Chinese Stories in English
Ordinary People 02
百姓人家(2023), 秦俑/赵建宁选编
The Chinese text can be found at the page and the website cited after each story.
1. Sorrowful Joy 3. Returning a Deer 4. Frozen River
2. The Last Lesson 5. Full of Greenery
1. The Profession of Sorrowful Joy (忧乐行)
Nie Xinsen (聂鑫森)
Result Hong really didn’t want to do it.
How could she bother Mr. Sorrowful Joy Gu again?
Several months had passed in the blink of an eye since she’d started working right after leaving university. Mr. Gu, a tall, thin man with a gaunt face, was nearly 60 years old. He wore thick glasses and only taught a social psychology course in the psychology department. Result liked his class more than any others because his lectures were seasoned with wit and humor and delivered in a deep, calm voice. She was serious in class and stayed behind when class was over to ask relevant questions, so naturally her grades were outstanding. Mr. Gu admired this hardworking and insightful student.
Mr. Gu once asked Result if she was willing to study as his graduate student. She could get a master's degree and then a doctorate.
Result's eyes moistened. "Yes, I’d like that," she replied. Then she sighed and continued, "But my family lives in the countryside, my parents are in poor health, and I have younger brothers and sisters who are still in school. I have to find a job right away. Any job will do, as long as I can support myself and help my family. I’m sorry, sir, but thank you for considering me."
"People in this world always say that studying is good,” Mr. Gu said, “but the first thing a poor family needs to worry about is food. I understand. However, I suggest that you give priority to work that allows you to have extensive contact with society, and also that you continue your studies in your spare time. Don't abandon the profession you’ve been studying."
"Thank you for your advice, sir."
Xiangchu Prefecture in Hunan Province is an ancient place that has developed rapidly in recent years. The urban area, located along the Xiang River, used to stretch in a rectangular shape from south to north. Then several bridges were built across the river, one after the other. The city has grown towards the opposite shore, forming a wide new district. The expansion has naturally brought more roads, so the number of bus routes supporting it has been increasing daily.
The bus company has posted notices to recruit drivers and conductors. Drivers must have a driver's license. Conductor’s jobs are open to both sexes with no age restriction as long as the applicant is in good health. The salary is nearly 3,000 yuan per month.
Result thought that wasn’t a bad job, so she applied at once. She was hired and was assigned to a bus running on route 44. When she told Mr. Gu about it on her mobile phone, he said, "Great! You’ll be able to connect with different groups of people, understand their different psychological tendencies and become more knowledgeable. Come to my house on your day off and let my wife make you something delicious."
Route 44 starts in the city’s south and ends in the north. It’s about ten kilometers long and has over ten stops along the way. Eight buses run on this route, with two alternating shifts of workers. One shift starts at 6 a.m. and goes to 2 p.m.; the other from 2 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Result was hired as a conductor selling tickets on board. The driver of her bus was a retired military driver in his thirties named Bravery, who’d been hired at the same time as she was. He had a dark complexion and a thick, strong build. In free moments he liked to tell exciting stories about driving on narrow roads through high mountains when he was in the army. He claimed he’d escaped death many times but was never afraid! Result admired him very much.
There are several stops on this line where a lot of people get on and off: a trauma hospital, a cancer hospital, a nursing home and a funeral home at the end of the route.
Result soon learned that many disabled, seriously ill, elderly and mournful people live in this city! Some wore white bandages on their heads, arms and legs that oozed blood and smelled of medicine. Others leaned on crutches or sat in wheelchairs and wore wigs after chemotherapy, and carried brown paper bags with their CT scans. Mourners wore black bands on their arms and moaned in low voices. The friends and relatives who accompanied these people to support them all had faces full of sorrow and helplessness.
Three months passed in a flash.
Bravery Yin, the driver, spoke less and less. One day in the workers’ lounge at the terminal, he abruptly told Result, "No wonder the new drivers and conductors get assigned to Route 44. They’re exposed to injuries, disabilities, illness and death every day. It's really depressing."
"You've been a soldier, but you can’t handle this?"
"Back then the alarming stuff came and went, and I could certainly face it without fear or terror. But it’s hard having to face it day after day for a long time! My wife says I wear a different expression on my face now. She’s asked me to quit this job at once."
When Result looked carefully at his face, she saw it was pale with a greenish tinge. Then she looked at the way he sat and noted his body was stiff. She remembered something Mr. Gu had said, that when a person has faced a terrifying environment for a long time, the psychological and emotional fear won’t disappear until the person is appropriately freed from the situation and comforted. But she shook her head and said, "You’re the same as before, no change!" She muttered to herself, however, "You have changed, and so have I."
Result couldn't quit. She needed this job and the salary, so she had to stick with it. She just had to call Mr. Gu to tell him about the emotional turmoil she and Bravery were going through. The answer she got was, "Don't worry, this is a good lesson!"
Sunday was Result's day off and Mr. Gu called to invite her to lunch. Mrs. Gu prepared some tasty dishes for her and heated up a small pot of yellow rice wine as well.
"You’ve lost weight, Result,” Mrs. Gu said. “Is your work too tiring?"
"Selling tickets isn’t tiring, Mrs. Gu.”
"I teach psychology, too. Your expression tells me there are many discomforting factors influencing your mood."
Mr. Gu interrupted. "Here, have some warm rice wine and then eat some more. The ancients said, 'Wine can increase a person’s heroic spirit!’"
"Thank you, Mr. and Mrs. Gu.”
"Result, after you called me, I went to your company and got a map of the bus routes in the city. I’ve studied it carefully."
"I'm sorry I’ve made you worry, sir."
"Bus 77 starts from the old city, then crosses the Number One Xiang River Bridge to go to the new city on the other side of the river. There are eight stops along the way, including the Municipal Maternity and Childcare Hospital, the Heavenly Altar Kindergarten, White Crane Primary School and the stadium. Have you ever taken it?"
"No." Result answered in a whisper.
"My wife and I have taken it several times. The driver and conductor call it the 'Double Happiness' route. I’ve also taken the 44 when you were off duty."
"Why do they say 'Double Happiness', sir?"
"Lots of people get on and off that bus: pregnant women with bulging bellies expecting to bringing forth new life, their faces beaming with joy; people young and old holding newborn children, listening to their clear cries and laughing happily; kindergarten children and primary school students holding their parents’ hands and chattering nonstop about interesting things; and athletes, too, their bodies exuding strength and vitality, making people feel hope for the world! We two seniors suddenly feel sunlight in our lives and forget that old age is almost upon us."
“No wonder you said this is a good lesson, sir.”
"It’s you -- Result -- who first discovered this lesson. I can't claim credit for it. We'll take the No. 77 back and forth a few times with you after dinner, so you get the feeling. Get relief from the sadness that’s accumulated on the No. 44. You’ll be transformed and be happy again. Maybe you can write a paper about it."
"Okay!" Result smiled and tears of happiness flowed from her eyes.
…
The bus company held a meeting and announced out of a clear blue sky that employees assigned to route 44 would swap with employees assigned to route 77 for a period of three months, and would continue to trade off every three months thereafter. The general manager also specially praised Result for her willingness to be a ticket collector even though she was a college student, and for her noble character. He said, “She’s able to see the big picture and cares about her fellow employees. Through research, she’s proposed practical measures to the company to solve problems that have been bothering us. She’s also going to write a paper on social psychology, and we’re on our tiptoes in anticipation!”
Bravery whispered to Result, who was sitting next to him, "Thanks. Otherwise I would’ve had to resign and find another way to make a living."
"It was Mr. Sorrowful Joy Yu who clued me in. He understands the sorrows and joys in my life, and in the lives of regular people as well."
"Yes, that’s right!"
Text at p. 16. Translated from China Writer at
https://www.chinawriter.com.cn/n1/2023/0524/c418987-32693816.html (second story)
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2. The Last Lesson (最后一课)
Fan Ziping (范子平)
Teacher Li taught for many years at Lutun Primary School in Lutun, Guizhou Province. He was a “private teacher”, that is, he was hired by the locals and didn’t receive the normal remuneration from the government.
My uncle's family is from Lutun. It’s not a big village, so the primary school is also small. It employed three or four teachers when the student body was at its largest. Teacher Li was the principal back then, but he also taught two classes and his teaching workload was the heaviest. Later, he was the only teacher left when the grades were combined. He taught well even then, and his students’ scores didn’t lag behind the township in the unified examinations.
The primary school is at an intersection on the east side of the village. Once when I was a kid, I went to visit my uncle's family with my mother. I chased and played with my cousin from my aunt's family, who lived on the same street, and we kept playing until we got to the schoolyard. A mountain abruptly rose up in front of us and, when I looked up, I saw a tall man with a serious face who I later learned was Teacher Li. He was menacing without being angry. His quiet voice sounded like a news broadcast on TV when he said, "No noise while class is in session!" That voice "suppressed" us and we quieted down right away. We kept our mouths shut as we ran back to my uncle's house.
Teacher Li’s wife jokingly calls him "two-faced" because he wears old cloth shirts at home but dresses up for school. He’s good at farm work and rolls up his trouser legs when he goes to the fields to weed, spray pesticides, or harvest crops and plant wheat in the autumn. He does it all well. But when he says he’s going to school, he makes sure to change into a neatly ironed shirt and pants with a crease. He'll put on shiny leather shoes and tortoise-shell glasses and comb his hair, and look spiffy from head to toe as if he’s just come from a big city government office.
He speaks in dialect with lots of slang at home and around the village, but when he gets to school, he speaks perfect Mandarin, gently and politely, in his lectures and conversations. He’s also strict with his students. In the county's primary and secondary school Mandarin competitions, Lutun Primary School has always placed in the top three. One year a newly assigned college student from the Teaching and Research Section of the County Education Bureau came to the village to conduct some research. He admired Teacher Li's Mandarin so much that he stared at him and asked in confusion, "You grew up in Beijing, right, Teacher Li?"
Before he knew it, Teacher Li had been teaching in Lutun for twenty-five or twenty-six years. His hair got thinner, albeit gradually, and his eyebrows grew lighter and his skin got rougher. Only his Mandarin was still loud and pleasant. His voice could often be heard on the street through the back window of the school classroom.
I opened a stationery factory in Lutun the year before last, and I’ve seen Teacher Li more often since then. I go to the school when I have the time and we’ve became quite familiar with each other. Like the people of the surrounding villages, Lutun residents are eager to leave the area to find work, so the number of students in the school has been decreasing. Teacher Li sighs when he talks about this, and I feel it, too. Some fields have been abandoned, and the village streets and alleys seem increasingly deserted. Some houses have been closed up for ages, and those that are still occupied have mostly old folks sitting by the door.
Teacher Li has a one-track mind. Every time you see him, he’ll not only tell you how many students have left town – he’ll also introduce you to them in detail, including their names, academic accomplishments, hobbies and characteristics. For example, when he talked about Climber Zhang, he mentioned that his nickname was Talented. “I told his father that he really was talented! He could understand everything at once -- the whole lesson in a textbook when you explained just half. He never ranked below the top ten in the township unified exams from the first grade to the fifth. If he could have continued straight through high school without interference, he definitely would’ve been admitted to a top-tier university. Now he’s gone off to Shenzhen with his parents. I told his father, if you only care about making money and ignore your children's schooling, that’s like saving sesame seeds and throwing away watermelons! Or better yet, throwing away Lingzhi mushrooms!”
I passed by the primary school one day when the bell rang at the end of class and saw Teacher Li walking out with a student holding each hand. I said hello and asked, "Is school out for the day, Teacher Li?" He nodded and escorted the two students out the school gate. Then he turned to me and said with a forced smile, "There are only two of them left, but they have to have a school to go to."
Every time I passed by the school after that and heard Teacher Li‘s voice coming from the back window of the classroom, I felt disquieted and stopped, not wanting to continue moving. The voice he used when giving lectures was like a gentle breeze brushing against your face. If you were feeling restless, it would calm you down in a flash.
Once I went to southern China for business and was gone for a long time. When I got back I went to the factory office to deal with some chores, then took a break for a while. I went out the door and strolled along, and happened to come to the schoolyard. I walked gingerly, afraid of disturbing Teacher Li's class.
Maybe it had something to do with my own mood, but I felt that Teacher Li’s voice was particularly passionate that day. His voice faded toward the end of the lecture and carried a sense of solemnity which entered my ears and struck heavily at my heart:
".... Who can explain the meaning of these words? Good, well said. Can anyone add anything? ‘Unexpectedly’ and 'surprisingly' have similar meanings. They both mean unexpected, but if you compare them carefully, they’re slightly different in usage. Can anyone explain the difference? That’s right. They can be used interchangeably in many contexts, but ‘unexpectedly’ has a wider range of usage, while 'surprisingly' is more formal. Okay, who can make a sentence with ‘unexpectedly’? Very good.
"Classmates, last time we learned about the ‘three cold-weather friends’. What does the phrase refer to? That’s right, pine, bamboo and plum, all of which are actually very common plants. But since they’re so prevalent, why are they so highly praised? It’s because they’re used to illustrate and symbolize a person's noble character and strong will....
"In our extracurricular reading, what other things are used to describe people? Right. Lotus, chrysanthemums, peonies, poplars, willows, candles, mountains, the sea.... Well said! The text we’re learning today uses peanuts to describe people.
"How many things did the author write about peanuts? That's right -- planting peanuts, harvesting peanuts, tasting peanuts, talking about peanuts.... Which aspects did he talk about? That's right! In conclusion, we should be useful people, not be people who only care about the appearance of decency but don’t do good for others! Okay! Classmates, this is the last lesson. You’ll have to keep studying on your own at home."
The last lesson? That caught my attention and I walked into the classroom in spite of myself. Teacher Li stood tall on the podium with beautiful lines of writing on the blackboard behind him. Chalk dust covered his shoulders, and one hand clutched a piece of chalk. Sweat dripped from his square, thin face, a strand of hair hung down and stuck to his forehead, and his glasses had slipped halfway down his nose. He looked out from the podium hopefully through his glasses.
I followed his gaze and saw that the classroom was completely empty, without a single student! Taken aback, I said, "Teacher Li, you…."
He muttered under his breath, "I had to finish the lesson I prepared…. Brilliance Jiang and Little Flower Wu are gone, too!"
"There’re no students left in our primary school?" I asked.
He turned to me and said, "Their parents are all working in the big cities. The kids went with them. They won’t drop out of school, will they?"
"No," I said, but with some hesitation.
"You’re right!” Teacher Li responded. Their parents all know that if they don't go to school, they won’t have a future!"
Text at p. 20. Translated from 馨文居 at
http://m.xinwenju.com/aiqinggushi/35549.html
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3. Returning a Deer to the Mountain (放鹿归山)
Golden Light (金光)
This is how capricious the weather in the mountains is. Yesterday was sunny, but a thick layer of snow had fallen in the morning. After sweeping up the snow in his courtyard, Monied Qi took a basket to a place on Kudzu Ridge where it snows a lot. He intended to gather some dry pine needles to take home to make a fire. Just after he got around Stone Nose Promontory, he heard a "squeak" from the side of a ditch. He walked over for a look and found a deer struggling there. The creature had befouled the snow around it. It got scared when it saw Monied and retreated helplessly behind a small blue sandalwood tree.
Shady Two Miles, where Monied lives, is the on watershed between Henan and Shaanxi Provinces, with deep, narrow box ravines to the north and the south. Many wild animals, including wolves, gazelles, deer and wild boars, fill the virgin forests that cover the mountains. People often went there to hunt in the early years before hunting rifles were confiscated. More recently hunting has dropped off due to the gun confiscation and the government-required protection of wild animals.
Nevertheless, some people from the foothills still take advantage of the winter snow to go there on the sly to hunt and kill the wild animals. They put homemade spring traps that clamp onto their legs on trails where the animals pass by. After a few days, the animals will either starve to death or die of exhaustion from their struggles.
When Monied saw the deer with its hind leg caught in a trap, he grumbled "What evil!". Fuming, he dropped his basket and walked up to the animal. He cradled its head while he gently pried open the iron trap and pulled its leg out. The deer was freed, but its right hind leg was broken. It fell to the ground in the snow when it tried to escape.
Monied lifted it up and moved its injured leg. The deer screeched again. Monied pondered for a moment and decided he’d best not go to the snowy place for pine needles. He carried the deer back home and asked his wife to mix some miantang [water in which noodles have been boiled] to feed the creature. He squatted down and pinched its injured leg to test it. He found that the fracture wasn’t serious. The injury would grow better after a short rest, just like a human’s. He was a rough fellow who didn't know how to set bones, though, so he decided to carry the deer through the snow to an orthopedic doctor in the Shell Town Health Center.
The town is on a river about seven miles away. It was a market day, and people along the road looked at Monied curiously. They thought he was taking the deer to sell at the market. Someone asked, "How much is one pound?"
“Not for sale.”
"Sell it to me."
“Not for sale.”
"I'll give you eight hundred yuan."
“Not for sale!”
"Then what are you carrying it to town for?"
"To see a doctor."
Monied didn't want to acknowledge them and just kept walking through the snow with two puffs of steam floating in the air. Several children from Shell Town followed behind him hooting and hollering. One of the little tykes even stepped up and pinched the deer's right leg. The deer screamed in pain and struggled on Monied's shoulder, angering him. He turned around and glared at the kids, and they got scared and ran away in turmoil.
The doctor at the health center said that he could only set bones for humans -- deer bones had to be set by a veterinarian. Monied didn’t know what to do. He hadn’t raised cattle or sheep in recent years, and also, the town’s veterinarian had lost his job and closed up shop. The doctor reminded him that Embrace Mountains Yue from South Bridge had set a dog's bone last spring.
So Monied picked up the deer and headed for South Bridge. That town is behind South Long Mountain, another three miles on a mountain road. Monied was sweating profusely when he arrived there. Embrace Yue examined the deer, fiddled with its right leg and announced, "I’ll have to operate."
"Do it. Just don't kill the thing." Monied wiped the sweat from his face and took a deep breath.
"Well, you’ll have to help me hold it down." Embrace took out a sharp knife, made an incision and folded back the skin of the deer's leg, and put the dislocated bones together. Then he immobilized the leg with two boards of wood from a foxglove tree. He threw the knife down on a stool when he finished. "Did you raise this deer?" he asked,
“No,” Monied answered. "It runs wild on Shady Two Miles Mountain."
"Oh. Anyone else would’ve killed it for its meat long ago, but you carried it for miles to have me set its bones." Embrace sighed.
"How much do I owe you?" Monied asked.
"No money." Embrace narrowed his eyes and looked at the deer.
"So, you’re rescuing the creature, just like I did?" Monied smiled gratefully, then picked the deer up and headed back toward Kudzu Ridge. Someone came up behind him on the way.
"Sell it to me."
“Not for sale.”
"I'll give you a thousand yuan."
“Not for sale!”
"You’re an idiot," the man snarled.
Monied stopped and wanted to say something but thought better of it. He shifted his shoulders to let the deer lie more comfortably.
It took a hundred days for the injured sinew and broken bone to heal.
Monied put the deer in the woodshed and built a grass nest for it. One night he heard the deer cry out and thought a wolf had gotten into the woodshed to eat it, so he went outside to check, shouting as he went. When he opened the door, a dark shadow escaped from the woodshed. Monied understood what had happened and went back to the house to get a big iron lock to lock the woodshed door.
By early spring, the deer was finally able to stand up. After a few more days, it could even run.
Monied called the village Director of Public Security early in March. After feeding the deer another bowl of miantang made by his wife, the two men dragged the creature to Kudzu Ridge and untied the rope. The deer stared at them intently and didn’t move at first. Monied picked up a branch and deliberately pretended to hit it. "Get going!" he snarled. The deer raised its tail and pranced up the hillside.
That night Monied woke up and, still half asleep, heard the deer calling. He turned over and saw a shadowy figure carrying the injured animal out of a ditch. He gave chase but when he reached Little Dragon Pool, he could see nothing. While he hesitated, his wife caught up to him with a flashlight and, under the light, he saw that his two feet had already stepped into the cold water. It turned out that he’d been sleepwalking. His wife slapped him hard on the face several times before he woke up.
Back in bed, Monied smiled foolishly and let out a long sigh.
Text at p. 40. Translated from 搜狐网 at
https://www.sohu.com/a/764879987_121124728
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4. Food from Across a Frozen River (过冰河的粮食)
Xu Quanqing (徐全庆)
Later, Embrace Benevolence Wang became a model worker for land reclamation. Whenever he shared his experience with others, he always began by saying: "I started to become a human being when I saw Captain Chen carrying food across the Yanhe River."
He’d been an idler before that. People didn't call him by his given name back then. They called him "Bad Guy". His mother sometimes hated him so much that she pointed at his nose and scolded him, "You eat and sleep every day, eat and sleep, and you don't do any work. Why don't you just die?" He laughed and replied, "If I die, who’ll you cook for?"
His father died young, and his mother lived from hand to mouth even though she worked her fingers to the bone. Her brow was as wrinkled as the bark of a jujube tree and never relaxed. He didn’t worry, though. He’d lie down against a wall after he ate, squinting his eyes while he basked in the sun. Or he’d look for someone to chat with. No one ever wanted to talk to him, though. Many times, people would be having a lively conversation but as soon as he came along, they’d all leave. He’d curse at them as they walked away, "What’re you trying to say? You really think I'm a bad guy?"
He first met Captain Chen on a snowy day. The family had nothing left in the pot, so his mother asked him to go to his second aunt's house to borrow some food. His second aunt's house wasn’t far away -- it only took him two pipefuls of tobacco to walk there -- but he didn't want to do it. His mother was having none of that and insisted that he go. "If you don't, the two of us will starve to death." She also said, "I really don't have the gall to go to her house to ask for something to eat." He didn't have the gall, either, because he was afraid his second uncle would roll his eyes at him.
Since he couldn’t get his mother to change her mind, he had to head out slowly and reluctantly towards his second aunt's house. All of a sudden it started snowing – the sky was filled with dancing snowflakes. It'd be great if it was white flour, so he wouldn't have to go to his second aunt's house. He sat down on a stone by the roadside and let the snowflakes fall on his head and body. He knew that his second uncle would definitely be at home because of the snow.
That’s when he saw Captain Chen and his soldiers. Captain Chen also noticed him and asked what he was doing, sitting alone in the snow. He didn't know the man, but he wasn’t afraid because he knew that the group coming into the village was the Eighth Route Army, and the Eighth Route Army wouldn’t bully ordinary people.
"Begging for food," he answered unhappily. "We’ve got no food at home."
Commander Chen took a half-full bag from a soldier and handed it to him. He could tell it was corn as soon as he touched it. The soldier said, "We don’t have any food, either, Captain." The Captain waved his hand, signaling the soldier to stop talking, and then asked Embrace, "What's your name?" The boy had to think for a while before remembering what his given name was.
He was glad he wouldn't have to look at his second uncle's face, but he also regretted telling the soldiers his name. Maybe they’d ask him to return the food, or even ask him for more. What army doesn't ask the people for provisions and funds? He started to feel uneasy.
He met Captain Chen again a few days later. This time it was along the Yan River. The Yan had been frozen solid a few days previously but was now thawing, and water flowing under the broken ice on the surface made a rustling sound.
Oh, my god, there were people in the river, lots of them, wading across in their shorts! Each one carried a stiff bag on his shoulder with shoes and pants on top of the bag. The man walking in front kept looking back and shouting, "Hurry up, comrades!" It was Captain Chen. A cold wind was blowing, and Embrace seemed to hear Captain Chen's teeth chattering. He felt as if he were in the water, too. The biting cold instantly spread from his calves to his whole body, and he couldn't stop shivering.
He stared at the men as they came ashore. Captain Chen had them put down their things and run barefoot on the snow until they started to sweat. Only then did they put on their clothes, pick up their bags and get back on the road. Later, he learned that they had food in the bags. They’d carried it on their backs, step by step, from Yanchang County, three hundred miles away.
For several days afterward, Embrace kept thinking about Captain Chen wading across the river with food on his back, and he shuddered every time he thought of it. "A tough way to get food!" He couldn't help but sigh.
The third time he met Captain Chen was at his home when the soldier came to deliver food to Embrace’s family. Captain Chen said, "I reckon the corn I gave you last time has all been eaten."
There wasn't much, but the bag was so heavy that Embrace couldn't lift it. After Captain Chen left, he cried his eyes out as he looked at the small bag of food.
"That’s when I started to go with Captain Chen to open up new land," he said. "I was delighted when everyone started calling me 'Embrace Benevolence Wang'."
Text at p. 55. Translated from 今日头条 at
https://www.toutiao.com/article/7345044780466569728/?&source=m_redirect (Edited)
No longer available online, but you can request text from jimmahler1@yahoo.com.
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5. Full of Greenery (满绿)
Jinziwei (津子围)
The sun was already hanging on the dense branches of the elm trees when Reindeer Bei arrived at the confluence of the Eastern and Western Liao Rivers.
The confluence of the two rivers is called Lucky Virtue Inn. No such name appears on maps or navigation documents. After repeated inquiries, Reindeer had learned that it’s not an administrative place name, but the logo of the Water Conservancy Department. It’s also the dialect name the locals gave to the dock of an ancient ferry. His parents told him that their family home is seven miles away from Lucky Virtue Inn.
Reindeer was supposed to be at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in the provincial capital tonight. His parents had carefully prepared a graduation banquet for him. But the night before, he happened to discover a secret -- the graduation banquet was also his parents' farewell banquet. According to his mother, she’d finally told his father, “Now that our child’s going off to college, I’ve had it with you.” His father, not to be outdone, had said, "We’ll see who’s leaving who! Good, as soon as the boy leaves, we’ll go file the divorce papers."
Reindeer had the impression that it hadn’t been easy for his parents to get together. They’d lived by the Liao River when they were young, one on the left bank and the other on the right bank. People living across the river from each other should’ve lived in peace, but to the contrary, in this case they were enemies.
There’s an old saying that goes "Thirty years on the east bank of a river, thirty years on the west bank" [meaning life has the same ups and downs wherever you live]. Applied to the Liao River, though, the saying would be “Ten years on the east bank, then ten years on the west bank”. That’s because, up until a few years earlier, the riverbed had changed frequently -- a small flood occurred every three years and a big one every ten years. People said, “When the river overflows, the first village to get flooded is under the jurisdiction of that province, but it’s under this province after the water recedes.”
The river’s beach was important economically, and the villagers on either side racked their brains competing for the limited area. According to Reindeer’s father, their village on the right bank put a stone dragon in the river as a way to compete for the beach. “Stone dragon” is a term for long strips of stones reinforced with steel wire. They’re placed diagonally into the river channel (not on the shore) to divert the main river channel to the other side. This increases the beach area on the near side.
Stone dragons are costly, so more people use the “insert willows” method. Willows are easy to grow, and the cut branches can be stuck upright on the beach. The branches catch the silt when the water rises, which forms a new beach when the water recedes.
Reindeer’s mother said that the villagers on the left bank also had their methods. When the river froze in winter, they put a row of stones on the surface. When the ice and snow melted in spring, the stones sank into the water to form a small earthen dam, thereby expanding the beach area.
Every year back then, verbal and physical fights would break out between the villagers on the two sides of the river over the beach area. First they’d give each other some lip, then they’d charge forward waving various farm tools. During years when food was short and life was hard, the two sides often organized large-scale battles, with countless casualties and deaths that remain in the villagers' memories.
Reindeer’s parents didn’t encounter the diversion of the Liao across provincial lines when they were young. People's lives were getting better every day when Reindeer’s parents were in school, so the beach area was becoming less important and increasingly far from the villagers’ lives. They no longer had to work hard damming the river, and there were no large-scale battles. His parents’ families had been feuding, but the youngsters met in middle school, got to know each other and fell in love. After graduation they broke through many obstacles to get together.
Reindeer's parents were not the first couple on the two sides of the river to "marry for peace". Even in the most hostile times, people had in-laws on both banks. Unfortunately, though, relatives are relatives and money is money, wedding wine must be drunk, and wars must be fought. After his parents got married, the villagers continued their tradition of "agreeing to fight" every year, but the fighting was limited to words. They’d argue and curse each other until their throats ran dry, then someone from the right bank would say, " I'm not scared of you, but I'm tired of talking all morning. Let's stop here for now." Then someone from the left bank would say, "So be it. We’ll finish this whenever you want to meet!" The first guy’d say. "Well, what? Come to my house for lunch at noon. I'll kill a chicken." And the other guy’d say, "I think you should come to my house. I butchered a sheep the day before yesterday."
Access to the Liao was restricted for conservation reasons when Reindeer was in primary school. Levees were built on both banks and elm trees were planted. The area within the levees was completely abandoned and the river beach became history. His parents never went to the levees, though. They were busy with work and life in the city, and their minds were focused on their son.
Now Reindeer was standing on the embankment of the village on the right bank. The beach area had regained its vitality after the flooding stopped, and his eyes were filled with lush greenery. He took a few deep breaths and gradually began to feel that the river’s fishy air tasted sweet.
His father called to ask where he was. He said he was in his family home.
"Family home...? What do you mean?"
"The village on the right bank,” he answered. “Your hometown is also my hometown."
"Everyone is about to arrive at the hotel. What did you go there for?"
"You and mom haven't come to see the Liao River since it was blocked off, right? This is the place I felt I should visit the most before I go off to college...."
"Stop talking nonsense and come back to the hotel right away!"
"I won't be able to attend the banquet even if I go back there. I hope you and mom can come here. I really, really hope...."
On the phone, his father seemed to be discussing something with his mother.
"It's full of greenery," Reindeer said.
"What’s full of greenery? Are you okay, son?"
Reindeer said to himself, "Harmonious, rhythmic... full of greenery...."
"Okay, okay. Go to your second uncle's house and wait for us. I'll go there with your mother right away!"
Text at p. 63. Translated from epaper.ind.com.cn at http://epaper.lnd.com.cn/lnrbepaper/pad/con/202211/23/content_170885.html