Those things that happened in those years

Chapter 50 Cousin and Best Friend

The group walked quite a distance until they could no longer see the girls by the stream. Suddenly, Hongbo suggested, "Let's hide in this field for a while! Once they've all gone into the water, we'll go over and scare them, okay?"

Jun Ge rolled his eyes at him: "I think you're asking for it! If you really dare to go back, Sister Chen Liu will definitely come to your house and beat you up."

These words startled Hongbo so much that he quickly stuck out his tongue and dared not mention it again.

Hong Liguo also advised, "You didn't just deserve to be scratched, you deserve to be beaten! You went to peep at girls taking a shower. You'd be lucky if you weren't beaten to a pulp."

Hongbo, however, was still persistent and asked in a low voice, "Do you think that when girls take a shower, they take all their clothes off like we do?"

Upon hearing this, everyone couldn't help but laugh. Jun-ge teased him deliberately, "If you're curious and don't mind getting scratched, why don't you sneak back and take a look?"

Jay quickly waved his hand: "Don't be ridiculous! Every time my sister and her friends go to take a shower, they leave two people to keep watch in the distance, and then they take turns showering. I bet they do that too—if you really go back, you'll be discovered before you even see anything, and then you'll be in big trouble, you'll get beaten to a pulp!"

Upon hearing this, Hongbo stuck out his tongue again, completely losing interest.

A few days later, Hong Liguo went with his family to a wedding banquet in another village. When the banquet ended, there were two pieces of wedding candy left on their table—the kind of very cheap fruit candy, the kind that cost five or six cents. Hong Liguo secretly put the candy into his pocket.

On his way back, Hong Liguo passed by his uncle's house. He wanted to go play with his older cousin, so he went to his uncle's house by himself. But when he got there, he found that his older cousin, uncle, and aunt were not home.

He went into the house and saw that only his cousin Linghua was there, and there was another person sitting at the end of the kang (a heated brick bed) – it was Tong Yuhong, Linghua's best friend, whom he had seen by the stream that day.

Tong Yuhong is two years younger than Hong Liguo and the same age as Linghua. The two have been good friends since childhood and always play together. She often visits her uncle's house, but Hong Liguo doesn't see her very often—after all, he himself doesn't visit his uncle's house often either. In his memory, the last few times he saw her, she was a little blonde girl with pigtails. He never expected that she would grow up to be so beautiful in such a short time.

After chatting for a while, Hong Liguo learned that Linghua and Tong Yuhong had both been admitted to the township middle school this year, and in a while, they would become his classmates.

Hong Liguo immediately felt emboldened and patted his chest, saying, "If anyone dares to bully you two when we get to the township middle school, just come to me! At the township middle school, I'm a big shot!"

Tong Yuhong sat to the side, just smiling faintly, without saying a word. Linghua and Hong Liguo were the ones chatting the whole time.

As they chatted, Linghua suddenly called him out: "You're still bragging! I heard from my aunt last time that you two got into a fight and injured someone, and even had to pay compensation to them—why do you have to fight? What if someone beats you up? You'd be at a huge disadvantage."

As soon as Linghua finished speaking, Tong Yuhong, who had been silent until now, suddenly spoke up: "Some people are malicious. If you don't teach them a lesson, they will keep bullying you."

These words struck a chord with Hong Liguo—he immediately felt that Tong Yuhong was a kindred spirit. It was just a pity that she was a girl, otherwise Hong Liguo really wanted to go over and shake her hand properly, and even thought: if she were a boy, their "Six Musketeers" were currently one person short, and they would definitely invite her to join.

Linghua disagreed, frowning as she said, "Just like the eldest son, he's bound to cause trouble sooner or later."

The "oldest son" that Linghua mentioned was the youngest son of Uncle Tong Yuhong, the same age as Linghua and Tong Yuhong. Hong Liguo had heard Hong Bo say that since they entered junior high school, Tong the youngest son had gradually "stood out" in elementary school, becoming particularly powerful and the king of the school, with no one daring to mess with him.

Linghua said this because she had a bit of a crush on Tong Laogeda—so she couldn't help but feel unhappy whenever she heard someone say that Tong Laogeda was fighting.

Seeing that Linghua looked unwell, Tong Yuhong didn't bring up the fight again, and the topic returned to the daily life of the rural middle school.

As they chatted, Hong Liguo suddenly remembered the wedding candy in his pocket, quickly took it out, and threw it on the kang (a heated brick bed): "These are for you, wedding candy, they're really sweet."

Tong Yuhong didn't move, and Linghua didn't reach out to take it either.

Hong Liguo was a little puzzled: "Why aren't you eating it? It's really sweet."

Linghua suddenly laughed and teased, "Who are these wedding candies for? If they were for me, why didn't you hand them to me while I was sitting on the stool? Why did you throw them on the kang instead? Could they be for Sister Hong? Sister Hong, have some, he threw these candies at you."

Upon hearing this, Tong Yuhong's cheeks flushed instantly. She smiled awkwardly, neither taking the candy nor saying a word.

Hong Liguo panicked too—he really hadn't thought much about it, he just threw it away casually, but Linghua's teasing made the atmosphere instantly awkward.

"If you don't want to eat, then don't eat. Don't joke around like that." Hong Liguo quickly explained, "I'm not familiar with Xiao Hong either. It's embarrassing for me to say something like that."

Linghua ignored them, and with a smile picked up two pieces of candy. She peeled off the wrapper of one and put it in her mouth, and handed the other to Tong Yuhong: "Try it, it's really sweet."

Tong Yuhong was already shy, and now she was even more embarrassed. She quickly waved her hand and said, "I don't want it, I don't want to eat it. I have candy at home."

"Nothing at home is as sweet as this!" Linghua persisted. "This is wedding candy brought by my cousin; it has a special meaning."

Upon hearing this, Hong Liguo's face flushed red, and he quickly added, "These aren't my wedding candies! They're wedding candies I brought back from someone else's wedding!"

Linghua laughed even harder: "The ones you brought back, aren't they your wedding candies? I didn't say they were your wedding candies."

Upon hearing this, Hong Liguo was completely speechless—he opened his mouth but didn't know how to refute it, so he could only stand there awkwardly scratching his head.

He really didn't want to stay any longer and endure this awkward situation, so he made an excuse: "Dezi (his older cousin's name) isn't home, so I'll be leaving now. You two can continue your conversation."

As Linghua saw him off, she joked, "With you here, Sister Hong is too embarrassed to eat your wedding candy. I'll persuade her to eat it after you leave."

Tong Yuhong, who had just jumped off the kang (a heated brick bed), overheard these words. She blushed and glared at Linghua, saying, "You're so annoying, always talking nonsense."

Hong Liguo quickened his pace and strode away from his uncle's house—as he left, he was still wondering whether Tong Yuhong had eaten the candy after he left.

Summer vacation flew by, and before they knew it, it was time for school to start. Hong Liguo, along with Jun Ge, Jie, and Hong Bo, made plans to ride their bicycles together to the village middle school.

Halfway there, they saw several girls walking slowly ahead—it was their cousin Linghua, who had just entered junior high school this year, along with her several close friends.

Upon closer inspection, besides Linghua, there were also Tong Yuhong, Chen Liujie, Li Xiuxiang, and others.

The group stopped the car and chatted with the girls for a while, repeatedly reminding them: if they had any questions when they got to the rural middle school, or if anyone bullied them, they must remember to come to them.

The girls all readily agreed.

As they were chatting, a group of young men sped past them on bicycles, kicking up clouds of dust as they raced each other, humming songs and singing tunes, having a great time.

Jun Ge watched their retreating figures, shook his head with a smile, and said, "These rising stars are even crazier than we were back then."

As Tong Yuhong watched the departing bicycle team, she said softly, "The one leading them is my uncle's younger brother."

Hong Liguo had actually recognized him long ago—it was Tong Laogeda. He couldn't help but sigh inwardly: truly, the younger generation surpasses the older!