There were seven production teams in Xianghe Village. About 130 households lived on both sides of the Dragon Lane. In the front or back of the house, people planted a few poplar and willow trees. Sometimes, there were also a few elm, locust and bitter chestnut trees. When spring came, poplar and willow trees became green, The dark shade covered like smoke and fog. The entire village was enveloped in greenness, turned into a green world. The village was not big. You could know the names of each family by wrenching fingers. If one family had a big event, the entire village would become lively. Whichever girl of some family got married, whichever man of some family got engaged, it’s difficult to hide. Even a private talk between husband and wife might be spread all over, until everyone in the village knew, which was embarrassing. What’s more, some cheeky boys teased the bride who had just moved into the husband’s house, boasted more, “Sister-in-law, I know about your secrets even if you are new in the house.” “What do you know about me?” The bride didn’t agree, asked. “Your main door faces the south, your chimney faces the sky. The new night stool is at the bedside. My elder brother sleeps in the west, you sleep in the east……” Someone interrupted before the boy finished, “How can they sleep in a wrong position?”(According to our local customs, in a bed, a man sleeps on the east, a woman sleeps in the west, which shows the man is the master in the house.) “My brother is afraid of his wife!” The boy laughed and said, making a face to the bride, as if asking, “Am I right about your secrets?” The bride became ashamed with a red face, “Pooh! You gossip!” The bride abused as she quickly clipped the threads for her husband, packed up the thread and needle, rose to her feet. She knew these young men would say more unpleasant words if they continued teasing. This was a joke, but it was true that the villagers knew all about each other’s secrets.
There was a Tofu shop, and a commission store in the village. The Tofu shop was in the east, on the Dragon head of the Lane; The commission store was in the west, naturally on the Dragon tail of the Lane. The villagers were living a hard life.They didn’t usually go to these two places. It was so called “You don’t feel hungry for it without seeing it.”. Save money as possible, as they could. Regular meals were good enough. This was a regular thing. However, when they had a guest, they had to go and buy something in the store or shop. The villagers liked to save, but when it came to spend money, they never hesitated. The old generations had formed this custom, how could they not keep it? Then they went to buy some pieces of Tofu in the shop. To buy Tofu was not called Buy, but Pick up. This described the scene when the buyer and seller traded. The owner picked up Tofu from the vessel or bucket, and put them in the buyer’s porcelain basin, or bamboo rice basket;then dried the water on the hand and took a few lead shells. Very often, not in cash when they didn’t have enough money, they did it on account. So to say picking up was more appropriate than to say buying. As to “square”, it had the same meaning as”piece” . The villagers were used to say “square” rather than “piece”. After that, go to the commission store at the Dragon tail to buy one jin§① of barley liquor. With the above two things, they could entertain guests. If more particular, go to Hunchback Tan’s house at the Dragon Waist to buy a few lively and fresh knifefish, braised or boiled to entertain guests.
On the east end, at Dragon Head, was the Tofu shop run by the old gentleman, Anran Liu. He belonged to the First Production Team. In the early years, he burned those couplets, changed his profession by giving up teaching and set up this Tofu shop. The old man had two sons and one daughter. The elder son was named Chungen Liu, the second son was named Chunyu Liu. His daughter was named Cuiyun Liu. His wife died earlier. It was he who made every efforts, both as mother and father, to raise up the three children. He had thought that he would be free from worries when they grew up, but that was not so.
On the west end, at Dragon tail, was Grandma Three’s commission store. She belonged to the Fourth Production Team. There were four people in the family. The second son was named Er Kuazi②”, his wife was named Duck Li. The third son was named Agen Huo③. Her daughter was named Qin Yatou④. It was said that Grandma Three had an another son, who died at an early age. To count up, Grandpa Three was a family of revolutionary martyrs because some males in her family died in the army.
Compared with Liu’s Family, Grandma Three’s family didn’t have formal names. In fact, in Xianghe Village, it’s difficult to have formal names. Liu was a teacher, could read and write. So he gave his children proper names. This was very difficult for regular families. Mothers couldn’t even read any words, how could they give proper names to their children? What’s more, how could the villagers be so particular? What’s the use of having a proper name? It’s important to work in the fields and to live well. Therefore, in the Xianghe area, all unmarried boys/men were called Huo. When calling someone, it would be Chunkou Huo, Yagen Huo,
Dog Huo, Tiger Huo, all kinds of them. Unmarried girls were called Yatou, they could call Spring Yatou, Ying Yatou, Duck Yatou, Dog Yatou, etc. This was the local custom.
These days, Liu’s Tofu shop was very busy. Normally, it’s not celebrating the New Year or other festivals, why was it so busy? It turned out that someone was matchmaking for the eldest son of the Liu’s family. It was said it was originally for the second son, but the old gentleman wouldn’t agree, “That’s not appropriate. That’s not appropriate.” What the old gentleman meant was that the elder son Chungen was already twenty-six years old. If it were not for his height, he would have been married with kids. The second son was only in his early twenties, it didn’t matter to marry in another year or two. For the marriage, the elder son should be first, then the second son. That’s respect for seniority.
In the Xianghe area, young man and woman could love before marriage, or love but without marriage. However, most of them married before love. Their marriages were arranged by matchmakers. Matchmaking, which was called Go-between by the local people, was originally a good thing. If good, it could set up a “Que Qiao”①, which the Girl Weaver crossed to meet the cowherd on the 7th of the seventh lunar month between man and woman, which led to a great marriage. But if bad, that would be like “Perfect Qiao caused an exchange of partners by mistake between two couples engaged to marry.” and delayed both sides for a lifetime. There were three situations for the matchmaking. No.1, matchmakers of aunts or grandmas; No.2 non- profit-making woman go-between for lovers; No. 3, both man and woman offered to ask for help as the old man under the moon——the god who united persons in marriage. Anyone with some social experience might know the two persons of “Go-between” and “The old man under the moon” had good impressions upon people. There were touching stories about both of them. However, matchmakers were hateful. They depended on their glib tongues to be “Liar mediums”. Matchmakers grasped the psychology of both men and women, always gave sweet talk and extravagance, describing both sides as perfect and high spirited as possible. The result was that the more you hoped for, the more disappointed you became. As you hoped for more, you would have a worse marriage. Both men and women would cry out to be deceived. Thus, matchmakers were often scolded by men and women:
Matchmaker, matchmaker,
Indulge in idle talk/ Grind teeth on both sides;
Say the man is very rich, the woman like Chang’e①.
Talk about stink as fragrance,
Talk about death as living.
Swindle two catties of pork and one catty of noodles from my family, Plus two big geese.
As times passed by, in order to prevent liar mediums, the local people would ask the matchmakers to have a look at the three articles in the cabinet of gods: Mirror, Scale and Ruler. What it meant was very clear: First of all, tell the matchmaker that the master’s heart was like a mirror, the family was rich, there was a scale to weigh grains, a ruler to measure clothing. Secondly, give a hint to the matchmaker that she should use the three things to judge and weigh with the other, to have a look at black and white, to weigh the weight, to measure the size, to see if it was a perfect match between man and woman. Here both sides neglected one important factor, that was, no one ever asked if both man and woman were willing to accept this marriage. In spite of this, the matchmaker was well respected before or at the wedding. No matter how rich or poor the man’s family was, three formal meals with wine were a must: invitation meal,entertaining meal and thanks-giving meal. Not one could be absent. Not only that, before the meal, every time the man’s family had to prepare presents. Most of them were there: two jin of pork, two fish, double tea snacks. No wonder there was an old saying of “Be a matchmaker if you are fond of eating.”
Right now, Matchmaker Duck Li from the Fourth Production Team was crossing her legs, sitting beside a big table in the living-room of Anran Liu’s house. She was having brown sugar fruit tea as she introduced some girl from the neighboring village called Yang’s Village. Was Duck Li the wife of Er Kuazi and daughter-in-law of Grandma Three from the west end of Dragon Lane? Exactly. Although she had been married in Xianghe for a few years, she hadn’t had any children. However, she enjoyed matchmaking. Different people had different personalities, different people had different hobbies.
“Mr. Liu, the girl I am talking about is named Xuehua Yang, 23 years old, tall, with an oval face, big eyes. She has a clever mouth, and glib tongue. Her black and long braids are almost the same as your daughter Cuiyun’s, very pleasant.”
“Being 23 years old, she is not that young, Is it her solid age or nominal age?” Anran Liu didn’t hear Duck Li talk about the girl’s appearance. But he had his own idea, beauty would buy no beef. What’s more, his own son had an ordinary look. If he married a beautiful girl, he wouldn’t be able to keep her under control. If not, that wouldn’t be a good thing.
“Nominal age. Her age happens to match that of Chungen. Haven’t you heard that gold mountains comes after silver mountains if the man is three years older than the woman.” Duck Li answered hurriedly, moving her body towards Anran opposite the big table.
“Being good at talking isn’t the most important thing, I wonder if she is skilled at farming.” Anran asked as he picked up the thermos bottle with iron shell, raising his hand to add hot water to her tea cup. Duck Li took it over and said, “No worry. I will do it myself.” After adding more water to her cup, she continued the old gentleman’s topic, “This girl is very good at doing farm work, rice transplanting, weeding, rice reaping, wheat harvesting, pulling out rapeseed, digging, building rivers, working in the construction of large water turbine project. She is good at doing everything. She is one of the best girls in Yang’s Village.”
While Anran and Duck Li were talking, the two brothers Chungen and Chunyu came home with their pesticide sprayers on their back.
In the Xianghe area, few people like Chungen were not married at the age of 26 years old. Most of them at the same age were married with kids running around. At lunch and dinner time, in the Dragon Lane, adults and children, one after another,held their rice bowls, squatting together, eating and chatting. They could recognize whose children they were with only one look at them. The adults talked about rivers in the south or oceans in the north. The children listened with their crooked heads. As they listened for some time, the food in the bowls were finished, then they went to grab more from their own families’ big rice bowls with blue flowers. The adults were busy talking, got no time to take care of the children, “Go away. Your own legs are not broken. Why can’t you go back home to get more food yourself?” When they opened the pair of chopsticks, some fell off, some were frightened to cry out. Since they couldn’t grab food from the adult’s bowls,children had to go home with their small bowls.
Chungen Liu felt annoyed himself. I was at medium height, my younger brother was not short, even my sister Cuiyun was tall. Why had myself become a “Wu Dalang”①? Except that I was not very tall, what else was I worse than others? I had got big eyes, broad shoulders, good muscles, strong as a bear, vigorous. What farm work can’t I do? But no girls were interested in me. It made me very worried, feeling like I was going to be a bachelor. Being a bachelor was very terrible. What the villagers paid attention to was that “There are three things to be incomplete, and the worst thing is to have not offspring.”. Without a wife, how could I have offspring? It’s sure to be incomplete. Chungen Liu was anxious at heart like ants on the hot pot, but he couldn’t speak it out. Every day, after work he came home without saying much, went to bed after supper, wasn’t happy to chat with his brother.
There were three rooms in Chungen’s house, facing the south. The walls were built up with red bricks, hollow inside(A special innovation of the local people. To build up a solid wall took more bricks, of course cost more. The villagers couldn’t afford it. So they changed the way to build up the walls). The roof was built up with ocean tiles. This was the best in the village. In Xianghe Village, most of the house were built up with adobe walls and grass roof. It was just because the father Anran Liu was a teacher in the early years and had some savings. Besides, only leaders in the village could afford to build up this kind of houses. The main rooms of his house faced the River of Xianghe. In front of the house there was an adobe wall surrounding a yard. On the west a small flat roof house was built with hollow walls by red bricks, too. The roof was built up with cement. Against the main house walking stairs were set up, one upon another, up onto the flat roof. The benefits of the flat roof could be seen in summer. You couldn’t feel them in other seasons.
In the walls of the front yard, there was a big door, facing the living room of the main house. The door was made of wooden boards, mixed with willow twigs and reeds. The big door opened to the Dragon Lane. Against the south walls in the yard, there were three trees, probably very old. Its branches stretched out of the courtyard walls, up to the Dragon Lane. Behind the main house, there was another side house with three small rooms, built up of adobe walls and grass roof. Between the two, on the roofs, surrounded by tree sticks, that made a backyard. There was not only a front door of the living room, which led to the front yard, but also a rear door leading to the backyard. It was the same with the thatched cottage and the main house, the front door leading to the main house, the rear door leading to the water pile pier in the River of Xianghe.
As the master of the house, Anran lived in the room on the east. According to the local customs, if the master didn’t live in the room on the east, who else could live there? In the villagers’ eyes, the eastern room was up-hand, being the great. The middle room in the main house was the living room, which was most popular in the houses in the Xianghe area. The two brothers Chungen and Chunyu lived in the western room. Cuiyun lived in the flat roof cottage on the west in the front yard. Normally, it’s safer for a girl to live in the main house with two doors of a yard door and big door. The flat roof cottage led to the outside, although with a door, it’s not as safe as living in the main house. You could see it here that Anran was literate, taught before. But he was the same as other villagers, looking up upon boys and down upon girls. In the hearts of the villagers, girls were not respected in all kinds of aspects such as going to school or in daily lives. They thought no matter what kind of appearances a girl had, she would finally marry to a man.
The Tofu mill was in the cottage of the backyard. A big stove was built in the eastern room with three kitchens, and a big pot to roast soybean milk. The kitchen was much bigger than that in a regular house. The kitchens in the middle and west were much smaller, the one in the west was the smallest. The iron pot in the kitchen was the same as those in a regular house. In fact, the two pots were used to cook rice. In the early morning, they didn’t cook rice but to roast soybean milk, taking the milk from the big pot into the two smaller pots for the purpose of getting stewed. In the middle room was a stone mill. The stone mill was placed on a small table.There was a small cylinder beside the millstone. The soybean milk ground from the millstone flew into the cylinder, then was taken to be roasted in the pot. Over the millstone was a triangular wooden frame, used to push and grind. With one end connected with the stone mill, the other end with a yoke, good for people to hold and push in one direction so that the stone mill will move around. Two ropes were tied up to the yoke, secured on the roof beam and level off. By doing so, people who push the mill could save a lot of labor. In the western room was a rectangular table and a few big water tanks. On the table piled up wooden frames to press Tofu and folio. The wooden frame had four sides, but no cover and baseboard, which could be added, movable, easy to remove, avoiding the Tofu and folio not to be shaped. Tofu had to be pressed, folio had to be squeezed. To press, it’s easy to say, pour the stewed soybean milk into the frame with a baseboard, cover it with a slab, plus a few heavy things, such as an used stone mill, clean and heavy. It’s more difficult to squeeze folios, using the same wooden frame with a baseboard, putting white coarse cloth at the bottom, one spoon of soybean milk with a layer of cloth. The milk had to be well-distributed, the cloth had to be placed flat, with suitable tightness. One layer upon another, once and for all, up to the top of the frame, cover it with a slab, using a long wooden stick to press downwards by prying. The wooden stick didn’t need manual labor. With one end stuck into theiron ring, power naturally worked. It was particular about the time of pressing and squeezing. Those masters who made Tofu and folios don’t usually say about it because it related to the quality of the products. Those big water tanks were used to keep Tofu fresh in the water. Folios only need to be wrapped with wet cloth. Take what was needed when sold. A good master of folios knew in mind how many pieces for one jin. It didn’t need scaling. He could weigh by counting the pieces. Very accurate. Anran was such a master. Newly made Tofu couldn’t be placed in a dry place, They must be kept in water. Coarse porcelain water tanks were well ventilated, good to keep Tofu, not easy to let it become bad. These three cottage rooms were well connected without walls, convenient for working. As soon as they were made and ready, these Tofu and folios were taken from the rear door to the pier, carried to the small boat, rowing to the neighbouring villages for sale. The local villagers usually came to the shop to pick(to buy).
In the backyard, a hen-house was built against the south wall of the grass cottage, with a bamboo cage outside for fattening chickens. All villagers raised chickens. Most young chickens were raised in the bamboo cage. At harvest season in the fall, it’s easy to carry the cage to the rice fields just harvested, let the growing chickens to feed on grains. There were always grains falling under the sickles. Young chickens became adults, then laid eggs, and raised in the hen-house. Afterwards, they could be raised outdoors, they didn’t come home. They wouldn’t lay eggs in the hen-house. The children in the village played a game similar to hide-and-seek. They would find eggs from those haystacks. The eggs were laid by the hens raised outdoors. If let them more in the wilderness, the hens would be lost. Therefore, the hen-house for adult chickens were built up and fixed. All local people raised chickens like this. Anran Liu was not an exception.
Against the north wall of the grass cottage, there was a pigsty on the west, next to one side of the River of Xianghe, with two tall and big trees, one was an elm, the other a locust. The tree shade well covered the pigsty. There was a half-grown pig with white and red hair and skin. You could tell the pig’s food was not bad. With a Tofu mill in the house, those leftovers naturally became good foodstuff for the pig. To raise a pig was very useful for most of the villagers. On the New Year’s Day and other festivals, all the expenses depended on the pig, Big expenses such as accessories and new clothes also came from the pig. The grains from the fields throughout the years were barely left for food after handing in public grain(* tax grain to the state). How could they talk about exchanging grains for money? They had to do some sidelines, such as raising chickens, ducks, geese, pigs and sheep, …… Otherwise, how could they make their living?
Someone came to do matchmaking for Chungen. “Well, it’s Ok now.” Chungen said to himself.
A few days later, words came from Yang’s Village, the girl wanted to see the man. This was different from before. In the past, a marriage was trusted by “Parents’ orders and matchmaker’s words”. Before the wedding ceremony, man and woman couldn’t see each other. Nowadays, everything was different. The girl was bold to ask to see the man. Here “look” only meant one side look at the other, not look at each other. As far as the present situation was concerned, Chungen had to offer himself for a look by Xuehua Yang. Chungen was in the light, Xuehua Yang was in the dark.
Even like this, Chungen could hardly hide his excitement. His heart was up and down. He couldn’t calm down. These days he tried to talk to his brother Chunyu when spraying pesticide in the fields. But this bad guy was very smart.He seemed to read out his brother’s thoughts and pretended to be indifferent, not active in the conversation, playing monkey tricks with him. Chungen got so angry that he didn’t even give a hand when Chunyu putting the heavy sprayer full of pesticide onto his shoulder. One sprayer of pesticide was finished, he had to add more river water to mix for dilution. A full sprayer of pesticide and water weighed heavy. It would save much energy with someone’s help when putting onto the shoulder. It took much more strength for only one person to do it.
Chunyu was not serious to do farm work. He was a substitute teacher in the elementary school in the village. He didn’t have much time to work in the fields in a year. Besides, he was not as strong as his elder brother. It was hard for him to put the full sprayer of pesticide and water onto his shoulder alone without help. It was different with Chungen. He was strong and short, which was a coincidence. When he slightly crouched downwards, pushed the two belts up to his shoulder, darted, the sprayer was soon on his shoulder. For this, Chunyu couldn’t manage it. Just now, after changing the pesticide and water, if it were not for the help of Genshui Lu, Chunyu couldn’t have managed it because Chungen didn’t help him with that. He looked annoyed. Three or five people, men and women, were spraying pesticides in the cotton fields. Might they laugh at him if this happened? Thank goodness. My elder brother couldn’t make me annoyed. God helped me. It was at the right time when Genshui Lu came. That solved the problem. Not to mention how happy Chunyu was. Putting the sprayer on his back again, he stared at Chungen beside him, meaning very clearly: Don’t ask me for any help later!
Genshui Lu was an agricultural technician in the village. It was very popular. He was in charge of seed production, seedling raising, pest control of the crops and field management. The agricultural technician knew everything about when to spray pesticide, and what kind of pesticide, what fertilizer to use. The requirement of a big collective cooperatives was to take concerted action: unified planting, fertilization, spraying pesticide and management. What the old man Chairman Mao told us was that only when all actions were under command and in step could we win.
Right now, it was the right time to kill and control cotton aphids in cotton fields. Genshui Lu was very busy. Dimethoate was used to kill cotton aphids. It was very toxic. If you didn’t know about the pesticide, you might get poisoned. But if you were afraid of getting poisoned, not using enough pesticide, there would be no effects, the cotton aphids wouldn’t be killed; If you didn’t know about the rules of using the pesticide, it would sure make damages, cotton aphids got killed, cotton died, too. Therefore, the proportioning of dimethoate and water was very important. Genshui Lu was responsible to teach the people who sprayed pesticide. They had to know that the villagers were not trained in the Agricultural Technological Station in the commune as Genshui was. They didn’t understand those principles. It wouldn’t work to teach them knowledge. Besides, they hardly read. They wouldn’t understand if you talked too much, and wouldn’t listen, either. As he was very smart, Genshui had a very good idea. He asked the people to use the bottle cover as a measurement. For a whole sprayer of water, put three covers of pesticide into it. If more cotton aphids, put three and half cover of pesticide, no more or less than that. The sprayer had to be full of water. Someone might ask what if the bottle covers had different sizes? That wouldn’t happen. This kind of toxic pesticide was usually taken care of by the agricultural technician. If put out somewhere, someone might drink it and die if she/he felt in despair. This was it. Every year it was always heard that some women in some village felt in despair and drank the Dimethoate and died. If someone tried to commit suicide on purpose, he could secretly get some and take home, no one would find it out. More often, the man who stole the dimethoate didn’t mean to commit suicide, but to save it to use in his own vegetable garden. But when it happened that someone felt in despair, suddenly, took it out from the wall corner and drank it up. No one found it and the toxicity of Dimethoate flew all over the body. It wouldn’t be strange if she didn’t die.
There were originally seven agricultural technicians in the village, one for each production team. It was changed after the new party secretary Xiangyuan took office, saying it was because of reduction of work points expenditure, from seven to one. Xiangyuan thought it over and again, picked faults with the seven technicians in various ways. Finally he selected Genshui to be left as the only one technician. According to Xiangyuan, Genshui was a good man, not only capable but also quick handed. What’s more important, he was the best to know about his job among the seven. To be responsible for all of these jobs, it wouldn’t do for a man like Mr. Nanguo①. He had to have real skills. From this perspective, Genshui set Xiangyuan’s mind at rest. So, from only a small technician in the Third Production Team, Genshui became the most important technician for the whole village of Xianghe, and naturally was a leader in the Brigade. When villagers saw his mother Lai Tizi, they would say that her ancestral tombs were well buried, green smoke was rising up now. Lai Tizi always nodded politely and answered, “Thanks to Secretary Xiangyuan. He is a great benefactor of Genshui.” However, this intelligent and smart Genshui did something bastard which was not intelligent and smart. That made his mother almost try to commit suicide, and Secretary Xiangyuan lost face. Let’s not mention it now.
Chunyu decided to take revenge on his brother because he almost made himself a fool when spraying pesticide in the cotton fields. He was thinking about it when opportunity came. Words from Xuehua Yang that she wanted to have a look at the man. Chungen was originally excited, but when it really came to him, he became uneasy and nervous. So today when spraying pesticide again in the cotton fields, in a while, Chungen went up to ask his brother, “Do you need to change water?” After a while, he went up again and asked, “Do you want to change pesticide?” Chunyu thoughthe had never done these for him before. It’s not that difficult for him. He was so eager to offer help, he must have something to ask him for. So Chunyu decided to be deaf to his brother and ignore him. He wanted to make Chungen surrender and tell him what he wanted from him. Thinking of this, Chunyu couldn’t help feeling proud. Short melon, next time he wouldn’t make fool of him again.
Short melon was a nickname of Chungen. Children and girls in the village would call him like this when making jokes. Chungen was too shy to take it seriously or suddenly to turn hostile. Children were not intelligent, why did you care about them? Those girls were unnecessary to chat up, he couldn’t be too serious with them. To be honest, any of such adult boys would feel lonely. Once in a while, making jokes with girls would make them feel better. To be a man, who wouldn’t think of getting a wife to love? Men would know well about this. Therefore men in the village seldom called Chungen his nickname, Short melon, it made him heart- broken just because of this he couldn’t get a wife yet. Chunyu dared not to call, only when he was very angry and unhappy, he would scold him secretly by saying Short melon to feel avenged.
People often said it’s difficult to ask for help, even between own brothers. Chungen had to go up to his brother and explain everything to him: Xuehua Yang wanted to have a look at him. He invited Chunyu to go with him. The two brothers went together, giving more courage. Although he was angry, as his brother, he couldn’t fold his arms and look on without doing anything to help him with the marriage. He could not but give him a hand. Moreover, it’s not that difficult. Just accompany his elder brother to stand for a while, being a lightbulb①. As he couldn’t decline his brother’s request, Chunyu agreed to help, going with him to let Xuehua Yang have a look.
Xuehua Yang chose the location where a movie was put on in Yang’s Village to have a look at Chungen. The movie was put on the playground of the elementary school. It was an outdoor movie, named <Armed Working Team in an Enemy- occupied Area>. According to the previous appointment, Chungen would stand beside the big table against the projector so that Xuehua could see him easily at a glance. By doing so, Xuehua would have some idea about whether to go further. She made the initiative.
The cultural life of the villagers was very monotonous. Among them, outdoor movies were very important. In the Xianghe area, there was only one movie team in the whole commune. It took almost one month for the team to come to the village. Thus when movie time came, all the people, old and young, in the village would come early with benches and tables, arranging seats on the spot.
Then had an earlier supper and went to sit waiting. People would glare at the big white cloth between the poles on the spot, for quite some time. Because there were tens of villages in the commune, only one movie team, one projector, three technicians, among whom was the leader. When the turn finally came, how could the village leaders not give a warm reception dinner? Because of this, the villagers had to be patient to glare at the big piece of white cloth for a while. Just wait.
In the countryside of the County of Chu, movie team was actually a movie boat. There were rules about which village the movie boat went to first, then next. It was regulated by the commune. The technician had no rights, even the team leader couldn’t make unauthorized changes. However, for sure there might be some exceptions. That was another pair of shoes. Actually, it depended on the good or bad personal relations between the movie team leader and leaders in the village. However, what movies to play, one or two movies were to play, all decided by the team leader. If you had internal information, you could ask the team leader in advance. When the turn came to the village, you could not only watch new movie, but also watch more than one, having a good time. The village had to know well about this favor. So as soon as the diesel engine of the movie boat squeaked on the river, the leaders arranged office workers to catch chickens and ducks in the villagers’ houses, to pick Tofu in the shop, to buy wine and cigarettes in the store, getting very busy.
“There will be a movie tonight!” “The movie boat is coming!” At first, the children got very excited and happy, jumping, hopping, shouting, crying out, running home. Soon the news of playing a movie tonight in the village spread out. Although it was still early in the afternoon, adults finished their work. As soon as the leader gave his order, everyone would go home to cook supper, then enjoy watching the movie. When it came to this kind of situation, the leader was very sensible. Everybody’s wishes couldn’t be neglected. So he cried out aloud, “Let’s call it a day and go to the movie!” The farmers quickly packed up their tools and went to their own home.
At this moment, on the playground of the Yang’s village school, full of long and short benches, high and low tables and chairs, one against another, crowded, clustered. Because the movie machine was not running yet, most people stood stretching out their shoulders, glaring at the white screen. Some were looking for people, others were saying hello to the acquaintances from neighboring villages. People who watched outdoor movies were not limited to the local village. There were many adults and children from the neighboring villages. In the Xianghe area, villages were not far away from each other. If the wind was favorable, when the movie was playing in one village, people in the other village could sit at their doors hearing the actor’s lines in the movie. The villagers did farming as a business all the year around. They rarely went to the county town. Even if they went into town, they were reluctant to pay a few cents for a ticket to watch a movie in the cinema. That would cost the work points of a few days. In order to watch an outdoor movie, it was common and usual to walk one or two kilometers of country roads, sometimes even took off their clothes holding them high up in the hand and swam cross the river.
“Wow, Wow,” people on the playground cried out. In people’s anxious waiting, the movie projectionist Guibao, smelling alcohol all over, came to the machine, accompanied by village leaders. Although he drank half a catty of barley liquor, Guibao was still quick-handed. Taking a movie film from the huge wooden box under the big table, he installed in the frame of the machine. His right hand pushed the edge of the plate for a turn, he pulled a long film. Then put the head of the film into the empty plate on the other hand. Everything was ready, Guibao opened the microphone beside the machine, cleared his voice and said, “Attention, please. The movie is starting immediately.” “Don’t talk nonsense. Do it.” It seemed that the villagers didn’t like Guibao’s opening speech. People started to stir up before Guibao finished speaking. Guibao didn’t care about it. He had worked for this for many years. He was a senior film projectionist. What kind of scenes hadn’t he seen? What’s the use of your anxiousness? If I didn’t start, what would you see? “Why are you so noisy? Do not shout. Attention, please. The movie is starting immediately.” Guibao repeated the words interrupted just now, went on saying, “The movie tonight is very interesting, called <Armed Working Team in an Enemy-occupied Area.>” “Wow——”, “Hush——”. The playground became very noisy. Chungen stood beside the machine, with a very clear view. Most of the people who continuously cried “Wow——” were from Yang’s Village, they seemed very excited and hadn’t seen this movie. All the people who shouted”Hush——” were from other villages, walked a few kilometers, hadn’t seen this movie, either. They were not very happy. This movie was once played in Xianghe Village. So it didn’t matter much for Chungen to see the movie. He came here for Xuehua to have a look at him. Chunyu stayed with his brother, looking all the way to the machine. This was incredible. Thin films were only turned around, and those pictures would be shown on the screen lively, as same as real. Looking at Guibao, Chunyu couldn’t help admiring him. Although Guibao and Chungen were at the same age, they were different. Chungen was a muddy leg, a total farmer. Guibao was different, a movie projectionist, enjoyed public security, was well treated and respected wherever he went. Because he had a public job, many matchmakers went to his house. Look, he was lucky to become son-in-law of Director Wang in the commune. He married Wang’s second daughter, Wang Erya, who was one of the most beautiful girls in the village. She was a nurse in the Health Care Center. It happened that both of them had the same family name Wang. Director Wang had only two daughters, no sons. Right now Guibao Wang’s child was three years old. He was very lucky. Chunyu suddenly thought of the purpose of coming herewith his brother tonight. “See who is Xuehua Yang?” Chunyu whispered to his brother. “So many people. It’s so dark. How can I see her?” Although Chungen said these words,he had hoped to see Xuehua at heart. “Besides, we don’t recognize her.”
Chunyu heard this, he realized his tone showed that he could do nothing about it. At this time he forgot all about taking avenge on his brother, looking here and there, trying to identify Xuehua Yang from the crowd so that Chungen could feel relieved. Who made them blood brothers? It was often said that father and son were brothers in battle. This was true. Chungen and Chunyu were thinking of how to find out Xuehua,although they had different purposes.
Guibao was not that busy now. The machine was running round with hissing. It was too early to change films. For outdoor movies, there was only one nose. Films had to be placed one by one. After one was finished, the machine had to stop, took the old one out and placed the new one. There were quite a few films for one movie. It depended on the projectionist’s skills. If not very skilled, too much films were rolled over and the movie would not be seen completely, When the films were burned, without proper treatment, the films would be empty for a huge section. It was different in the cinema in town. It’s exciting to see a movie from the beginning to the end within one breath. People often said that they could sing any songs on any mountains. Don’t talk about things in the city when you were in the countryside. Otherwise, why did the government cry to eliminate the “Three Big Differences” between the city and the countryside?
At this time, Guibao finally got free time, took two cigarettes of “Economy”① from his upper pocket of Zhongshan Suit②. One for himself, the other for Chungen. At that time, most villagers smoked Dry tobacco bag③. They took off the tobacco leaves from their own fields, dried them under the sun, hang them on the ventilated eaves. When they wanted to smoke, they pulled down a few pieces, crumbled them, packed them in a small cloth bag, tied to a copper cigarette pole. After that, took out the crumbled tobacco, put them into the nest, lit it, enjoyed themselves by smoking with blowing clouds. Smoking cigarettes was a person of status. The villagers couldn’t afford it. The secretary, leaders in the village, who worked for the commune, could smoke cigarettes. Sure, there were different classes of cigarettes. A slang said like this:
Leaders in the commune smoke Liangbianfen,
The secretary in the brigade smokeSijiaoben,
The production team leader smoke Bafen,
All the members smokeYanwomen.
“Liangbianfen” referred to a cigarette brand called “Large Front Door”. Door in Chinese character was pronounced Men, written in traditional character, separated very much in the Logo. So people all remembered this special handwriting, and not long after, it became the byword for the cigarette brand. “Sijiaoben” referred to the brand “Flying Horse”. This kind of cigarettes were lower class than “Large Front Door”, but still very good. On the box of this brand, there was a flying horse with four legs, so called “Sijiaoben” meaning, four legs flying. “Bafen” meant 8 cents for a box of cigarettes. “Yanwomen” meant Dry tobacco bags. Skilled smoker put the pipe into the cloth bag,Bang, took it out, pressed it with the fingers, lit it and began to smoke silently and alone. “Men” meant the smoker prepared the tobacco silently and never invited others to smoke together. Those who smoked cigarettes usually offered to other people, “Take one.” No one would offer a dry tobacco to others around. The villagers all knew that dry tobacco was not very decent. There were also a few slang about it. “You smoke when you feel worried. You cough when you smoke. Feel sorry to throw it away.”
After all, Guibao was the son-in-law of Xiangge Village. His father-in-law used to be the party secretary for many years, then was promoted to be deputy director of the Commune Revolutionary Committee. No matter he was director or deputy- director. The villagers didn’t care about that. They called him as “Director Wang” whenever they saw him. No one ever called him “Deputy Director Wang”. It’s easy to talk with cigarettes. The two men lit their cigarettes. Guibao asked Chungen, “Why did you two brothers come to see the movie? This was played in our village before.” You could feel some kind of intimacy between words. He regarded Xianghe Village as his own.
Chungen had something in mind. He felt a little bit uneasy when he was asked by a regular sentence by Guibao. One hand quickly took away the cigarette from his mouth,the other hand grasped his head consciously, “Yeah.” His reply sounded vague. Chunyu suddenly said,” Looking for someone.” His eyes were looking around him. Just now, Guibao shared cigarettes with his brother, but didn’t offer him. So he was not very happy. “I don’t like a cheap cigarette like Economic brand from you. I don’t want it even you offer.” In fact, many young men like Chunyu in the village did smoke. But Chunyu didn’t smoke. Anran smoked all his life. It smelled cigarettes when he opened his mouth, a bad smell. Chunyu dared not tell him to his face, but secretly disliked the smell of smoke in his body and mouth. So men of his age smoked and asked him to smoke, he refused with solid attitude. Although I didn’t smoke, Guibao shouldn’t have treated me by not offering me a cigarette. Chunyu didn’t even look at his eyes. Sure Guibao was not that stingy to offer Chunyu a cigarette. He did this for a reason. In the face of his brother Chungen, he couldn’t be too obvious. For the reason of Erya Wang, he had a knot in his heart with Chunyu.
Chunyu was, wholeheartedly, thinking of helping his brother to look for the girl, looking here and there. He never dreamed of making trouble instead of helping his brother.
The matchmaker Duck Li pulled Xuehua to look to the side of the machine, “Look, he is standing beside the big table.” She said as she pointed to that side. As it happened, it was time to change the films. The light on the pole set up beside the machine was lit up. While the projectionist Guibao was changing the films, Xuehua looked to the side directed by Duck Li’s fingers. She saw a tall man, with bright eyes, energetic. “How do you like him?” asked Duck Li. As a girl, she was a little bit shy. Xuehua was a little bit ashamed to speak out a man’s impression upon her. “You don’t have to say. Shaking your head means No. Nodding means Yes.” Duck Li told her about the ways to agree or disagree. Xuehua saw the man beside the machine. She nodded silently. Duck Li thought, oh, my, at long last, it was well done.