1983, Northeast China

Chapter 40 1. Sable Top Gold

The white tail tip was tucked into the burlap sack, and the yellow ear was beside it. It didn't even dare to sneeze loudly.

Huang Er saw Chen Shi about to leave and was about to follow when a hand pressed down on his head. "Watch the house."

White Tail Tip also got up, its four little paws stepping on the edge of the burlap sack.

Chen Shi took half a cornbread, broke it into pieces, and threw it into its bowl.

White Tail Point is protective of its food from the moment it's born. When it sees food, it buries its head and digs it up. Yellow Ear doesn't try to take it; it just watches it from the corner of its eye.

Hearing the door open, Chen Xiulan asked from inside, "Li Cheng didn't sleep here last night, aren't you waiting for him?"

"Let's not wait any longer. Look at the condoms; too many people will only make things worse."

Aunt Wang Er instructed from the side, "Don't be a show-off. If you really find something, put it in a basket first, don't peel it on the mountain. The freezing wind will make the skin as hard as a board."

Chen Shi responded and stuffed the old burlap sack pieces into the bottom of the basket.

He gently closed the courtyard gate and went out of the house.

The leeward slope of Laonangou was covered in white snow, and the hazel branches were bent under the weight. Occasionally, they would bounce, and snowflakes would hit people all over.

At the foot of the slope, there were tracks left by wild rabbits, trailing two thin paw marks behind them; further up, there was a narrow path burrowed along the ground by weasels, winding and turning until it ended next to a patch of withered grass.

About twenty steps ahead, half of the once tightly covered haystack had collapsed.

A large, messy scratch mark was left on the snow beside it, as if someone had swept it horizontally with a broom. Several hazel branches were snapped off, the broken ends still fresh, the frozen white stubs embedded in the snow.

Chen Shi quickened his pace and stopped three steps away from the trap.

It's not a weasel.

A mink was caught in a snow pit.

A real sable.

It was larger than any weasel he had ever seen, stretching over two feet from nose to tail. With its bushy tail, its entire body lay horizontally in the snow pit. Its fur was a dark purple with a faint silver sheen on its back and a pale yellow below its throat.

Chen Mancang had talked to him about sable. In Northeast China, there's a saying that "a sable is worth a thousand pieces of gold." If a mountain herder manages to find one in his lifetime, he's proud to boast about it for the rest of his life. When he said this, Chen Mancang's eyes were shining.

This thing is exquisite.

Ordinary hemp ropes can't catch it, nor can old iron wires. If it struggles, it can strangle its neck, drawing blood, and its price will drop drastically; if it bites through the rope, the person won't even get a hair on their head.

The thread that Lao Wei gave me saved this skin.

The thin steel wire was stuck under the throat, positioned correctly, without cutting the skin. Even the four paws weren't injured much because of the cushioning effect of the deerskin rope.

This beast suffocated to death, completely and utterly.

Chen Shi took off his gloves and ran his hand along the fur.

Water-slippery, thick, and densely velvety at the bottom.

Chen Shi squatted in the snow, watching without moving for a long time, before finally exclaiming, "Old Wei's line is fucking amazing."

This time it wasn't wasted.

I didn't waste the yarn Lao Wei gave me, nor did I waste this fine coat.

Chen Shi didn't linger in the snow. He first memorized the footprints around him, then used an ice pick to loosen the rope knots, slowly untying the thread. The mink's body was half-frozen, so he couldn't pull it forcefully, or it would break its fur. Once the thread was removed, he spread out an old burlap sack, scooped it up with the snow and the mink, and then placed it in a willow basket.

The bottom of the basket was lined with burlap sacks so the fur wouldn't rub against the willow branches. A layer of clean snow was then placed on top to block the smell and also to block people's eyes.

On his way back, he didn't go through the village entrance.

After daybreak, when there were many people around, everyone who saw him carrying a basket back from the mountains would ask him a question. Chen Shi went around the back ridge and entered the yard from behind his own woodpile.

Huang Er smelled the aroma first and stood up, supporting himself on his injured leg.

White Tail Tip, being clueless, followed along towards the basket, only to be pushed back onto the sack by Yellow Ear's nose.

Ya Ya was pouring warm water into the puppy's bowl when she saw Chen Shi return. She grabbed the bowl and ran off, asking, "Uncle, is there something in the bowl?"

"Yes." Chen Shi locked the courtyard gate. "Come inside and see."

Li Cheng was still buttoning his cotton-padded coat on the kang (heated brick bed) when he heard this. He hadn't even put his shoes on properly before running down, kicking off the ground: "What the hell? A rabbit? A weasel?"

Aunt Wang stopped him with a spatula: "Put your shoes on! You've brought dust all over the floor."

Chen Shi didn't open the basket in the outer room. He lowered the curtain before lifting the sack.

A shiny black lump landed on the old mat, and the sound of the spatula in the room suddenly ceased.

Li Cheng squatted down halfway, his buttocks not yet touching the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), when his mouth opened first: "My goodness..."

"Is this a mink?"

"Sable," Chen Shi said.

Li Cheng reached out to touch it, but Chen Shi tapped the back of his hand with chopsticks.

"Don't touch it with your sweaty hands."

"I'll just touch it once."

"Not even a single one." Chen Shi gathered the edges of the sack upwards. "If even a tuft of hair falls out of this stuff, it's worth more than half a pound of flour."

Li Cheng pulled his hands back into his sleeves. "The supply and marketing cooperative might not see more than a few sheets this neatly arranged in a year. If we exchange these for money, could we make up for all the missing sheets in the house?"

"This quality... is probably more than that. The year before last, the second son of the Guo family killed one, and its fur wasn't even half as good as this one. The commune insisted on trading it for a bicycle!"

Chen Xiulan then put the needle back into the ball of thread.

She didn't ask how much it could sell for, but only looked at the cuffs of Chen Shi's cotton-padded jacket. The cuffs were frozen stiff, and melted snow water seeped down the fabric.

"It must be freezing cold. There's hot water in the pot, I'll get you some."

"No rush." ​​Chen Shi turned the mink over and carefully examined its fur. "The skin isn't torn, and the fur isn't messed up. We can't send it to the commune's purchasing station."

Li Cheng pulled up the back of his shoe: "Why? Isn't that a proper place?"

"It's legitimate, and the price is legitimately low," Aunt Wang chimed in. "If you send over something good, you'll get a first-class bill, and they'll still find twenty faults with you."

"That's how it is," Chen Shi said. "It's also easy for it to be exposed. The village isn't clean right now, who knows whose ears it will reach."

Li Cheng remained silent.

He thought of Gu Cheng and Tian Guizhi, reached into his hat and scratched it a couple of times, then put his hand down.

Ya Ya squatted by the kang (a heated brick bed), clutching the tip of the white tail, her eyes fixed on its fur: "Uncle, can it get new shoes?"

Chen Shi laughed: "Yes, not only new shoes, but also your new schoolbag."

Chen Xiulan looked up at him.

Chen Shi covered the sack again: "Rice, flour, cloth, medicinal wine, fine cloth for Xiaoman (the 14th lunar month), your cotton, I can think of everything."

Chen Xiulan remained silent.

She slowly got off the kang (a heated brick bed), walked to the mink, squatted down, reached out her hand and then pulled it back, finally placing it on the fur and gently stroking it for a while.

She looked up at Chen Shi, her eyes reddening.

Without saying a word, Chen Shi knew what his sister wanted to say.

From the day her father was buried, Chen Xiulan finally felt relieved.

Li Cheng paced back and forth in the room several times, unable to suppress his excitement.

"What's all the fuss about? The guys in uniform are seething with anger and have nowhere to vent it, so they're keeping an eye on the village. If word gets out about this uniform, someone'll be coming to borrow it tomorrow, and the day after tomorrow they'll be checking it out."

"I can't help but get excited! Have you decided where to sell it?"

"We can't go to the commune's purchasing station. They drive down the prices there, and besides, if a piece of leather of this quality is put on the counter, word will spread throughout the place in no time."

"I need to find Lao Wei. He has many acquaintances and connections outside. Or I can go directly to the county; there are larger purchasing agencies there that only buy leather goods, not people."

Chen Shi glanced up at the old calendar hanging on the wall.

There are not many days left until the Chinese New Year.

This hide can be exchanged for money, grain, cloth, or other tools...

Li Cheng, watching from the side, swallowed hard. "Shizi, are our lives finally going to get better?"

Chen Shi did not answer immediately.

He turned around and glanced into the room. His sister was finishing her needlework with red eyes, Ya Ya was playing with the puppy Huang Er, Xiao Man was babbling incoherently, and the water on the stove was bubbling.

"It will be soon."