Chapter 17: Eleven Badgers!
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“Dad, what if there aren’t any badgers in there?”
They had been waiting for so long that several batches of firewood had already burned away, yet there was still no movement from the burrow. Third Sister could not help growing suspicious.
Fourth Sister was just as anxious. “Dad, could there be another entrance?”
Tang Jiancheng had been watching every movement around them. Apart from smoke rising from the entrance beneath his feet, there was only a faint wisp coming from the few collapsed openings. No smoke appeared anywhere else.
Tang Jiancheng felt they should wait a little longer.
After all, badger burrows were usually deep and winding. Once the thick smoke entered, it would have to reach a certain concentration before it could rouse the badgers from hibernation. Then, in their panic, they would surely lose their sense of direction, and it would naturally take them some time to find the right way out.
Third Sister asked again, “Dad, what if they’re being suffocated to death?”
Tang Jiancheng broke into a cold sweat. He hurriedly shouted, “Put out the fire! Push all the smoking wood into the snow!”
How could he have forgotten? The thick smoke produced by burning damp wood really might suffocate the badgers!
If there was still no movement after a few more minutes, Tang Jiancheng planned to start digging and pull the badgers straight out of the burrow.
“Third Sister, Fourth Sister, did you find a badger burrow too?”
Stinky Egg suddenly appeared beside the two girls.
Not far away, the village secretary ambled over. Two plump badgers hung from the handle of his hoe.
He turned toward Tang Jiancheng with a broad smile. “Jiancheng, how was your harvest?”
Tang Jiancheng sighed. “We found the burrow, but we haven’t seen any badgers. I suppose it’s empty. Secretary, you’re the impressive one—digging up two such fat badgers without breaking a sweat.”
The village secretary replied in a tone that sounded modest but was actually full of pride, “Fat? They only weigh six or seven pounds. Compared with the ones I dug up last year, they’re nowhere near as good.”
“Six or seven pounds? And you still don’t call that fat? Secretary, you’re getting greedy!”
Tang Jiancheng deliberately flattered him.
Sure enough, the village secretary looked so pleased that he seemed ready to float away.
Stinky Egg was fond of showing off as well, and he cut in, “You don’t know what happened when these two badgers were first dug out. They tried to run, but Dad knocked each of them unconscious with a single blow of his hoe!”
“The important thing is that even though Dad used a hoe, he only knocked them out. They weren’t hurt at all!”
“All right, Stinky Egg, that’s enough. A person should be modest. Don’t make your old man sound like some kind of hero!”
The village secretary waved a hand, pretending to stop him.
Tang Jiancheng curled his lip inwardly. What a hypocrite. If he really wanted to keep a low profile, why hadn’t he stopped his son sooner? He had waited until the boy finished boasting before putting on an act. Shameless.
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The village secretary turned back to Tang Jiancheng. “Jiancheng, there’s a knack to finding badgers. Your smoke method won’t work. For one thing, badgers have many burrow entrances. For another, too much smoke can easily suffocate them. Why don’t I teach you a method that—”
Just then, Third Sister suddenly called out in a low voice, “Dad, there’s movement in the burrow!”
Tang Jiancheng heard it too and immediately focused all his attention.
Rustle, rustle, rustle…
Before long, one badger burst out of the burrow, then another, and then another.
Every one of them was plump, weighing at least ten pounds!
The village secretary’s eyes widened, and his face began to burn with embarrassment.
He had only just declared that Tang Jiancheng’s method was useless, and now badger after badger was crawling out of the burrow.
The worst part was how simple Tang Jiancheng’s method turned out to be. He merely had to stand at the entrance and wait for the badgers to come out. Meanwhile, the village secretary had spent nearly half an hour digging before finally getting his two badgers, and his lower back was practically broken!
“Good grief, there are more?!”
When the fifth badger charged out of the burrow, the village secretary was utterly stunned.
He had worked himself to exhaustion and dug up only two, while Tang Jiancheng had smoked out five. Was there any justice in that?
Then he remembered that Tang Jiancheng had also happened to find several wild boars the day before…
The village secretary suddenly felt that Tang Jiancheng’s luck was absurdly good.
That man stepped in dog luck every single day!
“Good heavens! There are still more?! Jiancheng, what kind of heaven-defying luck do you have?”
When two more badgers staggered out of the burrow, the village secretary felt as if his entire world had gone wrong.
If Tang Jiancheng had ended up with only three or four badgers, he would not have lost his composure like this. But Tang Jiancheng had obtained seven in one go, and every single one was large and fat. The difference was simply too great. How could he possibly stomach it?
“Ah, I didn’t expect there to be so many badgers here either. It’s just luck, really. Pure luck.”
Tang Jiancheng’s tone at that moment was so smug it practically begged to be punched.
The village secretary could not bear to watch any longer. He turned and walked away. When he saw that Stinky Egg had not followed, he immediately shouted, “Stinky Egg, are you coming or not? What are you staying here for? To keep embarrassing yourself?”
Stinky Egg shrank his neck and hurried after his father.
Just then, another badger crawled out of the burrow.
Eight!
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Good heavens, there were actually eight badgers in that burrow!
Stinky Egg was utterly astonished.
The village secretary, however, felt as though his heart could no longer take it. He was an extremely petty and selfish man—otherwise, why would he have monopolized the village radio and refused to return it?
Now that Tang Jiancheng’s harvest had far surpassed his own, he felt as if the entire sky were collapsing. He hurried away with Stinky Egg, deliberately scolding him loudly as they went.
“From now on, spend less time with Third Sister and the others. What kind of boy plays with girls all day? Aren’t you ashamed? His family is made up entirely of girls—there isn’t even a boy among them. What do you see in playing with them?”
Third Sister and Fourth Sister clenched their fists when they heard this. They wanted to argue back, but Tang Jiancheng stopped them.
“There’s no point getting angry with people like that. Let’s keep digging and see whether there are any more badgers inside.”
After carefully packing the eight badgers into sacks, Tang Jiancheng raised his hoe and began digging bit by bit.
Third Sister also took up her hoe and started digging from the opposite end.
Fourth Sister stood nearby and watched. If any badger escaped from the burrow, she could stop it in time.
Half an hour later, both father and daughter had reached the central area, and their pace slowed considerably.
Suddenly, after Tang Jiancheng swung his hoe again, the distinctive donkey-like cry of a badger came from inside. Tang Jiancheng, Third Sister, and Fourth Sister all brightened with delight.
Tang Jiancheng quickly increased the speed of his digging.
Before long, he saw three badgers lying inside the burrow, barely alive.
At a glance, Tang Jiancheng knew they had been weakened by the smoke.
Without the slightest hesitation, he pulled all three badgers from the burrow and tossed them into the sacks.
“Haha, today’s harvest is excellent!”
Tang Jiancheng was overjoyed.
“Yes! Eleven badgers! The heaviest weighs at least twenty pounds—almost like a little piglet. Even the lightest weighs more than six pounds!” Third Sister said with a smile.
Fourth Sister snorted. “Stinky Egg’s father was still showing off about digging up two fat badgers. Compared with ours, theirs are nothing!”
“Let’s go. It’ll be dark soon. We need to hurry home.”
Tang Jiancheng glanced at the sky, then quickly led the two girls home, carrying the badgers on their backs.