Chapter Four: The Pond Frog

After settling matters with the educated youths, Li Xiangyang returned home.

He decided to strike while the iron was hot and head back into the mountains.

Rabbit meat would not help him recover his strength.

What Li Xiangyang had his sights on next was one of the specialties of the Greater Khingan Range.

The Siberian salamander.

On his last rabbit hunt, he had spotted a small frozen stream.

He had even brushed away the snow to take a look, and could faintly hear water flowing beneath the ice.

That kind of place was the ideal winter hibernation ground for the salamander.

At this time of year, the animal had already stored up a thick layer of nourishing fat for hibernation, and its stomach was completely empty.

So that very day, he took his endlessly pleading younger sister with him into the mountains.

The Northeast was a land of hidden treasures, rich not only in mountain delicacies but also in all manner of precious river life.

In later years, that nourishing fat would fetch over a hundred yuan per gram, a truly rare and valuable thing.

What was more, wild salamanders had not yet been placed on the protected species list, so missing this chance meant missing it for good.

The siblings walked and chatted along the way.

"Brother, aren't you ever afraid walking this road alone?"

"Whenever I think of you and Mother, how could I be afraid?"

Having been reborn, Li Xiangyang cherished family more than anything.

"Hee hee, my brother is the best."

...

After half an hour, the two of them reached a frozen brook.

This time Li Xiangyang had brought a hoe. Though not as handy as the ice chisel of later years, it was still enough to crack the ice here.

"Ha!"

Aiming at the stones along the brook, Li Xiangyang swung down hard and shattered the ice, revealing the flowing water beneath.

Then he told his sister not to wander off, took off his gloves, and bent down to grope around by the rocks.

Though the stream water of this season was icy cold, it was still bearable for him.

Soon he felt a lump of mud underwater, and his heart leapt.

When he pulled it out, it turned out to be a salamander in hibernation.

"Brother, I found one too!"

Not far away, Li Xiaohua was grinning from ear to ear, holding up the salamander she had just dug out as if offering up a treasure.

Li Xiangyang took out a net bag, and the siblings worked as though they were excavating a buried hoard, growing more and more enthusiastic.

By the end, Li Xiaohua was too tired to keep moving.

But their haul was more than enough.

Before long it was past noon, and Li Xiangyang took his sister home.

At that moment, in the Li household, Li Mother faced two ill-tempered men with a face full of worry.

They were Li Xiangyang's biological eldest and second uncles.

Just as life had finally improved by a tiny amount, the debt collectors had arrived.

"Sister-in-law, I'll speak plainly. These past few years we've seen how hard things have been for your family, but we've already lent you quite a bit of grain and money."

"Yes."

Li Mother's slightly swollen face was awkward and constrained.

"It's almost New Year, so we were thinking you might be able to settle the accounts for the past two years."

Li Xiangyang's second uncle sighed and said.

"Well... could we wait until my son gets back to discuss it?"

"Don't push your luck, little brother's wife. For all these years have we ever come knocking at your door once?"

At that moment the eldest uncle said in agitation.

"No..."

"Then what more is there to say? Hurry up and return the grain or the money!"

Just as the two men were intimidating Li Mother, Li Xiangyang pushed open the door and came in with his sister.

"What's going on?"

The moment Li Xiangyang entered, he noticed that everyone stared at him as though they had seen a ghost.

"Son?"

Li Mother wiped at her eyes, already red and swollen from crying, and asked,

"You're back?"

Seeing Li Xiangyang return safely, his eldest uncle's expression turned somewhat unnatural.

After all, he had a loud voice, and what he had just said might all have been heard by Li Xiangyang.

"I'm back. Why is everyone gathered here?"

Li Xiangyang nodded coolly.

He knew that because his family was poor, his eldest and second uncles rarely came by, and even when they were working, they kept their distance.

If not for these uncles coming to collect debts, his mother and sister might well have starved to death in those years.

Fortunately, he had asked Xiaohua to put away the salamanders, or she would only have grown angry seeing this scene.

"It's nothing. Your mother was worried about you, so we came over to talk things through and see whether the mountains were still safe."

At that moment, his second uncle spoke up, while shooting a glance at his elder brother.

After all, Li Xiangyang was tall and broad-shouldered; if an argument really broke out and came to blows, the two of them might not be his match.

"Pretty good. There are plenty of things in the mountains; the trip wasn't wasted."

Li Xiangyang answered modestly. Knowing these two uncles had come for money, he did not stand on ceremony.

He went straight outside and took out two rabbits that had not yet been finished from the empty water vat.

"That big!"

"My word, those must weigh four or five pounds each, right?"

Though the eldest uncle knew his nephew had some hunting skill, he had not expected such a haul from a single night.

The envy on his face was impossible to hide.

"Thank you for your concern, Uncle. I'll figure out a way to settle the debt as soon as possible. Take these two rabbits home and have a taste."

"Oh, that's far too kind. How could we possibly accept?"

"Exactly. These rabbits were earned with your life on the line, nephew. Your second uncle can't take them."

...

The two uncles demurred with their words, but their eyes were fixed greedily on the rabbits.

After all, being able to hunt alone in this day and age meant being a capable man wherever you went.

The reason they had always looked down on Li Xiangyang before was mainly because he was reaching for the moon, chasing after a female educated youth in love. Their own children had not even found city people to marry yet.

Li Xiangyang sneered inwardly, understanding perfectly what they were thinking.

Still, on second thought, if not for the occasional grain his two uncles had given them in the past, things at home might have been even worse.

Besides, blood is thicker than water. In the end they were still family. Since they had come to collect a debt, at most they were making things awkward; they could not be driven to absolute ruin.

After all, the true cause of that tragedy had been himself.

Once he understood that, Li Xiangyang's attitude softened quite a bit.

"Uncle, take the rabbits. I remember the grain and money I owe as well. Rest assured, the debt will be paid within half a month."

The eldest uncle looked at the wild rabbits in his hands, then at Li Xiangyang's imposing frame, and his expression became much kinder.

"It isn't such an urgent matter. Your third uncle passed early, and your mother hasn't had an easy time raising you children these years."

"Yes," the second uncle sighed as well. "If your father hadn't gone so suddenly, it wouldn't have come to this..." He paused. "Still, you've made something of yourself. You're even better at hunting than your father was."

Li Xiangyang nodded.

"It's only thanks to the care you've shown us these years."

That was fair enough.

Though the two uncles were snobbish, they really had helped quite a bit over the years.

Li Mother, listening from the side, had reddened eyes.

"So... when do you think the grain and money can be repaid?" the eldest uncle still did not forget the matter at hand.

"Before New Year. I guarantee it will all be paid off."

Li Xiangyang's tone was firm.

"All right, then we'll wait." The eldest uncle lifted the rabbits and weighed them in his hands with satisfaction. "Come by our place when you're free for a meal."

The second uncle also smiled and said, "That's right, you can come to your second uncle's house too. Your cousin has been wanting to learn hunting lately; come teach him sometime."

Watching the brothers leave, Li Xiangyang fell into thought.

In this life, many things would be different.

That evening, Li Xiangyang comforted his mother and told her not to worry about money. Then he personally cooked a pot of braised salamander in rich rural sauce.

At the dinner table, as Li Mother ate, she finally settled her heart.

But Li Xiangyang knew this could not go on. He needed to hunt something bigger.