Reborn in 1985, starting from the mountains of Northwest China

When Zhao Ergou shouted, the room became so quiet that you could hear the crackling of the kerosene lamp wick.

Zhao Ergou felt a little scared.

His older brother has always been a smiling tiger. Although he acts tough in the village, at home, whatever his older brother says goes.

Zhao Guofu was standing by the window with his back to Zhao Ergou, which made Zhao Ergou feel uneasy.

Zhao Ergou's face turned red from holding back his anger, but he dared not shout again.

He had rarely seen his brother like this since he was a child.

The last time I saw him was ten years ago. His father got into a fight with someone over a water channel and was beaten up. His brother stood by the window like this all night.

The next day, the woodpile of the family that had assaulted the man caught fire.

Zhao Ergou shrank back, his voice lowering, "Brother..."

"Er Gou" (Second Dog).

Zhao Guofu finally spoke.

The voice wasn't loud, it was even a little soft, but Zhao Ergou felt a chill run down his spine when he heard it.

"So, what do you suggest we do about this?"

Zhao Ergou was stunned, not knowing what his brother meant by that.

Zhao Guofu slowly turned around.

The light from the kerosene lamp shone on his face, and Zhao Ergou saw the expression on his face, his heart skipped a beat.

The hatred she felt for Chen Feng had transformed into a deep sense of unease.

"Brother, what's wrong?"

Zhao Guofu walked back to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), sat down, and remained silent for a long while.

"Ergou, do you know why I insisted on changing to that piece of land?"

Zhao Ergou rubbed his wrist, wincing in pain: "So what if that piece of land is in a better location? It might yield a couple more bags of grain, right?"

Zhao Guofu gave a wry smile.

"Two bags of grain? Would I really risk all that face for two bags of grain?"

Zhao Ergou was taken aback: "Then why?"

Zhao Guofu didn't answer; he just stared out the window for a long time.

He recalled the unease and fear he felt when he first met that important figure.

He had originally planned to handle these things alone, but given the situation today, he had no choice but to talk to Er Gou.

"Ergou, I'm asking you, what kind of family are we in this village?"

Zhao Ergou thought for a moment and said, "I'd say it's... average. Not the best, but not the worst either."

Zhao Guofu nodded.

"Then tell me, have those big shots in the county ever given us a second glance?"

Zhao Ergou shook his head: "Definitely not. Who are we? Why would they even bother with us?"

Zhao Ergou is usually quite a scoundrel, but when it really comes to this, he can still tell the difference.

"right."

Zhao Guofu lowered his voice, "They used to ignore us. But this time, they responded."

Zhao Ergou was stunned.

"Brother, what do you mean?"

Zhao Guofu remained silent for a while, as if organizing his thoughts.

"Last month, I went to town to sell grain and ran into someone."

He paused.

"You know that man, Old Liu who runs the teahouse at the east end of town. We usually just nod to each other when we meet. But that day, he stopped me."

Zhao Ergou's eyes widened: "Old Liu? What does he want with you?"

Instead of answering directly, Zhao Guofu asked, "Do you know who's behind Old Liu?"

Zhao Ergou shook his head.

"I don't know either," Zhao Guofu said. "But I know he has powerful backers. Some in the town, some in the county, I can't say for sure. Anyway, they're people we can't afford to mess with."

He looked down at his hands.

"He told me that day that someone wanted to see me. So I went."

Zhao Ergou swallowed hard: "Who did you see?"

Zhao Guofu remained silent for a long while.

"A person I didn't know. He was well-dressed, spoke slowly and deliberately, and was clearly not an ordinary person. He told me he wanted us to do him a favor."

Zhao Guofu raised his head and looked at Zhao Ergou.

"Exchange the land. Exchange it for Chen Feng's land."

Zhao Ergou was stunned.

"What? Why would that person want that land?"

Zhao Guofu shook his head.

He didn't say. I didn't dare ask either.

The room fell silent.

The flame of the kerosene lamp flickered, making the shadows of the two people appear longer and shorter.

It took Zhao Ergou a while to come to his senses.

"Brother, you mean... this land swap wasn't your idea, but something those people in town made you do?"

Zhao Guofu nodded.

Zhao Ergou opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.

He recalled his brother's unusual behavior these days.

Although I usually like to take advantage of others, I've never been so persistent in demanding to exchange land with someone else.

He thought his brother had taken a liking to the land, but it turns out...

"Brother, why didn't you say so sooner?"

Zhao Guofu gave a wry smile.

"Why didn't you say so earlier? Say what? That I was used as a pawn? That I've been working in this village for over thirty years, and in the end, I'm still running errands for others?"

He stood up, walked to the window, and looked out again.

"That person gave me a bribe. This amount after the deed was done."

He stretched out one hand, his five fingers spread wide.

Zhao Ergou's eyes widened again: "Five hundred yuan?"

Zhao Guofu shook his head.

Five thousand yuan.

Zhao Ergou's breathing became heavy.

Five thousand yuan.

He's never seen five thousand dollars in his entire life.

Five thousand yuan can buy a house in the city, or even marry several wives...

He didn't even know what kind of family could casually take out five thousand yuan these days.

"Brother, since that guy is so rich, able to come up with five thousand dollars, why doesn't he just exchange it himself? Five thousand dollars is enough to buy a lot of land like this..."

Zhao Guofu turned his head and looked at his younger brother, and suddenly felt that he wasn't so stupid after all.

"You thought of that too?"

Zhao Ergou scratched his head: "I just feel something's not right. The best irrigated land is worth at most a few dozen yuan. Why would he give us five thousand yuan to do this?"

Zhao Guofu didn't say anything, but walked to the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and sat down again.

Zhao Ergou followed him over, sat down next to him, and lowered his voice: "Brother, is there... anything else in that field?"

Zhao Guofu glanced at him and remained silent for a long while.

"I don't know either."

Zhao Ergou was stunned: "You don't know either?"

Zhao Guofu nodded.

"That man didn't say. I asked him, and he just said that he needed the land, and that I didn't need to worry about anything else."

Zhao Ergou frowned: "So you agreed?"

Zhao Guofu gave a wry smile.

What a joke! If you don't agree, are you going to die as soon as you step out the door?

That kind of person is easier to kill than an ant!

"How could I dare say no? That person was standing right there, and even I, your brother, didn't dare to move."

Now that things have come to this point, Zhao Guofu no longer held back.

"Brother, what exactly is in that field that would make someone like that spend five thousand yuan?"

Zhao Guofu shook his head.

"have no idea."

"Whatever is in the field is none of our concern."

He turned his head and gave Zhao Ergou some instructions.

"Those kinds of people ask us to do things because they think highly of us. Once the job is done and the money is in our hands, don't ask any questions or concern yourself with anything else. Understand?"

Zhao Ergou nodded.

But he couldn't help thinking about it.

Five thousand yuan.

What kind of thing is worth spending five thousand dollars to have an unrelated person do it?

He recalled the stories he had heard as a child: some people had dug up gold ingots in the ground, some had dug up Yuan Shikai silver dollars, and some had even dug up…

But that's not worth five thousand yuan, is it?

He dared not think any further.

"Brother, what do we do now? What about Chen Feng...?"

Zhao Guofu stood up, walked to the cabinet, opened the cabinet door, and took out a cloth bag from inside.