Li Er Ye experienced three dynasties in Hong Village, from the late Qing to the Republic of China, and then to New China. As time changed, Hong Village also underwent changes. When the socialist spring breeze arrived, uniting all revolutionary forces and actively participating in the construction of New China became the main melody of that era.

  As the cultivated land expanded, the movement to flatten graves began. More and more villagers discovered that under the soil of Hongcun village were strange and curious things. Those jars and pots that could be used were taken home by old women, washed clean and used, while those that couldnt be used were reburied with the earth.

  For a nation that has just experienced the baptism of war, whats so special about dead people? The white bones dug up were put in bamboo baskets and transported to the mountain gully by wheelbarrow for burial on the spot. Those large tombs with earth covering gradually became fewer and fewer until they all disappeared. Later on, there were almost no graves visible on the surface of Hongcun Village, let alone those ancient tombs buried deep underground that only people like Li Laoer who "understood the trade" could find.

  It is also unknown which well-drilling team discovered an "iron lump" several meters underground, coinciding with the campaign, and "Hongcun" erupted again. Every production team was eager to carry hoes and iron shovels to dig holes, after all, in that era, collective honor was above everything.

  The team secretary even saw those "iron clumps" and loudly declared that Hongcuns steel production could supply the whole country!

  The originally desolate mountain is now even more barren, and the hillside cant be kept secret anymore. The secret that Li Er Ye has been guarding for decades is about to be exposed.

  Although he had thought of stopping it, he was powerless. He said that would involve the murder case and if he didnt speak out, the whole village might be affected. All he could do was watch as the stone men and horses were knocked over one by one, and those underground relics from thousands of years ago were pulled out one by one. Its unknown whether it was the effect of socialist atheism, but at least during that period, the village was relatively peaceful.

  People found that the bigger "iron lump" was often hidden deeper, under various slogans of surpassing Britain and catching up with America, people dug holes like they had been injected with chicken blood, until someone finally thought that this method of relying solely on brute force wasnt worth it and decided to use their brains.

  So they thought of Old Man Li, the one who understood Feng Shui. He should know where the tomb was. The team secretary personally went to ask for his advice. He didnt care if it was feudal superstition or not, as long as it could produce steel and achieve political results, so that he could boast to the outside commune that their village had a geological expert.

  Li Er Ye, with no other choice, he knew that if he didnt do something about it, the villagers would eventually dig up that landmine. Rather than letting someone else step on it and get blown up, he might as well go and defuse it himself.

  He led a group of four or five young people to wander around the mountain, but never went to that small hill. From time to time, he would occasionally make a few small nests and pretend to be busy. He thought to himself: after a few more days, Ill go back to the village and report: everything down here has been dug up, so dont think about it anymore.

  No matter how hard Li Er Ye calculated, he would never have thought that the nest would still explode in the end...

  At that time, a stranger came to the village, a thin and tall middle-aged man wearing tattered clothes, with a wine gourd on his waist, who was drunk all day.

  This man neither entered the village nor disturbed the people, and at first everyone thought he was a beggar from somewhere else. After all, in those three years when the famine was most severe, countless people from various places left their homes just to beg for food, and people had already become accustomed to it.

  However, this person was different from other beggars. He didnt go to peoples homes to beg for food. If you gave him something to eat, he wouldnt want it. He would just sleep under the village entrance archway. The man had messy hair and wore a tattered bag with an eight trigrams diagram embroidered on it around his neck. He also carried a long sword on his back. Every day, he would go to the towns supply and marketing cooperative to buy liquor. At that time, liquor was a luxury item that not everyone could afford or get their hands on.

  In 1960, when the Three Years of Natural Disasters reached their peak, there was a shortage of food across the country. Wine is made from grain, and its not necessary to describe how scarce it was. All kinds of supplies were in extremely short supply at that time. To eat, you needed a grain coupon; to smoke, you needed a cigarette coupon; to drink wine, you needed a wine coupon; even to buy a box of matches for one cent, you needed a match coupon.

  Wine coupons were a rare commodity at that time. Even for ordinary cadres, it was not something you could drink whenever you wanted. Many rural people made their own liquor from corn stalks after the harvest, and even that was quite scarce back then.

  But thats the kind of sloppy and greedy guy, every day he goes to town on time to buy wine, after buying wine, its not over yet, he stumbles into the state-run restaurant again to get money and tickets for cooked food like roast chicken and duck. After everything is ready, the guy stumbles again while drinking and heads towards Hong Village.

  In just a few days, everyone knew that Hongcun had such a strange person. The village sent people to investigate several times, but the other party simply didnt care. Some people suggested to the team secretary: being so generous, its possible that they are spies or something coming to sabotage.

  The team secretary listened and thought it made sense. This is going too far, our villages steel production is in full swing, and you come to make trouble, bringing a group of militiamen to prepare for forced arrests. But then someone said: Those who can drink wine and eat meat every day are definitely not ordinary people, what if they were sent by the higher-ups to inspect our work, deliberately disguising themselves like this to test us?

  This secretary listened and seemed to make some sense. Which spy dared to swagger in and out of the supply and marketing agency and restaurant?

  This wont do, that wont do, he thought to himself, and decided to report the matter to his superiors as soon as possible. In a few days, a mysterious telegram was delivered to the village office, and before long, the team secretary rushed out of the office with a cold sweat on his forehead, rushing towards the village entrance, until he confirmed that the "madman" was still there, he finally breathed a sigh of relief: "Fortunately, fortunately." Then he lowered his head and asked the man: "Brother, please dont blame me, I didnt recognize a great person. There are empty rooms in the village, Ill arrange for someone to vacate one for you immediately."

  That "madman" brushed the hair from his face, looked at the team secretary who was smiling at him, picked up the gourd and took a swig of wine, revealing a mouthful of big yellow teeth, muttered: "Neurosis!", he went on to wander around by himself again.

  This mad Taoist lived in harmony with the villagers, occasionally some children would ask him for food, and he would give it to them.

  Some of the local hooligans didnt even dare to mess with him, thanks to the protection of the branch secretary. So that "madman" settled down in Hong Village, but he didnt move into the luxurious mansion arranged by the branch secretary, instead opting for a cowshed where he lived alongside the cows. During the day, he continued to drink and eat meat, with no one knowing where his money came from, not even the branch secretary knew what kind of person he was, because the telegram only had four words: "Do not neglect!" And the red seal below those four words made someone like the branch secretary feel dizzy, it was a place that he would never dare to imagine in his lifetime.

  It was the first day of the lunar calendar again, and Li Lao Er took the offerings to the village archway as usual. At that time, it was really hard to fill ones belly, so Li Lao Ers offerings were also somewhat shabby:

  A half-eaten, moldy Mantou, a plate of wild vegetables without any oil, and an egg that he had stolen from the production teams collective farm. If caught, this could be considered "digging into the socialist corner" and would likely result in being sent to the public security bureau.

  The entire societys productive forces are very tense, and the ingots and paper money are much less than usual, wrinkled and placed in a basket. Li Lao Er has some anxiety in his heart, recently the red line on his body has become deeper and deeper, no longer disappearing after offering sacrifices like before, but rather becoming more and more severe, he knows that this is others starting to be dissatisfied with him, but he really cant do anything about it. Last night, his dead brothers ghost came to him in a dream, saying that the people below are torturing him every day, so Li Lao Er took a risk and stole eggs.

  On the first day of the lunar calendar, the dark sky had no moonlight. Li Lao Er held a kerosene lamp in one hand and a basket in the other. He walked with great care, afraid of being seen, for if that egg was discovered, it would either be beaten to death or have its skin peeled off. His chest was already starting to ache more and more, and the line was faintly showing signs of thickening; soon, the single layer of clothing on his body would stick to his skin, causing a piercing pain.

  Arriving at the old location, under the village archway, Li Laer looked around several times to make sure no one was there before taking out all the dishes. He knelt down on the ground, carefully arranging the incense, candles and paper money, then kowtowed towards the archway. Remembering that he hadnt eaten for two days, Li Laers eyes welled up with tears as he looked at his own hands, which were like old tree bark, and sighed: "Dont pressure me anymore, Im almost starving to death, and this is all I have left."

  As soon as the words fell, a gust of wind blew over, "clatter" sound, that bowl which originally had been cracked and was holding steamed buns was blown down, this time it thoroughly shattered on the ground...