Chinese Stories in English
Stories Magazine (Page 04)
Stories from Stories Magazine Compilation #145 《故事会合订本145》上海文化出版社
Text at page noted after each story; translated from the webpages cited below.
1. Midnight Live Broadcast 3. Mr. Far Away 6. Democratic Evaluation
2. Good Guard Dog 4. Who Cares to Look? 7. TV Repair
5. Digging Truffles
1. Midnight Live Broadcast (午夜直播间)
Ren Liming (任黎明)
Elegance was born with a good voice. She had her heart set on hosting a program to display her talent, so she started a broadcast on the Internet where she sang live. After half a month, she was distraught that each show drew no more than ten people to hear her music.
She met a man named Prosperous Zhu at a dinner party. He came over to sit next to her and struck up a conversation. “I work for a new media company with a formula for making internet hosts popular. If you listen to me, I guarantee you’ll be extremely famous!”
After that, Prosperous often asked Elegance out to teach her the “formula”. He told her: “The time of a live broadcast is very important. It should be between 11 p.m. and 3 or 4 a.m. The location cannot be indoors. There’s a patch of grass under the Third Ring Road viaduct where the lights are dim. It’s very suitable.”
He could see that she didn't believe him, so he showed her a lot of videos of live outdoor broadcasts. They all had surprisingly high ratings.
She was worried and asked, “Is it safe for a girl like me, outdoors, so late at night...?”
He smiled. “I just quit my job and am currently free! I’ll be your agent and also be the 'Protector of Young Womanhood’”.
That was what Elegance wanted, but she couldn't let Prosperous fund it without recompense. She proposed that the two of them split the costs 50-50.
That’s how Elegance got started singing live under the Third Ring Road Viaduct. Strangely enough, the ratings grew steadily. “Cha-ching!” Prosperous stuck to Elegance like glue. He watched her from behind the camera and crawled into her sleeping bag to keep her warm when she felt sleepy. She felt much more at ease, and even felt warmth in her heart, with him there during the live broadcasts.
Late one night, Elegance was singing under the viaduct, sounding affectionate, when she heard someone singing along with her. Messages started appearing on her cell phone screen telling her, “Someone’s behind you!”
She was apprehensive but couldn’t do anything except pretend to be calm. She looked at her phone and saw a homeless man slowly approaching her from behind. He was about fifty years old, unshaven, and dressed in rags. He stared at Elegance as he sang with her, loudly, in time to the music.
Elegance looked to Prosperous for help as soon as she finished the song. He gestured for her to sit back down.
“This is great,” he whispered. “Keep singing. Don't be afraid.” He looked at his phone to check the number of viewers. “The ratings are going through the roof!”
Elegance sang fearfully while keeping a close eye on the homeless man. Fortunately, he stopped walking toward her and sat down peacefully.
Prosperous quietly adjusted the camera to take a clearer picture of the homeless man. He’d become a special part of the scenery behind Elegance. This kind of scene was what made midnight live broadcasts popular.
Elegance wanted to change the location of their shoots, but Prosperous insisted, “This is a Heaven-sent opportunity. Don't be afraid! I'm here!” She saw how sincere he looked and nodded.
The next night Prosperous deliberately turned up the microphone’s volume as soon as they got under the viaduct. The homeless man was indeed attracted to come over again.
It started to rain after one o’clock. Elegance stayed dry under the bridge but was shivering with cold. She signaled to Prosperous several times that she wanted to go home, but he refused, showing no mercy. He told her that the more the weather worsened and the more miserable the host was, the more fans they’d attract.
She had no choice but to do as he said, but she shivered while she sang. Suddenly, something unexpected happened. The homeless man ran over and put a coat over her shoulders.
The man looked at her with a strange expression in his eyes. He said, “Baby....” The coat was torn and gave off a sour smell. Elegance felt numb. She looked at Prosperous, but Prosperous shook his head and told her not to take it off.
A viewer calling himself “First Bro’ on the List” witnessed the homeless man giving Elegance his coat and sent a message to her phone: “If you’re willing to dance with the homeless guy, I’ll send you a ticket for a Carnival cruise!” Other fans followed suit.
Prosperous rushed over to Elegance after the broadcast ended, threw the torn coat aside, took off his own coat and tried to put it on Elegance. “Are you cold, Elegance?” he whispered. “Thank you for your hard work.”
She felt wronged and pushed him away in anger. She picked up the homeless man's tattered coat, put it on and went home.
Prosperous followed behind and decided to try cajoling her. “If you want to be famous, you have to pay the price! And you know I’m with you every day, right? When you have more fans, we won’t broadcast there anymore!” He gently hugged Elegance as he spoke, and her heart softened again.
The next day at noon, after catching up on her sleep, Elegance turned on her phone. She found that Prosperous had posted an announcement using her account. If the number of viewers reached fifty thousand, Elegance would dance with the homeless guy on a live broadcast.
She called Prosperous in a rage. “Why didn't you discuss this with me before making an announcement?” she demanded.
He grinned and told her, “Foolish girl, it’d be a shame to miss out on a string of Carnival tickets! Let's take our time and collect the profits!”
She still felt aggrieved. “You’re not protecting me anymore? You want me to dance with a homeless guy?”
He replied mysteriously, “Don't worry. How could I do such a thing? You’ll see when the time comes.”
That night, Elegance came to the spot under the viaduct and the homeless man was already sitting there. She didn't dare approach him, but he waved at her. “Come on over!” Good Lord, it was Prosperous! He was disguised as the homeless man!
Elegance walked over and he explained, “I sent that guy away. And I took his coat without telling anyone.”
She hesitated a long time before mustering up her courage and announcing, “I don't want to do this kind of live broadcast anymore.”
Prosperous laughed. “Nonsense! After tonight, you’ll be a popular internet influencer. In no time cooperative deals with businesses will come to you in an endless stream, no doubt about it.”
That night, many more people than usual got online to see Elegance. At one o'clock the number of viewers reached fifty thousand so, as promised, Elegance walked towards the “homeless man”. He jumped up with joy and stared at her. She knew it was Prosperous but was still a little scared. Her voice trembled as she made her request. “Can I ... ask you to dance with me?” The “homeless man” grinned, nodded, and abruptly put his arm around her waist. His hands were restless, groping around her waist.
Elegance felt uncomfortable. She took advantage of a dance move to turn around and break free from his hands. But Prosperous came over to her and laughed as he forcibly took her into his arms. She struggled and he whispered in her ear, “Look, your phone screen’s full of gifts. Everyone likes novelty and hopes that something will happen between us…. “He moved his mouth closer to hers while he spoke and tried to steal a kiss.
Elegance felt nauseous. She raised her hand and slapped Prosperous hard.
Looking at the screen full of caring messages, Elegance reluctantly chatted with everyone for a bit and then hurriedly ended the broadcast.
Prosperous came over to her with his face covered and whispered, “I did it for the effect on the live broadcast, Elegance.... Besides, you like me, too, don’t you? You didn't object when I hugged you that day! Just be my girlfriend, and when we are used to being close, you won't be so embarrassed in front of the camera when this happens in the future.”
“Dream on!” she snapped. “We’ll never see each other again!”
He grabbed her. “Why are you pretending to be so high and mighty? Tons of people watched the broadcast tonight and saw you ask a homeless man to dance with you so you could get gifts. Do you think people will see you as a good person?”
Elegance wanted to run, but Prosperous pushed her to the ground. He had a fierce look on his face. “Fifty thousand people can testify that you were the one who stirred up the homeless man. I’ll take care of you right here and now if you don't do what I say. Heh, heh. It’ll be on the news tomorrow – ‘Woman making live broadcast under the viaduct at midnight invites homeless man to dance and is brutally murdered’. No one will know it was me!”
Elegance felt desperate. She tried to call for help, but to no more avail than a chick crying out when it’s caught by an eagle. But at the critical moment, someone ran over and shouted, “Don't be afraid, baby!”
Ah, it was that homeless man! He ran up behind Prosperous, stretching out his arms like they were pliers. He grabbed Prosperous and tossed him aside.
The homeless guy helped Elegance up and put her behind him with his arms outstretched. Prosperous’ anger turned to fury and he rushed at the man with his fists raised. Elegance called the police while the two men wrestled.
The police came and took the three of them back to the station. Prosperous admitted that he gave the homeless man half a piece of bread mixed with a sleeping pill to prevent him from appearing in the live broadcast that night, and then stole his coat.
A policeman asked Elegance: “Do you remember the first time you saw the homeless man? What song were you singing?”
“It was ‘A Song for My Daughter...’” she murmured.
“He really thinks you are his daughter,” the officer told her. He explained that the man’s wife got sick and died a few years ago. His daughter, Beibei, was in college at the time. She saw her father going through a hard time, so she went to a barbecue restaurant to sing and earn money without telling him. One night a gang of hooligans tried to pour booze down her throat but she fended them off. They got angry and beat and humiliated her. She couldn't bear the stigma and committed suicide by jumping into a river.
Her father went crazy. He was aware half the time and confused half the time, and eventually became homeless. The policeman sighed. “When he sees a girl singing, he calls her ‘Baby’, which was his daughter's nickname. You’re the fourth Baby we know about “
Elegance hadn't realized that the homeless man mistook her for his deceased daughter.
Then the policeman asked her, “Why did you insist on singing live outdoors in the middle of the night?”
The question made Elegance feel extremely ashamed.
Her broadcast is still going on. She’s changed it to a live charity broadcast...
Text at p. 1-62. Translated from 名人轶事网 at
https://www.storyren.com/thread-80766-1-1.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. A Good Guard Dog (好狗护三邻)
Red Sword (大刀红)
Hairy Huang has several acres of land in the village. Recently, Elder Brother Tong from the same village encroached on the boundary of his field, and Hairy couldn't help but have it out with the man. Less than two days later, Hairy was stopped at the entrance to the village by the five Tong family brothers.
The five brothers are known in the village as the “Tong Family’s Five Tigers”. People say Third Brother, the most arrogant of the five, has connections with the underworld. As soon as Third Brother saw Hairy, he stepped forward, gave him a shove and asserted, “I heard you bullied Elder Brother.”
Hairy stepped back, “Your brother started it by encroaching on my field....” Before he could finish, someone struck him on the head, and then all five brothers’ fists rained down on him. He pushed left and right, attempting to escape. Somehow he found something hard, a dagger, that one of his attackers was carrying at his waist. He pulled the dagger from its sheath easily and swung it twice -- people will do anything when they’re desperate -- before he heard someone cry, “Ouch... the guy’s got a knife.” The man who’d shouted fell to the ground. When Hairy saw the Tong brothers spreading apart, he broke free and ran for home.
The injured one was Fourth Brother. Fifth Brother stayed behind to help him while the others chased after Hairy. Hairy ran into his home and locked the door. The three brothers were about to kick it open when they heard a rasping bark, “woof, woof, woof”, and a wolfhound with yellow hair and a black back jumped out of a dog door by Hairy's home.
When they saw how big the wolfhound was, with its bristling hair and deathly sallow teeth, the brothers lost their courage. Third Brother was desperate and picked up a stick, ready to strike at the wolfhound. Elder Brother looked at the dog closely and shouted, “Don't do anything crazy! It’s the Lu family's dog.”
Third Brother threw down his stick in anger and the three of them retreated to the village to check on Fourth Brother’s injury. Luckily he’d only suffered a scratch on his abdomen. The cut was just a flesh wound, not deep at all.
Just then, a siren sounded in the distance. It turned out that the village cadres had reported the incident to the police when they heard about the fight and injuries. The police arrived at the scene and took the brothers and Hairy back to the police station for processing. The Police Chief asked about the situation, then told Hairy: “Although the brothers picked the fight, Fourth Brother was the one who got injured. I suggest you pay for some medical expenses and reconcile with them.” Hairy didn't want to cause trouble, so he signed an agreement with the brothers to pay three thousand yuan for medical expenses.
Hairy thought the matter had been settled, but two days later, to his surprise, Elder Brother sought him out. “Fourth Brother's wound has suppurated,” he said. “He’s back in the hospital and will have to stay there another week. Your three thousand yuan is long gone. You should pay us another ten thousand.”
Hairy knew Elder Brother was just trying another way to blackmail him. He went home in a funk. When he saw the big wolfhound approaching him affectionately as he entered the courtyard, his eyes lit up. Yes! Why not ask Literary Triumph Lu for help? Triumph was the wolfhound’s owner.
The Lu family and the Huang family are neighbors. Triumph and Hairy were playmates when they were children and were still friends. Triumph excelled in his studies in school, especially in writing essays, and was admitted to the Provincial University of Political Science and Law after passing the college entrance examination. Later he also passed the civil service exam and was now the Deputy Secretary of the County Political and Legal Affairs Committee.
Triumph's father lived part time in the village and part time in the city. He entrusted Hairy to take care of the house while he was gone, especially the wolfhound named “Big Wolf”. Big Wolf had been raised by Triumph's father specifically as a guard dog.
Hairy thought it over as he petted Big Wolf, and the more he thought, the better he felt about the idea. Like the old saying goes, a good dog guards three neighbors, and still more the guy who’s been helping Triumph take care of his family’s home. He’ll definitely help me out with this!
So Hairy went to the county seat, found Triumph's work unit and explained his purpose. He asked Triumph to help him out by stepping in as a warning to the Tong brothers. Triumph was thoughtful and eventually said, “You can go to the police and report the Tong brothers for blackmailing you. But I can't use my government position in a private matter, bro’, so I won't be able to help you with this.”
Hairy was furious. “A dog should guard three neighbors, and I never thought you wouldn't even help the next-door neighbors to your left and right!” He walked off without listening to Triumph's explanation.
He was still upset when he got home. He heard Big Wolf scratching at the door outside and whining as soon as he went inside. The dog was reminding him that it was time to be fed. This made him even angrier, to the point that he hated his neighbor’s house and dog. He stood up, opened the door, and kicked Big Wolf hard. Not satisfied, he picked up a wooden bench and pounded the dog. Big Wolf cried out miserably twice, ran out of the house, and went back to the Lu family's courtyard through the dog door.
Whenever Big Wolf saw Hairy's shadow for the next few days, it would run into the dog door with its tail between its legs and hide. Hairy felt a little regretful. Big Wolf belonged to the Lu family, but Triumph's father was rarely home. Big Wolf therefore stayed at the Lu’s house at night and basically followed Hairy around during the day, just like his own dog.
However, Hairy had learned something from his visit to Triumph. The next time Elder Brother demanded more money, Hairy told him, “We’ve already mediated this through the police. If there are still more fees, let's go to back to the police station together.”
That idea made Elder Brother's face look like it had been buried in a block of ice “You’re incapable of doing the right thing. When the time comes, don't accuse us Tong brothers of being unfair.”
One night, Hairy was awakened by an outburst of barking. He heard the sounds of fierce fighting and biting. He got up at once and went into his courtyard, where he saw a man fighting Big Wolf. The dog bit the man's left hand, and the man kept slashing at it with a shiny knife in his right hand. Hairy called the police right away. Big Wolf’s howling got gradually weaker and weaker until finally it stopped. The gangster got free from the entanglement with the animal and ran out of the yard in a panic.
Hairy immediately went over to Big Wolf to check its injuries. He found more than thirty stab wounds on its body. Blood stains covered the ground….
The police eventually arrived at the scene after about an hour. Hairy told them that the gangster had been bitten and they could follow the blood stains to hunt him down. To his surprise, the officers claimed they hadn’t brought proper equipment for an investigation at night. With that excuse they just made a routine check-in of his report, took some notes and left in a hurry. Hairy was quite disappointed because he knew that Third Brother Tong was the perpetrator who’d broken into his courtyard.
Hairy was worried that Third Brother would take further revenge, but he got some unexpected good news three days later. Third Brother had been arrested by the “Anti-Crime Office” of the County Public Security Bureau. The scars from dog bites all over his body were conclusive evidence of the crime. The local police chief was also arrested with him. He was the protective umbrella that had allowed Third Brother to run rampant in the countryside and to participate in illegal loan sharking. The loan sharks injured people who couldn’t repay the loans, disabling some of them....
Triumph had been assigned to supervise the case. It turned out that his suspicions had been aroused when Hairy came to him and reported the fight with the five Tong brothers. While Fourth Brother was the one who’d been scratched, the deadly weapon had been brought to the fight by someone in the Tong family. Hairy had only acted in self-defense. This was obviously a criminal matter, but the local police chief personally mediated the case and let it go. There must have been something fishy going on.
Triumph had therefore applied to his superiors to set up a task force. At the same time, Third Brother saw that Hairy didn’t respect the “Tong Family’s Five Tigers”, so he made plans to teach him a lesson by “shedding some blood”. Big Wolf surprised him when he approached the Huang family home....
Hairy apologized to Triumph the next time he saw him. “That day I thought you weren’t going to help me and I let it get to me....”
Triumph said: “I just wanted to maintain my neutrality. That's why I said what I said.”
Hairy nodded: “I'm sorry, bro’, I misunderstood you. It's too bad about that good dog, Big Wolf.”
Big Wolf had died that night due to multiple injuries.
“A good dog protects its neighbors.” Triumph said. “Besides, you raised it. It was just repaying your kindness.”
Triumph was trying to comfort him, but Hairy didn't feel any better at all.
Text on p. 1-66. Translated from 名人轶事网 at
https://www.storyren.com/thread-80765-1-1.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Mr. Far Away (老远)
Qian Nuoxi (钱诺兮)
The shoe repair shop a few streets away from my house has been open for over ten years. The shop’s name as displayed on its slightly faded signboard is “On the Road”, but everyone is used to calling it “The Far Away Shop”.
The owner’s surname is Yuan, which means “distant”, so people took to calling him “Mr. Far Away”. It’s a superbly appropriate nickname because he does indeed come from somewhere far away and, most importantly, he’s withdrawn and seems to be distant from others.
Leather shoes were costly when I was a child, so I’d go to The Far Away Shop every two or three days to make sure mine were in good repair. When he saw me jumping up and down as I came in, he’d smile, pull out a chair for me and ask, “Have you been bad again?” When I nodded, he’d take the shoes and start working without asking me what was wrong.
My little shoes were very easy for him to handle. When he spun them around, the seams where they’d been glued would open up in an instant. He’d produce a small stick from somewhere, dip it in a bucket of glue, poke it into the seam, brush it back and forth, wipe off the excess, and then make some careful and quick adjustments -- pressing once on one side and pinching twice on the other.
“Finished!” When he handed me the shoes, I never saw any signs of repair at all.
Everyone said Mr. Far Away was a natural shoemaker, but unfortunately he spent all his days just doing repair work. He understood the world of shoes thoroughly, but he didn't understand the world of people -- he didn’t talk with customers much and only focused on repairing their shoes.
I was curious, and the questions piled up the more we interacted. One rainy night I holed up in the shop to get out of the rain and watched him repair shoes from a distance. Eventually I asked, “How did you become a shoemaker, sir?”
Mr. Far Away lowered his head without stopping his work. “I didn't want to be a shoemaker,” he whispered as he fiddled with a shoe. “When I was young, I just wanted a chance to get ahead. My family told me about an opportunity in a big city far away, so I went there.”
I thought to myself, repairing shoes isn’t much of a way to get ahead! He picked up a different tool before continuing, “I’ve traveled to many places and done all kinds things to earn a living. One winter I walked all the way here, and the last pair of cloth shoes my mother made for me tore apart. The lining was exposed, and I knew I couldn't walk any farther.”
That made me sad. It was like I could see the young Mr. Far Away looking at his dirty, torn shoes, getting soaked by the snow bit by bit. I could see him shiver, but couldn’t tell whether it was the cold or the sadness that spread from his toes until it flooded his heart. And now, the white snow in his memory has climbed onto his temples.
“So you became a shoemaker?” I asked.
Mr. Far Away put aside his tools and looked at the rain pouring down from the eaves of his storefront, lost in thought. It was a long time before he said, “Later, on a rainy day like this, I couldn't go out. It occurred to me that if my shoes hadn’t torn, would I have continued to walk, continued looking for a way to get ahead? Maybe opportunity was just around the corner.”
There’s no answer to that kind of question. He and I both fell silent.
The light from the lamps in the shop was trying its hardest to eat up as much of the wall as possible. It seemed also to be gnawing at Mr. Far Away’s furrowed brow.
I continued to question him. “But, you don't dislike shoe repair work, do you?”
He smiled faintly at me and said, “I can't say if I like it or not. Later I thought, if I repair shoes for people, at least they won't have to stop in their tracks because of worn out shoes.”
I was speechless and almost cried.
Too many people in this world pursue what’s in the distance, and there are also too many who stop in their tracks. Mr. Far Away is neither the first nor the last, nor is he the only one. He gave up his own dreams but strives to support the dreams of others -- he repairs shoes, one pair at a time, sending those who want to go further on their way. These shoes are a blessing, a wish for smooth sailing; they’re empathetic, expressing sympathy for the hardships of the journey; they’re sustenance, helping sustain unfinished dreams.
The lights in the shop flickered suddenly. Mr. Far Away didn’t blink – he was concentrating on repairing shoes.
It seemed to be getting windy outside, but it wasn't cold sitting in the shop.
Text at p. 1-84. Translated from 刊APP下载 at
https://m.fx361.com/news/2022/1010/21795525.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Who Cares to Look? (谁稀罕看)
Shen Shunfu (沈顺富)
Watching as his neighbors buy one car after another, Big Zhang was tempted, so he talked it over with his wife. After he took the driver’s test and passed it, he gritted his teeth and bought a car for two hundred thousand yuan.
On the day he picked up his new car and drove it back to the village, he made it a point to buy two packs of good cigarettes. He was sure his neighbors would gather around to have a look at the car and, to be polite, he’d have to hand cigarettes out to them. A few years previously, when he’d spent twenty thousand yuan on a motorcycle, a ton of people had crowded around his house and he’d given away full two packs!
To his surprise, when he drove the new car into the village, he didn't run into many people. When he did meet some, they just smiled at him and said, “You bought a car! Not bad!”
No one came to have a look even when he parked the car in his courtyard. He felt empty inside and didn't even give out one cigarette.
His wife saw what he was thinking and said, “How can you compare the present with the past? Everyone is rich now. Besides, this car you bought isn’t a luxury model, so who’d think it’s worth a second look?”
He sighed. “Yes, things are different now.”
A few days later, Big Zhang went out and ran into Ocean, a fellow from a neighboring village. They’d learned to drive and got their licenses together.
It was dinner time when the two met, so they found a small restaurant and ate while visiting.
Big Zhang joked about his new car, “I was able to draw a crowd when I bought a motorcycle, but now I buy a two-hundred-thousand-yuan car and no one looks.”
Ocean smiled. “I bought a new car recently, too. But the day I drove it home, a crowd surrounded me as soon as I entered the village”
“Was your car expensive?” Big Zhang wanted to know.
“No way, about a hundred thou.”
Big Zhang couldn't understand why people were so interested in seeing Ocean's car when it wasn't even as expensive as his own.
Ocean smiled as he explained. “When I got to the village entrance after picking up my new car, I accidentally drove into a ditch on the side of the road. The front wheel fell in and I couldn't get it out. Someone yelled, 'Ocean’s car is stuck in the ditch! Come and help, everyone!' Whoosh, ten or twenty people showed up, and I handed out three packs!”
Text on p. 1-90. Translated from 天天故事网 at
https://m.635w.com/gushihui/68209.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Digging for Truffles (挖松露)
June Rain (六月的雨)
Some time ago, Li Four was jealous of Zhang Three’s wealth and asked him to share his secret. Zhang Three smiled. “The secret lies with the sow I have at home….”
Li Four didn't believe it, so Zhang Three decided to let him see for himself. He led his sow to a mountain, and it ran ahead happily, digging around with its nose. All of a sudden it oinked loudly and dug hard at a damp spot on the ground. Before long Zhang Three had dug out a small piece of black fungus.
“This is a truffle,” he said proudly, “a precious food that can be sold for tens of thousands of yuan a pound!” It seems that sows have a keen sense of smell and are particularly sensitive to the aroma of truffles. People often use sows to find the fungus.
Li Four realized what was going on in a flash. He rolled his eyes and, smiling broadly, asked, “Brother Zhang, can you lend me your precious pig for a few days?”
Zhang Three refused, “Nope! If something bad happened while it was in your hands, I’d lose my source of income.”
Li Four thought, “If you don't want to let me borrow your pig, so be it. Anyway, I know your secret now. What’s to worry about finding a domesticated animal with a sensitive nose?”
When he got home, he thought of his neighbor, Old Wang. He was a retired soldier who had a retired wolfhound named Blackie. Before retiring, the dog had made great contributions to the military with its excellent sense of smell.
Li Four took advantage of Old Wang’s absence and brought Blackie into his home. The dog learned to recognize the smell of truffles after a few days training, and Li Four couldn't wait to take it up the mountain to look for the expensive fungus.
Blackie quickly found its target and circled around a spot on the ground. Li Four saw it and picked up his hoe to dig. Out of the blue came a loud noise and a huge force pushed Li Four far away. He lost consciousness. When he woke up, he was lying in a hospital bed with Old Wang sitting next to him.
After he was told what had happened, Old Wang glared at Li Four. He seemed to take pleasure in his neighbor’s misfortune. “Why didn’t you let me know what you had in mind? Blackie is a mine-sweeping dog. He happened upon a land mine that the mountain people had laid a few years ago. Land mines are still explosive even after a long time, but lucky for you, their power diminishes. If it hadn’t, you would’ve gone to see the devil himself!”
Text on p. 1-91. Translated from 知乎 at
https://zhuanlan.zhihu.com/p/574596346
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. How the Evaluation Went (如此测评)
Ye Wei (叶卫)
Old Zhang works in his unit’s logistics department. He’s in charge of the canteen. Although that seems like a simple job, the canteen is hard to manage. Its satisfaction rating has been very low for years.
One day the unit held a management meeting to prepare for an inspection by the company’s superiors. The leader reminded each department to do their jobs well, and especially to show the quality and working style of the unit's employees. When Old Zhang heard that, he said: “Leader, this is a great opportunity for us to conduct a democratic evaluation of the canteen....”
The leader interrupted him before he finished speaking. “Please don't interfere right now, Old Zhang. The satisfaction rating of our canteen has always been very low, hasn’t it?”
Old Zhang smiled. “This time the evaluation will be different. What we need to do is quite simple. Just divide the vote into two categories: satisfied and dissatisfied. Those who are satisfied put their plate directly on the dining table. Those who aren’t satisfied, dump their plates into the designated collection bin.”
That made sense. The unit’s employees had always been dissatisfied with the canteen, so, following the democratic evaluation methodology, they would surely dump their plates into the designated collection bin. The inspectors would notice this when they came around and would see it as a manifestation of the employees' understanding of the democratic process, as well as the spirit the workers show in their daily lives.
The leader thought about it and agreed to Old Zhang's proposal. After the meeting, Old Zhang posted a notice about the democratic evaluation of the canteen in the unit's WeChat group.
The department’s superiors came to inspect the unit as scheduled. When it was time to eat, the leader took them to the cafeteria. But when they got there, they saw that the tables were full of plates. What a mess! The leader and Old Zhang were both dumbfounded. Why had everyone voted “satisfied” in this evaluation?
As it happened, when everyone saw the democratic evaluation notice the day before, they’d all planned to vote “unsatisfied”. But then someone said: “The thing is, the higher authorities are coming to inspect. We’d better be quality citizens this time and show the leaders some respect!” They all thought it over and voted “satisfied” the next day by putting their plates on the tables....
Text on p. 92. Translated from 多彩大学生网 at
http://www.dcdxsw.com/xywx/dpxs/29711.html
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. TV Repair (修电视)
Song Guangjie (宋广杰)
The village’s Mr.Liu usually lives alone. Watching TV is his only pastime.
He has a black and white TV with a “big butt” on the back. It often has little glitches because it’s so old, so he’s constantly looking for a repairman, and that’s not cheap. Things are looking up, though. His distant nephew, who’s good at repairing home appliances, moved to the village last month and lives near him. Now, if the TV fails again, he can call his nephew to “cure the problem at the touch of his hand,” as the saying goes.
One day the nephew decided on his own to check the TV for his uncle. He said he was doing maintenance on the parts. With nothing better to do, Mr. Liu went into the courtyard to play with the birds. He had to come inside after a while, though, to ask “Is there a problem?”
His nephew was tightening the screws on the back cover just then. “No problem,” he said, “I’ll be done once I get the screws in!”
When he was finished, the nephew carefully looked over the TV one more time before packing up his tools and leaving. Mr. Liu was anxious to watch a show, but he was still glad to see that his nephew was so concerned about him and had worked so carefully.
To his surprise, his nephew came back a little later and said, “I just remembered something, Uncle! When I was checking the TV, one part felt a little loose. Let me exchange it for you.”
“Okay!” Mr. Liu got up and went out to walk around the yard again. When he came back inside, he saw that his nephew looked unhappy. Mr. Liu grinned and took out a few hundred-yuan bills from his pocket. “What's wrong?” he asked. “Are you worried because you can't find something?”
The nephew blushed when he saw the money in his uncle’s hand. It turned out that it was his money that he’d had to hide in his uncle's TV so his fearsome wife wouldn’t find out about it. When he needed it, he could just come and get it under the pretext of repairing the TV. Just then, he’d taken out a few hundred yuan on the sly to buy a carton of cigarettes, but in his hurry to leave he’d stuffed it under the TV and forgotten to take it with him....
Mr. Liu got the picture right away when he heard the young man’s story. “You son of a gun! No wonder you screwed all eighteen screws down tightly. Other repairmen only tighten one or two.”
Text on p. 1-93. Translated from 天天故事网 at
https://m.635w.com/gushihui/68208.html