A Tale from the Snowfield

-By Ma Duangang

It was a week ago that I invited Fatty Ren, a southerner, to dinner in the Wailou Hotel. I had long heard that he had become rich by raking in almost half a million yuan from reselling fur.

Having eaten and drunk his fill, the sleepy Fatty Ren hiccupped with animated gestures, “You northerners are behind the times, with no talents for business. If you don’t know the market, how can you get rich? Now the fur prices are rocketing in our place. Go and buy some from the Daxing’an mountain area in the northeast right away. I guarantee you will make fifty thousand yuan with each trip.”

Then, every cell in his body filled with joy and excitement, he added, “Girls there are not only sexy, but also cheap. That’s called cheap and good. You buy their fur in the day, and enjoy dog meat with hot whiskey accompanied by beautiful girls at night. What kind of life is that?” He showed an air of satisfaction, water dripping from the corner of his mouth.

What damn luck I had! To arrive here to brave this heavy snowfall! Large snowflakes kept falling, and there was no sign of their stopping. I waded through the knee-deep snow. How could I have believed Fatty Ren’s nonsense and come to this goddamned no man’s place!

The snow had covered the entire primeval forest. With a broken compass – I didn’t know when it had been damaged – I could not tell my direction anymore. “Alas! When you are unlucky, even your teeth will block the water you drink.” The fat snowflakes kept battering my face, and my chronic stomachache was now killing me. Clenching my teeth, I was like a desperate wolf running aimlessly in an endless forest. Finally, I succumbed to the assault of the snowstorm. Seeing a patch of dark, I fell head first into the snow.

In the dark, I seemed to have seen Fatty Ren’s slimy face with his cunning smile. “Fatty Ren, God damn your whole family!” I murmered. Then I heard a faint dog’s bark from somewhere…

“He’s awake. He’s awake.” Half asleep, I heard many people jabbering. In the oil-lamp light, I opened my eyes to meet a grey-haired old man, dressed in an Inner Mongolian costume, who was staring at me with a smile. The hospitable old man put a hot bowl of tea mixed with milk in my hand and chattered, “Drink it up. It’s good for you.”

Only now did I realize I was lying on a warm kang. A black wolfhound was lying by the kang, licking my red face non-stop. Immediately, I drew out two hundred-yuan notes and thrust them into the old man’s hand for saving my life.

He pushed away my hand and said smilingly, “Young man, if I’m not mistaken, you must have come to buy our fur.” From the old man, I learned that they still had no electricity or mail service. It was a typical poor area in the northeast, where every family made a living by hunting and by herding cattle and sheep. They all, though, had saved some pretty rare fur that could pull them through the hard times.

“Indeed, good fortune comes out of a mishap! God’s will,” I said to myself. “After tracking miles and miles in vain, the coveted fur comes purely by chance!” Seeing the bags and bags of fur I had purchased at very low prices, I jumped about merrily, beaming with joy as I forgot about all the worries and frustration in the past few days.

Before my departure, I invited the old man and his relatives to dinner, again to express my thanks to him for saving my life. I had long before learned that the men here were all straightforward and great drinkers. Today we would drink until everybody got good and drunk.

When I was half drunk, I suddenly remembered Fatty Ren’s enticing remarks. “I hear the dogs here have delicious meat,” I said sleepily. “Whey not kill one for me. I want to try it so that I can say I haven’t wasted my time here.” Seeing no response from the old man, I grew furious. “Don’t be such a damn miser. I won’t eat it without paying!” With the power of my whiskey, I threw out two hundred-yuan notes. The black wolfhound lying by the kang started to bark at me. Then the old man raised his cup and said, “Young fellow, maybe you don’t know. A hunting dog is just like a hunter’s life.”

“What life? Money is everything and I have plenty of it.” I drew out two more hundred-yuan notes. “Who wants to sell me a dog?” Money in hand, I swept across the crowd. The house, which was not very large, became silent. After a while, a man stood up, took my money and pulled over the black wolfhound. “Kill my dog,” he said. I raised my sleepy eyes and found everybody staring at him in contempt.

Before long, a pot of steamy dog meat was brought up to me. It was as delicious as people said. Bite after bite I ate like a hungry wolf, oil dripping from my mouth and sweat from my body. Everybody stared at me in silence, so I immediately picked a piece and put it into the old man’s bowl. Tears in his eyes, the old man said emotionally, “The dog was called Tiger Racer. Dear, people in poor places are just stingy.”

I threw another hundred-yuan note at the old man. All my guests, except the old man, rose to their feet and left, hanging their heads.

Tapping the ashes from his smoke, the old man sighed, “If it were not for his two children’s tuition fees, the owner would not sell his dog for the world. That dog was the life of his whole family. Young man, you don’t know this: if Tiger Racer hadn’t found you when you were buried in the snow that day -”

“What?!”

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