Reborn in 1982, the prodigal son returns

The roar of the tiger grew closer and closer inside the carriage.

Lin Nuo's right eyelid kept twitching.

He stared at the bushes outside the window, quietly poured gunpowder into them, and loaded the gun with bullets.

While controlling my gun, I looked around and noticed that the bushes around me were inexplicably moving.

The wind had stopped long ago.

Something parted a clump of withered grass from the middle, as if two hands were pulling it to both sides. Then, a tiger poked its head out.

Some people in the carriage gasped, while others swallowed their screams back down their throats, leaving only gurgling sounds.

That wasn't a tiger lazily sunbathing in the zoo. Its eyes were amber, the pupils narrowed to slits, fixed intently on the bus. There was something dark red on its mouth, like blood.

The old foreman's words flashed through Lin Nuo's mind: he had seen tiger footprints in the old forest back then.

"These are the tigress's footprints. She'll probably give birth around April or May. That's when tigers are most aggressive."

"There used to be a hunter on the other side of the river who was greedy. He stole tiger cubs, and the tigress found his house by the scent and mauled him to death on the kang (a heated brick bed)."

Lin Nuo asked at the time, "Then what should we do?"

Zhang glanced at him and said, "Don't mess with it. If you do, it won't escape."

The tiger is right outside the car now.

Those two bastards must have stolen the tiger cubs, otherwise the tigress wouldn't have left her territory so easily.

Another tiger roared, getting closer and closer.

The carriage erupted in chaos. An old woman screamed, a child cried, and a middle-aged man suddenly stood up, banging his head against the luggage rack, wincing in pain and cursing, "Damn it!" but his voice was trembling.

In the front row, the short, stout guy, He Dong, suddenly pulled something covered with an old cloth from under his seat. The old cloth slipped off.

But before Lin Nuo could see clearly, He Dong's hand had already reached inside the jacket. When he pulled it out, he had a dark, grimy object in his hand.

The Great Black Star.

It's probably because of the noise from inside the car.

He Dong raised his gun and fired a shot at the roof of the car.

Gunshots rang out in the enclosed carriage, the sound piercing our eardrums. Everyone fell silent.

He Dong's face twitched, his eyes widened like copper bells, and he roared:

"What are you all arguing about? If anyone makes another sound, I'll fucking kill him."

The carriage fell silent. Only the engine continued its whirring, panting, and the old woman's suppressed sobs, each one sounding like she was about to suffocate.

Hua Zi huddled in his seat, his face pale.

He Dong kicked him:

"What's the panic?"

Hua Zi raised his head, his voice trembling:

"Brother, that bastard has really caught up with us... What do we do?"

He Dong ignored him and turned to glare at the driver. The driver's lips trembled, and he couldn't say anything.

"It's all because of you."

He Dong walked over and angrily cursed:

"Stop and go, taking forever to fix the car. If you hadn't wasted so much time, would that beast have caught up?"

The driver opened his mouth, looked at the gun in He Dong's hand, and then closed his mouth again.

The shuttle bus is supposed to stop at each station, so how can you blame him?

He Dong took a deep breath and wiped the sweat from his face. He turned his head, his gaze sweeping around the carriage, and as if he had come up with something else, a smile appeared on his face:

"To be honest, this tiger came for us."

Someone in the carriage gasped.

He Dong also seemed to have let go:

"Because we stole its cubs."

A young man couldn't hold back any longer; his voice trembled.

"Big...Big brother, give the cub back to it and let it go! Living is the most important thing!"

He Dong looked as if he had heard a joke, his eyes remaining still.

"return?"

He licked his lips:

"That's a good point, brother. If you return it, it won't chase you anymore? You saved your life, but that tiger cub... some big boss offered three hundred yuan. Three hundred yuan, do you know how much three hundred yuan is? I risked my life for it!"

He paused, and the muzzle of his gun circled around the carriage.

"If I return the tiger cub, I'll lose three hundred yuan, and you'll have to cover that loss."

The carriage fell silent again. Then someone whispered:

"Why should I?"

He Dong pointed his gun at the speaker, who immediately shrank back.

"On what grounds?"

He Dong slammed his gun on the seat, pulled a cigarette from his pocket, put it in his mouth, and lit it with a match. He took a drag and exhaled a puff of white smoke.

"With a gun in my hand, if you don't want to be torn to pieces by that beast, you'd better hand over the money. Three hundred bucks, if you can scrape together that, I'll throw the tiger cubs out, that beast will take his cubs and leave, and you'll live. If you can't scrape together that..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but everyone understood.

A middle-aged man in blue overalls stood up:

"This is extortion! Robbery! Is there no law anymore?"

He Dong glanced at him, slowly stood up, and pressed the gun to the man's forehead.

"The law?"

He Dong smiled, revealing a set of yellow teeth:

"Brother, you're talking to me about the law? Go get out of the car and talk to the tiger about the law, see if it'll even listen to you."

The man's lips trembled as he tried to say something, but then he slumped into the chair.

He Dong turned around and called out to Hua Zi:

"Hua Zi, what are you standing there for? Search them! Hand over everything valuable!"

Hua Zi paused for a moment, then his lips moved a few times:

"Brother...do you really want to..."

"What the hell are you talking nonsense about?"

He Dong slapped Hua Zi on the back of the head:

"If we have no money, we might as well die here!"

Hua Zi, his eyes red-rimmed, slowly stood up. He started from the first row, searching each passenger's pocket.

Hua Zi snatched a few crumpled coins from an old man's pocket and stuffed them into his own.

The old man reached out to grab it, but then pulled his hand back.

A woman clutched a cloth bag in her arms and cried, saying:

"Comrade, this is the money I need for my child's medical treatment..."

Hua Zi paused, glancing back at He Dong. He Dong pointed his gun at the woman.

"See a doctor? You have to be alive to see one!"

Hua Zi gritted his teeth, snatched the cloth bag, untied the drawstring, and found a few small bills inside. He took the money.

The atmosphere inside the car grew increasingly tense.

Lin Nuo, sitting in the back, watched all of this. He reached into his coat and grasped the wooden stock of the musket. He had just finished pressing the gunpowder, and all that was left was the right moment.

If we take one of them hostage, we might be able to survive.

He couldn't possibly believe what these poachers said.

Just then.

A whistle came from outside the car.

Lin Nuo's heart skipped a beat. He knew that voice all too well. It was the old foreman!

Whenever Zhang, the foreman, couldn't find him when they went into the mountains, he would play this tune.

He glanced out the car window out of the corner of his eye. Behind the earthen slope by the roadside, a thin figure was squatting.

The old foreman gestured to him, pressing his palm down, telling him not to move.

Lin Nuo's heartbeat gradually calmed down.

"Don't move."

The old foreman told him to wait.

After searching the first two rows, Hua Zi walked to the back. The number of people on the bus dwindled, and the valuables became increasingly scarce. He walked up to Lin Nuo and extended his hand:

"Take out everything of value from your pocket."

Lin Nuo didn't move.

Hua Zi looked up and was stunned for a moment. He saw that Lin Nuo wasn't afraid of him at all.

"I said, bring out the valuables."

Hua Zi raised his voice a little, as if to bolster his courage.

Lin Nuo took out the musket that was covered by his clothes, and pointed the muzzle at Hua Zi's forehead.

Hua Zi's eyes widened in surprise; he hadn't expected this at all.

Lin Nuo's voice was very low:

"Now, have your brother throw the gun over here."

Hua Zi's Adam's apple bobbed; he wanted to shout, but Lin Nuo's thumb was already on the striking block, and the musket's striking block made a faint "click." Hua Zi knew what that sound was.

In the front row, He Dong was still urging:

"Hua Zi, hurry up! What are you dawdling for? You can't even handle the money properly!"

Hua Zi's legs began to tremble, and his hands involuntarily rose up, as if in surrender.

He Dong finally sensed something was wrong. He turned around.

Hua Zi stood in the last row, his hands raised, his face as white as a corpse. Lin Nuo held the black barrel of a gun to Hua Zi's forehead.

He Dong raised his gun and aimed it at Lin Nuo.

"Put the gun down, or I'll shoot you."

Lin Nuo didn't care at all: "Fine, I'll drag your brother down with me. When the tiger smells the blood, do you think it will still take its cubs with it?"

"elder brother……"

The air inside the carriage froze completely. Three men, two guns, and a tiger.

He Dong gritted his teeth:

"Brother, which gang are you from?"

Lin Nuo didn't answer, but pushed the musket forward a little more, the muzzle pressing a white mark on Hua Zi's forehead. Hua Zi's tears immediately fell, streaming down his cheeks.

My legs were trembling.

"Throw the gun over here and I'll tell you."

Lin Nuo began to speak:

Hua Zi opened his mouth, and the sound was like a mosquito's hum:

"Brother...brother, throw the gun away..."

He Dong's face turned a deep purplish-red, and the veins on his forehead throbbed. His finger rested on the trigger, and he began to intimidate Lin Nuo:

"Do you even know who I am? Try touching him!"

Lin Nuo didn't move, but just stared coldly into He Dong's eyes.

Outside the window, another tiger roared. Someone in the carriage was so frightened that they wet their pants, and a foul stench filled the air.

He Dong's hands began to tremble. He knew that Lin Nuo was right. A mother tiger protecting her cubs is fierce to begin with, and she becomes even fiercer when she smells blood.

He only had two bullets left in his gun. When they were stealing the cubs, the tiger attacked too quickly, and all the rifle bullets were on the third son.

Hua Zi burst into tears:

"Brother... just throw it away... we still have our third brother... we can't all die here..."

"Shut up, hand over the gun, or we'll all die here." He Dong gritted his teeth, the veins on his forehead throbbing as if insects were crawling under his skin. His gaze moved from Lin Nuo's face to Hua Zi's face, and then back again.

"brother,"

His voice was lowered:

"I see you're someone special. To be honest, we're all about money, not life."

He licked his lips.

"Either let us take the money and leave, or we'll stay in this stalemate. You only have one shot in your musket. Even if you kill Hua Zi, I'll still have him. This one I have is much better than yours."

"If you want to live, give me the money. Then everyone will be safe."

Lin Nuo didn't say anything.

He Dong's voice suddenly rose:

"If we don't get the money, it doesn't matter if we all die! I don't care, I'm just a worthless life, it's worth it to drag you all down with me!"

The man's eyes are now bloodshot, like a mad dog.

Lin Nuo sneered.

"Anyone can be a scoundrel."

He can protect himself now that he has a gun, but if he really puts down the gun, will the other party kill him immediately?

Lin Nuo wouldn't believe a word they said; her eyes were fixed on He Dong, her pupils devoid of any emotion.

"At worst, we'll all die here. You fire, the tiger pounces. We'll go down together. At least we'll have company on the road to the underworld, so we won't be lonely."

He Dong clenched and unclenched his fist, seemingly surprised by Lin Nuo's tough stance.

He tried to scare Lin Nuo, but ended up being outmaneuvered.

He Dong didn't scare Lin Nuo, but he did scare the passengers.

Those who had been huddled in their seats, not daring to utter a sound, suddenly found the courage to speak. They dared not say anything to He Dong, but they dared to speak to Lin Nuo.

The middle-aged man who had been held at gunpoint earlier spoke first, his voice trembling and pleading:

"Young man...please give him the money...your life is more important..."

An old woman also started to cry:

"Yes, it's better to lose money than to cause trouble. Let's not drag everyone else down with us..."

"It's just a few dozen yuan..."

What's the use of money if you're dead...?

"Don't drag everyone down with you..."

They chattered amongst themselves, buzzing like a swarm of flies.

Lin Nuo turned his head and scanned the carriage with his eyes.

These people's words were more chilling than He Dong's gun.

"Shut up, all of you!"

"If anyone says another word, I'm getting off the bus right now."

Whether he lets you off the hook or not is up to you to decide.

No one spoke anymore.

Just then

"Bang!"

A shot rang out.

……

Liujiagou.

The bright sunlight shone through the paper windows of the east room, making the bedding on the kang (a heated brick bed) feel warm and cozy.

Su Wanqing sat on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed), holding a needle in her hand, with a new cotton-lined quilt cover spread out in front of her.

Zhao Xiuying squatted down next to her, turned the quilt cover over, and gestured with her finger along the corner of the quilt.

"Watch this, start stitching from here. The stitches can't be too big or too small. If they're too big, the cotton will get stuck; if they're too small, the thread will be wasted."

Although Zhao Xiuying's hands were rough, her needlework skills were excellent; the needle moved quickly in and out of the cloth.

Su Wanqing imitated her, inserting the needle and pulling it out from the other side.

"Mother, is that so?"

"Oh, right, right. You're good with your hands and learn quickly."

Su Wanqing lowered her head and began sewing diligently.

Lin Nuo went to buy chicks today, I don't know...

As she was thinking, the needle in her hand suddenly went astray.

The needle pricked the fingertip, and a small drop of blood seeped out.

"hiss--"

Su Wanqing withdrew her hand and put her fingers in her mouth. She tasted the rusty, salty, and fishy flavor on her tongue.

"What's wrong? You're crying even after being pricked with a needle?"

Zhao Xiuying raised her head and said with a smile.

Su Wanqing was stunned for a moment. Only then did she realize that her eyes were a little sore and her eyelashes were covered with a thin layer of water.

"It doesn't hurt..."

She shook her head, took her finger out of her mouth, and blood seeped out again.

"Well, I suddenly felt a pang of panic. I can't quite put my finger on it."

Zhao Xiuying's smile faded as she looked at her face:

"What's wrong?"

"have no idea."

Su Wanqing placed her hand on her heart; her heart was beating much faster than usual.

"I have a feeling... something bad is going to happen."