A chill gripped Chen’s heart, which had barely begun to warm up. Raising a wolf in minority territory violated ethnic policy; doing it around a flock of sheep was just inviting the wolves to come, and that would be an indication that he had intentionally sabotaged production. If that somehow was tied to his father’s problem as a “capitalist roader,” which would definitely be in accordance with policy, that would implicate lots of other people. Chen’s hands began to shake; it was looking more and more as if he’d be sending the wolf cub to Tengger that day.
The old man softened his tone even more: “Bao Shungui is in charge now. He’s a Mongol who forgot his roots a long time ago. He hates wolves more than you Chinese do, and he won’t keep his job if he doesn’t hunt them down. Do you think he’ll let you raise this cub?”
Chen felt he had little hope, but he had to try: “Can you talk to him, tell him I’m raising it to get a better handle on how to deal with wolves? A scientific experiment.”
“You talk to him. He’s staying with me tonight, so come over tomorrow. ” The old man stood up, turned for a last look at the rock, and said, “Aren’t you afraid that when the wolf grows to adulthood it’ll attack your sheep? Or you? Or somebody else? Wolf bites are toxic; a man can die from one. I’m not going to look at it today after all; that’d just upset me. Come on, let’s work on the wagon.”
The old man didn’t say a word while he was repairing the wagon. Chen Zhen still hadn’t prepared himself emotionally for the possibility of having to kill the wolf cub, but he knew he mustn’t make things any more difficult for Bilgee and Uljii.
Chen and the old man finished repairs on two wagons and were starting on the third when the dogs began barking. Bao Shungui and Uljii rode up, Bao leading the way. Chen quieted the dogs. “Your wife said I’d find you here,” Bao said, “and this gives me an opportunity to see Chen’s wolf cub. The pasture revolutionary committee has decided to let Uljii stay with you. At first they wanted to send him to perform manual labor with the Capital Construction Brigade.”
Chen’s heart was racing. Word traveled across the grassland faster than a horse.
“Yes,” the old man said. “You did well for him on that.”
“The league leadership was excited to learn that you were opening up new grazing land. They view it as extremely important, and want it to be as successful as previous years. With that much added grazing land we can double the number of livestock, and that’s good news. You two took the lead on this, so I made a point of letting Uljii stay with you. That will make it easier for you to discuss things.”
“Uljii’s the one who took the lead. His heart is never away from the grassland.”
“That goes without saying,” Bao said. “I’ve already reported that to the leadership, and they hope Comrade Uljii will find a way to make amends for his errors.”
Uljii smiled weakly. “Let’s forget amends,” he said, “and talk specifics. The new grazing land is a long way from here, and moving is going to present lots of problems. The pastureland truck and two tractors with rubber tires should be assigned to the Second Brigade to help out. And we’ll need extra hands to clear a road.”
“I sent someone to call a meeting of brigade officials tonight. We’ll see what happens.” Bao turned to Chen. “Those two wolf pelts you sent up, I gave them to the tanner and had them delivered to my old boss. He was impressed that a student from Beijing could bring down such big wolves. He sends his thanks.”
“How could you tell him I killed them? The dogs did it. I can’t take credit for what they did.”
Bao patted him on the shoulder. “If they were your dogs, then you killed them. Authorities always get credit for their subordinates’ contributions. That’s one of the great traditions in our armed forces. Well now, let’s have a look at that cub of yours.”
Chen glanced at Bilgee, who held his tongue. “I’ve decided not to raise it after all,” Chen replied quickly. “It’s against the customs of the herdsmen, and dangerous to boot. Being responsible for a wolf attack would be too much for me.” While he was talking, he removed the rock and slid the plank away.
Down below, the cub was trying to climb up the side, but when the dark human silhouettes loomed above, it huddled in the farthest corner, wrinkling its nose and baring its fangs, even though it was quaking. Light shone in Bao’s eyes. “Hey!” he exclaimed. “He’s big! It’s only been a month, but he’s twice the size of the pelts from the other pups. If I’d known they were going to grow like that, I’d have let you raise the whole litter. When they reached adulthood we could have killed them and supplied enough pelts to make a fine leather jacket. Would you look at the coat on this one! It’s much fuller than a cub that’s still suckling.”
Chen frowned. “I can’t keep feeding it; it eats too much. A huge bowl of meaty porridge every day, and a bowl of cow’s milk.”
“Swapping a little millet for a fine pelt is a bargain. Next year, when the brigades are out looking for newborn litters, we won’t kill any of them, not until they’ve doubled or tripled in size.”
The old man sneered. “It’s not as easy as you make it sound,” he said. “This one was fed by a bitch at first. Where are you going to find enough bitches to feed all the cubs you plan to raise?”
Bao pondered that for a moment. “Good point,” he said.
Chen picked the cub up by the scruff of his neck. He struggled, kicking and clawing the air. As he set him on the ground, Bao reached down and stroked his back. “I’ve never touched a live wolf before. Nice and plump. Very interesting.”
“Chen Zhen,” Uljii said, “you’ve devoted a lot of care to this cub over the past month or so, that’s obvious. Wolves don’t grow that fast in the wild. You’re a better mother than its real mother. I’ve known for some time about your fascination with wolves, how you ask everyone to tell you what they know about them, but I never thought you’d actually raise one in captivity. I wonder if you might be going a bit too far with this.”
Bilgee stared at the wolf cub. He put out his pipe and fanned the last of the smoke with his hand. “I’ve lived a long time,” he said, “and this is the first wolf in captivity I’ve seen. I have to admit it looks like it’s in good shape. Chen Zhen is devoted to what he’s doing. But raising a wolf around a flock of sheep doesn’t seem right. If you ask the herdsmen, they’ll be against it, down to the last man. Now that you two are here, let’s hear what you have to say about this youngster’s plan to perform a scientific experiment.”
Bao Shungui seemed taken by the idea. “It’d be a shame to kill it now,” he said. “Its pelt isn’t big enough to be of any use. It’s taken a lot to raise an unweaned cub this long, so here’s what I think. We let him continue for the time being, as a scientific experiment. Chairman Mao said, ‘We study the enemy in order to defeat the enemy.’ I’d like to learn more about wolves myself, so I’ll come by regularly to see how he’s doing. They say you’re planning on breeding a strain of wolfhounds.”
Chen nodded. “I thought about it, but Papa says it can’t be done.”
Bao turned to Uljii. “Has anyone on the grassland ever tried it?”
“The herdsmen venerate wolves,” he replied. “They don’t use them to breed hybrids.”