I Overhear Animals' Thoughts to Feed My Family

Seeing Zhao Wendong step up and make it clear he was determined to handle things, especially after he’d laid it all on the line, Zhao Dahai—who was no coward—couldn’t just hide in his shell. He made his choice on the spot.

"I’m not letting this go! Nephew, I’m counting on you to get justice for your old uncle!"

"Alright, it’s a deal! But you’ll have to wait a few days. I have to go on a long trip tomorrow and won’t be back for a while. As soon as I’m back, I’ll take care of it. How does that sound, Uncle?"

"Alright!"

Zhao Dahai nodded. The fact that Zhao Wendong was willing to stick his neck out for him was already more than he could ask for; how could he possibly demand he do it immediately?

"I’ll get going then. You two just focus on resting up. Eat well, drink well, and don’t you worry. I’ve got this. I’ll make sure this whole thing is settled fair and square."

After saying his piece, Zhao Wendong got up, went to the west room to say goodbye to his grandparents, and gave Zhao Wenhua a light smack before sauntering off.

Wang Jinzhi lay on the kang, feeling a complicated mix of emotions. Zhao Dahai turned his head to look at her.

"This time, they went too far. You can’t blame us."

"Mm, I know."

Wang Jinzhi turned her head away after speaking, silent tears streaming down her cheeks and soaking a patch of her pillow.

It wasn’t that Zhao Wendong absolutely had to leave tomorrow. But getting justice for Zhao Dahai wasn’t a simple matter that could be resolved in a day or two. The Wang Family was a large and powerful clan in the next village, with many brothers. The two villages had even fought over river water in the past. Showing up at their door unprepared would be asking for trouble.

That’s why Zhao Wendong wanted to be better prepared; losing was no fun. He figured he could use the next few days to take Lin Zhiyin to see her parents. He couldn’t keep putting that off. He was worried the butterfly effect of his presence might cause some unforeseen accident. ’What if I’m too late and her parents die prematurely? Then what’ll I do when she goes dark again?’

Thankfully, with him around now, she was no longer being bullied so relentlessly. Her descent into darkness wouldn’t be as absolute as it was in his past life. In that life, he’d heard from investigators that Lin Zhiyin had resorted to such brutal methods for other reasons as well.

Apparently, those people had torn up her parents’ photographs, forced her to call her parents degenerates, and then made her eat the shredded pictures. Of course, this was all hearsay. Later, with the entire boat of people gone, there was no one left to confirm the story, and it became an unsolved mystery.

Zhao Wendong left his grandparents’ house, planning to head straight for Third Master Zhao’s place. But just as he stepped out, the door to the neighboring Grandma Liu’s house opened. The old woman emerged, stepping nimbly on her small, bound feet to empty a basin of water. Upon seeing Zhao Wendong, she immediately beckoned him over.

"Dongzi, come here, come here!"

"What is it, Granny Liu?"

Zhao Wendong scurried over to her side. The old woman grabbed him and started pulling him into the house. Inside, Baozhu’s Mother and Baozhu’s Sister were cooking, while Baozhu himself was helping stoke the fire pit for the stove.

Seeing Zhao Wendong arrive, all three smiled at him. Zhao Baozhu was especially happy, standing up and greeting him loudly.

"Brother San, you’re here!"

"Yeah, yeah. Helping with the fire, are you? Good boy, Baozhu. Much better than that good-for-nothing Zhao Wenhua. Hey, stop pulling, Granny Liu! I can walk by myself! You’ve got quite a grip for an old lady, you’re about to rip my shirt off!"

Zhao Wendong responded to Zhao Baozhu while looking at Granny Liu, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Granny Liu pulled Zhao Wendong down to sit on the kang. Only then did she crack a wide grin, revealing a single large tooth.

"Dongzi, you want a wife or not?"

"Huh?"

Zhao Wendong shot to his feet, completely stunned. ’Why does that line sound so familiar?’

In the outer room, the other three were all straining their ears to listen in. When Baozhu’s Sister, who was in the middle of slicing potatoes, heard her grandmother’s words, her face instantly flushed bright red.

Pulled back down onto the kang by Granny Liu, Zhao Wendong asked, still a bit bewildered.

"Granny Liu, don’t scare me like that. What’s all this about today?"

Granny Liu said with a beaming smile.

"Didn’t you just save your aunt?"

Zhao Wendong’s expression immediately changed again.

"Granny Liu, I only grabbed my aunt just now because it was an emergency! She was about to hit her head! I didn’t touch her inappropriately. Besides, it’s winter and she was wearing thick clothes. You can’t try to pin this on me! And she’s my aunt, we’re from different generations!"

"Get outta here, you little rascal!"

Granny Liu gave him a light smack, laughing so hard she was nearly in tears. Out in the main room, among the three people straining to hear, another face had just turned red.

"I wasn’t talking about your aunt. I was talking about Baozhu’s Sister, the girl Baolian."

Zhao Wendong had just been clowning around. He had already figured out what the old woman was getting at. The moment he heard she really was trying to set him up with Baolian, he quickly waved his hands in refusal.

"Oh, come on, Granny Liu! How old is Baolian? She’s only, what, fourteen? Fifteen? Stop pulling my leg!"

"What do you mean? She’ll be sixteen after the New Year. Back in my day, girls her age were already mothers!"

"No, no, absolutely not."

Seeing Zhao Wendong shaking his head like a rattle drum, the smile vanished from Granny Liu’s face, and her expression grew serious.

"Dongzi, I’m not joking. My family... we don’t have a pillar of support right now. Baozhu is still young, and times are tough. Didn’t your aunt just have a close call today? If something were to happen to their mother, what would an old woman like me do with two little ones to raise?"

Seeing Granny Liu wasn’t joking, Zhao Wendong also quickly dropped his smile.

"Granny Liu, I’m already seeing someone. It’s Lin Zhiyin, from the Educated Youth spot by the sea. I’m even taking her to see her parents tomorrow!"

"What? Really?"

Granny Liu looked a little disappointed. She’d heard a whisper about it from someone, but she hadn’t taken it seriously. She knew that Educated Youth had a bad class background and had always felt she wasn’t one of their kind. She never thought Zhao Wendong would be serious about it. Seeing the old woman’s disappointment, Zhao Wendong quickly tried to console her.

"Hey, Granny Liu, I may not be your grandson-in-law, but I’m still your grandson! From now on, if your family needs anything, you just come find me. I’ll take care of it."

Granny Liu sighed. She’d watched Zhao Wendong grow up since he was a boy running around in his birthday suit. She knew that while he seemed like a devil-may-care punk, he was incredibly stubborn; once he made up his mind, not even eight bulls could drag him back. Hearing his words, she smiled, relieved.

"Alright. With those words from you, my fondness for you all these years hasn’t been in vain!"

Zhao Wendong looked at the open-mouthed, laughing Granny Liu, scratched his head, his gaze filled with confusion.

"Granny Liu, how’d you lose another tooth? You used to have a pair, now there’s only one left. Did they get a divorce?"

"Get, get, get out of here! Teasing your old Granny Liu again. Ai, when you get old, your teeth all fall out. Now all I can eat is porridge!"

A thought sparked in Zhao Wendong’s mind. He remembered that dentures did exist around this time, made specifically for old folks who had lost all their teeth. He quietly made a mental note of it. In both his past life and this one, Granny Liu had always been exceptionally kind to his family. A drop of kindness received should be repaid with a gushing spring.

After seeing Zhao Wendong off, Granny Liu stood in the outer room, looked at her granddaughter, and sighed.

"Ai, Baolian, it’s just not in your fate. The more I look at that Dongzi, the more I like him. It’s been years since our village has produced such a fine young man!"

Baolian kept her head down, continuing her work in silence, her thoughts a mystery.