Chapter 1: Awakening
"Third Brother, Third Brother, don't hit my Third Brother, woo woo woo..."
In a daze, Su Yu woke up, only to see a seven or eight-year-old girl lying on him, crying and shouting something.
"What's going on? Where is this? Wait..."
In an instant, Su Yu remembered. The little girl in his arms seemed to be his Xiao Mei, and he also remembered the people in front of him. His memory seemed to have revived; he remembered everything. But how did he return to the past?
"Is this a dream? But... it's too real."
He touched the back of his head and felt a hand full of blood. Looking up again, he saw several half-grown boys staring at him aggressively. However, they didn't continue to hit him, not because they didn't want to, but because the Village people stopped them.
"Third Brother, are you okay?"
"Third Brother is fine, don't be scared."
Whether it was a dream or not, Su Yu wouldn't allow his Xiao Mei to cry so sadly. Moreover, he was very familiar with the scene before him; he had just forgotten it for a moment due to his chaotic memory, but now he remembered.
This was the early 1970s, San Shui Wan Village, and he had grown up in Sanshui Bay.
The matter was not complicated. Sanshui Bay was close to Dasan, so there was only a small river. The river water was divided into upper and lower reaches. The lower reach was Sanshui Bay, and the upper reach was the neighboring Ma Family Village. Water was scarce here, and there was only one well for the two Villages to use, which was often not enough. This small river became the second option.
But Ma Family Village was upstream, and some people were unethical, often urinating into it. People downstream would use it without knowing. However, if you ask why they were so unethical, it was naturally because of that well. After all, the two Villages used it and often argued over queuing, so the half-grown children from both Villages were influenced by the adults and often fought.
Today, Su Yu had come to fetch water and was provoked by several half-grown children from the neighboring Ma Family Village. Su Yu was only nineteen years old; the young man couldn't suppress his temper at all, so they started fighting.
"Which son of a bitch bullied my Yu Ge? Do you all want to die?"
As he spoke, a young man who was one meter seventy-eight tall walked over, holding a shovel. Facing the four or five boys from Ma Family Village, he wasn't intimidated at all and was about to charge forward directly, but he was still stopped.
"Hu Zi, stop messing around. Aren't you afraid of making things worse?"
Two people immediately grabbed Hu Zi, preventing him from moving. At this point, Su Yu couldn't pretend not to see. Regardless of whether everything he saw was a dream or not, it was too damn real; he couldn't just stand here in a daze.
Su Yu stood up, patted his Xiao Mei's head, and walked over.
Su Yu was one year older than Hu Zi. Hu Zi was only eighteen, while Su Yu was already nineteen. He was also taller than Hu Zi, a full one meter eighty-five. At this age of not having enough to eat or wear, he was definitely considered tall.
The only mismatch was that he was incredibly thin. Despite being over one meter eighty, he didn't have much flesh on him, like a bamboo pole, which was very normal in this era.
"Su Yu, calm down. They bullied you, and we are in the right. But if you injure someone, it becomes mutual combat, and the nature of the matter changes."
The one holding him back was from the same Village's production team, and also a member of the same clan, also surnamed Su, named Su Dehai, thirty-two years old. He was the backbone of the production team, and just now, he had brought several adults to maintain order, which was why the few from the neighboring Village didn't continue to hit him.
"That's right, calm down. Someone has already gone to inform the Village Chief. Let the Village Secretary handle it. Don't worry, our Old Su Family won't let anyone bully us for nothing."
Sanshui Bay wasn't large, with just over three hundred people, but those surnamed Su accounted for half, making them a strong force. Even the Village Chief was surnamed Su.
"Uncle Dehai, it's okay, I won't be impulsive."
Patting Uncle Dehai's arm, he walked up to the group of people and pulled Hu Zi back. Hu Zi's name was Su Xiaohu; he was Su Yu's childhood friend. The two got along quite well. Although they weren't biological Brother, their ancestors were considered one family; simply put, they were within five generations of kinship.
He pulled Hu Zi behind him and then glanced at the four people opposite.
"Lai San, it seems I haven't offended you. Why did you suddenly provoke me today?"
He had wanted to ask this question in his previous life. Although there were many frictions between the two Villages, they weren't major issues. The Village Chief of both Villages often met. There were only occasional frictions over competing for water, which would never lead to the other party deliberately provoking him, let alone bringing three younger Brother to deliberately cause trouble and beat him up.
"Nothing much, I just heard you gave Xu Zhiqing a fish? Brother, let me give you a piece of advice, don't be a toad wanting to eat swan meat, you're not worthy."
Good heavens, after all that talk, it was because of the Female educated youth in the Village?
"Fuck, are you a damn idiot? Xu Zhiqing is from our Village. What does that have to do with your Ma Family Village? When is it your turn to be nosy?"
Su Yu could tolerate it, but Hu Zi couldn't. It wasn't new for people to get angry and fight over coveting Female educated youth from other Villages. As soon as he said this, the other villagers of Sanshui Bay also became very angry.
Speaking of coveting Xu Zhiqing, it was indeed in Su Yu's memory. As the saying goes, everyone loves beauty, but that belonged to the Su Yu of his previous life. At this moment, Su Yu's mind was very clear; if nothing unexpected happened, she wouldn't look favorably upon him.
Speaking of giving her a fish, it was also a coincidence. Xu Zhiqing went to wash clothes, squatting on a Shi, using a wooden stick to beat the clothes. Since it was running water, after washing, the water would flow away. As long as they were downstream, washing clothes didn't matter.
And Su Yu happened to be catching fish in the water that day. He could hold his breath underwater for four or five minutes, which he had practiced. That day, Xu Zhiqing didn't know there was someone in the water, so she was startled by Su Yu who emerged from the water. Being startled wasn't a big deal, but her foot slipped, and she fell into the water, getting her clothes wet.
Su Yu's previous self was already interested in her. Seeing that he had gotten her clothes wet because of himself, he naturally felt very embarrassed. Therefore, he gave her a fish as compensation and personally escorted her back to where the educated youth lived.
Both of them were soaked through. Before leaving, he even gave her a fish. This matter spread like wildfire. It was normal for others to have some guesses, but who was so bored? It even spread to other Villages?
Before Su Yu could answer, the Village Chief of Sanshui Bay arrived late.
"Old Party Secretary."
"Old Party Secretary, you're here?"
Everyone greeted him one after another. Even Lai San and the others didn't dare to be too unruly. After all, the two Villages were very close, and he knew very well Su Daqiang's prestige in Sanshui Bay. If he really lost his temper and said he would tie him up, no one would object. And if their Ma Family Village wanted to come and rescue him, they would really need to think twice.
"Xiao Yu, what happened? Why are you covered in blood?"
Actually, it wasn't that serious. It was just that the back of his head was cut open, and blood had flowed all over him, which looked a bit scary, but the injury wasn't that severe.
So someone explained the whole matter to the Village Chief. The Village Chief also understood. It turned out that young people were fighting over a woman. He understood this; who hadn't been young? Logically speaking, this wasn't a big deal. Children in the countryside weren't that precious; fighting was quite normal. As long as no arms or legs were broken, it wasn't a big deal. Otherwise, the term 'blind flow' wouldn't exist.
Even in Si Jiu City, the capital, there were instances of 'wan zhu' and children from large compounds fighting. Fighting was normal in this era, especially among children. But coming to someone else's Village and bullying people, this was the first time, so Su Daqiang was not polite at all.
"Go, find someone to go to Ma Family Village and call over that old fellow Ma Sanyuan. You are a villager from Ma Family Village; I won't talk to you, nor is it appropriate to talk to you. Coming to our Village to fight, do you think our Sanshui Bay is easy to bully?"
Ma Sanyuan, the Village Chief of Ma Family Village, was roughly the same age as Su Daqiang and also his classmate. After all, there was only one primary school nearby. Even the junior high and high school were the same ones, as they were both in the County and not too far away. You couldn't go to a school that was too far away.