Reborn at 80: From Village Scoundrel to Billionaire

Liu Bei walked out of the courtyard gate, but instead of taking the main road, he turned into a narrow alley at the east end of the village along the wall.

The house at the end of the alley with the tallest earthen wall and the most dilapidated gate belongs to my childhood friend, Fan Ha'er.

Fan Ha'er's original name was Fan Zhenxing. When he was a child, he and his friends played with willow branches as swings. He accidentally fell and cracked his head.

From then on, he reacted slower than other children his age and was jokingly called "Ha'er" by the villagers, which means "idiot".

"Knock knock knock".

I heard someone knocking on the door, and soon after, I heard the sound of slippers scraping the floor from inside.

"Squeak!"

As the door opened, a burly young man, shirtless and still sleepy-eyed, poked his head out; it was Fan Ha'er.

"Who is it... in the middle of the night, not letting people sleep?"

Fan Ha'er rubbed his eyes and muttered to himself, but his eyes lit up when he realized it was Liu Bei.

"Brother Bei? What brings you here? My parents are fighting, and the noise is keeping me awake."

Liu Bei's heart skipped a beat when he heard that familiar voice.

In his past life, he offended a group of gangsters. In order to cover for him, Fan Ha'er had his legs broken by his enemies and could only use a wheelchair for the rest of his life.

Even so, the first thing this simpleton said to Liu Bei was, "Brother Bei, I'm so glad you're alright."

Looking at the pair of legs standing straight before him, legs that had not yet been broken by fate, Liu Bei's eyes instantly reddened.

He strode forward and gave Fan Ha'er a big bear hug.

"Ouch! Brother Bei, what are you doing? You're strangling me!" Fan Ha'er was startled, his two large hands frozen in mid-air. "You... why are you crying? Did your aunt beat you up? Or did you get kicked off the bed by your sister-in-law like my parents did?"

"Get lost!"

Liu Bei spat, released his grip, and patted his shoulder hard, as if to confirm that this wasn't a dream. "Ha'er, your legs... your legs are fine."

Fan Ha'er scratched his head, looking bewildered. "Of course my legs are good! I run around all day, how could they not be? Oh, right, Brother Bei, my parents beat me really badly tonight. My mother kept begging for mercy, and I could hear her screaming from the next room. I got up to check. Guess what I saw?"

"What did you see?" Liu Bei asked curiously.

"My dad is actually spanking my mom, hahaha..."

Liu Bei's lips twitched, and his original sentimental mood was instantly swept away by this dirty joke.

He knew, of course, that Uncle Fan and his wife Fan Shuanzhu were engaging in primitive activities, but that wasn't what he was most concerned about right now.

"Alright, forget about your parents fighting. Do you want to eat meat?"

"Meat?" Fan Ha'er's eyes lit up instantly, like light bulbs. "I want it! I dream about it!"

"Come with me up the mountain to carry the wolf."

Fan Ha'er paused for three seconds, then reacted. Without asking Liu Bei where the wolf came from, she turned and went into the house, grabbed a carrying pole and a rope, and whispered, "My parents are busy right now, they definitely can't control me. I'll go with you."

Under the cover of night, the two plunged into Da Liu Mountain.

The red light in front of Liu Bei's eyes began to flash again, guiding the two brothers in the right direction.

Having learned from his experience during the day, Liu Bei walked very quickly this time.

Perhaps it was because of his rebirth, but he found that his body in this life seemed to have been strengthened, and he became more and more tireless as he walked.

Although Fan Ha'er was simple-minded, he had excellent physical strength and followed closely behind.

An hour later, Liu Bei and Fan Ha'er finally arrived near Sanlipo. He parted the tangled grass and revealed two gray wolves buried inside.

"Oh my god!" Fan Ha'er was so frightened that she fell to the ground with a thud, her face deathly pale. "Brother Bei, you really killed two wolves? Are they really dead?"

"Don't worry, he's definitely dead. Quickly tie him up and carry him away."

Fan Ha'er smelled it for a long time, until the fishy smell of the wolf carcass filled his nose, before he dared to believe it was real.

As he tied the rope, he looked at Liu Bei with admiration: "Brother Bei, are you really a god? Even the best hunter in our village wouldn't dare to catch two wolves at once!"

"Stop talking nonsense and get to work."

The two of them worked together, one in front and one behind, carrying the heavy load of more than 150 kilograms down the mountain.

When we returned to the village, it was still dark, with only the occasional crowing of roosters.

Liu Bei deliberately took a detour around the main road and carried the wolf directly to Fan Ha'er's yard.

"Hey, go, wake your father up."

Without saying a word, Fan Ha'er rushed into the main room and shouted, "Dad! Stop hitting Mom! Brother Bei has caught a wolf! Come out and see!"

First came the sound of a heavy object falling to the ground, followed by Fan Shuanzhu's furious shouts: "You little brat, I was in the middle of something, and you scared me so much I almost had a heart attack! See how I beat you up..."

Fan Shuanzhu jumped out of the room, pulling up his pants, about to explode in anger, when the next second he spotted two gray, blood-soaked wolves in the center of the yard.

He froze instantly, rubbed his eyes, took two steps forward, and reached out to touch the wolf's fur.

"Hiss—" Fan Shuanzhu gasped, turning to look at Liu Bei with disbelief in his eyes. "Huh, Liu Bei, where did the wolf come from?"

"Dad, didn't I tell you? It was Brother Bei who hit him!" Fan Ha'er explained from the side.

"Hehe. Uncle Shuanzhu, don't listen to Ha'er's nonsense, we found it on the mountain." Liu Bei joked.

"Pick one up? Go pick one up and let me see!" Fan Shuanzhu squatted down to examine the wounds. They were all fatal with a single shot, and his marksmanship was frighteningly accurate.

A storm raged in his mind: When did this good-for-nothing from the Liu family acquire such abilities?

"Uncle, I want to sell this wolf meat to get some grain and medicine." Liu Bei got straight to the point. "You have a lot of connections, can you help me out? I'll cut off three catties for you and Ha'er to help them recover. After I sell it, I'll give you two yuan for your labor."

Upon hearing that there would be meat to eat and money to be made, Fan Shuanzhu immediately slapped his thigh and exclaimed, "Great! I'll take this job! These days, although wolf meat isn't as fragrant as pork, it's still a rare commodity, and many people want it!"

Without further ado, Fan Shuanzhu, an impatient man, immediately ordered Ha'er to move a broken wooden table to the entrance of the alley.

He opened his hoarse voice and began to wail at the still-sleepy village:

"Wolf meat for sale! Fresh, wild wolf meat from the mountains! Come and get some if you want to improve your health!"

That shout had an effect comparable to an air raid siren.

In the countryside in 1981, people were starving and had little entertainment. As dawn approached, many villagers rushed out, throwing on their clothes, upon hearing that there was meat, especially wolf meat.

Of course, some newlywed young men and women, having rested all night and been busy with their daily tasks, also hurried out of the wet road to see what was happening after hearing the shouts.

"Shuanzhu, is there really wolf meat? Are you trying to fool us with a dead dog?"

"Hey, look at this skin. Is this what your dead dog looks like?" Fan Shuanzhu cut open the wolf skin with a knife, revealing the red and white flesh inside.

The villagers gathered around, discussing the matter animatedly.

"Two wolves? Shuanzhu, did you and your son fight them together?"

"No. It was Liu Bei who hit him!"

"Liu Bei? Isn't he just a petty thief?"

"Who says otherwise? Has this kid changed his ways?"

At this moment, Fan Ha'er chimed in cheerfully, "Of course! Brother Bei is amazing! While Brother Bei was hunting wolves in the mountains, my dad was beating my mom!"

The surrounding air suddenly became quiet for a second.

A nosy young man winked and asked, "Hey kid, how did your dad beat your mom? Tell me the details!"

Fan Shuanzhu's expression changed, and he reached out to cover his son's mouth: "Shut up, boy!"

Unfortunately, it was too late.

Fan Ha'er gestured earnestly, saying, "My mother was lying on the kang (a heated brick bed), and my father was slapping her bottom hard from behind. My mother kept shouting incoherently, I don't know what she was shouting, it was weird. I guess it hurt too much, and my mother was beaten silly..."

"Hahaha!"

The whole village burst into laughter; some of the older women laughed until tears streamed down their faces, pointing at Fan Shuanzhu's old face.

"Shuanzhu, you're doing great! You're still going strong for your age!"

"Don't stop? Hahaha, Shuanzhu's wife is really in pain!"

Fan Shuanzhu's face instantly turned a deep purplish-red, and he wished he could disappear into a crack in the ground.

He slapped Fan Ha'er hard across the back of the head: "You're talking nonsense! You're talking nonsense!"

"I'm not lying! I saw it with my own eyes!" Ha'er still felt wronged, and kept shouting while trying to hide.

"puff!"

Liu Bei burst out laughing.

He really is a fool...