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Wang Tuozi held something in his hand, and Wei Ning immediately leaped up, saying, "Pull the hook and hang it, a hundred years without change; if it changes, it's a flower dog." He then mimicked the gesture of wanting to pull the hook from Wang Tuozi.
Wang Tuozi felt a surge of frustration. "Fine, take it already."
Seemingly afraid that Wang Tuozi might change his mind, Wei Ning quickly took the item from Wang Tuozi's hand.
Guess what Wang Tuozi gave Wei Ning? It was a few transparent glass marbles. Playing with marbles was almost Wei Ning's only hobby, but most of the marbles at that time were taken from checkers, featuring a colorful ribbon like a cat's eye in the center. Transparent ones were rare, making them quite valuable. Having one or two to show off while playing games would be very impressive for Wei Ning among his friends.
With this material incentive, Wei Ning began to work extra hard and soon arrived at the Village Entrance with Wang Tuozi.
There were several children playing with marbles at the Village Entrance. Having just received a few transparent marbles, Wei Ning felt an itch to immediately "battle" with them.
Wang Tuozi, knowing Wei Ning's thoughts, smiled and said, "Go on, but don't take too long."
"Okay," Wei Ning replied, finding a smooth stone for Wang Tuozi to sit on before running over to the group of kids. "Challenge me; I want to play too."
One of the chubby boys, who looked older than the others, replied, "No way; we don't know you."
"Look, I have this! I'll let you play with it." Wei Ning pulled out a transparent glass marble.
The chubby boys clearly recognized its value; their eyes lit up. They huddled together and conferred for a moment. "Alright then, if you lose, you have to give us your transparent marble. No cheating."
"Only dogs cheat."
"Fine then," the chubby boy nodded as they prepared to start again.
Wei Ning was known as the marble king in their area. After playing for a while, he won a whole bag of marbles; the chubby boys lost everything. They were visibly frustrated but had no more marbles left to play with, scratching their heads in anxiety.
A skinny boy who had been watching from the side but hadn’t participated timidly approached and said, "Li Jie, I can lend you some," pulling out a handful of marbles from his pocket. "But can I play too?"
Li Jie snatched the marble from the child and waved his hand dismissively. "Go away, go away. Stay out of this, and if I win, I'll give it back to you."
The child grabbed Li Jie’s arm, his voice choked with tears. "You promised I could play too. You can't go back on your word."
In a hurry to recover his losses, Li Jie pushed the child slightly, causing him to stumble and sit down on the ground, tears streaming down his face.
Wei Ning couldn't bear to watch any longer. "Let him play too."
Li Jie replied, "You don't understand. Zhou Kai can't play; he's disabled."
At that moment, Wei Ning noticed that Zhou Kai's right hand only had four fingers; his thumb was missing.
Marbles are primarily played by using the thumb to push them forward. Naturally, someone without a thumb wouldn't be able to play, so it wasn't entirely Li Jie's fault.
Just then, Wang Tuozi spoke up. "Kid, it's too late. We're done playing. Let's go."
Wei Ning had already won quite a bit, and since the others were not very skilled, he didn't feel like playing anymore. He nodded in agreement and prepared to leave when Li Jie suddenly grabbed him. "Why are you running off after winning?"
Wei Ning was too lazy to argue with him. He tossed the marbles he had won into the air. Li Jie forgot about Wei Ning and joined the children in trying to grab the marbles.
Wang Tuozi leaned toward Wei Ning. "Let's go, my good disciple. Master will take you somewhere to sleep."
In such a remote village, there were no hotels. Wang Tuozi approached a local farmer's home and negotiated with the owner. Initially, the man refused to let them stay, but Wang Tuozi seemed to have offered him some money, and for that reason, the farmer reluctantly agreed to let the two of them stay.
It was mealtime for this family, so both Wang Tuozi and Wei Ning were given bowls and chopsticks.
The family’s surname was Zhou. At the table sat three people: an elderly man who appeared somewhat hunched over; Wei Ning called him Grandpa Zhou; a sturdy-looking man in his thirties who seemed very honest was the head of the household; Wei Ning referred to him as Uncle Zhou; and a woman who looked heavily pregnant but still managed to bustle around like a capable rural housewife was clearly busy preparing food for her family. An empty bowl indicated that their ancestor had not yet returned home.
"When is this child going to come home from school?" Aunt Zhou complained.
"Where has he wandered off to again? Never mind him, let's eat." Uncle Zhou tapped the bowls and chopsticks, clearly hungry.
"Let's wait a bit," Grandpa Zhou said, feeling sorry for his grandson.
At that moment, the guard dog outside barked a few times; someone had arrived. Aunt Zhou went out and scolded, "Have you lost your mind playing outside? What time do you think it is?"
The boy, clearly used to his mother's reprimands, came in with a grin, ran to the table, and grabbed a piece of cured meat to stuff into his mouth.
"Wash your hands, wash your hands," Aunt Zhou hurriedly called out. "Go wash your hands; look at how dirty they are."
Wei Ning recognized him; wasn't this the disabled boy who had borrowed marbles from Li Jie earlier? He hadn't expected this to be his home.
Zhou Kai also recognized Wei Ning and made a funny face as a greeting before dashing off to wash his hands.
After dinner, both Zhou Kai and Wei Ning were just kids and quickly became good friends. In the end, Wei Ning gifted Zhou Kai a few transparent glass marbles, which made Zhou Kai immensely grateful.
In the rural area of Xiangxi, there were usually few entertainment activities at night. After watching television for a while, everyone went off to wash up and sleep. Wei Ning and Wang Tuozi were clearly regarded as a pair of grandparents and grandchildren. They were arranged to stay in a simple guest room, and the hostess was evidently very kind to them, providing fresh cotton bedding.
It was Wei Ning's first time camping outside alone, and he was clearly nervous. However, he was too exhausted and soon fell asleep. Wang Tuozi noticed that Wei Ning had drifted off and thought about chatting with him but decided against it and went to sleep as well.
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