The fire in the stove was still on, so Zhou Zhou didn’t run far away. He probably took advantage of the time to do something. Li Da was worried, so he sat in front of the stove, eating peanuts while warming himself by the fire.

　　Gu Zhao guessed that Zhou Zhou went to Uncle Wang’s house at the entrance of the village. He had just asked Uncle Wang if gypsum was used to make tofu. Zhou Zhou explained that he asked this question. He must have been getting more and more anxious while cooking, so he went over to ask.

　　It was just as Li Da and Gu Zhao had guessed.

　　Li Zhouzhou was cooking multi-grain porridge in the pot with the lid ajar. He wiped his hands. The village entrance was not far from his home, so he ran over to ask quickly. It didn’t take much time, and his husband didn’t have to think about the matter all night.

　　It was evening now, and the sky was getting dark. Every household was either cooking or washing up and going to bed early. The Wang family had two meals a day, and they might have some meat on New Year’s Eve. On weekdays, except for giving Xiaotian and his parents-in-law some nourishment, Uncle Wang himself was reluctant to eat.

　　The meat is cut on New Year’s Eve, and we eat the cabbage and tofu ourselves, and give the meat to the children.

　　Uncle Wang was grinding beans with a millstone in the yard at home. He heard a knock on the door, wiped his hands and went to open the door. It was Li Zhouzhou at the door. He was surprised and said, “Zhouzhou, come back tomorrow morning to buy tofu. We have sold it now.”

　　The tofu business only stopped on the first day of the new year to avoid this taboo. The rest of the time, Uncle Wang made tofu. Life was tight at home, so how could he not save more money?

　　”Uncle Wang, I’m not here to buy tofu.”

　　”Aren’t you buying tofu?” Uncle Wang asked Li Zhouzhou to come into the yard to talk.

　　Li Zhouzhou said, “It’s like this. I came here to ask Uncle Wang if he used gypsum to make tofu.” He was afraid that Uncle Wang would misunderstand, so he hurriedly said, “Don’t worry, I won’t secretly learn how to make tofu. I just have other uses for it.”

　　Uncle Wang saw that Li Zhouzhou was getting anxious, and smiled for the first time. He said, “I’m not afraid of you learning. I know you’re not that kind of person. I’ll get you some.”

　　Li Zhouzhou is a younger brother, so Uncle Wang didn’t feel shy and asked Zhouzhou to come in and wait.

　　”Don’t close the door.” Uncle Wang said.

　　Li Zhouzhou left the courtyard door half open. Uncle Wang asked Li Zhouzhou to wait in the courtyard, and he did not invite Li Zhouzhou into the house, which was a mess. His mother-in-law took medicine all year round, and the house was full of the smell of medicine. There was no oil lamp, and it was pitch black. Even the stove he bought was too expensive for his father-in-law to burn, so he would only burn it for a while during the day and not use it at night after heating the kang.

　　Everyone is asleep now.

　　Uncle Wang went into the kitchen and came out a few moments later with a coarse porcelain bowl in his hand. “Here, this is it.”

　　”Thank you, Uncle Wang. I’ll buy some tofu and bring you a bowl tomorrow.” Li Zhouzhou thought it was getting late, and running back and forth would delay Uncle Wang’s work.

　　Uncle Wang said it was done. Li Zhouzhou was about to leave, but the door to the yard was pushed open with a loud bang, and he yelled, “I knew you were sneaking around behind my back, you bitch, and I caught you today!”

　　It’s Wang Ergou who is back.

　　”Every time I ask you for money, you cry and say you have no money. I think you deserve a beating. You use the money to support other men behind my back. If you don’t give me the money today, no one can leave. I will beat you two dogs to death, you bitches who steal men.”

　　After Wang Ergou drank a few ounces of horse urine, his mouth became unclean. Every time he came back, he would ask Uncle Wang for money. At first, Uncle Wang would give him about ten coins, but later Wang Ergou thought it was not enough, and he would start to curse Uncle Wang with dirty words.

　　Uncle Wang was humiliated in this way, so he gave more money to get rid of him the first time. After that, Wang Ergou got the advantage and became more and more aggressive.

　　Everyone in the village knows that Uncle Wang lives in the same yard with his parents-in-law Xiaotian. He gets up early and goes to bed late every day, and is busier than the cows working in the fields of the village chief. How could he have the time to steal a man?

　　Besides, Uncle Wang is so skinny that the idle men in the village can only flirt with women.

　　At first, it was just a fun thing to watch. Everyone felt sorry for Uncle Wang and scolded Wang Ergou for being inhumane and making up stories about the people in his house just to get money. But as time went on, the fun started every few days, and no one watched the fun at Wang’s house anymore.

　　”No, look carefully, this is a boy, not a man.” Uncle Wang rushed to explain.

　　Wang Ergou was not drunk, he just acted crazy and wanted money. He pushed Uncle Wang away and pointed at his nose and cursed: “What brother, how can I not see such a big man standing here? You cheated on me and now you dare to talk back–“

　　As he said this, he grabbed Uncle Wang by the collar.

　　Li Zhouzhou put the things in his hand on the windowsill and hurried over to say, “I am Li Zhouzhou, Li Da’s brother. I am a brother.”