A narrow wooden strip lay across the middle, with candles densely packed together, leaving only a gap two fingers wide. The candle flames formed rings of light, overlapping one after another. Looking at them for too long made your eyes blurry, and without careful observation, it was impossible to distinguish which candle to shoot at.
Li Feng was shooting arrows here.
He arrived late and took the stage late. Lu Liu was busy for a while, then took a break to come and watch. He saw Li Feng raise his bow, hold his arm out straight, and shoot the arrow, almost without aiming.
The distance was only ten meters, and the result could be seen in an instant.
Each candle had a thin string hanging below it. Someone walked beneath the wooden board, counting the strings, and reported the result: “Da Feng hit it!”
Lu Liu was even happier than Li Feng and was the first to clap and cheer.
During the New Year period, he had accompanied Li Feng on outings, and many people in the neighborhood recognized him. Seeing this, they teased him, “Lu Fulang, you need to keep an eye on your son Da Feng. We’re all here for the small slingshots to take home for the children to play with. You two don’t need to rush. Come back next year!”
Lu Liu thought the same way and had even mentioned it to Li Feng.
However, now that they were already on the field, he couldn’t say anything discouraging.
He said, “We’ll have children too!”
He was so honest and straightforward that everyone burst into laughter, but he just blushed and continued clapping and cheering.
When asked when they would have children, he said they were already prepared. This was a bit of a crude remark, but he didn’t notice, and everyone laughed, including him. It was Li Feng who came to the rescue.
“Don’t tease him so much, he’s shy.”
His thin-skinned young husband was cheering him on with all his might, his voice loud and clear, showing no signs of being thin-skinned.
Swinging on the swing was where Lu Liu was, and he and Yao Fulang were positioned in the middle.
To hit the lanterns they were holding, one had to go through five gates and defeat six generals.
Li Feng came over to take a look and taught them how to swing the rope to make it hardest to aim.
The men nearby rushed over, dragging and pulling him away.
People took turns one by one, and it took a long time.
His two older brothers cleared nine and eight ropes respectively.
Dai Qiang also competed with his brothers, but he couldn’t clear more than nine ropes.
Wang Meng came from behind and cleared twelve ropes.
In the end, he was just one arrow short of clearing thirteen ropes, and the whole field cheered.
Lu Liu shook his arms until they were tired, but he didn’t see Li Feng take the stage.
The person shaking the hemp rope couldn’t be tired when taking the stage, otherwise the rope would slow down and the difficulty would decrease.
They switched people twice in the middle. When Lu Liu and Yao Fulang lit the lanterns again and shook the hemp rope, Li Feng finally came over with his bow and arrows.
His preferred bow and arrows were at home. For stationary targets, he could use the old bow and arrows from the Sanmiao tribe, but for moving targets, he needed to choose his bow and arrows carefully to secure a good ranking. He borrowed the bow and arrows from the men who had competed earlier to test them, and ultimately chose Daqiang’s bow and arrows.
The hemp ropes were arranged in rows, and the lanterns were intertwined, swaying back and forth, even more dazzling than the candles on the fixed targets.
When he shot at the moving targets, he made obvious aiming movements and took longer to aim. He became very calm, as if he could not hear the noise around him, and his eyes were fixed only on the swaying lanterns in front of him.
He distinguished layer by layer, taking arrows one by one. Slow but steady, every arrow hit its mark. By the time he reached the twelfth hemp rope, his eyes could no longer endure it, and multiple afterimages appeared. Every blink was filled with the light of the lanterns.
The moving target had no time limit, but one couldn’t keep dragging it out. If they were in the mountains, the prey wouldn’t wait—it would have already fled.
They were in the mountains, and they needed to find the prey among the many camouflaged colors, especially snakes.
Thirteen hemp ropes were a challenge, and when Li Feng shot again, his eyes struggled to distinguish the target, and even the faintest light was scattered. He fell short by one arrow to reach fourteen.
The onlookers from the village all clapped and cheered, but another man teased Li Feng: “You don’t have any children now, so why are you working so hard?”
Li Feng replied, “There will be one. We must prepare first.”
Some of the wives and husbands near Lu Liu teased him again, “Have you prepared?”
Lu Liu naturally followed Li Feng’s lead and said, “We’ve prepared. Everything is ready.”
There was another burst of laughter nearby.
The Lantern Festival festivities didn’t end until midnight.
Li Feng won first place and received a small slingshot made of deer tendon from the village chief.
Only a few people in the village could hunt deer, and slingshots made of deer tendon were very precious.
He didn’t have one when he was a child. He had used slingshots made from all sorts of animal tendons, but none of them were as good as the deer tendon slingshot.
In the future, he and Lu Liu’s children would be able to use slingshots made from deer tendons.
In the evening, he helped clean up the venue. After finishing, many people returned to the village together.
Lu Liu saw Chen Jiu and squeezed his way over to him, saying, “I didn’t have time to make the sauce today, but I’ll bring you a bowl to try tomorrow.”
Chen Jiu really didn’t understand him: “Why are you telling me this?”
Wang Meng interrupted, “Lu Liu, don’t mind him. Jiu Ge has a sharp tongue, but he has a good heart.”
Chen Jiu turned to Wang Meng and asked, “What’s wrong with my mouth?”
Wang Meng had won second place today and received two pounds of dried mountain chicken meat. He casually pulled out a few pieces and stuffed them into Chen Jiu’s mouth, then turned to Lu Liu and said, “You’ll bring the sauce tomorrow, right? Alright, there’s someone at my house, so you can come anytime.”
Lu Liu didn’t stay there any longer and turned to look for Li Feng.
Li Feng pulled out the mule cart, loaded Shun Ge onto it, and picked him up so they could go home.
Lu Liu kept feeling like he had forgotten something, but he couldn’t remember what it was.
Li Feng kept talking about how great the deer tendon slingshot was and how cool it would be for the kids to use it in the future. Lu Liu was distracted by him and asked, “So what should we name the kids when they come?”
Shun Ge answered quickly, “Call them ‘Weifeng’!”
Li Feng said, “…No, that’s a dog’s name.”
Lu Liu bravely expressed her preference: “Call him Zhuangzhuang!”
“Strong and reliable—that’s great!”
Li Feng thought for a moment and said, “Let’s use it as a nickname. This name sounds a bit silly. Think about it—we’ll have to keep calling him ‘Big Zhuang’ all the time.”
Lu Liu: “…”
They didn’t have children yet, but because of this deer tendon slingshot, they had a serious discussion all the way home. When they arrived, Chen Guizhi had left the lights on and dinner ready, waiting for them to return.
Upon seeing her, Lu Liu finally remembered what he had forgotten—the tools for making rice cakes hadn’t been brought back.
He tugged at Li Feng’s sleeve and whispered a reminder, almost frantic.
Li Feng was straightforward: “Mother, I forgot. We played too hard in the new village today. Next time, next time I’ll go get it.”
What next time? Chen Guizhi said, “Go tomorrow. If you delay any longer, the mountain goods we collected won’t even need to be dried!”
This matter didn’t require Shun Ge to remind him. Shun Ge stood in line with his older brother and sister-in-law and was scolded until he looked as dejected as a wilted chicken.
Chen Guizhi said a few words and told them to go back inside to eat.
Lu Liu hurried to fetch water, and the three of them washed their hands.
At the dinner table, Li Feng kept talking nonstop, repeating “deer tendon slingshot, deer tendon slingshot.”
Chen Guizhi silenced him with one sentence: “Do you have children?”
Li Feng: “…”
Never mind, let’s eat.
After dinner, let’s have some chicken.
On the other side, Lu Jia Village.
The Lantern Festival night in Lujia Village was as dark as Lu Liu remembered.
Lu Yang was experiencing the Lantern Festival in the village for the first time and suddenly understood why Lu Lin felt that even the brightly lit streets were worth seeing.
Celebrating the festival in the village was no different from an ordinary day. On many early mornings, he had seen the same pitch-black night sky.
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