Then Song Kaiji became "Brother Song" in Shen Qing's place.
Song Kaiji didn't know what to feel either. It was not as he imagined. Shen Qing either laughed and told him to get lost like brothers and friends playing around, or endured the embarrassment but shyly called him brother in order to learn how to shoot, or just perfunctorily called him "brother, brother, brother——"
Shen Qing just called him Brother Song in a very calm and serious manner. He was even a little confused: he didn't realize that Song Kaiji was joking and teasing him. They were ranked by age. Song Kaiji was almost three years older than Shen Qing, so wasn't it normal for him to call him brother? He calls all the men in the village who are older than him “brother” - for example, Brother Shitou, the eldest son of the village chief, Brother Tieshan, the son of Aunt Yan Zi, and more... and more...
Well, when you think about it, there aren't many people he would call brother. Mainly the defeated generals, like Wang Liuzi. Even though he is two years older than Shen Qing, is he worthy of Shen Qing calling him brother? What the hell!
Shen Qing glanced at Wang Liuzi and the few people squatting next to him with a bad look on his face, and new and old grudges gradually surfaced in his mind.
Shen Qing was indeed a good fighter, and there were few boys of his age in the village who had not been beaten by him. However, it was not that Shen Qing was violent by nature and liked to beat people. In the beginning, he was really forced into a corner.
The people who forced him to become like this were Wang Liuzi and his group of good friends!
That was the second year after Shen Zhang passed away. At that time, Shen Qing had not grown as tall and strong as he is now. He was just an ordinary boy. He didn't have enough food every day and was so skinny from hunger.
The Shen family treated them and their son harshly, with only a few dry grains of rice in their daily bowl of rice soup. They were eating at the same table. If Shen Qing dared to take the steamed bread from the basket, he would be hit on the hand by Shen's mother with chopsticks.
It would be fine if I was just hit on the hands twice. It doesn’t hurt to be hit by chopsticks. The most important thing is to fill my stomach. But afterwards, Mrs. Shen would still scold Miao for eating two more bites of vegetables and breaking half a steamed bun. She would say all kinds of unpleasant and hurtful things: she said Miao was incapable of keeping the child and was a hen that didn't lay eggs; she blamed Miao for not taking good care of Shen Zhang, who ran out to play and drowned; she said Miao was a jinx who had no luck in having children... and finally, she didn't know how to teach her own son, like a greedy ghost reincarnated. How come Shen Qing wasn't killed by Miao as well?
And every time Old Lady Shen cursed the Miao family and mentioned the dead Shen Zhang, it would bring up Shen Zhigao's pain points. After listening to what Old Lady Shen said so much, he gradually began to blame Miao for Shen Zhang's death: It was all because Miao failed to take good care of the child! If Miao could have restrained Shen Zhang and prevented him from running away, how could the child have died? No matter how old the kids are in the village, they are all running and playing outside.
Therefore, Miao was often scolded by Mrs. Shen during the day and beaten when she returned home at night.
Shen Qing had no choice but to not touch the food at home, so he ran to the mountains to find food. At first he did not dare to go into the mountains, but instead searched within the area where the villagers often moved. There are few children in the village who can’t climb trees! And because Shen Qing was thin and flexible at that time, he could climb to heights that others could not reach, and he could also pick the sweetest fruits from the highest branches of the trees.
But there were only so many wild fruits and bird eggs on the nearby trees. Shen Qing wanted them, and of course other children in the village wanted them too. When resources are limited, disputes will naturally arise.
At a young age, children have already begun to form different groups based on gender. The little girls and boys worked together to dig wild vegetables and collect firewood, while the boys ran around the mountains: digging out bird nests, picking fruits, and making slingshots to shoot sparrows.
This is the confrontation with Shen Qing.
Some of the boys relied on their age being older than Shen Qing and could not climb to the highest branches. They looked at Shen Qing who always had a lot of harvests and were very envious. It’s interesting to say, the boys in the village have always relied on their own abilities to steal bird eggs, but just because Shen Qing is a little boy, they think they can be bullied and want to steal Shen Qing’s eggs.
It was at that time that Shen Qing became grudge against Wang Liuzi and others. He still remembered the first time he fought with the boys in the village. He was happy when he took out a nest of bird eggs: he didn't know what kind of bird it was but there were six eggs in the nest. Shen Qing planned to eat half of them himself and leave the other half for Miao.
As a result, as soon as he came down from the tree, a group of guys taller and stronger than him half-surrounded Shen Qing with their hands on their hips, and imitated the tone of the outlaws in the old people's stories, telling him to hand over if he knew what was good for him, otherwise don't blame them for being rude.
They stared at Shen Qing, waiting for the boy to be frightened and cry, and then hand over the bird eggs obediently: there were quite a few in that nest, and they had already planned on roasting them and everyone would get one!
But I didn't expect that the young man would refuse to give it. Shen Qing gritted his teeth, picked up a stick thicker than his arm, and fought with them while crying. Although those guys are a little older than Shen Qing, they are just kids after all, not vicious and cruel people. Children seemed to be born with the ability to test the boundaries of the world. Seeing Shen Qing swinging the stick fiercely, they didn't have the courage to confront him. After being hit by a few sticks, they ran away cursing.
Shen Qing was also slightly injured. They couldn't beat Shen Qing and were still angry, so they picked up stones and threw them at Shen Qing, leaving several bruises and broken skin on his forehead. In the end, the fight was won, but the nest of bird eggs in Shen Qing's arms was broken, and the sticky egg liquid also stained his only clean clothes.
Shen Qing sat there and cried for a long time that day. He was still young at that time, and he couldn't understand many things. He just felt wronged and wondered why his life was so miserable. He just felt that - he could never let himself be bullied like this again!
He never cried again after that. When going up the mountain, I always picked up a wooden stick that came handy, and remembered to put bird eggs and wild fruits aside before fighting. Maybe God really favors Shen Qing. This boy is always exceptionally smart and insightful: after fighting several times, Shen Qing actually summed up some skills. How to swing a stick with the least effort and yet still hurt someone, how to move to avoid being attacked from behind, how to kick to easily trip someone...
So much so that later on, Shen Qing could knock down two or three people with his bare hands without using a stick.
Seeing that Shen Qing was really ruthless, those guys didn't dare to think of robbing him because they couldn't beat him. But the hatred had already been formed. Whenever they met Shen Qing, they would either block the way and not let him pass, or surround the tree to prevent Shen Qing from climbing up. Their main goal was to prevent Shen Qing from picking the fruits even if they couldn't.
The affairs of the Shen family are no secret. Listening to their parents chatting at the dinner table, these boys also know that Shen Qing has no food to eat at home. Children’s malice is sometimes more vicious and straightforward than that of adults: He deserves to go hungry, and we won’t let him pick the fruits. We’d better starve this hateful guy to death!
At first, Shen Qing endured it a few times and tried to take a detour: after all, the other party didn't take action first, nor did he steal his things. Shen Qing always felt that he shouldn't be the first to provoke trouble. But these guys would actually follow him. Whenever Shen Qing took a fancy to a tree, they would block him from getting close.
Shen Qing got annoyed after this happened so many times, and he began to reflect slowly: Why were these guys able to bully him in the past, but he had to let them take the first step before he could fight back?
Why do you demand such high moral standards from yourself? Why can they do it but I can't?
So he beat him every time he saw him.
It's funny to say that the boys in the village can bully girls and boys as they please: pulling their braids, throwing bugs at them, and making up some ugly nicknames to call them. They are used to being unreasonable. But when Shen Qing started to act "unreasonably", these guys became more angry than anyone else and shouted louder than anyone else: Shen Qing's reputation for ferocity gradually spread.
Later, Shen Qing felt that there were too few things to eat near the village, so he started to go deep into the mountains. And those boys gradually grew up and needed to work in the fields and learn how to start a business. The guys running around the mountains in the village were replaced by a new group, and conflicts no longer broke out.
Nowadays, the few people who can be called "brother" by Shen Qing are those who have never bullied Shen Qing: Aunt Yan Zi and Miao have a good relationship, and Tieshan naturally will not bully Shen Qing. Although Aunt Guixiang looked down on the Miao family at that time, the village chief and his wife were both relatively upright people. They raised Zhao Shi, who was kind and honest by nature, and made him a good candidate for the next village chief.
There are also some guys who have no conflicts with Shen Qing, but maybe they just stand on the boy's side. In addition, after hearing Wang Liuzi and others say bad things about Shen Qing, they also have deep opinions about Shen Qing.
Although we have all grown up now, we still remember those festivals we celebrated in our childhood. Wang Liuzi dislikes Shen Qing, but how nice is Shen Qing to Wang Liuzi and others?
"Village chief, let's make it a deal. I will clear all the wild boars on the mountain within five days. But let me say this in advance. If the village pays the hunters, the hunters will get half of the meat, and the rest will get an equal share. I hunted the meat myself, so I can't share it with everyone." Shen Qing glanced at Wang Liuzi. "Don't let the villagers say anything when the time comes. Some people have been coveting other people's things since they were young. If they don't get something for free, they will get angry as if they have lost something. I never tolerate such people."
Ignoring Wang Liuzi and the others who were so angry that their faces turned red and their necks thick, the village chief was still concerned about Shen Qing's safety: "That's not just one or two heads, judging by the footprints, there are at least five heads! Can you really do it? Think carefully, your mother is relying on you to survive now, if anything happens to you..."
The rest of the words were not said explicitly, but Shen Qing knew that the village chief had good intentions: "Don't worry. Hunting wild boars doesn't necessarily require brute force. I ran into it head-on that day and had no choice. Now, it's much easier to set a trap." Shen Qing lowered his eyelashes: "But I have to trouble the village chief to tell the villagers not to go up the mountain in the next few days. It's not my fault if they fall into the trap."
Aunt Guixiang has been interacting with the Miao family more frequently these days, and has also heard that Shen Qing and Old Liu the hunter have learned some skills. After hearing what Shen Qing said, she felt relieved: "Okay, if you need help setting traps, just tell me. Several people in my family are free, and I'll ask them to help you."
The village chief glanced at the other men in the village who had come to the meeting and said, "Do you have any objections? If not, then do as Qing Ge'er said. If he fails, then we can collect money and hire hunters from other villages."
Do the people below you have any objections? It’s true! But they didn't have any opinions about this matter, but about Shen Qing as a person: How could this guy let another guy get ahead of them? The men in the village held a meeting and finally implemented the advice of one young man. Even the older men who had no grudges against Shen Qing felt a little uncomfortable.
But what if they object, or secretly hope that Shen Qing will fail and lose face? In that case, we would have to pay for the hunter ourselves! They didn't want to do that either, so they were very conflicted and struggling inside, but there was nothing they could do. They could only feel unhappy and keep silent.
Seeing that no one spoke, the village chief made the final decision: "That's it, no one is allowed to go up the mountain in the next few days." He knew these people well. There were always some who were disobedient and would do whatever they were told not to do. If I really fell into the trap set by Shen Qing, even if I told him in advance, I would go to Shen Qing's house and make excuses! He added: "There are wild boars on the mountain. It's no joke if you get attacked by wild boars!"
It is necessary to say this in order to make those people with uneasy minds completely honest: You can cheat on Shen Qing, but you can cheat on the wild boar? That would be a waste of time!
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