Story of a Village in Sichuan

Li Mingchun is a member of the China Writers Association. He started writing fiction in 2011. His main works include Zizhugou in Hard Times， Half-can Director， and Vow of Mountain， as well as fiction story collections such as Entanglement of Life and Death， Eldest and Second Brothers， Old House， and I Care.

This is a full-length fiction that reveals China’s process of revitalizing its rural areas and building a moderately prosperous society in an all-around way. In this work， the great changes of the countryside in China’s reform and opening-up in the past 40 years are reflected in the lot of the protagonist Ouyang Sheng， the fate of the Zeng family， and the changes of Congrengu， a Sichuan village. The fiction takes the fate of Ouyang Sheng as its plotline， an educated urban youth who stayed in the countryside for over 40 years. From the implementation of the system of fixed output to households to the completion of the poverty-alleviation program， the fate of the protagonist reflects the development of a village， a township， and even the whole countryside， the difficult transformation of the Chinese countryside， the hard work of countless people， the changes of the fate of the numerous farmers in the countryside， and the strenuous struggle of the vast number of grass-roots officials under the leadership of the Party. In an artistic way， it tells the impressive deeds of poverty-alleviation officials at the grass-roots level and the stories of the hard struggle of the people in poverty-stricken areas， carries forward the great spirit of poverty-alleviation， and highlights the nature of the moderately prosperous society in an all-around way.

Story of a Village in Sichuan

Li Mingchun

Sichuan Literature amp; Art Publishing House

November 2021

58.00 （CNY）

It was ten days from the Lunar New Year. After a few days of light rain， it finally cleared up today. From the middle of the night， the fog came quietly， shrouding the Zeng family’s yard. If it were not because of that baron lantern in the yard， the world would be in complete darkness.

The sounds of a walking stick was heard from a distance. Huoshenye （nickname， literally means the god of fire in Chinese mythology） was taking bones out of meat attentively. He felt someone breathing a warm breath down on him. When he looked up， he saw a bent figure. Stretched out was a crumpled face， almost touching the surface of the writing desk. Huoshenye was familiar with that face. A wrinkle represented a generation. The face full of wrinkles meant she was many generations older than him. So he just greeted her vaguely， “Laobeizi （nickname）！ Good morning！”

The old woman being called Laobeizi breathed another warm breath and said， “Not as early as you. You have been busy since midnight. Are you tired？”

Huoshenye bowed his head and continued his work. He said casually， “No， only once a year.”

Laobeizi smiled. “You will be not as popular as usual if butchering a pig for the New Year becomes frequent.” When Huosheye did not answer her， she hurriedly got down to business. “Fanyou， I heard that the brigade will have a feast at noon？

In previous years， no feast was held on the day of distributing dividends at the end of the year. Only the man who butchered the pig was awarded a bowl of blood curd noodles the night before. But， this year was different. Apart from the distribution of dividends， the fixed quotes would be discussed in the morning. The discussion would continue in the afternoon for fear that it would not be settled. As the head of each household would stay and continue the discussion in the afternoon， the head of the brigade Ouyang ordered to hold a feast at noon， using the subsidized rice arranged when building a ditch. At that time， for fear that someone would get arrested for building that ditch， a hundred jin （fifty kilograms） of rice was offered to him as compensation. Originally， the compensation was supposed to be given to Qinggui who was the first to be arrested. But， Zhanaopo （nickname， literally means to kick up a row） cried and refused. She wanted Qinggui， not the compensation. When she finally knelt down and begged for help， Ouyang went to take the fall for him. So， Ouyang was supposed to get the compensation. But， Ouyang refused， saying that he didn’t suffer when he was in the city. He was provided with accommodation and food for free. Moreover， he got a subsidy for absence from work， which was 80 cents a day. He lucked out. So， the rice could be used for the feast now.

Huoshenye just heard Qingsu saying that last night. He didn’t know how this five-guarantee woman knew it. So he answered casually， “Yes.”

According to the rules， he should call Laobeizi great-great-grandmother. She married into a Jiang family and had no first name. She was called Zeng Jiang Shi in the hukou book. Her husband’s generation was named Guang. Her children’s generation was named Zhao. Her grandchildren’s generation， including Daxiansheng， was named Xian. To save trouble， Huoshenye vaguely called her Laobeizi for her seniority. In the commune and brigade， she was called grandmother. She was eighty years old this year and was in good health. She had a humpback. Her parents’ family had been making a living in growing and selling vegetables for generations. So she was good at tending vegetable gardens. She took good care of her private plot and had been providing fresh vegetables and seasonings for several restaurants in the town. Her income was not bad， which was equivalent to the combined incomes of two or three able-bodied farmers. Only she was qualified for this advantage because her family was a five-guarantee household. If others were in her position， they would be regarded as undermining the foundation of the people’s commune. When she heard Fanyou saying “Yes”， she knew that the feast was true. She hurriedly said， “Fanyou， do you need vegetables for the feast？ How about purchasing moolis from my plot？”

When he held a funeral for Zeng Yang Shi， Qingsu wanted to purchase moolis from her. But she wanted to sell the moolis at the price she sold to the restaurants. In the end， Qingsu had to get a permit from Director Zhang to buy cheap moolis from the vegetable market. Why did she ask this now？ Huoshenye didn’t stop. He breathed out steam and said， “I need vegetables. But your price is too high. We can’t afford it.”

When Jiang heard this， she was not pleased. “What are you saying？ We all sell the moolis at market price. Why do you think my moolis are more expensive than that of others？ Didn’t you call me Laobeizi？”

Huoshenye casually said， “Other people’s vegetables are not as expensive as yours.” Jiang couldn’t agree with him. “You get what you pay for. Can their vegetables be compared with mine？ Those vegetables are as old as my face. Are their moolis as fresh and juicy as mine？” Huoshenye didn’t stop and said， “We can’t compare with the guests in the restaurants. They pay attention to quality while we pay attention to satiety. If you don’t lower your price， I will definitely not buy it. Whoever buys it at your price will be scolded！”

Grandma Jiang said， “It’s not like this. You know that I am old and not able to hawk vegetables on the street. So you deliberately try to lower the price. In this case， is the market price acceptable？”

Huoshenye nodded and said， “That’s right.” He put down the knife in his hand and shouted， “Sanwazi， help Laobeizi uproot the moolis and bring them here.”

Jiang leaned on the door plank and watched Sanwazi wobbly pick up two baskets of moolis. The flame in the can flickered， slowly hidden in the fog like fireflies. With this look in her eyes， she remembered what had happened in the past decades.

When Jiang married into the Jiang family， her father-in-law was still alive， and his clan leader position was shaky. He lost dozens of mu （one hectare equals 15 mu） of paddy and almost lost ten mu of fertile farmland owned by the whole clan in two lawsuits against the Jia family of Chengba. At that time， Qingbiao who was once a bandit returned and turned over a new leaf. He was rich and powerful. So most of the members in the clan intended to let him be the clan leader. Qingbiao asked someone to tell the clan leader that as long as he retired and gave the position to Qingbiao， Qingbiao would never let him suffer losses. Although the old clan leader stammered and his family declined， he still had prestige. He thought that he was superior to Qingbiao in seniority and Qingbiao should call him great-grandfather. So he was reluctant to give his position to a great-grandson who had been a bandit. He said to the person， “Alright！ He can take the position if he thinks he is older than me！” The messenger overstated to Qingbiao. Qingbiao said nothing but smiled. The clan leader thought the matter would pass like this. But an unexpected lawsuit occurred and brought him to the tribunal in the town. In the end， the lawsuit was settled after the old clan leader sold out his land and estate， lost the clan leader position， and begged Qingbiao for help. Since then， Jiang’s family suffered a disastrous decline. Soon after， her father-in-law died and left a large amount of debt unpaid， and the landlord became a tenant in the blink of an eye.