Chapter 159 - 158: The First Village-Wide Assembly

Chapter 159: Chapter 158: The First Village-Wide Assembly

Everyone shook their heads. Zhang Dadan thought for a moment and took out fifty cents from the pile of money.

"He probably took off on his own again. Whatever. We’ll keep his fifty cents for him and give it to him when we see him. That kid was a real beast today. He did a great job, so we can’t short him his fifty cents. Hehe, that makes it an even thirty. Sorry Liangzi, none for you, ha."

Liangzi waved his hand and laughed.

"What kind of friends are Dongzi and I? How could I take his money?"

"Mm, that’s true. You two grew up together since you were in diapers. From now on, you’re Brother Liangzi!"

"Get outta here! Haha!"

The group horsed around for a bit before Zhang Dadan urged Liangzi to continue counting heads.

"Including Little Bastard and Big Wang, plus the driver, how many people is that, Liangzi?"

Zhang Dadan’s eyes grew brighter and brighter. The others were confused by his behavior, all waiting to see what he had up his sleeve.

"One hundred and three plus four... counting them, that’s one hundred and seven. Why?"

"Why? You’re asking me why? This is huge, I’m telling you! The deck of cards we’re going to make—how many cards are in it? How many people?"

Zhang Dadan’s entire face was glowing red with excitement.

"One hundred and eight!"

The crowd answered in unison. Who didn’t know that? The one hundred and eight heroes of *Water Margin*. Each person corresponded to a card—for example, the "One of Bamboo," also called "Little Fish," was Zhang Shun, the "Nine of Characters" was Song Jiang, and so on. Everyone played with these hand-drawn leaf-style cards every day and was so familiar with them they could recite them from memory.

"Exactly! Isn’t it perfect? We’re going to make a new deck of cards, and it just so happens that today, exactly one hundred and eight of us went to fight! So when we make our deck, why use the one hundred and eight heroes? We’ll use ourselves!"

Hearing this, everyone’s faces lit up with joy. An idea this flashy was right up their alley. Liangzi’s eyes widened in realization too.

"Haha, Dadan, that’s a great idea! We can make ’Battle Cards.’ Ugh, that doesn’t sound good. How about ’Wendong Cards’? Help spread Dongzi’s fame. Ah, but it’s a shame. There are only one hundred and seven of us. We’re short by one person. Fuck."

After he spoke, he noticed everyone was looking at him strangely. Liangzi scratched his head in confusion.

"What are you all staring at me for? Am I a woman or something?"

"Hahaha, Liangzi, are you not a person?! What do you mean we’re short one person?"

After Zhang Dadan said this, everyone burst out laughing. Liangzi slapped his forehead. ’Right, I didn’t count myself! I’m a person too!’

’Holy cow,’ he thought. ’By that count, the people who went to Wang Family’s Hut today really were the one hundred and eight heroes. That’s too amazing, too much of a coincidence!’

"Yes, yes, yes! We’re making these cards! We’ll put all one hundred and eight of us who went on them. Haha, this is interesting, it’s going to be so fun! Everyone keep it quiet, okay? Don’t say a word until they’re done. We’ll make it a surprise for Dongzi."

"Right, right, right, keep it quiet. I’ll take the money to the county town tomorrow and find someone to make them."

"Why go to the county town? Go to the prefecture!"

"Alright, alright!"

Everyone in the room had shining eyes. ’I can be on a playing card, too? One of the heroes?’ They all started claiming roles.

"I want to be Wu Song."

"I want to be Song Jiang."

"Get lost, get lost! Song Jiang is obviously for Brother Dong! I want to be Little Fish. I want to be Zhang Shun."

"You get lost too! You think you’re worthy of such an important role? You can be the Two of Circles!"

"What the fuck! You’re the Two of Circles! I don’t want to be the Two of Circles."

The more the group talked, the more excited and animated they became, and all sorts of additional ideas kept popping up one after another.

Meanwhile, in the public canteen at Dragon King Pond, more than four hundred people were packed shoulder to shoulder. Almost everyone from the entire production team was there, except for a few who couldn’t move. Even the educated youth had come. If you weren’t enthusiastic about eating when you were starving, there was definitely something wrong with your thinking.

Several bonfires were blazing, and with so many people crowded together, plus the newly pasted paper on the canteen windows blocking any drafts, the whole room didn’t feel cold at all. When Zhao Wenwu and the others dragged in the six-hundred-jin red deer on a sleigh, everyone present erupted.

"My God, what a huge red deer."

"Is it all for us to eat?"

"Dongzi is so capable."

"Long live Brother Dong!"

Gasps and cheers rose and fell in waves. Zhao Weiguo shouted to the villagers.

"All the men, come over and help! Let’s butcher the deer and start roasting it. We’ll eat some meat first, and when we’ve had our fill, we’ll hold a meeting!"

"Alright!"

The crowd roared its approval, and many of the men scrambled to help with the work. Seeing that he wasn’t needed here, Zhao Wendong called Zhao Wenjun over.

"Big Brother, take Er Gouzi with you and go to Little Bastard’s house. Bring his grandfather over. Here are the keys to Third Master’s place; you can just go hitch the horse to the sleigh. Take a cotton quilt so the old man doesn’t get cold. You must be polite. Treat him like you would our own grandpa."

"I understand. Don’t worry."

Zhao Wenjun nodded. He was unusually quiet today, his heart filled with self-reproach for being a big brother who couldn’t protect his younger brother and family. He knew his own abilities were limited, so now he just focused on doing whatever his third brother asked of him. Supporting his third brother well was the only thing he, as the eldest, could do for him.

Zhao Wenjun was reliable and Zhao Ergou was clever, so Zhao Wendong wasn’t worried about them going to pick up the man. He gave the keys to Zhao Wenjun and then walked back, constantly talking and greeting people along the way, making sure everyone saw him. After a while, he returned to his seat among the group from the production team committee.

"Ah, Dongzi, you’re the only one with the ability to get our village’s canteen running again!"

Liu Xiufen, who was both the head of the women’s committee and the person in charge of the public canteen, said with deep emotion. She also blamed herself sometimes, often lying awake at night with regret. ’If only I had closed the canteen a month earlier,’ she would think, ’we definitely could have saved a lot more grain. If it had been distributed to each household, they could have eaten for a few more days.’

Zhao Weiguo had always known about her inner turmoil. He took two puffs from the cigarette Zhao Wendong had given him and comforted her in a low voice.

"Comrade Xiufen, you don’t need to worry. Next year, we’ll turn in a smaller portion and get the canteen running properly."

Zhao Wendong glanced at Zhao Weiguo but said nothing. ’The village doesn’t get to decide how much grain to turn in,’ he thought. ’And as for whether the "big pot rice" system is any good, no one knows better than me. It’s definitely a good idea, just a few decades too early. But this isn’t the right time to say any of that.’ So, Zhao Wendong chose to remain silent.

Third Master Zhao and Zhao the Fourth were also there. There was no shortage of hands today; they just had to say the word, and a crowd of people would fight to do the work, so they didn’t need to organize anything. The five members of the team committee were all sitting there, snatching a moment of leisure amidst the chaos. Third Master Zhao pointed at the people around them and sighed.

"Take a good look around. Do you notice any problems?"

Hearing this, the others all looked around. Slowly, they began to notice a few things. The whole village, old and young, men and women, was here, but it didn’t feel lively at all. Many people were just staring at the deer meat being divided up, with no energy to talk. Only a few were conversing in low voices, their words small and listless. For a place with so many people, it was far too quiet.

Zhao Wendong watched for a moment. He immediately spotted three glaring problems.

First was their tattered clothes. Most of their cotton-padded jackets had gray cotton stuffing showing through. Some were torn, with patches on top of patches. Many people’s clothes weren’t warm enough, so they went out wrapped directly in ragged quilts.

Second was the cold. Many people had chilblains and cracked skin on their hands. Some of the sores had scabbed over, and they probably stung fiercely at the slightest touch.

Third was hunger. The vast majority of people had sallow faces, sunken eyes, and dry, peeling lips. Their hair was as brittle as straw. All these people were crammed together, staring eagerly at the deer meat being roasted over the fire. Why was no one talking? They were too hungry.

Of course, all of this could be summed up in a single word: poverty.