Chapter 115: Chapter 114: Going to the Big Market

Li Baoyu led the dog home. When he got to the courtyard, he tied the little Hua Gou in a corner and then went inside to report to Jin Xiaomei.

As soon as he stepped inside, he heard Li Ruhai tattling on him to Jin Xiaomei.

He heard Li Ruhai say, "Ma, Big Brother dared to steal thirty yuan from me today, which means he’ll dare to steal three hundred from you tomorrow!"

"He wouldn’t dare," Jin Xiaomei said. She was sorting soybeans with Li Xiaoqiao, getting ready to trade them for tofu at the tofu mill tomorrow.

"Why wouldn’t he?" Li Ruhai continued. "On the Laba Festival, you lost fifty cents. I bet he was the one who stole it."

"Your dad took that," Jin Xiaomei said. "He used it to buy cigarettes."

Li Ruhai’s eyes darted around, and he added, "Then what about the Mid-Autumn Festival last year? You lost thirty cents. My brother stole it."

"What do you mean, your brother took it?" Jin Xiaomei turned to Li Xiaoqiao and tapped her on the head. "It was this little girl," she scolded lightly. "She took it to buy some shortbread cookies."

Li Xiaoqiao gave Jin Xiaomei a sweet smile and wrapped her little arms around her.

Ignoring the dirty look his little sister secretly shot him, Li Ruhai paid it no mind and continued, "Then what about the Dragon Boat Festival last year..."

"Will you ever stop!" Li Baoyu couldn’t listen anymore. He came in from the outer room, pulled thirty yuan from his pocket, and shoved it at Li Ruhai. "I just borrowed it for a bit. Look at you, being so stingy."

Li Ruhai took the money, shot Li Baoyu a glare, and without another word, hopped off the kang and ran to his own room. He wanted to hide the money somewhere secret before Li Baoyu got back.

Seeing Li Ruhai run off, Li Baoyu secretly breathed a sigh of relief. During the Dragon Boat Festival last year, he had indeed taken twenty cents from Jin Xiaomei to buy two zongzi.

The case remained unsolved to this day.

"Son, where’s the dog?" Jin Xiaomei asked Li Baoyu. She shifted from sitting cross-legged to kneeling on the kang, straightening up to peer out the window.

Li Baoyu explained the whole story to Jin Xiaomei and took out the remaining thirty-five yuan. "Ma, Wang Dalong said he’ll pay back the money he owes us tomorrow."

"Mm," Jin Xiaomei grunted in acknowledgment but didn’t take the money. She just said to Li Baoyu, "Son, you keep this money in your pocket."

"What?"

The three Li siblings were all stunned to hear this. Li Ruhai even came trotting over from the opposite room, hoping to see if he could get a piece of the action.

But Jin Xiaomei didn’t even look at the two younger ones. She only said to Li Baoyu, "When Wang Dalong comes to pay us back, you can have that fifty too. Keep it, and if you see a dog you like, buy it."

"Okay, okay!" Li Baoyu’s face lit up with joy as he excitedly counted the thirty-five yuan in his hand.

"Big Brother!" Li Xiaoqiao lunged at Li Baoyu, grabbing the sleeve of his cotton-padded jacket. "We’re going to the big market tomorrow. You have to buy me some honey-fried dough to eat."

...

When Zhao Jun got home, he ate a bowl of porridge that Wang Meilan had heated up for him and took two painkillers. Before long, drowsiness washed over him, and he crawled into his quilt and slept until dark.

He still felt dizzy and light-headed when he woke up, so Zhao Jun just stayed huddled under his quilt, not wanting to get out.

Just then, the door was pushed open from the outside. Zhao Youcai walked in carrying a large bowl, came to the side of the kang, and said to Zhao Jun, "Here, get up and drink this while it’s hot."

Zhao Jun sat up and looked. He saw the bowl was filled with some kind of soup he didn’t recognize. It was pale and looked thin and watery.

Zhao Jun took the bowl, sniffed it, and didn’t smell anything strange. He asked Zhao Youcai, "Dad, what did you cook?"

Zhao Youcai said, "Cabbage roots boiled with white radish skins."

Zhao Jun set the bowl down on the kang and said to his father, "Dad, you couldn’t even feed this to the pigs."

"Don’t dawdle now, hurry up and drink it." Zhao Youcai chuckled. "This is a remedy your grandma brought from her family’s home. It’ll work once you drink it."

"Then why didn’t you make it for me yesterday?" Zhao Jun picked up the bowl and took two large gulps. GULP, GULP.

Zhao Youcai said, "We were out of white radishes, weren’t we? I brought this back from the Forest Farm today."

In those days, the Northeast didn’t have greenhouses, so you couldn’t grow vegetables in the winter.

And vegetables from the Southern Region couldn’t be shipped over, so every winter, farming families in the mountain villages only had a few types of greens to eat.

Radishes, Chinese cabbage, and scallions.

This included all kinds of radishes, which, along with the cabbages, were stored in a cellar and could last for a long time.

The scallions, on the other hand, could just be left outside. They weren’t afraid of the cold; you just had to bring them inside to thaw before eating.

Zhao Jun finished the radish skin and cabbage root soup. As he handed the bowl to Zhao Youcai, he said, "Dad, cut me a piece of radish to eat."

In those days, there was no fruit, so people ate radishes instead.

"There’s none left," Zhao Youcai said. "Your ma took it to stew with the badger."

That night, Zhao Jun’s family ate badger meat stewed with white radish, along with large corn flatbreads that Wang Meilan had stuck to the side of the pot to cook.

Zhao Jun wasn’t feeling well and didn’t have an appetite for meat, so he just ladled some of the vegetable broth to soak his flatbread in.

After he finished eating, he asked Zhao Youcai, "Dad, did they bring those two hauls back?"

"They brought them back," Zhao Youcai said. "You’re really something else, kid. A bear and a Meng Danzi. That’s enough for both our families to host guests."

As Zhao Youcai spoke, he thought to himself, ’This kid’s luck is just too good. He never comes back from the mountain empty-handed.’

「The next day was the twenty-fifth of the twelfth lunar month.」

Zhao Jun woke up early and heard his two younger sisters chattering away in the room across the way. It sounded like they were clamoring to go to the market.

Zhao Jun got up and instantly felt relaxed and comfortable, not sick at all anymore.

’That folk remedy from Grandma really works,’ Zhao Jun muttered to himself. He got off the kang and headed to the room across the way.

When Wang Meilan saw Zhao Jun come out, she asked him, "Son, are you staying home by yourself?"

"Ma, I’m going with you guys," Zhao Jun said. "I’m all better now."

Wang Meilan looked at Zhao Jun and saw that his complexion was back to normal. She hurried toward the outer room, saying as she went, "Then hurry up and eat. Don’t waste any time."

After Zhao Jun finished his meal, he and Wang Meilan left the house with the two little ones. They called out from their courtyard, and from the neighboring house emerged Jin Xiaomei and the three Li siblings.

"Brother, are you better?"

"I’m better." Zhao Jun didn’t climb the wall. He just rested his hands on top of it and peered into the Li Family Courtyard, asking, "How’s the little Hua Gou doing at your place?"

"Doing great," said Li Baoyu. "He’s eating and drinking just fine."

"That’s good then." Zhao Jun pulled his hands back, walked out of his gate, and the two families joined up, heading for the village entrance together.

The group walked the two-plus miles to the market, talking and laughing along the way.

When they arrived at the market, Wang Meilan told Zhao Jun to look after the younger ones. Then she and Jin Xiaomei broke off from the group to go buy cotton cloth.

Just then, the three little girls started clamoring to go to the stall selling fried dough twists and honey-fried dough.

Zhao Jun took out ten yuan and handed it to Li Baoyu. "Baoyu, you and Ruhai take the girls over there. Make sure you watch them closely. Don’t let them get lost, and don’t let them get too close to the deep fryer."

"I know," Li Baoyu said, taking the money. Amid the cheers of the three little girls, he headed north.

Zhao Jun, now alone, wandered through the market with his hands behind his back. To his surprise, he saw people selling rabbits and pheasants at the market today.

This was the Forest Farm’s mountainous region, after all, where rabbits and pheasants were anything but scarce. Usually, no one bothered to sell them.

Zhao Jun watched for a while and noticed that some people were actually buying them, though there were very few customers, and the prices were very low.

Zhao Jun walked on and was even more surprised to discover someone selling wild boar meat at the market.

The wild boar had been hacked into large pieces, which were laid out on the ground. Next to the meat was a back-basket filled with wild boar trotters.

That wasn’t even the main point. The crucial thing was that the vendor was actually an acquaintance of Zhao Jun’s.

"Brother-in-law Xing Er!" Seeing Xing Zhuyong, who had his back to him and was walking with a limp, Zhao Jun went over and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Whoa, Zhao Jun!" Xing Zhuyong, who had just given someone change, turned around. His face broke into a wide smile when he saw it was Zhao Jun.

Zhao Jun asked, "Brother-in-law Xing Er, what are you up to?"

Xing Zhuyong laughed. "Brother, can’t you tell? I’m selling wild boar meat."

"Does anyone actually buy this stuff?" Zhao Jun asked doubtfully.

"They do," Xing Zhuyong replied. "It’s cheaper than pork. Twenty cents a jin, so I can sell it."

"Well, that’s good. At least it’s not for nothing," Zhao Jun said. He looked Xing Zhuyong up and down and asked, "Brother-in-law Xing Er, how’s your leg?"

That day, Xing Zhuyong had tried to catch the Black Bear bare-handed and had been bitten straight through the thigh by the Little Black Bear. Although it hadn’t damaged the bone, it would still need some time to heal.

Xing Zhuyong said, "I came on a sled with Zhao the Third from our village. I don’t have to walk much here. When I’m done selling, I’ll go find him, and he’ll give me a ride back."

Hearing this, Zhao Jun knew it was all because he was desperate for money.

But what made Zhao Jun curious was where all this wild boar meat had come from. Or more to the point, where that basket of wild boar trotters had come from.

There were at least thirty trotters in that basket. Since one pig has four trotters, they must have come from eight or nine different pigs.

Zhao Jun had a suspicion and asked Xing Zhuyong about it.

Xing Zhuyong told him, "My dad trapped them all in the mountains."

’Just as I thought!’ Zhao Jun knew that Xing Zhuyong’s father lived in a dugout in the mountains and set traps for wild boars and roe deer all year round.

’The old man must have seen his son was having a hard time and decided to help him out.’

After saying goodbye to Xing Zhuyong, Zhao Jun walked on.

In the past, you rarely saw mountain goods or wild game at the market.

But for some reason today, there was everything: wild boar, roe deer, rabbits, pheasants.

Zhao Jun even saw half a Black Bear, though he had no idea how it had been transported there.

The Black Bear meat was frozen solid, and the stall owner was hacking away at it with a saw.

And believe it or not, people were actually buying this game meat.

Zhao Jun went around asking for prices and found that everything was relatively cheap. Wild boar meat was less expensive than domestic pork, and pheasant was cheaper than farm-raised chicken.

The bear meat was the most expensive, and even that didn’t exceed fifty cents a jin.

’It’s probably because people don’t have much money these days. Buying pork is a luxury, so they’re buying wild boar instead.’

After all, this was the mountains. There was no shortage of wild boars, only a shortage of domestic pigs.

Just then, Li Baoyu squeezed through the crowd to Zhao Jun’s side and whispered, "Brother, did you see Brother-in-law Xing Er selling wild boar meat?"

"Yeah."

"Should we sell some too?" Li Baoyu was now completely focused on making money.

Zhao Jun said, "What we hunted isn’t even enough for our two families to eat. If you sell it, what will we eat?"