A century of poverty

Chapter 67 Difficulty in Going to School

Qu Hui—Qu Huaxin's youngest daughter. Her family lived in a house built in front of and behind ours. After moving out of the threshing ground, they moved into their new home on the back street. We got to know each other well living in the front and back yards, and we were in the same class at school. Every morning, she would come to find my fourth sister and me to go to school together.

We left our house and headed east, then followed the path north, and finally reached the school at the eastern end of the main road.

Also walking along the eastern edge of the field was Liu Shiheng's second son, Liu Junzhan, who lived at the east end of the field. He was a few years older than me and was of average height for his class. He had dark skin, sunken cheeks, a pointed chin, a hooked nose, small eyes, and a mouthful of sparse, yellowish-brown teeth. His lips turned down, and a lewd, wicked smile lingered in the corners of his small, slanted eyes.

He brought along Liu Yazhan, the son of his third uncle from West Street; Liu Jizhan, the son of his fourth uncle (the brigade accountant); and Liu Zhenwu, the son of Captain Liu. The group followed us, cursing, but we ignored them.

Seeing that we ignored him, he became even more audacious, specifically naming us, the old Tan from Guanli. He said that we couldn't make a living in our hometown, so we came to Jinhai and lived in government housing, thus disrupting the feng shui of their eastern end. This was strange, because the east wing of the stable where my family was temporarily staying was about five or six hundred meters away from the three houses to the east of them—separated by wasteland, rice paddies, open spaces, three irrigation ditches, and two roads.

These are completely unrelated things. How did he come up with this in such a bizarre way? I turned around and glanced at him blankly.

Seeing me turn my head, that despicable face became even more smug, and with added gestures, he said, "You tell me, don't all their family members need to go to the toilet in the morning? And then—whoosh—they urinate and defecate towards my house?"

Then he and a few other guys started laughing mischievously.

I muttered something to the side: "Despicable and shameless. Let's get going."

Seeing our reaction, this scoundrel picked up a clod of dirt and threw it at us. Fortunately, he missed. We ignored him and ran towards the main road.

When we got home, we told him about what happened on our way to school. Dad said, "He's just a child. If you ignore him and avoid him, he'll get bored and stop scolding you."

Things weren't as Dad said. Liu Junzhan was like a ghost, always following us, looking for opportunities to slander us and our families, and making baseless accusations against our character. Before we left the house, we would always check if he was on the road. If he was, we would rather not go and wait until he was far away before we left.

But a few days later, he realized that we were hiding from him, so he ambushed us by the roadside, in the bushes, behind the trees, and in the ditches and ridges. When we approached, he would emerge and attack us with even more arrogance and recklessness.

Unlike him, Liu Yazhan, Liu Jizhan, and Liu Zhenwu were not vicious. They said some mild words to flatter him and made him laugh.

This caused us great distress; we were always on edge when we went out, looking around to see if there were any "spies" watching us.

We've only ever seen such wicked people in movies—stalking and harming others, impossible to guard against. It's involuntarily clear that Liu Junzhan's threat to us aligns perfectly with the word "spy." He's not even an adult yet; he's practically a "little spy."

We were also trying to get rid of the "little spy's" surveillance. Once, on the main road, we saw Liu Zhenwu's mother: "Auntie, your Zhenwu always bullies us on his way to school."

"Really? That little rascal, just wait until he gets home and I'll teach him a lesson. Don't worry, my dear daughters, he won't dare to do it again. From now on, don't call me 'Auntie,' call me 'Auntie.' I'm your only sister, and your mother is your only sister too. We're sisters now."

"what!"

Sure enough, from then on, Liu Zhenwu never participated in the little spy's evil deeds again. His neighbor to the east, Liu Yazhan, and his neighbor to the east, Liu Jizhan, also became more restrained.

This little spy was the only one we dared to approach. Several times we tried to tell his mother, but each time we got to his door, we were scared back by his two big dogs.

His family was equally unsettling. His father, a short, slanted-eyed, gloomy old man who always craned his neck to look at people, was nicknamed "Big Crooked Old Man," a name that suggested a menacing nature. His mother, an old woman nicknamed "Black Grand Duke," was dark-skinned and fat, with a face full of horizontal lines; no one had ever seen her smile. She raised a large flock of ducks, and because her house was close to the fields, every year her ducks would strip the rice ears from several plots of land. When carrying the rice to the threshing ground, it was so light that only straw remained. His two older sisters and two younger sisters all had slanted-eyed, gloomy faces, and considered themselves superior, looking down on ordinary people.

Once, we encountered the Black Tai Sui on the main road, but we couldn't bring ourselves to speak and tell her how she was hurting us.

His second uncle, Liu Shiya, was the captain of our sixth team, and he always had a stern face. Big Old Wai was the water distributor, and he was easy to talk to. Everyone was afraid of the Liu family in the east, and even the accountant, Liu Zhenchang, flattered them.

My father always taught us to "pretend to be deaf and dumb; he's not doing you any less harm by scolding you."

The little spy initially only committed his abuse on the local road, but later he became increasingly brazen, extending his actions to the main road. One day after school, he was caught doing something despicable by Liu Shulian: "Shameless scoundrel! You're bullying a girl, and nobody even acknowledges you!"

He went up and threw a few punches and kicks, but before he could even kick out a second time, he ran away in a flash.

One evening after moving into our new home, before it was completely dark, we were talking in front of the house. I was holding onto the clothesline and looking towards the south county road. I saw Liu Shifu walking towards us. He was over fifty years old, tall, with a large frame, thin body, long face, and big, piercing eyes. He had a fiery temper, had been a bearded man in his youth, and loved to stand up for the weak.

As soon as he entered the outer room, he exclaimed, "Newly built houses are really different, so neat and tidy!" Then he went inside.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, he looked at his father and asked, "How does our second-in-command in the east end treat you?"

Dad: "It's fine."

Liu: "Really that good?"

Father: "Ah!"

Liu: "Come on, I only told you this because we're all doing well. Didn't you see that Old Qu's family, Wang Tieshangbu, and that second-in-command were all there? But he didn't come!"

Dad: "He had something to do and went out."

Liu: "He didn't go anywhere! He hid when you were looking for him! He was unhappy with you, and Old Qu told him that you called him a 'Kuomintang'."

Father: "Is that so?"

Liu: "Look, I bet you don't know either. I told him you can't say that, you're not that kind of person, but he didn't believe me. Come on! Come with me and explain it to him."

Father: "We've known each other for so long, you know me. How could I say such a thing? It's completely fabricated. Old Qu is just trying to sow discord. Do you think your second brother believes that?"

Liu: "What are you saying! Can't you tell? I've explained it to him several times, but he doesn't believe me; he believes Old Qu. Come on, just tell him you didn't say anything, and that'll be fine, won't it?"

Father: "The innocent are innocent, and the guilty are guilty. I didn't say anything, so why should I explain to him? Anyone with eyes can see what kind of person Qu Huaxin is. I don't need to explain such things."

Liu: "Old Zhang, you're really stubborn. I'm doing this for your own good."

Dad: "I know you mean well, and I appreciate your kindness, but I have my own principles."

Liu: "Then I won't say anything more. I can't convince you anyway. Let's talk about something else."

Then they started talking about Liu Zhenyi's father, Liu Hongkun, who used to be a bearded man before Liberation and was quite a figure in his youth! Look at his sons, all short and stocky, they take after their mother. And look at his mother, so short, yet even at her age, she still wears a Shanghai watch and earrings; she was quite a formidable woman in her youth. She took a fancy to Liu Hongkun, but her family wouldn't allow it and locked her up, but they couldn't hold her in; she jumped out the window and escaped…

I don't know what time it was, but I vaguely heard my grandma calling us, "Get up and go to visit some neighbors!"

Just then, Mom and Dad came in from outside. Mom yawned and said, "He can talk so much! Let's go!"

My third sister's health never recovered, and she was unable to work in the fields to earn work points.

Mother found an old cloth bag: "Make shoe covers!" Because Father kept glaring at Third Sister, scolding her for not being able to work in the fields to earn money.

Just after breakfast that day, Liu Zhenyi arrived home. Facing his father, he said, "Uncle, Ailing (his daughter-in-law, from Daonan, the village of Guanli, introduced by Sister Yinhuan) should go home and let Third Sister go with her to see a doctor! Eldest Sister and Second Sister left, so you should let them take her back for treatment. She's a young woman, not even married yet, how can you bear not to treat her? It's been so long, we can't delay any longer. If you don't have money, I'll lend it to you."

Father: "Her older brother, I really have no money. I always thought she would get better with rest, and I never thought of sending her back to the capital for treatment."

Liu Zhenyi: "Uncle, that won't do. If you don't have the money, I'll pay! Let Third Sister and Ailing go back! We can't delay any longer!"

At Brother Liu's insistence, Father agreed to let Third Sister go back to her hometown with Zhang Ailing for medical treatment. He only brought enough money for the train tickets. He told her to ask her eldest and second eldest sisters for help with the next step of medical treatment.

After seeing her third sister off, Mom went straight to the haystack to throw some hay. Just then, a woman singing, carrying her daughter and leading her son, came over for a visit: "Auntie, throwing hay?"

Mom: "Hmm! You're free today, can you bring the baby over for a bit?"

Singing: "Mmm—"

Mother tied up the fallen straw, picked it up, and said, "Come on, let's go inside." Once inside, she placed the straw on the kang (heated brick bed), saying, "Put the child on the kang and sit there!"

Singing, she said, "Hmm, hmm, I'm staying here." Then she sat down and said, "Auntie, my family is moving soon too, to the city!"

Mother placed the bundle of straw on the kang (a heated brick bed), opened it to remove some grass (plucking off the roots and leaves), and asked, "How far are you going?"

Singing: "I can't say for sure, it depends on whether there's a car to take us there."

"You went to the city to work as a laborer, didn't you?"

"I don't know. It's not easy to be a formal one. It's more like a temporary job. I'll wait for my second brother to arrange something for me."

"You're all going to the city to enjoy yourselves—"

"It's better than here. This muddy, watery land isn't a good job. When we first came here a few years ago, they said the state-run farm would be paying wages soon, which lured everyone here, but we haven't gotten paid yet. By the way, Auntie, do you know?"

Mom: "What's wrong?"

Singing: "Our women are pretty good, and I should be leaving now. Let me tell you, the Liu family and the Liu family are the two big families in our sixth team. They're not on good terms, openly or secretly. Look at how loud and boisterous the Liu family is, they're not bad at heart. But we need to be careful with the Liu family, those people are cunning!"

Mom: "Really? How did you know?"

Singing: "Liu Zhenguo and my second brother are sworn brothers. My second brother told us to be careful of the Liu family."

Mom: "Everyone knows that your second brother and Secretary Liu are on good terms. A few days ago, your second brother passed through the county road and even came to the Liu family's house, had a meal, and left."

"In the end, it's because their family has connections," the mother thought to herself.