[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-1987-my-era":3,"chapter-1987-my-era-1987-my-era-chapter-7":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","1987: My Era",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2259167,4409,"Chapter 7: Heroes Among Men","1987-my-era-chapter-7",7,"\u003Cp>Li Heng rubbed his temples and forced himself to calm down, continuing to write.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>About an hour later, Tian Rune, who worked as a kitchen helper at the Chen household, returned and saw a faint yellow light still glowing upstairs; she entered her own kitchen.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon after, Tian Rune placed a bowl of egg custard on the desk:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Manzi, eat it while it’s hot, or it’ll get cold.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Heng knew his mother’s nature too well; he said nothing and finished the egg custard in one gulp under her watchful gaze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After he finished, Tian Rune pointed at the meat noodle soup and asked, “Who brought this?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Heng said, “Big sister.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This answer didn’t surprise her; in her view, her second and third children had stubborn, unyielding tempers and wouldn’t lower themselves to do such a thing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Only the eldest was carefree and cheerful all day long.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It had once made her wonder: just whose child was the eldest? How could he be so clueless?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tian Rune didn’t ask whether he’d eat the soup; she simply cleared it away.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As she opened the door to leave the room, Li Heng couldn’t help turning back: “Mom, second sister probably hasn’t slept yet.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He was certain because Li Lan studied even harder than he did, often still reading and solving problems at two in the morning.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In the countryside, there was no other choice—during the day she helped with chores, so only at night could she steal a little time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Tian Rune glanced at her second daughter’s room and snapped, “She says she’s dieting—won’t eat!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Heng’s face twitched; he said nothing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Probably because second sister figured that when he wasn’t home, their mother never made her late-night snacks, and today’s egg custard was only possible because of his presence, so she refused to eat—stubborn to the core.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Without a watch, he didn’t know the exact time, but when he woke up in the middle of the night from a full bladder, he noticed second sister’s room still had its kerosene lamp lit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thinking she must have been too tired and forgotten to extinguish the lamp, and knowing the second floor was full of dry straw, Li Heng feared a fire hazard—he gripped the doorknob and pushed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huh?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It wouldn’t open—was it bolted from inside?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With that thought, Li Heng pressed his face to the crack and peered inside.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wow, damn!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He hadn’t looked, but now that he did, his eyes bulged up to his forehead.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Guess what second sister was doing?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She was sneaking food—eating sweet rice wine, using a vegetable bowl, a huge bowl too, bigger than her face.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Sensing movement outside, Li Lan glanced back, then turned and blew out the kerosene lamp.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Heng knocked on the door and whispered, “Second sister, aren’t you suffering from stomach pain? The doctor said you can’t eat sweet rice wine—why are you eating it?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In his childhood memories, three things about second sister stood out most:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One: her fierceness.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two: her greed for food.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Three: her stomach pain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Her stomach pain seemed to have started in the second year of middle school—every morning she’d wake up clutching her belly, vomiting clear fluid over the threshold, her expression agonized.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Back then, the whole family went to great lengths to treat her—every morning before dawn, they’d carry her out to visit doctors everywhere.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Including the town’s health clinic.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Including famous barefoot doctors from all over.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>They stuck with it for over a year, exhausting everyone in the Li family, draining them mentally and physically.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ironically, the doctors at the town clinic didn’t even know what was wrong with her—they couldn’t diagnose her, so they prescribed random medicines, making her pain worse.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Later, a retired military doctor told them it was likely a gastric illness and suggested trying ranitidine.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Heng remembered clearly: the retired doctor had prescribed three yuan’s worth of ranitidine, which worked wonders—after just over a week, her pain vanished as if lifted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing him spot the sweet rice wine in the bowl, Li Lan paused her silent swallowing in the dark, then gave up pretending—she began gulping it down again, big mouthfuls.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>These days, the family was poor; during idle hours, there was little to snack on—sweet rice wine and pickled vegetables were among the few things allowed as treats.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But both were strictly forbidden by the doctor and Tian Rune.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Yet she was born a glutton, always hungry—what could she do?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She could only endure.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If she truly couldn’t hold back, she’d wait until everyone slept, then sneak up in the middle of the night to steal a bite.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Heng considered himself a glutton too, but compared to second sister, he was utterly outclassed and ashamed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He cautiously threatened her: “If you keep eating, I’ll call Mom and Dad up here…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Bang!”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Before he finished speaking, she kicked the door with her foot—*bang!*\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The sudden jolt of the door startled Li Heng, who had been pressed against it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then silence fell—no one spoke inside or out.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After a moment, the door cracked open slightly, and a bowl was shoved out into the darkness with a clatter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing this, Li Heng felt inexplicably pleased—he thought, truly, one thing tames another; even this fearless second sister could only be subdued by invoking Tian Rune.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But the next instant, his face fell—the bowl was empty, cleaner than a dog’s lick.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Heng gave up, took the empty bowl, and trudged downstairs.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That night, exhausted from writing, he slept soundly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Had it not been for the loud shouting outside early in the morning, he would’ve kept sleeping.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Huh?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was that second sister’s voice?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Was she arguing with someone?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Still half-asleep, Li Heng confirmed it was her yelling—his sleep vanished instantly; he leapt out of bed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Who the hell dared argue with second sister?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Could they even win?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Weren’t they asking for trouble?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He threw on his clothes and shoes and hurried downstairs; as his right foot crossed the threshold, he saw a crowd gathered on the road, watching a spectacle.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Men, women, old and young—all packed in three layers deep, shouting and cheering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A quick glance showed nearly everyone from two nearby production teams had come—everyone who’d gone to help the Chen family had rushed out to watch.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After pushing through the crowd with great effort, Li Heng finally learned who the unlucky one was:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was Fat Aunt, the gossip.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>From neighbors’ chatter, he pieced together the story:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This morning, while gathering pigweed, Li Lan overheard Fat Aunt slandering Li Jianguo and Li Heng behind their backs—and even had the nerve to defy Tian Rune face-to-face. Instantly, Li Lan burned with rage.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She dropped her pigweed, grabbed a sickle, and marched straight to the field where Fat Aunt was pulling radishes, launching into a furious verbal assault.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At first, Fat Aunt refused to back down—she was famous far and wide as a battle queen, had lived decades, seen every kind of showdown—how could she lose face to a girl?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The number of men and women she’d defeated with her tongue could fill a river and build a dam—how could she be humiliated by a child?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So the two of them traded insults about each other’s ancestors in the field…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But when Li Lan suddenly slapped her across the face with no warning, Fat Aunt’s soul nearly flew out of her body; she tried to fight back, but Li Lan grabbed her hair and smashed her face into the dirt—she couldn’t argue better, couldn’t fight better, what could she do? She screamed and ran crying back home.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Lan had always been dominant; she didn’t let up when she had the upper hand, chasing her relentlessly along the field ridge all the way to the Liang household.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Liang the lecher, her husband, wanted to help his wife—but he stood barely over one meter fifty-eight, while Li Lan was a full one meter sixty-seven—his presence was utterly crushed beside her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing her husband so useless, so pathetic, Fat Aunt shrieked and flailed wildly, then slammed the door shut!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Once the door closed, Fat Aunt felt a little braver again; she jumped up and down by the window, pointing and screaming insults.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Lan wouldn’t tolerate it—she kicked the window with a flying foot, and three wooden window frames shattered instantly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing neither door nor window could stop this demon, Fat Aunt’s soul fled again—she ran to her bedroom, locked the door, and burst into tears.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Now terrified, she stopped cursing Li Lan and instead swore at her husband and daughter-in-law, yelling that both useless live bodies couldn’t stop a little brat, that they let outsiders come harass their home, that they were too busy sneaking around to care if she died.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing this woman blame everyone blindly, Liang the lecher, who’d never had any real feeling for his wife, turned black-faced and walked away—letting Li Lan break down the door and windows, he slipped off in shame amid the crowd’s laughter.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With the father-in-law gone, the daughter-in-law—who’d always hated her mother-in-law—wouldn’t lift a finger; she copied him and returned to her parents’ village.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>What a show! A real spectacle! Half of Shangwan Village stood stunned.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Everyone knew Li Lan had a sharp tongue and no one dared provoke her—but no one imagined she’d be this fierce, chasing someone with a sickle right to their doorstep.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Village cadres arrived on hearing the commotion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Jianguo and Tian Rune rushed over too, along with many others—including Chen Zitong—who all tried to calm Li Lan down with soothing words.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Li Lan was fierce, but she had high emotional intelligence; seeing all the respected figures of the village had come, she gave Fat Aunt one final threat at the Liang household gate, then chose to back down gracefully.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the way home, Li Lan marched like a war god; villagers murmured in awe and parted a path for her automatically.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Zitong arrived; seeing Li Lan look over, she quickly averted her gaze.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Chen Xiaomi was there too, but she wasn’t afraid of Li Lan—the two girls exchanged long, meaningful glances before returning to their homes.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1693,"2026-06-19T15:27:33.982Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","2a8d391422ccb20ada149372a1d8fb2294195ec2eb081c57ff5d5195949c57fd","1987-my-era-chapter-8","1987-my-era-chapter-6",713,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002F1987-my-era-cover.jpg"]