Memory of Deserted Village: Volume 1

By Zhenyinfang

Wangcun's memory

• Language: English
• Publisher: Funstory
• Release date: Mar 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781648573163

Book preview

CONTENTS

CHAPTER 1 - C1

CHAPTER 2 - C2

CHAPTER 3 - C3

CHAPTER 4 - C4

CHAPTER 5 - C5

CHAPTER 6 - C6

CHAPTER 7 - C7

CHAPTER 8 - C8

CHAPTER 9 - C9

CHAPTER 10 - C10

CHAPTER 11 - C11

CHAPTER 12 - C12

CHAPTER 1 - C1

The villagers all called the fruit of the bracts as bracts. It was already harvest time, and due to the good summer rains, the bracts were very sturdy. They were over a foot long, just like small sticks. The leaves of the bract rice were starting to turn yellow, and its purple roots clung to the soil beneath its feet. No matter how strong the wind was, it would not fall, and would live up to the expectations of the farmers. I could see it from here, piled up in the farmyard with golden bracts of rice and the big yellow bracts of rice pasted on the sides of every family pot in the village. A gust of wind blows and the whole field will be filled with the sound of hualala. This sound is the note of happiness, the music of harvest …

Beneath his feet was a land of generosity, nurturing those who worked diligently and were kind, and nurturing those hooligans who always wanted to get what they wanted without working. At night, there would always be people who would come out in tricycles to steal rice. On the roads between the fields, the tricycles were nimble, they stole rice and drove away, but they couldn't even catch a shadow. My uncle Bao Daniu was such a person. Ever since he had contracted the land to someone else, he had bought a tricycle, and when the rice was ripe, he would often go out at night to steal other people's rice. During the day, he pretended to be impartial and virtuous. Every time he met more people, he would talk loudly, and regardless of whether other people liked it or not, his words would always roll in his head like fart. If someone spoke to him out of politeness, he would immediately get into a good mood. Not more than ten sentences later, he began to tell them about his family history, proudly claiming that he was a descendant of Genghis Khan, whom he had hoped to hear reverently, but every one who listened to him had the word disdainful written clearly on their faces, and they all thought to themselves: Just insult Genghis Khan. He didn't seem to notice. On the contrary, he became more and more talkative and his voice became more and more high-pitched, as if the student leaders of the May Fourth Youth Movement were encouraging the people to fight for power outside the country and punish the traitors inside. His words never went beyond the details, and from time to time he came up with the simplest terms to ask his listeners if they understood.

Once, I met Old Liang on the road. He had a wild duck in his hand, and when I asked him how he had caught it, he said he had shot it with a crossbow. So we talked about the crossbow on the road. At this point, my uncle Bao Daniu came back with the sheep. He heard us talking about the crossbows and joined in the conversation, but he made the crossbow sound like milk. He asked us loudly, No, you know what milk is? Milk is milk. Old Liang and I had nothing to say to each other as we hurried away, but as I was busy, I tripped over bricks on the road and said to myself, This road is not built well.

Bao Daniu didn't miss the opportunity to ask: Do you know what is the road?

I really don't know about that!

Why are you so stupid? The road is between two drains for people and traffic.

A drain is a long, hollow pit that has been dug by hand. It is used to drain water. It is called a drain. The ditch was made with a shovel. Do you know what a shovel is?

Old Liang and I looked at each other. That's even more so. Uncle, you're really knowledgeable. So, what's the name of the gap between the thighs?

You're too stupid. Isn't that just a shitty ditch?

Old Liang and I quickly fled.

Now that the bracts are ripe, I go to the fields every night to prevent the village hooligans from stealing them. In the long and slow days of the People's Commune a few decades ago, there was a kind of farming that looked at autumn, and now it was gone. But now, there were people stealing rice, so people had no choice but to come out and watch the fall. At that time, after the first autumn of each year, when the weather began to turn cold and the dew fell in the night, the tall stalks of the crops rushed to maturity, one day at a time, looking just like the adolescent girls, rich and radiant. In those days, there was widespread poverty in the countryside. When families were unable to eat their fill, someone had already set his eyes on these semi-mature crops, Ten members are nine thieves, whoever doesn't want to starve to death will have to do so. Therefore, the production team leader had to arrange for someone to watch over the crops at night. This was called watching over the autumn. The so-called tall stalks of crops, are tall body of bracts rice, sorghum and other crops. Autumn is a very pleasant life, with a straw mat spread out under me, lying in the field in a simple hut, head on a pickaxe handle, looking at the sky full of stars and the moon like a hook, the cool breeze blowing gently, blowing away the day's fatigue, unknowingly fell asleep. There was another benefit to watching the autumn, which was that he could steal from under his watch. The male laborers who watched the autumn walked through the village at dusk with mats and bedrolls between them. They used their heavy, firm steps to tell everyone that no one was watching the autumn tonight and that no one was going to steal it. In the latter half of the night, watching the children of the autumn family sneakily came to the autumn crops, brazenly stealing. At that time, everyone was hungry to the point of going crazy. When they saw something that they could eat, they quickly stuffed it into their mouths. So when the two of them met on the road, they said, Did you eat? Even if one person did not eat, the other person would not treat him to it. No matter how tight the defense was, there would always be a loophole. There would always be people who would take advantage of the night to steal the rice. Moreover, the success rate of stealing the rice was almost one hundred percent. At this time, the brigade department's security officer and nurse Xiao, the big belly, will be wandering in the village alleyway. It was said that he was able to eat fifteen steamed buns and three big bowls of pork stew, so people called him Big Belly. As for his real name, very few people knew it. That day, with the big socialist stick in his hand, he strode with firm socialist steps to visit the bramble thieves who had dug up the walls of the socialist society. His small, beady eyes were vigilant as he observed every trace in the village alleyway. His hard work paid off. He finally found a few bract rice sticks that had been chewed on by a pig in a house. A faint evil smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. He finally found evidence that this family stole the bract rice. It turned out that he had seduced the mistress of this house before, but she had not taken the bait and hated him for her love. At this moment, old and new hatred welled up in his heart. So he taught the school's Red Guards to tie the bran sticks together with a thin hemp rope and hang them around the old woman's neck. Then he made her hold a worn aluminum urinal in her hand and beat the urinal while he yelled, I stole the bracts. A bunch of bracts is fine. I have no money. I gave it to a pig." Following behind was a large group of children jeering. That woman had lost all her face in front of everyone, and her dignity had been trampled on until it was completely gone …

On this night, the night was not very good. The sky was covered with swimming black clouds, sometimes covering the moon, making the world seem pitch-black. Occasionally, the moon would emerge from the clouds, illuminating the world as if it were day. According to the village elders, this night was called Yin-Yang Night, it was a night where ghosts moved frequently. If one went out, one would encounter moving ghosts. I'm not afraid of these so-called ghosts. I'm only in awe of them. Reverence was not a superstitious act nor was it a profound theory. It was the most universal moral code in a real society.

The bracts that go to my house pass by a graveyard where mulberry and elm trees grow. When I arrived at the bracts, I felt a cold wind blowing through my body, making me feel uncomfortable. Following the direction of the cold wind, I saw that, under the hazy moonlight, the mulberry and elm trees in the graveyard were swaying strangely. They were not very tall, but their shadows under the moonlight were very large.

In the fall of the north, when the sun was still blazing during the day and the wind was cool at night, the whole field was filled with the chirping of the insects, so pleasant that they had no idea that the cold season was coming down on the land where they lived, and that their lives would soon wither in the changing climate. In fact, the bugs lived very freely, they lived far away from the noise of the world and only cared about the things closest to them, they were not worried about today's matters, they did not worry about tomorrow's matters, they ate and drank as they pleased, no wonder Qu Yuan also envied this kind of life where one drank the dew of magnolia, the flower of autumn and autumn fell, and they lived very peacefully, so they were very happy.

I gathered some dry branches from the elms at the edge of the graveyard, and some tender bracts from the bracts. I made a fire at the edge of the ground, and set the bracts on top of the fire. Not long after, the air was filled with the fragrance of roasted rice. After a while, the bracts were cooked, and I took a ear and began to eat them one by one, so that I could eat more elegantly and not black in the mouth. The roasted rice grains were slightly crispy and tasted very good. They were carefully chewed and slowly swallowed. There was even a hint of sweetness in them. In a remote countryside, pick a persimmon or pull a cucumber out of a random plot of land. You don't need to wash it or use your hands to roll it up and you can just put it in your mouth. Yes, there's nothing up there. Apart from some dry raindrops, some marks of wind, some sun temperatures, most of all, there is an untimely bug. However, they were all fragrant. It was a type of clean fragrance, and the same goes for the rice bracts.

At this moment, the sounds of children chattering could be heard from the graveyard. The sound was getting closer and closer. I felt that it was strange. Why did a group of children come so late at night? The children came to my side, talking and laughing. I looked and saw that I didn't recognize any of these