Chapter 3

Chapter 3: I’ve Got an Early Class! Go Buy Bai Shazi Some Sunflower Seeds! On the western edge of Dahe Village, beside a half-height stretch of abandoned earthen wall, a crowd of idle layabouts squatted on the ground, cracking sunflower seeds and bursting into laughter. In the middle of them, a burly man nearly six foot three was clutching his head with both hands and rolling back and forth on the ground. A sharp-faced young man stood nearby, holding a handful of sunflower seeds and shouting, “Do another one! That was a good roll. Big Brother’ll buy you sunflower seeds!” The young man was Li Ergou, a notorious loafer in the village. “Really, Big Brother?” The man on the ground stopped rolling and lifted a face smeared with mud. His eyes were clear, and there was a childlike innocence in them that didn’t match his build. Li Ergou spat out a sunflower seed shell. “Really! Hurry up and roll!” At those words, the big man immediately threw himself back down and started rolling again. Zhang Xiangyang watched from a dozen or so paces away, his expression turning cold. The man rolling on the ground was Bai Tiejun. His father and Zhang Xiangyang’s late father had served together, rifles on their shoulders. Zhang Xiangyang had played with Bai Shazi since they were little. He might have been dim-witted, but the guy was freakishly strong. In his previous life, whenever Zhang Xiangyang got into a fight, Bai Shazi would come charging in with a brick. If Zhang Xiangyang hadn’t later developed a gambling addiction, and Bai Dad hadn’t feared he might use the fool to do something utterly unconscionable, maybe the two of them would still be playing together now. “Damn it! I’m gone for two years, and this is how you treat my brother?” Zhang Xiangyang spat out the foxtail grass he’d been chewing and strode over. He bent down, grabbed Bai Shazi by the back of his collar, and lifted with one arm, hoisting the nearly 180-pound man clean off the ground. Bai Shazi had been rolling with gusto. Suddenly finding himself airborne, he looked dazed. Then he turned and saw Zhang Xiangyang, and immediately broke into an ingratiating smile. “Brother Xiangyang!” Zhang Xiangyang brushed the dried grass from Bai Shazi’s head, turned around, and slapped Li Ergou across the face. Smack! Li Ergou spun halfway around on the spot. A fierce glint flashed in Zhang Xiangyang’s eyes. “Fuck you! Go buy Bai Shazi some sunflower seeds!” Li Ergou clutched his face, his head ringing. He looked up at Zhang Xiangyang, aggrieved and confused. “Brother Xiangyang, what the hell? I was just messing around with the fool.” Zhang Xiangyang stepped toward him. “He’s already a fool, and you still have to fucking mess with him?” Li Ergou wasn’t convinced. He swallowed and argued, “Isn’t that what fools are for?” Zhang Xiangyang raised his foot and kicked Li Ergou square in the chest. “Fuck you! Isn’t a fool a person? Didn’t his parents raise him? Just because he’s a fool, that means he deserves to be your fucking entertainment?” Li Ergou shuddered. He knew Zhang Xiangyang too well. He was a hard man with a ruthless streak. Word was, he’d even sold his own daughter to gamble just yesterday. A bastard who cared nothing for his own family could easily kill Li Ergou on the spot once he got worked up. Li Ergou quickly lowered his head, clasped his hands, and bowed repeatedly. “Brother Xiangyang, I was wrong! I was wrong! I’ll go buy the sunflower seeds right now!” Without even brushing the dirt off himself, he scrambled to his feet and ran toward the eastern end of the village. Zhang Xiangyang turned and swept his gaze over the group of layabouts beneath the earthen wall. They’d often joined Li Ergou in bullying Bai Shazi. Now that they met Zhang Xiangyang’s eyes, every one of them stared down at his own toes, too scared even to breathe loudly. Zhang Xiangyang gave a cold laugh and pointed at them. “What the fuck is wrong with you people? Picking on the weak, chasing after women, tormenting lunatics, fucking with fools—is there anything you won’t do?” The crowd fell silent. Nobody dared answer. Zhang Xiangyang raised his voice. “From now on, anyone who dares bully Bai Shazi again—listen up—I’ll chop every last one of you to pieces!” “Get the hell out of here!” His roar sent the layabouts scattering like startled birds, as if they’d just been granted a reprieve. In the blink of an eye, only Zhang Xiangyang and Bai Shazi remained beneath the wall. Bai Shazi stood off to the side. He didn’t seem to understand what had just happened and simply stared blankly at Zhang Xiangyang. “Brother Xiangyang, why’d you hit Ergou? Now he won’t buy me sunflower seeds.” Bai Shazi sounded hurt. Zhang Xiangyang sighed and brushed the dust from Bai Shazi’s clothes. “From now on, if anyone tells you to roll around on the ground, don’t do it. Got that?” Bai Shazi scratched his head. “But you get food for rolling.” Looking at Bai Shazi’s simple, guileless expression, Zhang Xiangyang felt a pang in his heart. Before his father died, he’d said that his comrade had been lucky enough to have a child late in life, and it hadn’t been easy. He’d asked Zhang Xiangyang to look after the man’s family. But the previous Zhang Xiangyang… Ah, never mind. He patted Bai Shazi’s broad shoulder and said earnestly, “Your big brother’s turned over a new leaf. Stick with me from now on, and I’ll make sure you get meat.” “Really?!” Zhang Xiangyang didn’t waste words. He beckoned. “Come on. Let’s go up the mountain and haul back some meat.” At the mention of meat, Bai Shazi’s eyes lit up. Grinning from ear to ear, he trotted along right behind Zhang Xiangyang. Halfway up the mountain, the smell of blood still lingered. When Bai Shazi saw the huge, dark shape on the ground, he jumped in fright. “Brother Xiangyang, th-that pig is huge. It won’t bite, will it?” “It’s dead. How the hell’s it going to bite you?” Zhang Xiangyang went over and tested the weight by grabbing one of the wild boar’s hind legs. It was heavy, all right. “Tiejun, come give me a hand.” “Okay.” Bai Shazi went over and wrapped both arms around the boar’s front legs. “Hyah!” With a low grunt, he lifted the front half of the boar clean off the ground. Zhang Xiangyang was inwardly astonished. With strength like that, it was a shame he wasn’t training for weightlifting. They threaded a wooden pole through the boar’s legs and carried it between them, one at each end. The mountain path was rough, and the weight dug painfully into Zhang Xiangyang’s shoulder. Bai Shazi, walking in front, seemed not to feel a thing; he strode along briskly. Zhang Xiangyang didn’t head straight home. He carried the boar to Bai Shazi’s house. The Bai family lived at the western end of the village. Half their courtyard wall had collapsed, and the place looked even more dilapidated than Zhang Xiangyang’s home. Zhang Xiangyang tossed the boar into the yard. It landed with a heavy thud. At the doorway of the main room, Bai Baoguo was perched on the threshold, playing a game with his wife in which they counted their toes. At the noise, he raised his eyelids. He took one look, and his expression froze. Bai Baoguo, Bai Shazi’s father, had once been a renowned hunter, just like Zhang Xiangyang’s father. He stood up and hurried over to the boar, circling it twice. Then he crouched down and touched the bullet hole in its neck. “One shot, clean kill. Right behind the ear.” Bai Baoguo looked up and fixed Zhang Xiangyang with a sharp gaze. “You shot it?” “Uncle Bai.” Zhang Xiangyang offered him a cigarette. “I got lucky. Blind cat caught a dead rat.” Bai Baoguo didn’t take it. Suspicion showed in his eyes. Zhang Xiangyang’s reputation in the village had long since gone to hell. Word that he’d sold his daughter to get gambling money had spread through the village that very morning. Bai Baoguo might have been poor, but he knew how to see through people. “Why’d you bring this thing to my house?” His voice was curt. “I don’t have any money to lend you so you can win back your losses.” When Bai Baoguo refused the cigarette, Zhang Xiangyang gave an awkward grin and put it away. “Uncle Bai, I’m done gambling.” Zhang Xiangyang met Bai Baoguo’s eyes. “I can’t handle this boar by myself. If I butcher it wrong, it won’t fetch a good price. You’re an old hand at this, so I was hoping you’d help me cut it up…” Bai Baoguo sneered. “Hmph. A dog can’t change its spots. If you were capable of turning your life around, Zhang Xiangyang, your father wouldn’t have been angered to death. Take that thing away. Don’t dirty my yard.” When Bai Shazi saw his father driving Zhang Xiangyang away, he panicked and tugged at Bai Baoguo’s sleeve. “Dad, Brother Xiangyang said he’d give me meat! Don’t make him leave!” “Get out of the way!” Bai Baoguo shook off his son’s hand and glared at Zhang Xiangyang. “Why are you deceiving this fool again?” Zhang Xiangyang wasn’t angry. If he’d been dealing with the previous Zhang Xiangyang, he would have treated him even worse. “Uncle Bai, my father died early. Before he passed, he asked me to look after Tiejun.” Zhang Xiangyang’s eyes reddened, his face full of remorse. “I used to be a bastard. I wasn’t fit to be called a person. Please help me butcher this boar today. Keep twenty pounds of the good meat for yourself. I’ll take the rest to sell. There are several mouths at home waiting for rice, and if you really don’t trust me, my whole family will starve.” When he finished, Zhang Xiangyang bent down to grab the boar’s leg. Bai Baoguo watched him. There was something different about the look in the young man’s eyes. The old shiftiness and shifty-eyed air were gone, replaced by a steadiness he couldn’t quite put his finger on. Besides, the boar was real meat. They hadn’t smelled wild game in the village for nearly half a year. Tiejun was always complaining he was hungry, and the little cornmeal they had at home wasn’t enough to fill the fool’s belly. “Wait.” Bai Baoguo spoke up. “Ten pounds of meat, plus the offal,” he offered. Zhang Xiangyang smiled. “The offal doesn’t count. I said twenty pounds of good meat, and twenty pounds it is.”