Chapter 3: Sheep Enters a Pack of Wolves

  Until the Japanese army surrendered, each stronghold in the county seat was still posting a notice issued by the puppet county government offering a reward of 5,000 yuan for the heads of Yu Xinhe and his brothers.

  After the Japanese army surrendered, Yu Xinhe and his brother Yu Xinmin drove a horse-drawn carriage, with two guns inserted at their waists, accompanied by the two sisters of the She family, and returned to their hometown of Yujia Village in high spirits. At that time, the house was already in ruins, and the family was extremely poor, but the villagers still jointly elected Yu Xinhe as the head of the clan.

  Yu Xinhe and Yu Xinmin built two large thatched cottages on the ruins of the Yu family ancestral temple and old house. They also dug up books, objects and a small amount of gold and silver hidden by Mr. She from the dry well, determined to start from scratch and revive the Yu family business.

  The year the War of Resistance Against Japan was won, during the Spring Festival, the two brothers got married to the Ye sisters. The elder sister Ye Wenfang married Yu Xinhai, while the younger sister Ye Wenshu married Yu Xinmin. It is said that the grand wedding ceremony was a major event in Yujia Village and even the whole county that year, with all the local gentry coming to celebrate. At that time, it was just before the breakdown of the cooperation between the Communist Party and the Nationalist Party, and both the Communist county magistrate and the Nationalist county magistrate came to offer their congratulations.

  Before the start of the Chinese Civil War, Provincial Chairman Han Deqin's beloved general, Nationalist General Xu Zhitai, commander-in-chief of the four counties in northern Jiangsu Province, had offered Yu Xiner a high-ranking position as head of the Taxation Police Corps when he was only 20 years old. However, Yu Xiner and his brother did not want to participate in the civil war, having already avenged their family's grievances against the nation. They were willing to lay low among the people and return to being ordinary farmers.

  What Yu Songyuan couldn't understand after growing up was why his father and younger brother, who were clear about their likes and dislikes, didn't join the Communist Party. This became a heart disease for Yu Songyuan later on, and he always wanted to figure it out.

  Father and Xiao Ye, mother and Xiao Shu, about their whereabouts for those years, they never spoke a word, secretly not announced. But Yu Songyuan still learned from the mouths of old people in the village, perhaps it was the death of his uncle that made them choose to volunteer for the people.

  Although my uncle repeatedly fought against the Japanese invaders and made contributions to the country and nation, he was an old military man and a small landlord. His personality was too straightforward and violent. In the reduction of rent and interest and land reform, he became emotional and passively resisted, and was subjected to cruel struggle, eventually dying in depression. My aunt was also paraded through the streets as a landlord's wife, and later, unable to bear the humiliation, jumped into the river and drowned on the third day after my uncle's death.

  Yu Songyuan himself thought that although his uncle was a landlord, the place he lived in was originally vast reeds and wild grasslands. All of his land wasn't seized or occupied from others, but rather obtained by him leading his nephews to open up the wasteland. No wonder he couldn't understand why they wanted to make a fuss about it. Thinking of this point, Yu Songyuan began to somewhat understand Big and Little Ye.

  At that time, the sons and nephews of my uncle had all escaped to their relatives' homes in other places. The aftermath of my uncle and aunt were handled by my father Yu Xinhe and his brother Yu Xinmin. The two brothers were famous for their prestige and there was no reason to criticize them, so the local cadres did not make things difficult for them.

  The death of Aunt's father is not the only reason why Father Yu Xinhe and his brother are willing to bury their names in the countryside, Yu Songyuan does not know. But he can be sure that the heroic and invincible father and young master, who were once feared by the Japanese invaders, must have had a significant impact on their life choices after the tragic death of Aunt and Uncle.

  By the time of the liberation of Northern Jiangsu in 1949, the Yu Xinhe family had long since declined and only a few dilapidated thatched cottages remained, having become a thoroughly impoverished peasant household. During the land reform, they were classified as lower-middle peasants. The only valuable things left in the house were some antiques secretly unearthed from the old residence's dry well, including several thread-bound ancient books, some calligraphy and paintings, porcelain, and a Ming dynasty imperial plaque with gold inlay.

  During the "Destroy the Four Olds" movement, the village was no exception to the rest of the country. Yu Xinhua's father had been a well-known rural gentry member, and although their family had already become poor peasants, the destruction of the "Four Olds" in the village still started with their home.

  Yu Xinhe's third daughter, Yu Qin, took the initiative to lead the activists to ransack her own home, causing Yu Xinhe and his brothers extreme distress. The ancient artifacts that had been carefully preserved for many years, bearing the marks of their ancestors and serving as a cultural heritage, were instantly reduced to ashes by the ruthless flames.

  Before the house searchers arrived, Yu Xinhe and his brother hastily rolled up some of the thread-bound ancient books and hid them in a large jar used for pickling vegetables, burying it underground beside the latrine. These dozen or so books were thus fortunate enough to escape disaster, becoming the only family heirloom worth treasuring in the Yu household afterwards.

  Yu Xinhe, although a native farmer, is both martial and literary. He and his brother Yu Xinmin have practiced good martial arts since childhood. However, Yu Xinhe is still an upright and straightforward old-fashioned cultural person at heart, with a majestic and powerful calligraphy in the orthodox Suzhou style.

  Due to family reasons, the two brothers did not attend the Progressive Academy and had no exposure to new ideas. In their childhood, they had a private school at home where they and the Xi sisters were confined to read the Four Books and Five Classics, studied various schools of thought, and browsed through many historical classics, having a deep foundation in Chinese culture.

  But in daily life, the Yu brothers are extremely low-key, with no pretentiousness at all. They have been diligent and hardworking farmers throughout their lives. They are frugal and manage their household well, rising with the sun and resting with the sunset, living a daily life that is no different from the rest of the villagers. When there's a wedding or funeral in the village, they would write couplets on request, doing so effortlessly.

  Professors and Teacher Chen's families were sent down from southern Jiangsu, two cars arrived in the village in the evening. As soon as the vehicles stopped, Zhou Kun led the armed militiamen with guns, shouting slogans, surrounding them. The villagers who came to watch also shouted slogans, raising their arms like a forest, and the scene became an impromptu struggle session.

  The aged professor and crippled Mr. Chen, hung their heads in shame as Zhou Kun announced the reform policies for the "four kinds of elements". The wandering elderly, weak, sick and disabled, the helpless orphans and widows, two beautiful young women, and a three-year-old child who was frightened to tears in his mother's arms, were like a flock of sheep fallen into a pack of wolves.

  Yu Xinhe couldn't take it anymore, he parted the crowd of onlookers, "Old Zhou, it's getting late, let the elderly and children settle down first!" He then loudly said to the surrounding crowd, "Those who are willing to help stay behind, those who don't want to help disperse immediately!"

  As soon as the words came out, the crowd gradually began to disperse. Zhou Kun was in high spirits, but seeing Yu Xinhe and Yu Xinmin had already led people to help unload the car, he could only hastily retreat and lead the militia away with a sullen expression.

  The countryside gets dark early. That night, when Professor and Teacher Chen's families had finished dinner, it was already 8 o'clock. Xiang Wenfang and Xiang Wenshu had cooked a meal at Yu Songyuan's home, stir-fried vegetables, and opened two bottles of sweet potato wine, inviting both families to come over for dinner.

  The adults sat at one table, the children at another. The kids had already become fast friends with Yu Songyuan and Yu Songquan while unloading the car and putting things away. They were starving and now dug in with gusto.

  The two elders, who had just been scolded and struggled as soon as they got off the car, now have wine and dishes on the table, and suddenly their eyes are filled with tears. The professor said, "Yu Lao Da, Yu Lao Er, when we were unloading the car earlier, I knew that the house was in such a good location, it was your brothers who fought for it. Luckily this afternoon, you two also helped to resolve the situation, my old wife would like to toast you two brothers first."

  Mr. Chen also sighed and said, "I can see that the brothers and sisters are all martial artists, with chivalrous hearts and righteous bones. We are all guilty, and from now on, our two families will have to trouble you." The two young women also thanked him repeatedly, their gratitude unending.

  Yu Xinhe stood up, "Professor, Teacher Chen, your two families come from the hometown of our ancestors. You have come, it is fate, we are all very happy. Today is considered to be welcoming you, let's not talk about unhappy things!" As he spoke, together with Yu Xinmin, they led their whole family in giving them a toast.

  ……

  Since the "Hongwu scattering", although more than 600 years have passed, the Yu family in northern Jiangsu has spread to southern China, eastern China and the vast areas of central and western China. However, through the transmission of genealogy and oral tradition from generation to generation, the descendants of the Yu family remember their roots - Suzhou's Tongmen Gate.

  In fact, not only Yu's family, but also almost everyone in today's northern Jiangsu province, including Yangzhou, Huai'an and Yancheng cities, all claim that their ancestral home is Suzhou's Chengmen Gate, and they are the descendants of Chengmen.

  Because their ancestors came from Jiangnan, their roots are in Wu, and their ancestral home is in ancient Suzhou Prefecture. Therefore, the SuBei Yu clan naturally felt a sense of closeness to those who migrated from Jiangnan during the 60s and 70s. In modern Mandarin, it can be said that there was a natural sense of intimacy.

  Yu Xinhe, as the respected head of the Yu family clan, was the most prestigious person in Yujia Village for decades since the Anti-Japanese War. He was also the mainstay of all villagers. Even when rebel factions were engaged in fierce fighting and armed struggles in other villages, no one dared to act recklessly or wildly in Yujia Village.

  In those chaotic years when people were struggling to make ends meet, Yu Xinhe and his brother Yu Xinmin carefully protected Professor and Teacher Chen's families. They didn't oppose the movement, but they wouldn't tolerate senseless actions either. For this, they also made enemies of some cadres and people with ulterior motives, sowing seeds of trouble for themselves.

  Professor and Teacher Chen's two families thus settled down nervously in Yu Village. The mischievous Yu Songyuan was the happiest, having gained two new playmates. At just seven years old, he received his first strict lesson under family law.

  The professor's daughter-in-law, Yuè Yuè, is a renowned performing artist in the provincial capital. She had just arrived at Yújiā Village less than a week ago when she caught the eye of Zhōu Jiànguó, the secretary of the production brigade.

  That morning, Yuè Yuè was airing a quilt on the iron wire in front of the door. Coincidentally, Zhōu Jiànguó rode his bike past and saw the widow Yuè Yuè arranging the quilt in front of the door, looking like a willow tree swaying in the wind. He jumped off his bicycle and walked up to ask how she was doing.

  Zhou Jianguo, in front of the professor, showed a very caring attitude and put his hand on Yuemonth's shoulder. Yuemonth, facing the secretary's concern, did not dare to resist and could only skillfully dodge his pig-like hand, going inside to pour him a bowl of water.

  Zhou Jianguo was used to being domineering and arrogant, seeing that Yueyue deliberately avoided him, the fire in his heart suddenly rose.

  He didn't take the bowl from Yuè Yuè, but instead severely lectured Professor and Yuè Yuè, "You are here to receive re-education, don't look down on us poor and lower-middle peasants, don't stubbornly stand in opposition to the revolutionary masses. I will give you a good lesson, today I have meetings all day, tonight..."

  The speech was not finished, when Yu Songyuan, who was only seven years old at that time, saw Zhou Jianguo bullying a woman, and it was bullying Professor and Auntie. He was filled with righteous indignation, pulled the slingshot to its limit, aimed accurately, and with a "poof" sound, hit a thumb-sized small stone accurately on Zhou Jianguo's forehead.

  Although he was only a seven-year-old child, Yu Songyuan had been very cunning and vigorous since childhood. He didn't know how powerful the stone was or what kind of danger it would bring. "Plop" sounded, Zhou Jianguo fell to the ground, and the big truth behind him was also beaten back...