabin.
He slapped his forehead, puzzled, when Old Zhou, the falconer, arrived and he realized that he had slept until late morning, and it was already noon. By then, everyone must have already left.
"He's drunk again."
Old Zhou laughed at him: "Why don't you hurry up and take the deer antler wine back, so your sister-in-law will be willing to empty the foot bath basin?"
Zhao Pao's eyes widened, and upon hearing this, he jumped up and shouted, "What the hell are you talking about? A friend of mine asked me to take deer antler velvet back with him, how could we possibly take this stuff?"
The hunters didn't expose them, but just lowered their heads and laughed, their faces almost splitting open with laughter as they turned away.
At this time, Li Ju'an had already returned to the ranch and brought the five tiger skins to the ranch's captain, Wang, for inspection.
Freshly skinned tigers were thrown onto the sled, along with pieces of tiger paws, tiger pelts, and half-strips of tiger meat.
The ranch was quiet early in the morning; the workers hadn't started work yet. Because of the recent incidents involving tigers and wild boars, the workers dared not make any loud noises around the ranch.
Li Ju'an led his team, carrying a large load of tiger meat and tiger skins, into the ranch, shouting, "Assistant Huang, is Captain Wang in his office?"
He raised his voice and shouted, and the ranch's guard dogs all caught the scent of the tiger, barking loudly while tucking their tails between their legs and whimpering in fear.
Assistant Huang was engrossed in writing a work report when he looked up and saw five colorful golden tiger stripes. He was so shocked that his pen fell to the ground with a thud, and he didn't even notice the ink splattering on the paper.
He jumped up and shouted, "Leader! Leader, the Tiger Hunting Team is back!"
Captain Wang was wearing a cotton-padded overcoat, leaning against the windowsill with a small mattress against his lower back to avoid discomfort, and holding a thermos in his hand.
He ate the breakfast he brought back from the first canteen, along with the hot water from his thermos.
Breakfast at the ranch's first canteen was steamed egg custard. He ate two bowls of it, steamed with lard, thoroughly enjoying himself. Then he decided to deal with the mountain of official documents in front of him.
He had just heard Assistant Huang shouting when he frowned, his face full of displeasure, and scolded, "What kind of behavior is this young man? You've only been working for two or three years and you're still so unreliable. Can't you just talk things out properly?"
Assistant Huang burst through the office door, excitedly shouting without even pausing to catch his breath, "Boss! The tiger-hunting team has dragged all five Siberian tigers back!"
"Oh my god."
Captain Wang quickly turned his head to look out the window. Through the window, he saw the young hunter Li Ju'an leading two young men, along with Lao Qian, Lao Sun, and others, returning. At their feet were barking hunting dogs and ranch guard dogs arguing with each other.
Even Captain Wang, who had seen a lot in the world, widened his eyes upon seeing the five Siberian tiger skins and exclaimed:
"You've killed all five tigers? Damn, it's only been a few days!"
Li Ju'an and others were invited into the ranch's *** office.
He briefly explained the situation, and Chen Xiangqian embellished it and went on and on.
Captain Wang couldn't help but exclaim in surprise when he heard about the battle between the tigers and wolves. He was a man of many experiences, but he had never heard of wolves and tigers fighting each other, let alone fighting back and forth. It was quite a novel experience.
“I’ve spent most of my life in the mountains and never seen one, but you did, and even found an injured Siberian tiger. Isn’t that like the mountain god feeding you?”
Chen Xiangqian retorted, "A severely wounded Siberian tiger is much harder to kill; it's incredibly ferocious. Our Brother Li blew the tiger's head off with a single shot; everyone who talks about it has to give him a thumbs up. Besides, Brother Li has saved so many people while hunting wild boars; his skill level is absolutely top-notch, right, comrades?"
Chen Xiangqian winked at the other clerks and assistants in the office, showering Li Ju'an with compliments.
Assistant Huang and the clerks looked at each other, stunned by Chen Xiangqian's words.
They certainly knew who Chen Xiangqian was—a stubborn, headstrong son of a division commander. Now, the division commander's son was working like a lackey for Li Ju'an, running errands for him and praising Li Ju'an highly in front of Captain Wang.
Are you crazy? That's the division commander's son!