Chapter 620: Black Tiger's Origin

As Zhao Youcai and Xue Baojun talked, Wang Qiang, Xue Limin, Liu Jinyong, and Hong Yuntao all stood by listening.

Even when Xue Baojun was bragging about his son’s job, the other three men, aside from Xue Limin, showed little reaction.

But when Xue Baojun asked if Zhao Jun knew how to hunt, Wang Qiang’s brow furrowed and he blinked. Liu Jinyong and Hong Yuntao exchanged a glance, their expressions turning peculiar.

Only Xue Limin looked eager, ready to jump in. He was waiting for Zhao Youcai to say his son couldn’t hunt, or was just so-so, so he could pop up and say, ‘Uncle, when you have a moment, have your son come find me. I’ll take him into the mountains.’

Seeing Xue Baojun staring at him, Zhao Youcai blinked and grinned. “Bao Jun, you moved to Lingnan a few years back, so you might not have heard. This spring, over by the Yongxing Brigade, my son caught a Big Claw.”

At this, Zhao Youcai raised his right hand, jerked his thumb over his shoulder, and declared in a louder voice, “Alive!”

“What?” Xue Baojun and his son, Xue Limin, were both flabbergasted.

The spring hunt at the Yongxing Brigade had been a massive affair. Many professional Hunters from Lingnan had gone, like Huang Gui, who was on brotherly terms with Zhao Jun, and the paternal cousins, Xue Liwei and Xue Limin.

But just as they arrived in Lingnan, an accident occurred during the first drive hunt. They had made the trip for nothing and missed the final celebration feast.

Yet, over the past six months, the heroic tale of Zhao Jun capturing the tiger had spread far and wide. In the hunting circles of Lingnan and Lingxi, there wasn’t a soul who didn’t know about it.

Yet no one had ever imagined that *this* Zhao Jun was *the* Zhao Jun.

After all, the name Zhao Jun was incredibly common. In those days, far too many people had a given name of just “Jun” or the full name “Jianjun.”

Seeing Xue Baojun fall silent, Zhao Youcai broke into a wide grin. “Heheheh…”

This time, he even chuckled longer than before.

Xue Baojun was quite embarrassed by Zhao Youcai’s chuckling. Seeing this, Xue Limin quickly changed the subject, asking Zhao Youcai, “Uncle Zhao, were you the one who helped get my fourth cousin’s dogs settled here yesterday?”

As soon as Xue Limin spoke, Zhao Youcai stopped laughing and shook his head. “No, that wasn’t me. What’s wrong, son?”

“It wasn’t?” Xue Limin hesitated for a moment. “My fourth cousin had a black dog named Er Hei. We don’t know where he’s gone now.”

The words were barely out of Xue Limin’s mouth when Wang Qiang, standing beside them, couldn’t help but blurt out, “Er Hei?”

Xue Limin looked at Wang Qiang and nodded. “That’s right.”

As he spoke, he sized up Wang Qiang. Guessing he was from the same generation as Zhao Youcai, he asked respectfully, “Uncle, do you know where the dog went?”

Wang Qiang knew where the dog was. But the reason he’d blurted out the name wasn’t that Xue Limin was looking for the dog. It was because the dog’s original name was identical to the new one Zhao Youcai had just given it.

What a coincidence!

‘This is hilarious.’

“Haven’t seen him.” Hilarious as it was, Wang Qiang couldn’t rat out Zhao Youcai. He just shook his head, but the coincidence was so unbelievable that he had to ask again, “The dog that’s missing, his name is Er Hei?”

“Yeah!” Xue Limin didn’t think much of it and just nodded. “My fourth cousin originally had three black dogs. One was named Da Hei, one was Er Hei, and the one buried over there was San Hei.”

Hearing this, Wang Qiang couldn’t help but glance over at Zhao Youcai.

A muscle in Zhao Youcai’s cheek twitched. He hadn’t expected such a wild coincidence either.

By now, Xue Limin could tell something was off. He looked at Wang Qiang and asked, “Uncle, why are you looking at Uncle Zhao?”

“It’s nothing.” Wang Qiang shook his head. He was about to burst out laughing, so he quickly pretended he’d just heard something funny. “I was just thinking,” he said to Xue Limin, “your fourth cousin was pretty unoriginal with his dog names.”

At this, Xue Limin sighed softly and said with a note of sorrow, “They’re just dogs. A name is good enough. My fourth cousin’s dog, Da Hei, went missing in the spring. He was planning to breed Er Hei with San Hei, and name the pups Si Hei, Wu Hei, Six Hei…”

“Ahem! Ahem!” Now even Zhao Youcai couldn’t stand it. He gave Wang Qiang a little shove, took a step forward, and asked Xue Baojun, “Bao Jun, how is… how is your nephew doing?”

“Sigh…” Xue Baojun let out a long sigh and shook his head. “He’s gone.”

“What?” Hearing this, Zhao Youcai’s heart sank. He hadn’t known Xue Liwei well, but he’d been a perfectly healthy man, chatting with him just the day before yesterday. And now, just like that, he was gone.

Xue Baojun shook his head, the rims of his eyes turning red. Seeing this, Xue Limin quickly went to his father’s side and put an arm around him. “Dad,” he urged, “my fourth cousin…”

As Xue Limin began to speak, his own voice choked with emotion. He pressed his lips together and shook his head before continuing, “We have to take down this boar. Otherwise, my fourth cousin won’t be able to rest in peace.”

“Right.” Xue Baojun reached back to pat his son, then wiped the corner of his eye with his sleeve. He looked up at Zhao Youcai. “Youcai, you know these mountains. Tell us, how should we hunt this boar?”

Zhao Youcai glanced around, then pointed to a spot not far off. “There’s a place over there called Turtle Pit. That ‘cannon eggs’ was holding court there yesterday.”

“Mm,” Xue Baojun grunted in acknowledgement. He had just come from that direction, so he already knew what Zhao Youcai was talking about. But he wanted to hear what Zhao Youcai would say next.

Zhao Youcai raised a hand and pointed to the hillside across the road. “I managed to land a shot on it yesterday. The ‘cannon eggs’ ran into that patch of woods. I reckon…”

As he spoke, Zhao Youcai’s pointing hand began to move slowly to the right. He turned his body with the gesture, tracing a large arc back towards them. “That boar is probably running in a big circle around this whole area.”