About half an hour later, Du Jianshan, panting, pushed a wooden cart in front of the hut by the woods, with tattered burlap sacks placed on both sides of the cart.

"Iron Bull!" he shouted, waving his hand.

Wang Tieniu immediately jumped out from beside the bear carcass: "Quick, quick, I can't hold them off any longer! A kid from the second squad came to check on us just now, but I managed to get rid of him."

"Get started!" Du Jianshan grabbed a bear leg. "One, two, three—"

"Holy crap—this thing is incredibly heavy!" Wang Tieniu shouted, putting force into his hand.

It took the two of them a lot of effort to flip the bear onto the cart, which creaked and groaned as it was deformed.

“You push the cart, I’ll lead the way.” Du Jianshan said, pulling a handful of willow leaves from his bag. “Cover it up, so no one can tell at a glance.”

"You think you can get away with this?" Wang Tieniu muttered.

"Stop talking nonsense, I still have my pipe here." Du Jianshan lit a puff of tobacco and blew smoke onto the bear as he smoked, "To give it a bit of a smoke."

"Goodness, you even used this trick, Brother Shanzi, you're really something." Wang Tieniu grinned.

"Let's go!" Du Jianshan whispered.

The two pushed the heavy cart one after the other and turned into the forest path.

The road was narrow and steep, and the car almost overturned several times. Du Jianshan frowned, looked around carefully, and pricked up his ears like a cat.

"There seems to be someone ahead," Wang Tieniu suddenly stopped and whispered.

Du Jianshan waved his hand: "Put the car down."

He crouched down and quietly slipped into the bushes ahead, then darted back a moment later: "It's Xiao Zhao and his group picking mushrooms. Let's go around to the left."

"Isn't the left a ditch?"

“I know,” Du Jianshan gritted his teeth, “but I’d rather get my feet wet than let this bear be discovered.”

"I'll listen to you!" Wang Tieniu gritted his teeth. "Come on, brother, give me a lift!"

After another round of trouble, we finally arrived near the shack.

"That's it." Du Jianshan pulled the car to an old locust tree behind the shack. "Tie Niu, hurry up and peel the bark. Let's finish before dark."

"You skin it, I'm starving," Wang Tieniu said, collapsing to the ground, panting.

"You eat my ass!" Du Jianshan kicked him. "I'll skin you and you sharpen the knife for me. After we're done, I'll treat you to porridge tonight."

What kind of porridge?

"Bear bone broth with red dates, we've got some good stuff this time."

The two of them busied themselves, chatting away as the sunset painted the sky. The sound of a knife slicing through bear skin was clearly audible, and the occasional chirping of birds came from the bushes; everything was peaceful and full of life.

As night fell, a pot of bear bone soup was bubbling and steaming.

Wang Tieniu, his lips greasy from drinking, exclaimed, "Brother Shanzi, this soup has made me sweat all over, it's like I've come back to life!"

Du Jianshan didn't laugh. He looked at the dark forest beyond the firelight and slowly said:

"This mountain still holds many great things. We've only just begun."

"you mean……"

"Stop thinking about those crooked schemes." Du Jianshan steadied the reins, his gaze indifferent. "The most important thing now is to get back and process the bear meat quickly, otherwise it will spoil and end up being fed to the dogs."

"Hehe, what about the leather?" Wang Tieniu rubbed his hands together. "It's such a thick piece of leather, it would be a shame not to make a coat out of it!"

"Keep them to make mattresses, cut a few more to make leg guards, and keep the rest at home in a trunk." Du Jianshan paused, "We're not afraid of the cold when we go into the mountains in winter."

Wang Tieniu grinned, then squatted down and touched the edge of the bearskin: "You know, if you took this thing to town to sell, it could fetch a few hundred yuan, right?"