The Ups and Downs of the Commoners Page #12

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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After cutting the grass that day, Fang Xinyou said: "Go, today I will take you on a shortcut, I promise to be much closer than the road you used to take." Hearing that there is a shortcut to take, the two brothers are of course willing, and say: "Shortcuts are the best!" Fang Xinyou led the Fang Zhengqing brothers up the Yueya Ridge until they reached the middle section of Yueya Ridge, and went down two slopes to the left to the edge of the cliff. He pointed to the cliff below and said, "Go down from here." After speaking, he turned around and faced the cliff, holding the rock with both hands and moving down, as if were a Spiderman. He quickly reached the bottom of the cliff. Followed by he is Fang Xinlin, he continued with the same action. Then, Fang Zhengqing followed their way and moved down. It was Fang Zhengben's turn. He stood on the edge of the cliff and looked down: the cliff is about seven or eight meters high, and there are only a few naturally formed very irregular small ladders about three to four fingers wide, it can be used for climbing; What’s more frightening is that under the cliff is a steep slope of fifty or sixty meters long. There are sparse weeds on the slope, and there are no trees to block. If the climber misses a little, if he slips down, he will roll all the way to foot of the mountain. Fang Zhengben was very worried that he would fall down himself, his heart pounded was like beat a drum. He look at his elder brother, he was just halfway the cliff. Saw him tilting his head, pressing half of his face against the cliff, grasping the rock tightly with both hands, and looking down with slanted eyes, looking for a place to put his feet. He moved down step by step, and finally moved to under the cliff. They all put down their back baskets in under the cliff, and stood there to cheer for Fang Zhengben: "Don't be afraid! It's okay!" Fang Zhengben mustered the courage, and imitation his elder brother, started this adventure.
In the upper half of the cliff, the cliff was slightly inclined. His body could still lean forward slightly, and he could see his feet slightly, and can move down compare smoothly; but when in the middle the cliff, the cliff became a vertical face, just like knife cut, the ladder on that precipice can only put half of its foot. Because he was still carrying a basket of grass on his back, the center of gravity naturally shifted to the outside of the cliff, and he had to rely on his hands to firmly grasp the rock above in order to barely maintain his balance; as long as he let go, or the foot is not steady, he will fall descend the cliff. Fang Zhengben tried to move down. He pressed his face against the on the cliff, and want to see his under feet, but he couldn't see anything. "On your right! On your right!" The people below shouted. Fang Zhengben knew what they meant, and grasped the rock with both hands, and stretched out his right foot to testing the lower right. Unexpectedly, he is very small, short legs, and all missed several times in a row.  Unable to reach the ladder below, he panicked. He wanted to go back and climb up, but his hand couldn't touch the upper ladder. At this moment, he wanted to go up and couldn't, he wanted to down and couldn't. He was even more anxious, and he was so scared that he was sweating coldly, and soul flies out of the body. "Don't worry! Don't worry!" the people below shouted eagerly. Fang Zhengben had no choice but to regain his concentration, grasping the rock tightly, holding his breath, and then stretched his right foot down again to try. His toes finally touched the next ladder, and he was relieved.
He this groped and moved down step by step.
"Only the last ladder!" He heard his elder brother shout happily. But the last ladder was too high, and Fang Zhengben's legs were really not that long, so he couldn't get down anyway. At this time, Fang Xinyou found a stone and placed it underneath. Fang Zhengqing reached out to support his back basket.
Seeing Fang Zhengben finally came down, everyone let out a long sigh of relief. Fang Zhengben took a closer look at that section of the cliff, it turned out to be the only rock formation on the west side of Yueya Ridge where there is less weathering, and you can directly climb up and down.
This way, it did save two-thirds of the journey. Despite the danger, they sometimes choose to take this shortcut to save time.
Just before breaking up, Fang Zhengqing asked: "Are you still going to Yueya Ridge tomorrow?" Fang Xinyou said: "Tomorrow is the Dragon Boat Festival, we don't go! After the Dragon Boat Festival, I should go to school again. When the summer vacation the beginning, we will be together again.”


Chapter 4

On the Dragon Boat Festival, when  got up in the morning, Wang Qihui said to Fang Zhengqing: "Qingyuan, you go to  the house's behind, go pick some   Calamus  and Artemisia argyi , Come back and hang on the door frame. The Calamus looks like  the  Sword , Hanging on the door frame, can get rid of evil. Hanging Artemisia argyi on the door frame, in addition to being able to get rid of evil, you can also use it as a medicine in the future. It can   relieve pain. In the future, if you encounter a stomachache, just drink the wormwood decoction collected during the Dragon Boat Festival, and the pain will be relieved immediately.” She finished making arrangements and went to make breakfast. Fang Zhengqing heard that Calamus and Artemisia argyi had many benefits, so he immediately followed his mother's instructions. He believed that as long as these two things were hung on the door frame, they would be able to live a peaceful year.
After breakfast, Fang Xinwen was anxious to go to the market to prepare something for the Dragon Boat Festival today.  Before he left, Wang Qihui specially reminded: "Don't forget, you have to buy some fragrant powder back!"  Fang Xinwen said, "I know, you are going to make some sachets again." According to the custom, during the Dragon Boat Festival, the Chinese pharmacies on the street will use the fragrant Chinese medicinal materials such as Agastache, cinnamon, Kaempferia , and Artemisia argyi to grind them into powder, called fragrant powder, for women to make sachets. It be not only an ornament, but also a medicinal function.
After Fang Xinwen left, Wang Qihui said to Fang Zhengqing and Fang Zhengben: "On this day of Dragon Boat Festival, many kinds of  weeds can be used as medicine. Today we went to the mountain to gather some herbs come back, add water, boiling them, and let the whole family take a bath. This can detoxify and protect the family from sores and illnesses for a whole year." She said that she took her two sons, going out, going around the Yueya Ridge and Wangjia tomb, collected some Bupleurum, Mulberry leaves,  plantain, gentiana cabra bge,  Lysimachia, Verbena officinalis L, Wild chrysanthemum, Wild Zanthoxylumsimulans leaves, etc. When they came back from the mountain, they collected some Perilla frutescens, Agastache rugosa, Citrus leaves, fresh Bamboo leaves, Artemisia argyi and Calamus behind the house. All the herbs were put together, and there was a large back basket in total. Wang Qihui took it out and washed it for later use.

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