bookrebus Chapter 208 Yangko Dance Competition, Yangko Team Leader Comes to the Door
Chapter 208 Yangko Dance Competition, Yangko Team Leader Comes to the Door
This Yangko dance troupe was invited by Captain Yang from Xiaoling Village. Xiaoling Village is located near the production brigade, deep in the mountains, and has a large population.
When the Yangko dance troupe entered the village, the sound of drums and music filled the air. Children ran alongside them, following the troupe everywhere. Village officials came out to greet them, calling on the Sun and Zhang families to set off firecrackers to welcome the Yangko troupe into the village.
There's a small square in the center of the village where the villagers dry their grain. After the Yangko dance troupe finishes their performance in the square, they start traveling from village to village.
The Sun and Lu families were wealthy enough to hire a folk dance troupe to perform in front of their homes.
Li Xiao watched with delight, clapping her hands excitedly. The little girl loved watching the Yangko dance troupe, but she was very sensible and wouldn't ask the adults for anything. Li Ju'an knew that his mother would be heartbroken if he gave her money. So he dug up some wild boar meat that had been frozen in the snow in the yard, added some ginseng wine that the Sun family had given him last time, and gave it to the Yangko dance troupe as payment. Payments could take many forms; besides money, meat, grain, wine, snacks, and eggs were all acceptable.
At the very back of the Yangko dance troupe, there was a man driving a large cart, specifically responsible for collecting the payments. After Li Ju'an delivered the wild boar meat and ginseng wine, he deposited the payments for each person into the cart, and as he pulled it along, he waved and called out, "Alright! I'll be there in a bit."
The leader of the Yangko dance troupe came to take a look and, based on the amount of remuneration given by Li Ju'an, arranged the length of time the troupe would perform at Li's house.
Before long, the Yangko dance team arrived at the entrance of the Li family's old house in a lively atmosphere, followed by a long line of children. The children laughed and played, and they envied Li Xiao.
"Look! It's Sun Wukong!"
The Yangko dance troupe had many costumes, with the one dressed as Sun Wukong being the most popular among the children. Even the adults from the Lin and Lu families who were watching joined in, bringing the festive atmosphere to a climax.
Li Xiao was amused and laughed heartily. Li Ju'an carried his younger sister Li Xiao on his shoulders and let her ride on a horse, allowing Li Xiao to interact with the people walking on stilts.
Just then, another Yangko dance troupe arrived, traveling through the villages.
The two teams met in a village, right in front of the Li family's old house—how interesting!
The villagers were very excited, and the leaders of the two Yangko dance teams were equally excited. In order to show their honor and reputation, they brought out their best skills to compete in Yangko dance.
The area in front of the Li family's old house was bustling with activity. Almost the entire village of Lijiatun had gathered around, cheering and applauding the wonderful Yangko dance performance. The cheers and applause from the whole village were deafening.
Lin Mei stood on the outside, her small, oval face flushed with excitement.
There were too many people and it was too crowded. Li Ju'an looked around but no one was paying attention to them. He took Lin Mei's hand and led her to the front of the crowd.
Lin Mei initially lowered her eyes nervously, hesitant to enter, afraid that she would be seen by the gossipy Second Aunt of the Lu family and be gossiped about again. Li Ju'an said to her, "What are you afraid of? If someone sees us, we'll go to the Lin family to propose marriage."
Lin Mei blushed and let him lead her as they squeezed towards the front of the crowd. The view was indeed much wider from the front. She watched as Li Ju'an excitedly cheered loudly, and she was also infected by the loud cheers, clapping her hands excitedly.
The outcome of the Yangko dance competition was simple: it was all about whose performance garnered more applause and cheers. The applause was roughly equal on both sides, with Xiaolingtun's being slightly weaker. The team leader, dissatisfied, immediately challenged his opponents to a rematch.
The villagers were so excited when they heard that they could watch the Yangko dance competition the next day that they applauded thunderously and were reluctant to leave.
After the Yangko dance competition, the two teams dispersed and headed to the next village.
This intensive Yangko dance performance can continue until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month. Everyone in the forest farm except the cooks is on holiday, and the students aren't in school either. Li Ju'an had already gone back inside to warm himself by the fire when the leader of the Xiaoling Village Yangko team returned, carrying two cases of liquor, two bags of grain, two buckets of oil, and a basket of eggs. He greeted him with a smile, saying, "I didn't recognize you just now, Li Pao, right? People in the production team say that Little Li Pao is quite skilled at hunting. There's been some trouble in our village recently, so we'd like to ask Little Li Pao to come over."
Seeing this, Li Ju'an quickly said, "It's cold outside, let's go inside and talk."
"Alright, oh dear, it's my first time coming in, so I don't have much to bring. I'll just give you some things that someone gave me in the car."
Li Ju'an was delighted when he saw it.
One of the cases of liquor was the same one he had just delivered to the Yangko dance troupe's storage truck; wasn't that the ginseng liquor he had sent? And now, it's back in his hands.
These eggs are pretty good; they'll be perfect for nourishing my younger sister.
"Okay, come inside quickly, it's quite cold outside."
As soon as the leader of the Yangko dance team entered, he took off his gloves, rubbed his hands together to warm them by the fire on the kang (a heated brick bed), and said, "Little Li Pao, oh my god, you have no idea what kind of mess the production team has been in lately. Those troublemakers ran away from the production team and ended up causing trouble all over our village."
After asking carefully, Li Ju'an learned that Xiaoling Village had recently been plagued by wild boars.
The production team leader had been kind to Li Ju'an last time, and he kept telling everyone in Xiaoling Village about Li Ju'an's solo hunt of the giant boar. That's when the Xiaoling Village leader thought of asking someone to ask Li Ju'an to help the village get the giant boar shelled.
Li Ju'an, being cautious, asked, "How come your hunters can't get any of those big, solitary boars?"
The leader of the Yangko dance team waved his hand, his face full of sorrow, meaning that they should stop talking.
"There's no shell, but it just won't open. Four or five big lone pigs were rampaging through the fields. They even stormed into the warehouse and wreaked havoc, destroying all those cabbages. And the dumplings the brigade leader had frozen outside, meant for the New Year, were all gone overnight. They really know how to eat!"
My mother came to bring me tea, which amused me.
"The fifteenth is almost here, and this kind of construction is not going to work."
The leader of the Yangko dance team slapped his thigh and shouted, "Sister Song, you really know this stuff! It's so urgent. These big boars still won't leave. The hunting dogs in the village were barking fiercely at first, but then the lead dog led the pack dogs to charge over, and one of those 700-pound boars lifted it up and killed the lead dog on the spot. After that, no hunting dog dared to charge at that thing."
Not to mention Li Ju'an, even his mother and younger sister Li Xiao felt their hair stand on end and were terrified.
"How many kilograms? More than 700 kilograms?"
"Oh, you bet. The captain was dumbfounded too, saying he'd never seen such a robust pig in his life, it was even stronger than a lot of cannonballs."
Big Lone Boar is a wild boar without a herd and no mate or children. Big Cannon Egg, on the other hand, leads a large family of wives and concubines and doesn't rampage around so recklessly; he at least considers the feelings of humans. But Big Lone Boar is different. He's very wild and unrestrained. If he doesn't like a place, he'll squat down and refuse to leave until he's completely ravaged the village, then he'll swagger off, feeling refreshed and invigorated.
Li Ju'an was also puzzled and asked, "Has anyone in the village offended this beast? Otherwise, why is it stubbornly staying in the village and refusing to leave?"
The leader of the Yangko dance team thought about it carefully, and then suddenly stood up, his eyes wide open.
"Li Pao, you're right, there really is such a thing."