1983, Northeast China

Chapter 39 Receiving the White Tail Tip of the Zhang Family

Li Cheng became agitated and pointed in the direction of Tian Guizhi's house, shouting, "Why can't we say? Just because he's wearing a police uniform, does that mean he can just barge into a widow's house?"

Zhao Defa pressed the back window shut, turned around and cursed at Li Cheng: "You go stand straight at the village entrance tomorrow and shout! After you've shouted, all the villagers will say is 'the widow is cheating on her husband'! Where are the steamed buns? Where are the notes? Who will listen? Now, apart from a few people from the brigade, no one dares to let anyone know about this kidnapping."

Li Cheng shrank back as he was scolded, but he couldn't suppress his anger: "We can't pretend we didn't see it. Tomorrow I'll go to the village entrance and shout it out, so the whole village knows about them..."

"Shout it out, and the matter will be ruined." Chen Shi suddenly interrupted him.

"He can even turn black into white?" Li Cheng said.

Chen Shi leaned against the wall, watching the flickering flames. "What do we have if we go to the commune to file a complaint now? A red cloth strip and a few words we overheard. If the uniformed officers try to cover it up, they'll just say there's no evidence, and we'll be sent back."

Zhao Defa sat sullenly on a small stool, took a puff of his pipe, and stared at a mud spot at his feet: "Shizi is right."

"The fact that Gu Cheng was able to go to Tian Guizhi's house today shows that he's on the same side as Tian Youshan and Tian Guizhi. They were mostly involved in what happened with Ya Ya. But even if they were involved, we don't have anything to rely on, and going against them would only alert them."

Li Cheng scratched his numb ears: "Why are you talking in such roundabout ways? I only understood one sentence. What exactly do we do?"

"I'll remember this debt." Chen Shi stuffed the red cloth strip back into his pocket and patted it down. "When the buyer shows up again, we'll catch the thief red-handed, and then no one can cover it up."

Zhao Defa took a deep drag on his pipe and said, "Okay, I'll do as you say."

Li Cheng wanted to say something more, but Zhao Defa silenced him with a look.

Stepping out of the brigade's house, the wind whistled through his collar. Li Cheng sneezed twice, and after walking about ten steps, he still couldn't resist glancing back at Tian Guizhi's house.

"Shizi".

"Um."

"This anger I've been holding onto..."

"I know." Chen Shi didn't turn around. "Let's keep it under control for now. If we really can't control it, come up the mountain with me."

Chen Shi walked home through the snow, the snow crunching under his feet, as he pondered something.

He needs to have a trump card. He must have something even stronger in his hands before those bastards reach out again.

He knew exactly where it was—in the mountains.

Chen Shi was figuring out how to ask the mountains for a way to survive, while Li Cheng's idea was much simpler.

He was curious about what was going on between Gu Cheng and Tian Guizhi, which led to him being scolded awake the next morning.

"You followed me out in the middle of the night, and when you came back you just threw your shoes on the edge of the kang (heated brick bed). Do you think this is an inn? Do you think your mother is a waitress?"

Li Cheng squatted on the ground looking for his socks, his head almost buried under the kang (a heated brick bed): "Oh, Mom! I was doing something important last night."

"All the important thing you did was lose a sock?"

Ya Ya was lying on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) laughing, and she saw Li Cheng's embarrassed expression.

Xiaoman was disturbed by her laughter, and her little mouth pouted. Chen Xiulan quickly started swinging the swaying chair ropes.

Huang Er lay listlessly by the doorstep.

Chen Shi squatted down, unwrapped the old cloth, and examined the wound. There was no swelling or pus. He wrapped it with a new cloth, and Huang Er grunted in response, which was considered quite polite.

Ya Ya had already packed the dried fish into a cloth bag, and then grabbed two handfuls of bran, tying them up crookedly with a rope.

"Uncle, are these... enough to buy a puppy?"

"Whether it's enough or not, we'll find out when we get there." Chen Shi took the bag, without untying the knot she had tied. "When exchanging things, you can't just look at the quantity; you also have to see if the other party is willing."

Li Cheng finally found another sock: "I'll go too. I know Old Ma's family well; his dog, Big Yellow, once chased and bit me."

Aunt Wang slapped him on the back of the head: "Getting bitten by a dog counts as friendship? You're really something."

Li Cheng didn't care about any of that. He followed Chen Shi, grabbed Ya Ya, and went out the door laughing and joking.

When the three arrived, Old Ma's wife was chasing chickens with a chaff ladle. The chickens flapped their wings, creating a spray of snow foam everywhere.

"Aunt Ma!" Li Cheng called out, clinging to the fence, "Is your Whitetail Tip still there?"

Old Ma's wife turned around, still holding the chaff scoop: "It's here, it's here. What, you want it to bite you a second time?"

Li Cheng touched his calf: "That was bitten by its mother, it can't be attributed to it."

Ya Ya hid behind Chen Shi, only peeking out half her face. Hearing whimpering from the dog kennel, she shuffled her little toes in the snow a couple of times, then hesitated, too shy to urge him on.

Old Ma's wife lifted the straw curtain, and several puppies huddled together in the old cotton quilt, looking like a nest of freshly cooked meatballs.

The white tail is the smallest and roundest, covered in yellowish-brown fur, with a tuft of snow-white hair sticking out from the tip. Right now, it's holding onto its brother's ear and won't let go.

"How about this one?" Old Ma's wife picked up the puppy. "It's small, but it's got plenty of energy. Take it home; I can't raise a whole litter."

Chen Shi handed over the cloth bag: "I can't just take it for free. We don't have anything good at home. The dried fish will give Dahuang some meat, and the bran will be mixed into the chicken feed."

"Oh, you little brat, you're trying to hold a grudge against me?"

"Auntie, this isn't about settling accounts," Chen Shi said. "It doesn't feel right to hold a baby you've just taken for free; it's like owing someone a favor. Exchanging something in return makes it easier to feel at ease when we meet again in the future."

Old Ma's wife weighed the cloth bag in her hand, smiled, and said to Ya Ya, "Did you hear that? This is what your uncle changed for you. Don't take it home and only be warm with it for three days before sending it back to my house when it gets hungry."

Ya Ya quickly reached out, but then hesitated, afraid of hurting the puppy, and her hand hovered in mid-air.

Chen Shi held the white tail tip to her chest: "Support its belly. Don't strangle its neck. It's not a rag doll."

The white tail tip caught a whiff of an unfamiliar scent and began flailing its paws, nearly kicking Ya Ya in the chin. Ya Ya, however, clung to it even tighter.

Li Cheng leaned closer: "What's your name? White Tip? Little Gray? Or how about Ma Bold?"

Old Ma's wife laughed and scolded, "Get lost! My family name is Ma, and his isn't."

Ya Ya hugged the puppy closer to her chest, saying, "Its tail tip is white, so it's called White Tail Tip."

"Alright." Chen Shi put the straw curtain down for them. "This name is easy to remember."

On the way back, Ya Ya walked slower than usual.

The white tail tip would nuzzle her sleeve one moment and rub against the back of her hand the next with its wet nose. She endured the tickling, not daring to laugh out loud, afraid of startling the little creature in her arms.

As they approached the Chen family's gate, Huang Er had already stood up. Its injured leg couldn't touch the ground, but its entire body blocked the threshold, like a door god.

Baiweiba shrank back in Yaya's arms and burrowed its nose into the seam of her cotton-padded jacket.

"Yellow Ear, it's me." Ya Ya took half a step forward, holding up the tip of its white tail to show it to the dog. "It's still small, it won't steal your food."

Chen Shi took the white tail tip from Ya Ya's arms and placed it on the snow outside the threshold. He then took half a bowl of warm rice soup from the kitchen and placed it between the two dogs.

The white tail tip caught a whiff of food and grew a little bolder, taking two steps forward. Yellow Ears lowered its head to sniff its ears, then its paws, and finally its nose rested on the white tail.

Ya Ya held her breath.

Huang Er suddenly raised its paw and pulled the rice bowl towards itself.

White Tail Tip was so frightened that it sat down in the snow.

Li Cheng slapped his thigh and laughed: "Oh no, I'm getting bullied on my first meal."

Huang Er licked a mouthful of rice soup and then pushed the bowl back a little.

White Tail Tip cautiously approached and stuck out its tongue to lick the rim of the bowl.

Aunt Wang watched from the side, amused. "Look at this, the old woman is marking out territory for the young one."

Chen Xiulan stood leaning against the kang cabinet, watching without saying a word, but the corners of her mouth slowly turned up.

After noon, Xiaoman fell asleep, and Baiweibajian also dozed off on an old burlap sack next to the kitchen.

Chen Shi sat down on the edge of the heated kang and took out all the belongings that Lao Wei had given him.

The old thread was coiled up in strands, unassuming in appearance, yet remarkably strong. The deerskin rope was softened by tanning, feeling rough to the touch. The heaviest item was the ice chisel head, pure iron, heavy and pressing against the wrist.

Chen Shi found a half-section of willow wood stick, shaved the handle with a wood-chopping knife, repeatedly rinsed it with hot salt water, and then heated the ice chisel head against the stove.

As the wood swelled, the iron hoop bit into it, and with a muffled sound, it finally jammed shut.

It felt just the right weight in my hand.

Li Cheng saw it, picked it up, and weighed it in his hand: "Heavy."

"Calmness and composure are key," Chen Shi replied.

Remembering how he almost collapsed the ice shell last time, Li Cheng shut up.

Chen Shi then used old snare thread, thin wire, and deerskin rope to weave a dead snare. His mind was filled with the snowdrift by the back mountain: the ordinary rabbit snare was empty, half the bait had been eaten, and the inferior snare rope had been bitten through. That weasel wasn't evil; it was a spirit.

Chen Shi wove three sets, wiped the wire and rope ends with snow, and then rubbed them with dry grass and pine needles.

Chen Xiulan handed him an old pair of gloves: "Wear these. Your hands are frozen stiff, you can't put on any gloves properly."

Chen Shi carried a willow basket on his back, along with a newly fitted ice chisel and an improved dead handle, and circled around from the back of the village to the outer perimeter of the old South Ditch.

The pile of rubble was half-buried in the snow, and hazel branches were bent by the wind. There were fine, fresh claw marks near the cave entrance; that thing had been here last night.

Chen Shi stood downwind and looked around halfway.

Three snares were set in its usual spot, with frozen fish skins suspended by thin lines from the waist of the crooked hazel tree, neither too high nor too low, forcing it to brace its hind paws against the snow and its front paws back.

That's exactly the awkward pose I wanted.

Chen used pine branches to sweep away the footprints under his feet, took three steps back, and squinted at the snowdrift.

It's hard to tell they've set a trap.

It's impossible to tell that anyone has been here.

There was only a faint fishy smell, hanging there almost imperceptibly in the cold wind.

"You little bastard, if you get away again this time, I'll smash this signboard."