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My name is Xie Yiping. When Fat Chen told my dad and me that Ermaozi had been bullied again, I was watching my old man fiddle with his motorcycle. It’s a 125cc Haojue Zuanbao motorcycle; it’s as old as I am. In fact, it was a gift from my uncle to me when I held my month-old celebration. It’s true that machines are made of iron, but they can’t compare to us humans who have gone through trials and hardships. I’m only sixteen years old, still a teenager; my hair has just started to grow out fully. I can eat five or six bowls of food in one meal. When working in the paddy fields, I never walk along the ridges – I always jump from one spot to another. I’m saying, I still have another fifty or sixty years to live. But if you compare this 125cc motorcycle to a human lifespan, it would have already died long ago. As long as I can remember, it’s been broken – constantly breaking down. I’ve replaced countless small parts, and in recent years the engine has started to develop problems. Anyway, my old man has plenty of time; he doesn’t farm either. He spends his days riding his motorcycle around looking for people to play mahjong or za jin hua. He still plays mahjong and other games, but he spends more time working on motorcycles. The old man has a bad temper and lacks patience; he has almost lost all the money in the house, so he has no choice but to repair motorcycles by himself. He isn’t very smart either. They say that experience makes one an expert, and after repairing motorcycles for so many years, anyone else would have been able to open their own repair shop by now. Our village is located in the mountains; for thousands of years, our ancestors have had to walk up and down the mountains on foot. More than a decade before I was born, paths were built in the village, and although they weren’t made of concrete, it was still possible to ride a motorcycle on those stone paths. So every family started riding 125cc motorcycles. My dad didn’t have any money, so he kept asking my mom for money so he could buy one. My mom had money to give him, but he still lost it all at the mahjong table. My old man can’t get any money; riding a bicycle seems too tiring for him. When he gets tired, he gets annoyed, and when he’s annoyed, he starts fighting with people. When there’s no one to fight with, he turns around and beats my mom. When my mom was pregnant with me, he hit her in the same way. I was born out of my mom’s womb by my old man. Otherwise, I should have been born in August, but I was born at the end of June. I was born, and my grandfather, seeing that I had a delicate appearance, loved me very much; he went to the town at the foot of the mountain to call my uncle and share the good news. My uncle, who is an official working in another place, was equally enthusiastic; he took a flight to Chongqing and then drove from there to the village. During the full moon celebration, everyone in the house was drinking to celebrate my full moon. My uncle asked me, \"Kuo, in our Xie family, you’ve finally had a son now; just say what you want.\" ” Without saying a word, my old man took me and my uncle, and we got into the car driven by my uncle to go to the town at the foot of the mountain to buy a motorcycle. There was no one in the house to take care of the guests; it was my mother who carried towels, along with my grandmother who cooked and took care of the guests. While the guests were eating, my old man came back happily riding his new motorcycle. It was my mom who told me this; she said that when our son was born, my dad was happiest about selling his motorcycle, even happier than he was about having a son. As for why Uncle Yao didn’t come back as well, the old man was too lazy to explain. So there are five people in my house now; my grandmother passed away a long time ago. My old man and mom, me and my brother, plus Ermaozi. Now Ermaozi is being bullied by the people in the village again. I don’t know why either, but Ermaozi has been bullied by others a lot these days. Chen Pangzi told me and the old man that Ermaozi had been forced into the rice field by someone’s house in Gao Longyazi’s place; those people wanted to take off his clothes and insist on seeing whether he was a boy or a girl, to check if he had breasts. Chen the Fatso looked pleased with himself, his mouth pursed in a sneer. Saying they’re here to deliver news, but they actually just want to see the excitement. But today isn’t the right time. My old man values his motorcycle more than he values me and my brother. My name is Xie Yiping, and my brother’s name is Xie Sanping. I think my old man must call the motorcycle Xie Erping; I’ve heard him call it that several times. But the people in the village call me Xie Shanggou, and my brother is called Xie Xiagou. Including my dad and mom. The old man has now taken the motorcycle’s parts apart; he’s putting the engine in a basin and carefully cleaning the sludge inside it with engine oil. There’s no time to deal with the Chinese guy’s matters. Go! My old man didn’t even lift his head; damn it, such things are your responsibility to deal with. There are four brothers in Gao Longyazi’s house; I told my husband that I can’t take them on alone. Can’t beat him, the old man is scared; can’t beat him, use a weapon then! I had no choice but to pick up a large wrench from the ground and get ready to leave. The old man stood up and slapped me across the head; how many times can that be done! The old man shoved a tire-cutting scraper into my hands and poked my stomach; I don’t believe that all five sons in the Gao family have stomachs made of iron. I stabbed them to death; I was a bit hesitant, afraid the police would catch me. Afraid of a few shots? The old man squatted down again to wash the engine. You’re not even 18; even if you killed them all, you wouldn’t be sentenced to death. Sentence him to 20 years; after spending over a decade in prison in Shayang he’ll be released, so I won’t have to spend money on his education anymore. You killed the people in Gao’s house; now I can go to the fish pond in their house to catch fish. I wonder if Gao Huo Pi will still dare to stop me. Gao Kepi is the father of Gao Longyaizi and his four brothers. Just to add, my old man’s name is Xie Laizi. The Gao family and the Xie family share a pond for irrigating their fields. It’s fine when there’s no drought, but once a drought hits, my mother cries, saying that the Xie family blocks the water from being released, and then my father is ready to fight to the death with Gao Huo Pi. Gao Kepi and Xie Laizi have been fighting since they were children; they have been rivals for decades. I think the old man makes sense; I’m really too lazy to go to that stupid school – it’s better to be in prison. I held the scraper in my hand, wondering whether I should stab Gao Huyi first, Gao Longya’s elder brother. Last time I was walking at night, it was he who hid on top of the embankment and threw a brick at me. Although I didn’t see anyone, Chen Pangzi told me it was him; he hated the fact that I caught fish in their pond at night. Okay, today I’ll settle accounts with them all at once: first I’ll stab Gao Huya, then Gao Songya, then Gao Longya, then Gao Baoya, then Gao Jinya. If their old man, Gao Huopi, is also there, I’ll stab him as well. Anyway, Laozī is only sixteen; the law doesn’t allow me to be sentenced to death. Once I had made up my mind, I took the scraper and headed down to Gao Huya’s paddy field. I was about to call Chen Fatso and ask him to take me there with his 125, but before I could do that, Chen Fatso had already started driving his 125, with black smoke coming from it, along the winding mountain roads; he kept shouting as he drove, \"Xie Shanggou is going to kill someone!\" Xie Shanggou is about to kill someone! Xie Laizi ordered his son to stab to death every man in the Gao family’s house! ” Damn it, when I get out of prison, I’m definitely going to stab Fat Chen too. But if I kill someone after coming out of prison, won’t I be sentenced to death? As I walked, I kept calculating in my head: sixteen plus a few more years – would that make me in my thirties, or still in my twenties? My mind worked slowly; before I could figure out whether I would be thirty by the time I got out of prison, I had already reached the rice field behind Gao Longya’s house. Gao Huyaizi had already pressed up Ermaozi’s hips, while Gao Songyaizi and Gao Baoyaizi, one on each side, pressed up Ermaozi’s arms. Gao Longyazi is about to take off Ermaozi’s clothes. The youngest, Gao Jinya, is only seven years old; he’s holding a rice bowl and watching the excitement around him. As he watches, he eats as well, smiling broadly, with snot dripping into his bowl. As usual, when Ermaozi was bullied, he was unable to speak; all he could do was make clicking sounds from his throat. Although I never liked Ermaozi, he was still part of our Xie family. How could someone from our Xie family allow themselves to be bullied by people from the Gao family? The brothers of the Gao family have heard Fat Chen shouting that I want to kill them, but they’re not afraid. After all, I’m not my old man; they’re not scared of me because I’m still young. I am the same age as Gao Longyazi, and I am younger than his three older brothers. But Gao Jinyazi is nine years younger than me; I can’t handle someone who’s older, so how can I handle someone who’s younger? And it seems like they’re about to take off Ermaozi’s clothes; they really don’t even bother to pay attention to me. I went to Gao’s rice field, smashed the rice bowl out of Gao Jinyi’s hands and slapped him hard. Gao Jinyaizi started crying, over and over again. His mouth was open, with his front teeth missing; those who didn’t know might think I had knocked them out. Gao Jinyaizi was beaten by me; he quickly stepped back, and I chased after him and kicked him, sending him from the rice field to the bottom of the embankment. He rolled down the embankment into the vegetable garden below. The four remaining brothers of the Gao family then released Ermaozi; the four of them lined up and advanced toward me. I can’t remember now whether I planned to stab one first and then the other; in any case, I grabbed the scraper in my hand and focused my eyes on the abdomens of those four people. Damn dog, Gao Longyazi told me that you stole the fish from my house – you must have stolen dozens of pounds of fish in a month. You ate the fish from our house, and yet that damned dog didn’t even get diarrhea. There’s also no surname from your Gao family written on the fish. I pointed at Gao Longyaizi and scolded him, telling him to shout towards the fish pond; if the fish responded, then I would admit that they belonged to your family. Gao Longya and his three brothers looked as if they wanted to tear me apart, but I had a knife in my hand, so they didn’t dare to approach. Gao Huya was a bit more cunning; he ran to their pigsty, grabbed a knife used for cutting pig feed, and came back with it. This knife was much bigger than the scraper in my hand, and it scared me a little. I slowly backed away, and as I kept moving back, I started to run. Gao’s four sons followed me from behind, but fortunately I had a knife with me, so they didn’t dare to get too close to me. Ermaozi runs faster than me; I saw him pulling up his pants while running. Chen Pangzi went to inform the villagers, made a round trip, and then returned. Seeing me being chased by Gao’s four brothers, he shouted loudly, “Xie Shanggou killed Gao Jinyi; the murderer is trying to escape.” ” I can’t bother arguing with Fat Chen right now; all I want to do is run inside. By the time I had run about a hundred meters away from my home. My old man, Xie Laizi, was standing under the eaves, watching me, motionless, just like the others, enjoying the sight. By the time I rushed to the door of the house, the four brothers from the Gao family stopped chasing me. No matter how strong they were, they didn’t dare to follow me inside my house. Besides, my old man, Xie Laizi, is a well-known bully in our village; they’ve been afraid of him since they were kids. I ran past my old man Xie Laizi, intending to go inside the house. The old man grabbed my collar and threw me in front of the four Gao brothers who had arrived. He then looked at Gao Huya and said, \"I’ll fight you; watch me kill you all.\" The four Gao brothers are afraid of my old man; Gao Huya, with a knife in his hand, doesn’t even dare to strike. Ermaozi hid behind the old man, gripping his clothes and trembling. To be honest, I really hate Ermaozi; sometimes I even want to push him into the pond and drown him. But since I was little, my old man used to say that whoever dares to mess with Ermaozi will have their entire family killed. I thought to myself, I drowned that Russian bastard, but my old man isn’t going to kill me, my brother Xie Xiugou, and my mother as well, before killing himself. My mom caused a lot of trouble; it’s not worth it for her to die. I turned to face the four brothers of the Gao family. Now that Gao Huya has a knife, I’m not afraid anymore; I have an old man backing me up. I closed my eyes and charged forward, stabbing blindly with the knife in my hand, but my strikes missed their target. When I opened my eyes again, the four brothers of the Gao family were all trying to avoid me; Gao Baoyi even tried to take my knife from me, but I slashed his arm in return, causing blood to flow immediately. When the four Gao brothers saw that I really dared to kill, they became even more afraid. But as villagers started to gather to watch what was happening, they were worried about losing face and didn’t want to run home like I did. My four brothers from the Gao family and I just walked in circles outside my house, while my old man stood there watching. He seemed quite relaxed; his son was killing people, yet he took out a Yellow Crane Tower cigarette and started smoking it. I chased after Gao’s four brothers; the more I chased them, the bolder I became. Gao Longyazi slowed down a bit, and I stabbed him in the buttocks with my knife. Gao Longyazi was very thin, with little flesh on his buttocks; the blade pierced his buttock bone. He held his buttocks and ran around in pain, looking at his hands to see that they were covered in blood. Thinking that he had been injured in a vital area and was about to die, he started crying loudly, wailing as if appealing to heaven and earth. I grew even more proud; seeing that Gao Huya was also scared, he dropped the chopping knife and turned to run, so I chased after him. As a result, I stumbled and fell flat on my face. Before I could even get up, I smelled a strong fishy odor in my nose, and I knew it was Gao Kepi who had attacked me secretly. That wretched fish seller from Dead Dog Day is back. No matter how skilled I am, I wouldn’t dare attack Gao Kepi, because he’s the second most fearless and ruthless man in our village. Fortunately, Gao Kepi didn’t hit me anymore; he went over to my old man and said, \"You wretched bastard, did you order your son to kill my son?\" Yes, my old man said, I’ll kill all my two sons and your four sons, and that way I’ll gain two.