Lu Yang agreed: “Fewer people should join the partnership, and more people should work. Come to the county early and set up a shop. Whether you earn a lot or a little each month, saving five or six taels of silver shouldn’t be a problem. It’s about the same as going hunting with you. It’s safer, and you and Liu Ge’er can have another child to liven up the house.”
By the way, Li Feng said to him, “We sell soy sauce. You take a 10% cut, right? A 5% cut is really too little. I can’t even face people.”
Lu Yang didn’t want to argue with him, so he gave him a range: “Once a month, if we sell enough to make five taels of silver, I’ll take a 10% cut. If we don’t make five taels, I’ll take a 5% cut.”
If we make less, what’s the point of taking a cut? It’s already good enough not to lose money.
Li Feng had a good grasp of the costs, thought about it for a moment, and agreed.
After dinner, Lu Liu was reluctant to leave his family and stayed to chat for a while.
The three of them played with red strings and chatted about everyday matters.
In the backyard, the three of them built a pigsty, and chickens and dogs ran around.
Li Feng couldn’t stand Xie Yan’s clumsiness and told him to go stand aside.
“You can’t even use your arms and legs properly. What kind of work can you do?”
Xie Yan felt embarrassed and said to Li Feng, “You’ve been learning to read for a long time. Can you write two characters for me to see?”
This argument ended in mutual defeat.
Chapter 67: The Leader
Once the pigsty was finished, Li Feng sat for a while, then said goodbye to Lu Liu and left.
They had come to the new village with Shun Ge to deliver some yuanxiao, but they had already delayed too long and couldn’t leave the child there alone.
Now that they had split up, Er Tian and Wang Dongmei were still angry and wouldn’t give him a friendly reception, so he could only go to someone else’s house to play.
In Li Zhai, there wasn’t much to offer. Anything worth taking had been sent to the shop to be sold. Lu Yang could eat whatever he wanted every day.
This time, when they met, he found out that Lu Yang was sick. Lu Liu hadn’t prepared anything, so he gave him money to buy food.
Lu Yang refused, saying, “I’m fine. You saw how Ayan treated me, and I’m in charge of the shop, so I can eat whatever I want.”
Lu Liu insisted on giving him the money: “He’s him, and I’m me. I’m buying you food. Aren’t you going to eat it?”
Lu Yang was surprised by this: “What are you guys competing over?”
Lu Liu didn’t think they were competing, so he chuckled twice, stuffed the copper coins into Lu Yang’s hand, said goodbye to the two fathers, pulled up his scarf to cover half his face, ran out, got on the mule cart, and returned to the village with Li Feng.
The people of Li Village used to live at the foot of the mountain and never played with fire during any festivals.
They didn’t even set off firecrackers during the Spring Festival, for fear of causing a forest fire.
Li Feng told Lu Liu, “In the past, we would place a large wooden block at the entrance of our homes. When the time came, we would come out and strike it with all our might. The family whose block made the loudest sound would have a prosperous year ahead. One year, someone used an iron basin to strike the block, and the next day, they were scolded by the village chief. He was accused of disturbing the mountain god, and that year, he had to contribute half of the offerings for the mountain god’s worship.”
After the new village was built, even those who hadn’t yet built houses there loved to come and play.
People lived close together, and once they stepped outside, there were people everywhere. At night, they could light more lanterns, gather in any spot, and the place would come alive.
In the past two years, more and more houses have been built, and the nights have become increasingly lively, even the Mid-Autumn Festival and the Lantern Festival, which are festivals for hanging lanterns, have become lively.
However, according to Li Feng, it’s just a bit brighter, nothing else.
Lu Liu was also curious about the brighter festivals. He had never seen a bright night before in Lujia Village.
Unexpectedly, this year’s Lantern Festival, the village chief and a few old hunters discussed and came up with a few games for the young people in the village to play.
When they returned to the new village, everything was ready.
Shun Ge also participated in the organization and was so excited that his face turned red. He came over to tell his older brother and sister-in-law about the prizes for the Lantern Festival.
“The first prize is a slingshot made of deer tendon. I saw it; it’s a small slingshot for children to play with. The second prize is two pounds of dried mountain chicken meat, and the third prize is three pounds of wild persimmons. The competition was about archery skills. In the afternoon, many hunters brought out their bows and arrows to practice, searching everywhere for targets. I followed along, but I couldn’t even draw the bow! However, I asked the village chief, ‘What if there are two first-place winners?’ He said, ‘Then they’ll have to fight it out bare-handed!’ Hahaha, tonight is going to be lively!”
Lu Liu had never participated in such an event before, but she got excited listening to it. She turned to Li Feng and asked, “Da Feng, are you going to play?”
Li Feng was itching to play.
Shun Ge said, “Second place is fine, I want to eat the jerky!”
Lu Liu said, “Third place is fine too, I want the persimmons!”
The two exchanged glances, thinking that there was no difference between the two rankings, and they could swap with someone else later.
Li Feng said they were unambitious: “Can’t you aim for first place?”
Neither of them wanted to. There were no children at home, so what use was a small slingshot? It couldn’t be eaten or worn.
Li Feng wanted it badly and reached out to pat Lu Liu’s stomach.
“Maybe there’s already a little one in there.”
Lu Liu blushed and slapped his hand away: “You don’t understand.”
The mule cart stopped at Sanmiao’s house. Li Feng didn’t bring his own equipment today, so he borrowed Sanmiao’s old bow and arrows.
Sanmiao had practiced shooting in the afternoon and asked Li Feng, “Big Brother Feng, what place do you want to come in?”
Li Feng said he wanted the slingshot.
That’s first place.
Sanmiao rolled his eyes: “You don’t have any children now, so what’s the point of winning first place? Just play for fun.”
Li Feng asked him: “What place do you want to win?”
Sanmiao rubbed his hands together: “Since we’re already here, we’re definitely going for the top spot.”
Li Feng: “…”
That’s really something.
The fixed targets were candles placed on the table. You could shoot whichever candle you wanted. If the candle didn’t move and the flame went out, you got the highest score. If the candle fell over and the flame went out, you got a lower score. The rest didn’t count. If you pointed at candle number one but hit candle number two, it didn’t count either.
Almost all the men in the village knew how to draw a bow and shoot arrows. Accuracy aside, hunters going into the mountains had to be able to shoot at live targets.
So they hung bamboo lanterns with hemp ropes, two lanterns per rope, stretching for over ten ropes on both sides of the path, letting people pull the ropes to swing the lanterns and make the lights move. This was also called swinging on a swing.
The candles were secured to the bamboo lanterns, so they wouldn’t fall over unless shaken violently. They chose a sheltered spot for the competition to prevent the wind from blowing out the candles.
Lu Liu had never played this game before, so he came over to try pulling the rope. It wasn’t difficult, so he wanted to play.
Shun Ge saw that he had a partner and went to find friends to join him.
The chieftain didn’t allow the old hunters to bully people, so those over thirty couldn’t participate.
There were many young people, good or bad, who came to join in the fun, and many wives and husbands signed up.
Lu Liu asked Yao Fulang, “Aren’t you going to sign up and give it a try?”
Lu Liu asked again, “What if Da Qiang comes to shoot arrows? Should we still try our best?”
Yao Fulang reached out and scratched his waist: “You’re getting worse and worse!”
Lu Liu was honest: “When my husband Da Feng comes to shoot arrows, I won’t try my best.”
Yao Fulang’s eyes twinkled as he said, “Then you’re looking down on him. His reputation is at stake, and everyone will say he’s using your connections!”
Lu Liu didn’t understand Yao Fulang’s double entendre about connections, but after thinking for a moment, he said, “Then I’ll try my best.”
To participate in the swing competition, one must put in the effort.
The venue was already set up, but there were still a few candles missing.
Every so often, they had to go refill the fire, so these people ran around the venue with firelighters.
The stationary target was for everyone to have fun with, and also to screen out some of the villagers who were just there for the excitement.
There were several platforms set up in this area, with the most difficult one being the one between the walls of two courtyards.
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