I Overhear Animals' Thoughts to Feed My Family

Chapter 40: Chapter 40: Ergou and Sanwa

The whole family ate with gusto, their mouths glistening with grease. Chen Yanmei and Song Xiaoyu no longer put their chopsticks down after just a few bites; they both ate their fill. Chen Yanmei kept repeating, "This roe deer meat is so tender, even better than wild boar! My youngest is getting more and more capable. Here, try some of the roe deer my boy hunted!"

With that, Chen Yanmei placed a piece of meat for Zhao Dashan, who was eating while lying on the *kang*. Zhao Dashan took one bite and then stopped. It was difficult for him to use the toilet, so he was deliberately controlling his intake.

Zhao Wendong glanced over but didn’t say anything. Zhao Wenwu swallowed the meat in his mouth and said,

"It was Xiaobai. Xiaobai took our third brother to hunt it!"

Even though Xiaobai was currently ignoring Zhao Wenwu, busy charming the women and children, Zhao Wenwu still gallantly gave his friend credit. This instantly earned Xiaobai a few more pieces of stir-fried meat, held right up to his nose.

After a while, the serving plate of stir-fried roe deer meat was scraped clean. Chen Yanmei then turned to Zhao Wendong and asked about his plans.

"My boy, what are you planning to do with these two roe deer and all that wild boar meat? Are you going to take it all to the Commune to sell? You could save the money to find a wife."

"Selling it for cash is a bad idea. And I’m not in a hurry to get married. We need to fill our bellies first, then we can think about improving our lives."

Zhao Wendong put down his bowl, wiped his mouth, and shook his head firmly.

"A disaster year is on the horizon, and money is losing its value. A pound of corn flour used to cost fourteen or fifteen cents without ration coupons. And now? It’s at least seventy or eighty cents, right? But the price they pay for meat hasn’t gone up much. If we sell this for cash now, we won’t be able to buy back even half as much food later. It’s better to trade it all for grain."

"But what if we can’t trade for that much grain?"

Zhao Wendong had already thought it through and offered an alternative.

"We trade for other useful things." Zhao Wendong began counting on his fingers. "Spices, oil, cotton, needles and thread, clothes, quilts... what is it we *don’t* need? People will give us a good deal for meat right now. Once spring arrives and food isn’t so scarce, we’d have to give twice as much meat to get the same things."

His family all nodded. Based on his actions over the past few days, they found themselves trusting his words implicitly.

Song Xiaoyu seriously counted on her fingers. "Wendong has a point. We should keep enough meat for ourselves and trade the rest. Your brother and I have saved four yuan; you should take that too and buy grain or other necessities."

"I have some too. What’s left from the other day and what I saved before—it’s eight yuan. Take it with you to the Commune tomorrow."

Seeing her daughter-in-law speak up, Chen Yanmei also chimed in.

"Alright. I promise, by next year, you’ll all have even more money saved up!"

The two women smiled, gratified. Ever since Zhao Wendong had gotten his act together, the house was filled with laughter and cheerful conversation. The dream of having plenty of food and clothing no longer seemed so distant.

"Oh, right, Wendong," Chen Yanmei said. "I went to check on Er Gou’s family yesterday. Things aren’t looking good. I left them a little food."

As soon as Chen Yanmei finished, Zhao Dashan, still on the *kang*, sighed and lit his pipe. His third brother, Zhao San, had been a petty and stubborn man. He’d cut ties with the family over something trivial and then worked himself into an early grave last year, leaving behind a widow and her orphans.

Zhao Wendong finished his food in a few quick bites. He filled a basin with some flatbread and wild boar meat, wrapped it tightly in a cotton jacket, and announced to his family,

"I’m finished. I’m going to go check on them."

After Wendong left, Song Xiaoyu couldn’t help but say with admiration,

"Third Brother is really different now. He never used to care about anyone else."

"His third uncle was kindest to him when he was little. My boy isn’t a heartless person."

Chen Yanmei said this with a look of pure gratification. Zhao Dashan’s eyes were also filled with pride, and the pipe in his mouth went PUFF, PUFF, PUFF even faster.

Zhao Ergou’s house was at the very end of the village. Dragon King Pond Village was laid out in three rows, but his family lived alone in a fourth row. It was the farthest from the well, making fetching water a huge chore. The house itself looked fairly new from the outside, but the surrounding fence was dilapidated and leaning, offering no real protection. It looked like it could be torn down for firewood at any moment.

The cold wind scraped at his face. WHOOSH. Zhao Wendong pulled down the ear flaps of his cotton hat, feeling a little warmer. As he approached the door, he saw a boy of about ten bent over in the yard, butt in the air, HUFFING and PUFFING as he dug at something. There was a wide gap between his tattered cotton jacket and pants, exposing his lower back. You could even see the crack of his ass.

"Sanwazi, what’re you up to?"

Zhao Wendong recognized the boy as his third uncle’s youngest son, Zhao Sanwa, and called out to him.

Zhao Sanwa turned around. Snot was running from his nose, nearly reaching his mouth before freezing into a tiny icicle that hung above his lip. In the biting cold, his small, grimy face was a waxy white. When he saw it was Zhao Wendong, he instinctively flinched and mumbled,

"D-Digging... for rat holes."

In his good-for-nothing days, Zhao Wendong had hated work and spent his time wandering around, which naturally made him the undisputed king of the village kids. This whole group, Sanwa included, had grown up following at his heels. Seeing their ’commander’ arrive, the boy was suddenly a little frightened.

Hearing the boy was digging for rat holes, Zhao Wendong knew immediately he was looking for food. Rats hoarded grain in their burrows, so kids would often dig up the tunnels to steal their stash. An unlucky rat wouldn’t just lose its food; it would end up getting roasted, too.

But digging up rat burrows was a job for before the ground froze. Now, the earth was hard as rock. It was an incredibly inefficient way to find food; the grain you’d find would never be enough to make up for the energy you spent digging.

"Alright, stop digging. When spring comes, Brother San will take you. We’ll wipe out every last rat in Dragon King Pond."

This wasn’t just an empty boast. Zhao Wendong could hear thoughts now, and he could sometimes hear the rats’ incessant, annoying chatter. It drove him crazy. ’When spring comes, I’ll point out their locations, lead the kids on a raid, and wipe out every last one of their nests,’ he thought. ’At least then I won’t have to listen to all their stupid, trivial squabbles.’

"Oh!"

Sanwa didn’t dare defy the commander of his kid army, so he obediently followed him into the house.

Inside, a fire was burning in the stove pit. Sixteen-year-old Zhao Ergou was feeding it firewood. He was as thin and small as Song Xiaoyu, standing only about half a head taller than Sanwa.

He looked up as someone entered. When he saw it was Zhao Wendong, Zhao Ergou scrambled to his feet, looking flustered.

"Brother San!"

"Hey. Where’s my aunt?"

"She’s... sleeping..."

The two pot lids at Zhao Ergou’s house were ancient, probably older than Zhao Wendong himself. He reached out and lifted one. As the steam cleared, he saw a single piece of cornbread and two small pieces of meat inside the pot.

Zhao Wendong frowned. ’Mom said she brought over a dozen flatbreads and a whole basin of meat yesterday. Is it all gone already?’

"Is this all that’s left of what we brought you yesterday?"

Seeing Zhao Wendong’s displeasure, Zhao Ergou quickly shook his head.

"No, Brother San! We still have it! I put it outside to freeze. We’re saving it for the New Year."

Zhao Wendong froze. ’Damn, the New Year is still a month away,’ he thought. ’I’ve got to hand it to Er Gou, he’s way more frugal than I am.’

"You don’t have to be so thrifty. If you don’t eat, you’ll get sick. I brought you some more."

He then unwrapped the cotton jacket he was carrying, revealing the basin of food inside.

Sanwa’s eyes lit up at the sight of food, and he reached out to grab some. Zhao Ergou slapped his hand away sharply and then looked at Zhao Wendong, his own face flushing red.

"Brother San, Auntie brought so much food yesterday. It’s enough for us. You should take this back. We can’t accept it. Everyone is short on food, and your family is bigger than ours. You need it more."

"Damn it, I said take it, so just take it! Cut the crap!"

Zhao Wendong put the basin down, intending to leave. But then he figured that since he was already here, he should at least say hello to his aunt. He turned and walked into the back room.

Zhao Ergou’s house was newer than Zhao Wendong’s, but the inside was in far worse condition. There wasn’t a single decent piece of furniture; everything was either missing a leg or an arm.

A woman, thin as a skeleton, lay on the *kang*, curled up like a dried shrimp. Wrapped in a tattered quilt, her body was shivering uncontrollably.

"Fuck! Zhao Ergou, you idiot! You call this sleeping? Go get Granny Liu, now!"