1940s: I supported my wife and sister-in-law by hunting.

After being busy all day, it was almost past one o'clock in the afternoon. Chen Gaoshan wiped the sweat from his forehead and thought it was time to go down the mountain.

This trip into the mountains was very fruitful.

A roe deer and two hunting dogs, Da Huang and Er Huang, also performed admirably, carrying and chasing the rabbits from the front and back, and caught six wild rabbits.

Besides his prey, he also took advantage of a break to pick a bag of ferns.

What made him happiest was encountering a patch of datura.

It was covered with pale purple trumpet-shaped flowers, and the branches were also covered with many thorny spheres, which were the seeds of the datura.

Most people might not recognize it, but Chen Gaoshan had memorized it since he was a child and would never dare to touch it.

This story begins when he was a child. His grandmother had poor eyesight and mistook the datura leaves for eggplant leaves, which looked very similar. She excitedly picked them, chopped them up, mixed them with flour, and made them into large vegetable buns.

He was also hungry, so he ate a lot in one go. Before long, he felt dizzy and his head was spinning. He felt weak all over and collapsed on the kang (a heated brick bed) and passed out.

Luckily, Grandma Li from next door had nothing to do after dinner, so she came over to chat with Grandma. When she opened the door and saw the two of them foaming at the mouth, she knew something serious had happened and quickly called for help.

When Chen Gaoshan opened his eyes again, he was in the village clinic. His stomach felt terrible, and the doctor said he had just been induced to vomit with soapy water. There were drops of sweat on the back of his hand.

When his grandmother regained consciousness, the doctor at the clinic asked her what she had eaten that evening. She told him in detail about the wild vegetable buns, and the doctor immediately knew that she had eaten datura.

This stuff is what's known in the underworld as "sleeping potion," it's extremely toxic!

Fortunately, I only ate the leaves, so the toxicity was relatively mild. The doctor said that the most poisonous parts of the datura are the flowers and seeds. Even just smelling them can make you dizzy, let alone eating them.

Chen Gaoshan looked at this large patch of datura, such a powerful thing, and thought that keeping it would be useful, so he put half of it into his space.

I deliberately kept half of it for seeding.

He planned to take a detour to the town. He had heard from Liu Yinzi that Eighth Master Hui's men had already arrived in Black City and would be coming along the same route. Taking over their area would be just a matter of time.

The town is in turmoil now; those bastards who used to hang out with that little dog are really in trouble.

The little dog ran away with its tail between its legs, but the gang didn't run away with it. Relying on the guns they still had and a group of henchmen around them, they became the local tyrants again.

If we don't take advantage of this time when no one is in charge to make as much stuff as possible, it will all end up in their pockets once they take over, and then we won't be able to make anything anymore.

Last time, he risked raiding the Russian warehouse and found nothing but guns, cannons, food, cloth, and daily necessities. What he lacked most were hard currencies like goldfish and silver dollars that could be exchanged for goods at any time. Without gold and silver in hand, it would be inconvenient to do anything in the future.

This time, I took the opportunity to tell my family that I was going into the mountains to do something big, keeping it a secret from everyone.

Having made up his mind, Chen Gaoshan put all the hunting dogs, Dahuang and Erhuang, along with the roe deer and rabbits he had caught, and the hunting rifle on his back, into his personal storage space. He only tucked a handy Mauser pistol into his waistband and covered it with his clothes.

He started running, deliberately taking a longer route to avoid the main road with more people, and descended the mountain from the most remote part of the village.

He originally planned to walk to town, but it took him almost an hour.

Chen Gaoshan couldn't help but think to himself, if he could just grab a bicycle and ride it, that would save a lot of effort and make him much faster.

He hadn't gone far when he heard someone calling him from behind. "Chen Gaoshan! Brother-in-law!"

When Chen Gaoshan turned around, he immediately recognized Wang Wen from the neighboring Wangjiatun Wangbawopeng.

Wangjiatun is the village where Lianhua and Xinghua are from. In terms of family ties, Wang Wen and the two sisters are from the same clan and are related.

"Brother-in-law, where are you going in such a hurry?"

In my memory, when he went to Wangjiatun to marry Lianhua, this kid just joined in the fun, running around helping to move things and shouting. He was a loud and boisterous person, but he wasn't annoying.

"Wenzi, I'm going to town."

Wang Wen immediately patted the flatbed cart loaded with goods next to him.

"Get in, brother-in-law. I just need a ride; I also have some errands to run in town, so it's on my way!"

Chen Gaoshan was in a hurry, so he didn't bother with formalities and quickly jogged a few steps before sitting down on the cart.

The donkey cart swayed forward, and Wang Wen, with a small whip in his hand, suddenly leaned closer while keeping an eye on the road.

"Brother-in-law, what's up? I heard my third uncle saying that you've chosen two wives?"

"OK."

Having received an affirmative answer, Wang Wen gently lashed the back of the donkey pulling the cart twice with the small whip in his hand.

"You're really something! Why don't I have such good fortune! My sister Xinghua and sister Lianhua, with their looks and figures, were the most beautiful girls in the surrounding villages back in Wangjiatun. So many young men had their eyes on them, but you ended up getting them all. Where can we complain to you!"

Chen Gaoshan glanced at him sideways.

"What, you want to say a few words for your third uncle too?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Wen immediately waved his hand to distance himself from the matter.

"Absolutely! Would I do such a despicable thing? Everyone in this village knows what kind of person my third uncle is. He's incredibly stingy, not a penny to his name. He'd even sniff the fart if he let it out. When Xinghua and Lianhua were young girls at home, they never had a good life. They were always struggling to make ends meet. Only his family would do something like this: marrying off their daughter and then wanting to bring her back home! Even though we both have the surname Wang, he's him, and I'm me. Please don't lump me together with him; it's embarrassing!"

Chen Gaoshan listened to his words.

"You're lucky you have some humanity left. Otherwise, I wouldn't have taken this bus just because you're from Wangjiatun."

Wang Wen chuckled and joined in the吐槽 (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for sarcastic or critical comments).

"Look at this! In all these surrounding villages, you can count the number of people as stingy as my third uncle on one hand! If you go to his house for a visit, you're lucky if you get a sip of cold water; you can forget about getting a meal for free!"

The two chatted casually about everyday things, and before they knew it, they were almost at the town.

Chen Gaoshan stared at the town that was getting closer and closer.

"Wenzi, you often go to town to pick up goods, so you know this area well. If you want to find temporary work in town, where should you wait for jobs? Also, who is the richest and most powerful family in town?"

Upon hearing this, Wang Wen immediately perked up. He knew the ins and outs of this town like the back of his hand, helping merchants haul goods every day, and he was well aware of everything going on in every nook and cranny.

"If you want to find odd jobs, you have to go to that open space on the west side of town. It's full of people every day, all men looking for odd jobs. They do everything from moving goods and carrying grain to building houses."

"By the way, brother-in-law, why are you asking about odd jobs? You have so much land to cultivate, isn't that enough to keep you busy? You don't mean you're thinking of going out to do odd jobs, do you?"

Chen Gaoshan casually made up an excuse to pass it on.

"It wasn't me; I was asking for someone else."

"Oh, I knew it!"

Wang Wen didn't think much of it and continued talking about the wealthy families in the town.

"If we're talking about the richest family in town, it has to be the Li family! They own the largest grain store in town, and the old man is the president of the town's chamber of commerce. He has a lot of businesses under his control, and he has seven concubines. They live a very grand life!"

Back when Xiao Gou Ri Zi was around, he followed along like a puppy, working himself to the bone to help those bastards plunder the grain in the hands of ordinary people, and did a lot of despicable things.

Later, when the puppy ran away, he turned around and fawned over the old Russian, helping him search for it! His nickname, "Li Half-Street," came about because most of the shops and land on the town's street were related to his family!

Chen Gaoshan frowned as he listened.

"He was living a life of luxury back then, so why didn't the Russians take him down when they came?"

"What are you talking about?!"

Wang Wen pursed his lips and spat.

"No wonder that old bastard Li Banjie is so cunning! He doesn't have any proper job working for Xiao Gou Rizi. He just helps out secretly the whole time, and there's no evidence against him on the surface."

Besides, that old man has no shame; he even sent his own daughter to be defiled by the Russians. Because of this connection, naturally nothing happened to him.

Now that the Russian had left, his family was rich and powerful, with guns in hand and a gang of thugs guarding their home. Their influence had returned, and they could do whatever they wanted in town without anyone daring to interfere!