Year 1979: Eating meat with my wife and children

Li Xiangdong grabbed a cigarette, randomly approached someone, and immediately found out where Wang Erkui lived.

He thought Wang Erkui was a celebrity in the town, but after asking around, he learned that Wang Erkui had only become famous in the last two days.

The reason was that Qin Liu and his gang came to Wang Erkui's house, and then Wang Erkui's mother went out and called out, and a group of burly, tall and short farm men came running over.

Some of them carried hoes, some held kitchen knives, and some carried sticks; they were all different.

However, what they all had in common was that these twenty-odd people were all Wang Erkui's cousins.

That battle was fierce and chaotic. Wang Erkui's side was completely unharmed, but Qin Liu and his men were in a terrible state. If the militia hadn't come with guns, they probably wouldn't have been able to leave unscathed.

That's how it is in rural areas nowadays: if one person gets into a fight, the whole family gets involved; if it's a serious fight, the whole village gets involved.

This is one of the important reasons why guns were banned in later generations.

The most representative example is the armed conflict between two villages in 1993, which some have called the Chinese version of the '9/11' attacks.

The two villages together had a total of five thousand people. They openly confronted each other with vehicles and horses, and used everything they could, including guns, cannons, explosives, grenades, and detonators.

In addition, due to the times, all the village cadres and elderly people had received basic military education.

The two villages clashed, employing various tactics with great skill. In the end, it was only after the deployment of armed police and the throwing of large quantities of tear gas that the fighting was brought under control.

The battle in which Wang Erkui quelled Qin Liu was also quite well-documented. Wang Erkui's father stood on the rooftop and directed the operation remotely, while Wang Erkui's mother waved flags and shouted encouragement, occasionally throwing in a clod of dirt.

Qin Liu and his gang didn't even manage to touch Wang Erkui's clothes before he collapsed to the ground, unable to get up.

"Awesome!"

Listening to the villager's vivid description, Li Xiangdong felt as if he were there himself, and couldn't help but exclaim in admiration.

In his delight, he gave the villager who had been telling him the story a cigarette. The villager was also very happy, since he had gone to so much trouble just to get a little more benefit from the story.

The villagers, cigarettes tucked behind their ears, happily shouldered their hoes and went to work in the fields. Li Xiangdong was also pleased that he had eliminated the potential threat that Qin Liu and his gang might pose to him.

He hadn't expected to find out Wang Erkui's address so easily, so he waved to Hou San, who was not far away, signaling them to come over.

When the donkey cart slowly approached, Li Xiangdong jumped on and directed Uncle Zheng, who was driving, to head towards Wang Erkui's house.

A Zhe asked curiously, "Dongzi, you found out by just asking anyone?"

"It's quite a coincidence."

Li Xiangdong smiled and recounted the story he had just heard.

"so amazing!"

Hou San's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

After hearing this, A Zhe sighed, "It's good to have more brothers, unlike me, my parents only gave birth to me."

Li Xiangdong glanced at him sideways, thinking to himself, "Your father gave birth to one child, but your mother didn't. You actually have several blue-eyed brothers and sisters."

Ah Zhe felt uneasy under Li Xiangdong's gaze. "Dongzi, why are you looking at me like that?"

"It's okay, we've arrived, get off the bus."

The donkey cart stopped in front of an adobe house. Li Xiangdong jumped off the cart and saw Wang Erkui sitting in the yard picking his toes.

"Brother Erkui~!"

"Brother Dong! I thought you couldn't find my house."

Wang Erkui, who was picking his toes, heard a friendly and familiar voice. He looked up and saw Li Xiangdong, then quickly put his toes down, got up and walked over.

Seeing that he wanted to shake hands, Li Xiangdong raised his arm and put it on his shoulder. "Your home is easy to find now. You're famous now. Anyone can ask around and find out."

"Hehe, Dong-ge, you've heard too? It's because Qin Liu and his gang of bastards came looking for me. If they dare to come, I'll definitely beat them to death!"

"You have brothers, but Qin Liu and his group don't? Won't this situation escalate?"

"It's alright, Dong-ge. I'm not afraid of them no matter how many there are. If they come again, we'll just trap them and beat them to a pulp. Anyway, with you here to collect the crickets, Dong-ge, I don't need to go to the county anymore. Who's afraid of who!"

The two were chatting when Hou San and A Zhe walked in.

"Wang Erkui".

"Brother Erkui."

"You are all here."

Wang Erkui was delighted to see acquaintances and went up to shake hands with Hou San and A Zhe.

The entrance was too narrow for the donkey cart to get in, so Wang Erkui helped Hou San and A Zhe carry things from the donkey cart into the yard.

Uncle Zheng asked Wang Erkui for a water bucket, and he watered the donkey at the door.

Li Xiangdong looked at the farmhouse in front of him and asked, "Er Kui, isn't my Uncle Wang here?"

"My dad went to work in the fields, and my mom is at home."

As Wang Erkui spoke, he called out into the house, "Mother, is the water ready? Our guests have arrived."

When Li Xiangdong and the other two saw Wang Erkui's mother come out, they greeted her.

"Aunt Wang, please wait a moment."

Li Xiangdong walked over and handed over an oil paper package from his satchel.

Aunt Wang smelled it delicious. "What is this?"

Li Xiangdong explained, "This is the braised chicken we brought. Please have a taste with my Uncle Wang."

"Okay, okay, thank you."

Aunt Wang was very straightforward and didn't say anything to refuse. She was the kind of person who dared to throw clods of dirt when fighting.

Wang Erkui, who was standing nearby, was even happier and quickly poured water for Li Xiangdong and the other two.

"Er Kui, we can't delay this time, it will take a lot of time to get back. Have you prepared the crickets we agreed on?"

"I'm ready, I'll go call for help right away."

After Wang Erkui finished speaking, he quickly ran out.

Before long, the courtyard was crowded with people, all of whom were Wang Erkui's close relatives and lived together. Otherwise, when Qin Liu and his group came to visit, Aunt Wang wouldn't have had to go out and call out to summon all of Wang Erkui's cousins.

Hou San and A Zhe had already collected crickets once. Although they couldn't distinguish between good and bad crickets yet, they could still help stuff them with cotton.

Aunt Wang was also assigned by Li Xiangdong to help cut cucumber strips. He didn't work for free; he had made it clear beforehand that he would give Aunt Wang an extra 5 cents when settling the bill, in addition to the cucumbers from Wang Erkui's family and Aunt Wang's labor.

This made Aunt Wang extremely happy. She, a rural woman, had never earned so much money before, and she happily helped with the chores.

Li Xiangdong was completely focused on inspecting the quality of each cricket. He was much more efficient than Cricket Sun, and his speed was very fast, although it was a bit hard on his eyes.

They went from house to house, collecting money from each one and settling accounts with them. The money couldn't all go to Wang Erkui in the end; he couldn't do the math.

"All done!"

Li Xiangdong stretched his back and got up to move his arms and neck.

Only the three of them and Wang Erkui and his mother were left in the courtyard. He checked the time; it was just past ten o'clock.

"Aunt Wang, Brother Er Kui, we should be leaving now that we've finished collecting the crickets. We'll come back again on the 30th of this month."

"Yes, Brother Dong, I will explain it to my relatives."

The crickets Wang Erkui sold this time, plus the extra 5 cents Li Xiangdong promised to give, totaled exactly fifteen yuan.

Wang Erkui could still count fifteen yuan clearly. After counting the money, he handed it to his mother and then started helping Li Xiangdong and the others lift sacks onto the donkey cart.

"Brother Dong, I'll be waiting for you at home next time."

"Alright, we're leaving now, you can go back too."