Small supermarket welcomes visitors from all directions

Chapter 7 Iron-Eating Beast

Wang Yue asked: "What's your name? How did you get here?"

The child said, "My name is Zhuzi. I went to the mountain early this morning to see if there was any prey in the trap, but there was nothing. I went home and tripped over the big tree root behind my house and came to your place. Sister Guanyin, people here don't eat children, right?"

Wang Yue suppressed her laughter and said, "I won't eat you. You're too skinny, and it'll hurt my teeth if you don't have any meat on you."

"Really? They really don't eat people?" Xiao Zhuzi was worried.

Wang Yue said: "We have a lot of delicious food here. We don't eat humans. I heard that human flesh is sour and not tasty. Why don't you try our candy and see if it tastes good."

As he said that, he went to find some sugar for Zhuzi. To be honest, people nowadays don't like to eat sugar anymore, and there is no bulk sugar in the supermarket. Finally, he found rock sugar and grabbed a handful of about ten pieces for Zhuzi.

Zhuzi only ate one and put the rest into his waistband: "Sister, can I take some home for my mother to eat? My mother is pregnant and there is nothing delicious at home." Zhuzi thought that these people were just dressed strangely and were not dangerous, so he became bolder.

Wang Yue suggested: "Zhu Zi, this is a supermarket, a place where we sell things, just like a market. Do you have money? You can buy sugar and salt and many delicious foods here. If you don't have money, you can exchange other things."

Zhuzi felt around and took out two copper coins from his waist. Jiang Lao took them quickly and gave the child a wolf grandmother smile: "Do you have any more, kid?"

Zhuzi thought Wang Yue was asking if Wang Yue had anything valuable, so he took something out of his lapel and handed it to Wang Yue, saying, "I found a hairless mouse in the mountains today. It's quite fat. I plan to take it home and make a bowl of broth for my mother."

Wang Yue reached out to take it, and seeing that it was still alive, she frantically changed her hands to hold it: "Sister Liu, Sister Liu, why does this thing look familiar to me? It's definitely not a rat. How can a rat be this big without hair?"

Liu Xuehua took a towel from the shelf and placed it on the coffee table: "Put it here!"

Then several people gathered around, and Zhuzi pulled Wang Yue's hand and asked, "Isn't this a rat?"

Wang Yue said: "This is definitely not a mouse. It is almost as big as my palm. If I am not mistaken, it should be the cub of the iron-eating beast."

"What is an iron-eating beast?"

"How can I tell you? Let me show you some pictures!" As a Chinese, who doesn't have a few chubby photos? Even if there aren't tons of pictures flooding the internet, there are still all kinds of poses for you!

"Look, this is the picture of the iron-eating beast!"

"Isn't this the Bearbear Beast?"

"Have you seen it? It's a vicious beast. It can hurt people."

"I haven't seen it. The village chief has a skin at home. I'm friends with the village chief's grandson, and he took me to see it."

Song Jiyang looked at everyone and asked, "Are there giant pandas in the provincial zoo?" Song Jiyang is not a local and doesn't really know much about zoos.

Mr. Jiang said: "The provincial zoo has giant pandas. Last year, they gave birth to twins. We can ask them to take this little thing away. We can't keep it alive anyway."

Song Ji Yang said: "Mr. Jiang, please contact the zoo. It would be better to contact them personally first and then go through the formalities for them later. It is difficult to explain their origins now." Mr. Jiang took over the matter. He happened to know the director of the zoo.

Wang Yue saw that they had made all the arrangements, and thought that they had not yet told the chubby owner! So he said to Zhuzi: "You will definitely not be able to raise this cub, let's send it to our zoo, where it can be properly taken care of. Can you let us raise this cub?"

Zhuzi said: "I originally wanted to cook a bowl of meat soup for my mother."

Wang Yue said, "This cub cannot be bought or sold here. I can't give you an estimate of its price. I'd like to buy you a few pounds of meat or two chickens. Is that okay with you?"

Zhuzi said, "Sister, can I have a chicken?"

Wang Yue said, "Okay, I'll ask someone to buy it for you later. It's not available in the supermarket right now. You have to wait here for a while before you can go back. Is that okay?"

Wang Yue told Song Jiyang, and Song Jiyang asked Wen Hao to go to the village to buy chickens. While waiting for the chickens, Wang Yue and Jiang Lao talked to Zhuzi and asked him some basic information.

Through chatting, I learned that the country where Xiao Zhuzi lived was called Dafeng, which was founded by a woman and had been established for decades. The village where Zhuzi lived was called Liujia Village, Zhuzi's full name was Liu Zhixin, and the county where he lived was called Pingyuan County. Xiao Zhuzi knew this much, and this was his enlightenment this year, and he heard all this from the teacher.

As for Zhuzi's family, now there is only him, his pregnant mother and his sister. His sister is only five years old this year. His father went out to do business and earn some money to supplement the family income during the slack season.

Wang Yue saw that Zhuzi wanted to say something but was a little hesitant, so she asked, "What's wrong with you? Is there anything wrong?"

Zhuzi plucked up the courage and said, "Sister, I heard from my father that animals have very sharp noses. If someone captures a wolf cub, it can follow the scent to find its cub and then kill the person who captured it. This bear beast is also a ferocious beast. I wonder if its parents can follow the scent to find me. I always thought it was just a mouse cub, but it just grew bigger." A look of fear appeared on Zhuzi's face, and he felt a little regretful.

Wang Yue explained to Zhuzi, "You don't have to be afraid. Let me tell you about the habits of this bear beast. Each time a bear beast gives birth to two cubs, it will usually choose the weaker one and throw it away."

"Why?" Zhuzi couldn't understand why one of the twins had to be lost.

"Because they can't support two of them, it's better to raise the stronger one than to not be able to support both of them. So the bearbear beast is very smart and knows how to make choices. Sometimes people are not as good as animals in seizing opportunities."

"Wow! Is Ursamon that smart?"

"I guess so! Survival wisdom. They must have lost this cub on purpose."

"Yes! I found it halfway up the mountain. It was on a pile of hay. I saw the grass moving, and when I got closer I saw it was a little cub."

Not long after, Wen Hao came in carrying two bamboo baskets. He bought not only two hens but also ten chicks. These were not tender chicks, but chicks with a few patches of old hair. These chicks were not easy to die.

Wang Yue grew up in the countryside, so she could see Wen Hao's intentions when buying things, and quickly praised him: "Brother Wen Hao, you are so good at shopping!"

Wen Hao smiled shyly: "I am also from the countryside, I still know how to buy chickens, it's not difficult."

Wang Yue laughed: "If you think it's easy, then ask them why they buy chickens this way. There is a science to buying chickens."