Chen Ergou had been cultivating his Tao for over twenty years in Zhangjiashan, but he still couldn't subdue Cao Jingjian, this mysterious and cunning demon. Let alone Li Wei, a young and inexperienced child. In the next few days, during their occasional encounters, Cao Jingjian seemed to be carefree and dismissive, with an undercurrent of intensity. Li Sheng, who was watching from the side, couldn't help but feel a sense of wonder and admiration for Cao Jingjian's abilities. He looked at her with increasing reverence, thinking that perhaps it was because she was still young and inexperienced that she could see through the cunning nature of others more clearly. Almost every time Li Sheng saw Cao Jingjian, he would take a detour to avoid her, as if she were a fierce beast in his eyes. Who knows if he would be even more terrified after witnessing her swift and decisive over-the-shoulder throw.

  Within a week, Cao Jingrui was riding his bicycle in SH, occasionally shouting at Chen Ergou, but most of the time he was alone, only eating a late-night snack at A Mei's restaurant. The boss lady who had been openly flirting with Chen Ergou also became more restrained, her gaze towards Cao Jingrui becoming increasingly ambiguous, like a mother-in-law looking at her daughter-in-law. As for Boss Zhang and Zhang Shengli, those kinds of people with treacherous hearts but no guts, they eventually lost even the thought of being rude to him. That woman who was used to wearing a duck-tongued hat and black-framed glasses really had an aura that was gloomy from head to toe, even when she smiled, it made Zhang Shengli, this kind of petty urbanite, feel terrified. Chen Ergou took advantage of this opportunity to devour more than half of Li Zongwu's "Thick Black Theory", like a starving person, reading under the lamp for several nights, circling and dotting, writing and crossing out, just the book excerpts filled up a whole notebook. When he got tired of reading, he went out to look for opportunities to catch an eagle, but in SH, this kind of city, it was easier to catch pigeons, let alone swallows, even sparrow hawks had no trace. This great metropolis that symbolized the peak of civilization, a steel forest, where could eagles and hawks stand?

  "Want to go hunting?" Cao Jing asked Chen Er Gou, who was having dinner with her at Ah Mei restaurant, after she returned from a long and dusty journey.

  "There's no place to go, and there's nothing to do with my hands either. You can't expect me to go shoot other people's pigeons with a slingshot, can you? That's something that damned Li Sheng would do." Chen Ergou said with a bitter smile.

  "Hey, you're the one who helped me make that slingshot, don't always forget that I'm the one who got splashed with dirty water, and it was you who taught me how to shoot birds!" Li Sheng protested, squatting at the foot of the stairs eating his meal.

  "Of course it won't be in the city of SH, the security zone has guns and cars, you just need to bring yourself." Cao Jing said calmly.

  "Restricted area?" Chen Ergou immediately became vigilant.

  "SH security zone, my brother has a friend inside, with some power, I told you and Fu Gui's heroic story, some people don't believe it, besides, you've been here for more than half a year, it's time to go out and get some fresh air." Cao Qiang said with a smile.

  "What is SH security zone? Which big police station caught me last time?" Chen Erdou asked a series of very rustic questions.

  "It's a bit bigger than a police station." Cao Jingyan smiled, and the pair of eyes that could speak hid a hint of mischief.

  "Don't try to trick me, tell me, how big is it? Don't think about playing a trick on me, I've been through too much in the mountains and have gained experience. Even the wealthy and noble would bow down to me, so don't even think about trying to outsmart me." Chen Ergou, who had learned from his past mistakes, was always on guard after being thrown over by this woman. In his struggles with the villagers of Zhangjiashan, he would still slap them in the face and give them a red date to eat. But this woman didn't even give him that much. Recently, Chen Ergou had been studying the profound and subtle "Thick Black Theory", which made him immerse himself in conspiracy theories. Moreover, he always felt that Cao Jingjian was an unusual woman, not at all like a traditional virtuous woman or a noble lady."

  Cao Cao's expression showed a thoughtful and introspective attitude towards life.

  Chen Ergou muttered: "I really don't know how high the sky is and how thick the earth is, where did I go? In the end, I was watched like a monkey by a group of rich people and officials, it's suffocating."

  Cao Jing frowned, and for the first time, she showed a truly annoyed expression to Chen Ergou, saying: "Chen Fusheng, do you think I'm playing with you like a monkey?"

  Chen Ergou suddenly raised his head, this was the first time Cao Jing called out his name, a very unfamiliar and isolated term of address. His heart skipped a beat as he saw that displeased yet extraordinary face, even when angry, it still had a unique charm. Chen Ergou felt at this moment that he should be panicked, but instead, he was surprisingly calm, shaking his head and saying in a soft voice: "No matter how much time you have, it's not worth playing with me. I'm just a HLJ rural bumpkin, born and raised in a remote village, what's the point of wasting your thoughts on teasing me? I have that self-awareness."

  Cao Jing's frown deepened as she stared at Chen Ergou, her face changing from sunny to cloudy.

  "Are you angry?" Chen Ergou asked with a smile.

  Cao Jingyin fell silent, and after finishing her meal, she left Améi's restaurant and returned to her room. She lay down on the purple bamboo chair for half an hour before getting up and walking to the window. There, she saw that guy under the Chinese parasol tree, arranging chess pieces on a board. He was still wearing those handmade cotton shoes, and his awkward flat head looked like it had been shaved for less than ten bucks. No matter how you looked at him, he couldn't shake off the rustic air of a country bumpkin. Cao Jingyin, who had been feeling unhappy, saw this guy's appearance and suddenly burst out laughing. She leaned against the window, quietly gazing at him as he fiddled with the chess pieces. As the sun set in the west, its afterglow fell on his shoulders. Cao Jingyin rested her cheek on her hand, and suddenly Chen Er Gou flashed a rich and proud smile in her direction without warning, catching Cao Jingyin off guard. She quickly withdrew her head, lay back down on the chair, looking like a little thief who had been discovered.

  Cao Jing continued her cycling trip, while Chen Ergou also couldn't bear to stay in the small room and continued his life of drudgery for Boss Wang, tutoring Li Wei, picking up Li Sheng, enduring the spiritual torment of beautiful Wang Yu Yan, and going to the waste paper recycling station to dig out treasures whenever he had time. Every time he went, he could bring back a stack of rare and obscure books, except that occasionally there would be one or two sex education magazines like "Tea After Dinner" hidden among them. Chen Ergou thought he was doing it perfectly, but one time when he sneaked back to the corridor, he coincidentally ran into Cao Jing who had just returned with her bicycle, looking tired. The result was that this woman's eyes were even more poisonous than a hawk's, and she immediately spotted the hidden "treasure". She stretched out two slender fingers and quickly pulled out a copy of the "Tea After Dinner" deluxe edition with a fiery cover, then confiscated all the magazines unsuitable for minors one by one, throwing these treasures into the trash can outside. Just as Chen Ergou had the idea to secretly retrieve them later, she said: "If you really want to look, I'll take you to the art academy to see real-life nude models, they're all beautiful women with curves, do you want to go or not?"

  Chen Ergou said with great righteousness: "I'd rather die than watch."

  Cao Qiang's heart was full of joy and satisfaction as he floated away, leaving behind Chen Er Gou who was clutching his chest and stamping his feet in distress.

  The final result was that Chen Erdog instructed Zhang Shengli to steal back those few magazines aimed at liberating the Chinese people's sexual thoughts. Then, on the same night, Zhang Shengli hastily rushed to a pink hair salon several streets away and spent 80 yuan to quickly finish things with a certain **drooping** hair salon girl after only five or six minutes of action.

  This guy, with a spring in his step and his pants sagging, returned to the small room, saw Chen Erdou's calm face and thick book, and couldn't help but ask: "Erdou, aren't you angry?"

  Leaning against the wall and reading "Lectures on the History of Philosophy", Chen Ergou said calmly: "It's okay."

  Zhang Shengli lay on the steel wire bed, savoring the stormy weather in the hair salon, and said with a smack of his lips: "Once you've been with a woman and opened your eyes to the world, you won't be able to sit still like this. This thing is just like taking drugs, there can't be a first time. Ah, what are you looking at?"

  "Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy."

  "What the heck? What kind of nonsense."

  Chen Ergou smiled and said: "Anyway, it's not that little bird in your crotch."

  Zhang Shengli lay on the bed, staring at the ceiling and sighed. He muttered to himself: "Er Gou, actually, I have to admit that I admire you. When you didn't get into college, everyone in Zhangjiacun looked down on you like a criminal, and they would have liked to trample you under their feet and spit on you. I confess, it was jealousy. People from small towns are just like that, they can't stand seeing others do well, and when someone falls, they all gather around to mock them. I didn't get along with you back then either, you were too protective of the Chen family, sometimes you were like a mad dog, who hadn't you bitten? You would fight tooth and nail over trivial matters, we were both afraid and resentful of you, but deep down, we also admired you, it's just that we wouldn't admit it out loud. Now that you've been in SH for over half a year, I've seen how you save money, I'm considered frugal too, I don't smoke or drink, occasionally when I couldn't hold back, I would go to the roadside barber shop and find a woman to...you know, relieve some stress. You're even more frugal than me, you don't buy shoes or clothes, and every time you brush your teeth, you only squeeze out a tiny bit of toothpaste. By seniority, you should call me Third Uncle, today I'll just act like a big shot and say something about you, this nephew of mine. You miss your mom and brother so much, that's not what I'm saying, but you can't treat yourself so poorly, I think your aunt wouldn't want to see you suffer so much either. In the middle of the night, in order to save electricity, you go under the streetlights to study until dawn, even when you go to the bathroom, you bring a book with you. You're not taking the college entrance exams, why do you need to study so urgently? I know that you, Er Gou, are different from us uneducated rough people, but I understand some basic principles too, one swallow doesn't make a summer, your body has been weak since childhood, if it collapses, who will you turn to? Your Third Uncle is just a small shop assistant in SH, not even considered a thing, when the time comes, even if I want to help you, what's the use?"

  Chen Ergou put down the book, he didn't expect that this old fellow who had been thinking about taking advantage of him all day would still have such thoughts. He smiled lightly, no longer with a sarcastic tone, and for the first time called out "Third Uncle", saying: "My body isn't as weak as you think, I haven't been blown to death by the strong winds and heavy snows, now that I'm in SH, I'm even less afraid."

  Zhang Shengli heard that one word "Third Uncle" and his heart was filled with a mix of emotions, both joy and sorrow. He turned to Chen Ergou and said: "The Zhang family village has watched you grow up, when you were young your body wasn't very strong, always carrying medicine jars, everyone said you wouldn't live past 18 years old, but that foolish rich man said you could live to be 88 years old, and it really did come true. Now that I think about it carefully, this kid of yours is quite capable, the first time he went into the mountains he was able to carry back such a big eyed cobra, at 13 years old he could follow Rich Man from the mountains to home carrying wild boar on his back, your wife's body isn't good either, if it wasn't for you and Rich Man being filial, your Chen family's life would be even harder. Alas, adding to that your father passed away early, a whole family of people with bad luck, heaven is really not looking out for us."

  Chen Ergou leaned against the wall, raised his head to look at the copper-mouthed water pipe, slowly exhaled a breath, not heavily, as if this poor and humble rural figure didn't have too much inner turmoil, said: "Which family doesn't have its own difficulties, always thinking of their own misfortunes, it's useless, one's gaze should still be forward-looking."

  These words were actually spoken by Fu Gui. Every time Fu Gui entered the mountain, he liked to climb to the top of the tallest tree in the big mountain and shout loudly.

  Chen Ergou had never climbed before, so it was only now that he discovered he had acrophobia. Chen Ergou suddenly thought, perhaps the wealthy who don't have acrophobia are more suited to living in this city of Shanghai?