I Overhear Animals' Thoughts to Feed My Family

Chapter 37: Chapter 37: The Northeast’s Little Good-for-nothing

On their third trip into the mountains, the wind gusted erratically. The snowflakes had become a fine, powdery sleet that felt cool against their faces. It didn’t accumulate on the ground; the wind simply swept it into tiny vortexes.

Zhao Wendong and Zhao Wenwu had rifles slung over their backs while Zhao Wenjun pulled the sledge. The three brothers battled the wind and snow for two hours before reaching the outer mountain range.

”Big Brother, let’s leave the sledge here for now. We’ll take the sacks and rope!”

Zhao Wendong pointed to the spot where they had previously left the horse-drawn sledge. Deeper in the mountains, the path disappeared, the ground littered with dead branches and stubble. It would be even more exhausting to drag the sledge through that.

”It won’t get stolen, will it?”

”It’s fine. No one ever comes here, and even if they did, they wouldn’t touch it.”

”Third Brother, how about I just carry the sledge on my back?”

Zhao Wenwu scratched his head.

”Then when it’s time to head back, are you going to carry the sledge with all our haul on it, too?”

Zhao Wendong’s question sent Zhao Wenwu into a logical tailspin. He couldn’t wrap his head around it for a long moment.

’Heh heh, there are humans today. Perfect timing to get revenge on that moron. It’s always bullying me.’

Xiaobai’s thoughts suddenly piped up, and Zhao Wendong had to suppress a laugh. ’This devious little fox wants to use us to settle a personal score, does he?’

’Wasn’t this a classic case of a fox using someone else’s power for its own gain?’

”YIP YIP YIP!”

”ARF ARF ARF!”

”Third Brother, Xiaobai must have found something!”

Seeing the devious little fox yapping nonstop, Zhao Wenwu shouted excitedly and shrugged the Type 38 rifle off his shoulder.

Seeing Zhao Wenwu brandish the gun, Xiaobai narrowed its eyes into a smile and started to lead the way, looking back every few steps to see if the three men were following.

Zhao Wenjun looked amazed. ”Wow, it really is a treasure-hunting fox! It’s got such a spirit to it.”

Zhao Wendong’s mouth twitched. ’Treasure hunt, my ass. It’s just using us as its muscle.’ Still, he wasn’t about to refuse. If the fox wanted to lead them to other animals, he was happy to play along.

After about twenty minutes of walking, Xiaobai suddenly stopped. It planted its front paws in the snow, a low growl rumbling in its throat, its eyes fixed on a pine forest ahead. The three brothers quickly took cover and watched.

”ARF ARF ARF!”

Xiaobai glanced back at the three men, its courage bolstered, and let out a sudden howl. A moment later, there was a stirring from the woods.

A furry, gray-brown figure hopped out of the pine forest. It was about a meter long, with long, slender limbs, its hind legs slightly longer than its front ones. Below the base of its tail, a heart-shaped white patch was extremely conspicuous.

Its two large ears stood erect, twitching constantly. It had a pert black nose and a ring of white fur around its mouth. As soon as it appeared, it stared at Xiaobai with its dark, round eyes, head tilted in a daze, as if wondering why Xiaobai was being so brave today.

”AWOOOO!”

Xiaobai continued to howl at it. The animal was instantly enraged and charged menacingly toward Xiaobai, looking like it wanted to teach the fox a good lesson.

”Third Brother, it’s a silly roe deer!”

Zhao Wenwu said excitedly. Zhao Wenjun was also incredibly thrilled, his hand gripping his hatchet so tightly it started to shake.

Zhao Wendong was a bit taken aback. ’I thought Xiaobai was going to lead us to another fox to settle a score—a love rival or something—but it turned out to be a roe deer.’

As one of the most common and clueless creatures in the Northeast, this roe deer showed no wariness at all. Zhao Wendong noted that while he could hear the thoughts of squirrels, he couldn’t get a single thing from the silly roe deer.

’Well, that just proves this thing is genuinely stupid. Its intelligence is even lower than the rats back in the village.’

How could Zhao Wendong go easy on prey that served itself up on a platter? He slowly drew his rifle and aimed at the silly roe deer that had come right to them.

”BANG!”

The bullet struck the roe deer squarely in the neck and chest. The deer stumbled forward two more steps, then pitched headfirst into the snow. Its legs kicked a few times, and then it was still.

”Haha, you hit it!”

Zhao Wenjun pumped his fist excitedly and charged forward to retrieve it, but just as he got up, another silly roe deer darted out of the woods.

It glanced at its companion’s body, then spun around abruptly, its white rump flaring out like a blooming flower as it bounded back into the trees.

The three brothers felt a pang of regret, but then, unbelievably, the roe deer stopped. It cocked its head, curiously observing the now-standing Zhao Wenjun, and then slowly hopped back toward them. It stared at Zhao Wenjun with an adorably clueless expression, its brain likely a mess of question marks. ’Who was this guy? How did he kill its buddy?’

Zhao Wendong didn’t care what the silly roe deer was thinking. His hands moved swiftly as he worked the bolt of his rifle. ’He couldn’t be blamed for being ruthless; the roe deer had served itself up again.’

CLICK-CLACK, the next round was chambered. Aiming and firing were a single, fluid motion.

The shot was a bit rushed. It didn’t hit the head, but just below the neck. The second silly roe deer rolled twice on the ground after being hit, then staggered to its feet and tried to run. With a great shout, Zhao Wenjun and Zhao Wenwu charged forward.

The wounded roe deer didn’t make it ten meters before the two brothers caught it. Zhao Wenwu held the second, still-struggling deer in one hand, grinning so hard he looked like he might burst.

”Hahaha! Third Brother, this is great! Two silly roe deer! We’ve hit the jackpot!”

Zhao Wenjun shouted excitedly. The three brothers had originally come just to pick up their meat stash, but they ended up with an unexpected bonus.

Zhao Wendong was also very happy. As was proper, he first drew his bayonet and began to bleed the animals. Then, with the two roe deer on his brothers’ backs, Zhao Wendong got his bearings and started walking toward their stronghold.

After walking for a little under half an hour, just as they were nearing the cave entrance, Xiaobai’s ears suddenly perked up. It darted towards a patch of bushes, and immediately a pheasant burst out with a whir of wings. Its colorful feathers were incredibly striking against the vast white snow.

”A pheasant!” Zhao Wenwu roared.

Xiaobai chased frantically after the pheasant. The three brothers wanted to follow but couldn’t keep up, especially with Zhao Wenjun and Zhao Wenwu carrying the roe deer. Luckily, Xiaobai was faster than the pheasant. The bird could only keep changing direction, running in circles nearby in the snow. Zhao Wendong raised his rifle several times but couldn’t find a clear shot and didn’t dare to fire wildly for fear of hitting the devious little fox.

The chase went on for over ten minutes. The exhausted pheasant, its stamina depleted, simply dove headfirst into a thick snowdrift, leaving only its backside sticking out. It had resorted to deceiving itself into thinking no one could see it.

Xiaobai trotted up smugly and was about to lower its head to bite when Zhao Wendong strode over, reached out, and grabbed the pheasant’s tail, pulling it right out.

”This is a nice pheasant. We’ll make soup for Little Tuanzi with it.”

Xiaobai immediately grew frantic, jumping and hopping around Zhao Wendong, squeaking wildly.

’You rotten human! That’s mine! I chased it forever!’

”You little fox, all you think about is eating. What’s wrong with letting Little Tuanzi have something nourishing?”

”Besides, you used us to get your revenge. Don’t think I didn’t know!”

Zhao Wendong patted Xiaobai’s head and stuffed the pheasant into a burlap sack.

Xiaobai was so angry its fur stood on end, but there was nothing it could do about Zhao Wendong. It could only run off, whimpering pitifully, to seek comfort from Zhao Wenwu.

”Third Brother, this is just awesome!”

Zhao Wenjun looked exhilarated. Coming up empty-handed while hunting in the winter was the norm. It was also incredibly draining, so if you weren’t sure you could bag any prey, it was more sensible to just hunker down at home for the winter. This was why few people from the village went into the mountains.

And yet, the three of them had just arrived and had already bagged two roe deer and a pheasant. If everyone had this kind of luck, the mountains would be crawling with hunters.

”Hahaha, just good luck! This little guy helped us find them all!”

Zhao Wendong jutted his chin toward Xiaobai. Zhao Wenjun nodded, his gaze toward the fox growing even friendlier and more delighted.

”Oh right, Big Brother, didn’t we also bring two traps?”

”Oh, right!”

Zhao Wenjun took out the animal traps. They belonged to Zhao Dashan, and Zhao Wendong naturally knew how to use them. He chose two spots around the cave entrance to set them up, specifically reminding Zhao Wenwu to memorize their locations so he wouldn’t get accidentally injured.

The snow, which had been falling for three days, finally stopped. The sky began to darken.

A few more minutes of walking brought them to the stronghold. They removed the camouflage from around the stone entrance, opened the stone slab door, and the three men and one fox filed in. The supplies inside were untouched, exactly as the two of them had left them yesterday.

”Oh my god, there’s so much!”

Zhao Wenjun couldn’t help but cry out in astonishment. Even though he had been mentally prepared, the sight still made his eyes go wide.