Chapter 294 - 217: Acting Separately
A moment later, a whimpering sound suddenly came from Zhao Wendong. Beside him, Zhao Wenwu’s ears twitched, and he looked at Zhao Wendong in confusion.
"Third Brother, what’s making that noise on you? Are you hungry? Is your stomach growling?"
"No, it’s these two."
Zhao Wendong smiled and shook his head, reaching into his coat to pull out the two bear cubs.
"Whoa, Third Brother, where’d you get two puppies? Are they Dahei’s and Erhei’s?"
Zhao Wenjun laughed and slapped Zhao Wenwu.
"Second Brother, the dogs aren’t even pregnant, how could they have puppies? Besides, Dahei and Erhei are both males!"
Zhao Wenwu scratched his head.
"Yeah, that’s right. So where did the puppies come from? Could they be Dahuang’s? Can a yellow dog have black puppies?"
"Dahuang is a male, too..."
Zhao Ergou moved closer for a better look and couldn’t help but exclaim.
"Second Brother, you’re wrong. These aren’t puppies, they’re bear cubs! Look, they even have white fur on their necks."
Hearing this, Zhao Wenwu and Zhao Wenjun hurried over to take a look.
"Tsk, tsk, tsk, they really are bear cubs! Third Brother, where did you get two bear cubs?"
"Oh, I know! Third Brother must have picked them up from that black bear’s den today."
Zhao Wenjun trailed off as realization dawned on him. Beside them, Zhao Wenwu anxiously held out his hands.
"Third Brother, quick, let me hold them for a bit. I want to play."
Zhao Wendong placed the two cubs in his second brother’s hands. Zhao Wenwu carefully held one in each hand, rocking them back and forth. The two cubs were snuffling and rooting around everywhere. They were clearly hungry and looking for food, and they looked absolutely adorable.
"Let’s get them some rice water for now. When we get back, we’ll see if we can get the sow to nurse them too."
As he spoke, Zhao Wendong quickly cooked a pot of millet porridge. He skimmed the thin broth from the top, poured it into a bowl, and let the two cubs lap it up. The cubs were starving and eagerly lowered their heads to eat. After filling their bellies with the watery broth, they looked around but couldn’t find their mother. Snuffling, the two little ones huddled together and began to sleep.
Zhao Wendong placed the two cubs in a pile of straw next to him. The cave hideout was even warmer than their tree hollow. The two cubs quickly snuggled together and fell fast asleep. Zhao Wenjun looked at Zhao Wendong with some concern.
"Third Brother, are you going to raise these two bear cubs? Are these things easy to raise?"
Zhao Wendong scratched his head. "I’ve never raised one before, so I don’t know. We’ll ask Dad when we get back."
Everyone had used up a lot of energy today, but their harvest was even greater. Feeling happy, Zhao Wendong stewed some meat with cabbage. He also tossed in a few of the nuts they had dug up today to enhance the flavor. For the main course, he served sorghum rice. Everyone enjoyed a wonderful, hearty meal. Zhao Wendong also took the opportunity to upgrade Xiaojin’s food, letting it try some bear meat. Xiaojin ate with great satisfaction.
Before going to sleep, Zhao Wendong carefully checked Erhei’s injuries again. He unwrapped the cloth strips to take a look and saw no signs of infection. Erhei’s life was saved. After re-wrapping the bandage, Zhao Wendong remembered his earlier idea and nudged Zhao Wenjun, who was about to lie down and sleep.
"Eldest Brother, is there a blacksmith shop in the Commune? I want to get some equipment made for Dahuang and the others."
Zhao Wenjun was taken aback. "Huh? Equipment? What kind of equipment?"
"You’ll know when you see it later. It’s hard for me to explain right now."
"No, our Commune doesn’t have a blacksmith shop. We’d probably have to go to the county. You know how precious iron is these days. It’s all being used for national construction."
Zhao Wendong nodded. Even now in their village, many families used pots that weren’t whole—they were either missing a handle or had a chunk broken off. And this was only thanks to the time they went to a neighboring country to support the war effort. Being close to the battlefield, every household had salvaged a lot of decommissioned military junk. In other regions, several families together might not even be able to produce a single pot.
The next morning, Zhao Wendong got up, yawning. In the middle of the night, he had been nudged awake by the two little bear cubs. The little critters got hungry way too fast; he’d had to get up in the middle of the night to make them warm rice water. The whole ordeal left him feeling unrested. While eating breakfast, Zhao Wendong glanced at the injured Erhei, then at the two bear cubs. After a moment of thought, he said to Zhao Wenjun and Zhao Ergou,
"Eldest Brother, Er Gouzi, one of you should make a trip back. Take these two bear cubs back for Dad to raise. Take Erhei back, too. He’s injured now, so we can’t have him keep running around the mountains with us. Send him back home to recover."
Zhao Wenjun and Zhao Ergou looked at each other and shook their heads in unison. Neither of them wanted to go back. Zhao Wendong thought for a moment, then decided to assign the task directly to Zhao Wenjun.
"Eldest Brother, you go back. Also, have someone send a message to Big Wang. Tell him to come haul the meat away on the morning of the twenty-ninth of the twelfth lunar month. With the New Year coming up, every family wants to eat something good, so have him trade another batch of grain for it. We’ve got six or seven hundred jin of goods in the cave right now. When you go back, bring some people to help haul it all back first."
Zhao Wenjun hesitated upon hearing this.
"Third Brother, if we call other people here, won’t our hideout be exposed?"
Zhao Wendong smiled.
"We won’t call others; our own family will be enough. Besides, it’s fine, Eldest Brother. Even if other people find out about this cave one day, it won’t affect our hunting. Our good harvests are thanks to my animals, our luck, and our experience, not this place. And since I, Zhao Wendong, was the one who found this place, no one can take it from me."
"You don’t need to call anyone else for now. Just having our family members make a trip will be enough. Go to Third Master’s place and borrow the horse-drawn sledge. With so many people in the family, plus the sledge, we can easily take all this stuff back."