The Ups and Downs of the Commoners 2 Page #6

This book is the second volume of the novel "The Ups and Downs of the Commoners". It will tell you about caused by the disastrous consequences of the "Great Leap Forward" and the People's Commune Movement in China in the middle of the last century to the livelihood of the Commoners, as well as the difficult path of study of the protagonist of this book, Fang Zhengben.

• Novel

								

Wang Qihui saw Fang Zhengben come back, and simply said: "You are back!" She looked at her son carefully a few times, saw that he was obviously better than when he was at home, and asked: "Zhengben, can you eat enough at school?" Fang Zhengben said: "I can eat enough!" "What do you eat at school?" "There are about 100 grams of rice per meal, and I eat pork once a week!" "How much pork are there at once?" "It’s more than 90 grams." Hearing her son say that he had about 100 grams of rice per meal and ate pork once a week, a satisfied smile appeared on her thin and sallow face. Her son fell into the "nest of happiness", which made her feel extremely gratified.
Since Fang Zhengben went to school, Wang Qihui has often worried about his life at school: I wonder if he whether or not adapting there? Is life as difficult as at home? Now listening to her son say this, she can finally rest assured.
Fang Zhengben found that her mother was thinner than before, and her face was more yellow than before. The chronic hunger caused her body to collapse completely. How she needs nutrition! Look at the little brother again, the thin and bloodless face and a pair of deeply sunken eyes are really pitiful. This week, when the student canteen was eating meat, he also thought about leaving his share of meat, but it was only Wednesday that day, it was too early, and it  will rot away, so he dismissed the idea again.
At this time, his father, who had never spoken, asked from the side: "Have you written to your paternal aunt?" Fang Zhengben said: "I wrote it just after the start of school." "It's good that you wrote the letter. Let's see if she can think of a little more way for you there.”
Several people were talking, when they suddenly heard the sound of hoes being lowered outside the door, and at the same time heard a sound like some heavy object hitting the ground. Fang Zhengben hurriedly stood outside the door, and saw that it was the older brother who was throwing a tree stump to on the ground, and hurriedly shouted: "Older brother!" Fang Zhengqing also hurriedly replied: "Uh! - You're back! ”
Fang Zhengben didn't wait for his older brother to enter the house, so he asked eagerly: "I went to the reservoir to look for you that day, but I didn't find you. People there say that your Art Troupe has been disbanded. What the hell is going on?" Fang Zhengqing saw his younger brother ask this, and only then did he say the reason for the dissolution of the Reservoir Art Troupe.
It turned out that most of the people in this reservoir Art Troupe were a group of old theater fans from near Taiqing Town, and they all loved Sichuan opera. Since coming to Art Troupe, this group of people has really been like a fish in water, blowing ,playing and singing all day, and living very well, but they rehearse and perform old plays such as "Wenzhao Pass" and "Cutting the Yellow Robe", which cannot meet the requirements of the leaders of the reservoir command that, "the performance content should be novel, the form should be diverse, the 'three red flags' should be sung, and the new people and new things should be publicized". In addition, those migrant workers who do manual labor on the construction site all day have seen this group of theater fans living a dashing life, and they also have opinions, and often nag them in front of the leaders. Therefore, the reservoir command finally decided: "Dissolve the Art Troupe and return to their hometowns."
Fang Zhengqing continued: "I also lived a comfortable life in the reservoir Art Troupe for a while, and I originally hoped that this kind of life would last longer, but I didn't expect that this Art Troupe that it was been revoked. I also knew that you had already gone to Xinghua Middle School to study, and I really wanted to see you before going home, but because I was carrying my own quilt, I felt inconvenient and in a bad mood, so I didn't go.”
Wang Qihui took over and said, "Since you went to school in the district, I have been worrying about your living expenses for next month. Seeing your older brother come back, I also asked him why he came back, and he only said that the Reservoir Art Troupe was revoked, and did not say the reason for revocation. I later thought that if he came back, he could share some of my worries, so I didn't ask more. I also said to him: 'Your young brother went to study in the district, and the majority of cost of this start of school was funded  by your paternal aunt, and your young brother dug his own tree stump to sell, sold it for some money, and finally scraped together enough of it and went to school to sign up. But after that, He will to pay 6 yuan RMB a month for food, and I am worried about having no place to raise these funds!   Since you have returned, you can work in the company while taking time to dig a few tree stumps to sell and prepare some money for your young brother.'   Your older brother is happy too.   In this way, your older brother went to work in the company every day, always carrying a basket on his back.   As long as he quit his farm work, he dug tree stump on the nearby hillside, and then carried it to the 'Ammonium Chloride Factory' to exchange money for next month's living expenses.  It's just that this really makes your older brother very tired! ”
When Fang Zhengqing heard his mother say this, his eyes moistened, and he hurriedly said: "Mom, don't say that!" I'm the eldest in the family, I'm sixteen now, and I should share some of the burden for you. It is an honor for the family that the young brother can go to the district to go to middle school. As long as I can let him go to school and have a good promising in the future, what does it matter if I am tired! ”
When Fang Zhengben heard this, his nose soured, and tears fell from his eyes.
Wang Qihui's eyes were also moist, and he said busily: "Oops! Don't talk about it, probably the public canteen should also distribute food, let's go eat! ”
The family came to the public canteen and saw that there were many people standing in the kitchen. Each of them held a clay basin in their hands, staring at the large iron pot, waiting for their share of the corn paste that they should share.
Fang Zhengqing also stood in the pile of people holding his own clay basin, waiting for the distribution of paste. He saw the cook Cao Yuhua holding an iron scoop in his hand, according to the each family's population, one scoop per person, and divided the paste into the clay basins of each household. When it was his turn, seeing that Cao Yuhua had only scooped 4 scoops of paste for his family, he hurriedly said: "My young brother is back, it should be distributed according to 5 people!" Cao Yuhua hesitated and stretched the iron scoop into the pot. Platoon Commander Zheng Yunhai hurriedly said, "No! Their family's Fangzhengben food relationship is no longer in our canteen, and he came back and did not hand over the food, and could only be distributed according to 4 people! Cao Yuhua did not dare to disobey, scooped up a scoop of paste from the iron pot, and shouted: "Next!" Fang Zhengqing saw that he could only allocate 4 portions, walked out of the kitchen in disappointment, returned to his dining table, put the clay basin in the middle of the dining table, and pouted: "Only 4 people are allocated." Wang Qihui said, "Four people are four!" She picked up a wooden scoop and distributed the paste for 4 people into 5 rough bowls on the dining table.

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