Chapter Five: The Song

  The next morning, Wang Long was awakened by the noise outside. He pushed open the window and the scene outside made him furious.

  All that could be seen was a group of short, yet fairly handsome men pulling Alisha and talking non-stop. The surrounding area was filled with men wearing Miao costumes, completely encircling Alisha in the middle. However, Alisha's expression was extremely angry as she struggled to break free from the man's grasp.

  Wang Long quickly ran down the third floor, facing the crowd and shouting: "What are you doing? Let go of Aliyi!" The handsome man heard Wang Long's shout, glanced at him, and turned his head back to continue entangling with Aliyi.

  Ari saw Wang Long and shouted loudly: "Adan brother, come and save me quickly!" Wang Long was furious, rushed forward swiftly, pulled open the men surrounding Ari with one hand each, and arrived beside the handsome young man.

  Aliya was still caught by the man's hand, struggling constantly. Wang Long struck out with lightning speed, grasping the man's hand that held Aliya, saying: "Let Aliya go, otherwise I won't be polite to you."

  The handsome young man burst out laughing as if he had heard a very funny joke, and said loudly while laughing: "Who are you? Dare to talk to me like that, do you know who I am?" Wang Long frowned and said: "I don't care who you are, please let go of Ali immediately."

  The handsome young man proudly said: "I won't let you go, what can you do to me? Don't meddle in other people's business." Wang Long skillfully used his inner strength, and the handsome young man immediately let out a loud cry of pain. The two young men beside him quickly struck at Wang Long, trying to rescue the handsome young man. Wang Long's other hand swiftly struck one of them, while another fist also hit Wang Long's body. The young man who was hit by Wang Long flew backward and crashed into a wooden chair in the distance, unable to get up again. Wang Long, who had been hit in the chest by one of the young men, felt a dull pain in his chest, and a mouthful of blood surged up his throat. He took a deep breath, forcing the blood back down, and his face turned deathly pale.

  Wang Long grasped the handsome young man's hand, increasing his grip. The handsome young man cried out in pain: "Let go quickly, I'll let A Li Yi go." As he spoke, tears streaming down his face, he released his hold on A Li Yi. At the same time, Wang Long pushed him aside and grasped A Li Yi's hand, pulling her out of the circle of young people.

  Wang Long saw that Aliya's wrist was already red and swollen from being grabbed, and his heart ached with pain. He asked: "Aliya, who are they? What do they want to do?"

  Alyi shed tears and said, "Adan brother, they are from the neighboring village of Dashan. The one who caught me is Yipu, his father is the leader of Dashan Village. He often takes a group of people from their village to wander around, causing trouble and stirring up trouble. They have come several times before, but were chased away by my father. Today, when they saw that my father was not at home, they wanted to deal with me. Fortunately, you are here, otherwise I don't know what they would do to me, thank you, Adan brother."

  Wang Long was extremely surprised to hear this, because in the past few days he had seen that one by one the Miao youth were so simple and kind, and he couldn't believe that such a troublemaker still existed here.

  Wang Long smiled and said to Aliya, "Aliya, don't worry, I'm here, I won't let anyone hurt you." Aliya nodded and grasped Wang Long's hand even tighter.

  Yipu was still rubbing his swollen wrist, which had been pinched by Wang Long, and was shouting nonstop. A young man named Er stuck his head in and asked ingratiatingly, "Brother Yipu, are you okay?" Yipu slapped Er to the ground with a loud crack and cursed, "Damn it, go try it yourself! I'm dying from pain, and you're still here making light of it!" After finishing speaking, he glared fiercely at Wang Long and asked, "You little brat, what's your name? Where are you from?"

  Wang Long said, "I am a guest of Ali's family, called Adan." Yipu shouted loudly, "It turns out to be a wild little boy. Brothers, let's go up and beat him together. If we don't disable him today, it will be hard to dispel the hatred in my heart." The eleven young men surrounding him quickly rushed towards Wang Long on command.

  Wang Long pulled Aliya to one side and said, "You stand aside first, I'll go deal with them." Aliya obediently stood aside and reminded him, "Ah Dan Ge, you must be careful, there are many of them."

  Wang Long nodded and went forward. Basically, as soon as Wang Long threw a punch, he could knock down one person with his hard fist and great strength, but at the same time, he would also be hit by others around him. After taking hundreds of punches, he finally knocked all the young people to the ground, but Wang Long himself was exhausted and fell to the ground, feeling very stuffy in his chest, and a mouthful of blood spurted out of his mouth.

  Ari quickly rushed over and helped Wang Long up. At this time, 7 or 8 young people from Damiao Village also came over, two of whom hurried over to help lift Wang Long.

  Yi Pu took one look at the situation and immediately shouted to the young people who had fallen to the ground: "All of you get up, let's go." Then he turned his head and said viciously to Wang Long: "Ah Dan, wait for me, I will come back to find you. Today's humiliation, I will return a hundredfold in the future. Hmph!"

  They walked along the mountain road, supporting each other. The young people of Damiao Village were eager to rush up and deal with Yipu and his gang. Aliyi hurriedly stopped them and said: "Thank you for coming to help, please let them go, they have been punished." Everyone heard Aliyi's words and dispersed.

  At night, Mi San returned home and saw Wang Long's appearance. He hastily decocted several doses of traumatology medicine for Wang Long to take, and had him lie in bed to rest and recover from his injuries.

  After listening to Ali's account, Misang's face changed slightly and he said to Wang Long: "The Yipu who was beaten by you today is the son of Pudi, the leader of Dashan Village. Pudi is the leader of Hei Miao, and he has a group of powerful men who would die for him. Today's incident will cause trouble in the future."

  Ari asked anxiously beside him, "Dad, what should we do?" Misang shook his head and said, "There's no good way to deal with it. From now on, you must be careful when going out. Pudi is a narrow-minded person who will definitely take revenge if he has a grudge. It's better not to go out unless necessary, staying at home is safer, they won't dare to come to our village and cause trouble." Wang Long and Ari nodded in agreement.

  Wang Long had been in Damiangou Village for over a month, and the time had come for the Han people to celebrate their New Year. Although the Miao people generally mainly celebrated the Miao New Year, they were also accustomed to celebrating the Han New Year together with the Han people.

  The Miao people's New Year is not the same everywhere, but it is always held after the harvest, specifically on the dragon or rabbit day of the 9th, 10th or 11th month of the lunar calendar. As for the Spring Festival, it is a traditional holiday celebrated by the Han people and other ethnic minorities together, with the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar as the beginning of the year. The Miao people call the Spring Festival "Han Year".

  On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Mr. Mi San had arranged a sumptuous feast on the table with wine, meat, fish and other delicacies, which was considered a luxurious meal for the Miao people throughout the year.

  Everyone happily finished the New Year's dinner, and Aili pulled Wang Long, saying they wanted to go out and have fun. Both of them were dressed in their Miao ethnic costumes for the festival. On this festive day, the entire Miao village was very lively. As they walked, Aili explained various activities of the Miao ethnic festival to Wang Long.

  During the festival, there are various activities in the village. The main events include bullfighting, horse racing, jumping on the lusheng, and touring around. On the first day, the cattle are fed to their fill, decorated, and led to the bullfighting arena. Each village has a traditional bullfighting arena, with the surrounding hills serving as natural grandstands. When the bullfighting takes place, the entire Miao village is filled with excitement, with around 5,000 to 6,000 people watching.

  After the bullfight, the good wine collected by each family in advance was carried to the center of the venue. People drank and danced to the rhythm of the lusheng, while older people often ate and chatted on the hillside.

  Young people like to participate in "touring" activities. Young men go to the village to sing touring songs, and young women hear the sound, invite each other, come out to sing and dance together. Generally, it is the girls from the same village and the boys from outside the village who sing together, asking each other through song, expressing love. When parting, they give each other gifts, and some become lifelong partners from then on.

  While Aliye is pulling Wang Long to the front mountain slope of the village to participate in the "You Fang" activity, thousands of men and women are already standing on the vast grass slope. The girls are wearing gold and silver decorations, taking out all the silver ornaments they have saved over the years and hanging them on their bodies. The whole "You Fang" scene is now extremely lively.

  The young men enthusiastically sang as an invitation, and the interested young women responded with songs. Then, the men and women opened up a romantic duet.

  The king dragon listened carefully, and more than a thousand people were singing love songs there. A clear female voice rose: "A duck's beak is not as sharp as a chicken's beak, a sister's mouth is not as sweet as a brother's mouth. When will I get you, sweet-mouthed brother? Eating vegetables doesn't need to add oil and salt."

  And the young man opposite her was full of disappointment, and sang in response: "Teeth white as snow, lips thin as a sheet of paper. False feelings and fake intentions, singing with me, eyes slowly looking elsewhere."

  "Earth and tiles can't compare to your golden bricks, a small river can't compare to the width of a great river. Talent and intelligence can't compare to your elder brother's, a wooden raft can't compare to an old wooden boat. A pair of scissors weighs three or four ounces, how can it withstand four ounces of steel? I'm just a duckling who has just learned to swim, how dare I compete with you in strength?"... One after another, the Miao ethnic love songs burst forth from these passionate young people's mouths, making the entire scene even more lively and grand.

  These Miao youth, through antiphonal singing, got to know each other's life and family situation. Some girls took a liking to the boys who sang with them and developed affection for them. They then left the "touring field" in droves and went to secluded places to sing together. If they were satisfied, they would exchange gifts they cherished, and after several such encounters, they could successfully become husband and wife.

  Wang Long can't sing Miao songs, but A Li is a master of singing. What's more, she is beautiful, so many young men come to sing with her, only to be defeated by her superior voice and leave in disappointment.

  A Li Yi defeated all the young men who had a crush on her, and proudly pulled Wang Long to a place with few people, saying that she wanted to teach Wang Long to sing love songs.

  Wang Long couldn't resist A Li's persistence, so he had to follow her and learn sentence by sentence. Wang Long's brain was particularly good at learning, and after studying for about two hours, he learned more than 50 songs. Then, A Li pulled Wang Long to sing together with her.

  A Li suggested that in order for Wang Long to become more familiar with the scenes of various Miao love songs, they sang together "Marry into Our Village".

  Wang Long sang: "Your village has tall trees, every tree is a beam. Your village girls are beautiful, each one attracts love. If you haven't married yet, marry into my village. Being kind and diligent, life won't be lazy." The loud voice attracted everyone's attention.

  A Li continued to sing: "The trees in my village are short and cannot grow tall. The girls in my village are ugly and will not be loved by anyone. So I have not married yet, just waiting for the one I love to come. If you really don't mind, let's get together." After finishing her song, she looked at Wang Long with deep affection.

  Wang Long suddenly understood the meaning of the love song and his face turned red in an instant.