The first time in history

The tall man said, "We are going back to the village."

"Okay then, I'll go back to the village with you."

These two hooligans were from neighboring villages. The tall one was called Yang Miao and the short one was called Er Xiao Er. They often bullied their neighbors, a typical example of the weak bullying the strong.

The second child knew that Qian Mingduo's neighbor was a stranger and was alone. He thought of prying open her door bolt at night to take advantage of her. Unexpectedly, Qian Mingduo threw a stone at him and he ran away, so he called Yang Miao for help.

"Mr. Lu, you are guarding this foreign girl. Have you taken advantage of her?" The second boy asked, "I heard that the girl is very beautiful."

"Who told you that?" Qian Mingduo asked.

The second boy became excited, "That young lady has lived here for almost a year and never goes out during the day. Han Jiang from the old Han family in your village would usually buy some things for her, and the lady would always give her more money, so Han Jiang was happy to help her and would extort money from the young lady every now and then."

"Scholar, do you have no connection with that woman?" Yang Miao asked.

"Humph!" Qian Mingduo said, "That lady can't be seen during the day, and even if she occasionally runs into me, she won't talk to me."

As they talked, they came to Erxiaoer's home. It was a large yard with two adobe and thatched houses. There were only two rotten wooden benches in the main room, and a pile of blackened quilts on the kang in the inner room.

The second child added some water to the pot and lit it with a handful of thin dry branches. When the fire-resistant pot was slightly hot, several people sat on the kang and chatted.

"Scholar, how come you suddenly become different?" Yang Miao asked.

"Why am I different from before?" Qian Mingduo sat on the edge of the kang. He couldn't stand the smell in the room.

"You turned out to be a good person. Anyone in the surrounding area can bully you..." The short man quickly tried to smooth things over, "You are a good person, a good person."

Qian Mingduo pretended to be mysterious and said, "I had a dream. In the dream, an old immortal with a white beard taught me martial arts and told me that after I learned it, no one would dare to bully me anymore."

"Have you learned it?" asked the second child.

Qian Ming looked at Yang Miao more.

"It seems that you have learned it." Yang Miao scratched his head, "After you finished your dream, did you know this martial art when you woke up?"

Qian Mingduo nodded and said, "What the old immortal taught me are real martial arts for fighting on the battlefield. I didn't use them on you just now. If I really used them to fight on the battlefield, hehehe..."

"What else did the old immortal teach you?"

"And taught me a lot of knowledge?"

"What is knowledge?" Yang Miao asked.

"Things that happened hundreds of years in the future and hundreds of years in the past." Qian Mingduo told the two that Emperor Gaozong of Song was going to rebuild the imperial palace in Lin'an and would move the capital from Yingtian Prefecture to Lin'an in ten years.

I also told them that there would be nine emperors in the Southern Song Dynasty, which would last for 152 years. After that, there would be the Yuan Dynasty, the Ming Dynasty...

The two of them listened to it as if it were a mystery. Before they knew it, the sun had set.

Erxiaoer got a chicken from somewhere, and Yang Miao brought two jars of wine. While eating the half-cooked chicken and drinking the sour wine, Qian Mingduo started talking a lot about modern society.

For example, mobile phones, televisions, airplanes...

The drinking continued until dawn, and when Qian Mingduo left Er Xiaoer's house, Yang Miao and Er Xiaoer had already regarded him as a god.

Qian Mingduo returned home feeling dizzy and walked to the river. He washed his face, and the clear river water instantly sobered him up.

Although the weather was a little cold at dawn, he still lay down under the willow tree by the river and watched the waning moon that was about to set in the west.

There was a creaky sound of the gate opening, and a slender figure carrying a small wooden bucket walked slowly to the river.

After emptying the barrel, she rinsed it carefully again. Then she turned around and walked back slowly. Qian Mingduo was in the bushes very close to her, watching the woman silently.

Soon she came to the river carrying a slightly larger wooden barrel and scooped water into the barrel little by little with the gourd ladle in her hand.

The corners of her mouth were slightly raised with a faint smile, as if she was enjoying the tranquility of the early morning. Although the action of scooping water was simple, it was full of tenderness in Qian Mingduo's eyes.

"Why did you get up so early?" Qian Mingduo got up from the bushes. "It's not even bright yet!"

The woman was frightened and the gourd in her hand fell into the river. She stood up quickly and asked, "Who are you?"

"Your dear neighbor." Qian Mingduo smiled.

"You scared me!" the woman said, touching her chest. "Why are you lying here if you don't want to go home?"

Qian Mingduo lay down again, "Where will I go when I wake up from my drunken stupor? Will I go to the willow bank, with the morning breeze and the waning moon?"

"Good words!" the woman said softly. She then sighed, "You scared the water scoop away, and I can't scoop any water!" After she finished speaking, she walked back with half a bucket of water.

"Wait a minute." Qian Mingduo walked to the woman, took the bucket from her, walked to the river, dipped the bucket in the river, and filled it with water. He didn't say anything when he passed by the woman, but just walked towards her home.

The woman followed Qian Mingduo silently, watching him enter her yard, and then watching him walk to the stone steps in front of the house. She was about to stop Qian Mingduo from entering her house, but unexpectedly, Qian Mingduo put the bucket on the stone steps, turned around and left.

After returning to his home, Qian Mingduo, who had not slept all night, fell asleep immediately. At noon, Qian Mingduo was awakened by the sound of "ding-dong-dong" in the yard. He looked through the window and saw several people repairing his yard gate.

Without thinking, he fell asleep again. "Whoever helps me fix the door, I'll continue sleeping!" He slept until dusk. Standing on the stone steps and looking at the sunset in the sky, Qian Mingduo stretched lazily.

"Can you do me a favor?" the woman said softly, standing by the partition wall.

Qian Mingduo glanced at him from the side and asked, "What can I do for you?"

The woman took out a stack of copper coins and put them on the wall. "I have no candles at home. I would like to ask you to go to the city to buy some for me."

"Hasn't Han Jiang been buying things for you?"

"She went back to her parents' home these two days." The woman said lightly.

Qian Mingduo walked to the partition wall and asked, "What else do you want besides candles?"

"Candles are made of beeswax and don't have smoke. Well... let's buy a few more pounds of persimmons." The woman said with a faint smile.

"Is this a waste of time?" Qian Mingduo said, and then he walked to the persimmon tree and knocked down a dozen of them. He then held them out with his front, "No need to buy. If you want to eat, just tell me and eat as much as you want."

The woman did not take the bamboo plate. She thought about it, then lifted up her clothes and put all the persimmons in it like Qian Mingduo did.

The moment she lifted her skirt, Qian Mingduo saw her belly, which looked snow-white against the gray-black clothes.

"I'll go to the city to buy it for you tomorrow morning." Qian Mingduo said as he turned to leave.

"You can also count the money for the persimmons!"

Qian Mingduo stopped and looked back, only to see the woman flash by and go back into the house.

Qian Mingduo slowly walked around the courtyard and saw that the gate had been repaired. He looked up and saw that the candles were lit in the woman's room again, and the window paper was still as beautiful as before.