Chapter 111: Something is Wrong with This Place
Wang An dropped Wu Dong off at the government office to continue working, then hitched his sled and headed home.
Before leaving the county town, near the county police station, Wang An saw two gangs of thugs fighting in the street, yet absolutely no one was intervening!
Wang An didn't bother with them and continued speeding toward home. Along the way, his mind didn't idle for a second. He still had 94 sheep carcasses at home; he and his brother-in-law needed to keep some for their own food, and he had to set aside a few for relatives. He had to give his grand-uncle a whole one, otherwise, he'd look too pathetic.
He concluded that he would keep 20, sell 73 in total, and give one to Director Wei, and that would be that. As for the wolves and the red dogs, not a single one would be left behind!
After calculating this, Wang An's thoughts drifted. He felt that going home this time was quite pleasant because no "trashy people" had appeared.
One cannot think of good things every day, because when you are thinking of good things, bad things are very likely to follow immediately!
Thus, just as Wang An reached a bend in the road, he heard crying from a distance—and he could tell it was the heart-wrenching wail of a woman!
The crying was quite intense. What the hell? What's the situation? Should he intervene or not?
Whether he intervened or not, the key was that he still had to keep moving!
He looked left and right. *Oh, for fuck's sake,* it was this same bend again. This was unbelievable; there was absolutely something wrong with this godforsaken place!
Tomorrow, when he came back to the county town to deliver the sheep, he definitely had to buy some yellow ritual paper to burn at this cursed spot to get rid of the bad luck!
While lost in these random thoughts, Wang An pulled out his Type 54 pistol, chambered a round, and put it back in his pocket.
The Type 56 semi-automatic was wrapped in a sack, and the sack was under a straw mat; it was a bit of a hassle to get to, so he decided against using the 56.
A few seconds later, Wang An rounded the bend. Not far ahead, he saw a man dragging a woman toward the woods, cursing loudly: "You stinking bitch, you'd better come with me quickly, or I'll kill you."
The woman naturally refused, crying and screaming, kicking and struggling, lying flat on the ground and refusing to move.
The man grew furious. While kicking and beating the woman, he roared, "You stinking bitch, your man already pledged you to me! Once that one-legged man of yours recovers, you have to come with me, and you actually dare to resist!"
"I don't agree! I just don't agree!" the woman cried and screamed.
"If you don't agree, I'll beat you to death," the man cursed while kicking.
"Hey, can't you see someone's coming?" After tying up his horse, Wang An truly couldn't stand to watch anymore and shouted helplessly.
"Get lost! Can't you see this grandpa is busy?" the man shouted impatiently!
His tone was hard and arrogant, as if he were doing something perfectly justified!
Wang An's explosive temper flared instantly. He had originally wanted to keep things small and let them fade away so everyone could be peaceful and he could get home faster!
But why was this guy so unfriendly?
"Oh, fuck your mother! Do you talk to your father like that too?" Wang An cursed as he stepped forward, not indulging the man in the slightest.
Only then did the man turn to glance at Wang An. He froze for a moment, then said, "I wondered who was acting so tough. Turns out it's Wang the Madman!"
Back in the circles, Wang An's nickname had been "The Madman," meaning he fought like a lunatic.
When the man turned around, Wang An was also stunned. This man was called Qiu Ba, a fairly famous "drifter" in the county who dealt in loan sharking!
He had several men under him, was much older than Wang An, and had been far more successful in his delinquency than Wang An had been—this "success" referred to both financial strength and fighting ability!
The two were acquaintances of sorts, but they generally left each other alone because both knew the other was not to be trifled with!
"Yo, isn't this Brother Ba? Why are you hunting 'sea horses' instead of lending money?" Wang An suppressed his anger and spoke with a smile.
"Lending money" referred to loan sharking, and "sea horses" was slang for women being sold.
"This woman's man owes me money, so he pledged her to me. I'm beating her; is there a problem with that?" Qiu Ba said in an unfriendly tone.
"Wang An, Wang An, please save me! I'll work for you like an ox or a horse to repay you in the future!" At this moment, the woman sitting on the ground cried out.
That's right, Wang An knew this woman, and she knew him, because she was Niu Dali's wife, Lu Yueyue!
Because of Lu Yueyue's words, Qiu Ba's gaze changed. Since Wang An knew Lu Yueyue, the nature of the situation was different!
Wang An felt this woman was a real jinx! A simple matter had become complicated because Wang An had initially pretended not to know Lu Yueyue!
To Qiu Ba, it now seemed that Wang An's original purpose was to come after him!
So Qiu Ba said, "Little brother, what's the meaning of this? You want to snatch her away by force?"
To be honest, Wang An didn't want to provoke people like Qiu Ba. He didn't want to live that delinquent life anymore; mainly because there was no future in it, and sooner or later, one would end up "eating peanut kernels" (being executed).
Wang An thought for a moment and said helplessly, "How much does he owe you? I'll see if I have enough!" He thought to himself that as long as it was roughly acceptable, it wasn't worth the fight.
"What, you want to settle it for him?" Seeing Wang An soften and concede, Qiu Ba's tone instantly became very harsh, and his attitude grew even more hostile.
Wang An understood the ways of the streets and knew that Qiu Ba was trying to make an exorbitant demand!
But Wang An particularly hated these pretentious types. If someone asks you something, just answer it! Why act like some big shot?
"Fuck your mother, I gave you face, didn't I!" Wang An cursed as he threw a punch, striking right in front of Qiu Ba's ear.
This area is very fragile—the trigeminal nerve. Whoever gets hit there is dazed!
Due to Wang An's sudden attack, Qiu Ba was unprepared and took the punch full force! However, Qiu Ba had likely been beaten plenty of times and was quite durable; after the punch, he only swayed his head in a daze.
That's how drifters fight. Once they start, they absolutely will not stop until the opponent is down; and once the opponent is down, they won't stop until they hear a surrender!
Thus, Wang An used both hands and feet, raining blows down on Qiu Ba before the man could react.
However, the damage wasn't great. Qiu Ba seemed to have trained; after several punches and kicks, not only did he not fall, but he actually blocked Wang An's subsequent attacks and began to counter!
Furthermore, Qiu Ba roared angrily, "You little brat, you dare lay a hand on me? I think you're tired of living!"
Wang An began to regret it. Without a weapon in his hand, his fighting lacked power!
And so, they engaged in a brawl of punch for punch and kick for kick. However, Wang An discovered that the opponent was better at fighting and more skilled than he was; he was only relying on his height and strength!
This was fucking ridiculous! He'd thrown himself into a mess by minding other people's business!
He didn't even have a chance to pull his gun!
Just as he thought this, he took a kick to the chest. Wang An retreated a few steps and fell onto his back. But how could Qiu Ba stop? He lunged toward Wang An!
Wang An wasn't about to miss such a perfect opportunity to pull his gun!
When Wang An lay there pointing the gun at Qiu Ba, Qiu Ba actually ignored it!
He even said, "Little brother, do you even know how to take the safety off?"
He seemed certain that Wang An wouldn't dare fire and intended to move forward and tear into him!
Wang An was speechless. This guy was truly arrogant! If my marksmanship were bad, what would happen if I hit you in the head?
With a *bang*, a shot rang out. Qiu Ba was hit in the right knee. With a scream of agony, he dropped directly to his knees.
Wang An pointed the gun at Qiu Ba and stood up from the ground, because Wang An believed it was impossible for the other man not to have a gun on him!
In this era in Northeast China, any thug with a bit of a reputation basically had a gun. At the very least, they had a "juebazi"!
A *juebazi*, also called a "single-shot," was a handgun that could only fire one bullet at a time, operating on the same principle as a pipe gun, though the hammer was manual. Any ordinary blacksmith could make one!