I Overhear Animals' Thoughts to Feed My Family

Zhao Yinhua’s entire family was stunned by Lin Zhiyin’s beauty. Even Zhou Mancang, who had led Zhao Wendong and the others there, was staring wide-eyed. ’His cousin’s wife didn’t seem this pretty a moment ago, did she? She looked kind of grimy. How did she transform in the blink of an eye?’

’She’s just too beautiful, isn’t she?’ Zhou Mancang shot Zhao Wendong a jealous glance, only to find his cousin looked even more surprised than he was. Zhao Yinhua went so far as to wave a hand in front of Zhao Wendong’s eyes to snap him out of his daze. ’What’s all this about?’

Lin Zhiyin observed everyone’s reactions, inwardly pleased. Zhao Wendong’s especially, with his eyes wide in a silly, disbelieving stare, almost made her burst out laughing. She had to force down a smile and continue making small talk with Zhao Yinhua.

Zhao Wendong finally snapped out of it and gave Lin Zhiyin a complex look. She responded with a mischievous grin. What could he say? He could only play along, shaking his head with a wry smile and forcing himself to look completely shocked and incredulous.

”Wendong, hurry and bring the horse inside. Your Second Aunt’s house is small, so we’ll have to squeeze!”

”Cuicui, get the fire going in the stove pit and start cooking. Use up all the millet in the jar. Your cousin and his wife must be hungry!”

Zhao Wendong’s cousin, Zhou Cuicui, grunted in acknowledgment. Grabbing a chipped gourd ladle, she went to the millet jar and practically disappeared inside as she scraped the bottom. After a good while, she managed to collect half a ladle of millet—only enough for a thin porridge. Zhao Yinhua glanced at Zhao Wendong uneasily, but just as she was about to speak, the door was pushed open from the outside.

Zhou Mancang’s wife entered, a child in one arm and a grain sack in the other. Seeing the troubled looks on Zhou Cuicui’s and Zhao Yinhua’s faces, she quickly said,

”Mom, Cuicui, let’s make sorghum rice for my cousin and his wife tonight. Use this!”

She said, handing over the sack. Zhou Cuicui’s face fell.

”Sister-in-law, isn’t this for the kids...?”

”Oh, just cook it!”

Zhou Mancang’s wife cut her off before she could finish. Then, giving Zhao Wendong a smile, she carried her child into the inner room. Zhao Yinhua nodded to her daughter as well, gesturing for her to cook the sorghum rice, before pulling Lin Zhiyin into the room behind her.

Zhao Wendong had seen it all. He stopped Zhou Cuicui.

”Cousin, I don’t feel like sorghum. I’d rather have white rice.”

”What? White rice? We... we don’t have any!”

Zhou Cuicui’s gaze held a hint of resentment. ’Who comes to someone’s house and starts making demands? And for white rice, no less! I haven’t eaten white rice in half a year. You look like a big grain of rice yourself!’ In that moment, she found her cousin incredibly annoying.

Zhao Wendong, of course, read the look in her eyes. He didn’t explain, just smiled and said,

”Don’t worry, we can make that happen!”

With that, he went outside, grabbed a sack from the sled, and carried it back inside.

”Here!”

Zhou Cuicui took the sack, opened it, and let out a piercing shriek.

”AHHH!!”

The shriek cut through the conversation between Zhao Yinhua and Lin Zhiyin in the inner room. Annoyed, Zhao Yinhua yelled,

”Silly girl, what are you screaming for? Don’t tell me you spilled the rest of the sorghum rice?”

Still worried, she went to the outer room to see what was wrong with Zhou Cuicui. A few seconds later...

”AHHH!!!”

A scream even louder than Zhou Cuicui’s erupted, shaking the roof beams until dust rained down.

Hearing Zhao Yinhua’s scream, no one in the inner room could stay put. The rest of the family rushed out to see what on earth was going on.

What followed was a chorus of gasps and cries. Zhao Wendong cleaned out his ears. ’I feel like I’ve stumbled into a prairie dog colony.’

”Oh my heavens, it’s really white rice.”

”This sack has to be forty or fifty pounds, doesn’t it?”

”Good heavens! All this pure white rice... it’s beautiful.”

”Wendong, did you bring this rice? Hurry and take it back! Grain is more precious than gold right now. You can’t be so wasteful. It’s not New Year’s or a festival, what’s the occasion for white rice? Besides, if you give this to us, what will your own family have to eat?”

Once the shock wore off, Zhao Yinhua hurriedly tried to make Zhao Wendong take the rice back for his own family.

Zhao Wendong smiled and patted her hand reassuringly.

”Second Aunt, I brought these specially for you all. There’s more food on the sled. My parents wanted you to have it!”

’In truth, Zhao Wendong had just packed a lot of it as a precaution. But their warm welcome had touched him deeply. They weren’t stingy with him, so he had to be generous in return. He decided to leave them as much food as possible to help them get through the winter.’

”Dongzi, is... is this really for us?”

Zhao Yinhua’s hands were shaking with emotion. In times like these, grain wasn’t just money—it was life itself.

”Yes, really!”

”Come on, Cousin, give me a hand. Once we unload the sled, I can let my horse have a break.”

Zhao Wendong called over the still-stunned Zhou Mancang to help him unload the sled. The big brown horse had been working all day; it was high time it got some rest.

”What’s your name, little cousin? How old are you?”

”I’m Zhou Manku, and I’m nine!”

His younger cousin, Zhou Manku, was a sensible boy. Seeing Zhao Wendong and Zhou Mancang moving things, he immediately came to help. When Wendong heard he was only nine, his thoughts turned to his uncle’s son, Zhao Wenhua, and he felt the urge to smack that cousin of his on the head.

”Wendong, is... is all this food?”

”Yep. Some of it’s for my trip to the farm tomorrow, but the rest is for you!”

”Oh, right. There’s a rabbit here, too. Freshly caught. We can stew it right away!”

Zhao Wendong held up a rabbit. Just before they’d reached the village, Xiaojin had caught it somewhere, killed it without eating it, and simply tossed it to him.

Zhou Mancang’s eyes lit up. The rabbit was big and plump. ’Chen the Seventh has one just like this,’ he thought. ’He’s always showing it off, claiming it’s his money-maker, that it helps him catch other game. He dotes on it like it’s his own father.’

”Oh, no, no! You can’t just waste food like that! If you sell this rabbit, you could trade it for a pound or two of grain! We’re not even working the fields right now. What kind of family are we to be eating meat? Besides, the two of you can’t possibly eat all that.”

Zhao Yinhua shook her head so vigorously it was like a blur. Zhao Wendong glanced around at his aunt’s family—seven people in total, from the youngest to the oldest.

”Who said it’s just for us? There are so many of us here. It’d be no fun for just the two of us to eat. Everyone’s eating!”

”Huh?”

The Zhou family froze. Zhou Manku couldn’t help but gulp. ’Can we really all eat together?’ he wondered. It had been so long since he’d had a decent meal.

”Second Aunt, you’re the boss. Are we eating or not? If you all don’t eat, then we won’t eat either. We can all go hungry together!”

Zhao Yinhua wiped her eyes, a tearful smile on her face.

”We’ll eat, we’ll eat! We’ll listen to my dear nephew. Today, our whole family eats together! We’ll eat until we’re full!”

”Yay!”

Zhou Manku leaped into the air. The rest of the Zhou family beamed with excitement. For people who had been hungry for so long, a full meal was their greatest wish.

Aside from the roe deer, a cut of wild boar, the seal meat, and the sealed jar, Zhao Wendong gave the Zhou family everything else: cornmeal, potatoes, radishes, and the extra wild boar with glass noodles. Staring at the mountain of food, the Zhous felt like they were in a dream. Their jaws went slack with awe, and they looked at Zhao Wendong as if he were a god.

Zhao Yinhua was so overcome with emotion, shouting on top of having eaten so little recently, that she suddenly grew dizzy. Zhao Wendong quickly helped her to the kang to lie down and rest.

Zhou Laogen paced around, as flustered and helpless as a child. He wanted to pour them some water but realized they didn’t have any clean cups. Finally, Zhou Mancang’s quick-witted wife had an idea: she poured the boiled water directly into the canteens Zhao Wendong had brought, letting them drink from their own containers.

In the outer room, Zhou Mancang finished cleaning the rabbit. Overjoyed, Zhou Cuicui and Zhou Mancang’s wife began to cook. They chopped potatoes and washed the glass noodles, preparing the rabbit stew. Then, remembering she had two handfuls of hazel mushrooms at her own place, Zhou Mancang’s wife trotted home to grab them and add them to the pot. A rich aroma soon filled the mud-brick house, lingering in the air for a long, long time.