The Ups and Downs of the Commoners Page #11

This non-fiction novel tells the life of ordinary commoners in the middle of the 20th century in China, from the series of movements such as "Land Reform", "Great Leap Forward", "Cultural Revolution" and "Educated Youth Going to the Countryside" to the early days of Reform and Opening-up. The book has four volumes, and was published by Hong Kong Chinese International Publishing House in 2015. The protagonist of this book, Fang Zhengben, was born into a bankrupt family of landowners. Their family has lived in Taiqing Town for generations. When he was six years old, he left Taiqing Town with his parents and came to Longyun Mountain, where the mountains overlap. From then on, he began an unusual life: their family hard work, but they couldn't eat enough; he yearned for reading, but he has dropped out of school three times before graduating from junior high school; he is diligent and studious, with excellent grades, but the door of colleges is

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The big boy looked back at the below of the mountain, pointed to a thatched cottage not far from Fang Zhengben's home, and said, "That is our home." He then asked Fang Zhengqing, "What is your name?" "My name is Fang Zhengqing, my nickname is Qingyuan." Fang Zhengqing said, "This is my young brother, called Fang Zhengben. What about you?" The big boy said: "My name is Fang Xinyou. This is my young brother, Fang Xinlin." From then on they got to know each other.
Knowing that the Fang Zhengqing and Fang Zhengben had just come out of the street and were afraid of climbing a steep slope, Fang Xinyou pointed to a relatively flat lawn under his feet and said, "You can't climb steep slope, just here cut!" After speaking, he still to and Fang Xinlin go back to the original cliff and cut the grass. Fang Zhengqing and Fang Zhengben watching helplessly at the lush grass on the cliff face blankly, but they didn't have the guts go and cut the grass, so they had to admit defeat.
The Fang Xinyou brothers soon filled their back baskets. Next, they upright inserted one handful of grass tight next to the other in the upper part of the back basket, piled up into a  circular  grass heap, known as "inserting the tail", which stood high on the back baskets. It looks very nice. Before they left, they came to chat with the Fang Zhengqing brothers for a while, and agreed to come back to this mountain tomorrow.
Brothers Fang Zhengqing learned the next day that Xinyou Fang was studying in the first grade of Lianghekou Primary School. These days, it was Agricultural busy leave, so he went up the mountain to cut the grass with his young brother. As a result, for days, four of they went to Yueya Ridge to collect firewood and cut the grass. The reason why they are happy to come here is because there are several advantages to coming here: First, because this mountain forest belongs to a family of distant cousins surnamed Meng, they see children pick up for some firewood; they usually don't embarrass children when; Second, although there are not rich firewood and grass resources here, it is not far from home and convenient to travel. If you are tired, you can enjoy the cool under the tall Cypress trees. When you are happy, you can play in the bushes without being caught by your parents; third, there are some wild fruits on this mountain, so they can find something to eat. At this time, it is the season when the mulberry fruit are ripe. They cut the grass for a while and can pick the fruit die   from the mulberry trees. If lucky, they can also find some peanuts stored by the magpies on the cliff; it is estimated that time later, they will also find sweet and crisp jujubes from wild jujube trees.
After Fang Xinyou brothers pointed out, Fang Zhengqing and Fang Zhengben quickly got it some mountain names and place names in the mountains gully. Under the mountain to the east of Yueya Ridge, there is a big weir pond, and the calm water surface is like a huge silver mirror. The sun rising in the east shone on the water, reflecting the rays of sunshine in the direction of Yueya Ridge. There is a temple under the cliff to the east of Dayan Pond. The temple is not big, facing south, leaning against a stone cliff, with flying eaves, small and exquisite. According to legend, there was   year, disease was epidemic here, and then someone met a fairy in a dream. The fairy told him that by drinking the spring water flowing out from this stone cliff, he would be free from disease. This news quickly spread throughout the village. People rushed to fetch water under the stone cliff. Anyone who drank that water was cured. So some people talk, that fairy is the incarnation of Avalokiteshvara, and that spring water is the holy water sprinkled by Avalokiteshvara. The locals were grateful for the compassionate Avalokiteshvara, so they raised money to build this small temple for her, called Shenquan Temple, so that she can enjoy worship of  her in the temple forever. The village where they are located is therefore named Shenquan Village. A high mountain blocking the east, at this time, the mountain is full of green grass, just like a green screen, people call it Cuiping Mountain. A peak rises from its northern ridge, resembling an Egypt's Pyramid, and it is called Jinzi Peak. The highest in the north is Manao Mountain, which is also the highest point in Lingjing County. This mountain is beautiful and fascinating.
Together with the Fang Xinyou brothers, the Fang Zhengqing brothers also learned a lot of common sense about collecting firewood and cut the grass, and they gradually became bolder. They used a sickle to dig out a pit on the cliff where only the less than half of the foot can be placed. They leaned against the cliff and stepped on the pit, they can also cut the grass in the steep cliff, and the efficiency of cut the grass is also higher.
Because they became more and more familiar with each other, Fang Xinyou brothers taught Fang Zhengqing brothers a kind of game that a cow-herding kid played while cut the grass, called "hit the stake." Fang Xinyou plucked a branch and inserted it on the flat ground as a target, called a "stake". He to dig a small pit ten steps away, is a starting point, and asked everyone participating in the game to put a bunch of grass on the ground, stand behind the small pit, and throw the sickle at the "stake". Whoever's sickle is close to the "stake", whoever is the winner, all the grass on the ground will belong to him. He explained and demonstration. Fang Zhengqing brothers found it fun and would often play this game with Fang Xinyou brothers.

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