Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Li Du had thought there was something good in the basin, what with the boss acting so shady as if this was an illegal trade. His guess was that there was some endangered species of fish or illegal animal, but it turned out to be a bunch of huge tadpoles that he saw when the boss lifted the black cloth!
Yes, they definitely looked like huge tadpoles. Though they had huge heads and did not look like regular tadpoles, Li Du thought he could still identify them. These tadpoles were as long as an adult’s palm and their bodies were translucent with a tinge of blue. They swam freely in the water with gentle flicks of their tails.
Li Du asked, “What are these? Are these tadpoles? Why are you selling tadpoles?”
Big Markelov was surprised as well, so he chatted with the boss. Then he turned to speak to Li Du, “These are not tadpoles, these are fish. They’re called glassfish.”
Li Du shook his head. “No way, you can’t fool me. These are tadpoles.”
Brother Wolf came up to take a peek, then chuckled. “The locals might call them glassfish, but the boss is right, these are tadpoles. I’m not too sure about the scientific name but they will grow to become a specific type of toad called the red-spotted toothed toad.”
The boss was gesticulating as he said something, earnestly trying to promote his little basin of huge tadpoles. He poured a few regular, tiny tadpoles from a glass tube into the basin and the bigger ones who had been swimming lazily suddenly became animated as they darted to devour the tiny tadpoles.
Big Markelov said, “The boss said this specific species of glassfish is extremely aggressive, which makes them difficult to capture, so you shouldn’t let them go if you come across them. He said they have a really powerful effect.”
“What effect?”
Big Markelov chuckled, then pointed at his crotch and winked. “It’ll make your thing really manly.”
Li Du rolled his eyes. “F*ck, maintain the yin-yang balance, is that it? What a load of crap, who’d buy this? Ask him how much it costs and how to eat it.”
Big Markelov spoke to the boss then turned around to tell Li Du, “2000 Kyat each.”
Li Du was taken aback at the sum. “The hell, it’s as much as half a kilogram of cooked beef?!”
Big Markelov shrugged. “I guess so.”
Brother Wolf said, “It’s true, though, that this specific species of tadpole is pretty rare. They can only survive in dark underwater cave streams and are extremely averse to light, and they’d take about one or two years to grow to this size. They’re really difficult to catch.”
Li Du snapped his fingers. “Alright, I’ll buy them.”
“All of them?”
“All of them!”
Big Markelov snickered. “The boss says you’re pretty wild and asks if you can share some of it with him. Says he’s feeling the strain of old age these days.”
Li Du rolled his eyes. “Who said I was eating them? I’m releasing them. These tadpoles are so rare and they take such a long time to grow, we should be protecting this species.”
Big Markelov looked perplexed. “Why would you release them? We might as well just eat them.”
“To accumulate good karma.” Li Du rolled his eyes again. “All you do is eat, why are you just like Godzilla?”
Godzilla, who had been munching on roast chicken while he stood aside, turned and smiled at the mention of his name, grease and happiness smeared over his face.
After they went around the entire market, Li Du said, “The locals have a decent purchasing power. This is a tiny town, so why is business going so nicely?”
Big Markelov explained, “The town might be small, but there are a lot of small villages surrounding it, and every morning the villagers come to the market. On top of that, the local eateries are raking in quite a bit since people prefer to settle their meals outside instead of cooking.”
Li Du noticed this was something that occurred in Hpakant as well. “No wonder the locals are broke, who can afford blowing all that money on restaurants all the time? They’re too lazy.”
Hpakant’s teahouses were full to the brim every day. Many of the miners were breadwinners who blew what seemed like all of their salary on food.
Big Markelov shook his head. “This is the way they live here. They have little regard for what they wear or where they live, but they do love a good meal. If they have a hundred dollars on hand, at least ninety will be spent on good food.”
As they were chatting, a few kids ran up to them. One of them had a banana in their hand, which they peeled and shook in front of Ah Bai. They chanted something, probably either showing off or teasing. Ah Bai’s lips twitched in disdain and he fished out some dried blueberries and bananas from his pocket. He shook those in front of the kids before stuffing them all into his mouth and chewing noisily, contentment written all over his face. Big Markelov burst out laughing and teased the kids in Burmese.
The kids surrounded Li Du and started shouting. He asked, “What are they shouting for?”
Big Markelov smiled. “They want you to juggle. They probably think you’re from the circus or something.”
Li Du said, “Knock it off, tell them I’m not a clown. Tell them Ah Bai is my pet and they’re not allowed to come near.”
After Big Markelov reprimanded the children, they saw how fierce he was and immediately fell silent. Just then, Ah Bai looked up and suddenly leaped down from where it was perched on Li Du’s shoulder. Quick as lightning, it climbed up to one of the children’s shoulders and pulled the bananas, mangoes, and lychees out of their pocket, stuffing them into its own pouch. After stealing the fruits, it hurriedly leaped onto Ah Ow’s back, then leaped once more to grab onto Li Du’s backpack strap and swiftly climb up to his shoulder.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye as if someone had sped up the action, and this sent the kids into a fit of screaming. Ah Bai was now perched on Li Du’s shoulder once more and he peeled a lychee to eat, squeaking in joy. Ah Bai did not forget to feed Li Du one, too.
“How loyal,” Big Markelov laughed.
Li Du laughed, too. This was the Ah Bai he knew: a glutton through and through. Showing no interest in the child’s banana was really out of character for it.
Brother Wolf said, “God, even Ah Bai has learned to play tricks. Just now when it didn’t react to the banana, it was lowering their guard.”
The lychees were fresh and sweet, and Ah Bai devoured them happily. It suddenly leaped down again to rush to another kid. The poor kid was spooked and burst into tears, though Ah Bai could not care less. It continued to run up and emptied the child’s two pockets, but there were only a few small lemons there.
Ah Bai did not know, however, how sour lemons were. After it climbed down, it tried to peel the fruit but it proved to be too difficult. In the end, it dumped the whole thing into its mouth and started chewing. Soon after, it burst into tears just like the kid did. The small lemon was just too sour, even more so than usual lemons, because they were wild lemons that the child plucked from who-knows-where!
Li Du had expected better of Ah Bai. “Serves you right, you glutton.”
He peeled the lychees he was holding and fed them to Ah Bai, who shoved them into his mouth as he continued wailing. In the end, this did little to raise its spirits. It chewed for a little while, then spat out the lychees before going back to bawling. There were a few teeth marks on the soft flesh of the lychee but it was still intact, perhaps because its teeth were already sore.
The spooked kids were still crying, so Li Du took out some snacks to try to cheer them up. At this sight, the wailing Ah Bai became even more upset. These were its snacks, after all. It scurried over to snatch the snacks even as it kept wailing. This frightened the children, who cried even louder than before.
