As Li Baoyu tossed the thick branches into the fire pit, the flames first sputtered under their weight, but as the wood began to burn, the fire gradually grew stronger and stronger.
Only when the wrist-thick branches had burned down to glowing red embers did Li Baoyu take the skewers Zhao Jun had prepared and stick them into the ground one by one, ringing the fire.
When Li Baoyu walked back to Zhao Jun's side, he saw Zhao Jun was already using the Invasion Blade to slowly skin the wild boar.
Li Baoyu asked, "Brother, are we skinning it now?"
"We are," Zhao Jun answered without looking up. "The two of us can't drag this thing, so we might as well skin it and pack the meat to carry back."
As soon as Zhao Jun said this, Li Baoyu understood.
If it were winter and the mountain path was covered in snow, the two of them could have tied a couple of ropes to the boar, each taking an end, and dragged it back little by little.
But it was autumn now, and there was no way they could move a wild boar weighing over two hundred jin.
In truth, they could have just hacked off two of the legs to take home—one for each of their families, which would be enough for dinner tonight.
Then, tomorrow, they could find someone in the village with a sled and ask them to come up the mountain to haul the rest of the boar back.
But looking at the distant tree filled with crows…
The scavengers were just waiting for Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu to leave so they could descend for a feast.
Besides them, once night fell, smaller beasts like Weasels would come to eat the meat.
If they were unlucky enough for a Black Bear to pass through, Zhao Jun would be fortunate to find even half the boar left by morning.
Besides, if they asked someone to bring a sled, they'd have to give them a good portion of the pork as payment. More importantly, dragging a boar back to the village on a sled would announce their haul to everyone. People would come one after another asking for a share. How much would be left for them then?
'In his past life, he, Zhao Jun, had been famously generous. Even before he'd made his fortune, whenever he came back from a hunt, every household in the village would send a representative to Zhao Jun's family. They'd come on the pretext of helping skin and butcher the boar, but how much work they actually did was secondary. The real point was to get a share of meat to take home.'
'How much could one big boar even weigh? Did they really need the entire village to "help"?'
'But back then, Zhao Jun had never cared. He never let anyone who came to his door leave empty-handed.'
'And what did he get in the end?'
'When he returned to the village, down and out and with nothing to his name, how many people even gave him the time of day?'
'Those who crossed the road to avoid him were considered the kind ones. Many who had once called him brother even openly mocked him.'
'In the entire Yong'an Village, was there anyone, young or old, who hadn't eaten meat from his hunts?'
'In this life, Zhao Jun had no intention of sharing his meat with those people ever again.'
'But they were all neighbors. It was one thing if they didn't see the kill. But if they did, and they came knocking on his door for meat, it would be hard to turn them away without causing offense.'
So, the best way was to butcher the boar right here, pack the meat into burlap sacks, and split it fifty-fifty with Li Baoyu.
"Brother, I'll do whatever you say." Li Baoyu nodded, squatting down to take the Invasion Blade from Zhao Jun's hand. "Let me do it."
Without a word, Zhao Jun handed the Invasion Blade to Li Baoyu. 'This kid must be new to hunting,' he thought. 'He's so excited that he's jumping at the chance to do even the hardest, most tiring work.'
Zhao Jun didn't comment on it. He just took the steamed buns and flatbread they had brought, skewered them on thin branches, and stuck them in the ground by the fire to slowly toast.
Gradually, the boar meat began to make a SIZZLE SIZZLE sound, its surface bubbling with rendered fat. Before the grease could drip into the fire, Zhao Jun would pull up a skewer and rub the excess fat onto the steamed buns and flatbreads.
By the time Li Baoyu was halfway done skinning the boar, the rich aroma of roasting meat filled the air. He and Zhao Jun had set out before seven that morning. After trekking over mountains and ridges, getting slammed by a wild boar, and then killing and skinning it, he was starving.
Now, with the smell of roasting meat wafting over, how could he possibly resist?
He immediately tossed the Invasion Blade aside and shuffled over to the fire. Staring at a skewer that Zhao Jun had just flipped, Li Baoyu couldn't help but lick his lips.
Seeing his reaction, Zhao Jun chuckled, got up, and clapped Li Baoyu on the shoulder. "Watch the fire," he said. "Don't let the meat burn."
"Mhm, mhm." Li Baoyu's attention was completely fixed on the skewers. He just grunted in agreement and went back to licking his lips.
Zhao Jun walked back and took over skinning the boar from where Li Baoyu had left off.
Just as he was about to finish pulling off the entire hide, he heard Li Baoyu shout, "Brother, hurry up!"
"Coming, coming!" Zhao Jun was hungry too. He walked over to see Li Baoyu waiting for him, holding three skewers of meat in one hand.
Zhao Jun took the skewers, blew on the hot meat, then took a bite, tearing off a chunk of wild boar.
The rich, meaty flavor flooded his mouth. After a couple of chews, the intoxicating taste filled his senses.
Zhao Jun grabbed a piece of toasted flatbread. Made from cornmeal, the bread was already golden, and toasting it had turned the surface a crisp, slightly charred brown.
And since Zhao Jun had smeared it with grease from the roasting pork, the flatbread glistened with a layer of fat.
He took a huge bite. The sweet fragrance of the cornmeal mixed with the rich aroma of the pork fat made Zhao Jun's eyes narrow in pleasure.
"So good!"
A bite of flatbread, a bite of meat. A bite of steamed bun, a bite of meat.
The two young men quickly devoured all the rations and roasted meat.
Li Baoyu wiped the grease from his mouth with the back of his hand, then unscrewed his canteen and chugged a few mouthfuls of water. Full and content, with the afternoon sun warming him, he started to feel drowsy.
"Brother, why don't we take a nap here before we leave?"
After a strenuous morning, finally resting with a full stomach, Zhao Jun also felt a food coma setting in. But thinking of the wild boar they had worked so hard to take down, he decisively rejected Li Baoyu's suggestion.
"No. We butcher the meat now, and then we head home."
"Alright then…" Li Baoyu had been tagging along behind Zhao Jun since they were little. For years, he had followed Zhao Jun's every word.
Hearing the finality in Zhao Jun's tone, Li Baoyu got to his feet. Working together, they made short work of skinning the rest of the boar.
The boar hide, with all its hair, could be fed to dogs. They would eat it, but they wouldn't be able to pass it, and would die from the blockage.
That's why most Hunters, no matter where they skinned a boar, always discarded the hide.
They finished skinning it and tossed the hide aside. With Zhao Jun wielding a knife and Li Baoyu an axe, they began to butcher the carcass.
One head, four trotters, four legs, two racks of ribs, the entire spine, the pork loin, the tenderloin…
The boar had originally weighed two hundred and eighty jin. First, it was bled out, and some scraps were fed to the dogs… oh, and Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu had eaten nearly three jin of the meat themselves.
After removing the hide, hair, and accounting for other losses, the boar, bone and meat included, was still around two hundred jin.
"Pack it up!"
At Zhao Jun's command, Li Baoyu began stuffing the pork into large burlap sacks. As he packed, he finally understood why Zhao Jun had been in such a hurry to head home.
The meat was divided in two, with each sack holding nearly a hundred jin. Even for two strong young men like them, carrying a hundred-jin pack over thirty li of mountain trails would be a grueling task. With all the stops they'd have to make, they'd be lucky to get home by nightfall.
"We're leaving the head." Zhao Jun used the Invasion Blade to cut off the two ears and the snout. He kicked the rest of the large head aside, also discarding the spine, which had been picked clean.
Then, the two of them hoisted the sacks of meat onto their backs. Zhao Jun let out a sharp whistle, waking the two hounds sleeping nearby. The two men and their two dogs then started down the mountain path toward home.