Translator: Fan Translation Studio

  The tug of war contest began around noon but because Ye Xiaoxian had arrived early and her cold jelly and douhua were much tastier than others, by then a bucket of douhua and a bucket of cold jelly had almost sold out.

  They were just about to close shop when they saw others rushing to the other end of the lawn with some yelling, “The tug-of-war contest has begun!”


  “Hurry up, Baoshan is ready for the contest. Little Ye, Baozhu, Baofeng, let’s hurry and go cheer for him!” shouted Li Hongmei.

  “But we still have some cold jelly and douhua left here……” Ye Xiaoxian did not take the tug of war contest very seriously. It was merely a group of men pulling a rope to compete over their strength and sweating a lot, which she found quite boring.

  Isn’t making money more important than watching a tug of war?

  But Li Hongmei said, “Just leave the last bit there. Baoshan’s contest is more important!”


  Li Hongmei looked like a modern parent who was hurrying to see her children’s performance at kindergarten.

  Xiao Baozhu and Xiao Baofeng were interrupting as well.

  “Yes, Sister-in-law, our brother is in it and we have to cheer for him.”


  “What’s more, our Daliang Village was included too. If we win our village will be so proud and didn’t you hear what the village head said the other day? We haven’t won a tug of war contest for years, so if we win this time we can pay less grain tax.”


  Once she thought about paying less taxes, Ye Xiaoxian felt it necessary to go and watch.

  All the members from the second household left their stand behind and ran with the crowd. Li Hongmei was bold and thick-skinned. The two little ones were making full use of their small figures and Ye Xiaoxian was with them, so within moments they had squeezed through the crowd to the very front.

  As soon as Ye Xiaoxian stepped to the front she felt a gust of hot air.

  In front of her stood those more than ten large men from Daliang Village. They were either young or masculine men who were carefully selected by the head of the village. As the weather was warm all of them were wearing only a vest and their arms and chests were soaked with sweat.

  Others were either rolling up their sleeves for battle or chatting lightheartedly while Xiao Baoshan was the only one who stood rather upright at the rear and looked like he was observing his opponent’s formation.

  Xiao Baozhu and Xiao Baofeng shouted, “Second Brother, Second Brother!” and Xiao Baoshan took only a single glance and nodded briefly.

  At that moment the referee shouted, “Ready!” Xiao Baoshan suddenly behaved differently. Like a general calling the roll in a battlefield he went to each of the men and corrected their stance and posture in gripping the rope.

  In this round Xiao Baoshan and his teammates were competing with Niujia Village and all the lads in Niujia Village looked equally tall and masculine. Daliang Village’s team could not take any advantage from this.

  After Xiao Baoshan altered the postures of his teammates he went back to the very rear of the team, gripping the rope with pose that was ready to go.

  Ye Xiaoxian heard several village women chatting behind her.

  “Who is this at the rear? That tall, large one.”


  “Isn’t he the second son of the second household of the Xiao family in Daliang Village? He was conscripted into the army once and only just came back recently.”


  “No wonder he looks so well-built. Look at the way he’s stood. He’s the most impressive looking of all the villagers.”


  “Ah, don’t tell me you have a crush on him? But you have no chance anyway. He’s married.”


  “Who is the lucky maiden?”


  “Not a maiden, it’s……never mind. I’ll tell you later.”


  “.……”


  The game had begun and all the supporters were out in force. The shouting of “come on” was getting louder and louder.

  Ye Xiaoxian was soon influenced by the atmosphere and followed Baozhu and Baofeng in cheering for Xiao Baoshan by his side.

  Xiao Baoshan pulled the rope so hard that his forehead was already sweating, but his eyes were shining, showing not a single sign of nervousness, moreover, the other Daliang Villagers had been trained by him so they also remained calm at the critical moment and it didn’t take long for them to win this round.

  This competition adopted an elimination format. There was a single elimination at the beginning and two teams competed against each other, with the winner going on to the next round. The round robin tournament would not begin until there were only three teams left.

  Xiao Baoshan led Daliang Village to win four games in a row and finally entered the round robin tournament where their next rival was Shiwo Village.

  Ye Xiaoxian was getting more and more excited. She felt as if she were watching the cutest guy in her class playing basketball in her previous life and she could not help running around with Xiao Baozhu and Xiao Baofeng.

  Although tug of war was a sport emphasizing mostly strength, Xiao Baoshan was calm and composed, especially while he communicated with other villagers in his team about strategy. Ye Xiaoxian could tell that all the other men were convinced and willing to listen to Xiao Baoshan.

  At this moment Xiao Baoshan was filled with charm and Ye Xiaoxian’s eyes were glittering with admiration for him.

  The most excited was the head of Daliang village, Mr. Zhu.

  Although Mr. Zhu was already an old man, after seeing that Xiao Baoshan’s team had won four games in a row he was so thrilled that he ran around the pitch and shouted, “Come on!”


  “Kick their ass!”


  “Good job! Pull down those bastards from Shiwo and let them eat the mud!”


  “.……”


  What he said happened to be heard by the head of Shiwo village, Mr. Shi, who was making his way over to Mr. Zhu in anger. “What on earth did you say? How old are you? Watch your manners and stop shouting nonsense!”


  “I don’t need manners, do I? Whoever wins the competition will show they have the right stuff. Do you know what the award for the winner is? The county executive will award the winner with an ox!” Mr. Zhu wanted the ox so bad.

  Once he thought about the ox, Mr. Shi began going crazy too. He quickly went back to his team and yelled, “All of you, pull that rope with all you’ve got. The winner can win an ox. You must win this ox for me!”


  Mr. Zhu asked him loudly on purpose, “What if they don’t win?”


  Mr. Shi answered back, “It’s none of your damn business!”
……

  People who were coming to see the “touching autumn” were not only Daliang locals but some out-of-towners, such as the one who was in charge of the dock, named Third Xing.

  The reason for Qinghe flourishing as a southern county was that the waterway was so convenient and many traders and businessmen always passed by. There was a canal in the suburb of the county which was always teeming with ships and barges.

  Third Xing was the one in charge of the dock in the canal. People in charge of docks had to be strong and some martial art skills were required also.

  Third Xing watched them for a long time and his gaze was locked on Xiao Baoshan.

  Third Xing was something of an expert and he could tell from Xiao Baoshan’s figure and posture that he must have cultivated the martial arts and perhaps had also done some outside illegal deeds. Otherwise why would he want to resign himself to staying in such a tiny village?

  Third Xing thought that later he must go and sound out Xiao Baoshan.