As Li Du knew, Zulu people were known for their passion, forthrightness, and their
fighting, singing and dancing skills. They were sometimes called the Maori people of
Africa.
Their beauty perception was the same as that of the Maori people. Feminine beauty
means large breasts, wide hips, ample curves, strength, and health. Li Du and his gang
saw many topless women walking past them on their way.
“I feel like I’m in a ladies’ bathroom,” Li whispered to Sophie.
Sophie smiled sadly. “In a public bathroom in America, I can stand up proudly. Not
here.”
Her breasts were quite impressive, but they could not compare to those of the Zulu
women, many of whom had breasts like milk cows.
It was the custom for Zulu girls to go topless, whether at home or out, in front of
acquaintances and strangers alike.
Since this was a part of their culture, they were educated accordingly. They had no
sense of shame or self-consciousness about this, considered going topless quite a
matter of course, and did not care about the stares of Big Ivan and Lu Guan.
Li Du now understood that it was no wonder Zulu people did not allow outsiders to enter
their land without permission. If strangers could come and go as they pleased, would
the Zulu women be harassed?
Zulu people were the main body of the South African race, not only in terms of quantity
but also in of social and economic status. Therefore, they were not savages living in a
primitive society.
There were many cars in and around the town, most of them dilapidated, mainly
Japanese pickup trucks. Occasionally, they could see Chinese automobile brands such
as Great Wall, Jiangling, Beiqi Foton, etc.
A Toyota pickup truck pulled up in front of them, and two tall, skinny black guys jumped
down to greet the lion hunter excitedly.
They spoke Zulu again, and the boys became happier as they spoke. Then someone
jumped into the car, waved and shouted.
There were boxes in the helicopter, and the lion hunter said they were gifts for his
people, who apparently came over to unload those.
The lion hunter was popular among the tribe, probably because of his wealth, and he
brought many gifts with him this time. Li Du guessed that he would bring gifts every time
he came.
Everyone loved gifts. This was a universal custom.
The houses in the town were poorly built and stood askew, the streets were crooked,
and the houses were spread out apparently without a plan, like weeds growing in the
wild.
In the far south end stood the largest house in the town, four stories high, with a large
yard surrounded by walls of mud and brick. Li Du guessed that this was where the chief
of the tribe lived.
As the lion hunter led them to the fourth floor, Li Du asked, “Are we going to visit the
tribe leader?”
The lion hunter sneered and said, “He is the one who should come to visit us.”
As he kept on walking, an octogenarian appeared at the door of the building, dressed in
a leopard-skin suit. He walked with a cane and wore a traditional Zulu turban.
Seeing this, Lu Guan muttered, “Wow! This old man is quite trendy with his leopard skin
clothes.”
Li Du glared at him and whispered, “Shut up.”
In the Zulu tribe, leopard skins were the privilege of chiefs. Traditionally, any leopard
killed by a member of the tribe belonged to the chief.
The old man came over and said to the lion hunter, smiling, “Coffey, dear boy, how
have you been lately?”
The lion hunter pulled out a cigar that his bodyguard quickly lit. He took two deep puffs,
belched out a cloud of smoke and said, “Not bad.”
The old man kept smiling and nodded. “Welcome, welcome, guests from afar. In the
evening we will have a fest in honor of your arrival.”
“You are very kind, Mr. Chief. We appreciate it very much,” Li Du said.
The chief spoke English, although with some accent, but there was no communication
barrier, which was good.
The lion hunter nodded and took Li Du and the others away, apparently not too keen to
stay around the chief.
He led the group of people around the fourth floor, towards the back of the building,
where they saw a Zulu mud house.
Zulu mud houses looked a bit like big mushrooms and were made of clay paste covered
with long thick grass to shelter the inhabitants from wind and rain.
The lion hunter gestured at the tidy-looking hut, which was completely overshadowed by
the building in front of him. He smiled and said, “My friends, please come in.”
Li Du nodded and said, “Cool. Is this your original home? It’s more interesting than the
buildings and the houses outside.”
The lion hunter smiled and said, “Li, you have culture. That is nice of you to say.
Actually, among the Zulu tribes, only the poor live in Kanda.”
Kanda was the name of this kind of earth house, which was also known as honeycomb
house.
It was interesting that in Zulu, Kanda meant a mother’s arms, which showed the
people’s attachment to this kind of dwelling.
However, with the economic growth and the influence of outside culture, there were not
many people still living in these small mud houses. Everyone strove to earn money to
build a big, modern house.
Li Du said, “You are not poor.”
The lion hunter sat down on a log and said slowly, “My father was poor, my grandfather
was poor, and our family has always been poor.” As if recalling memories, he touched
the tables, chairs, and other furniture in the hut and asked, “Can you see that I have a
bad relationship with the chief?”
Li Du nodded and stopped talking. Obviously, what the lion hunter wanted him to do
now was to listen.
The lion hunter said, “When I was sixteen years old, I fell in love with a girl… ha ha ha,
for real, I fell head over heels with her. Well, you saw our family house. We didn’t have
eleven cows, so I couldn’t marry her. Do you know who married her?”
Sophie said quietly, “The old chief?”
The lion hunter nodded. “Wise lady, may I ask, what degree do you have?”
Sophie did not understand why he asked. She hesitated and said, “A master’s degree.”
The lion hunter nodded again and said seriously, “So I made sure that my daughters
went to school. I gave more property to the ones who earned a higher degree, to give
them the incentive to study. You see, women who have received higher education are
more intelligent.”
He continued, “The woman I loved, she had not gone to school, and neither had her
parents. They were too stupid to choose me and married her to the chief, and do you
know what happened?”
Li Du shook his head.
The lion hunter said, “A month later, I stole the tribe’s beef jerky, got into the trunk of a
car and left. When I came back five years later, the girl I loved had been dead for four
years due to a difficult delivery.”
“This is a real tragedy,” said Li Du regretfully.
“Yes. I have always wanted to find her, to see her again, and to thank her when I saw
her. If she had chosen to marry me, I would have become just as stupid as those fools
out there. And I would not be what I am now!” said the lion hunter.
Li Du did not know what to say.
