After finally managing to clear the drainage ditch in front of their house with the help of the Daniu and Erniu brothers, Wu Jun staggered through the door, his arms and legs weak, carrying his shovel over his shoulder.
Little Tong, who had been playing with Gray Wolf in the yard, saw Wu Jun huffing and puffing and thoughtfully fetched him a cup of warm water. Thinking back to how aloof and proud little Tong had been when they first met, and comparing it to how he was now, Wu Jun sighed inwardly at how life had a way of teaching people.
“Jun, what kind of meat was that you brought home this morning? I’ve never seen it before,” little Tong asked.
“Little Uncle Tong, guess! This meat was dug right out of the ground. Heh heh.” Wu Jun thought to himself how amusing the child’s expression would be when he found out it was snake meat.
Poor little Tong had no idea about Wu Jun’s mischievous side. He scratched his head and thought for a long time, but his curiosity finally got the better of him.
“Do you really want to know? I’m afraid you might not dare to eat it if you find out,” Wu Jun said with a smile.
“Jun, just tell your little uncle! I really can’t guess.”
When little Tong learned it was snake meat, a faint look of embarrassment crossed his face. Having grown up in the county town, he had never actually seen a snake, let alone eaten one. But in these times, finding a live snake wasn’t easy either. The moment a live snake appeared, it usually became someone’s meal.
“Little Tong, don’t let Jun scare you. Snake meat is delicious,” Grandpa Wu said, his face full of reminiscence. “When I was in the army, I had a comrade from Guangdong province. He made a pot of Dragon and Phoenix Soup—the flavor was incredibly fresh. But later, I could never gather all the ingredients again, so I never got to taste it again. Today, I’ll make this Dragon and Phoenix Soup for you all to try.”
Wu Jun had originally planned to make snake chowder, but upon hearing his grandfather mention Dragon and Phoenix Soup, he stretched lazily and followed Grandpa Wu into the kitchen, eager to learn.
The so-called Dragon and Phoenix Soup was just a fancy folk name. It was actually snake soup with chicken. This soup was said to dispel wind and dampness, and it was quite effective for skin and joint conditions caused by toxic damp-heat.
Grandpa Wu took a fat chicken from Wu Jun’s refrigerator, chopped it into pieces, and placed both the chicken and snake meat into a clay pot. He added an appropriate amount of water, along with cooking wine, sugar, ginger chunks, and garlic cloves, then covered the pot and turned the heat to high. After skimming off the foam that rose to the surface, he reduced the heat to low and simmered it for three hours. Finally, he added a suitable amount of salt, and the soup was ready to eat.
Wu Jun and Wu Tong stared at the golden broth with chunks of chicken and snake meat floating in it, inhaling the rich aroma. Their mouths were watering, and Gray Wolf was even more excited than they were, bouncing around like a maniac.
“Jun, take this bowl to your Uncle Dazhuang’s house.”
Wu Jun took the bowl and hurried over to Uncle Dazhuang’s house across the way, wanting to make a quick delivery and return. Unfortunately, when the enthusiastic Aunt Chunhua saw that the soup contained precious chicken, she absolutely refused to let Wu Jun leave and insisted he stay for lunch. Only after he had eaten did she let him go home—and not without taking a bowl of her boiled snake meat with him.
Because he had already filled his stomach a bit at Aunt Chunhua’s house, Wu Jun could only manage one bowl of the delicious soup, unable to eat another bite.
Early the next morning, the ringing of bells signaled the start of the first workday of the new year.
The first task was the drainage ditch they had discussed yesterday. Wu Jun was assigned to be the scorekeeper. The job of scorekeeper was relatively easy, but since he had to stand there watching everyone work for long periods, he earned eight work points per day.
The brigade captain divided the team members into four small groups, each responsible for digging a section of the ditch. Wu Jun was assigned to the first group. The area they were responsible for was the most critical part of the project, located at the foot of the mountain where the meltwater collected. Once they dug through this section and connected it to the ditches dug by the other three groups, the meltwater would slowly flow toward the village’s farmland.
“Uncle, do you think we can finish digging this section today?” Wu Jun asked. He had been watching a dozen or so villagers dig for nearly three hours, and they had barely completed one-fifth of the work.
“This section is the most important. At this rate, we probably won’t finish today. The snow was thick this year, so the ditch needs to be dug deeper than usual. I’ll go call the fourth group over. Let’s finish this section first.”
Before long, the fourth group arrived to help. Among them was hot-tempered Uncle Dazhu. Even before he reached them, he started shouting, “Oh, looks like you first group folks aren’t up to the task! Over a dozen of you, and this is all you’ve dug? You must have used up all your energy on the kang!” As soon as he arrived, he started making crude jokes, and the others followed suit, gossiping about this family’s wife and that family’s old lady.
“Everyone, let’s get back to work. It’s still cold out. The sooner we finish, the sooner we can knock off.” Wu Jun could hear the conversation turning increasingly disrespectful toward women, so he quickly spoke up.
“Jun, you’re just a kid—your feathers haven’t even grown in yet. Who do you think you are, telling us what to do?” Uncle Dazhu said dismissively. He gripped his shovel and deliberately slammed it into the ground, staring at Wu Jun.
Before Wu Jun could respond, one of the uncles from the fourth team suddenly cried out in surprise. Everyone stopped what they were doing. The uncle pointed at the spot Uncle Dazhu had just been digging, trembling and unable to speak.
Wu Jun looked down and his heart skipped a beat. Could that be a human hand? Down at the bottom of the ditch, where Uncle Dazhu had been digging, a small skeletal hand wrapped in tattered fabric was exposed. The fingers seemed to tremble with the vibration of Uncle Dazhu’s shovel. Before anyone could go in for a closer look, the sharp smell of urine filled the air, instantly turning the already eerie atmosphere into something almost comical.
“Uncle Dazhuang, please hurry and call my uncle over. He just went to the second team’s section,” Wu Jun said. After sending someone to fetch the brigade captain, he turned to the surrounding team members. “Everyone, please clear out of this ditch first. We’ll wait for the brigade captain to handle this.”
Understanding the situation, everyone dispersed. Only Uncle Dazhu remained, his legs trembling so badly that he tried several times to climb out but couldn’t. Finally, a sympathetic villager used a rope to pull him up.
Wu Jun tried hard to recall whether he had ever heard of a murder case in the village in his past life—he hadn’t. Perhaps this was a butterfly effect caused by his rebirth. In these times, villagers were simple folk. At most, they’d trade insults or get into fistfights, but murdering someone and burying the body was unheard of.
When the brigade captain heard the news, he arrived quickly. He leaned over to look into the ditch, then said decisively, “Hongqi, go home, get the bike, and ride to the county public security bureau to report this.”
Then he looked around at the villagers still loitering and watching. He selected eight honest, obedient strong men to stay behind and secure the scene, and sent the rest home.
Seeing that there was nothing he could do at the scene, Wu Jun prepared to head home. Along the way, he kept wondering: who was the unlucky person buried down there?