I Overhear Animals' Thoughts to Feed My Family

Chapter 20: Chapter 20: Wendong, You Want to Marry Her?

As he spoke, Zhao Weiguo looked at Third Master Zhao, assuming Lin Zhiyin was there to work for him.

Third Master Zhao read the suspicion in his gaze and immediately bristled.

"You little brat! What’s with that look? Don’t think I won’t smack you just because you’re the team leader!"

Most of the residents of Dragon King Pond Village shared the surname Zhao. If you went back over a hundred years, they all shared a common ancestor and were all related. According to seniority, Zhao Weiguo had to call Third Master Zhao "Third Uncle."

"Third Uncle, why are you getting so worked up? I was just asking. What’s the matter, got a guilty conscience?"

Now Third Master Zhao was truly furious. He grabbed his tobacco pipe, ready to whack Zhao Weiguo with it, but Zhao Wendong quickly stopped him.

"Third Master, Uncle Weiguo is just joking with you. Don’t be angry."

The old man’s expression relaxed a bit, and he thought to himself, ’Zhao Wendong is finally showing some sense.’ But Zhao Wendong’s next words made him even angrier.

"Uncle Weiguo, you’ve misunderstood Third Master. If he were looking for anyone, it would be Granny Liu! Ow! Ow! Third Master, don’t hit me!"

Zhao Wendong scrambled away, covering his head as the old man whacked him.

"Alright, alright, no more joking! Uncle Weiguo, I’m the one who brought her here!"

"What? *You* brought her?"

Zhao Weiguo was stunned.

Seeing Zhao Wendong clutching his head where he’d been hit a few times, Zhao Wenwu gloated, laughing so hard he was practically rolling on the floor.

Shooting his second brother an irritated glare, Zhao Wendong recounted what had just happened. He left out the part about going specifically to see Lin Zhiyin, saying only that he’d gone to check on the production brigade’s motorized fishing boat and happened to run into her.

"How could they just start hitting someone? Was she hurt badly?"

Zhao Weiguo looked a little grim. Zhao Wendong shrugged.

"They were spewing nonsense but couldn’t out-argue me, so they tried to use their numbers to jump me."

"Yeah! They wanted to hit Three, so I beat ’em up!"

"I was gonna kill ’em, but Three wouldn’t let me."

Zhao Wenwu added, conveniently forgetting to mention that his younger brother had thrown the first punch.

"That’s going too far. How can they bully a young lady like that? They’re all Educated Youth, sent down together. Besides, if five of those young men couldn’t win a fight against Dongzi and his brother, that just shows how useless they are."

Zhao Weiguo listened to Third Master Zhao and nodded without saying anything.

Fighting was all too common in those days. People fought over fields, mountains, the sea, water sources—they fought for their very lives. You had to fight for everything. As long as nobody was crippled or killed, a scuffle like the one Zhao Wendong and his brother got into was nothing.

"Third Master is right!"

Zhao Wendong chimed in, adding fuel to the fire.

"It’s true that Lin Zhiyin has a bad class background. I used to look down on her a bit myself. But she’s been here for two years, and she works harder than anyone, never complaining. Which of the other Educated Youth is as dedicated as her? And who hasn’t made mistakes? As long as you correct them, you’re still a good comrade, aren’t you?"

"Anyway, I think they were completely out of line. We should treat our comrades with the warmth of a spring breeze! That’s the only way to demonstrate the superiority of our great New China family!"

Zhao Weiguo clicked his tongue, looking Zhao Wendong up and down with a surprised expression.

"What are you looking at, Uncle Weiguo? You think you’re watching a monkey show?"

"Well, I’ll be damned, Dongzi! Who knew you could talk like that? It’s like a sow wearing a bra—you’ve got one set of lines after another!"

"What’s with this? You sound more cultured than I do. Has the village been holding you back? Maybe we should send you off to take the university entrance exams!"

Completely unabashed, Zhao Wendong shamelessly bantered right back at Zhao Weiguo.

"You’re just figuring that out now, Uncle Weiguo? Then go ahead, send me to school. It’s not too late. I’m still just a kid, barely over two hundred months old!"

"Get outta here!"

Both Zhao Weiguo and Third Master Zhao chuckled at his antics. Seeing them smile, Zhao Wendong breathed an inward sigh of relief. He knew he had successfully reported the incident; he wouldn’t have to worry about the other Educated Youth tattling on him now. Furthermore, Lin Zhiyin’s predicament was now officially on the brigade’s radar.

It wasn’t that the brigade leadership was unaware that Lin Zhiyin was being bullied. But since she never spoke up, and given her sensitive background, they had simply turned a blind eye.

But now that Zhao Wendong had stepped in, they could no longer ignore it.

Zhao Wendong was different from the Educated Youth. Nearly everyone in Dragon King Pond Village was a Zhao. No matter what a scoundrel Zhao Wendong might be, he was still one of their own, a son of Dragon King Pond. His problems were the village’s problems. The Educated Youth, on the other hand, could be gone and back in the city at any time.

Lin Zhiyin appeared in the doorway. She habitually kept her head bowed, obscuring her face, and her voice was so quiet it was barely audible.

"The food... it’s hot."

"Mm!"

Zhao Wendong stood up and walked into the outer room.

On the stove sat half a bowl of wolf-meat soup and two steamed cornbread buns, both piping hot.

"Sit down!"

Zhao Wendong pointed to the small wooden stool in front of the stove, the one used for feeding the fire.

Lin Zhiyin hesitated for a moment, then slowly sat down.

He reached for the soup and buns, placed them in front of her, and commanded coldly,

"Eat!"

"Eat every last bite! Don’t you dare leave anything behind. You hear me?"

With that, he turned and went back into the main room, leaving a stunned Lin Zhiyin behind. In the two or three years since her family’s downfall, she hadn’t experienced as many emotional swings as she had in this single day.

Lin Zhiyin thought of Zhao Wendong’s fierce, bossy expression and found it both irritating and funny. She looked at the soup and the buns, her starving body crying out for food. After a long moment of hesitation, she washed her hands, slowly picked up a bun, and took a small bite, chewing it meticulously.

’Mm, it’s so good!’

She took a slow sip of the wolf-meat soup. A wave of warmth instantly spread from her throat through her entire body. It felt so good she almost moaned aloud, and her eyes began to sting as she fought back tears.

Back in the main room, Zhao Weiguo and Third Master Zhao were staring at Zhao Wendong with peculiar expressions.

"Dongzi, don’t tell me you’re thinking of taking a wife?"

"Your Aunt Xiufen is already looking for a match for you. You’re a good-looking boy, and you’re on the right track now, so you won’t have any trouble finding a wife. But getting married is a serious decision. You can’t rush into it. You have to think it through carefully. It’s a decision that will affect the rest of your life."

His words carried a hidden meaning, and Third Master Zhao nodded in solemn agreement.

"Dongzi, let’s not even mention that the girl’s a mess—slovenly, not pretty, weak-bodied, and her hips aren’t wide enough for easy childbirth. But just her capitalist family background alone... if you marry her, your future children will be mocked for it!"

"Oh, that’s right. Since the start of the year, lots of girls from the south have been fleeing this way. I heard that in several villages, wives from the south have shown up on their doorsteps, not asking for anything but a bite to eat."

"Right, right, that’s true! And they’re all very pretty, too. Don’t be in such a rush. Just wait a little longer!"

Zhao Weiguo nodded. He’d heard the same things Third Master Zhao was talking about.

It was precisely because of these reports that they felt such immense pressure, enough to risk letting Zhao Wendong take the brigade’s boat out to sea. The south had always been known for its abundance; if even they were running out of food, it showed just how dire the situation was. If they didn’t make preparations soon, they feared people would start to starve.

Only Zhao Wenwu looked thrilled, his face a mask of juicy gossip.

"Three, are you gonna get a wife?"

"Is a wife fun to play with, Three?"

"Are you gonna marry that little grubby girl outside, Three?"

Zhao Wendong glared at his second older brother.

"What ’grubby’? Look who’s talking, you’re a mess yourself! Stop calling her that. She’s a good person. A beautiful heart is what matters most!"

Those words made both Zhao Weiguo’s and Third Master Zhao’s hearts drop. In the kitchen, Lin Zhiyin, who had been eavesdropping, felt her own heart pound violently. A mouthful of cornbread almost got stuck in her throat.

She came from a privileged background and was well-educated and worldly. When her family suddenly fell from grace, she had immediately hidden her own light, concealing herself in the countryside where her parents had been sent to perform manual labor.

She deliberately kept herself dirty and unattractive, hiding her abilities and maintaining a low profile every day, all to mitigate the dangers her looks and identity could bring.

Despite all this, she was still constantly targeted and bullied by the other Educated Youth and some of the villagers. She bore everyone’s strange looks in silence, enduring it all for her parents’ sake and for her own survival.

Then today, the village ruffian, Zhao Wendong, had suddenly appeared, held an umbrella for her in the downpour, and was now even saying she had a beautiful soul. He looked for all the world as if he’d taken a fancy to her.

’Lin Zhiyin’s feelings were now an incredibly complicated mess. She wanted to storm in there and ask Zhao Wendong just when he’d gone blind. How could he possibly take a fancy to her when she looked like this? All she wanted was to live quietly and keep a low profile while waiting for her parents’ return. Why did that have to be so hard!’