Chen Xiang and his old man seemed to have left Liuxiang Town the very night after we hit their fish farm.
In any case, over all the years that followed, I never saw them again.
A dozen men were paddling small boats, scooping dead fish out of the pond.
The smell could be caught from a mile away; it was incomparably foul and nauseating.
Xu Dawei parked the motorcycle by the shore. Not far ahead was the shanty where Liuzi's men used to live; after a big fire, only a patch of scorched black earth remained.
Xu Dawei and I stood by the pond, watching boatload after boatload of dead fish being thrown onto the bank.
Fortunately, it was the twelfth lunar month. The weather was cold and damp, so while it stank, it wasn't unbearable.
If it were summer, with these dead fish soaking for days, no one within ten miles would dare live here.
Xu Dawei casually kicked a dead fish. "Brother Chu, what are your plans after taking over this fish farm?"
I was also worried. I didn't know what kind of poison Mustache Yang had put in the water, but now the pond water had turned green. Even a turtle (wangba) couldn't survive in there, let alone fish.
"I'm afraid I'll have to change the water. This water is useless now."
Xu Dawei chuckled and pointed toward a village not far above the fish farm.
"See that? That's the Chen Family Ancestral Village. Everyone who lives there is surnamed Chen. If we want water, we can only divert it from their side."
I frowned slightly. "Brother Dawei, do you mean there will be problems if I want to divert water from there?"
Xu Dawei laughed heartily. "Damn it, let's drop the 'Brother this, Brother that.' It feels too fake and polite."
"How about this: I'll call you Number Two like they do, and you just call me Dawei."
I nodded with a smile. "I was thinking the same thing. We're all brothers, no need for formalities."
Then I brought the conversation back to business. "Dawei, are you saying it'll be difficult for me to divert water from Chen Family Ancestral Village to this fish pond?"
Xu Dawei sneered. "Number Two, right after the New Year, spring plowing starts—tilling fields, planting seedlings, growing rice. Do you think they'll let you use their water?"
My frown deepened. Every village had the custom of building reservoirs to collect rainwater for spring plowing and irrigating rice paddies. This was a major event for every village.
I had no ties to the Chen Family Ancestral Village. Asking them to release water to fill my fish pond at a time like this was simply a fool's dream.
Seeing my troubled expression, Xu Dawei laughed loudly a few times. His unibrow twitched up and down, looking quite imposing.
"It's fine, Number Two. Since I came with you today, I'll help you solve it."
"Although you're ruthless and a man who handles business with a gun, you're still too young."
After speaking, Xu Dawei pulled open his coat, revealing a butcher knife.
I was startled and hurriedly grabbed him. "Dawei, don't mess around. That's a whole village, all from the same Chen clan. Even if we brought everyone we have, we couldn't withstand a few hoes. Going in there with just a butcher knife... isn't that looking for death?"
Xu Dawei shook his head with a smile and hooked his arm around my shoulder. "Number Two, carrying a knife doesn't necessarily mean you're going to cut someone. Sometimes, just having the ruthlessness is enough."
"Let's go. I'll go with you and settle this Chen Family Ancestral Village for you. I'll make them obediently release water for your fish."
I wanted to call the others to go with us; after all, having more people gives more confidence.
But Xu Dawei stopped me. Just the two of us walked along the edge of the pond, step by step toward the Chen Family Ancestral Village.
Honestly, I was anxious.
We were mixing in society, not psychopathic killers.
It wasn't worth killing someone just to get water for a fish farm.
But with Xu Dawei carrying a butcher knife—if he didn't kill someone, who would be afraid of him?
Just the women in the Chen Family Ancestral Village alone, with one hoe each, could take both our lives.
I was unsettled, but Xu Dawei had already dragged me into the village. Along the way, he told everyone he saw to meet him in the village center, saying he had something to say.
The villagers looked baffled. Even thick-skinned as I was, his "social butterfly" behavior made me too embarrassed to lift my head.
But the tactic worked. One told ten, ten told a hundred. Soon, men and women, old and young, all knew that two crazy people had come today, telling everyone they saw to gather in the village center.
Xu Dawei kept smiling until almost everyone from the Chen Family Ancestral Village had arrived.
After scanning the crowd, he jumped onto a stone millstone and shouted, "Fellow villagers, elders, men and women! My name is Xu Dawei. The fish farm down there belongs to my brother, Chu Shanhe."
"Now, the water quality in the fish farm has gone bad. We want to borrow some water from everyone's reservoir. Don't worry, when the fish are harvested, you can eat as much as you want."
I sucked in a breath of cold air and hurriedly grabbed Xu Dawei's arm, signaling him to leave quickly.
Who the hell borrows things like that? Isn't that just asking for a beating?
Sure enough, as soon as Xu Dawei finished speaking, the villagers were unhappy. Several men squeezed forward, ready to fight.
I couldn't worry about pulling Xu Dawei anymore. I hurriedly blocked those men and pushed them back.
"You motherfuckers (ma de ge bi), talk with your mouths! Don't get physical. Unless you plan on never leaving this village for the rest of your lives... because the moment you step out, I'll finish you off!"
I pointed my finger at their noses, cursing angrily to make them back off.
Obviously, they were still unconvinced, but they didn't dare strike directly.
However, foul language was unavoidable.
"Who the hell are you? You say you want water, and you get water? How big are your balls?"
"Fish farm? My ass (luan chang)! You think you're the Dragon King Bodhisattva? You say you want water, and we have to give it to you?"
"Get lost! Scram! Don't wait until the sickles cut you to know pain."
I had the same thought. These people—herding cattle, cutting firewood, mowing grass—almost everyone had a sickle in hand.
I thought about pulling Xu Dawei away quickly. It would be pathetic if we didn't fall into the hands of some triad boss but instead got finished off by a group of villagers while trying to act tough.
Xu Dawei shook off my hand and pulled the butcher knife from his waist.
My heart went cold. We're screwed. Did this kid think he was the reincarnation of Zhang Yide (Zhang Fei), about to take on the whole village alone?
But damn it, I'm still here! You have a butcher knife, but I don't even have a needle in my hand. If you want to show off, don't get me killed.
My heart raced. Seeing the villagers about to attack, Xu Dawei shouted again loudly.
"I, Xu Dawei, speak one word for one nail (keep my promises). If I say borrow, I mean borrow. Today, I'll pay the interest upfront."
Xu Dawei pulled his left arm out of his cotton coat, rolled up the sleeve, and exposed his arm.
"A drop of blood for ten bowls of water. Today, I'll give you the interest first."
Xu Dawei slashed the butcher knife fiercely across his forearm. Blood sprayed all over the ground.
This scene not only froze me in place but also quieted the restless villagers.
Xu Dawei didn't care. He slashed four more times in succession across his forearm.
After five cuts, Xu Dawei's forearm was a bloody mess. Blood flowed continuously, dripping onto the millstone and then splashing onto the ground, forming a small puddle.
Xu Dawei's lips turned pale, and he managed a forced smile. "Alright, is this interest not enough? Then I'll give a bit more!"
He turned his forearm over, placing the knife on the inner side of his wrist, and cut three more times.
Just as he was about to make the fourth cut, I stepped forward, grabbed his hand, and shook my head.
"Enough, Dawei, enough. Regardless of whether they release the water or not, I, Chu the Second, will remember your kindness for the rest of my life. Besides the forty percent for Big Brother, I'll give you another twenty percent of the fish farm's earnings."
Xu Dawei had lost too much blood and started shivering as he spoke. "Number Two, cut the crap. You think I did this for your twenty percent? We are brothers of the same sect, following the same Big Brother. If they give you a hard time, they're giving me a hard time."
I nodded gently. "I understand. We are brothers of the same sect."
I took the butcher knife from Xu Dawei's hand, took off my coat, rolled up my sleeve, and lightly cut my left hand twice.
Then, pointing the tip of the knife at the villagers, I said, "You bastards (zazhong), remember this well. Today, the interest for borrowing the water has been paid. I'll come to release the water in a few days. If anyone dares to say half a word of 'no,' then none of you better ever step foot in Liuxiang Town for the rest of your lives."
"Otherwise, for every person from Chen Family Ancestral Village who goes to town, I, Chu Shanhe, will handle one. If you don't believe me, try it and see if Heaven is bigger or Earth is bigger."
I stabbed the butcher knife into the ground and dragged the bleeding Xu Dawei backward.
Xu Dawei hung weakly on me, laughing hei-hei. "Number Two, anyone who makes a name for themselves has ruthlessness in their hands."
Because I had participated in the entire process of handling Liuzi and personally kidnapped the Hunchback, I had looked down a bit on the others who followed Chen Qiang.
But Xu Dawei used his actions to tell me: never underestimate anyone who has made a name for themselves in the underworld.
I said grumpily, "Of course you're fucking ruthless. Just lightly cutting twice to scare them would have been enough; did you really have to cut yourself to death?"
He was truly honest. Those cuts had flayed the skin and flesh on his arm open; unlike me, who just cut lightly for show.
I wrapped Xu Dawei's arm with my clothes, dragged him to the motorcycle, and rode back to town as fast as I could.