Packing his bag, he locked the house door and the courtyard door once more. His expression was complicated. He decided not to leave the keys with his aunt's family this time. It is said in psychology that a house often represents the "self," so what does the key signify?
In truth, He Kao harbored no resentment towards his aunt's family; it wasn't a lack of affection either. No matter the reason for their initial willingness to adopt him as their own child, He Kao was still grateful.
Let's entertain an improper assumption: if his grandparents had passed away earlier, it would have been his aunt's family who adopted him. He wouldn't expect great living conditions, but at least they would have raised him.
His aunt had a bad temper and was famously good at scolding people; there weren't many in the village or town who dared to provoke her. In contrast, his uncle seemed like an honest, well-meaning man, always apologizing to others in private on his aunt's behalf.
When He Kao was little, he felt sympathy for his uncle, but after growing up and especially after recent events, his view changed.
All the offensive deeds were left to his aunt, fully utilizing her feisty nature, since their family had no sons and couldn't show weakness. Yet, the benefits and the good reputation always went to his uncle. This might just be a survival strategy in the countryside.
Take this latest incident; He Kao didn't believe it was solely his aunt's idea. He fully understood his uncle's mindset, especially since he also shared the He surname.
Over the years, it couldn't be said that his aunt's family hadn't taken care of him. He ate many meals there, received New Year's money every year as a child, and got a decently-sized red envelope when he was admitted to university.
As for his cousin He Shan, after hearing that He Kao almost got adopted into her own family, she always had some hostility towards him, often picking fights for no reason. He Kao found this amusing; was there some kind of throne in his aunt's house she feared he would usurp?
Nowadays, He Kao somewhat understood his late grandmother. In such a rural place, his aunt's family indeed lacked a male member. In any case, He Kao simply no longer wanted to leave the keys with them.
At this hour in the afternoon, he went to Huang Si's house. The courtyard door was open, and Huang Si's mother was sunning something in the yard. Seeing him, she asked, "Xiao Kao, you're back. Have you eaten anything? I'll heat some food for you!"
He Kao replied, "I've already eaten, Mrs. Chen; no need to trouble yourself."
He was certainly lying, having skipped lunch altogether. It wasn't so much out of politeness, but rather not wanting to trouble Mrs. Chen. If it happened to be mealtime, he wouldn't mind tagging along for a meal.
He Kao had many meals at his aunt's, but even more at Huang Si's. There were quite a few times when he got into trouble outside and was too scared to go home, and he ended up sleeping at Xiaopang's house.
Xiaopang's mother was surnamed Chen, so He Kao had been calling her Mrs. Chen since his school days. Mrs. Chen had specifically arranged for a bunk bed in Xiaopang's room; Xiaopang slept on the bottom, while the top was piled with spare bedding.
If He Kao stayed over, he would move the stuff off the top bunk to sleep there.
Mrs. Chen asked, "Where did you eat? I just put the food away; it won't take long to heat some up!"
He Kao replied, "I'm not lying; I've really eaten. I'll be heading back to the city soon. I'll leave these two keys with you; the locks over there have been changed."
Mrs. Chen, having heard about the He family's situation, sighed as she took the keys, saying, "Alright, I'll keep an eye on things for you! It's hard to get a ride from around here; why don't you take our car?" she added, handing over a set of car keys.
He Kao declined, "That's okay, I can just call a ride-share. I don't have anywhere to park if I take the car back."
Mrs. Chen insisted, "Your apartment and office building both have parking lots. Just give the keys to Huang Si and let him drive it back. It's been ages since he's been home! By the way, is he seeing anyone recently?"
He Kao quickly replied, "Alright, I'll drive it over and give it to Xiaopang, along with your message. As for whether he's dating, I'm not too sure; you'd better ask him directly."
He Kao drove out of Pugang Town. It was an electric car that just came out last year, a little over two hundred thousand yuan in total. Mrs. Chen had specifically bought it for Xiaopang, saying it would be helpful for dating.
However, Xiaopang didn't use it much for his daily commute, finding parking a hassle, so he parked it back at home.
Mrs. Chen had retired the year before last. Before retiring, she was a tax office administrator in town, and several enterprises wanted to hire her for bookkeeping afterward. Still, she was rehired and is currently working again.
He Kao didn't head directly back to the city. Instead, he took a detour down a rough gravel road, stopping in a hilly area by a river. Here, many wild bamboos grew abundantly.
This type of bamboo was rather slender, at most only two fingers wide, but its walls were thick and resilient, suitable for making fishing poles. He Kao took out tools he carried and sawed several sections of small bamboo tubes, all cut from near the root.
The bamboo joints at this position were relatively short, with thicker walls. When He Kao was a child, he often used them to make homemade grenades, which he called Bamboo Thunder. He wasn't a criminal; the main purpose was to blast fish in a small river bay.
Xiaopang left a batch of firecrackers and ricochets for him on the third floor, which were their favorite toys as kids.
In the countryside, children loved setting off firecrackers during the New Year. At that time, with little change in his pocket, He Kao could only afford the cheapest small crackers and ricochets. Nowadays, many city kids have never even seen a ricochet, let alone set one off; they're quite dangerous.
A standard ricochet was about 1.5 cm thick, 15 cm long, with a short fuse positioned about one-quarter from the bottom. With segmented charges, the first explosion would propel the top half into the sky, where it would then detonate a second time in midair.
If you light it and release it inside a sealed steel pipe, it essentially becomes a makeshift mortar.
Most kids were too scared to light ricochets, but He Kao wasn't, and he even dared to hold one after lighting it, letting it burst out from between his thumb and forefinger.
This was an extremely dangerous play, seemingly incompatible with He Kao's cautious nature. In fact, being cautious was just his outward habit, not his inherent character, and besides, doing so was a form of self-protection.
The village kids were all very impressed when they saw it; they thought he was exceedingly brave! Growing up, He Kao wasn't bullied by his peers, partly thanks to the ricochets he set off.
Huang Xiaopang was in awe of He Kao, voluntarily wanting to play together. However, they didn't have much money for ricochets, and they had to pinch pennies even to buy small crackers, often scavenging for used, unexploded firecrackers to play with.
They would crack open the firecrackers to gather the gunpowder inside, amassing enough to go blast bamboo for fun.
They would drill a hole in the bamboo, pour the gunpowder in, insert a fuse, and light it, releasing a series of rapid, dense pops. The entire bamboo was blown open from the base to the tip, turning into a spray of shattered strips.
That was the literal meaning of firecrackers, and it inspired He Kao to make bamboo grenades.
Nowadays, fishing is prohibited in the Great River Basin, but in He Kao's childhood, many people caught fish in the local river system, using everything from nets to electric, poison, and explosive methods. Rural kids weren't merely mischievous; they would follow and learn these things too.
For instance, He Kao heard of a method that involved filling an ink bottle with quicklime, adding a bit of water before quickly sealing it tight and tossing it into a pond, supposedly to blast fish up. He tried it once but found it ineffective.
This was dangerous behavior that shouldn't be emulated; He Kao was lucky to have grown up without any injury.
Later he "developed" the Bamboo Thunder, perhaps a side effect of the family woodworking skills. Blasting fish required solving the delay fuse's waterproofing issue and experimenting with the optimal bamboo joint material and size.
Throwing the Bamboo Thunder into river bends and ponds could really blast fish up. Many fish were simply stunned, not killed, and could be scooped up with a net.
In middle school, during one occasion when he and Xiaopang were exploding fish in a river bend with Bamboo Thunder, they were caught by Xiaopang's dad and dragged home, narrowly avoiding a severe discipline... In high school, they stopped playing with such things.
Seeing those firecrackers and ricochets today rekindled He Kao's urge to make Bamboo Thunder. It wasn't from an itch to use them but as a precaution, hopefully never needed. But in case of emergency, at least there was a means of self-protection.
**