A four-hundred-pound black bear was easy enough for five men to drag along the ground, but lifting it onto the truck by themselves would be a whole different story.
Luckily, the truck Lin Xiangshun drove belonged to the Forest Farm and was specially designed for hauling timber.
This mountain was mostly virgin forest, home to massive trees so thick it would take several men to wrap their arms around one. Even when sawn into logs, a single section from a tree like that likely weighed no less than the black bear.
So, the truck was equipped with a simple hoist.
The rig worked like a winch. Two thick wooden poles were turned in the same direction, winding a rope and hoisting the black bear upward.
With a bit of extra help from Zhao Jun and the others, they managed to get the black bear onto the truck.
Lin Xiangshun drove with Zhao Youcai in the passenger seat. Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu sat in the open truck bed, sharing the space with the dead black bear.
The truck rumbled down the mountain road all the way back to Yong'an Village. The moment it entered, it was spotted by idle villagers wandering about.
Word spread like wildfire. Before long, the entire village knew the Zhao family had brought the black bear back. People poured out of their houses and hurried toward the Zhao family's home.
At the same time, Qin Qiang and his wife also heard the news. The Tao Brothers, who were already prepared, lifted Qin Qiang.
The group of five—four on their feet and one lying down—set off for the Zhao family's home.
Wang Meilan knew Zhao Youcai was going to get Lin Xiangshun to bring the black bear back by truck today, so she and Jin Xiaomei skipped their usual foraging and stayed home to wait.
When they heard a truck horn blare that afternoon, Wang Meilan quickly told Zhao Hong to keep playing inside with Zhao Na and Li Xiaoqiao, while she and Jin Xiaomei hurried out to meet the arrivals.
By then, the truck had already stopped in front of the Zhao family's gate. Before Zhao Jun and the others could even lift a finger, a crowd of people who had followed the truck eagerly swarmed around it.
And these weren't just onlookers. They clambered onto the truck without a word of greeting to Zhao Jun or Li Baoyu and, with a flurry of hands, started shoving the Black Bear off the side.
By the time Zhao Youcai and Lin Xiangshun climbed down from the cab, the Black Bear had already hit the ground with a heavy thud.
Zhao Youcai scanned the crowd and chuckled. "Well now, looks like everyone's here."
The crowd answered all at once, shouting their greetings to Zhao Youcai.
Suddenly, someone in the crowd called out, "Youcai, are you going to skin it?"
"Of course!" Zhao Youcai replied. "How else are we supposed to divide the meat?"
The crowd roared with laughter at his words.
The same man asked again, "Youcai, can I have the hide once it's skinned?"
The man's name was Song Yuhe, and he worked as a skidder for the Forest Farm. His job required him to live in a pit-house in the mountains all winter, sleeping on a large, communal platform. He wanted the bearskin to make himself a mattress pad.
"It's yours!" Zhao Youcai said with a magnanimous wave of his hand. In those days, a bearskin wasn't worth much. You couldn't sell one if you tried, so they were usually just given away.
However, he wasn't the only one in the crowd who wanted that bearskin.
But since he'd been the first to ask, and Zhao Youcai had agreed so readily, the others could only stew in regret. 'Should have spoken up sooner!'
Just then, Wang Meilan and Jin Xiaomei came out of the courtyard, each carrying a large basin filled with an assortment of knives.
The men took the knives and set to work, helping to skin the bear.
Even though the hide was already spoken for, they were all from the same village. No matter how jealous or resentful they felt, no one would dare sabotage the skinning process.
With so many people helping, the bearskin was peeled off in no time. Song Yuhe took the hide, grinning from ear to ear.
"Go ahead and divide it up." Seeing that the hide was off, Zhao Youcai told Wang Meilan to start portioning out the meat. He then led Lin Xiangshun into the house, with Zhao Jun and Li Baoyu hurrying to follow.
Though they had stayed home all day, Wang Meilan and Jin Xiaomei had already heard the heroic tale of how the eldest sons of their two families had gone up the mountain to hunt the bear.
The story had given the two mothers a terrible fright, but now was not the time for lectures. Wang Meilan and Jin Xiaomei quickly picked up boning knives and began carving up the meat, handing out chunks to the crowd.
Each person got a little over a pound of meat. In no time at all, dozens of pounds of bear meat had been distributed.
Many people took their share of meat and went home, but a few stayed behind to continue helping Wang Meilan.
Suddenly, a strange procession appeared in front of the Zhao's home, startling everyone who was busy cutting and dividing the meat.
Tao Ersheng and Tao Sansheng were carrying a simple stretcher, on which Qin Qiang lay face down, his body wrapped in blood-stained bandages.
Flanking the stretcher were Tao Hehua and Tao Dasheng.
Wang Meilan, who was in the middle of carving meat from the Black Bear's spine, froze when she saw them.
She realized at once. 'This group isn't here for a friendly visit.'
'After all,' she thought, 'if you wanted some meat, you could just ask.'
'There's no reason to haul an injured, bedridden man all this way for that.'
Seeing this, Jin Xiaomei seemed to understand. She set her knife down on the mangled bear carcass, stood up, and wiped her hands on her apron. With a smile, she called out to Tao Hehua, "Hehua, are you taking Elder San to the hospital in the Town?"
Jin Xiaomei was obviously being disingenuous. It was already getting dark. If they set out with Qin Qiang from here now, they would be lucky to reach the hospital in the Town by the next day.
But Tao Hehua was a master of being shameless, able to throw a fit one moment and play the victim the next. She simply shook her head, and tears immediately welled up in her eyes.
The moment the tears started, Jin Xiaomei understood completely.
Just then, Wang Meilan also rose to her feet. Her eyes swept over Qin Qiang's face as he lay on the stretcher, and she asked bluntly, "Elder San, what is your family trying to pull here?"
Qin Qiang's heart leaped into his throat at her words.
Everyone in the surrounding villages knew that Wang Meilan was a kind-hearted woman. If it hadn't been for her over the years, Qin Qiang would never have been able to borrow their big dog, Da Hua.
Without Da Hua, he never would have been able to catch so much game.
'No matter what I say in a minute, this is an act of pure ingratitude,' he thought. 'Anyone doing something wrong, whether they're a career criminal or not, can't help but feel a little nervous.'
"Aunt Zhao!" Tao Hehua stepped forward, positioning herself in front of Qin Qiang and blocking Wang Meilan's view. With a sob in her voice, she pointed at the bloody Black Bear on the ground and cried, "It was this Black Bear! It injured my Elder San and killed three of my dogs!"
"So what? You want to flog its corpse to get revenge?"
A voice piped up unexpectedly from the side, making everyone start. Even the pitiful expression on Tao Hehua's face froze for a moment.
The speaker was none other than the Li family's second son, Li Ruhai.
This kid had played a trick on Li Baoyu earlier in the day. He saw Baoyu leave later, but he didn't know his older brother had actually gone up the mountain.
Afraid that Li Baoyu would come back and beat him up, Li Ruhai had slipped out of the house and spent most of the day hanging out at a classmate's place.
Only when he heard that Zhao Youcai had brought the black bear back by truck did Li Ruhai dare to return, bringing his classmate with him.
And why had he brought his classmate along?
For one simple reason: his classmate was also hoping for a taste of the meat.
The moment Li Ruhai arrived at the Zhao family's gate, he took in the whole scene.
Although the boy couldn't quite figure out what Tao Hehua and her family were up to, that didn't stop him from taking a jab at her. After all, the Tao Brothers had tried to bully him and his brother just the day before yesterday.
It had to be said, all those comic books Li Ruhai read weren't for nothing. His single sentence left Tao Hehua completely speechless.
Just then, Qin Qiang, still lying on the stretcher, gave Tao Dasheng a discreet nudge.
Tao Dasheng took the hint at once. He stepped forward, ignoring Li Ruhai, who was smirking and making faces off to the side. Addressing only Wang Meilan, he said, "Auntie, the day before yesterday, my brother-in-law and I shot this Black Bear twice and stabbed it three times."
"Yesterday, your son got lucky and finished it off. That means we should get a share of this Black Bear too, right?"