Yonghe Road

Chapter 20 Pomegranate
Lan Dafeng wiped his precious bench again and again, covered it with a square piece of blue-dyed cloth, carefully put it in the corner, and leisurely walked out of the house with his hands behind his back.

A group of villagers, men, women, young and old, crowded in front of the bulletin board on the outer wall of the Baile Village Committee, all looking up at the words on the big red screen.

At that moment, Lan Dafeng couldn't help but exclaim, as Duke Peng, the servant of Duke Zhou in the Yuan Dynasty play "Peach Blossom Girl Breaks the Law to Marry Duke Zhou," exclaimed when he saw the bustling crowds in front of the Duke Zhou's fortune-telling shop: "What a lively scene!"

Then he raised his leg and moved closer.

"What's written on it?" Lan Dafeng was not very literate. He looked at the crowd and saw Lei Sheng's father Lei Dingwu, so he asked him in She language.

Lei Dingwu also replied in She language: "Tell all villagers who are interested in basketball to go to the playground of Baile Village Primary School to take the test."

Then he glanced at Lan Dafeng again and said, "Uncle, you better not go."

"Why? Only females?"

"Only men."

"I am a man."

Lei Dingwu was touched by Lan Dafeng's cuteness and couldn't help laughing out loud, "How old are you? Can you hold a basketball?" As he said that, he squeezed out of the crowd and took out his mobile phone to call his son Lei Sheng.

"Uncle, ignore him. What's wrong with being a woman? What's wrong with being old?"

"That's right, we are not allowed to watch the fun?"

The people who comforted Lan Dafeng were several young Han Chinese wives in the village. They spoke standard Mandarin. One of them was wearing a black top and had a ponytail. She was older than the others, about forty years old. She held her three-year-old child in one hand and used the other hand to support Lan Dafeng's arm.

This not-so-young young wife is called Huang Yunzhi.

In those years, Secretary Wang Kai lent the money he had saved from years of business to the village interest-free as working capital, and transferred or leased the original village-run enterprises such as the collective tea factory and fruit farm that had been losing money for years, freeing up a sum of start-up capital for the village committee. He also took industrial adjustment and structural optimization as his foothold, guiding the people of Baile Village to live by the "Classic of Mountains and Seas" by planting crops with high economic benefits and breeding mudskippers and seaweed. With the encouragement of Secretary Wang Kai, Huang Yunzhi and his wife planted Dongkui bayberry on their own mountain land and earned tens of thousands of yuan a year.

Although they had the money, Huang Yunzhi's husband became addicted to gambling along with some villagers. They lost all the money they had earned from growing Dongkui bayberries and even went into debt.

When he was in debt and in a bad mood, he went gambling for entertainment. Nine times out of ten, he lost. After losing money, he felt even worse and had no choice but to go home and beat his wife.

This vicious cycle made Huang Yunzhi's life miserable.

Later, Secretary Wang Kai and other older village elders such as Lan Dafeng stepped forward and severely taught Huang Yunzhi's husband a lesson, telling him that if he didn't want to live a good life, he should divorce Huang Yunzhi. This finally scared Huang Yunzhi's husband.

With the supervision of the public and the condemnation of public opinion, Huang Yunzhi's husband also had some shame, turned over a new leaf, and changed his ways. Now their family is on the right track, both financially and in life. At the age of 40, they have their second child, who is being held in Huang Yunzhi's arms.

Huang Yunzhi is grateful to Secretary Wang Kai, Lan Dafeng and others who once supported her. Whenever she has something delicious, she will send some to Lan Dafeng's home.

Huang Yunzhi's parents passed away a long time ago, and she treated Lan Dafeng as her own elder. When Lan Dafeng looked at her, he also looked at his daughter.

"We She and Han are one family." Lan Dafeng's mood improved. Although his Mandarin had an accent, he could pronounce the word "She" in "She nationality" with a curled tongue.

"Pomegranate seeds, concentric circles," the young wives said. As early as 2014, the nation used the image of a pomegranate, "a thousand pods from one stem, a thousand seeds as one," to illustrate the blood ties and shared destiny of the 56 ethnic groups. Baile Village is a minority village, home to both She and Han peoples, where the concept of ethnic unity is deeply rooted.

Huang Yunzhi, holding her second child, and the other young wives, surrounded Lan Dafeng and went to the playground of Baile Village Primary School.

Even without the gimmick of basketball, Lan Dafeng would still go to Baile Village Primary School. It was still summer vacation and the students had not yet started school. The security guard, Old Xie, was very idle. Going to chat with Old Xie every day was Lan Dafeng's daily homework during this period.

It was evening, the scorching sun had calmed down, and the sunlight shone relatively gently on the playground of Baile Village Primary School.

The playground was temporarily divided into several areas, each with different assessment items: three-point shooting, dribbling around the pole, spot passing, etc.

At this moment, the playground was crowded with adults and children. They were wearing various sportswear, and some were wearing casual clothes. Everyone's face was filled with excited smiles.

A father and son were working together to complete a spot pass. The father was tall and strong, while the son looked a little thin. There was not enough tacit understanding between the two, and the pass always failed. After finally completing a successful pass, the little boy jumped up excitedly, and the father looked at his child with pride.

Several other young men were showing off their nimble dribbling skills, moving swiftly around rows of neatly arranged cones with smooth and confident movements.

In the three-point shooting area, a tall and thin old man wearing a blue sweatshirt was aiming at the basket intently. He held the basketball steadily with both hands, took a deep breath, and jumped up to shoot. The ball drew a beautiful arc and went into the net with a "swish".

The audience nearby exclaimed in disbelief, and then responded with warm applause and cheers.

The old man himself obviously didn't know that he could be so lucky to score a goal. This goal was completely a fluke, so when he scored the goal, he was stunned for a long time.

The noise around him finally brought him back to his senses. He came to his senses, turned his head to look at the crowd, smiled shyly, and then limped out of the playground.

It turned out to be Lao Xie, the security guard Lao Xie.

Lan Dafeng in the crowd was extremely surprised. This lame man was hiding his true abilities.

On the side, the young wives encouraged Lan Dafeng, saying that since Old Xie could score a goal, they should try too. Lan Dafeng didn't dare, so Huang Yunzhi said, "Uncle, why are you afraid? The basketball won't eat you. Are you really like Lei Dingwu said, that you can't even hold the basketball?"

A gentleman can be killed but not humiliated. This sentence aroused Lan Dafeng's fighting spirit. However, when he was pushed to the sidelines by the young wives, he backed down.

"Wait, wait, let me ask Old Xie if he has any secret to scoring goals." Lan Dafeng put one foot against the edge of the playground, and no matter how the young wives pushed him, he refused to move forward.

That embarrassed look made the young wives laugh out loud.

The women's laughter was clear and sweet, like the sound of a mountain spring, attracting everyone's attention. Old Xie also limped over and looked at Lan Dafeng surrounded by the young wives, revealing a man's instinctive envy.

Lan Dafeng asked him: "Old Xie, do you have any secret to scoring goals?"

Old Xie put his hands on his hips, stretched out his lame leg, stood in the posture of a lonely compass, and said, "Lame leg, lame leg is good for scoring goals."

The young wives immediately burst into laughter.

(End of this chapter)