The Ups and Downs of the Commoners Page #16

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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Zeng Sanxing and Zhang Chunxiang heard the news, also came out of the house. Fang Xinwen said: "This is not one person stealing peaches, at least two or more people." Zeng Sanxing scolded angrily: "Whoever is so wicked, is going to be punished!" Fang Xinwen searched around the peach tree, hoping to find some clues. As a result, he found some footprints in the cornfield under the peach tree, and found some peach leaves on the roadside outside the cornfield. It seemed to indicate which direction the thief came from, but Zhang Chunxiang said, that it may be the thief ’s intentional layout so to confuse the owner of. Wang Qihui said: "Today is the day to go to the fair in Yong'an Town. We can go to Yong'an Town right away to see who is selling peaches in this village?" Zhang Chunxiang said, "This is useless! 'Every household has white pigs'. You went, and seeing anyone in the village selling peaches there, what can you do to others? If there is a peach tree at home, you naturally have no reason to ask him; if there is no peach tree at home, he cannot buy peaches to sell? You also have no reason to ask him. Besides, when you rush to the market now, the thief has sold the peaches. Who can you find? " A few people talked  a while. Fang Xinwen thinks what Zhang Chunxiang said is reasonable, what can the footprints and peach leaves explain? I only complain that my family has just moved here and are not familiar with the people and the environment, can only admit that we ourselves are unlucky. He then said: "It seems that the search is in vain. Let's drop it!" The family had to return home in gloomily.
In the afternoon, Meng Anmin and Meng Anning, who were asked to help pick peaches, came. Meng Anmin also brought his youngest daughter, Meng Yongxiu. The two brothers were surprised to see that the peaches were stolen and the peach trees were ruined so badly. They scolded angrily, “Who is so vicious and so cruel! You in this way bully someone who just moved, will not have a good result!" Fang Xinwen said: "Fortunately, not all of peaches was picked, and can pick the a little." Everyone worked together and picked the remaining peaches, but it was more than half less than previously estimated.
This Meng Yongxiu is small but her eyebrow and eyes are very nice, with two small dimples on his face, which is very flattering. Wang Qihui was very affectionate towards her, chose a big and red peach, bent down, smiled and said to her: "Yongxiu, come, eat the peach!" Meng Yongxiu generously took the peach, wiped it on the clothes, and then Tilted his head to eat. After she finished eating the peaches, she couldn't stay there after playing under the tree for a while, and she said to her dad, "Dad, I want to go back." Wang Qihui said, "Why go back? You're right here, eat supper after a while, and go back with your dad!"  She said to the Fang Zhengben said: "Zhengben, you accompany Meng Yongxiu back to the house to play!" Fang Zhengben happily promised: "Okay!" Meng Yongxiu no longer said that she wanted to go home.
When Meng Yongxiu came to Fang Zhengben's house, she became thick interested in some of their items. She was first attracted by those ones glass or ceramic vases with ruffled edges. She kept hold them in her hands and look at them over and over, and asked, "What is this thing made for?" Fang Zhengben said, "This is a vase, used for flower arranging." She saw that the table in their house had drawers, carved flowers around, and each side of the table top had a raised edge, and there were things like snare drums on all four legs. She also feel it strange, and asked: "This Why is the table made like this? There are drawers." Fang Zhengben explained, "I heard from the family that this is a table used to play mahjong before, so it is made like this." Meng Yongxiu had never seen such a table before, so she walked around the table, and to open a drawer. She seeing that there were many small pieces of paper, with human figures on it, and asked, "What is this again?" Fang Zhengben said: "This is photos, take it out and see it!" The two took out some photos, and looked at them for a while. Every time he looked at a picture, Meng Yongxiu asked: "Whose is this?" Fang Zhengben only knew his father who was wearing a top hat, and looked young and handsome. He didn't know the others. Then, they played "hide and seek" in the house for a while, until the adults came back after picking the peaches.
The next morning, Fang Xinwen accompanied Meng Anmin and Meng Anning to Taiqing Town, sold the peaches, and returned with some rice and wheat home.
Since the grain returned was much less than the budget, Wang Qihui always tried to find food substitutes to add.
After a heavy rain, Wang Qihui to Fang Zhengqing and Fang Zhengben said: "Qingyuan, Zhengben, it had just rained in the sky last night, and the Ground fungus on the mountain must have swell and it was just suitability to pick it up and eat it. Go, let's go up the mountain to pick up the Ground fungus.” The two brothers originally liked to eat Ground fungus. When they heard that they were to pick them up, they happily followed their mother to the hillside behind the house.
While picking up Ground fungus, Wang Qihui said, “The easiest thing to get and can edible on this mountain probably is this Ground fungus. As long as it is where the grass grows, you can basically find it.” Fang Zhengqing and Fang Zhengben pick firewood up, mowing, on the mountain every day, know where there are more Ground fungus. After a while, the mother and sons three picked up it and fill up to a big basket.
Wang Qihui put the ground fungus he picked up in a bamboo sieve, took it to the pool in front of the door, washed it, took it home, cooked, and put it on the table. The whole family found it quite fresh and ate a lot. Wang Qihui smiled and said, "Since you all like to eat, then we will pick up more Ground fungus and come back to eat it in the future."

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