Reborn in 80: Starting with hunting in the mountains to get rich

Chapter 254 Unearths Iron Gallbladder; Bear Bile Prices Rise After the New Year

"This time the bear bile will definitely be good, and fresh!"

"Our trip to the mountains was definitely worthwhile. We went to the fishing village and caught so many fish. My wife will be overjoyed when she sees them. I'm going to make that fierce tigress kneel down and fetch me water to wash my feet, hahaha."

Amidst laughter and chatter, Lu Zhiqiang and Lu Jinyang, after a moment's rest, got up from the ground to look at the black bear. It was the first time Lu Jinyang had ever seen a black bear being hunted, and he looked back and forth at the black bear in disbelief, exclaiming in amazement, "This animal is so big!"

The group burst into laughter. Song Desheng, having recovered his composure, became defiant and boasted, "When it comes to hunting bears, you have to rely on me. If it weren't for me, this black bear wouldn't have died so quickly. It's all thanks to my steady hand."

Lu Zhiqiang retorted, "Come on, I wasn't blind, I saw everything. The way you were crawling around like a coward, if Li Ju'an hadn't fired from behind, you would have been torn apart by Hei Xiazi."

"Pah! Who are you calling scrambling and crawling? I clearly saw you crawling as fast as you could, even Lu Jinyang couldn't outrun you."

"Nonsense! Who ran away? Who chickened out? What I called running away? This is called flanking maneuvering. Didn't I fire several more shots from behind?"

The two argued until they were red in the face and about to fight when Li Ju'an shouted, "You two are evenly matched. This area is full of scoundrels. You two should listen up."

The group reeked of fish, and the ground reeked of death and the blood of a bear. It wouldn't be long before the local wild animals, including weasels, were drawn to the area.

Song Desheng and Lu Zhiqiang thought about it and realized that this made sense. The two of them stopped quietly to listen.

Apart from the wind, there was really no other sound around. The wind howled, and even Sun Weimin's voice could not be heard in the distance.

Song Desheng exclaimed in surprise, "Sun Weimin is quite fast! He crossed the mountain so quickly."

Lu Zhiqiang said, "It's possible that this kid heard our gunshots, and after we stole the bear, he rushed over, not knowing where the cat was, and wanted a share."

Song Desheng chuckled and grinned, saying, "Sun Weimin? Him? He won't get a single drop! Not even a sip of soup."

Lu Zhiqiang, along with Song Desheng and Lu Jinyang, first gutted the black bear. The most important part of hunting a bear is its gallbladder; anyone else can leave it for the wild animal, but the gallbladder must be carried with extreme care.

A large mass of entrails was carefully dug out, starting with the intestines. Sections of intestines were thrown onto the snow. Lu Jinyang was still learning to hunt, so he put in a lot of effort. Since his shooting wasn't accurate, he had to do the dirty and hard work. When the large mass of intestines was dug out, the pungent smell was almost unbearable. It was the first time Lu Jinyang had smelled intestines, and he turned away and gagged, almost vomiting up his dinner from the night before.

He suppressed his nausea, found a tall branch to the side, and hung his intestines there.

Several people carefully searched for bear gallbladders in a large mass with their bare hands. A black bear gallbladder appeared, making them grin with delight.

Lu Zhiqiang's eyes lit up, and he said, "We've found the Iron Gallbladder!"

Opening bear gallbladders is always the most exciting moment after a bear hunt. The majority of the bear's value comes from its gallbladders. Yellowish-green bear gallbladders, known as "cauliflower gallbladders," are brittle and have a less glossy appearance. Higher quality gallbladders are iron gallbladders, also called black gallbladders, which are very hard and entirely black.

The next level up is golden or brownish-yellow, called copper gallstones, also known as golden gallstones, which are extremely rare. Even Old Zhang, who has been gambling his whole life, has never seen a golden gallstone. He mostly gets grass gallstones, also known as cauliflower gallstones, and getting an iron gallstone is extremely lucky.

Li Ju'an smelled the iron gall. Bear gall was irregularly shaped, in chunks, with a glossy surface and a hard texture. It emitted a unique iron gall odor, slightly fishy. One could immediately tell it was gall.

Several people shouted, "Bear bile prices have gone up quite a bit after the New Year. How much did Li Ju'an sell iron bile for last time? It's gone up by several hundred yuan after the New Year."

"You're making so much money, Li Ju'an. If I had known, I should have kept those bear gallbladders until after the New Year to sell them. You might have made even more money. After the New Year, all those southern merchants came back, which drove up the price of bear gallbladders."

Li Ju'an laughed and said, "There will be bile to sell after the New Year. If that's the case, then don't sell any of it. Just hoard it all. We won't sell any that are three or five years old."

Lu Zhiqiang agreed, finding that to be true. Just like the forest farm's wages increase every year, they couldn't just sit idly by without collecting their pay. They still had to sell bear bile to improve their lives.

Several young hunters laughed and said, "That makes sense. Hey Li Ju'an, I heard you're building a house. When will construction start? If you do, call us to help out. We'll have to eat at your house a few times."

Li Ju'an jokingly shouted, "Of course! Even if you don't come, I'll still have to knock on every door and kidnap you to work for me."

After the bear bile is extracted, unless there are merchants buying fresh bear bile, it has to be soaked in water, hung on the roof beam to air dry, and then sold according to its weight. This bile looks like it will weigh about six ounces after air drying, which qualifies as a "steel bile". After the price increase after the New Year, it can sell for more than 1800 yuan.

With money in hand, the men worked even harder. Lu Zhiqiang led Song Desheng in using knives to skin the bear, starting from its face. The bear's body was stretched taut to make skinning easier. The skin, whether raw or processed into tanned hide, would fetch a good price. They weren't worried about finding buyers, and even if they didn't sell it, they could still live a respectable life.

Which mountain runner doesn't have a few animal hides? Hanging animal hides in the house makes it easy to brag to guests.

Lu Zhiqiang and his men were full of enthusiasm and worked hard to skin the bear, while Li Ju'an turned to look at the old man who had died in the snow.

The old man was wearing an ordinary cotton-padded jacket and cotton gloves, and the dog-skin hat on his head was covered in blood. His scalp had been slapped off by a bear's paw, with a large patch of scalp exposed. More seriously, his cervical spine was broken, presumably during his fight with the bear, when the bear slapped him on the head, breaking his neck and causing him to fall to his death.

Old Zhang from the security department said, "This old man is called Liu Gui. He is the second great-uncle of Zhao Pao's niece from Yingtun."

The reason they say she's related to Zhao Pao's niece is because she was adopted by Zhao Pao's family from a neighboring village. This second uncle is the little girl's biological second uncle from that village, but that family had too many daughters and no sons, so they couldn't afford to raise them and had to give away several of their daughters to childless families, which put their minds at ease.

Old Zhang sighed deeply when he talked about Liu Gui. He and Liu Gui had worked together in a small coal mine, also called Fengchang Coal Mine, for a while. The two of them used to go up the mountain together to collect medicinal herbs, mushrooms, and wood ear fungus. They would take their harvest to the market to sell and earn a living to support their families.

Bee Farm Coal Mine wasn't big. It got its name from the fact that the production team used to keep bees next door; it was a small mine. Most of the dozen or so miners who came to work there were from out of town, including Liu Gui, and there were also many widows.

Old Zhang lit a cigarette, looked at Liu Gui's corpse, sighed, placed the wine pot next to Liu Gui's body, and said, "Those widows, they were all left behind by the mining accident back then. Their husbands were trapped underground in the mine."