Hunting in the Mountains: Riding a White Tiger over the Pass and Bringing National Treasures to the Capital

[Period setting + mountain foraging]

Kaoshantun had a huge joke on its hands.

Li Xiaofeng, the black sheep of the Li family, had bet his family home to cover a five-yuan gambling debt to Liu Laosan. In the middle of winter, he headed into the mountains with nothing but a battered old gun.

The villagers all said, “That kid’s going to end up as wolf food. His crippled father and his mother, who’s cried herself blind, are done for.”

Zhao Dajiang tried to talk him out of it. Liu Laosan was waiting to claim the house, and even Granny Wang at the village entrance was looking forward to the funeral feast.

But three days later, just as the whole village was waiting for a good laugh, Li Xiaofeng came back.

Not only was he alive, he had brought home the legendary “dragon meat from heaven,” a golden pheasant, to stew for his father.

The villagers were jealous? Too bad. He’d found it fair and square through his own skill.

When the village ran out of food and was about to slaughter its oxen, Li Xiaofeng promptly made a solemn pledge and led all the able-bodied villagers into the mountains. In a single afternoon, they hunted over a hundred rabbits, and the whole village ate its fill of meat!

While the villagers were still arguing furiously over a few pounds of pork,

A military jeep pulled up right outside the Li family home.

Director Wang of the county’s People’s Armed Forces Department stepped out himself, clasped Li Dazhuang’s hand, and called him “old brother.” He draped a military overcoat over Li Xiaofeng’s shoulders and presented him with a “Model Forest Guardian” pennant and five hundred yuan!

And that wasn’t all!

A few days later, three military helicopters roared down to the village entrance.

The commander of the provincial military district’s Chemical Defense Regiment arrived with his entire company, and every soldier saluted Li Xiaofeng in unison!

The neighbors who had once demanded repayment were terrified, and the gossiping busybodies fell silent.

Li Xiaofeng stood in the snow with a clever sable tucked in his arms and a tame tiger at his back, as docile as a house cat.

Watching Su Wan and the villagers stare in astonishment, he smiled calmly.

“Don’t panic. I just happened to find a few jars in the mountains and turn them over to the state.”