Luo Jianhua, a petty hoodlum

Li Wei insisted on practicing the piano for more than an hour every night at Grandpa Wu's place. After three or four days, she started to get a feel for it. At least she could play all the notes in the C major scale. She planned to practice a simple little piece after she had mastered it, and dedicate it to Li Lin.

However, before that, we need to deal with Wu Feng, Li Lianhui, Erpangzi, Luo Er, and the others. Otherwise, Li Lin will be having so much fun that she won't be willing to spend time learning anything.

That evening, after dinner, Li Wei helped her mother wash the dishes and chopsticks. She then took the small willow basket she used to make hair ornaments and sat down next to her grandfather. While sewing the hair ornaments, she chatted with her grandfather: "Grandpa, did I tell you about the incident where a group of us went to the mountains to play and encountered robbers?"

While adjusting the radio, the old man said, "I never said that anyone who dares to bully you should tell Grandpa next time, and Grandpa will deal with that brat, you hear me, girl."

Li Wei was so touched, "Grandpa, you really are my dear grandpa!"

In my excitement, I pricked my hand with the needle. Ouch! That really hurt.

“Actually, Grandpa, you know, we always run into bad people outside, just like when you met your second, third, and fourth grandpas. If you hadn’t been strong back then, you would have been bullied by them for nothing. I’m fine, but Li Lianhui is a boy, so he’s more likely to get into conflicts. Grandpa, why don’t you teach Xiaohui and the others some kung fu? It’ll help them get some exercise.” Li Wei explained the facts and reasoned with her grandfather while doing her needlework, just like a little old lady sitting on the kang (heated brick bed) chatting with someone.

The old man finally adjusted the channel and glanced back at his granddaughter, otherwise he would have thought his grandmother was sitting there: "Can you learn that stuff just like that? It takes a long time to persist. How can I, your grandpa, have the time to tease a child? Can Xiaohui and the others endure that kind of hardship? No way, you'd be more suited to learn it, girl."

"No, Grandpa, my little body can't take that kind of hardship. You're giving me too much credit." I want to grow tall and have beautiful legs.

Li Wei thought about it. Her grandfather was indeed quite busy and didn't have much time to teach the children. However, she could imitate the extracurricular classes that would be held more than ten years later, with a few classes a week, each lasting a little over an hour. If all else failed, she could be a teaching assistant.

"How about this, Grandpa? You can give them some pointers when you have time. I can watch them practice, so it won't interfere with your training. You don't have to worry about anything. I'll arrange everything. You just need to come and teach them. It definitely won't interfere with your work, Grandpa." Li Wei stopped making her hair ornaments and shook her grandpa's thick arm, acting coquettishly.

The old man looked at Li Wei and thought for a moment. There was nothing wrong with his grandson learning some martial arts for self-defense. Besides, his granddaughter had given him her guarantee. She wouldn't bother him all the time. The old man valued Li Wei quite a bit. The child was clever, and importantly, quite sensible.

And so it was. The old man agreed to teach Li Lianhui and the others kung fu. Li Wei seized the opportunity to ask her grandfather in detail what kind of kung fu he practiced. But after hearing his explanation, Li Wei was dumbfounded. She couldn't understand it at all!

The old man spoke for a long time, then took a sip of lukewarm water from his large tea mug and asked, "Did you understand?"

Li Wei shook her head blankly: "Grandpa, just tell me! What's the name of that style of boxing you're practicing?" (Sweat!)

The old man was speechless for a moment.

Finally, Li Wei realized that her grandfather practiced foot-rubbing! Ugh. Isn't it a martial art? Why rub feet? If you're going to rub, you should rub your hands! Li Wei's impressions included Shaolin Kung Fu, Wudang Swordplay, Tai Chi Bagua, and various animal-themed martial arts. As for her grandfather's foot-rubbing, she'd never even heard of it.

It doesn't matter if you haven't heard of it, as long as it's practiced by Li Lianhui and his group, it's fine as long as there's a name for it.

Li Wei talked to her parents again, and they naturally had no objections. The old man was willing to teach the child and was willing to learn, so it wasn't a bad thing. They were very generous with their moral support.

Of course, Li Wei's main intention was not to feel sorry for Li Lianhui just because she saw him suffering.

Her father understood this perfectly, telling his father-in-law to discipline him as he saw fit, because "no pain, no gain." However, he doubted whether the old man would actually let his son suffer. Wasn't it always the old man who stopped them from disciplining their child?

As for Li Lianhui, there was no need to go to such lengths as Li Lin to lure him in. Nowadays, boys are eager to learn martial arts and fly around like heroes, and the older they get, the more eager they become. As for precocious boys like Luo Da, their eyes were practically glowing with greed when they looked at their grandfather.

So when Li Wei told her younger brother, Fatty, and Luo Er, the boys were very excited, eager to become heroes. As for Luo Da, who knows where he'd run off to?

The next day, her grandfather took some time in the evening to teach a few little boys a simple move. Originally, according to the old man, they should have started with the basic skills of leg pressing and horse stance, but Li Wei was afraid that the little monkeys would lose interest in learning, so she asked her grandfather to teach some simple moves while making them look like they were doing something, and at the same time let them practice the basic skills.

If some training classes only focused on basic skills every day, the place would be deserted long ago.

Basically, Li Wei would lead the children in warm-up exercises, then invite the old man to give lessons. Once the children had grasped the concepts, Li Wei would supervise their practice. Meanwhile, Li Lin, that lazybones, would just watch the show from the sidelines. Look how seriously Wu Feng and her little brother Wu Ming were mimicking their movements! Li Wei didn't bother with Li Lin; in a few days, she'd find it boring, and besides, no one would want to play with her anymore.

What puzzled Li Wei was that Luo Da, who always clung to her grandfather whenever he saw him, hadn't been seen for the past few days. It was really strange. Li Wei had been planning to give that kid a good beating if he came to learn from her. That kid was incredibly cunning. Don't think Li Wei hadn't noticed; the other day when she beat him up in the ditch, Luo Da was facing the direction her grandfather was coming from. It would be a miracle if he hadn't seen him!

Not fighting back isn't in that kid's style.

On the third day, Li Wei couldn't hold back any longer and secretly asked Luo Er during a break from practicing his skills, "Luo Jianzhong, where did your brother go?" Li Wei also felt that she was just being nosy.

Luo Er: "I don't know, he disappeared after school. Why are you looking for him?" Is he going to beat up his brother again? He saw Li Wei beat up his brother from afar that day, but he didn't dare to go over.

Li Wei: "Nothing. Let's practice, everyone come here!" Li Wei held the small pointer she used when teaching the twins before, walking back and forth watching them squat in horse stance. If there was anything wrong with their form, she would tap it with the pointer, just like an instructor. Li Lin, who was watching the fun from the side, was extremely envious.

That evening, Li's mother was making dumplings. While mincing garlic, she discovered that they were out of soy sauce and asked Li Lin to go buy some. However, Li Lin was not home. These kinds of cushy jobs, where she could conveniently use public funds to buy some snacks, were Li Lin's favorites. Now that she was out, Li Wei had no choice but to make the trip herself.

There was a small shop in front of their school at the entrance of the village, so Li Wei went there with a bottle of soy sauce. She originally wanted to ride a bicycle, but seeing that the weather was quite cool and comfortable, she decided to go for a walk instead.

Li Wei, carrying the bottle of soy sauce she had bought, left the convenience store. Less than fifty meters away, around a bend, was a small grove of trees. She had felt a bit nauseous when she passed by earlier; it hadn't been so noticeable during the day, but now that it was getting dark, the feeling was much stronger.

The large well in the middle of the grove was the one Li Wei had traveled through. Normally, Li Wei would avoid it if possible, but seeing that it was getting dark and no one was going to fetch water, Li Wei was a little scared, and taking a detour was too far.

So, Li Wei planned to run past when she passed by later, otherwise it would be too torturous. Li Wei got ready and started running after turning the corner. But after running only a few steps, she realized something was wrong. She could faintly hear shouting. Mustering her courage, she turned her head to look at the grove of trees and was startled.

In the woods not far away, five or six boys were fighting—four against one, to be precise. One boy was being kicked to the ground and then punched and kicked by the others. Li Wei looked around; there were no adults in sight. The place was close to the school, but a bit far from any houses. She couldn't let them fight like this, so she quickly shouted, "There's a fight! Help!" hoping to alert the nearest family to come and check.

Before anyone else could be alerted, the fighting group was alerted first. They looked at each other, kicked the ground before leaving, and scattered in all directions.

Li Wei really didn't want to go there; it wasn't a good place. But after waiting for a while, no one came out. She regretted it; she shouldn't have shouted that there was a fight, she should have shouted that there was a fire, then probably a lot of people would have come out.

Finally, having no other choice, he gritted his teeth, stomped his foot, and grabbed the soy sauce bottle to sneak over.

Sigh, she's just a minor character.

Fortunately, the accident site was more than ten meters away from the well. Li Wei stopped about a meter away from the person on the ground, intending to ask how he was, figuring it wasn't serious since the men weren't carrying any weapons. But when she saw the man's face, Li Wei froze. Damn! It was Luo Da!

He hurried over, put down the soy sauce bottle, and looked at the little kid who was already sitting up, his face and body looking terrible: "How are you? Can you still walk? Should we go to the clinic to get him checked out?"

Luo Da glanced at Li Wei, dusted himself off, stood up, ignored her, and left. Li Wei couldn't help but think his retreating figure had the air of a young gangster. Had he grown up to be involved in the underworld? Suddenly remembering the large well behind her, she quickly grabbed the soy sauce bottle and followed. It was best not to linger in such a dangerous place.

Li Wei and Luo Dayi walked back one after the other: "I think you should clean yourself up before going home. Grandma Luo will be very angry if she sees you like this." It's not easy for an old lady like Grandma Luo to take care of these three wild boys. I don't know where Uncle Luo and Aunt Luo have gone. I haven't seen them earn much money. Why are they so busy? They've abandoned the children and the old woman. It's heartless of them.

Li Wei's words clearly had an effect. Luo Da stopped and thought for a moment, then headed towards another road leading to the village entrance. It was getting dark, so Li Wei hurriedly called out, "Hey, where are you going this time? Your grandma will be worried if you don't go back soon." Why is this child so troublesome?

Suddenly remembering that there was a small river not far ahead, Li Wei wondered if they were going to wash up there. She quickly followed, thinking she might as well go all the way.

Sure enough, Luo Da quickly reached the riverbank, squatted down, and began washing his face and hands. He even took off his vest, swirled it in the water a couple of times, wrung it out, and then put it back on. Li Wei got goosebumps watching... Uh, even though it's summer, wearing wet clothes after just getting out of the water must be so uncomfortable. But Luo Da, as if he were wearing dry clothes, put it on smoothly—amazing!

Neither of them spoke, but when they arrived at the gate of Luo's house, Li Wei couldn't help but say, "Hey Luo Jianhua, your younger brother and the others have been learning kung fu from my grandpa these past few days. Why don't you come over after school tomorrow?"

Sigh, no one cares about kids these days. Adults are too busy making a living to discipline their children, especially boys, who grow up wild like weeds. It's not so bad when they're young, but as they get older, they skip school, fight, learn to smoke, or even steal. By middle school, they're often caught up in secret relationships, and some even have affairs. Basically, they'll spend their lives struggling at the bottom of society.

Boys enter society early, and girls get married early, working hard to make a living.

Li Wei now sees Luo Da as someone who seems poised to follow in their footsteps.

Although Aunt Luo was a bit of a handful, Grandma Luo was such a kind person. If anyone forgot to bring in their clothes or blankets, or if it rained and no one was home, Grandma Luo would always help them. Li Wei remembers often forgetting her house keys when she was little, and Grandma Luo would invite them to her house to wait for her parents. Sometimes, if they happened to be home for dinner, Grandma Luo would let them have a bite to eat at her house…

I can't help with anything else, but if Luo Da really likes to practice martial arts, it would be good if it could take up some of his time that he's running around and messing around. After all, no one can control a kid like that.

When Yu the Great tamed the floods, he believed that dredging was better than blocking.

When Li Wei entered the house, the dumplings were already on the table. Li Lin and Li Lianhui were eating, while her grandfather and father were eating and drinking. Her mother stared at Li Wei as she entered and said, "Why did it take you so long to come back? If Li Lin had gone, she would have made two round trips. Hurry up and bring them to me."

Li Lin is now showing signs of becoming a model child.

Li Wei didn't say anything, just handed the soy sauce bottle to her mother. Right now, she just wanted to sing a song:

I'm always too soft-hearted, too soft-hearted, I just... take on all the problems.