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墨書 Inktalez
When Li Yan and the others returned home, Zhang Agou had already been taken to the hospital. Li Yan heard from Zhang Dazhen next door that there had been a commotion during the meeting today. Several candidates for village chief were at odds with each other, which initially seemed trivial. At most, they would just pick at each other with a few remarks, but things escalated quickly, and they began to dig up the most disgraceful incidents to throw at one another. In the end, it turned physical; Zhang Agou was trying to break up the fight when he accidentally pushed someone and ended up colliding with the corner of a table, resulting in a significant amount of blood.
Zhang Agou had a good relationship with the Li family. Not only was Zhang Agou kind to them, but his wife had also helped them out quite a bit. The next day, Zhou Miao drove while Yu Tian prepared some easy-to-eat chicken porridge and brought along plenty of fruit. The four of them drove straight to the town hospital, only to find out that Zhang Agou had just been admitted before passing away. His wife was devastated; she had seen him in the morning, and by afternoon he was gone—no one could bear such a sudden loss.
Yu Tian felt quite upset as well. They had just arrived in Zhangjia Village and were unfamiliar with the place, having received many favors from Zhang Agou. These gestures couldn't be measured in monetary terms; it was a pity... this old man was truly a good person.
Since they couldn't find the culprit, the police merely conducted a brief investigation in the village and dropped the case due to lack of evidence. There were too many people involved, making it difficult to identify the perpetrator. Moreover, things had been tense in town lately, and the police were overwhelmed with work; naturally, they preferred to avoid complications.
Zhang Agou's wife was furious and lost considerable weight within a few days. At his wake, she cursed and shouted: "Who killed my Agou? Heavenly Father won't spare him; may he be hit by a car when he goes out! This person has no conscience! My Agou has done so much for this village over the years..."
What she said was true; although people are inherently selfish—and Zhang Agou was no exception—he was undoubtedly a competent village chief. Just considering his efforts in securing water and food supplies, many younger villagers held great respect for him.
Zhang Agou's funeral was quite grand and incomparable to Zhang Zhong's wife's funeral not long ago. The entire village came to help and brought many gifts. Zhang Zhong's son and daughter also returned; his son was a civil servant while his daughter was a high school teacher—both had stable jobs. They had often been called upon for village matters since they were city dwellers with connections, but this time, due to Zhang Agou's incident, villagers were hesitant to speak up.
Zhang Agou's children did not cause any trouble upon their return; however, their attitude towards the villagers was far less warm than before. Their cold demeanor made it difficult for those who wanted to ask them for favors; although they were still villagers, without Zhang Agou around... they were now just familiar faces from their hometown.
Everyone thought they would take their mother away after the funeral, but instead, they stayed for several days. They reclaimed all the land that Zhang Agou had lent to villagers for farming, which caused some minor disputes. However, given the circumstances surrounding Zhang Agou's death, the village elders managed to keep things under control.
On the surface, it seemed like Zhang Agou's children were retaliating against the villagers by making their lives difficult. However, Li Yan sensed an impending storm; why were Zhang Agou's son and daughter so eager to reclaim land? They even stayed behind to help manage it and suppressed their grief over their father's death for these fields—something must be brewing outside.
Li Yan hadn't been online for quite some time—not only because he was genuinely busy every day (farmers weren't as free as people imagined), but also because he intentionally avoided it. Most online discussions revolved around exposing corruption or incidents involving second-generation heirs misbehaving. Reading about such issues only stirred public outrage without solving anything; it left people feeling frustrated. Society had already rotted at its core; taking down one corrupt official wouldn't change that there were countless others standing up.
It was evident that online discussions were heavily monitored; many sensitive topics had been deleted. Nevertheless, netizens' power was limitless. As the saying goes: "Where there is light, there is shadow." Li Yan discovered some troubling issues in several small forums. A netizen had taken numerous photos during recent floods that severely affected many areas of the city—some even submerged first floors of buildings. Many people waited in hunger for rescue... Meanwhile, other regions faced droughts where large swathes of land cracked open like pieces of broken pottery. Nearby lay a decaying fish with its mouth agape—whether gasping its last breath or silently screaming remained unclear. A little girl stood dirty and disheveled, holding an empty bottle while gazing longingly at the camera; her eyes reflected deep fear mixed with... fleeting hope...
Li Yan felt quite uncomfortable watching the child playing with Wonton nearby, as well as Yu Tian being teased by Zhou Miao. An unprecedented warmth enveloped his heart, which had been filled with coldness. No matter what, it was enough that his family was doing well. Li Yan turned off his computer and joined in on the gentle teasing of Wonton, so he missed the text message from Tencent—A Province had erupted into a large-scale food crisis, with many refugees storming the food relief station, resulting in fifteen deaths and nine serious injuries.
Not long after Zhang Agou's death, the village arranged for another village chief election. Li Yan and Zhou Miao, as new residents of Zhangjia Village, were eligible to participate. Even Zhang Agou's son and daughter came to express their respect for him.
To avoid causing chaos again, this time a civic election was held, where everyone received a piece of paper to write down a name and place it in the ballot box. The person with the most votes would become the village chief of Zhangjia Village, and this method of election received unanimous approval from the villagers.
After an hour of lengthy voting, there were three candidates: Zhang Zhong, Zhang Hong, and Zhang Xiliang. Zhang Hong was a wealthy farmer in Zhangjia Village and was known for being warm-hearted and generous. As for Zhang Xiliang, he was the only doctor in the village—though he didn't have a business license—his medical skills were decent. Whenever someone had a headache or fever, they could go to Zhang Xiliang instead of traveling far to town.
In the end, Zhang Zhong won decisively with one hundred three votes. Zhang Liang somehow managed to get some firecrackers and set them off for half an hour. Many people were dissatisfied, especially seeing Zhang Zhong and Zhang Liang together; they wondered what hope there was for the village in the future! Many faces were so dark they seemed ready to burst with ink. However, since the voting was fair and just, they could only sigh and leave.
Li Yan also worried that Zhang Liang might have ulterior motives towards his family’s situation. But thinking about his family's circumstances, if Zhang Liang really had the ability to come back for more, he wouldn't hold back anymore. Some people needed to be shown their place; however, how did Zhang Zhong and Zhang Liang end up together? Li Yan squinted coldly at Zhang Liang and Zhang Zhong, deciding to watch how things unfolded.
The first thing Zhang Zhong did as village chief was to host a meal for everyone in the village. This did manage to win over some who were looking for small favors, but many understood what was really going on.
"I say, brothers from the Li Family, are you settling in well here in our Zhangjia Village?" Zhang Zhong's words immediately set Li Yan's family apart from the villagers, clearly indicating that he did not consider them part of the community.
"Zhang Zhong, I don't appreciate what you just said," Li Yan replied slowly and coldly, his voice laced with sarcasm: "How could one be uncomfortable in their own home? Do you feel uncomfortable living in your own house? Or is it just recently that you've felt uncomfortable?"
Zhang Zhong never expected Li Yan would respond like this; after all, Li Yan usually seemed easygoing. Although he wasn't someone to provoke directly, Zhang Zhong had intended to pressure them into showing him some respect but ended up embarrassed instead. He rubbed his nose awkwardly and laughed dryly: "Look at my mouth; it seems I spoke out of turn. Let me drink to that." He took a cup of liquor before continuing: "Actually, I just think you city folks live so happily and freely—driving little cars and living in tall buildings—so I can't understand why you'd come here to suffer? Life in the countryside is all about working hard every day while city folks can earn money so easily."
"Yes indeed! You might as well live in town! I've heard there's plenty of money to be made outside; rural areas are dead ends," Zhang Liang chimed in at just the right moment. It was unclear whether he was speaking to Li Yan or others: "I have a brother who went out to work; he does small jobs but earns four or five thousand each month. I'm also planning to go out soon."
Many young people were somewhat tempted by this; there weren't many families with computers in this village. The television always reported good news without mentioning troubles; now it seemed like Zhang Liang was trying to deceive people. Li Yan recalled how not long ago Zhang Liang had tricked elderly villagers into selling their homes; he could almost confirm that Zhang Liang and Zhang Zhong had teamed up. After dinner, he took his family home without intending to get involved further.
Days passed by one after another as the weather grew hotter; even the children were reluctant to go outside. Li Yan set up a ceramic jar at home; it was quite large. Earlier in spring, he had planted some lotus seeds which had now sprouted leaves and flowers. Though not many, they added a refreshing touch of summer to the whole house.
Early in the morning, Li Ming sat obediently at the table with a small bowl, eating grapes. The grapes were particularly large and crystal clear. The child carefully removed the seeds and fed them to Wonton and Dumpling. Since the last time he ate chicken legs, he had learned that dogs could eat the skin, so after removing the seeds, he fed the skins along with the grapes to Wonton and Dumpling.
Dumpling, however, spat out the skins and was sternly reprimanded by the child: "Dumpling, good babies shouldn't be picky! If you keep this up, I won't give you any more!"
As he spoke, he specifically gave two grapes to Wonton. Dumpling, feeling envious, barked eagerly and even tried to please Li Ming by licking his little feet. Li Ming's Little Friend decided not to overly indulge the child and made Dumpling sit by the wall while singing a little grass song. This clearly put Dumpling in a bit of a bind; he turned around and around, trying to curry favor.
When Li Yan returned from outside, he saw his child pouting as he "sternly" defended his territory—a small bowl of grapes. Dumpling looked pitifully at the bowl, making for a hilarious sight. Li Yan shook his head; now even dogs knew how to flatter!
For dinner, Yu Tian prepared a pot of bone soup with dumplings, along with homemade tofu meatballs and stir-fried greens. These dishes were considered quite good in the village. With four people and two dogs, they finished off an entire pot of dumplings without leaving a trace.
In rural areas, every household has a cement floor. Everyone took their grains out to dry in the sun until thoroughly dried, then packed them into burlap sacks. This way, the grains wouldn't mold or sprout "yangzi," which is a local term in Zhangjia Village for pests that grow in grains; too many pests would spoil the grains.
Yu Tian and Zhou Miao took all the blankets and clothes used during winter out to sunbathe. Sometimes sunlight is the best disinfectant. However, modern people spend all day in air-conditioned rooms; when they go out, they have to carry umbrellas, wear clothes, and put on masks—making themselves look like vampires.
But even after October, the weather remained quite hot; especially at noon when no one dared to go outside. The little grandson of Zhang Dazhen crawled outside unnoticed during midday. When adults heard his cries and went out, they found that his hands and feet had been burned by the heat of the cement floor. This incident raised significant concern in the village; cement floors get extremely hot, reaching nearly forty degrees Celsius at noon. Someone conducted an experiment by pouring cold water on it; immediately after pouring it on, mist could be seen rising.
Recently, Zhang Liang often brought back news from outside. He heard that housing prices in the city had dropped again and that it was now easy to make money there.
Li Yan and Zhou Miao merely observed coldly; it was evident that Zhang Liang and Zhang Zhong were intentionally leading villagers into a misunderstanding about what was happening—though it was unclear what their true intentions were.
By November, the weather had cooled slightly but still hovered around thirty-seven or thirty-eight degrees Celsius. At this time—there was a power outage.
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