Killing people
On the sixth day of the first lunar month, while it was still slightly light, Li Guolan pulled Li Guorong and ran towards the open space in the town. Li Guolan's long braid flew in the air, and Li Guorong unconsciously tightened his grip on Li Guolan's hand. The sun rose from the east and slowly illuminated the distant mountains. Finally, the sunlight climbed onto Li Guolan's hair.
The drum was glossy black, and tears welled up in Li Guorong's eyes. Li Guolan's hands were slightly cold, and she stopped in her tracks. "What's wrong, little sister? Don't be afraid. If you forget the movements, just look at your older sister. Haven't you always wanted to play the waist drum since you were little?"
Li Guorong stared into her eldest sister's bright eyes. She wouldn't let her sister repeat the same mistake. "I'm not afraid."
Li Guorong lunged forward and hugged Li Guolan's frail body. She had walked too fast and too hastily, forgetting her original intention when she was reborn. "Sister, Shaocheng and I will go and give you some advice tomorrow."
A fleeting awkwardness crossed Li Guolan's face. "I..."
Li Guorong raised her wrist. "It's getting late." She grabbed Li Guolan and they ran quickly toward the square. They were about to be late, and they didn't want to miss the auspicious time, as that would be unlucky.
Li Guorong and Li Guolan are in reverse positions, running towards the sunlight.
In the town, the crisp, dense drumbeats resonated in people's hearts. Shops of all sizes were still closed. Children chased after the long performance troupe, led by a man dressed as a matchmaker, holding a pipe that made everyone laugh.
On the upper shelves, several children dressed as Guanyin, Nezha, and various deities were on display, while on both sides, waist drum teams beat drums to the rhythm of suona horns and gongs.
The fairy child above scattered flower petals and candies around them, and children and adults alike picked them up. These candies, imbued with fairy energy, could ward off disasters and evil.
Li Guorong wore a yellow jacket, his jet-black braid was combed back, his face was smeared with rouge, and he had a smile on his lips. A drum was slung across his waist.
Lin Shaocheng called out, "Guorong, look here."
Today, Lin Shaocheng was wearing a red sweater, black pants, and a light khaki coat. He stood out from the crowd of short men in blue shirts and black pants, or those wearing the most fashionable men's suits in the area.
He was holding a small camera and snapping pictures of Li Guorong. Li Guorong's eyes lit up. Where did Lin Shaocheng get a camera? He quickly blew a kiss to Lin Shaocheng.
This made Lin Shaocheng smile and take photos.
Li Guorong quickly pulled Li Guolan aside. Li Guolan looked in her brother-in-law's direction and saw him holding a small black box, a puzzled expression on her face.
Nowadays, most of the places where people take photos still use those big cameras; you almost never see small cameras like this in this mountain town.
Li Guorong shouted, "Take a picture! Take a picture!"
Li Guolan wasn't as outgoing as Li Guorong; she turned her head away somewhat shyly, revealing a bashful smile.
The people maintaining order at the front noticed that the two sisters weren't playing the drums properly, so they quickly came over to remind them.
Li Guolan blushed and immediately started drumming. Li Guorong made a funny face at Lin Shaocheng, which made Lin Shaocheng laugh.
The sound of drums travels from the town's entrance to several nearby villages, bringing good luck for the coming year.
As the sun began to set, the day finally came to an end. Li Guorong's face twitched, almost frozen from smiling. Lin Shaocheng carried Li Guorong on his back, and the two strolled slowly along the path. Li Guolan, embarrassed, ran away early.
Li Guorong pressed tightly against Lin Shaocheng's back, asking, "Where's your camera? Where did it come from?"
Lin Shaocheng supported Li Guorong's legs, "It's borrowed, I had someone develop the photos, aren't you tired?"
Li Guorong shook her head. The stars in the sky twinkled. No one had ever carried her like this before, not even her father or brother. She smelled the scent of grass on Lin Shaocheng and slowly closed her eyes.
On the seventh day of the first lunar month, the weather was sunny, and Wu Cuihua got up early to cook.
Inside the house, Li Guolan gestured between a dress, a sweater, jeans, and black pants.
Li Guorong rubbed his eyes, put on the clothes Lin Shaocheng had chosen for him, and couldn't help but close his eyes again, feeling more and more sleepy the more he slept.
Lin Shaocheng was wearing a shirt and a gray cashmere sweater with a suit jacket on top. Li Guorong said with some dissatisfaction, "You look so good in this, but you dress me up in such an ordinary outfit."
Lin Shaocheng said, "It's not like you're on a blind date today. What if someone else takes a liking to you?"
Li Guorong blushed slightly. "Why are you saying such mushy things? I want to see my older sister."
After saying that, he rushed downstairs, the noise waking up Li Guojian and Li Guoliang.
Li Guorong had his eldest sister wear a floral dress with a sweater over it, which looked a bit like a Japanese style, making Li Guolan appear thin and small.
Li Guojian couldn't help but roll his eyes, and Li Guoliang said, "The outfit you put on for my older sister is way too different from what you're wearing."
Lin Shaocheng frowned as he came down. He knew that Li Guorong didn't want his older sister to go on blind dates, nor could he let her dress like that.
Lin Shaocheng couldn't help but say, "In winter, you should wear pants. Jeans with a red sweater and a brown coat would look pretty good."
Li Guolan's eyes lit up. These were the clothes her younger sister had brought a few days ago. She went in and quickly changed. Li Guorong glared at Lin Shaocheng. She had planned it all out so that no one would take a fancy to her older sister. Why was he trying to sabotage her?
Wu Cuihua looked at Li Guolan's new outfit. She was getting old, but she still liked lively things. "Floral clothes look better," she said.
Li Guojian disagreed, saying, "Big sister looks better in the outfit my brother-in-law said. My brother-in-law is indeed a city person; he has good taste."
Lin Shaochen didn't reply. His mother was very particular about her clothes. Every time he went out, he would buy her clothes. If they didn't match her style, she would make sarcastic remarks for a long time. He could only try to learn some common fashion styles to prevent his mother from targeting him at home.
A family rode a tractor into the city. As soon as they entered, they saw a group of people lined up neatly, all wearing fashionable suits with wide shoulders. These people were either too thin or too fat. This kind of suit cut was originally suitable for foreigners, but they looked quite funny on them.
Li Guorong turned to look at Lin Shaocheng. The suit accentuated Lin Shaocheng's broad shoulders and narrow waist, and his legs were straight and long. Li Guorong couldn't help but feel satisfied, and his face showed even more pride.
Li Guolan was eager to get married, but it was her first marriage after all. Seeing that each of these men looked rather unattractive, she couldn't help but feel disappointed, especially since her brother-in-law was also wearing a suit. Compared to them, they were really...
Several other girls from the village also came, including Qian Duoduo.
Li Guorong was puzzled. In his previous life, Qian Duoduo had gotten together with the son of the coffin bearer in the village early on. Why was she here looking for a partner?
Li Guorong was unaware that ever since she married a man from another place and seemed to be living such a prosperous life back in the village, everyone's hearts were filled with restlessness. Qian Duoduo was secretly having an affair with a villager, but since Li Guorong had married so well, she thought she was better than Li Guorong in every way. This time, she pretended to accompany her girlfriends on a blind date, thinking that it wouldn't be bad to meet a good man and marry someone from another place.
Li Guolan was dressed well, and her brother-in-law from the previous life immediately noticed her and quickly stepped forward to introduce himself: "My name is Wang Lin, and I am from Jizhuang, Hebei."
Li Guorong's expression changed, and he wanted to step forward, but Lin Shaocheng stopped him and shook his head.
Li Guolan looked at the person in front of her, who was about the same height as her. His suit was a little wrinkled, and he was short and small. Wearing the suit made him look like a child wearing adult clothes. She was a little disappointed, but not everyone is as lucky as Guorong.
"Oh no, oh no, something's happened!"
A boy rushed into the yard and said to Qian Duoduo, "Zhao the kid fell to his death and is now causing trouble at your house."
Qian Duoduo's expression changed, and Li Guorong pulled Li Guolan back to watch the excitement. They couldn't let their eldest sister marry into the Hebei village again.
Lin Shaocheng followed behind, and the introducer couldn't stop him. He could only awkwardly say, "There are other people from other villages who haven't arrived yet. Please wait a moment."
At the entrance of the Qian family's house, several coffin bearers surrounded the house. The leader, surnamed Zhao, was pointing at the door and cursing loudly. The old lady of the Qian family was lying on the ground, rolling around and shouting, "You're bullying us orphans and widows!"
Qian Mancang's face turned pale. When he saw Qian Duoduo return, he quickly shielded her behind him. When he saw Li Guorong dressed smartly, his eyes lit up. But when he saw Li Guorong and Lin Shaocheng's tightly clasped hands, the light in his eyes disappeared, replaced by a dark and gloomy look.
Zhao, the coffin bearer, grabbed Qian Mancang by the collar, and Qian's mother quickly grabbed Zhao's legs.
Qian Mancang pointed in Li Guorong's direction, "My sister's manuscript was taken from the Li family. The Li family is the culprit. If the Li family hadn't given my sister the wrong book, they wouldn't have been in danger."
Li Guorong's face darkened, while Li Guolan's face turned pale. Lin Shaocheng could tell from his elder sister's expression that something was wrong. Li Guorong didn't care and put his hands on his hips, cursing, "What does this have to do with my family? My family has never given Qian Duoduo any books, nor has my family asked you to go up the mountain to collect herbs."
Qian Duoduo hurriedly said, "Zhao Chun asked me to steal the medicine recipe from the Li family. The Li family is heartless and won't give it to me, but they gave me the wrong one, which is why Zhao Chun got into trouble." After saying that, she started sobbing. Anyway, she was the most innocent one.
Li Guolan's hands began to tremble. Li Guorong knew that the medicine recipe in Qian Duoduo's hands must have been obtained through family involvement, but he certainly couldn't admit it now. "You bastard, you don't know where you stole this stuff from, and you're trying to pin it on my family."
Mother Qian took out several pieces of paper with herbal drawings and writing on them from the house and shouted, "These were found in their second son's shoes. Take a look and see if the writing is his."
The onlookers looked disgusted; how stinky must the paper have been taken out of the shoe?
Zhao, one of the coffin bearers, was holding a piece of paper. He didn't know many characters, but just then the village chief came over, took the paper in his hand, examined it carefully, and exclaimed, "These characters look very common to me."
Qian Mancang said, "Didn't Li Guojian write an IOU in the village? If you bring the IOU over, you can tell if it's his handwriting."
Li Guorong's face darkened further, and he cursed, "Qian Mancang, you black-hearted bastard! You used to be so close to my brother, giving him money and food, and now you're framing him for everything."
Qian Mancang's eyes were bloodshot as he glared fiercely at Lin Shaocheng.
The village chief couldn't show favoritism under the watchful eyes of everyone, so he took out the IOU. Several literate people gathered around and confirmed that the characters were indeed the same.
Qian Mancang shouted, "Everyone knows your family makes so much money from the mountains, with all that new houses and clothes, but you never think about the people in the village. My sister just wants to learn a trade, and your brother is trying to kill her by drawing this kind of picture."
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