I Overhear Animals' Thoughts to Feed My Family

Chapter 76: Chapter 76: Zhao Wenwu Disturbs the Public

Zhao Wendong slapped the dilapidated table, wishing he could just toss it out. Zhao Wenjun immediately hurried over, carried the old table outside, and brought the new one in to set it up. Zhao Wendong leaned on it, then gave it a good shake back and forth before finally nodding in satisfaction.

”Look how sturdy this is! Now *this* is what you call a table. The other one was just a board. We’ll chop it up for firewood tomorrow!”

”Just look at you, getting all full of yourself. Believe me, I’ll chop *you* up for firewood!”

Chen Yanmei shot Zhao Wendong a glare and went back to counting the money. She counted for ages but still couldn’t get a clear total, so she finally gave up. She took out a cloth pouch, put the money away carefully, and then started looking for a place to hide it. She tucked it into a stack of quilts, but then decided that wasn’t safe. She took it out and placed it on a roof beam, but then felt it was too obvious. She retrieved it and put it in a low cabinet, but then thought it would be too easy to find. In the end, she actually tried to hide it in the stove pit, scaring Zhao Wendong into grabbing her arm.

”Mom, don’t forget, you’ll set it on fire the next time you light the stove!”

”Here, here, I already got something for you!”

As he spoke, he brought out a small box, the kind with a padlock. It was something Zhao Wendong had picked up when he’d bought the vats.

Chen Yanmei locked the money away with relish, then tucked the key securely against her body. Her expression changed in a flash as she smacked Zhao Wendong on the back a few times.

”You bought this and didn’t tell me sooner? Were you trying to mess with your old mother?”

Finished, she called out to her eldest daughter-in-law, Song Xiaoyu.

”It’s getting dark. I’m going to start dinner. You all keep helping Third Brother get organized!”

”Alright!”

Song Xiaoyu readily agreed. Compared to cooking, getting to play with all these new things was a delight. After Zhao Wendong, his eldest brother, and his sister-in-law finished putting away all the needles, thread, and various odds and ends they had bought, there was finally room to walk in the house. They distributed the new towels, one for each person. Little Tuanzi and Shitou clutched theirs and refused to let go.

”It smells so nice! So nice!”

Little Tuanzi pressed the towel to her face, sniffing it nonstop and bursting into a fit of giggles. Lately, with better nutrition, the little girl’s vanity had started to awaken. She loved being clean, washing her own face and hands every day and making sure she smelled nice. The new towel won her heart in an instant.

After distributing the new towels, there were also new socks, new shoes, new padded jackets, and new quilts. As they were laid out one by one, the corners of Zhao Dashan’s mouth curled up and simply refused to come down. Nobody dislikes buying new things, and nobody genuinely enjoys saving every last penny; they only do it when poverty leaves them no choice. The entire Zhao home felt like it was New Year’s, echoing with the happy laughter of adults and children alike.

Meanwhile, Zhao Wenwu led Zhao Ergou toward the latter’s isolated, dilapidated thatched hut on a back alley. Having just gotten his hands on a flashlight, Zhao Wenwu couldn’t resist shining it into the windows of every house, quickly drawing out a crowd of startled villagers.

”What the heck is that? It’s so bright!”

”Is that you, Captain? On patrol in the middle of winter?”

”Aiyah, don’t shine that flashlight in my eyes! I’m going blind!”

People from every household came out to investigate. This tickled Zhao Wenwu, who laughed heartily and began shining the beam directly into people’s eyes. The villagers immediately protested, and someone recognized his tall frame.

”It’s Zhao Wenwu!”

”Zhao Wenwu, you little terror! You shine that thing around again and I’ll tell your ma to give you a beating!”

”Wenwu, did you steal the production brigade’s flashlight? No, that can’t be right... the captain watches that thing more closely than his own wife. Holy crap, is that a flashlight your family *bought*?”

Zhao Wenwu heard this last question and immediately responded with pride.

”Yup! It’s my family’s. Brother San bought it for me. It’s mine!”

A smile on his face, Zhao Ergou followed behind Zhao Wenwu, unhurriedly watching his antics. He was thinking, ’How can I convince Zhao Wendong to keep me around?’ The past two days had shown him that his Brother San was an incredibly capable man who, far from holding their fathers’ issues against Ergou’s family, had instead shown them great kindness.

’When you find a backer this strong, you have to latch on tight. What am I waiting for?’ When they reached Zhao Ergou’s house, Zhao Wenwu dropped the burlap sack in the outer room and took off. Zhao Ergou’s mother, his third aunt Zhang Yufen, called out to him twice, but he didn’t stop, disappearing in a flash. All that was left was the beam of his flashlight dancing wildly across the night sky.

”Why’s that boy running off? Er Gou, how was it going to sea with your Brother San? Did you catch anything?”

Zhang Yufen still hadn’t fully recovered and hadn’t left the house for days. Sanwazi had been staying home to keep her company. Plus, their house stood alone on the very last alley, with no close neighbors, so she still hadn’t heard about Zhao Wendong’s massive haul.

Zhao Ergou said nothing, simply pulling the twenty yuan from his clothes and handing it to his mother. Zhang Yufen took the money and froze, stunned.

She didn’t recognize the bills, but she recognized the numbers printed on them. She looked at her son, her eyes wide with disbelief.

”Is this... two tens? As in, ten yuan?”

”Yeah. Twenty yuan in total. I went fishing with Brother San, and he gave it to me as a reward.”

”Oh my dear lord! Good heavens! How many fish did you possibly catch? No, that can’t be right. You couldn’t get this much money no matter how many fish you caught! How could you take so much money from your Brother San? One or two yuan would have been plenty! Hurry up and give it back to him!”

Zhang Yufen shoved the money back at Er Gou, telling him to return it to Zhao Wendong. Er Gou took the money but didn’t explain. Instead, he opened the burlap sack on the floor. It was stuffed to the brim. As soon as he untied it, a few potatoes rolled out. Inside were cabbages, radishes, and more, as well as several smaller bags. Zhao Ergou opened each one for Zhang Yufen to see, revealing pearly white rice, golden cornmeal, rich yellow millet, and coarse wheat flour.

Zhang Yufen was utterly dumbfounded. Beside her, a sniffling Sanwazi also stared at his older brother, Zhao Ergou, in total shock.

”Bro, did you go and rob somebody?”

Zhao Ergou shook his head, then puffed out his chest with a hint of pride as he looked at his mother and younger brother.

”You couldn’t get this much stuff even from a robbery! Brother San took us fishing, and we sold the catch to buy all this! This is my share, Mom, so don’t worry. Brother San caught over four thousand pounds of fish! He even got his picture taken with a big official from the county. A big truck drove us home today!”

”Little brother, Mom... our family will never have to survive on watery broth again. I’m going to work hard with Brother San from now on. I’ll make sure we can all eat our fill every day, and that Big Sis can finally have a better life too!”

SOB SOB SOB...

Zhang Yufen felt a stinging in her nose and broke down, covering her face and sobbing aloud. She was lame. After her husband died, a famine year had struck. Her own family looked down on her, and her married daughter suffered terribly because her maternal family couldn’t support her. Just when she thought she and her two children were going to starve to death, Zhao Wendong’s family had extended a helping hand. Now, to suddenly have so much food, on top of a massive sum of twenty yuan... how could she possibly hold back her tears? Once she started, she couldn’t stop.

Seeing Zhang Yufen cry with such abandon, Er Gou and Sanwazi couldn’t help but shed tears as well. The three of them clung to each other, crying until the world seemed to fade away. They cried even louder than they had on the day their father and husband died, but this time, their cries contained less sorrow and more joy, less despair and more hope.

On the way back, Zhao Wenwu resumed shining his flashlight into every window, earning another torrent of curses. Only after he had thoroughly annoyed every household along the street did he return home, pleased as punch.

Before he could even sit down, Zhao Wendong handed him another burlap sack.

”Second Brother, go to Er Gou’s place one more time. I forgot to give him the things in here!”

Inside were padded jackets, cotton shoes, cotton socks, and quilts. When Zhao Wendong had gone shopping, he had bought enough for their family of three as well.

”You got it!”

Zhao Wenwu hadn’t had his fill of playing with the flashlight anyway, so he happily grabbed the sack and headed out the door again.