Chapter 8: Sometimes, Mountains and Rivers

"Second Sister, you must be thirsty. Here, have a glass of water."

As soon as he entered the room, Li Heng cheerfully moved a small stool for his second sister. He even thoughtfully poured her a glass of warm water. The way he scurried about made him look exactly like a bootlicker.

Seeing this, Li Jianguo and Tian Run'e exchanged bewildered glances. Where had their once cold and aloof youngest son gone? Why was he suddenly fawning over Erbao? It was truly an unprecedented sight, and highly suspicious.

In the past, there had only been ice, not warmth, between the two siblings. Li Lan was also unaccustomed to such enthusiasm from her brother, feeling entirely uneasy. She feared neither blade nor spear, but she was wary of this sudden change in her brother's temperament and his unpredictable behavior. However, she couldn't bring herself to smile just yet; she merely cast a faint glance his way, took the water, and sat on the threshold in a bold, unladylike posture.

Regarding his second daughter's fiery behavior today, Li Jianguo, a man with an inherently gentle and scholarly temperament, had wanted to have a heart-to-heart with her. Yet, he swallowed his words several times, unsure of how to phrase them. In this impoverished countryside where people were accustomed to resolving disputes with fists and curses, he, as a father, had failed to protect his children well; as a husband, he couldn't earn enough to support the family; as an intellectual, he had failed to change his fate through knowledge; and as a farmer, he lacked the necessary physical strength.

Because of this, he felt deeply guilty, often feeling that since contracting his spinal ailment, he was no different from a cripple, a burden on the household. His second daughter’s outward toughness had helped maintain the dignity of the Li family, preventing them from being bullied. In his heart, he was somewhat grateful to Erbao; Li Lan's protectiveness, to an extent, compensated for his own inaction. But as a father, he also worried; with such a strong personality, he feared her future husband's family would have a difficult time with her. It was said that harmony brings prosperity to a family, and if one spouse was too sharp-tongued or aggressive, it often led to discord and undermined family unity.

Having lived together for so many years, Tian Run'e saw through her husband's thoughts at a glance and immediately dismissed Li Jianguo: "Go help out at the Chen family's place; they can't do without you there."

"Alright." Li Jianguo ultimately couldn't bring himself to voice his anxiety and crossed the road toward the Chen household. After resting for a while, Li Lan went back out to cut pig feed.

Li Heng thought for a moment, retrieved a wood-chopping knife from the stove, tucked it into his waistband, and headed into the back hills. His father couldn't handle heavy labor, so the strenuous task of gathering firewood usually fell to his mother. In the past, he had been ignorant, and with his mother’s intentional coddling, he had always been lazy and cunning, doing less work in a year than his second sister did in a fraction of that time. Now that he had been reborn, he wanted to share the burden of the household.

Shangwan Village was located halfway up the Xuefeng Mountains, surrounded by rolling, majestic, and mysterious peaks. It is said that those who live on the mountain make a living from the mountain, and those who live by the water make a living from the water. In this day and age, everyone was poor; few could afford coal, and electricity—well, in his memory, it wouldn't arrive until next year, so that was out of the question. Cutting firewood on the mountain was a traditional skill passed down through generations; men, women, young and old, all knew a little bit of it.

Although Li Heng had been spoiled since childhood, he had followed people into the mountains dozens of times a year, so he was quite familiar with the hills within a five-mile radius. He knew exactly where the mountain springs were, which hills had wild kiwis, where to dig for kudzu roots, and which graveyards were suitable for secret trysts—he knew it all like the back of his hand. Oh! Right, I must clarify: he didn't know about the trysts firsthand; he had just stumbled upon one when he was a child. My goodness, those two were really going at it. Li Heng had been hiding behind a pine tree when he let out a sudden, loud shout. He scared the pair of "dogs" so badly they didn't even have time to pull up their pants; they scrambled away in a panic.

Regarding matters of the flesh, people often fall into a trap of thinking that this era was simple and conservative. That was not the case; it was conservative in general but open in specific pockets. To put it in layman's terms: those who were ignorant and those who were truly knowledgeable were conservative; only those with a "half-bottle of water" were unrestrained. Otherwise, why were there so many illegitimate children in this era? Take the first production team, for instance: one woman gave birth to six sons. Besides the first two, who looked like their father, the other four resembled men from their own or neighboring villages. Who could you even complain to about that? It was because entertainment was scarce, and with the opening-up policy introducing many things that challenged traditional values, people found the matters of the bed to be a popular topic, and some couldn't keep their pants on, choosing to take risks.

The Li family was lucky. When the mountains were divided a few years back, they drew a winning lot and claimed the back hill, which was nearby and dense with trees, making the rest of the villagers green with envy. And so, they had been secretly hauling firewood home from that back hill. They didn't dare cut down the valuable timber—the noise would be too great with so many people living nearby, and they would be easily discovered.

Li Heng hadn't even gone 150 meters into the mountain when he encountered a wild rabbit. It was brownish-gray, plump, and, by his estimate, weighed at least four pounds. Normally, running into pheasants and rabbits in the mountains was common—this was the famous Xuefeng Mountain, after all—so it was nothing to be surprised about. But what was annoying was that this rabbit actually seemed to look down on him. Even though he had walked to within five meters, the creature was still wiggling its butt, digging a hole with its head buried in the dirt, its short little legs constantly kicking out loose soil. It was unbelievable.

Damn it! Flesh and blood could only take so much. Feeling his dignity offended, Li Heng transformed into "Little Li the Flying Dagger." With a *biu* sound, he hurled the wood-chopping knife. He hadn't held much hope, just doing it for fun. But... well, good heavens! Perhaps it was beginner's luck, or perhaps the heavens felt he had lived too cowardly since his rebirth and it was time for him to eat meat—it struck the rabbit squarely in the hind leg.

The rabbit let out a sharp cry and scrambled to flee, but with its right hind leg injured, it couldn't run fast. Without a second thought, he picked up the knife and gave chase. After pursuing it for a little over 300 meters, the rabbit tripped over a ridge and tumbled into a ditch, squealing. Li Heng caught it on the spot.

"Let's see you run now! Thinking you're so smart!" He muttered, "I've eaten more salt than you've eaten grass; you think you can outrun me?" He reached out and squeezed it all over, immediately beaming with joy. It was packed with meat, surprisingly fat.

*Clang! Clang! Clang...*

Just as he was happily looking for a vine to tie up the rabbit, the sound of chopping came from the other side of the mountain—fast and rhythmic. Damn it, who was stealing the Li family's trees again? Full of suspicion, Li Heng quietly followed the sound. Before long, he spotted the culprit.

Crouching behind a cluster of brush, he couldn't help but chuckle when he saw the girl with the ponytail hacking away with all her might. Wasn't this his old classmate, Yang Yingwen? She had hair cut to her ears, a face as round as an apple, and was quite tall—at least 165 centimeters. She wore an old set of blue work clothes and a pair of tattered "Liberation" shoes; her feet looked to be at least a size 40.

As for his entanglements with this girl in his previous life, a whole book wouldn't be enough to write them all down.