Chapter 946

To call them an uninvited guest might be a bit impolite, because this uninvited guest is a person, and a person who is highly respected and holds a prestigious position in Kaoshantun.

That's right, the person who came is none other than the village chief of Kaoshantun, Sun Physician.

As soon as he saw Sun Physician enter the courtyard, Wang An immediately put down the work in his hands and went up to greet him, saying with a cheerful smile:

"Grandpa Sun is here, come in, come in."

Wang Li and Wang Yi also stood up and immediately greeted Sun Physician.

At this moment, Sun Physician had a worried look on his face, but upon hearing the greetings from the three brothers, he still forced a smile and then said:

"I won't go inside, Xiao An. Well, the thing is, I came here because of this: in the forest on the south side of our village, I don't know when a gray-haired old black bear showed up."

Except for very special cases, a gray-haired black bear is actually just an older black bear, much like how people grow white hair as they age, which is why Sun Physician called it an "old black bear."

However, because such black bears have survived various dangers, their intelligence becomes extremely high, making them quite difficult to deal with and a headache for all hunters.

Wang An knew that Sun Physician hadn't finished speaking, so he didn't interrupt and just looked at Sun Physician and nodded.

He just listened as Sun Physician continued:

"But it just so happened that your Sixth Grandma and a few other old ladies from our village ran into that gray-haired black bear while picking mushrooms two days ago. Your Sixth Grandma and the others ran, and the black bear chased them. Fortunately, the black bear was likely full at the time and stopped chasing after a while, otherwise..."

Having said this, Sun Physician didn't continue; mainly because there was no value in talking about things that hadn't happened.

The "your Sixth Grandma" that Sun Physician mentioned is actually his own wife, because Sun Physician is the sixth among his brothers and holds a high seniority, so many of the younger generation in the village call him "Sixth Grandpa," and naturally, Sun Physician's wife is called Sixth Grandma.

After listening to Sun Physician's account, Wang An asked with concern:

"Then, is my Sixth Grandma alright?"

Sun Physician is a truly good person, so Wang An's concern was not feigned.

Although he said that, Wang An was actually a bit confused inside, because Sun Physician must have come for a reason, but Wang An couldn't figure out what Sun Physician meant by saying all this, or rather, what he was paving the way for.

Sun Physician heard this, shook his head, and said:

"Your Sixth Grandma is fine, it's just that right now is the best time for every household to pick mushrooms and dig for wild vegetables. Otherwise, you know, when winter comes, we can't just eat cabbage and potatoes every single meal."

Hearing this, Wang An understood; Sun Physician wanted Wang An to kill that black bear so that the villagers wouldn't be affected while picking mushrooms and digging for wild vegetables.

It must be said that in the mountains of this era, there are truly many kinds of animals, and you never know when a very fierce wild beast might wander into the mountains around the village.

Not counting the black bear Sun Physician mentioned, the wild boar Wang An and the others hunted while protecting the green seedlings a while ago, and the leopard they saw but didn't hit, were all things that had wandered over at some point.

What puzzled Wang An, however, was that in previous years, driving away wild beasts was the job of the militia; why did it fall to him this year?

Wang An was just about to speak when he heard Sun Physician say again:

"For the past two days, our village militia has been going into the mountains, but they haven't even found a shadow of this black bear."

Wang An twitched the corner of his mouth, feeling speechless.

Because it was very obvious that Sun Physician believed he could find that gray-haired black bear.

Wang An was so sharp, how could he possibly take the bait?

So after Sun Physician finished speaking, Wang An said with the air of a bystander:

"Yeah, well, they say if a black bear grows gray hair, it must be turning into a spirit; it's indeed hard to find a shadow."

Actually, Wang An still had half a sentence he hadn't asked yet.

That was whether that gray-haired black bear had white hair growing on its back now.

The main thing is that such black bears are the true nightmare for hunters.

Because this kind of black bear is called a "man-bear" by local old hunters, and some hunters call it a "bear-demon."

And the reason it is called a "man-bear" is because it is said that such a black bear is already on the verge of transcending the category of bears, walking on its two hind legs like a human all day, and even performing actions similar to humans.

To put it bluntly, the black bear is about to turn into a spirit and become human.

Of course, although these claims are widely circulated among hunters and many of the older generation know them, whether this thing is true or false is impossible to investigate deeply.

The main thing is that such black bears certainly exist, but those who have truly seen them are definitely few and far between.

Feng Chengmin had told Wang An before that the intelligence of a man-bear is very high, and one must be extremely careful when seeing this thing.

Of course, not just man-bears, other animals also have high intelligence if they live long enough.

Seeing that Wang An didn't take the bait, Sun Physician finally couldn't help but say:

"Xiao An, your hunting is so fierce now, and your reputation is so loud, why don't you try? Anyway, you have to hunt regularly, just consider it a contribution to the fellow villagers."

It could be seen that Sun Physician was truly worried, to the point of starting to use moral kidnapping.

However, Wang An didn't feel disgusted by Sun Physician's approach.

As the saying goes, "If you are not in that position, you don't seek to govern," Sun Physician wasn't doing this just for himself, and besides, the militia hadn't stopped going into the mountains.

It was just that the black bear was too cunning, and Sun Physician, as the village chief, had no other choice.

Wang An casually picked up a rag, wiped the fish blood off his hands, then took out a cigarette and handed one to Sun Physician, and also stuffed one into Wang Li's mouth.

Lighting the cigarette and taking a puff, Wang An pondered for a long time before saying with a conflicted face:

"Grandpa Sun, hunting a black bear, especially an old one, is really not easy. To be honest, I'm not sure I can do it either."

Wang An believed that with Da Hei and the other dogs, it wouldn't be hard to find this old black bear, but what Wang An worried about most was the safety of the dogs.

Because in this season, the trees in the mountains are lush and the grass is half a person deep, so visibility is severely obstructed.

If people and dogs cannot support each other, it would be useless even if the dogs found the black bear.

Moreover, a black bear killing a dog is like child's play; if any dog were injured or even died, Wang An would be heartbroken.

But to be honest, although Wang An was very worried about the dogs, deep down, he really wanted to kill this black bear.

The main thing is that hunting black bears is addictive!

Especially when taking the gallbladder, it's like winning a lottery; it's damn exciting!

(End of chapter)