Chapter 1: The Landlord Presses for Debt

  Many years ago ——

  Maple Leaf Square in Qinba Mountain Area.

  On the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, every household begins to worship the Kitchen God.

  The sky was overcast on this day. It was a day when a strong north wind blew and snowflakes danced in the air.

  At noon, suddenly, a heart-wrenching wail came from the home of Li Youcai, an old man living in the west end of the village. In his dilapidated thatched cottage, on the kang near the southeast corner, was laid out a worn-out reed mat and a coarse linen quilt with numerous patches. On top of the quilt lay eighteen-year-old Li Yanmei, who suffered from tuberculosis, covered with a hemp-flower-patterned coarse cloth blanket, which had many patches and still exposed yellowish cotton wadding in several places. A large dark stain on the quilt had dyed the entire head of the bed black. On this cold morning, she forever closed her beautiful eyes.

  "Daughter, we've wronged you. Waaah... You're leaving us like this, waaah... It's all because your father and I are useless. We let you be born into poverty and suffering... Waaah... It's all our fault for not having money to treat your illness... My daughter... Waaah... Forgive your parents..."

  Li Youcai and his equally ill wife Zhang Cui Ping, crawled to the front of their daughter's bed, wailing loudly in grief. They were truly destitute, unable to find a single copper coin.

  Behind them, a fifteen or sixteen year old boy was kneeling. He was their youngest son, Li Guoting, nicknamed Tie Dan. Tie Dan's two bright black eyes were wide with terror, staring blankly at his sister who lay dead on the kang.

  More than a decade ago, a poor family from afar moved to Fengshuping with a daughter and a newborn son, renting over ten hectares of mountainous land from local landlord Chen Guangfu to eke out a living.

  In the past, when things were going well, after paying rent every year, there would still be some leftover grain that could be sold to merchants who came to collect grain from the countryside. They could even save a bit of money. Li Lao Han's heart was filled with hope. No matter what, this family had worked hard for a year and had some harvest. He thought to himself, after saving some money, they could buy a few acres of land, have their own land, and wouldn't need to rent others' land anymore. At that time, they could build a few more rooms. Buy a cow... By then, his daughter and son would be grown up, the family would have helpers, and life would become increasingly prosperous.

  It is known that the heavens have unpredictable winds and clouds. People have fortunes and misfortunes in the morning and evening. In these two years, the continuous rainy days made the crops that were about to be harvested rot in the fields. The harvest was much worse than before. But the rent continued to rise year after year. It has already brought this originally somewhat profitable family to the brink of bankruptcy.

  The roof leaks and encounters continuous rain. The family is already struggling to make ends meet, but the eldest daughter, Yanmei, contracted tuberculosis after a high fever due to lack of medical treatment, which added insult to injury for the whole family.

  Li Lao Han had no choice but to sell all the valuable things in his house. In fact, they didn't have much of value, just two embroidered quilts that were prepared for their daughter's marriage, a red lacquer box for clothes, and Li Lao Han's own wolf skin coat that he couldn't bear to wear, which was left by his father. His wife Cuiping had a silver earring and a silver bracelet. They also sold the grain they had saved up over the years.

  With the dozen or so silver coins that he had managed to scrape together by selling his family's belongings, the old man set out with his daughter to leave the mountain valley and head to Hanzhong City to seek medical treatment for her. But on the way, they encountered a group of bandits who robbed him of the money he had brought for his daughter's medical expenses and even beat up Old Man Li.

  Back home, Li Lao Han was bedridden with anger and resentment. The household chores were all taken care of by his wife Zhang Cui Ping and their youngest son Li Guo Ting.

  It's autumn, the season for harvesting corn. Zhang Cuiping took her son to the mountain to harvest corn in their rented field. The yield was poor and it had been raining continuously. A black bear from the mountain came out to find food and coincidentally encountered Zhang Cuiping and her son who were harvesting corn on the mountain. In order to protect her son, Zhang Cuiping ran first and was bitten by the black bear on her calf. It was Tie Dan who ran while shouting for help that caught the attention of other villagers, and together they chased away the black bear and rescued Zhang Cuiping back to the village.

  After Zhang Cui Ping was sent back home, she couldn't get out of bed to work either. In a family of four, three were lying in bed, and now all the household chores fell on Xiao Tie Dan's shoulders. It is said that poor children have to take care of their families early. Tie Dan took on this responsibility. He had to busy himself with farm work while also taking care of his sick sister, father, and mother who was bitten by a dog. Tie Dan felt like the burden on his shoulders weighed a thousand pounds.

  He goes out to work in the fields every day and on his way back, he also gathers firewood to bring home. After returning home, he helps his mother cook dinner and also decocts Chinese medicine for his sister and father.

  Days went by in such a difficult way. It's almost the end of the year. Father's body began to recover little by little. Mother's leg, however, became infected and festered due to lack of medical care and medicine.

  The weight of family is like a thick cloud that can never see the sun, always pressing on Xiao Tie Dan's heart.

  Looking at his underage son, the tender shoulders have taken on such a heavy burden for the family. Li Lao Han was resentful of himself in his heart for not being capable, as the head of the household, to bear the weight of this family's burdens. So, the old man dragged his still-unhealed body, braving the wind and snow, and went out early in the morning to go to the neighboring village to borrow some money from acquaintances. With just a few days left before New Year's Eve, he couldn't let his family not even have dumplings to eat during the holiday.

  Treading on the rugged, snow-covered mountain path, Li Youcai walked for four or five miles and arrived at Zhangjiayuan Village, which was separated from Fengshuping by a mountain ridge. The village's Zhang Hanmin was one of his good friends. Li Youcai had already borrowed money from him twice before. The last time, Zhang Hanmin lent him the only two silver dollars he had. Until now, he still hadn't paid him back.

  Now, Li Youcai thought about it and couldn't think of a second person to borrow money from. If he didn't borrow, how could they get through the year? He couldn't just watch his family starve to death. No matter what, next year there would still be crops in the field, and people would still have hope. So he had to swallow his pride and go borrow again. Even in his own village, he had borrowed from everyone. They were all poor fellow villagers, which family had any savings? It was just that the villagers saw Li Youcai's family was struggling, so one household gave a scoop of flour, another household gave a bowl of rice, just to help them out a bit. But how could they keep asking others for help forever?

  With a determined heart, Li Youcai once again thickened his skin and stepped into Zhang Hanmin's home. Zhang Hanmin was a native of the place, and from his grandfather's generation on, they had lived in Zhangjia Village. His family was well-off, with over ten hectares of their own mountain land. They didn't rent land from the big landlord Chen Guangfu. In this small mountain village of Zhangjia Village, life was relatively good. He and Li Youcai became acquainted due to an accident many years ago. On that day, Zhang Hanmin was driving his old yellow cow to cultivate the land on the slope, when suddenly a strong gust of wind blew, followed by dark clouds, thunder and lightning, and heavy rain. The old yellow cow was frightened and ran down the mountain path. Zhang Hanmin rushed to catch the cow but lost his footing and fell from the cliff. Luckily, he was caught by a fir tree that hung onto his clothes. In desperation, Zhang Hanmin stretched out his hands and grabbed the weak branch of the tree, which swayed back and forth, almost breaking off. Just as it seemed like it would snap, Li Youcai happened to pass by and heard Zhang Hanmin's cries for help. Without hesitation, he climbed up the cliff and rescued Zhang Hanmin. From then on, they became good friends. Every year during festivals, their families would visit each other to exchange New Year's greetings.

  Since Li Youcai's daughter got sick, Zhang Hanmin helped them out. Later, when Li Youcai's wife was bitten by a dog, Zhang Hanmin lent him money again. With the Spring Festival approaching, Li Youcai had no choice but to come to Zhang Hanmin once more to borrow some cash.

  Zhang Hanmin didn't have any extra money to lend, but he was a man of his word. Since Li Youcai had come to borrow from him, he couldn't let him leave empty-handed. So Zhang Hanmin comforted Li Youcai while going around the village borrowing money for him. Zhang Hanmin had good relationships with the villagers, and they were willing to lend him money. After visiting several households, he finally managed to borrow a few dozen copper coins. When Li Youcai held the copper coins that Zhang Hanmin had borrowed for him, he excitedly said: "I will definitely repay you, I will definitely repay you."

  As soon as he returned from Zhangjiayao, he heard his wife Zhang Cui Ping's hoarse crying voice coming from their own house. Li Youcai hastily pushed open the door and saw that his wife was lying on her daughter's bed, painfully crying out her daughter Yanmei's nickname - "Meimei, Meimei, you can't leave us like this, open your eyes and look at Mom. Dad will go borrow money to buy medicine for you, it must cure your illness, Meimei, Meimei, my daughter, wake up..."

  Li Youcai was shocked; what he had feared most had still happened. His daughter left them with the torment of illness.

  Then, Li Youcai rushed forward recklessly, knocking over the kang in front of his daughter, and with outstretched hands, he grasped his daughter's already icy face, crying: "My child, what's wrong with you? Child, look, Dad has borrowed money for you. Dad will take you to see a doctor, and we'll definitely cure your illness. Child, open your eyes and take a look, look, this is the money, this is..."

  Li Youcai stood there foolishly, his hands holding his daughter's cold face slowly loosening. The other hand that had taken out the copper coins borrowed from Zhang Hanmin's house slipped out of his hands and fell to the ground, scattering everywhere.

  The son Tiegai also knelt in front of his sister's bed, crying out his sister's name: "Sister... Sister..."

  Just as the family was mourning and crying around the deceased Yanmei, a loud noise of people and horses came from the courtyard, followed by a familiar voice: "Li Youcai, Li Youcai." It was the voice of Liu Xueren, also known as Iron Abacus, the steward of the wealthy landlord Chen Guangfu.

  Li Youcai walked out of the house with a slight tremble. He saw behind the steward Liu Xueren, a sedan chair was slowly lowered from the shoulders of the bearers. The stout master, Chen Guangfu, who wore a sable coat and a fox-fur hat, and had two fox-fur earflaps on his ears, got out of the sedan chair.

  Before Li Youcai could even open his mouth, the steward Liu Xueren held up the iron abacus in his hand and pressed it against Li's nose, saying loudly: "Li Youcai, when are you going to pay back the rent you owe our master?"

  "Great steward. Old master, my daughter died today, I couldn't get a single penny out of my house, please give me another half year, until the summer harvest..."

  Li Youcai hadn't finished speaking when Liu Xueren glared at him with his triangular eyes, raised the iron abacus in his hand and poked it at Li Youcai's face. The abacus hit Li Youcai's high-bridged nose and he cursed: "Damn you, do you want to default on your debt? You've owed three years' rent. How am I supposed to survive? Pay up the three years' rent immediately, then we'll have nothing more to do with each other."

  Li Youcai suddenly felt a stinging pain in the bridge of his nose, and a cool liquid flowed out from his nostrils. He hastily reached out to touch his nose, and his hand was immediately stained with dark red nasal blood.

  "You, you, how can you hit people?" A sharp pain, Li Youcai almost shed tears, he covered his bleeding nose with his hand and said to Liu Xueren.

  "Damn it, I'll beat you up! Beating you is nothing. If you don't pay back the debt, I'll take you to the county and throw you in prison."

  "Hey, Li Youcai." Chen Guangfu, who was standing behind Liu Xueren, spoke up. He pushed aside his eight-character mustache and stretched out his hand to move Liu Xueren aside, walking in front of Li Youcai: "Li Youcai, you've been renting my land for over a decade now. These past few years, the harvest has been poor, and the government has increased taxes on local areas every year. To say it, this tax should be borne by you tenants. I'm not looking at your family's situation, haven't I reduced the rent for you? But you've been owing me land rent for several years now..."

  "Master, master, we will always remember your kindness to us. We will never forget the great favor you have shown us. These past few years, as you know, there have been disasters year after year, either drought or flood. The crops in the fields cannot be harvested, and at home my wife and children are ill. It's not that we intentionally delayed paying your rent, but we really had no way out, no money. Master, please give us another six months' extension, by summer when the wheat is harvested, I will definitely pay it back." Li Youcai knelt down with a 'thud', kowtowing to Chen Guangfu while begging him.

  Chen Guangfu didn't take Li Youcai seriously. He looked up, his eyes slanting downward, and glanced at Li Youcai, who was kowtowing at his feet. "Whether the land is fertile or not has nothing to do with me renting it from you," he said. "I rent my land, you pay your rent. Whether the harvest is good or bad has nothing to do with me renting the land. If you don't want to rent it, then pay back the rent and interest you owe me, and I'll take back the land. If you want to rent it, then you have to pay the rent on time. You understand that."

  Li Youcai nodded and said: "I understand. I understand. However, sir, I really can't afford to pay the rent. Sir, please have mercy and give me an extension."

  At this time, Li Youcai's wife Zhang Cuiying and son Li Guoting also came out of the house. Zhang Cuiying saw Li Youcai kneeling in the snow begging Chen Guangfu, and she also rushed over, knelt down in front of Chen Guangfu, and begged for mercy: "Master, our daughter died this morning. Please spare us considering we have rented your land for over a decade and paid rent all these years. Master."

  Chen Guangfu was getting impatient, those two cows puffed up their eyes and twitched the muscles on their face, opening their mouths to say: "Your family asks me for leniency, his family asks me for leniency. This morning I went to four or five families, all asking me for leniency. You want leniency, but do I still need to eat? Ah, with a big family like mine to support, not paying rent is not an option. Do you want me to drink the northwest wind instead? Good words have been said to you. Don't pretend to be polite and then not follow through. Let me tell you, this year's rent will not be delayed."

  Li Youcai saw Chen Guangfu get angry and felt even more frightened. He didn't have a single penny left, what could he use to pay the rent? Moreover, Chinese New Year was approaching, how would this family survive? Thinking of this, he knocked his bulging forehead hard on the ground covered with snowflakes, making a crisp sound "Bang Bang".

  "Master, please, have mercy on us poor people." Li Youcai and his wife Zhang Cuihua begged together.

  At this time, the housekeeper brought two thugs forward, lifted one foot and kicked Li Youcai, who was kneeling on the ground, to the ground.

  "Damn it, do you want to play dumb? Pay the rent immediately. If not, I'll take you all to the county and throw you in jail." Steward Liu Xueren bellowed with his triangular eyes wide open.

  Li Youcai scrambled to his feet and rushed at Chen Guangfu again, embracing Chen's legs with both hands and shouting: "Master, please, have mercy on me! Have mercy on me!" Chen Guangfu lifted his foot and kicked Li Youcai in the chest, sending him tumbling to the ground once more.

  "Li Youcai, I don't care if you're capable or not. I'm giving you until tomorrow afternoon to pay back all the rent you owe. If not, don't blame me, Chen Guangfu, for not recognizing people. I'll have you kicked out of this village." With that, he turned around and left Li Youcai's home with a group of people.

  Li Guoting saw his father being kicked to the ground by Chen Guangfu, a wealthy landlord. A flame of anger suddenly ignited within him. He turned around and shouted at Chen Guangfu's back: "Why did you hit my dad?" As he spoke, he rushed forward and grabbed onto Chen Guangfu's leg.

  Chen Guangfu was caught off guard and almost fell to the ground in the snow, which made him even angrier. He stretched out his foot to kick, but unfortunately, he was tightly held by Li Guoting, and his right foot couldn't exert any strength.

  "Damn it, you little rabbit. Are you looking for death?" Chen Guangfu cursed.

  Several thugs beside Chen Guangfu ran over, raised the leather whips in their hands and beat Li Guoting's body. The whip fell, and from Li Guoting's patched and tattered cotton-padded jacket, it pulled out strips of yellowish, blood-stained, and tattered cotton wadding.

  Li Youcai scrambled to his feet, and together with his wife Zhang Cuiying, rushed over to shield Li Guoting's body with their own, entreating piteously: "Master, stop hitting him, stop hitting him. The child doesn't understand, spare him. We'll pay back the rent we owe you tomorrow."

  "Hum, you poor devils, are just a bunch of rascals. If I don't show you some color, you won't know what the law is. Tomorrow, if you still haven't paid up, be careful with your heads." Chen Guangfu shouted at Li Youcai with his eyes wide open.

  Getting up from the ground, Li Guoting covered his shoulder wounded by the whip with his hand, staring at the departing back of landlord Chen Guangfu who was leaving his home, a row of teeth biting and making a "kaka" sound.

  "We don't have money, so we won't pay him back. Let's see what he can do to us." said Li Guoting.

  "Ah, child, you're still young, you don't understand. I...I..." Li Youcai's words were cut off as he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his chest where Chen Guangfu had kicked him earlier. His throat seemed to be blocked by something, causing him to feel suffocated and unable to catch his breath. He coughed violently, spitting out a mouthful of thick, dark blood that splattered onto the front of his cotton-padded jacket."

  Zhang Cui-ping and Li Guo-ting saw Li You-cai spit blood. The two were shocked, immediately hugged Li You-cai, and the whole family burst into tears.