"I won't take part in the rest," Harimu said. "I'll fetch the horse. You can ride it and drag these two boars back to the cart, then load them up and take them away."
Li Long knew this had to do with customs that were awkward to discuss here. Feeling both curious and grateful, he said:
"You didn't actually have to come. I could have shot them myself."
"No, I had to kill the big one. There's only one gully and one ridge between here and my Winter Camp. I've been watching it. It's already rooted through the whole gully to the east. If we didn't stop it, it would lead this herd to my Winter Camp in a few days, and then we'd have serious trouble."
Although Li Long wasn't sure just how serious that trouble would be, knowing why Harimu had come to help him kill the lead boar despite risking a breach of taboo told him how grave the situation was.
Besides, the big boar had kept charging uphill even after being shot, intent on killing whoever had fired at it. That alone showed how vicious it was!
If it really reached Harimu's Winter Camp, it could be a disaster!
Harimu left, leaving Li Long there.
Li Long stretched his arms and legs, put the safety on, slung the gun over his back, and walked over to the smaller boar.
He had killed it with a single shot. Its blood had spread over a large patch and frozen.
The main reason Harimu had left him there was that if both of them went away, wolves might come and eat the boars.
Then wouldn't Li Long have shot them for nothing?
He crouched down and saw that the bullet had passed beneath the shoulder blade, probably hitting the heart, before exiting the other side.
Li Long grabbed the boar's ear, intending to drag it over beside the big one so it would be easier to haul them away with the horse later.
Now Li Long learned what dead weight really meant. Even using all his strength, he could barely move the boar an inch. With no other choice, he trampled a path through the snow before trying again. By the time he had dragged the two boars together, he was drenched in sweat.
Then all he could do was wait.
The big boar had two tusks protruding from its mouth. One was cracked, while the other had a sharp point. They clearly saw plenty of use and really were like daggers.
To Li Long's disappointment, neither boar, especially the big one, had the "armored shoulders" described in novels.
He had read novels in his previous life, too. They often ranked dangerous animals as tigers first, bears second, and boars third, or boars first, tigers second, and bears third. In any case, they made wild boars sound incredibly formidable, claiming they constantly rubbed their shoulders against pine trees until resin coated their bodies like armor that ordinary knives could barely penetrate.
This big boar looked fairly old, yet there was no armor on its shoulders or anywhere else. At most, there was a layer of grime beneath its bristles that came off with a scrape of his fingers. It offered no protection whatsoever.
Were the novels lying, or had he simply never encountered an armored boar among the two he had seen?
While Li Long pondered this, Harimu returned.
He dismounted and handed Li Long a rope, telling him to tie both boars securely. Then he fastened the rope to the saddle and had Li Long mount the horse to start dragging them.
The horse took a couple of steps but failed to move them. Harimu said:
"Give it a flick of the whip so it pulls harder. Once they start moving, it can trot along. If you're scared, hold tight to the saddle horn."
Li Long did as instructed. At a flick of the whip, the horse strained harder, and after two or three attempts, the boars began to move behind it.
Urged on by Li Long's whip, the horse broke into a trot. Following Harimu along the side of the ridge, they wound their way back to the cart in front of the Winter Camp.
Together, Harimu and Li Long positioned the cart below a gentle slope, directly beneath the boars.
Once they had secured the cart, Li Long climbed up and untied the rope around the boars. Using the friction of the snow to slow the descent, he gradually pushed one downhill, sliding it onto the cart along with the snow.
They loaded the second boar the same way. By the time it was on the cart, Li Long was so exhausted that he didn't want to move.
He was worn out and tense. Riding the horse while dragging the boars had been nerve-racking. He had worried both about falling off and about the horse being unable to pull them.
"Wipe the sweat off the horse. It's exhausted, too," Harimu reminded him. "Don't feed it right now. Let it rest a while."
Li Long caught the old blanket Harimu tossed him and wiped the sweat from the horse's neck and body.
It was fully light now. Harimu's wife came out of the Winter Camp and called to them.
"Come on, let's go in for some milk tea," Harimu said with a smile.
Li Long led the horse to the front of the Winter Camp, tethered it, and followed Harimu inside.
He put down the gun, removed his leather coat, took off his shoes, and climbed onto the heated sleeping platform. Taking the bowl the woman handed him, he drank the milk tea in great gulps. Only when the scalding tea reached his stomach did he feel that his body belonged to him again.
He had been reborn for quite a few days now, but today he had truly learned what exhaustion and tension felt like.
After a simple breakfast, Li Long took the bullets from his pocket and handed them to Harimu.
"There are still a few rounds in the gun, and these are all I have left on me. Please return the gun to Brother Jade Mountain River for me, and give him these bullets, too. I'll bring some more next time."
"All right." Harimu accepted them without fuss. In these dangerous mountains, they were more useful than anything else.
"I'll be off, then." Li Long knew he couldn't linger here with the boars. "I'll come again in a couple of days. Oh, is there anything else you need? I can bring it next time."
Harimu thought for a moment before saying:
"If possible, bring some rice. Not much, just a little." Li Long nodded and said:
"No problem."
He rose and said goodbye to the old lady and the others, then put on his outer clothes and left the Winter Camp.
This trip had yielded jade and two wild boars. He had originally hoped to get some wood as well to fill the cart, but he simply had no strength left.
Harimu put a bundle of hay on his cart and helped him harness the horse, then waved goodbye.
Li Long drove the cart carefully down the mountain. Going down was nothing like coming up. He was alone now, with two boars on the cart, and he had returned the gun. He wasn't entirely unarmed, but all he had was an iron pipe he had confiscated earlier, which wasn't much use.
After traveling a few hundred meters, Li Long stopped. He untied the bundle of hay and barely managed to cover the two boars with it, then gathered some branches along the way to weigh the hay down before driving the cart out of the mountains.
He kept going until he reached the county town, and only then did he stop.
He was hungry. He had drunk plenty of milk tea that morning but eaten little naan, and he had burned a lot of energy during the night. His stomach was empty now.
Li Long drove the cart to the entrance of the Big Meat Canteen, lifted the door curtain, and called to the server inside, ordering three meat buns. After paying, he ate as he drove toward the purchasing station.
He wanted to find out whether they would buy those two pieces of jade.
What he didn't know was that, because he hadn't returned all night, and because of the business involving Gu Ermao and Tao Dayong, people in the production team were already spreading rumors that he had been arrested!
(End of chapter)
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