Heidan looked at Aunt Xinghua with wide eyes, clearly curious about his brother whom he’d never met.
Aunt Xinghua sighed, “Your brother was only sixteen when he left. He’s been gone for almost five years now. The last time he came back, you were just a toddler. Who knows when he’ll return again.”
Song Wei glanced at Heidan’s face, curious about his older brother.
“Auntie, what kind of person was my brother?” Heidan couldn’t help but ask. He’d been too young to remember his brother, no matter how hard he tried.
Aunt Xinghua’s eyes grew distant as she recalled, “Your brother was quite something. He was bold even as a young teenager, often heading deep into the mountains alone. He wasn’t afraid of places other people avoided. He even pestered the village’s old hunter until he taught him archery. Every time he returned, he’d bring back something valuable from the mountains. Thanks to him, your family never had to go hungry.”
Unfortunately, the old Lin family, taking advantage of Lin Zhen going to the mountains and Lin Laoshan going to the fields, went to cause trouble for a pregnant woman.
“Your brother was very tall and strong,” Aunt Xinghua continued. “At thirteen, he was already as big as the older boys. When he left to join the army, he was already taller than your uncle.”
Song Wei thought, the team leader is over six feet. Then Heidan’s brother must be around six foot two or so now!
That was unusually tall for these times.
As Heidan busied himself picking wild vegetables alongside Song Wei, he listened to Aunt Xinghua tell stories about his brother.
Suddenly, the sound of a loud argument reached them.
Song Wei’s eyes sparkled with curiosity, and without hesitation, she scooped up Heidan and bolted toward the noise.
“Auntie, we’ll go check it out!”
Aunt Xinghua followed quickly. “Wait, I’m coming too!”
The noise turned out to be a fight over a rabbit. Two women, one holding its ears and the other gripping its legs, were shouting and wrestling over the poor animal. The women were familiar to Song Wei—it was the old woman from the Niu family and, of course, the ever-feisty Old Lady Lin.
Well, this was going to be a spectacle.
Not wanting Heidan caught in the chaos if old lady Lin saw him, Song Wei quickly helped him climb up a nearby tree with her to get the best view.
With her nimble movements, she practically shot up the tree like a monkey, leaving Aunt Xinghua staring in amazement.
“This Song Wei is really something else,” Aunt Xinghua murmured, surprised at how unlike her delicate appearance the girl actually was.
Down below, old lady Niu was pulling old lady Lin’s hair, shouting insults as she yanked.
“You shameless old tramp! Just because you claim you saw the rabbit first doesn’t mean it’s yours! It ran right into me—I caught it first, so it’s mine!”
Old lady Lin, though weaker than the other woman, was fighting dirty, clawing at the old lady Niu’s chest, making her yelp in pain.
But neither woman was willing to let go of the rabbit.
Old lady Lin, her eyes red with rage, screamed back, “Shameless? Look at yourself! I grabbed this rabbit first—you were the one who ran over. No wonder your son’s so lazy and ungrateful to you.”
Old lady Niu became even more furious, screaming, “You think your son’s any better? Lin Dahai’s been working in the city for years, but has he sent you a single cent? All you do is brag about him in the village, what a joke!”
Fuming, old lady Lin let go of the rabbit’s legs and went straight for old lady Niu’s face, clawing and pulling at her hair.
“My son’s a excellent worker! He’s ten times the man your lazy son is! Your son’s the one who’ll never amount to anything—no wonder his children are all worthless!”
With one hand still on the rabbit, old lady Niu was taking a beating. She finally let go of the rabbit to defend herself, and the two of them started slapping and clawing each other.
The rabbit, freed, made a break for it, and the crowd, who’d been watching the fight, immediately forgot the squabble and started chasing after it.
“It’s heading that way! Hurry!” someone shouted, dashing after the rabbit.
The two women, still red-faced and bruised, finally noticed the rabbit getting away. They immediately stopped fighting and ran after it, yelling.
“My rabbit! Move aside, everyone, that rabbit’s mine!” the old lady Niu screeched.
But no one was listening to her—this was wild game from the mountains. Whoever caught it first could claim it.
In the end, it was a young boy who caught the rabbit. He took off his jacket, threw it over the panicked rabbit, and held it down until it stopped struggling.
With a huge smile, the boy held the rabbit by its ears, shouting, “I caught it, Mom! I got a rabbit!”
Just then, Old lady Lin lunged forward, snatching the rabbit from the boy’s hand and shoving him so hard he fell to the ground.
The boy burst into tears.
“How dare you shove my grandson!” his grandmother cried, her face red with fury. She rushed at old lady Lin, grabbed her hair, and started pulling as hard as she could.
“Shameless old hag! Bullying a child—no mountain bandit is as mean as you! How could our village have produced a rotten woman like you? You’re lucky if I let you off with just a beating!” she shrieked, landing a hard slap on old lady Lin and even sitting on her to keep her from escaping.
Old lady Lin screamed in pain.
Meanwhile, the boy’s mother helped him to his feet, scolding old lady Lin the whole time. She grabbed the rabbit and ran over to help her mother-in-law pin down the squirming old woman.
“Help! They’re killing me! Are you all just going to stand there? Someone get this crazy woman off me!” old lady Lin wailed, clutching her back dramatically.
The onlookers, eyes still glued to the rabbit, sighed with disappointment as the boy’s mother took it away.
One parent even gave their child a disappointed slap on the back of the head.
“Why couldn’t you have grabbed it first, like that boy?”
The children gave them hurt looks. It wasn’t their fault the rabbit hadn’t run in their direction!
Old lady Niu’s eyes darted to the rabbit. She huffed, “I caught it first. Give it back.”
The boy’s grandmother, still as fierce as ever, spat at her. “You dropped it when you got into a fight. My grandson caught it fair and square. If you wanted it so badly, you shouldn’t have let it go. Just shameless.”
From her perch, Song Wei watched with interest. They’d moved to another branch, giving her and Heidan a perfect view.
“What a tough bunch,” she muttered with admiration. Even in old age, these women weren’t backing down.
The best part? Old lady Lin and old lady Niu were both getting what they deserve.
And Song Wei couldn’t have been happier to watch it all unfold.
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