He Xiuying had prepared lunch and was waiting for Chen Huasheng to come home to eat.
She was about twenty-five years old and hadn't had children yet.
When Luo Yang arrived, He Xiuying politely said, "Niu Zai, join us for lunch."
At that moment, Chen Huasheng said, "Xiuying, I want to have a couple of drinks with Niu Zai, could you help me go to the village chief's grocery store to buy a few bottles of beer?"
He Xiuying agreed and came back in about five minutes with a bottle of beer in each hand.
Thus, the three of them began their meal.
"Niu Zai, school starts tomorrow. You're in ninth grade, right?" He Xiuying asked.
"Yes." Luo Yang kept drinking beer, using it to bolster his courage.
After lunch, He Xiuying started to clean up the dishes and went to wash them. When she came out of the kitchen, she said she felt a bit sleepy.
Chen Huasheng then helped He Xiuying up to the second-floor bedroom to sleep, and afterward, he went downstairs and made a gesture to Luo Yang, indicating for him to go upstairs and take care of things.
Hesitating for a moment, Luo Yang went upstairs, entered the bedroom, and looked at He Xiuying lying on the bed.
After watching for a while, he thought that since he had already agreed to Chen Huasheng, he might as well go through with it.
So, taking a deep breath, he was about to proceed when Chen Huasheng walked in.
He hurriedly pulled Luo Yang downstairs, looking dejected, "Niu Zai, I'm not ready yet, I can't accept this emotionally. Let me try to have a child with her first. If she's still not pregnant by the end of the year, I'll ask for your help then."
Luo Yang smacked his lips and said, "Okay, Brother Sheng, I'll head back then."
Later than sooner.
He rushed back to his family's contracted fish pond, stripped off his clothes, and jumped into the water.
After swimming in the pond for a while, he caught a glimpse of something shimmering in the grass by the pond. Curious, he walked over, reached in, and fumbled around, only to feel a sharp pain in his index finger. He quickly pulled back his hand, and though the wound was small, it was bleeding.
When he looked down for the source of the shimmer again, it had disappeared.
All of a sudden, he felt a severe pain in his head. First, the three golden characters for "Shennong Scripture" floated in his mind, followed by an influx of agricultural and medical knowledge that made his head feel like it was about to split. His eyes were extraordinarily painful, as if they were about to burst into flames. His limbs and all his meridians felt hot, as if his whole body was on fire.
Luo Yang exhaled white mist from his mouth, and in his panic, he quickly submerged himself in the water to cool his eyes.
After a while, his head slowly returned to normal, but his eyes still hurt a little. When he looked up, his vision was normal. His strength was exceptionally abundant, which seemed to be related to the Shennong Scripture.
Faced with this strange occurrence, Luo Yang didn't dare to linger in the water. He hurried ashore and, when putting on his clothes, he actually noticed the pack of cigarettes in his pocket.
Taking out the cigarettes, he could see the cigarettes inside through the pack.
"Huh?! Can I glance through things?"
He rubbed his eyes hard, looked at the cigarette pack again, and still saw the individual cigarettes inside. At that moment, Luo Yang felt both shocked and overjoyed. Sitting by the pond, he lit a cigarette and smoked, struggling to calm down, inhaling one puff after another.
"Help!"
A girl's desperate cry for help came from not far away.
Luo Yang snapped back to reality and heard another cry of "Help!" Without hesitating, he followed the sound and saw a horrifying scene. The village beauty, An Yuying, had been pushed down in the vegetable garden, with the village thug Xie Dongshan about to commit an outrage!
"Niu Zai, save me!"
Seeing Luo Yang, An Yuying saw a glimmer of hope,
She had just graduated from college and had planned to work outside. But because her parents were frail and sickly with no one else to take care of them, she had no choice but to return home to look after them.
"Xie Dongshan!"
Luo Yang was a bit afraid, but An Yuying's mother was his elementary school teacher. He couldn't stand by and do nothing.
"Niu Zai, get lost! Pretend you didn't see anything, or I'll finish you off!"
Xie Dongshan was one of the few notorious bullies in the Hongyun Brigade who often threatened to wipe out someone's entire family; ordinary villagers would walk around him.
Looking at An Yuying's helpless eyes still holding a trace of hope, Luo Yang couldn't pretend he hadn't seen anything.
"Xie Dongshan! Let Sister An go!"
"Yeah! You're looking for death! Daring to ruin my good time! Let's see how I beat you to death!"
Immediately after, Xie Dongshan let go of An Yuying, clenched his fists, and stormed towards Luo Yang.
In terms of physique, Xie and Luo Yang were almost the same size. Xie Dongshan was a few years older than Luo Yang.
Facing the naturally vicious Xie Dongshan, Luo Yang felt somewhat intimidated after all.
Xie Dongshan, confident because of his older age and reputation as a notorious village bully, believed he could take down Luo Yang in no time.
With a thud, a punch landed on Luo Yang's chest, but it didn't hurt much.
When Xie Dongshan threw another punch, Luo Yang instinctively grabbed his wrist. Though he thought Xie Dongshan would be able to pull his hand back with little effort, he saw that after several tugs, he just couldn't free it.
Luo Yang was holding it as if it were a child's hand, letting him struggle with no chance of escape. He didn't understand what was happening but knew it must be related to the Shennong Scripture.
Without thinking too much, he gained confidence, and he wasn't as nervous anymore.
With a downward push of his right hand and then letting go, he swung a right punch to Xie Dongshan's face, causing his nose to bleed profusely.
Luo Yang fought with increasing skill. Seeing Xie Dongshan raise his foot to kick, Luo Yang sidestepped and, with a double punch to the chest, knocked Xie Dongshan onto the ground with a loud thump, causing him to spit out blood.
"You dare hit me!"
In Hongyun Brigade, there were indeed very few who dared to hit Xie Dongshan.
He got up, charged at Luo Yang like a mad dog.
This time, Luo Yang calmly parried Xie Dongshan's hands and immediately pounded his chest like beating a drum, thump after thump ringing out, knocking Xie Dongshan to the ground, blood spurting from his mouth.
"Wait for it! I'll get you for this!"
Xie Dongshan was both shocked and furious, gave Luo Yang a deadly stare, then got up and stumbled away, dragging himself along.
Seeing An Yuying still sitting on the grass, catching her breath, Luo Yang quickly went to help her up.
"Niu Zai, thank you for saving me!" The fear in An Yuying's eyes had not completely faded away.
"It's what I should do," said Luo Yang.