I Overhear Animals' Thoughts to Feed My Family

Zhou Mancang’s wife nudged him, signaling for him to say a few words. Zhou Mancang gave her a slight shake of his head, telling her not to worry. He understood now; his younger cousin was a man of great ability, and they shouldn’t be shy about accepting what he offered.

"Haha, just take it, Auntie. Why stand on ceremony with me? Besides, I’ve got something even better over here!"

Zhao Wendong patted his Type 56 semi-automatic rifle.

"The tiger on the mountain is gone. While others don’t know yet, you should let my uncle and cousin go into the mountains more often and get some more food. That way, I won’t have to worry about you. If you keep being so formal with your nephew, I’m really going to get angry, Auntie!"

"Oh, alright, alright! My nephew has really made something of himself. Your auntie is basking in her great nephew’s glory! I won’t be formal, I won’t be formal with my great nephew!"

"Laogen! What are you staring at? Hurry up and take it!"

Zhao Yinhua excitedly wiped her eyes and slapped her husband on the back.

"Hehe, alright!"

Zhou Laogen grinned foolishly as he took the Type 53 rifle, fondling it, unable to put it down. This gun was truly fine, simply fantastic. It was worlds better than their old smoothbore. With this, he, Zhou Laogen, had traded his peashooter for a cannon. From now on, he’d be the coolest guy in Dahei Mountain Village.

Zhao Yinhua couldn’t help but let the tears stream down her face again. She wiped them away as she looked at Zhao Wendong with pride and relief. She never imagined that her once most mischievous nephew would turn out so successful.

The group gathered together, talking and laughing. Zhao Yinhua spent most of the time reminiscing about Zhao Wendong’s embarrassing childhood stories. Everyone listened with rapt attention. And just like that, a world in which only Zhao Wendong suffered was created.

The little tiger cub finished its minced meat, gave a little stretch, and slowly snuggled back into Lin Zhiyin’s arms. It let out a couple of whimpers and went back to sleep. Seeing that it was getting late, Zhou Mancang called for his wife, child, father, and younger brother to head to his house, leaving Zhao Wendong and the others to get some proper rest.

That night, as usual, the four of them stayed over. Zhou Laogen had already repaired the wooden door that the tiger had broken. Now that they’d heard Zhao Wendong had led a party to find and kill the man-eating tiger—and even captured its cub—everyone slept soundly. Lin Zhiyin was perhaps exhausted from crying, and with the new assurances regarding her parents, she felt happy and quickly fell asleep as well.

Zhao Wendong also fell asleep quickly. The situation with Lin Zhiyin’s parents had been a great weight on his mind. After all, if something had happened to them, it might have triggered an unpredictable descent into darkness for her. Now, that weight had been temporarily lifted. Moreover, Lin Zhiyin’s parents were clearly very satisfied with his performance. This outcome was already close to perfect.

The night passed without incident. Early the next morning, Zhao Wendong felt his nose itch in his sleep. He subconsciously swatted at it a few times, but the itching quickly returned. He had no choice but to begrudgingly open his eyes. He was met with the sight of a pretty face trying to suppress a laugh, using a strand of her hair to continuously tickle his nostrils.

"Lin Zhiyin!"

Zhao Wendong was fuming. He sat up to get her, but she nimbly dodged him, laughing heartily all the while. On the side, the onlookers Zhou Manku and Zhou Cuicui were also roaring with laughter, doubled over.

Zhao Yinhua heard the commotion and called out with a laugh.

"Stop fooling around, you two. Dongzi, since you’re up, get ready for breakfast. It’s almost dawn."

Zhao Wendong habitually glanced outside at the sky. It was just starting to get light, and the sun seemed about to rise. ’Hey, wait a minute,’ he thought. ’Don’t I have a watch now?’

He took out his pocket watch and looked. Good grief, it wasn’t even six o’clock.

After breakfast, Zhao Wendong took the rations and water his aunt Zhao Yinhua had prepared. After feeding the horse, Xiaojin, and the little tiger cub, he and Lin Zhiyin bid farewell to the Zhous and left Dahei Mountain Village, heading back toward the county seat.

On the horse-drawn sleigh, besides the two of them, there was only the tiger cub and a Type 56 rifle. Everything else had been left behind, so the sleigh was much lighter, and the big brown horse’s tail swished more energetically.

They traveled a good distance to the sound of clopping hooves. When Zhao Wendong and Lin Zhiyin looked back, they could still see Zhao Yinhua’s family at the village entrance, watching them. They had already shrunk to tiny black dots but were still reluctant to go back inside.

At the village entrance, Zhao Yinhua was wiping her eyes, an absolute mess of tears. Zhou Laogen stood beside her, clumsily trying to comfort her.

"Hua, don’t cry. When Dongzi gets married, we’ll make a trip back. For now, Mancang and I will go up the mountain more, hunt more, and save up some money so we can give Dongzi a big gift then. And we can go back and see Mom and Dad, how about that?"

After speaking, he turned to his children.

"Our family must never forget the great kindness Dongzi showed us by bringing grain. In the future, we must repay him properly. Got it?"

Zhou Cuicui, Zhou Manku, and Zhou Mancang all nodded forcefully.

"Got it!"

On the way back this time, Zhao Wendong clearly felt that Lin Zhiyin had become much more cheerful. She talked and laughed more, and she had more of a maidenly charm about her. Her appearance, more delicate than a flower, often left Zhao Wendong staring blankly. At first, when Lin Zhiyin saw him staring foolishly at her, she couldn’t help but feel a little shy, but later on, she found herself feeling a secret delight.

As soon as they were out of Dahei Mountain, Xiaojin was released to fly again. Who knew what unlucky rabbit would fall victim to him today. Watching Lin Zhiyin tease the tiger cub, Zhao Wendong remembered something.

"Are you going to keep making yourself look all grimy when you get back?"

"You’re the grimy one!"

Lin Zhiyin shot him a dissatisfied glance, then thought for a moment and asked for his opinion.

"What do you think?"

"It’s simple. Think about why you pretended to be ugly before."

"Because I didn’t want to attract trouble. I wanted to keep a low profile and just wait for my parents to get out so we could be reunited. I was also afraid someone might get malicious ideas, so I wanted to protect myself. Basically, I just wanted to avoid trouble!"

Zhao Wendong smiled.

"So what are you worried about now? I, Zhao Wendong, am the biggest trouble in Dragon King Pond! You’ve already attracted me, the biggest trouble of all, so are you still worried about other troubles? If you want to go back to being yourself, then just do it. Trust me, I can protect you!"

"You’re surprisingly self-aware!"

Zhao Wendong’s words made Lin Zhiyin laugh. After thinking for a moment, she nodded.

"Alright. Watch me outshine the entire village!"

"That’s not enough, not nearly enough. You have to outshine the whole Commune, the whole county, the whole country!"

"Zhao Wendong, I didn’t realize you had such a silver tongue!"

Though Lin Zhiyin was chiding him, the smile in her eyes was impossible to hide.

Zhao Wendong saw this and secretly warned himself. ’I can’t let my guard down. No matter how beautiful, intelligent, or independent a woman is, she is, first and foremost, a woman.’

"Um, right, hey, Lin Zhiyin... After we get back, can you come to my place first? Let my parents meet you. I’ve already met your parents, but my parents haven’t met you yet!"

Hearing Zhao Wendong’s words, Lin Zhiyin fell silent. ’Nerves and panic welled up inside her. It felt like everything was moving a little too fast. But after thinking for a moment, she realized it wasn’t actually that fast. In this era, there wasn’t much talk of dating freely; most marriages were arranged by matchmakers. Besides, could she and Zhao Wendong really ever be apart? Could her heart ever have room for anyone else?’

After thinking it through, Lin Zhiyin steeled herself and nodded.

"Okay. But I’m worried your parents won’t like me. Because of my... you know, my ’class background’ isn’t good."

Zhao Wendong gave a wicked smile and glanced at her chest.

"They won’t be disappointed by your background. They’ll only be disappointed by your front!"

"Ow, ow, stop hitting me! I’ll shut up!"

The two of them horsed around for a bit before Zhao Wendong continued to reassure her.

"You’re so beautiful, right? That face of yours right now, it’s a total knockout! If I had a beautiful girl like you as my girlfriend, they’d probably wake themselves up from laughing with joy in their sleep."

Lin Zhiyin immediately protested.

"Who’s your girlfriend? Don’t talk nonsense!"

Lin Zhiyin haughtily turned her head to one side. Where Zhao Wendong couldn’t see, the corners of her mouth curled up in an irrepressible smile.

"Huh? We’ve already slept under the same quilt. If you’re not my girlfriend, are you my mistress?"

"Zhao Wendong, you damn scoundrel, go to hell!"

"Ah, don’t bite there!"

...