Returning to the 1960s: Starting with Digging for Fo-ti

“Xiuyun, open the door! Your cousin doesn’t mean any harm. I just want to see you!”

Zhang Desheng yelled at the top of his lungs and kept banging on the shaky wooden door.

Inside, Liu Xiuyun had already moved to the inner room and pretended not to hear his shouting.

Liu Xiuyun was not stupid. She was sharp and sensible. Having received an education, she could easily see through Zhang Desheng’s intentions.

To her, Zhang Desheng was no longer a childhood playmate. He made her feel sick now.

Du Jianguo let out a long sigh of relief in his heart. Fortunately, his wife was not the type to abandon the poor for wealth.

If she had truly disregarded ethics and family responsibility, she could have easily gone with Zhang Desheng to live a life of luxury. But she did not.

This meant that even if she held some resentment toward him, she still stood by his side. Her actions spoke louder than her words.

Thinking of this, Du Jianguo felt his confidence grow.

He shouted at the door, “Save your breath, Zhang Desheng! My wife isn’t falling for your tricks. Stay away from our house from now on!”

Zhang Desheng paused outside the door. Recognizing Du Jianguo’s voice, he suddenly flew into a rage.

He banged on the door even harder. The sound was so loud it made their ears ring.

He roared, “Du Jianguo, how dare you lecture me? Do you think you’re someone special? I haven’t reported you for embezzling public property yet, and that is already showing you a favor. Now you dare to argue with me?”

In Zhang Desheng’s eyes, Du Jianguo was always a farmer who could be easily bullied.

Now that he was seeing Liu Xiuyun, and Du Jianguo dared to interfere, it was perfect. He had found a punching bag.

Zhang Desheng, in a fury, continued to bang on the door, “Du Jianguo, if you have any guts, open the door! I’m going to…”

Before he could finish, the wooden door suddenly creaked and swung open violently.

Zhang Desheng was not prepared and was hit squarely, falling to the ground with a thud and landing on his bottom.

“Ouch, damn it! You really dare to open it?” he yelled, holding his aching bottom. When he looked up, he saw Du Jianguo staring at him coldly. There was not a trace of warmth in his eyes.

Zhang Desheng opened his mouth to curse, but the words stuck in his throat. He suddenly realized that he was alone. If things escalated, he would not have the upper hand.

He had seen Du Jianguo’s brute strength earlier. The ferocity he showed when beating Li Ergou that morning was still fresh in his mind. Zhang Desheng had delicate skin. If Du Jianguo punched him, he would be broken into pieces.

He swallowed hard, forced himself to stand up, and changed his tone completely, “Du Jianguo, I have a huge favor to discuss with you.”

Du Jianguo narrowed his eyes. His tone remained flat, “What favor? Speak.”

Zhang Desheng took a deep breath as if he were offering a great gift. “As long as you divorce Liu Xiuyun and have nothing to do with her from now on, I guarantee that no one in Xiaoan Village will dare to touch a single finger of yours. Not only that, I can make you my subordinate so you can eat and drink with me.”

Du Jianguo looked at him in disbelief, raising an eyebrow as he asked, “Are you serious?”

Zhang Desheng did not catch the sarcasm in his tone. Instead, he puffed out his chest and nodded, “Of course. I have the confidence! Don’t you see that I am an stationed cadre? Even the village head gives me some respect.”

“With me looking out for you, how could anyone bully you? How about it? Think about it carefully. I know you are usually cowardly and always bullied. You wouldn’t refuse such a good opportunity, would you?”

“You have nothing to lose. You won’t even have to support your wife anymore. Of course, you can keep the child. I just don’t want Xiuyun to have a burden when we get together.”

As soon as Zhang Desheng finished speaking, Du Jianguo could no longer hold back.

He had been boiling with anger for a while. He raised his fist and landed a solid blow on Zhang Desheng’s cheek.

Zhang Desheng was still spitting out nonsense when he suddenly felt a massive impact hit his face. A tooth flew out of his mouth with a click.

Coming to his senses, Zhang Desheng clutched his bleeding mouth and wailed in pain, “Damn it! Du Jianguo, you really don’t want to live anymore?”

He stared at Du Jianguo with hatred, pointing a shaking finger at him, “You are finished! How dare you hit me? I will definitely kill you! What are you? You are worse than a pig or a dog in Xiao An Village!”

“Go ahead,” Du Jianguo said calmly, showing no fear at all. “Do you think I am afraid of you? You want to recruit me as your subordinate? Take a good look at yourself.”

He spat on the ground in disgust and turned to close the door. “If you dare knock on my door again, I will twist your head off!”

After saying those harsh words, the wooden door slammed shut. Du Jianguo walked straight back into the house.

Outside, Zhang Desheng turned pale with rage. His hand, which had been raised to knock on the door again, froze in mid-air. Suddenly, Du Jianguo’s fierce look from moments ago flashed in his mind.

He hesitated for a long time before finally losing his nerve. He muttered to himself, “Forget it. Why bother arguing with this kind of person!”

But he could not just swallow this grievance. He had to vent somewhere.

Half an hour later,

Slap!

Zhang Desheng slapped Li Ergou hard on the face.

Li Ergou held his burning cheek, looking full of grievance, “Leader, why are you hitting me again?”

“I’m in a bad mood, does it matter if I hit you?” Zhang Desheng rolled his eyes at him impatiently. “Did you arrange the matter I told you about?”

Hearing this, Li Ergou immediately nodded and bowed his head, “Rest assured! Everything is arranged! Liu Chun’an is the village head’s son. His family has plenty of coupons. These few days of gambling, he will definitely spill all his assets!”

 

-Woosh

The sharp whistle of an arrow cut through the air and struck a wild pigeon. The birds in the forest scattered in panic, while the wounded pigeon fell straight down.

“Da Huang!”

Du Jianguo shouted. The borrowed hunting dog immediately responded with a happy bark and sprinted toward the prey. Soon, it trotted back wagging its tail, gently placing the wild pigeon in Du Jianguo’s hand.

“I finally got my archery skills back!” Du Jianguo said with a smile.

These past days, he had not been idle. He practiced every day in the forest. He had mapped out several wild fields where many valuable wild animals lived.

More importantly, his archery skills were now almost on par with his previous life.

How could a good hunter lack a skilled hand with a bow?

Du Jianguo felt happy. He hummed a tune as he walked home with the pigeon, planning to make a delicious pigeon soup for his wife.

But when he arrived at the village entrance, he heard a noisy commotion. A crowd of villagers had gathered in a circle, watching something.

“What is going on?”

Du Jianguo curiously pushed through the crowd and saw two familiar faces: Liu Chun’an and his father, Liu Chang’an.

At this moment, Liu Chang’an was holding a whip and furiously whipping Liu Chun’an, who was hanging from a tree.

The scene looked as if he were trying to beat him to death.