Wolf Totem

31

Early one morning, two open-topped military vehicles stopped by Chen Zhen’s yurt. Seeing the giant objects and smelling gasoline for the first time, the cub shot into his hole. The dogs, on the other hand, surrounded the vehicles, barking madly. Chen and Yang ran out to stop the dogs and chase them away.

The doors opened to reveal Bao Shungui and four soldiers, who headed straight for the cub’s hole. Not knowing what was happening, Chen, Yang, and Gao rushed over to them. Chen tried to remain calm. “Director Bao, you’ve brought someone to see the cub.”

Bao smiled. “Let me make the introductions.” He pointed to two officers in their thirties. “These men are with the corps advance party, Staff Officer Xu and Staff Officer Batel.” Then he pointed to the two drivers, “This is Old Liu and this is Little Wang. They’re going to put down roots out here and bring their families over when the houses are finished on the corps office site. They’ve been sent to help us kill the wolves.”

Chen shook hands, his heart beating wildly. He invited them inside for tea.

“No need,” said Bao. “We’ll see the cub first. Bring it out; these staff officers made a special trip to see it.”

Chen forced a smile. “So you’re interested in wolves, are you?”

In a thick Shaanxi accent, Xu said cordially, “Wolves are bloodthirsty killers, so the division and corps leaders have sent us out to exterminate them. We’ve never seen grassland wolves, which is why Old Bao brought us here.”

Batel, who spoke with a Shandong accent, added, “Old Bao says you and the others know a lot about wolves, that you’re good at killing them and taking their cubs, one of which you’re raising so you can study the wolf’s nature. A smart, bold move. We’ll need your help when we go after them.”

The men were cordial and personable, and Chen felt better after learning that they hadn’t come to kill the cub. “Wolf… wolves are complex animals,” he stammered. “It would take days to tell you all about them. Let’s go see the cub. Stay back; don’t step inside the pen. He bites strangers. He almost bit a league cadre once.”

Chen took two pieces of meat out of a bag and picked up an old chopping board before walking quietly toward the cave opening. He laid the board down on the ground and shouted, “Little Wolf, Little Wolf, time to eat.” The cub flew out the cave and pounced on the meat. Chen quickly pushed the board over to block the entrance before jumping out of the pen. The cub was usually fed in the morning and afternoon. This was the first time he’d been fed so soon after noon, which made him very happy; he tore at the meat. Bao and the others backed away.

The observers crouched in a semicircle. With the arrival of these men and their unfamiliar scents, the cub behaved strangely. Instead of charging them threateningly, as he normally did, he tucked his tail between his legs and made himself small as he carried a piece of meat to the far end of the pen, where he laid it down and then went back to get the second piece. With his hackles standing up, he went ahead and ate, but he was unhappy about being surrounded by so many people. After a couple of bites, he changed his demeanor, wrinkling his nose and baring his fangs as he rushed the soldiers. His savage look and his speed caught them by surprise, and all five frightened men fell backward. Even with the chain, the cub came within three feet.

Staff Officer Batel sat up and dusted off his hands. “That’s some wild animal, a lot meaner than our wolfhounds. That chain saved us.”

“Not even a year old, and it’s already as big as a full-grown dog,” Xu said. “Thanks for bringing us here, Old Bao. Now I really feel like I’m on a battlefield.” He turned to Batel. “Wolves are faster and a lot sneakier than dogs. And their attacks are lightning quick.”

Batel nodded as the cub turned and leaped at the meat, gobbling it down while making hoarse, threatening growls.

The two men measured the cub’s size with their eyes and took a good look at his fur and skin. They concluded it would be best to aim at the head or the chest from the side. That would kill a wolf without damaging the pelt.

“These youngsters know their business,” Bao said, his face glowing, “All the herdsmen and most of the students were against raising this cub, but I told them to go ahead. If you know your enemy as well as you know yourself, you can’t lose. I’ve brought lots of people over to see the cub. The Chinese, who are afraid of wolves, are the most eager to see them. They all say it’s a better animal than the ones they see in the zoo. It’s a rare opportunity to see a live wolf at close range. This is the only one out here. When the corps leadership comes to inspect, I’ll make this their first stop.”

“I’m sure they’ll come when they hear about the famous Mongolian wolf cub.” Then Xu turned to Chen. “Make sure the chain and post are secure.”

Bao looked at his watch. “Now back to business. We’re here not only to see the cub but also to get one of you to come with us. These marksmen were sent to help us eliminate the wolf scourge. Staff Officer Xu shot a high-flying hawk yesterday. From the ground it looked like a pea. One shot was all it took. So which one of you will it be?”

Chen’s heart sank. The Olonbulag wolf’s mortal enemy had arrived. Following the rapid growth of the farming population, military vehicles and cavalry troops had finally pushed all the way to the border. “The horse herders know where to find the wolves,” he said glumly. “Get one of them to be your guide.”

“The old ones won’t come,” Bao said, “and the young ones are useless. All the experienced ones have gone into the mountains to tend the horses. Since these two officers have taken the trouble to come all this way, one of you has to go, just this one time.”

“Why not ask Dorji, the brigade’s most famous wolf killer?”

“The deputy commander already took him. Commander Li loves to hunt, especially from a moving vehicle.” He took another look at his watch. “Stop wasting time.”

Seeing they had no choice, Chen said to Yang, “Why don’t you go?”

“I don’t know the wolves as well you. It’s… it’s better that you go.”

“I’ll decide,” Bao said impatiently. “Chen, you come with us. But if you’re like Bilgee, always letting the wolves go, and we come back empty-handed, I’ll kill your cub. No more nonsense. Now let’s go.”

Chen’s face paled; he instinctively took a step to block the cub. "Okay, I’ll go. I’m ready.”

The two vehicles sped west, trailed by a pair of yellow dust dragons.

Chen had not ridden in a motor vehicle for more than two years. The rare opportunity to hunt this way would have made him feel privileged if he hadn’t become so fascinated by wolves, if he’d just arrived at the grassland, if he hadn’t been learning from the wolves. How exciting, how pleasurable to speed across the grassland like the wind in pursuit of wolves! It should have been more satisfying than fox hunting with British aristocrats, or hunting bears in a snowy forest with Russian tsars, or joining encirclement hunts with thousands of horses, like the Manchu imperial family.

But at the moment, Chen’s only wish was that the vehicle would break down. He felt like a traitor, leading an army to arrest friends. Bao knew how he felt toward wolves, and he wondered how he’d manage to protect his cub and spare the other wolves.

The corps’ wolf-extermination campaign had already begun throughout the grassland. This time, the wolves would be chased out of China and off the stage of history, condemned with a terrible reputation, while their invaluable influence and achievements would be obliterated. No one but Bilgee, the grassland devotees of the wolf totem, and his two friends back in the yurt would understand how sad he was. Chen’s sorrow was that he was simultaneously too advanced and too ancient.

On the Olonbulag, one encountered a different wind every five miles and another rain every ten. Now Chen was riding down on a wet, sandy road. The howling autumn wind helped clear his head. He concluded that they had to go to a place where they could find wolves, but one from which the wolves could easily escape.

He turned to Bao in the backseat. “I know where there are wolves, but the vehicle will be useless. It’s too hilly and too reedy.”

Bao glared at him. “Don’t play games with me. Mosquitoes are concentrated in reedy areas at this time of year, and you won’t find wolves there. Don’t you think I’d know that after hunting wolves these past six months?”

Chen corrected himself. “What I meant was, we can’t enter the mountains or the reedy area, so we’ll have to go to the sandy hills and big gentle slopes where there aren’t so many mosquitoes.”

Bao wouldn’t let him off the hook that easily. “The horse herders chased the wolves away after that incident with the young horses on the sandy hills. We didn’t see any wolves yesterday when we drove around there. I can tell we won’t be able to use your talents today. So listen carefully. I don’t go back on my word. We didn’t kill any wolves yesterday, and that has made us very unhappy.” Bao took a drag from his cigarette and blew the smoke into the back of Chen’s head.

Chen realized how difficult it would be to put anything over on someone shrewd enough to climb all the way up from the bottom of the bureaucracy. “I know another patch of sandy land,” he said, “northwest of the Chaganuul Mountains. It’s a sandy area with little grass because of the wind, but there are lots of mice and prairie dogs, quite a few marmots too. Now that the wolves have no horses to eat, they have to move to places with lots of small animals.”

Chen decided he’d take them to the northwesternmost corner of the pasture, where there was poor sandy soil and little grass. It was also a good place to avoid the mosquitoes and graze the horses, but it was near the border and the herders never took their horses there. Chen hoped that the soldiers would be able to see wolves that could then easily cross the border and escape.

Bao considered the suggestion. He smiled and said, “You may be right. Why didn’t I think of that? Old Liu, head north. That’s where we’ll go today, so step on it.”

Chen added, “It’ll be better to walk if we want to kill wolves. These vehicles make too much noise, and the wolves will run into the grass when they hear us. We’ve had lots of rain this year, and the grass is tall, which makes it easy for them to hide.”

Staff Officer Xu said, “You just find the wolves, and leave the rest to me.”

Chen felt he’d made a serious mistake.

They sped northwest, following an ancient dirt path created by herders making seasonable moves from pasture to pasture. Autumn grass had grown back on the lamb-birthing pasture, which had been grazed barren by livestock in the spring; the dense grass, roiling like waves, was dotted with swaying daisies. A strong fragrance typical of fine grass filled their noses. A few purple swallows followed to eat moths and other insects stirred up by the vehicles, but they quickly fell behind, only to be replaced by new ones, creating one purple arc after another.

Chen breathed in the intoxicating aroma of autumn grass and flowers. This was where they would come back for lamb birthing. Seventy percent of the pasture’s income came from the sale of wool and sheep, so the birthing pasture was a precious place, the source of life. He paid close attention along the way and saw there was excellent grass, almost like a carefully tended wheat field. Not a single yurt had been put down here since the production team moved to the summer pasture. He felt a sense of gratitude toward the wolves and the horse herders. An enticing, fragrant pasture would have been ruined by gazelles, wild rabbits, and mice but for the wolves.

Everything Chen saw in the lush panorama contributed to the hardships endured by the horse herders, who, in spite of the heat and mosquitoes, had worked day and night to check the appetites of their gluttonous charges by taking them to a hilly pasture to graze on second-rate, goatee-like grass, or grass left behind by the cattle and sheep. They’d never let their horses near the birthing pasture. While they loved their horses as much as their own lives, when it came to grazing, they treated them like thieves or locusts. If not for them, this pasture, the source of life, would have been left with nothing but horse droppings from poorly digested grass and clumps of dead grass burned by animal urine. How could soldiers from agricultural areas understand all that?

These thoughts made it impossible for Chen to hold back. “See how well protected the pasture is?” he said to Staff Officer Xu. “When the brigade came here for the spring birthing of lambs, tens of thousands of gazelles had stormed over from Outer Mongolia. We couldn’t chase them away, even with rifles. If they ran off during the day, they returned at night to fight over grass with the birthing ewes. Luckily the wolves came and, in a matter of days, the gazelles were gone. If not for the wolves, there’d have been no grass for the ewes and no milk for the newborn lambs; we’d have lost tens of thousands of lambs. Husbandry is different from agriculture. When there’s a disaster, the most a farmer will suffer is a year’s crops, but a disaster out here can mean the loss of eight or ten years, even as much as a herder’s lifetime income.”

Xu nodded, though his hawklike eyes continued searching the grassland. After a while, he said, “How could you have relied on wolves to kill the gazelles? That’s so backward. The herdsmen have inferior rifles and marksmanship, and no trucks. Watch us next spring. We’ll use motor vehicles, assault rifles, and machine guns. No gazelles will be our match, no matter how many there are. I’ve hunted them out west. The best way is to turn on the headlights at night; they’re afraid of the dark, so they crowd around the light. Then keep driving and fire as you go. You can kill hundreds of them in a single night. So you have gazelle here. That’s great. The more the better. The people at division headquarters and the agricultural corps will have meat now.”

“Look!” Bao Shungui called out softly, pointing to his left.

Chen looked through his telescope and said, “A fox. Let’s get it.”

Bao observed it carefully. “Yes,” he said, disappointed. “It’s only a fox. Forget it.” Then he turned to Xu, who had his rifle up. “Don’t shoot. Wolves have keen ears. We’ll go home empty-handed if you startle them.”

“This is our lucky day,” Xu said happily. “Where there are foxes, there are wolves.”

The closer they got to the sandy pasture, the more wildlife they saw: sand swallows, sand grouses, desert foxes, and sand mice. Rusty red sand grouses were the most common; they flew in large flocks, their feathers making the sound of pigeon whistles. Pointing at the gentle ridge in the distance, Chen said, “The sandy area is just over that ridge. The older herders say there used to be a big pasture with a spring here. But many years ago, the Olonbulag suffered a terrible drought, which dried up the lakes, the rivers, and the wells, all but that spring. So the livestock was driven here for water. From dawn to dusk, large numbers of animals were lined up, stomping and grazing the grass. It took less than two years for the pasture to turn to sand. Luckily, the spring didn’t dry up, and the grass slowly returned. But we’ll have to wait decades before it returns to its original condition. The grassland is so fragile that it turns to desert whenever it exceeds its capacity.”

Squeaking mice scampered away from the wheels. “The capacity includes those mice,” Chen said. “The destruction they cause is worse than livestock. Wolves are the main reason the grassland isn’t overburdened. If you kill a wolf, I’ll open its belly and show you its contents. During this season, you’ll find mainly mice and field mice.”

“I didn’t know that wolves eat mice,” Xu said.

“The cub I’m raising loves them. He swallows them tails and all. The grassland never experiences a scourge of mice because the herdsmen don’t kill all the wolves. If you do that now, the mice will run wild, and that will spell disaster for the grassland-”

Bao cut him off. “Pay attention and keep your eye out for wolves.”

As they neared the ridge, Staff Officer Xu tensed. He checked the lay of the land and told the driver to head west. “If there are wolves here, we can’t go right in. We’ll have to take the sentry wolves first.”

They entered a gentle ravine that ran east to west. The narrow oxcart path was flanked by mountains on the left and sandy hills on the right. Looking through his high-powered binoculars, Xu searched the grassy land on both sides and whispered, “Two wolves on the hill to the right.” He spun around to signal the vehicle behind. Chen saw the wolves too, big ones, trotting westward, three or four li away.

“Don’t go over there,” Xu said to Old Liu. “We’ll follow the dirt path and maintain speed. See if you can drive parallel with the wolves so I can get a side shot.”

“Got it.” Old Liu turned in the direction of the wolf at a slightly faster speed.

The man obviously had combat experience. Going at the wolf like that not only shortened the distance but also gave the wolves the illusion that they were just passing by, not going for them. The border station patrol cars followed strict rules that prohibited the soldiers from firing except under extraordinary circumstances, which helped keep their presence secret and gave them the element of surprise. As a result, the wolves had grown accustomed to the presence of motor vehicles in the area.

Seeing that the wolves did not speed up, Chen felt a pang in his heart, sensing that they were in trouble this time. These were not ordinary border patrol cars; these men were here to kill wolves. They were crack shots the likes of which the wolves had not encountered before. Their range was far greater than the herdsmen.

The vehicles were nearly parallel to the wolves, and the distance had shortened from fifteen hundred yards to seven or eight hundred; the wolves grew tense and sped up a bit. But the vehicles driving down the dirt path confused them; they had not been wary enough of the people. Chen wondered if the wolves were trying to lure or detract their pursuers. The two marksmen took aim, and Chen felt his heart leap into his throat; he fixed his gaze on Staff Officer Xu’s movements, hoping that the vehicle would stop when he fired, which might give the wolves a chance.

They were about to catch up with the wolves; the distance had shortened four or five hundred yards. The wolves paused and looked over at the vehicles; then, apparently seeing the rifles, they raced toward the ridge. Bang bang. Chen heard the shots and saw the two wolves drop almost simultaneously. “Good shooting!” Bao yelled.

Chen broke out in a cold sweat. Neither he nor the wolves could have imagined that the two men in moving vehicles could hit their targets on their first try. But to the two sharpshooters, this was only an aperitif. Staff Officer Xu gave Old Liu an order. “Hurry over to the sandy area. Step on it.” Then he signaled to the other vehicle. They both shot off the path at full speed and headed to the sandy hill on the right.

Old Liu drove over the hill onto a sandy grassland, where he headed for the nearest, highest point. Xu stood up with his hand on the handrail to survey the area. Two distant groups of young wolves were running separately to the northwest and due north. Chen saw through his telescope that there were four or five large animals in the northbound pack, while most of the eight or nine wolves in the other pack were midsize cubs born that year.

“Let’s go after the northbound pack,” Xu said. Then he turned to the vehicle behind him and pointed to the northwestern group. The vehicles separated and gave chase.

The sandy grassland, with its gentle hills, was an ideal battlefield for the vehicles. “Hold on tight and watch me,” Old Liu shouted. “I can run one down without firing a shot!”

They were traveling so fast it felt like they were flying. Deadly speed flashed through Chen’s mind. On the grassland, only gazelles are able to compete at this speed; not even the fastest lasso horses or wolves can run that fast, even if they run themselves to death. The two vehicles went after the packs like Death itself. After twenty minutes, the wolves that had been the size of sesame seeds were now the size of green peas, and slowly becoming as large as soybeans. But Xu held his fire, which puzzled Chen. If he can bring down a hawk the size of a green pea, why not shoot now?

“Now?” Bao asked.

“Still too far,” Xu said. “If we fire now, the pack will disperse. But if we wait till we’re closer, we can get two more and not damage the pelts.”

Old Liu said excitedly, “Maybe today we can each get one.”

“Just worry about driving,” Xu said. “We’ll be wolf food if we flip over.”

They passed a dune and all of a sudden a giant ox carcass materialized on a small sandy hill directly in front. Its broken horns looked like spears or rifles, or like an antler barrier on an ancient battlefield. The wolves could jump over it, but it was an impossible obstacle for Old Liu, who spun the steering wheel, sending the vehicle lurching to the side, its right tires leaving the ground. The occupants left their seats and nearly flew out of the vehicle; they were screaming in terror.

They brushed past the pile of bones; Chen was still dazed, even after the vehicle had righted itself. He knew the wolves had begun to use the topography in their retreat, and their trick had nearly destroyed the vehicle and killed everyone in it. Bao Shungui, his face an ashen gray, yelled, “Slow down! Slow down!”

Old Liu wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and slowed down, widening the gap between them and the wolves.

“No, step on it!” Xu yelled as dry weeds came into view on the sandy ground. Chen had grazed sheep here and knew the area. He shouted, “The ground ahead is lower and filled with weeds. We could easily flip over. Slow down.”

But his words had no effect on Xu, who gripped the handrail and stared straight ahead. “Faster! Faster!” he shouted.

Old Liu floored the gas pedal, and the vehicle shot out, from time to time leaving the ground altogether or careening on two wheels. Chen had a death grip on the handrail, feeling his insides toss and churn.

He knew the wolves were using the land to their advantage as they ran for their lives, and that their pursuers would not be able to follow once they entered the lowland.

Old Liu screamed, “Those are damned smart wolves. Why did they have to run to a place like this?”

Staff Officer Xu said coldly, “Get a grip on yourself. This isn’t a drill, this is war!”

The mad chase went on for seven or eight more li, closing the distance to the lowland, which was strewn with stumplike weeds. But they had drawn to within range. “Swing around!” Xu shouted. Liu swung the vehicle around like a battleship, its big guns trained to the side. Xu had the wolves where he wanted them. Bang! The biggest wolf fell, shot in the head. The pack scattered, but another shot brought down a second wolf.

Almost at the same time, the remaining wolves reached the dry weeds, out of range. They ran toward the border and disappeared in the grass. Guns to the northwest fell silent as their vehicle came to a stop at the place where the slope met the lowland.

Mopping his sweaty brow, Xu said, “Those wolves are too smart. I should have been able to take down a few more.”

Bao gave him two thumbs up. “That was fantastic! Four wolves in less than thirty minutes. I’ve been doing this for six months and have yet to kill a single one.”

Xu, still on a high, said, “The topography is too complex here, a good place for the wolves’ guerrilla warfare. No wonder they can’t be eliminated.”

The vehicle moved slowly toward the dead wolves. The second had been shot in the chest, its blood soaking the grass around it. Bao and Liu carried the heavy carcass around behind the vehicle. Old Liu kicked the wolf. “There’s enough meat on this one for ten people.” He opened the trunk, took out a canvas bag, and laid it on the backseat. Then he took out two large burlap sacks and stuffed a wolf into each before loading the sacks into the trunk. He left the tailgate down, intending to use it to carry the other two carcasses.

Chen wanted to open up one of the wolves’ bellies to show what it held, but the soldiers had no interest in skinning them there. “Do you really plan to eat wolf meat?” he asked. “It’s sour. The herdsmen never eat it.”

“Nonsense,” said Old Liu. “Wolf meat isn’t sour; it’s like dog meat. I’ve eaten it back home. It’s better than dog meat if you know how to cook it. See how fat this one is? Cooking wolf isn’t much different from cooking dog. You put it in cold water for a day to get rid of the gamey smell, then add garlic and chili pepper and stew it for several hours. It smells wonderful. Back home, the whole village would show up to ask for some if you stewed a pot of it. Everyone says wolf meat gives you courage.”

“The herdsmen out here practice a form of sky burial,” Chen said, somewhat maliciously. “When someone dies, the family carries the body to a burial ground to feed the wolves. Are you really prepared to eat wolves that have eaten human flesh?”

Liu didn’t care. “I know all about that. It’s okay as long as you don’t eat the stomach or intestines. Dogs eat human excrement, but have you heard anyone say dog meat is dirty? We use night soil to fertilize vegetables. Do you consider them filthy? We Chinese love to eat dog meat and vegetables. The corps sent down so many people that lamb has been rationed. Everyone’s going crazy just thinking about meat. These wolves won’t be enough to feed them all. But there are more sheep in the world than wolves.” Liu thought he was being funny.

Staff Officer Xu laughed. “The division bosses placed an order for wolf meat with me before I came out here. I’ll have to take these to them tonight. Some say wolf can cure bronchitis, and a few sufferers have signed up. I’m like a doctor. Killing wolves is wonderful work; first, you get rid of the scourge for the people; second, you get yourself a pelt; third, you help the sick; and fourth, you cure people who hunger for meat. You see, four birds with one stone. Four in one!”

Chen realized he’d never be able to dampen their wolf-killing spirit even if he managed to show them a belly full of dead mice.

Liu drove back to where the first wolf had fallen. The head was shattered, for the bullet had entered from the back, sending gray matter and blood oozing to the ground. He was relieved to see there was no white stripe on the neck and chest. This was not the White Wolf King. He was sure it was an alpha male that had led a few fast wolves to lure the enemy away from the pack. But it had been unprepared for something like the vehicle and for sharpshooters and their weapons.

After wiping off the blood and gray matter with clumps of grass, Liu and Bao happily bagged the wolf, carried it over to the tailgate, and tied it down. “This wolf’s head is almost the size of a two-year-old bull,” Liu commented. They got into the jeep to drive over to Staff Officer Batel.

The two vehicles met up. Batel pointed to the bulging hemp sack in the backseat and shouted, “We encountered nothing but willow-tree stumps and could hardly move. I had to fire three times to bring down a cub. This pack was all females and cubs, one big family.”

Xu said emotionally, “The wolves here are demonic. The males left the best retreat route for the females and their cubs.”

Bao shouted, “Another one! A victory. A great victory! This is the happiest day I’ve had since coming to the pasture. Finally, a chance to vent my anger. Let’s go pick up the other two dead ones. I brought food and drink, so we can celebrate.”

Chen jumped out to check out the cub. He untied the sack and saw that it looked like his cub but was bigger. He was surprised that his cub was smaller than the wild one even though he’d given him the best food he could manage. The wild cub was fully grown in less than a year and had learned to hunt and to feed itself. But it died at man’s hand just as its life had begun. Chen rubbed the dead cub’s head as if touching his own cub; this one died because he wanted to keep his.

They drove south. Chen felt miserable as he turned back to look at the border grassland. In less than an hour, the alpha male and lead wolf had been killed in a sort of attack they’d never encountered before. The rest had escaped across the border and might never return. But how could they survive without a strong leader? Bilgee once said, “A pack without its territory is worse than a dog that has lost its owner.”

They returned to where the first shot had been fired. The powerful wolves lay in their own blood, encircled by swarms of flies. Unable to bear the sight, Chen walked off by himself to sit on the grass and gaze at the distant sky across the border. What would Bilgee think if he knew that Chen had led men on a wolf hunt? He’d taught him so much about wolves, and now he’d used that knowledge to kill them. He didn’t know how he was going to face the old man. By nighttime, the wolves would come looking for their dead, and they’d find only bloodstains. The grassland would be filled with sad howls that night.

The two drivers carried the burlap sacks over to the second vehicle and laid them under the backseat.

On some large gunnysacks spread out on the grass they placed several bottles of grassland liquor, a large bag of spiced peanuts, a dozen cucumbers, two cans of braised beef, three jars of canned pork, and a basin of meat. Bao Shungui, liquor bottle in hand, and Staff Officer Xu went over to Chen and dragged him back to the picnic site. Bao patted him on the shoulder. “Little Chen,” he said, “you did well today, and did me a great favor. Without you, our hunters wouldn’t have had a chance to show off their skill.”

The four soldiers raised their cups to toast Chen Zhen. “Drink up,” said Xu. “This one’s for you. Thanks to your research on wolves, you took us right to where we needed to be. Director Bao took us around over a hundred li, and we never saw a single wolf. Come on, drink up. We owe you our thanks.”

Chen’s face was a ghostly white; he wanted to say something but held his tongue. Instead, he accepted the cup and emptied it, wishing he could find a place to have a good cry. Instinctively, he picked up a raw cucumber and began eating. The laborers’ private gardens were already producing cucumbers, which he hadn’t tasted in more than two years. Maybe all Han Chinese were born to be farmers. Otherwise, why had he picked out a cucumber, of all things? Its light succulence turned to bitter juice in his mouth.

Xu patted him on the back. “Don’t feel bad about the wolves we killed, Little Chen. I can tell you have emotional ties to them after raising one yourself, and you’ve been influenced by the old herdsmen. Granted, wolves make a contribution to the grassland by killing rabbits, mice, gazelles, and marmots. But that’s a primitive way to go about it. We live in an age when man-made satellites soar into space. We can protect the grassland with scientific methods. The corps will be sending crop dusters to eradicate the mice.”

That caught Chen off guard, but he immediately understood what Xu meant. “No, you can’t do that,” he said. “If the wolves, foxes, desert foxes, and hawks eat the dead mice, they’ll all die off.”

“What’s the use of having wolves if all the mice are dead?” Bao said.

“Wolves have lots of uses,” Chen argued. “I’m trying to make you understand that wolves can reduce the number of gazelles, rabbits, and marmots.”

Old Liu, his face red from the liquor, burst out laughing. “Gazelles, wild rabbits, and marmots are all famous game. There won’t be enough for our people when they come, and there definitely won’t be any left for the wolves.”