It was quite a coincidence that the Liu and Zhao families were sent to the labor farm on the same day, and that Liu Dafu, the younger son of the Liu family, happened to know Zhao Liansheng.
When Liu Dafu had first arrived in the county, he had befriended a local hoodlum named Zhao Liansheng and hung out with him for a while. Once Zhao Liansheng started working, however, he had no time for Liu; moreover, he looked down on him as a "mud-legged" peasant and eventually distanced himself.
Now, the two men crossed paths again on the way to the labor farm. They were both surprised, but on the road, they fell back into their old ways and became partners in crime once more. Upon arriving at the farm, their families were assigned to adjacent shacks, making them neighbors. Both families were truly insufferable; they spent their days trying to take advantage of one another, but since neither was an easy mark, they frequently broke into group fights over the most trivial matters.
Chapter 1504