"I'm calling you. I've got a jack-queen-king straight!"
"Sorry, I've got a flush!"
"Holy shit, there's over ten yuan in the pot this hand. A Guang's going to make a killing."
The noisy voices woke Wei Donglai.
He sat up and surveyed the unfamiliar surroundings: the faded walls, the old hanging calendar, the old-fashioned mirrored wardrobe, and the wooden bed digging uncomfortably into his backside.
When his gaze finally settled on the conspicuous year 1982 on the calendar, he began to feel dazed.
He staggered to the door and opened it, and a choking smell of smoke hit him in the face.
Seven or eight people sat around a card table in the living room. The cigarette butts scattered across the floor and the smoke filling almost the entire room made it clear they had gambled all night.
"A Lai, you're awake? Come play a few hands?"
"No, I've got things to do at home."
Before the others could react, Wei Donglai had already left the room.
He passed through an alley, and the dock from his memories appeared before him.
The sun had only just risen, its red light spreading across the entire sea. In the distance, quite a few fishing boats could dimly be seen sailing toward the sun.
Quite a few fishing boats at the dock were also slowly leaving the harbor, preparing for a day's fishing.
Wei Donglai washed his face at a fish-buying stall on the dock, then followed his memory into Moon Bay Village.
As soon as he reached the village entrance, he saw a slightly plump woman approaching. She called out to him, "A Lai, why are you only just coming back? Your dad's turned the whole village upside down looking for you. Hurry home."
He turned the whole village upside down? He wasn't carrying a hoe, was he?
"Aunt Yang, I'm going back right now."
After answering her, Wei Donglai quickened his pace toward home.
How many years had it been since he last returned to the fishing village? Wei Donglai's memory was a little hazy.
That one impulsive act in his previous life had landed him in the slammer for three years. After he got out, his label as a labor-camp convict had made him the target of pointing fingers and whispers back home. Depressed, he had left his hometown far behind.
From then on, he had struggled to make a living elsewhere. He had worked at a furniture factory and later entered the aquarium industry.
He had rarely returned home during those years. By the time he finally came home in glory after making a success of himself, his two older brothers told him that their parents had fallen ill from missing him, and their health had completely collapsed.
Afterward, he traveled from one major hospital to another, seeking treatment for his parents. But how could bodies that had already withered ever be nourished back to health?
Two years later, his parents passed away.
It became a pain he would carry in his heart forever.
Now that he had a chance to start over, Wei Donglai's heart had never pounded so fiercely.
When he saw the familiar courtyard gate, Wei Donglai involuntarily slowed his steps.
He slowly pushed the gate open and entered the house. The moment two familiar, beloved faces appeared before him, Wei Donglai's eyes filled with tears.
They were the people he had longed for day and night.
At that moment, his unsettled heart finally came to rest.
"Dad, Mom, I'm home."
As soon as he spoke, everyone in the room turned around. Besides his parents, there were his girlfriend, He Lijuan, and her father, He Guangrong.
Seeing the father and daughter, Wei Donglai knew what had happened.
Just as he was about to speak, Wei Donglai saw his father, Wei Guoqing, rise to his feet and stride straight toward him.
"You little bastard, so you do remember how to come home."
As he spoke, Wei Guoqing unbuckled the belt at his waist.
Wei Donglai watched the belt lash toward him, but unlike before, he didn't try to escape. He neither flinched nor dodged.
Wei Guoqing was somewhat puzzled, but he was too angry to care why his son wasn't dodging this time.
He didn't hold back. After a few lashes, bloody welts rose on Wei Donglai's arms.
Seeing her son stand there without dodging or flinching, letting his father whip him, Li Yue'e's heart ached.
She hurried to her feet and rushed forward, shoving Wei Guoqing aside and shielding Wei Donglai behind her.
Wei Guoqing's eyes widened.
"Why are you blocking me? Didn't we just agree this morning to teach him a proper lesson?"
How was Li Yue'e supposed to know that this time her son would stand there like a block of wood, neither flinching nor dodging?
When she saw how loose Wei Guoqing's pants were after he had pulled out his belt, she immediately found an excuse.
"Your pants are slipping below your waist. Keep whipping him and your butt crack will be showing."
Wei Guoqing grabbed his waistband and pulled it up. "Even if my pants fall off, I'm still going to whip him. This brat won't amount to anything unless I do. Get out of the way."
Seeing that, Li Yue'e didn't mince words. "So you're planning to whip him to death?"
"If he dies, then to hell with it. At least I won't have to look at him and get upset every day."
"He's your son. Even if looking at him upsets you, you still have to do it."
Wei Donglai couldn't help wanting to give his mother a thumbs-up for that, though he figured his father's anger, which had just begun to subside, would flare up again.
Sure enough, Wei Guoqing's hand holding the belt began to tremble. If Li Yue'e hadn't been in the way, Wei Donglai reckoned he might have aimed for his head this time.
"Go on spoiling him like this. Sooner or later, he'll suffer for it."
"That's still better than you beating him to death."
"You... you! A doting mother raises a good-for-nothing son!"
Seeing that Li Yue'e was about to snap back, Wei Donglai feared something might happen to Wei Guoqing from all the anger. He hurriedly took hold of Li Yue'e and said, "Mom, stop arguing with Dad. Can you let me say a couple of things?"
"What do you have to say? You bastard, strutting around looking respectable all day and staying out all night. Even I want to give you a couple of lashes..."
Wei Donglai's eyes widened. Mom, you switched sides way too fast, didn't you?
But that familiar feeling brought him a sense of closeness. His mother's nagging and scolding now sounded like heavenly music to his ears.
After she finished scolding him, Li Yue'e still gave him a chance to speak. "If you've got something to say, spit it out!"
Having received the imperial decree, Wei Donglai finally spoke.
"Dad, I don't object to you hitting me, but at least let me know what I did wrong, all right?"
Before Wei Guoqing could speak, He Guangrong leaped to his feet and pointed at He Lijuan's face.
"What did you do wrong? You're the one who slapped my daughter's face, aren't you?"
"Yes, I slapped her. But didn't you ask why I did it?"
"No matter why, you're in the wrong for hitting a woman. Ask your father if it's right to hit a woman."
The sudden question left Wei Guoqing a little bewildered. In particular, the knife-sharp look Li Yue'e shot him made him shiver.
"I agree with that. Women are meant to be cherished, not hit."
Wei Donglai was so angry at those words that he laughed. Asking my dad that question right in front of my mom-what a masterful open scheme.
Wei Guoqing couldn't stand the sight of Wei Donglai acting like that and immediately raised his belt again. "You can still laugh?"
Li Yue'e was displeased when she saw him do that.
"Go on, try raising it again."
Wei Guoqing instantly shrank back. In the end, he didn't dare bring the belt down and could only turn his head to avoid his wife's gaze.
Li Yue'e nodded in satisfaction, then looked at He Lijuan and asked her a question.
"Lijuan, tell me the truth. Why did Donglai hit you? Don't worry. If it really was his fault, I'll let his dad whip him to death today."
Hearing that, Wei Guoqing involuntarily tightened his grip on the belt, ready to step in at any moment.
When He Lijuan heard this, her face filled with grievance.
"Auntie, I just started working at the leather-shoe factory in town. Our team leader has been looking after me, so I thought I'd treat him to a meal to thank him properly."
As she spoke, He Lijuan sniffled and sobbed, showing how pitiful she was.
"Then Donglai happened to see us that day. Without knowing right from wrong, he came over and started hitting people. He wouldn't listen to my explanation. He hit our team leader, and that wasn't all-he slapped me too."
As soon as she finished, He Guangrong couldn't wait to start demanding answers.
"Brother Qing, sister-in-law, you heard her. This wasn't my daughter's fault. I can understand young people acting on impulse, but my daughter is your son's girlfriend, after all. Where's the trust? Where's the affection? He wouldn't even let her explain?"
Wei Guoqing was itching to act, but one slap from Li Yue'e knocked the wind out of him.
"Guangrong, Donglai was indeed in the wrong here. I'll have his dad whip some sense into that paste-filled head of his in a bit. But when young people are dating, they can't stand seeing this sort of thing and may act on impulse. Please be understanding and cut him some slack too."
"Sister-in-law, I've been through it myself, so of course I understand that sort of thing. If I didn't, it wouldn't be the two of us, father and daughter, coming here today. It would be the public security officers."
"What do you mean? How did the public security officers get dragged into this?"