It was because of this scolding that when I went to school three days later, Cha Wenbin had already dropped out. The reason, it is said, was that his foster parents would no longer support his studies; in fact, it was Ma Suifeng. When he found out about this matter, he realized that the child could no longer have a normal childhood like other children.

  Hongcun and Wulipu are two villages, originally not many people came and went, so my contact with him was interrupted for many years. When I saw him again, his family had undergone tremendous changes.

  In my childhood, it was basically like that. By the 1970s, the disaster known as the "Ten Years of Chaos" had reached its peak and spread from big cities to small villages like Hongcun. The Little Red Book and red armbands also began to popularize in Hongcun, and every day, idle students and young people responded to the call to criticize and denounce the "cow ghosts and snake spirits". There were only about a hundred households in Hongcun, plus several surrounding villages that also fell into the disaster.

  My father used to be a soldier, and in the years leading up to the Cultural Revolution, our family was considered a revolutionary one. I would follow the bigger kids around every day, shouting out slogans along with them, and watching as they caught those "feudalistic capitalist roaders" and "stinky old nines" and plastered big-character posters everywhere. It all gave me a strange thrill, but I never imagined that such disaster would one day befall my own family.

  That year, I was 15 years old. After lunch at noon, I heard slogans coming from outside the house. A group of red guards were going to raid someones home again. If my father hadnt forbidden me, I would have joined their ranks and become one of them. But my father said it was just a bunch of nonsense, they were all just a group of kids who knew nothing about revolution.

  A loud crash of breaking glass woke me and my father from our sleep, followed by fist-sized stones pouring in like raindrops. My father quickly covered my head with a quilt, and before we could figure out what was happening, someone outside shouted: "Down with Xia Laoliu! Bring out the biggest villain in Hong Village to be denounced! Down with Xia Laoliu, down with the poisonous weeds of feudal superstition and the four olds!"

  As soon as Father heard these words, he immediately got angry and didnt even bother to put on his clothes. He just wore a red underpants, grabbed a kitchen knife and rushed out. As soon as he went out the door, he was hit by a hail of stones and came back in. Outside stood a group of Red Guards holding Little Red Books and wearing red armbands. The leader was also from Hongcun village, named Yuanbao. Yuanbao is three years older than me. Beside him stood more than twenty young people, the leaders of that gang, each with an expression as if they wanted to swallow people whole.

  Yu Bao was very popular at that time, and it is said that the head of the countys revolutionary committee had intended to promote him as a deputy. He accused his father of being a counter-revolutionary because he heard from the older generation that my grandfather was a Taoist priest before he died, leaving behind a compass. The compass happened to be passed down to my father. This became evidence that my father was a successor to the feudal superstition and the four old poisonous weeds.

  Secondly, the bricks used to build the house by my father were taken from the original villages largest "mansion", some components such as ridge tiles and wall heads had flying birds and beasts on them, in the past, only landlords and nobles could afford to use them. So, they thought they could follow my fathers example of reviving the landlord classs hedonism.

  My father is a straightforward person, with a somewhat fiery temper, and has always been someone with some prestige in the village. He has publicly scolded those red guards who are doing evil deeds on more than one occasion, calling them bandits and thieves hiding behind the banner of revolution, and forbids me from associating with them. These things have left Yuanbao harboring hatred in his heart, and to thoroughly bring down my father once and for all, he even added that Xia Laoliu is not a retired revolutionary soldier at all, but a thorough deserter, and slandered him as a suspected undercover agent sent by the Nationalist Party.

  With these three "crimes", in that chaotic era, it basically meant that someone could be beaten to death. With the backing of the county authorities, although he had been somewhat intimidated by my father before, he couldnt resist the encouragement of his own successive "successes". Violence had completely taken over Yuanbaos mind, and so he carefully planned for three days, then gathered a group of young Cultural Revolution activists to thoroughly loot my home.

  "Xia Lao Liu! Put down the weapon in your hand, dont make any more futile resistance. Behind us are the vast masses of working-class people, we have the power of the people as our backing. Please kneel on the ground with your hands behind your head to accept the trial by the people!"

  Is my father an easy man to bully? A man who has been baptized by the flames of war, a man who has never retreated in the face of bullets and bayonets, would he be intimidated by these few kids? He casually picked up a jar of pickled vegetables from the corner of the wall, took a big step out of the door, and slammed it at those people, scaring them to flee in all directions.

  "Get out of here and go drink milk! A bunch of little rabbits coming here causing trouble!"

  With a loud "bang", the sauerkraut vat exploded in the middle of the crowd, splashing dirty water all over them, leaving them in a sorry state. Meanwhile, Father stood at the door with his hands on his hips and a shiny kitchen knife stuck in the red pants head, staring at them with wide eyes.

  Those little red guards waved the revolutionary flag and went wherever they pleased, "attacking cities and capturing strongholds" was a piece of cake, and they had never met anyone who dared to resist, especially not in this way. And when my father got angry, his appearance was indeed very intimidating: his veins bulged out, his eyes stared wide, and his face turned black like Zhang Feis, all of which were the result of having gone through the baptism of war.

  Facing such a man, several young boys naturally lost their composure and rushed to Yuanbaos back, fearing that they would be targeted next. At this time, Yuanbao was in a difficult situation, if he didnt charge forward, he would lose face and thoroughly lose his status, but if he did go up, seeing my fathers appearance, he also didnt have the guts. So he thought of a trick and shouted towards the house:

  "Xiao Yi, now Im representing the Proletarian Revolutionary Committee to convey an instruction to you. Organizationally, its considered that you and Xia Laoliu are not on the same path, weve investigated and found that youre a trustworthy comrade. Now you need to stand out and draw a clear line with Xia Laoliu, and expose his crimes together with us. As long as you do this, I guarantee that I will testify for you at the criticism meeting and recommend you as deputy team leader of our region! You must recognize the enemy and ourselves, dont shelter class enemies, Xia Laoliu dares to oppose the people today, the people will definitely not let him off!"

  "Ill screw your grandma!" I followed my fathers example, grabbed another sauerkraut jar from the house and rushed out, throwing it at them. My strength wasnt as great as my fathers, so it only landed in front of them, but the effect was the same.

  Looking at the red treasure book in his hand being splashed with sauerkraut water, Yuanbao suddenly shouted like he had been injected with chicken blood: "They dare to destroy Chairman Maos quotes, this is rebellion! Today we must overthrow Xias father and son, thoroughly eliminate these evil tyrants who harm our side, charge for me!"

  This group of red guards were all seventeen or eighteen years old, and they werent any good kids either. They didnt come empty-handed, apart from the Little Red Book, they also brought along various tools, such as sticks, ropes, and whatnot. One guy from a neighboring village even had a dagger in his hand.

  Perhaps they had gone too smoothly on this "revolutionary" road, or perhaps the leading Yuanbao had reignited that temporarily extinguished flame of violence, and more than 20 young men charged in like a tidal wave, wielding their tools.

  And my father and I, this pair of Xia family fathers, one wearing red underpants, one wearing black underpants, two men, bare-chested, with two cleavers, didnt even frown, just standing shoulder to shoulder on the spot, waiting...

  With a "thud", Yuan Baos shoulder suddenly gushed with fresh blood, and when his fathers cleaver chopped onto his shoulder, it also landed squarely on his own forehead, causing blood to flow out as well.

  He was still a child after all, and had never seen such a scene before. He was almost frightened into fainting, and after a burst of wild shouting, he didnt care about the "revolution" anymore, turned around, covered his shoulders and ran away.

  And my father drew back the kitchen knife, its cold light flashing again as he chopped down another person who was rushing up. Next, I only saw those red guards who were used to walking sideways dropping their clubs and supporting each other as they fled towards the gate, wailing and howling, while my father and I chased after them barefoot, each holding a kitchen knife...

  Chasing us out for two or three miles, my father, covered in blood and holding a kitchen knife, stood at the village entrance. The onlookers surrounded us, forming inner and outer circles. Those kids were already shivering with fear, but their mouths didnt stop cursing.

  "Xia Laoliu, you wait for me!" These were Yuanbaos last words. Father swung his knife but was stopped by several people. The villagers shouted at the red guards: "Arent you running away? Are you waiting to die here?" The group of children finally saw someone intervene and took advantage of the opportunity to run out of Hong Village, cursing as they went, probably to find reinforcements.