The room was thick with the scent of ink. Zhan Aiping sat by the window, occasionally looking out at the trees and grass outside. Shen Liqing’s yard had a large patch of lawn. Nothing else in her yard grew well, but this patch of grass grew beautifully. There were sunflowers in the corner, and beneath the eaves was a rabbit hutch made from wooden boards. Wang Youli and his wife would take their two children up the mountain to cut grass for the rabbits.
Shen Liqing was teaching the four children calligraphy. It could be considered a little calligraphy class. Two tables had been pushed together into one long table, and the two pairs of twins stood on either side. The ink shone with an oily gloss, and the white paper spread out on the table was rough, mottled with its own unusual traces.
Shen Liqing said, “You four, practise your writing properly.”
The four little beans nodded, lifted their brushes, dipped them in ink, and began writing on the paper in front of them.
Among the four, the one who worked the hardest was Guobaorou. He had an unwillingness to lose, and his strong competitive spirit pushed him to want first place in everything. He wanted to become the person among the four of them with the best-looking handwriting.
Little Tangyuan wrote quickly and well, but she lacked a bit of patience. She and the fish sisters quickly finished writing and wanted to go play somewhere else. The two little girls drew three cat whiskers on each other’s faces. Little Tangyuan even took it upon herself to write the character “王” on her forehead. Then she and Yuyu circled Zhan Aiping, baring their teeth and claws as they went, “Aowu, aowu, aowu…”
With both hands tucked beside their cheeks, they opened their mouths and imitated fierce beasts roaring.
Zhan Aiping: “…”
She almost burst out laughing. But when she saw the ink stains on her daughter’s clothes, she could no longer laugh. Those were new clothes!!!!
Shen Liqing could not laugh either. She said painfully, “Why are the little girls from our two families so naughty?”
When teaching the children calligraphy, they had deliberately made them wear sleeve covers to prevent ink from splashing onto their clothes. Now look — their faces were covered in ink, their foreheads too, and even their clothes were stained. It was enough to give someone a headache.
In most families, boys were the naughty ones and girls were obedient. Their two families were exactly the opposite.
Guobaorou and Little Fish, the younger brother, were instead standing obediently by the table practising writing.
Guobaorou practised very seriously. Little Fish only wanted to slack off. He would write one character, rest for a while, and occasionally scratch his own bottom.
Zhan Aiping said, “Yuanyuan, when we go back, let Daddy teach you how to wash clothes.”
Little Tangyuan and Big Fish played around for a while, then urged their own brothers to hurry up and finish writing. Once they were done, they still had to go play jump rope.
Little Tangyuan rubbed her face. The ink on her face was a little itchy. The more she rubbed, the darker her face became, like a section of lotus root dug out of the water, her tender little face stained with black mud.
“Brother, hurry up!”
Yuyu encouraged her own younger brother. “Little Fish, don’t be lazy!”
Wang Little Fish: “…” He scratched his bottom and only wanted to sit down. He did not want to write.
“Little brother, hurry up and write!”
Seeing this, Shen Liqing felt very gratified. She said to Zhan Aiping, “Having an older sister at home is good. She pushes her younger brother to improve.”
Her younger son was too lazy. He only moved when someone pushed him, slow and steady like a little turtle, doing everything unhurriedly.
Zhan Aiping said, “In my family, the older brother and younger sister encourage each other.”
Guobaorou finished writing his characters. He was very particular about things. He took a handkerchief, dipped it in water, wrung it dry, and wiped his sister’s face.
“Yuanyuan, don’t move.”
Zhan Aiping had a headache. She covered her forehead, feeling a little sorry for that handkerchief, but she did not stop him.
After wiping the ink, the handkerchief turned black too.
Little Tangyuan’s face was barely wiped clean. She happily chuckled twice. “Brother, jump rope.”
Guobaorou and Wang Little Fish moved over a small stool. They sat on the stool with the elastic rope looped around their legs, while Little Tangyuan and Yuyu happily played jump rope. Wang Little Fish was also very happy. He liked sitting still and not moving at all.
Little Tangyuan and Yuyu felt that it was boring if only the two of them jumped. They had to make their own brothers participate too. For fairness, since Little Tangyuan and Guobaorou were a little older, they could not bully the younger ones. So — Little Tangyuan and Wang Little Fish formed one team, while Guobaorou and Big Fish formed the other.
The two teams played jump rope.
Guobaorou discovered that he was not even as good as Wang Little Fish, so he became determined and began studying jump rope seriously.
Zhan Aiping said, “My eldest really has drive.”
It was as if all of her and Gu Sheng’s competitiveness had been placed onto their son, little Guobaorou.
Zhan Aiping and Shen Liqing watched the children and chatted for a while. Not long after, a guest arrived at the house. Shen Liqing’s cousin, who had gone down to the countryside as an educated youth, Zeng Jiang, came to visit.
“Cousin, you have guests at home too.” Her cousin was wearing the kind of white shirt and green trousers educated youths often wore at this time. His hair was long, like a fluffy sea lion. He wore glasses, and his face showed traces of wind and frost, but he was full of spirit. He did not have the nervous fear of an ordinary educated youth arriving in a strange place.
Shen Liqing said in surprise, “Xiao Jiang, you’ve already arrived?”
Before going down to the countryside, Zeng Jiang had said that once he arrived in Yunnan Province, he would first come visit her. She had not expected him to arrive so quickly.
Zeng Jiang smiled and said, “Cousin, these are some things I brought from Shanghai…”
He had not come empty-handed. He had brought visiting gifts: Shanghai specialities. They were not valuable things, just pastries from old-established shops. Shen Liqing had not eaten them in a long time and was extremely delighted. She called the children over to eat.
Shen Liqing introduced Zhan Aiping to Zeng Jiang. “This is Comrade Zhan, the director of Yanxin Health Clinic, and also Regiment Commander Gu’s wife.”
“Hello, hello, Comrade Zhan. My name is Zeng Jiang. I’m an educated youth from Shanghai!” Zeng Jiang was very happy to meet Zhan Aiping. He was very talkative and chatted quite a lot with her.
Zhan Aiping discovered that this cousin Shen Liqing had mentioned was not as quiet as she had described before. On the contrary, Zeng Jiang was quite calculating.
Zeng Jiang said, “This time, before going down to the countryside, I read quite a few books. Things like *The Barefoot Doctor’s Manual*, *The Militia Training Manual*, *The Friend of Talents in the Army and Civilian Fields*…”
There were many, many educated youths from Shanghai coming to Yunnan Province. Zeng Jiang was not the first batch, nor would he be the last. As an unpopular child at home, introverted, shy, and not good with words — that was how his family evaluated him. Zeng Jiang loved reading. Since he was young, he had heard plenty of dislike from others, saying that his reading was useless, that he was just a bookworm, dull and unable to read people’s expressions, and that he would not have much future in society.
The elders of this era all liked people who were outgoing, smooth-tongued, and able to make others happy. Zeng Jiang knew he could not say those pleasing words, nor did he know how to say them… Perhaps from the very beginning, he had known that the quota for going down to the countryside would fall on his head. Zeng Jiang accepted his fate. He sank into low spirits for several months, but later, he thought things through.
Going to be an educated youth was nothing much. Was it not just leaving Shanghai and changing to another place to live? Rather than wallowing in self-pity, it was better to make thorough preparations.
Zeng Jiang loved reading, so he prepared many books in advance, learning ahead of time how to do agriculture and how to learn militia skills. At this time, the border areas were more or less under a “nation of citizen-soldiers” system— almost everyone was a soldier in some form — and everyone had to receive militia training. Even primary school students had to do long-distance training marches every year. When he came to the family compound, he had even seen soldiers by the roadside practising crawling forward, shooting, and mine-clearing…
All these things were very fresh to Zeng Jiang.
Perhaps because he had made thorough mental preparations and had read quite a few books and materials, after Zeng Jiang arrived in Yunnan Province, he had originally thought that he, a person others called “introverted” and “without prospects,” would shrink back in fear. Unexpectedly, he adapted extremely well. The rural people here respected him very much. When they learned that he had read many books and had even studied agricultural knowledge in advance, they did not laugh at him as a bookworm. Instead, they thought he was impressive and knew a lot.
Such evaluations made Zeng Jiang very excited. This was an opportunity for change.
Zeng Jiang was a scholar-type person, and the characteristic of scholar-types was that they thought a lot. After arriving in Yunnan Province for only a few days, Zeng Jiang immediately made all kinds of plans. Other educated youths might not have been able to return to the city even after ten years, and he guessed that he probably would not be able to return either. So — he would put down roots here!
Since he had to put down roots here anyway, he planned to find a local girl with good conditions as soon as possible, marry, have children, manage things properly, and live a good life with a wife, children, and a warm brick bed.
Zeng Jiang was not especially close to his cousin Shen Liqing, but he knew she had married a military officer. Although he was not very good at flattery, he was not stupid. He knew that maintaining a good relationship with this relative would always bring some convenience.
With a good relative and a local girl with decent conditions, his life should not be too bad.
Zhan Aiping said, “You’ve made quite a lot of preparations in advance.”
Zeng Jiang said, “Director Zhan, could I borrow some medical books from you? I also want to learn some barefoot doctor skills…”
At this time, many educated youths in the countryside worked as barefoot doctors or teachers. That was much more comfortable than working in the fields.
Zhan Aiping said, “Sure. I’ll go get you a few books.”
Zeng Jiang was extremely grateful. “Thank you.”
Zhan Aiping could not help reminding him, “For the next two years, don’t be in a hurry to get married or find a partner. You can read more books, especially middle-school textbooks. Maybe in a few years, the college entrance examination will be restored, and you’ll be able to return to the city to attend university.”
Zeng Jiang shook his head. “I’m not thinking about university. I want to find a local girl and get married as soon as possible, then settle down and build a life here.”
“I think the mountains here are good, the water is good, and the air is good. Life here should be pretty good in the future.”
Zhan Aiping: “…”
She felt that Shen Liqing’s cousin was actually rather similar to Shen Liqing in certain ways.
After they finished chatting, Zhan Aiping took the two children home and received a phone call from her father, Zhan Bo. It turned out that Zhan Mingkang had recently also gone down to the countryside.
Zhan Aiping thought he was going to ask her to look after Zhan Mingkang.
But on the phone, Zhan Bo said, “You and Little Gu must not deliberately take care of him. He needs to suffer more hardship.”
“Alright.” Zhan Aiping did not mind. In any case, she had never wanted to look after this younger brother.
Zhan Mingkang had gone down to the countryside. He and Zeng Jiang had been assigned to the same place.
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