Volume 2 Chapter 11 The Wine of That Night (4)

  The house was still quiet, Chen Zizhong returned to the mountain valley and cut down another tree, which was longer and thicker. When entering the yard, there were villagers laughing and saying, "Shun Yujie, if you don't open the door, your son-in-law will be exhausted to death!" The crowd's laughter shook the sky.

  Chen Zizhong didn't understand Korean, so he put down the pine tree, wiped his sweat and was about to leave. Just then, the door opened and Kim Sun-ok chased away the villagers who were watching with a stern face, glared at Chen Zizhong, turned around and went back inside. Chen Zizhong hastily followed her in.

  The Korean kang was so large that it could hold a dining table and sleep seven or eight people. Jin Xunyu entered the house and got on the kang, Chen Zizhong also got on the kang, and casually pinched Xi Zhen's small chin, calling her "mushroom head".

  Jin Shunyu sat on the kang with his legs crossed, tossing over a towel for him to wipe his sweat: "I'm not being soft-hearted, I just don't want people to laugh at us."

  Chen Zizhong narrowed his eyes and smiled: "Sister-in-law, can you speak Chinese?"

  "I am Chinese, and I came to Korea with my husband." Kim Soon-yu beckoned Hee-jin to sit next to her: "It was the previous husband, who was killed by soldiers while hunting in the forest because he gave the rabbit he caught to the People's Army to eat."

  "What a pity! He's definitely a real man."

  "How did you know?"

  "An ordinary hunter only needs a gun and a rope, but your family has knives and red-tasseled spears. Your husband's martial arts skills are not bad."

  "No match for you, my two hands can't even handle your two fingers." A blush swept across Jin Shunyu's face as she suddenly changed the subject and patted Xi Zhen's neck, saying "Kneel down."

  Hee-jin, who was staring at Chen Zizhong with anger in her eyes, was stunned. Kim Soon-yu slapped the back of her head: "Kneel down!"

  Xi Zhen knelt down with tears in her eyes, thud, thud, thud, the kang was about to collapse.

  "Sister-in-law, why are you hitting the kid?" Chen Zizhong pulled Xi Zhen over, who bit a crescent moon shape on his wrist, and then returned to Jin Shunyu's side.

  Jin Xunyu said: "Please spare us mother and daughter, spare Daher Village."

  "What's the meaning of this?"

  "The People's Army comes and the Korean army goes, today they guarantee we have enough to eat and wear, tomorrow they guarantee a good life. But I haven't seen that good life, all I see is barren land where nothing grows, villages turned into widow villages, children crying all night at the sound of gunfire. I don't care if you're a yellow wolf or a great savior, it's beyond my reach, I just want to live a peaceful life, stop making our village suffer, we don't want guns, we want rice."

  The old and young people of Daher Village helped the People's Army with all their might. After the defeat of the People's Army, the Korean army captured all the men who could carry guns for military service. Those who refused to go were castrated and buried alive. Kim Sun-ok will never forget that day when dozens of men's genitals hung from a tree in the village head, dripping with blood.

  Chen Zizhong sniffled and his eyes darted around the room: "It smells great, Eldest Sister-in-law, you have good wine in your house."

  "I'm chasing you, and you still want me to invite you for a drink?"

  "You poured two buckets of cold water on me yesterday, I need a drink to dispel the chill."

  "A dog's nose can smell things from the cellar." Jin Shunyu put a table on the kang, and brought out wine that had been stored for five years: "There's enough wine, drink up and get out."

  An amber-colored jug was filled with three and a half catties of wine, Jin Shunyu smiled and gently shook the jug, the sweet and mellow wine aroma seemed to burst out of the jug, enticing people's souls. With a 'pop' sound, the red cloth-covered stopper was removed, and a white mist spread out, the shabby room seemed to have turned into a fairyland, just taking a sniff, people seemed to be drunk to death.