At 9:00 PM, the lights in the Five Mile Fort village office came on.

Their village got electricity several months after Shili Gou, but thanks to An Ning, they finally had it installed.

At that moment, on the village’s old threshing ground, a yellow light bulb under the communal loudspeaker was glowing.

Under the yellow light, eight boys were kneeling on the ground. They had fresh cuts on their faces, and their hair was messier than a bird’s nest.

Sun Dazhuang and the Five Mile Fort village chief stood on opposite sides, as clearly divided as the Chu River and Han border.

An Ning was right behind Sun Dazhuang. Jiang Xia had taken the gong from her hands.

"Sun Dazhuang, what’s the meaning of this tonight?"

"What’s the meaning? Isn’t it obvious? We’re escorting these animals home."

The chief of Five Mile Fort had already heard what happened, but he was a man who cared deeply about his pride. Having people from another village come and cause trouble on his turf was humiliating.

Most importantly, one of the eight kneeling boys was his own son.

"They were in the wrong, but we’ll teach them a lesson ourselves. What do you mean by getting physical?"

Sun Dazhuang didn’t back down an inch. "If you were capable of teaching them anything, I wouldn’t have caught them tonight."

"Besides, did you see us lay a hand on them?"

"Your own people beat them up. At least some of them know the difference between honor and shame, unlike certain others."

Sun Dazhuang stopped just short of pointing his finger right in the other man’s face.

The ringleader of the eight boys was, in fact, the chief’s son.

The Five Mile Fort chief ignored Sun Dazhuang and yelled for the boys on the ground to stand up.

He muttered filthily, "If your own girls were decent, would they attract this kind of trouble?"

"You son of a bitch!"

With that one sentence, the fuse was lit.

On An Ning’s side, several of the girls’ fathers were present. They charged forward, impossible to hold back.

The people on the other side knew they were in the wrong, but they couldn’t just stand there and get beaten up by another village.

A brawl erupted.

An Ning charged in with the first wave.

What followed was the sight of an agile figure taking one person down with a punch, then spinning around to fell another with an elbow.

Jiang Xia, holding the large gong, followed close behind An Ning, covering her blind spots with a block here and a kick there.

More and more people from Five Mile Fort joined the fray. Sun Dazhuang’s side was outnumbered, but they were the strongest fighters from their village.

With the addition of two heavy-hitters like An Ning and Jiang Xia, plus An Guoqing—a formidable fighter who was undefeated in the surrounding villages—the battle reached a stalemate.

Brawls like this only get more intense the longer they go on. If someone hadn’t called the police, it was hard to say when it would have ended.

At 10:00 PM, they were still on the same threshing ground.

Three police officers stood in the middle, flanked by the slightly injured villagers from both sides.

"Alright, let’s hear it. What was this all about?"

"They’re shameless!"

"You’re the shameless ones!"

"Say that again, I dare you!"

"You shameless old bastard, I said it! What are you gonna do about it!"

Both sides started gesturing wildly and cursing at each other again.

"Everyone shut up! Keep yelling and I’ll take all of you in."

The officer in the middle let out a roar that silenced both groups.

After some questioning, the police finally understood the situation.

’This whole thing... they deserved to get beaten up.’

Neither side wanted to go to the police station, and besides, the law doesn’t punish the masses. There were simply too many people involved in the fight.

In the end, after a verbal warning for both sides and an apology from the eight boys, the matter was concluded.

Under the watchful eyes of the police, Sun Dazhuang led his villagers back home.

"Come on, let’s strike up the band."

Sun Dazhuang had a rebellious streak. The villagers behind him who weren’t seriously injured picked up their suonas and erhus again, and started to play and sing.

An Ning had somehow gotten her hands on an erhu.

She sawed away at it, producing a screeching sound with no discernible melody.

But she looked more excited than someone who actually knew how to play.

Jiang Xia held the large gong, banging it in accompaniment, listening to An Ning’s "divine music" as they walked back to their village.

Shili Gou’s arrogant procession infuriated the people of Five Mile Fort watching from behind. As soon as they saw the source of their trouble—their own boys—belts and willow branches came out in full force.

A simple beating was getting off easy.

Once they were out of Five Mile Fort, the music stopped.

The villagers, most of whom had taken a few hits, walked in twos and threes, their spirits high.

They had won!

Whether man or woman, old or young, the love of winning was in their bones.

Jiang Xia finally had a chance to ask An Ning a question.

"How’d the erhu end up in your hands?"

"Third Uncle sprained his hand, so it was hard for him to play."

An Ning tilted her head and asked, "How was my playing?"

"The truth or a lie?"

"What’s the lie?"

Jiang Xia said in a serious tone, "The lie is that you could successfully send me to my grave with it."

"And the truth?"

"The truth is, after being sent to my grave, I’d hear your music and feel compelled to come back to life just to tell you to stop playing."

After Jiang Xia finished, there was a muffled THUMP.

An Ning’s little raised fist had landed on his body.

"Why’d you move the gong out of the way? I wasn’t trying to hit you."

An Ning apologized sheepishly. Jiang Xia said it was fine, then fell back a step and whispered, "It was instinct."

He didn’t want her to hurt her hand.

"Just you wait until I master it."

An Ning clutched the erhu and quickened her pace. She decided she’d go find Third Uncle to learn how to play as soon as she got back.

Jiang Xia, trailing behind her, had time to comment, "’That competitive spirit... she’s so much like me.’"

After walking for more than ten minutes, the villagers of Shili Gou entered their village and went their separate ways home.

An Ning went home with An Sancheng, An Guoqing, and An Guoping.

Jiang Xia took Li Chengze, who had just been in his first brawl, back to his house.

The next morning, An Ning came out for her run at her usual time. Just as she stepped out the door, she saw Li Chengze.

"How many people did you fight yesterday?"

An Ning and An Guoping, who was behind her, stepped forward at the same time, flanking Li Chengze to get a good look.

Li Chengze stood between them with a black left eye and a bruised purple right one. His cheekbones were swollen high, and his lips were so thick he looked like he’d been bitten by a venomous snake.

"I—am—a—great—man—"

"Sis, what’s he saying?"

"How should I know?"

"He’s saying he didn’t manage to hit a single person."

Jiang Xia came out of the yard with Da Huang and casually handed Li Chengze an egg.

"Here, roll this on your face."

Li Chengze took the egg and immediately placed it on his face, only for Jiang Xia to snatch it back with a look of disgust.

"Peel it first!"

Li Chengze let out a hissing breath from one corner of his mouth and got in line behind An Ning, ready to run.

"He can still run like that?"

"Don’t worry. All the hits landed on his face. The rest of his body is totally fine, so it won’t slow him down."

Jiang Xia’s explanation left An Ning with a look of confusion.

’Did he just offer his face up to their fists and let them aim for it?’

Exactly how Li Chengze had ended up in this state became a great unsolved mystery.

The morning run began. When it was over, An Ning called for everyone to stop.

"Starting today, I’m going to teach everyone a set of boxing forms. You can learn if you want, no pressure."

An Ning had accepted Third Grandfather’s gift and felt she ought to do something for the village in return.

Helping everyone get stronger and healthier would be the first step.