68: The past is now just a memory.

"Fifty or sixty mu?" Li Qingshan's voice carried an unbelievable stiffness.

"Dad... then... then how did it get to our family's hands with only those fifteen mu of poor land left that barely provides enough to eat?"

Li Dashan tapped his pipe against the edge of the table. "Taken away!"

"The clan took it away by force! As soon as your Great-grandfather and Great-grandmother closed their eyes, before their bodies were even cold, that pack of jackals from the clan pounced. The land deeds and house deeds in black and white became waste paper in their eyes."

"They said things like, 'How can the descendants of a matrilocal son-in-law with a different surname occupy the property of the Li Clan?' Hah! Those fifty or sixty mu of fertile land and those ancestral houses that sheltered us from the wind and rain became public clan property in the blink of an eye!"

"Your Great-grandmother, my poor grandmother, rushed to the entrance of the Ancestral Hall holding your grandfather—my father—who was still nursing. Crying? She was truly crying, crying heart-wrenchingly, crying that the ancestors weren't opening their eyes! Making a scene? She was risking her life to make a scene, pointing at the Clan Elders' noses and cursing them for having no conscience and preying on the orphaned!"

Finally..." Li Dashan paused, his Adam's apple bobbing.

Finally, she actually threw a hemp rope over the beam of the old locust tree at the entrance of the Ancestral Hall! One end was tied around her neck! The other end was tied to your grandfather's swaddling clothes!

"If you don't give us a way to live today, we mother and son will hang ourselves here at the entrance of the Li Family Ancestral Hall. Let the ancestors see how the Li family drives their own flesh and blood to death!"

That group of people finally had a trace of concern about being criticized behind their backs. Li Dashan sneered:

"Perhaps they were afraid that causing a death would sound too bad,"

Only then did they pinch their noses and, like dismissing a beggar, let a little bit leak through their fingers. They gave your Great-Grandfather a few dilapidated ancestral rooms that were about to fall apart, and then allocated... allocated six mu of the lowest grade poor land from the clan fields. Six mu! This was the 'grace' your Great-Grandfather and Great-grandmother exchanged their lives for!"

"Your grandfather,"

Li Dashan's voice lowered:

"He had a dull personality, like a silent stone, carved from the same mold as Qingshan. He grew up bearing the name 'Li Bastard' from a young age."

"The boys in the village who were the same age as him didn't dare to curse him to his face, but the spit behind his back could drown a person. When it came time to find a wife? Hah! Not to mention the daughters of decent families, even the lame and mute girl at the east end of the village—her parents would rather marry her off to a fifty-year-old widower than give your grandfather a second look! They looked down on his Bloodline for being unclean, and for not being a 'true' member of the Li family."

"It's also true that God doesn't let a blind sparrow starve!"

Li Dashan's tone suddenly shifted, carrying a hint of the absurdity of fate.

"In those years, Willow Tree Village suffered a disaster. People who couldn't survive poured out like locusts. Your grandfather was cutting wood on the mountain when he picked up a woman who only had half a breath left in that rocky gully—that was your later grandmother!"

"A widow whose husband had died of illness, whose whole family had starved to death, and who was about to breathe her last herself! She was six years older than your grandfather! Her life was in the hands of the King of Hell, so what room was there to be picky? Two miserable people came together to live; having a partner is always better than being alone."

"Later there was me, one more mouth to feed. Then came a famine. Six mu of land? It wasn't even enough to fill the gaps between teeth!"

Li Dashan suddenly slapped the table, making the candlelight jump wildly:

"The thin porridge in the pot was clear enough to see a reflection; drinking it made one's intestines tie in knots! We really couldn't hold on anymore! Your grandfather, that dull gourd who kept his head down his whole life, was finally pushed to a dead end!"

"He pulled your grandmother with one hand and held me, still nursing, in his arms, and knelt straight down on the cold floor tiles of the Ancestral Hall!"

Li Dashan's eyes shimmered in the gloom, like two clumps of eerie ghost fire:

"Facing the high and mighty Clan Chief and those few Clan Elders, he kowtowed! He begged! His voice was hoarse like a broken gong: 'I beg the clan for mercy. The portion of land my grandfather had... give a bit more back to us... we can't survive, we really can't survive... the child is about to starve to death!'"

"In the Ancestral Hall, the Clan Chief and those old fossils sat in grand chairs, holding tea bowls, talking and laughing as if watching a play."

"The Clan Chief spread his hands, the expression on his face looking exactly like he was dismissing a beggar: 'Land? There is none! The clan's land has long been allocated; not a grain of soil can be spared!' He sat with his legs crossed, leisurely sipping tea. 'What do you say we do? We have no way either.'"

"At that very moment!"

Li Dashan's voice suddenly rose, carrying a kind of ruthlessness that risked everything:

"Your grandfather, my father who had been honest and kind his whole life, became a different person! He stood up with a 'whoosh', his eyes so red they looked like they would drip blood! He suddenly pushed your grandmother under that large Pillar at the entrance of the Ancestral Hall, pointed at the hemp rope hanging from the beam, and roared:"

"'Hang! Hang her up! Hang this brat up too!' Then he pointed at the blue brick floor. 'Kowtow! Kowtow to death! Die right here at this entrance!'"

"The Ancestral Hall instantly went silent! They even forgot to spit out their melon seed shells!"

"Then, your grandfather suddenly pulled a polished, shiny butcher knife from his bosom! The blade gleamed with cold light! He leaped in front of the Clan Chief in a few steps, the tip of the knife pointing straight at that old thing's nose! His voice was as hoarse as sandpaper grinding:"

"'Give me land! Lend me grain! If my family can't live,' he spat out each word from between his teeth, 'none of you should think about living either!'"

"Murder! That was truly the look of someone wanting to kill!" Li Dashan's voice carried a hint of satisfaction:

"The old Clan Chief's face turned white in an instant! The tea bowl in his hand fell to the ground with a 'clatter', shattering into pieces! He trembled, finally knowing fear! He knew that this 'bastard' who had been pushed to a dead end really dared to risk his life to take them down with him!"

"'Don't... don't be impulsive! Eldest nephew! Let's talk! Let's talk!' The old Clan Chief was so scared his tongue was tied. Those few Clan Elders who were just talking and laughing also shrunk their necks, their faces turning green."

"'Land... the land is really gone!' The old Clan Chief said with a long face, his eyes darting around rapidly:"

"'How about this... do this! On the south slope of the clan, there are still ten mu of wasteland! That land... that land is a bit poor, a rocky slope overgrown with bushes. If you don't mind... you clear it! Whatever you clear counts as yours! However...'"

He swallowed a mouthful of saliva, glancing at the cold, gleaming knife tip. "'This counts as the clan renting it to you! The harvest... the harvest you have to give the clan... five... fifty percent...'"

"Seeing your grandfather's knife tip move forward another half-inch, the Clan Chief's Soul Flying Away and Spirit Scattering: 'Thirty percent! Thirty percent! The remaining seventy percent is all yours! I'll also lend you a hundred catties of grain! As long as you can clear it! As long as you nod, I'll write the deed immediately! Several clan uncles will witness! Sign and press your thumbprint!'"

"Just like that," Li Dashan's voice suddenly dropped, filled with endless exhaustion, "relying on those ten mu of rocky land your grandfather and grandmother risked their lives to fight for, and relying on their hard work day and night, our family of three, like grass struggling in the cracks of stones, finally endured those ten or so years."

"I tell you, when I was a child..." His gaze drifted far away, carrying the grievances of a child and the bitterness of adulthood: "The boys I grew up with—bare-bottomed together—would be playing fine with me one day, and the next day they wouldn't play with me anymore. I asked why, and they said: 'My parents said they won't let me play with you.' That was the better ones!"

"Those brats with rotten hearts! They dared to curse in front of everyone: 'Li Dashan! You little bastard! You're even more of a bastard than your old bastard father!'"

"I was tall back then! A head taller than all of them! They cursed me, cursed my parents, and I would pounce on them and beat them! My fists specifically targeted their faces! I beat them until their faces were black and blue, howling like ghosts!"

Li Dashan's chest heaved violently, as if he had returned to those humiliating yet satisfying teenage years:

"Isn't it strange? The ones who got beaten didn't cry, but I, the one doing the beating, would often finish and run to a deserted field to cry my eyes out. I'd run all the way home and throw myself into your grandfather's arms, tears and snot all over my face."

"What about your grandfather?" He looked at his sons, his gaze complex:

"He would always smile silently, and with those hands covered in calluses and cracks, he would gently pat my head and back. 'Silly boy,' his voice was hoarse, 'why cry? You won and you're still crying?'"

"His rough fingers wiped away my tears. 'Remember, you're the one who won! If you win, you're the winner! A real man, what does this little grievance matter? No crying!'"

"Then later..." Li Dashan sighed deeply, smoke veiling his face:

"Your grandfather and grandmother, like two exhausted old oxen—one worked to death in the wasteland, the other died of illness on the cold kang. Those ten mu of wasteland they used their lives to clear and barely managed to support people with were eventually taken back by the clan. The reason? They said it was rented at the beginning, so when the people were gone, the land naturally went back! Even those few mu of poor land were mostly stripped away by their various schemes!"

By the time I grew to seventeen or eighteen, I became alone again, a solitary man, just like my father back then." Li Dashan's tone lightened slightly:

"Heh, God finally opened His eyes once! This time, I was a bit better than your grandfather! Why?"

A happy smile finally broke across his face, carrying a bit of pride as he looked at Zhang Shi sitting quietly nearby:

"Your mother! Your mother... she didn't look down on me! Haha!"

"Your mother was also miserable then," his tone softened. "At a young age, both her parents were gone. But her luck was a bit better. Her ancestors were outsiders who came to escape a famine, and they cleared eight or nine mu of land on the edge of Li Family Village themselves. She was an orphaned daughter of a small household."

"Those old things in the clan, and their useless sons and nephews, all had their eyes on your mother's little bit of property, trying every way to 'prey on the orphaned'! Hehe..." Li Dashan shook his head proudly, a cunning light flashing in his eyes.

"Your father, I moved fast! Hahaha!" He laughed heartily, the sound echoing in the silent night, dispersing the heavy gloom from before:

"I 'occupied' your mother's heart first! Let them stare in vain!"