Chapter 150 - 149: Get Him for Me
A steady stream of people came into the house for congee—no, it was more like rice water. Still, it was free, and the villagers from Wang Family’s Hut who’d come to help fight were more than content. After everyone had drunk until they were bloated, Wang Dana and his brothers began their final pep talk.
Wang Dana held a hunting rifle, while his brothers were armed with matchlocks, axes, kitchen knives, and other makeshift weapons. He took in the scene and thought, ’We have so many guys here. Zhao Wendong will be doing well if he brings eight or ten of his hooligan friends. A crowd this big will be enough to scare him to death.’
"Alright, men of all ages! That Zhao Wendong from Dragon King Pond wants to come here and shit all over Wang Family’s Hut! If he dares show his face today, we’re gonna take him on! Don’t any of you get scared, you hear me? If they dare to swagger in here, we’ll beat the living hell out of them!"
"Zhao Wendong and his boys are coming all the way over here on foot. They’ll be so tired they could piss themselves, right? What do you call that? We’re, uh, waiting at ease for the weary... or something? We’re just waiting by the tree for the rabbit to come to us!"
"Wang Family’s Hut has never been scared of Dragon King Pond, not in all these years! You think we can’t crush Zhao Wendong? How many brothers do the Zhaos even have left now? Besides Zhao Wendong and his two brothers, that... that Zhao Ergouzi and Zhao Wenhua are fucking nobodies! They’re just kids, right?"
"Just those three think they can come shit on our doorstep? Let’s see what kind of piss-ant trouble they can stir up! That Zhao Wendong is so desperate he’s running all over the Commune for backup. How many guys can he really find? When they get here, while they’re exhausted from the walk, no second thoughts—just charge and beat the shit out of them! We’re gonna beat them half to death today! Let’s show them the power of Wang Family’s Hut, you hear me!"
Wang Dana had gotten the accountant to write the speech, and after practicing it for two days, he finally got to use it. Although he stumbled over his words, he managed to get through the entire pep talk. As he’d hoped, the morale of the Wang Family’s Hut men soared, and they started shouting in response.
"We hear you!"
"Beat the shit out of ’em!"
The crowd chimed in, though not very loudly. Many were cursing under their breath. ’That cheapskate Wang Dana. We come to fight for him and all we get is rice water? He could’ve at least sprung for some cornbread buns or something. Now we’re just bloated.’ Having drunk so much, many of them had to keep running to the side to relieve themselves.
But in truth, they were being unfair to Wang Dana. He had wanted to provide more food, but he simply didn’t have the means. Even making this rice water—it was barely congee—had consumed a significant portion of his family’s grain reserves, making his wife cry from the heartache. All Wang Dana could do was comfort her.
"Honey, it’s alright," he’d said. "As long as we win this fight, I’ll be the leader of this village. Maybe I can even run for village cadre later. Plus, we’ve kept the gun. Forget everything else, just selling this gun would fetch twenty or thirty yuan. And if I manage to hunt some game in the mountains, won’t that make up for everything?"
After much persuasion, Wang Dana had finally won his wife over and arranged for the morning’s rice-water pep talk.
While Qianjin Commune was in an uproar, a scene of total chaos, Li Guangming’s family at the county health clinic was ecstatic. Fatty Li lay in his hospital bed, grinning so wide his eyes were mere slits, his face full of eager anticipation.
"Dad, are you sure? You can really bring that Lin Zhiyin back?"
"Don’t worry, it’s foolproof. In a little while, I’m having Farm Director Qian from the Youth Farm go with me to bring her back. I’ve also called Xiaowei and told him to bring his militia squad. We’re going to bring back an educated youth from a capitalist family. You tell me, how could a plan like this possibly fail?"
"Alright, alright! I’ll be waiting, Dad. Just thinking about her face is making me feel something again."
At these words, Li Guangming’s wife was overjoyed. She hurried her husband along.
"Go on, hurry! Bring that educated youth girl back. I want to see for myself how pretty she must be to get my son so obsessed he can feel something even with his nuts crushed."
Li Guangming licked his lips and said nothing. He glanced at the time.
"I’m heading out. You stay here and watch our son."
"I know, just go!"
His wife waved a hand at him impatiently, then bellowed into the hallway.
"Nurse! Where the hell are you? My son has to use the toilet! Get in here and help him to the toilet, now!"
Li Guangming shook his head as if he hadn’t heard and walked away. On his way out, he ran into the nurse and, with a grim face, told her to hurry. His wife had been a good woman when she was younger, not like this. Her temper had only soured after he’d married the daughter of a "Jap devil." But she had contributed to his current success, and with her maternal uncle’s connections in the mix, Li Guangming put up with it.
Outside, a large truck was waiting. A line of over twenty militiamen stood in neat formation, and a man wearing a cadre’s uniform and glasses waited to the side.
"Old Qian, sorry to trouble you with this trip!"
Farm Director Qian cursed him internally. ’You sent for me and said my presence was mandatory, and now you’re giving me this bullshit?’ Outwardly, however, he replied with a smile.
"It’s no trouble, no trouble at all. The mistake was with our Youth Farm’s arrangements to begin with. You were absolutely right. An educated youth with Lin Zhiyin’s class background should never have been sent down to Dragon King Pond Village. She ought to be here in the county, assisting with your work and receiving your ideological guidance."
"Mhm!"
Li Guangming nodded, satisfied. He turned to the militia squad leader he was closest to.
"Xiaowei, thanks for coming along. Let’s move out."
"Understood! Everyone, get in the truck!"
At the squad leader Xiaowei’s command, the militiamen, armed with Type 53 rifles, swiftly boarded the truck. Farm Director Qian got into the driver’s cab with Li Guangming, and the truck roared out of the county town, bound for Qianjin Commune.
The men from Wang Family’s Hut stood outside in the wind for a while, and many of them soon found the cold unbearable. What little warmth they’d gained from the rice water was quickly stolen by the biting wind, and they started to grumble and curse.
"It’s fucking freezing, and I’m hungry again. Can we get some more of that rice water?"
"Dana, when the hell are those punks from Dragon King Pond going to show up?"
"Yeah, dammit! Maybe they heard how many of us are here and chickened out?"
"This Zhao Wendong is a joke! He’s got such a big reputation, but let’s see him try something here in Wang Family’s Hut. The men here could drown him in spit alone!"
"Hahaha, you said it."
Just as the large crowd was roaring with laughter, trashing Zhao Wendong and talking big, someone pointed in terror at the road leading into the village and shouted.
"Holy shit, look!"
Everyone whipped their heads around and saw a large truck speeding toward the village. They all looked at each other, wondering where a truck like that had come from. As it approached the crowd, the driver laid on the horn and charged straight at them without slowing down.
The men from Wang Family’s Hut, gathered in the middle of the road waiting for Zhao Wendong, froze for an instant as the truck bore down on them. Then they scattered in a panic, scrambling and falling over each other to get out of its path. It was clear the truck had no intention of slowing down; anyone who moved too slowly would be crushed to death.
It was, of course, Zhao Wendong and his men. Seeing the crowd scatter in terror, the driver, Niu Yuesheng, shot a smug, eyebrow-raised glance at Zhao Wendong, who returned a thumbs-up. Niu Yuesheng didn’t slam on the brakes until the truck was right on top of them.
The big truck slowed to a stop. Then, men began pouring out of the back, one after another. Even after waves of them had jumped down, the truck bed still looked packed, a seemingly endless, dark mass of people.
The men from Wang Family’s Hut, already having lost their nerve after being scattered by the truck, felt their morale sink even lower as they watched Zhao Wendong’s people swarm out as if from a magician’s hat. Many of them tucked the kitchen knives they were holding behind their backs. Others slung the hunting rifles they had been aiming back over their shoulders.
A couple of the more cowardly ones had already started to quietly slip away, melting into the crowd of villagers from Wang Family’s Hut who were watching from a distance. They hid among them, trying to pass as mere bystanders. ’A few bowls of Wang Dana’s rice water definitely wasn’t worth dying for!’
Wang Dana and his immediate brothers and cousins looked at each other, a cold dread creeping into their hearts. ’Fuck,’ they thought. ’We never dreamed Zhao Wendong could put on such a massive display. Bringing a whole truck full of guys to a fight is one thing, but how many damn people did he bring?’
The ones who remained still clutched their makeshift weapons. As all eyes fixed on the truck, Liangzi helped open the driver’s cab door from the outside.
Zhao Ergou and Baozhu climbed out first. Last to emerge was Zhao Wendong. In that moment, carrying a Type 56 carbine as he stepped out, he became the center of all attention. He didn’t jump down completely, instead planting his feet on the cab’s running board. He raised his hand, pointed at the pale-faced Wang Dana standing in front of his own courtyard gate, and, without a single wasted word, roared.
"Brothers, fuck him up!"