I Overhear Animals' Thoughts to Feed My Family

Chapter 172: Chapter 170: The Swearing Badger

The weight of the snow bent the branches of the trees low. In the deeper drifts, a single step would plunge your foot past the top of your boot. The white puffs of their breath condensed into frost on their eyebrows the instant they exhaled, leaving every face dusted in white.

Zhao Wendong worried that Lin Zhiyin, on her first trip into the mountains, wouldn’t be able to keep up. He kept looking back at her, but to his surprise, she was remarkably agile. Though she was panting just like everyone else, she hadn’t fallen behind in the slightest.

The hot spring was to the left of their cave hideout, but Xiaobai had led them off to the right. After more than half an hour of walking, it finally stopped and began yapping incessantly at the entrance to a burrow, its cries full of brazen arrogance.

’This den is all mine now!’

Zhao Wendong was rendered speechless by Xiaobai’s thoughts. ’How can a fox be this shameless? It took a liking to someone else’s den, so it brought us here to wipe out the whole family?’

Zhao Wenjun and the others saw the burrow’s entrance too. A thick layer of white frost, formed from the warm breath of the creature inside, rimmed the opening. Scattered nearby were several chunks of frozen earth that had been dug out. A dark trail had been dragged through the snow from the burrow to a withered tree. After studying it for a moment, a look of delighted surprise spread across Zhao Wenjun’s face.

”Third Brother, is that a badger?”

Zhao Wendong nodded. It was indeed a badger’s den. Badgers were one of the hunters’ most prized targets in the winter. That’s because their fur was at its thickest, their undercoat at its densest, and their hide was tough and firm. These ”winter-board” pelts, as they were called, always fetched a top-grade price at the purchasing station.

Even if you kept it for personal use instead of selling, a badger’s thick pelt was windproof and excellent for warding off the cold. It was perfect for making coat collars, ear flaps for a fur hat, or knee warmers. If you collected enough of them, you could even make a full-length fur coat. It was top-tier material.

A badger’s body is covered in a thick layer of fat, and they’re at their plumpest in winter. This made their rendered oil even more valuable than their pelts. It could be used medicinally to treat frostbite and burns. For chapped skin, a dab of badger oil worked much faster than any cold cream.

”Lin Zhiyin, give me the gun!”

Zhao Wendong didn’t reach for his own Type 56 carbine. Instead, he took the Type 38 rifle from Lin Zhiyin’s hands. He also chose a standard round over the high-powered ones, mainly because he was afraid too much force would ruin the badger’s pelt.

Goaded by Xiaobai’s incessant taunts, a fluffy gray head suddenly poked out of the burrow. Three white stripes on its face stood out starkly against the snow. It huffed out little puffs of steam, its small eyes locked on the little fox as it slowly emerged.

It was an adult badger, its body plump and squat, hugging the surface of the snow. It inched forward on its black claws, its belly dragging a long line behind it. It arched its back, causing its thick, gray-black fur to bristle, the hairs on its neck standing up like steel needles. Thrusting its head forward, it bared its sharp teeth and snarled viciously at Xiaobai, a clear threat for the little fox to get lost.

With backup today, Xiaobai wasn’t scared at all. It bounced around in the snow, constantly provoking the badger. This was a far cry from its previous encounter, where the badger had sent it running for its life.

Badgers are normally very territorial and rarely leave their dens. But apparently, it wasn’t just Zhao Wendong who found Xiaobai infuriating—the badger clearly felt the same way. Unable to stand it any longer, the badger let out a furious roar and charged. Xiaobai immediately turned tail and fled, letting out a series of high-pitched yelps.

BANG! BANG!

Two shots rang out simultaneously. It had become an unspoken rule that unless absolutely necessary, Zhao Wendong and Jin Xiuying, the two best shots, would do the shooting. The charging badger let out a pained shriek as its body jerked to a halt. It was sent flying backward, rolling several times in the snow before twitching twice and falling still.

”Yay, we hit it!”

It was Lin Zhiyin’s first hunt, and she jumped for joy. The faces of the others also lit up. Feeling the dogs, led by General, straining at their leashes, Zhao Wenjun unclipped them.

WOOF WOOF WOOF!

The three dogs—one yellow and two black—shot off like arrows toward the badger’s burrow. They had been getting plenty of exercise and food lately, and it showed. They had visibly put on muscle and were a full size bigger than before.

”Huh?”

Zhao Wendong watched in confusion as the dogs bypassed the dead badger and kept charging toward the burrow. ’I thought they were going to retrieve the carcass,’ he thought. ’Looks like there’s something else inside.’

”Quick, keep up!”

Zhao Wendong quickly shouted for the others to follow. Zhao Wenjun had also noticed the dogs’ strange behavior and called out as he ran.

”Don’t badgers hunt alone? What’s gotten into General and the others?”

”Not always. They hunt alone, but sometimes a whole family will hibernate together in one den for the winter. It’s easier, and it keeps them warm!”

The words had barely left his mouth when three smaller badgers emerged from the burrow, baring their long, sharp claws at General and the other dogs. The three hounds surrounded the entrance, simply preventing an escape rather than launching a direct assault. This was the mark of an excellent lead dog—it could choose the most advantageous tactic, helping its master secure prey with the least amount of risk.

”Ha! It really is a whole den of them!”

Zhao Wenjun’s eyes lit up, and he shouted in excitement. Worried the dogs might get hurt, Zhao Wendong also sprinted forward, quickly reaching the burrow’s entrance. Fortunately, badgers are fiercely protective of their homes and food; they’ll fight anything that tries to steal from them, humans included.

Seeing Zhao Wendong approach, one of the smaller badgers shrieked and charged at him, claws out. Zhao Wendong simply raised his rifle and put a bullet in its head.

The other two small badgers shuddered violently, then suddenly sprayed streams of fluid from their hindquarters. A foul, musky stench instantly filled the air, so pungent it was suffocating. The dogs were completely stunned by the smell, yelping as they retreated and shook their heads frantically.

Just then, the rest of the group arrived. They all opened fire, and the remaining two badgers also met their glorious end.

Zhao Wenwu excitedly scrambled forward to collect the bodies, shouting as he went.

”Hahaha, three more smaller ones! That’s how many bricks...”

Before he could finish, a thick, gamey stench mixed with the smells of damp earth and rancid fat assaulted his nostrils. It was foul, musky, and cloying. A wave of dizziness washed over Zhao Wenwu. The overpowering odor made his eyes water and his nose run, and he staggered to the side and began to dry-heave. Jin Xiuying hurried over to pat him on the back.

”Hahaha!”

Seeing Zhao Wenwu’s pathetic state, Zhao Wendong and the others burst out laughing at his expense. Lin Zhiyin pinched her nose and took two steps back, eyeing the burrow with lingering fear. ’Good thing I was slow,’ she thought, ’or I’d be the one gagging right now.’

”What is that smell? It’s so awful!”

”Haha, it sprayed its musk! It’s a last-ditch survival trick. It’s a liquid, and if it gets on you, the smell won’t come off for days. Stay back, we’ll take care of this!”

With that, Zhao Wendong and Zhao Ergou pinched their noses, dragged the smaller badgers out, and laid them next to the big one. Then they began dressing the carcasses. General and the other dogs, with their sensitive noses, kept their distance, not daring to come closer. Once Zhao Wenwu recovered, he hurried over as well.

”Third Brother, how many bricks can we get for these four?”

Zhao Wendong had actually calculated this before while chatting with members of the production team committee. A three-room brick-and-tile house would need about fifteen thousand standard gray bricks. They had estimated back then that one jin of grain was normally worth about two bricks, but in these difficult times, coupled with a surplus of bricks in the county, the rate was now one jin of grain for five bricks.

With grain getting scarcer, the best exchange rate they could get from Big Wang for meat was 1:2. These four badgers weighed a combined 20 jin, but their thick hides meant they would only yield about ten jin of meat. That would trade for twenty jin of grain, which was equivalent to one hundred bricks.

”Should be able to get four hundred for them!”

”That many!”

”Then how many do we need to build a house?”

”Fifteen thousand.”

Zhao Wenwu froze. This was way over his head; he couldn’t wrap his mind around the numbers at all. He looked over at Zhao Wenjun and Zhao Ergou for help, but the moment they saw him looking, they immediately turned away, pretending to be busy. Of course, it was no use—they were just as illiterate and couldn’t do the math either. In the end, it was Jin Xiuying who explained it to him.

”We’ll need to hunt another fifteen hundred jin of meat to get that many bricks!”

”Haha, great, great! In that case, let’s hurry and hunt some more! Then we can build our house, and I can marry you, honey!”

Seeing Zhao Wenwu looking so happy, Zhao Wendong shook his head and held his tongue. He couldn’t bear to crush his second brother’s spirits.

’Building a house requires more than just bricks,’ Zhao Wendong thought. ’There are roof tiles, lime, lumber, sand... all of it costs money, and none of it is easy to get. Besides, that’s just for one house. There’s me, Wenwu, and Wenjun, plus our parents, and our grandparents to consider. We need a whole lot more than one house.’

Zhao Wendong looked at the smiling Lin Zhiyin and Jin Xiuying and was suddenly struck by another piece of good news. ’Our family’s education level has gone way up. We’ve just gained two new members who are fully literate and can do arithmetic. That’s a huge drop in our family’s illiteracy rate.’

He was then reminded of the universal basic education and literacy programs that would become widespread in a later era. ’When I get back,’ he resolved, ’I’ll look into setting up a class in Dragon King Pond. I can at least start with the militia, make sure every household has someone who can keep proper accounts.’

’It stinks too much. I’ll come back later.’

Xiaobai circled the entrance to the badger’s burrow for a moment before walking away in disgust. Zhao Wendong shot it a side-eye. Even though the fox had led them to a successful hunt, it didn’t stop him from despising the little creature.

The feeling was mutual; Xiaobai was dead set on getting revenge on Zhao Wendong. Today, it had noticed something new: Zhao Wendong seemed very protective of Lin Zhiyin. This gave the fox a sense of opportunity. It started sidling up to Lin Zhiyin to act cute whenever it had a chance, and it quickly won her affection.

”Zhao Wendong, look how beautiful, well-behaved, and cute Xiaobai is! Why don’t you pet it? It’s completely clean, and its white fur isn’t dirty at all!”

”Heh.”

Zhao Wendong sneered and walked away without a backward glance. ’You people have no idea how black-hearted that thing is,’ he fumed internally. ’I only slapped it a few times, and now it’s obsessed with revenge. On top of that, it’s always bringing humans around to help it bully other animals. It’s a complete traitor to the animal kingdom!’