When May came, the Dragon Boat Festival was coming. In the Xianghe area, every house held heat up reed leaves and wrapped rice dumplings. Honestly speaking, the delicious rice dumplings had a lot to do with the leaves. If the leaves were not big and wide, you couldn’t wrap nice-looking rice dumplings; If the leaves were not fresh enough, you couldn’t wrap delicious rice dumplings. Xianghe Village abound in rice dumplings. With such a large area of Coal Golden Marsh, full of reeds, they could get as many leaves as they wanted. They couldn’t even knowhow many rice dumplings they could wrap.

    It’s just dawn. A group of women and girls went into the Coal Golden Marsh. The Coal Golden Marsh was huge. It belonged to the seven production teams in the village. The strangers didn’t know about the boundaries, but the local people in the village knew about them very well. However, every year, the villagers were not that serious about the boundaries, because there were so many of them. You could pick as many as you wanted, as long as you were strong enough. The important thing was that you were able to sell them. They were useless if not sold. It was said that the reed leaves could be used in a year. But as the Dragon Boat Festival passed, the reed leaves were no longer fresh, the taste of rice dumplings was not less delicious. People became less interested in eating them. So it was a happy time for the women and girls to pick reed leaves. All the same females, it was convenient for them to say some dirty words that were inconvenient at ordinary times. Girls could whisper. Good friends didn’t belong to the same production team. Normally one production team worked in one working area. Its fields were not bound together. If wanted, they had to talk in the Dragon Lane when going to or coming back from work, or while having lunch and supper.

    Cuiyun Liu and Qin Yatou were good friends. They were both eighteen or nineteen years old. They were in the same class in the elementary school. They were both key members of the cultural and entertainment propaganda team in the village.With so many similarities, it would be difficult for them not to be close friends. They had made an appointment to row the same boat and went into the marsh with the group of women and girls.

    The reeds in the Coal Golden Marsh were fertile, stems were big, leaves were wide. After she tied up the stake of the boat tightly on the ridge, Cuiyun carried the basket with Qin Yatou, started to pickreed leaves on the buttress of the marsh. As a matter of fact, it’s not difficult to pick the leaves, but there were some particulars. There were many leaves on the reeds up and down, but only a few of them were fit for the rice dumplings. How to pick the right ones depended on their own eyes. If too old, they would be fragile, and no fragrance on the rice dumplings; If too tender, the leaves were not wide enough, easy to break, the rice dumplings couldn’t be wrapped tight, not good to bite. But it was not difficult to pick leaves for Cuinyun and Qin Yatou. They broke off up and down on the reed stems, leaves overlapped one on one in their hands. Everytime when they reached a certain amount, they would find a head and tie them into handfuls with a straw, and put them in good order in the basket. They also put some water on the leaves to keep them fresh as original.

    In the early morning, there was heavy mist in the Coal Golden Marsh. It was not clear to see people far away. The women were twittering in the reeds. You could only hear them but not see them. By accident, they surprised the wild freckles staying in the marsh. They flew up in a daze, circling in the sky over the marsh, in a little while, they fell in the reeds in another place. In the Coal Golden Marsh, grass was fertile, water was clear. There were much plankton. Wild chickens and ducks liked to come, so did those known and unknown birds. They couldn’t be surprised

    away.

    Not having to move too much, Cuiyun and Qin Yatou almost filled up their baskets with leaves. Cuiyun took off her red square scarf from the shoulder, wiped her fringe wet with the mist, then wiped her face, conveniently threw off the braids gently which were dropped to her chest. Qin Yatou grasped Cuiyun’s braids from beside, and asked, “I heard that a few days ago that Chungen and Chunyu went to Yang’s Village for a blind date. Is that true?” “Why do you ask me about it? Your second sister-in-law was the matchmaker, wasn’t she?” Cuiyun turned around, stopped and asked in reply. Yes, the matchmaker was Qin’s second sister-in-law, Duck Li. But Qin didn’t know about which brother. Cuiyun sensed what Qin was thinking of. All this time, Qin liked Chunyu secretly.

    Chunyu was in the same school as his sister Cuiyun and Qin Yatou. But they were in a makeshift classes. They were in the same class with different grades. When Chunyu was in Grade Four, Cuiyun and Qin Yatou were still in Grade Two. They were in a Grade Four and Two Class. There were two makeshift classes in Xianghe Elementary School, Grade One and Three in one class, Grade Two and Four in the other. Pupils in Grade Five had to go to another school in Wu’s Village south to Xianghe Village. Qin Yatou was a child daring to do great mischief, even in the elementary school, she began to like playing with Chunyu. Whenever she was bullied, she would pull Cuiyun to find Chunyu for help. Chunyu would naturally showoff his ability in front of girls to save his face. So he always went to take up the cudgels against the injustice done to Qin Yatou. Over time, Qin’s psychology had formed a kind of dependence. After all, Chunyu was only a boy with a characteristics of a gruff macaque, he couldn’t feel Qin’s change.

    Later, Chunyu went to school in Wu’s Village for Grade Five, then to finish his junior middle school in Yan’s Village in the suburbs. Cuiyun and Qin Yatou were not able to follow. They stopped going to school even before they finished elementary studies. They both became half the labor force in the family. Qin Yatou was meticulous. She knitted a pair of woolen gloves and asked Cuiyun to pass them to Chunyu. Chunyu felt warm in heart at the time. Although she was delicate, she had a big heart. Being a junior middle student, Chunyu wrote Qin Yatou a letter. But he was reluctant to sent it by post office, it would cost 8 cents. In the same way, he asked his sister Cuiyun to pass it onto Qin. Chunyu couldn’t remember many of his words in this letter. He quoted others’ sentences to show his mind to Qin.

    It’s easy to get ten thousand of gold, but hard to get an intimate friend.

    After finishing his school, Chunyu came back to the village, as a young intellectual returning to his hometown. Among the men who didn’t read and write much, Chunyun was like a crane standing among chickens/ standing head and shoulders above others. No one could compare. The party secretary Xiangyuan thought highly of him. After a few days he came home, Xiangyuan went to his house to talk to him. “Has Chunyu come home?” asked Xiangyuan standing in the courtyard, after opening the willow twig door in the front yard himself. Anran was raising chickens in the backyard. He heard someone talking in the front yard, it was the party secretary. He quickly left behind the gourd ladle with chicken food on hand, running from the hall room to the front yard. “It’s the greatest of favors that the secretary visits us in the house. Please come to have a seat and talk in the living- room.” Although he stopped teaching long ago, Anran was still bookish when he talked. No one else in the village ever said the hall room as living-room. Such a disposition couldn’t be changed.

    In the hall-room, Chunyu was just grinding a sickle. His father asked him to pack up the farming tools and then went to the leader of the brigade Master Xiang(* the eldest son in a rich family) to report his arrival. Young man shouldn’t be wild nor abandoned. Anran never connived his children. How could a man in the village not learn how to farm? Anran meant to have Chunyu worked in the production team for a few years before getting other jobs.

    Anran led the secretary into the hall-room. The two sat face to face at the big table beside the cabinet of gods. “Chunyu is a hard-working man.” Xiangyuan was satisfied looking at Chunyu who was bending down to grind the sickles. “You are not polite. Why don’t you call the guest?” Anran glared at Chunyu, and said in a harsh voice. “Hi, Secretary!” Chunyu looked up and said, continuing his work in hand. “Well, don’t call me secretary. Call me Uncle. You are now a trump card in my hand. You have got the highest schooling in the village”. Xiangyuan looked up and saw the statue of our Great leader Chairman Mao. He continued talking with a smile, “Chairman Mao said that it’s necessary for the young intellectuals to go to the countryside and accept re-education of the poor and lower middle peasants. The countryside is a vast world, there are plenty of opportunities.” “Why not listen to the secretary to change your previous name?” Anran suddenly asked a question, seeing that his son didn’t have any response. Then he nodded, “Yes, yes.” The old gentleman really admired the secretary’s grand opinion. But he was not satisfied with the reaction of Chunyu in front of the secretary. “Uncle!” Chunyu called, still without stopping his work in hand. “Stop, stop for a while. Don’t grind your sickles. This is not what you should do. In front of your father, as the party secretary of the village, I formally tell you, go to the Brigade Department tomorrow to register that you will be a substitute teacher. Don’t worry about your work-points.” Don’t look down upon the village leaders in the countryside. Nobody lacked ability. Xiangyuan asked Chunyu to call him Uncle just now. In a moment he announced the decision as the party secretary.

    Anyway, Anran had never thought that Xiangyuan would arrange Chunyu to be a substitute teacher. Although they were in the same production team, Xiangyuan was the secretary, running all over the village, got acquaintances in every production team. He was neither a relative or a friend of Anran. It was really rare for him to give Chunyu this good job of a substitute teacher.

    It was the past when they were neither relatives nor friends. This could be changed. Non relatives could become relatives. Not a friend could become friends. This was what Xiangyuan thought. How could Anran know that? In Xiangyuan’s eyes, Anran was only an old bookworm.

    It was not a few years after Xiangyuan became the party secretary. He was in his early fifties, not very young. In the village people’s words, he was half an old man. In spite of a delicate figure, he was strong to do things with killing power, people listened to what he said. Normally when his voice came in the speaker of the Brigade department, “Attention, now I’m going to broadcast a notice……” The villagers put up their big ears when they heard this, they knew that the secretary would announce some great things. After they listened to this notice, the leaders would go and have a meeting in the office. Most of the things the secretary announced in the speaker were about agricultural production, such as when to plant seeds, when to make seedling ponds, when and what pesticide to use and spray, etc…… He first announced these in the speaker. Afterwards, based on his requirements, the agricultural technician Genshui would go to each production team one by one to do specific guidance, in charge of implementation. In this way, didn’t Xiangyuan ever broadcast real big events in the speaker? No, Xiangyuan did broadcast real good news, very great great things. They were great things for Xianghe villagers.

    When the villagers saw him, Xiangyuan would mostly wear a Zhongshan Suit  of blue coarse cloth, the sleeves and collar were worn into whitening, the edge was  beginning to break. But anyway, this was a Zhongshan suit, which was very rare in  the village. With both his hands at the back, he walked in the Dragon Lane, not too  slow, nor too fast. He would say hello whenever he saw someone:“Have you eaten?” “Yes.” They couldn’t see his hands at the back because he hid them in his Zhongshan  suit.

    This was what he did in the village. When he went out of the village to have a  meeting, Xiangyuan had his own transportation—— “Business boat”. In the Xianghe  area, there were a lot of river branches. The small boats on the branches were as  many as ducks in a group. Small boats were used in many places.“Business boats” were especially used for leaders to have meetings and businesses. They were not open boats like the ones the regular villagers used They had a ceiling and two walls, made of wooden boards, painted with China wood oil. Exquisite ones even had white tin inlay top. The two walls and the front part of “Business boat” all had small windows. It was both ventilated, people could see the scenery outside when the boat traveled. There was usually a small bamboo spar and two little paddles in the boat. Normally, if no accidents, paddles were used, they were light and fast. If with accidents, or the river too narrow, or water too shallow, the boat got stuck, then bamboo spar was used. “Business boat” was tiny in shape, pleasing to the eyes.

    A “Business boat” was specially rowed by a skillful person. Xiangyuan didn’t do that, he only sat in the boat. Most of the people who rowed the boat were carefree characters at home. Because the leaders had something urgent or going for a meeting, they wanted to go somewhere, he had to go there, he had to start at any time needed, how could one do it with children? To put it plainly, they had to be singles. One man was full,the whole family is not hungry.①

    The man who rowed the boat for Xiangyuan was named Monk Cai. He belonged to the third production team, lived on the west end of the Dragon Lane, with a conspicuous sign of an old willow tree in which was a magpie nest. Under the nest,beside the willow tree was Monk Cai’s house. There were two small rooms, one was bright, the other was dim. The dim room was his bedroom with only a bed made of willow sticks; The bright room was the hall-room the size of a kitchen. The chimney went out of the wall, curled smoke floating on the river, couldn’t tell it was smoke or fog. There were only two people in the house including his shadow. In the two rooms, only the wind swept his floor, and the moon lit. No thieves would come and share his poor luck.

    The villagers didn’t look down upon or bully Monk Cai just because he was very poor. The majority of villagers were honest and kind, few liked to cheat and to commit adultery. “Live well, do farm work well.” This was taught by the grandfathers. Then fathers taught their own children the same thing. The villagers often said that people couldn’t be poor for a life, people couldn’t be rich for three generations. And more, all wealth needed support. This was true with Monk Cai.

    The women and girls who picked reed leaves were now going to the county town rowing their boats. More than 5 kilometers of waterways were not too far, but not too close. However, in their eyes, it was not difficult for them to row their boats to the county town. God helped them. Now all the fog was completely gone. Four small boats went back and forth, with many bamboo baskets full of dark green and watery leaves, looking fresh. Looking more carefully at those leaf bundles, one upon another, in good order, they looked very beautiful. All of them were happy. They went into the marsh before the dawn, now they had got these labor achievements, how nice. Thinking about turning these baskets of leaves into money and sharing out bonus in the production team by the end of the year, they couldn’t help getting excited. Listen, someone started singing:

    Water is sparkling and willows are green,

    Rivers like nets and ducks are in groups,

    Girls punt boats under the willows,

    Getting happy and singing.

    Oh, oh——

    Singing to the good harvest year,

    Singing to the spring scenery before our eyes.

    People are singing to the good harvest, willows are welcoming the spring. The willows and poplars are green, and green……

    We could hear it was Cuiyun and Qin Yatou who were singing. They sat in the same boat. Cuiyun were rowing two paddles, Qin Yatou was punting the pole. The boat was roaring ahead. In a little while it left the other boats behind. Being proud, their throat became itchy, so they opened their mouths and began to sing. It’s not like playing in the propaganda team. They did this on purpose to show off themselves before the other women and girls. They had to be convinced once they began to sing, pleasant to hear. Their singing made people comfortable. “Sing another one, please.” “Sing a love song!” Someone stirred up, she didn’t enjoy herself to the full. Someone thought of love songs. Either of Cuiyun and Qin Yatou was afraid of and felt ashamed to sing. After a short discussion, they did a duet——

    Waiting in front of the sister’s①  window when dark,

    Hoping to be asked to stay at midnight;

    Wishing to cross over the wall, but didn’t dare,

    The big yellow dog in the sister’s house was hateful.

    The brother①  dated the sister in the fields,

    He wanted to do it before she spoke,

    Not because I didn’t want to obey you,

    But could you promise to love me and live with me until the end of life?

    Cuiyun and Qin Yatou showed off themselves enough today. The little boat moved on against the waves. From time to time, along the river, some young men stopped their farm work and looked to the river. A wild duck or two started up on the water, quacking, flew to other places.

    The buildings of the county town could be seen in the distance, in front of the waterway, like floating on the water. The buildings were very tall, so many of them, beautiful. That’s not strange, then why was it called the county town? Cuiyun and Qin Yatou were talking to themselves. The morning sun was shining directly into the sky over the county town. It made the two young girls getting a certain kind of excitement.

    Finally, they arrived at the Yan’s Village. It was in the suburbs. The pier was a little different from that of Xianghe Village, huge, long and wide, with stairs built of bricks, one shorter than another, extending all the way to the riverside. Closing to the water, there were cement slabs, very straight, designed by floating on the water. It was very convenient for visitors to board and debark from the pier and for the local people to do washing at the river. The women and girls from Xianghe Village took turns to anchor in the wide and huge cemented pier with stairs in the Yan’s Village, tied up firmly to the stakes. After that they unloaded large baskets of the reed leaves onto the bank, by either putting them on their back or shoulder. They would have to walk some country roads, not too far. It would take about half an hour.

    The women from Xianghe Village felt everything new and strange in the streets. They became very excited. Stepping on the blue-stone pavement, their footsteps became very soft, as these rural women were used to the wild. Especially the girls like Cuiyun and Qin Yatou, who carried green bamboo poles, with green reed leaves in their baskets back and forth, walking in the blue stone pavements, with their soft footsteps and slim waists. You could see the carrying poles swinging on their shoulders. “Selling rice dumpling leaves……” “Selling rice dumpling leaves……”Their voices were crisp and sweet, sounding melodious. Qin Yatou was very conspicuous, walking among the group of women, with shorthair against the ears, a water red plaid scarf around her neck. Cuiyun was next to her. Today, she especially put on the glue short gown that Qin Yatou helped tailored for her. Her body was full of blue star shivering, making her slender figure with clear lines. The continuous curves had ups and downs, sending out the breath of youth. A long braid on her back was swinging left and right with the body’s movement. What most pleased people was the bow- knot on the end of her long braid, purplish red. When she walked, the bow-knot jumped and jumped. People couldn’t help trying to catch it.

    Some people cried out in the streets to sell rice dumplings leaves. Others sold them at a stall. The leaves were saved in a wooden basin with a small water bucket beside it. The sellers sprayed some water on the leaves from time to time, so they looked watery and green. The women from Xianghe Village were soon divided into two groups. Most of the women chose to sell at a stall, girls selected to sell by walking in the streets.

    Exactly speaking, the women and girls had been to the downtown. The place where they sold was called North Street in the north of the city. At a glance, it was full of dwellings made of green bricks and small tiles, no tall buildings. These bungalows looked very old. A lot of green moss grew under the wall corner. Between the rows of tiles on the roof, wild grass grew tall and big. At the gate of every household, the paints on the door frames became peeling. They hadn’t been repainted for many years.

    This didn’t prevent them from doing stall business in the North Street. On the contrary, the stall business was booming. At the stalls, besides sellers of reed leaves from Xianghe Village, people coming from Guan’s Village to the north of the Coal Golden Marsh, sold Chinese mug-wort and calamuses here; others from Duotian Village to the south of the county town sold carrots. Both Chinese mug-wort and calamuses had roots, carrots had green leaves, looking very beautiful. Like a long dragon, they filled up the North Street for buyers to choose. It was special these days because the Dragon Boat Festival was coming in a few days. Usually, these daily necessities and groceries were also sold in the North Street.

    In this area, at Dragon Boat Festival, besides wrapping rice dumplings, people often bought some Chinese mug-wort and calamuses, hanging them under the eaves on both sides of their own doors. Some particular families even hung some carrots and small rice dumplings. It was said that these things could not only expel ghosts and avoid evil, but also eliminate diseases and disasters. No one had ever seen these expel ghosts and avoid evil, but it was common to use them as medicine to cure people of diseases. If some child became sick with “pemphigus”, dried Chinese mugworts and calamuses were often used to be boiled. Their juice were taken to bathe the child. After a few times, the pemphigus on the child’s body became scorched, scarred, then all gone. The child recovered from the disease. As hanging carrots and small rice dumplings on the doors didn’t seem to work on anything, it was just a custom or a habit. I was afraid. Selling Chinese mugworts, calamuses, carrots were mostly done by women, but a few men also did. Only selling rice dumplings were done by women. It was probably because the green leaves, watery bodies and women were more suitable for the women……

    “When the season comes, it’s time to do seedlings. Then it’s not hard to do other great things.” Most villagers took farming as their main business, they couldn’t afford to delay farming season. Now it’s time to open the door of seedling, set up the fields, to feed water and transplant seedlings.

    Before dawn, women went to the ponds to pull out seedlings. Some men went to feed water to those empty fields prepared for the transplanting, according to the team leader’s arrangement. In the Xianghe area, water carts were mostly used to feed water. Normally there were two types of water carts. One used wind power, the other used manual labour. The wind water cart depended on the wind. It worked with wind when hanging a sail, it saved labor and power. Thus the local people called it a foreign cart. “Foreign” because of the sail. Manual cart, just as its name implied, depended on manpower. Compared with foreign carts, no sails, with a small shelf, the structure was very simple. Manual water carts were made up of supporting frames, a shaft and a pair of buckets for turning water. The shelves were mostly placed on the head of the fields close to the river. Two vertical bars were fixed tight on the ground, at appropriate height a cross bars was tied up for the men on the water cart to lean over. Vertical and cross bars were usually made of regular wood, not very particular. But the cross bar couldn’t be too big. Being big made it heavy, plus the men leaning over on it, it would be too much weight for the bar. But it couldn’t be too small. Being small was not able to hold the men leaning over. The bar would be easy to break, men would fall down, an accident might happen. A shaft was installed right under the shelf, a little distance over the ground, enough to turn around. The shaft was usually big and heavy, although made of wood, not of regular  wood. The carpenters always chose the best wood, both big and direct, because an  axle had to be put in the middle of the shaft. The axle was bigger than a usual oval  basin, was regularly made of the huge root of an old tree, from an entire piece, very  heavy. People who stepped on the rickshaw knew that the heavy axle was very good  with better rotation. The axle was equipped with lots of “teeth”, short but thick,  to be engaged with the coupling in the tank, turning the power to the water bucket  in the tank. Since it was manual cart, the power naturally came from men. But for  that polished shaft, it was very difficult to operate even if man had huge power. So  besides an axle in the middle, on the entire shaft, on both sides of the axle, some stuff called “turning” was installed. A hole was dug on the shaft, put in a thick and short  rod, added a shelf on top of the rod, a “turning” shaped like a “wooden hammer” was formed. The distribution of the “turning”s on the shaft was very particular. They  couldn’t be installed at will. They had to be symmetrical and uniform. Only in this  way could people coordinate well when they stepped on the water cart. Therefore,  the carpenters should make accurate calculations in advance before digging holes  on the shaft. With these “turnings”, as long as people stepped on the shaft, it would  move immediately. The tank couldn’t be said to the most important part in the  manual water cart, but the efficiency could be shown by it. Without the long and  open channel pumping into the river, without the small axle on the end of the tank,  without those long water buckets made of “Buddha boards” on the connecting shaft  in the tank, there would be no flowing water coming up from the river to the bank,  running into the dry fields.

    Then again, even if everything was ready, if people didn’t knowhow to thread water cart, it would be useless. Water couldn’t be lifted up. When threading this kind of cart, people must be light to lean over the bar, and even to step on the “Turnings” . The body center of gravity should move back slightly as the legs were raised. They should cooperate with the other people and keep pace. Only in this way could they turn the cart skilfully by saving much labor. Otherwise they would make a fool of themselves. If they leaned over too much on the bar, their legs would feel too short; If their body center moved too much in the back, they would fall backwards with hands and legs in the air; If they didn’t step evenly, they would not keep pace and be hit by the “turnings”; If they really couldn’t hold out, grasp tightly with their hands, bending down, drawing back their legs, it would be called “Hanging frogs”…… The school graduate Chunyu who returned to his hometown Xianghe Village had much experience in these.

    Look, he was on the water cart with a few men. Closer to summer, there was less wind in Northern Jiangsu Plain. Big wind that could blow up the sail became even less. Therefore, foreign cart seemed impossible to the villagers. They could only reply on their own manpower.

    Chunyu and the other three men had to get some water for the fields before the women prepared for the seedlings. That would be easier and not waste much time. Early in the morning, with enough strength, as soon as they got on the cart, they stepped on the shaft very fast as if there was a wind at their feet. Not long after, roaring river water was lifted up and flew into the fields. In a few moments, the original black fields were filled with white water. They became real white fields. By now the men slowed down and got off the cart, blur blur talking dirty words, teasing each other. After a while, they got on the cart again, working harder. By this time, the women went into the fields pulling out seedlings. Now it was already bright. More than ten women lined up in the paddy field and started transplanting seedlings. The men who worked from early morning got off the cart together, sitting on the ridge, taking out porridge boxes brought by their own wife or child, began to drink, with a few left over rice dumplings from the Dragon Festival.

    Full of food, seeing more and more red and green flower headbands, color clothes moving in the fields, the men became higher-spirited, got on the cart again. The cart’s whirling was louder, the water lifted from the tank sounded more surging. At this moment, the seeding call sounded over the paddy field.

    A piece of field is upright and foursquare,

    The brother lifts water by a waterwheel, the sister transplants seedlings,

    If you want the seedlings grow more quickly,

    All depend on the water in the field.

    Aligeshangzai, aligeshangzai(*exclamatory words in singing, no meaning),

    All depend on the water in the field.

    Qin Yatou was of these women. Hearing someone singing, she also opened her throat and joined them. She looked at Chunyu leaning over the bar with other men. Among these three men, only Chunyu had more schooling. So they encouraged him to sing too. Looking at Qin Yatou in the crowd of women, Chunyu felt a little uneasy at heart since he went to the Yang’s Village to “have a look” with his elder brother.Listen:

    A piece of field is upright and foursquare,

    The brother lifts water by a waterwheel, the sister transplants seedlings,

    The sister is transplanting seedlings in the center,

    The sister is clever in mind and skillful in hand;

    Transplanted seedling lines after lines,

    Seemed as if planted in the heart of the brother,

    Aligeshangzai, aligeshangzai,

    When will I match with the sister.

    As singing went on, girls and women began to make jokes. Women in the fields shouted,” Chunyu.” Men on the ridge cried out, “Qin Yatou.” Then over the field sky was shouting and crying of “Chunyu and Qin Yatou.”. Usually only in a short while was a word spread in the whole village. One family knew about what was happening in the other family. Word began spreading that Qin Yatou from Grandma Three’s family in the fourth production team on the west end fell in love with the younger brother from Liu’s family of the Tofu shop. Those gossip women hadn’t got a chance, but today they were lucky to see both of them together singing to each other. How could they let them off?

    “Qin Yatou, tell us quickly, is that true that you fallin love with Chunyu?” A  few women stood up in the fields stopped transplanting. The women close to Qin  Yatou were lifting up the seedlings and throwing at her, “Be honest and frank, have  you had an affair with him? If you don’t confess, we will make you embarrassed.” Qin’s face went red, she could hardly reply for a moment. As an unmarried young  girl, she was too shy to take the initiative to talk to Chunyu. Only when they worked  together, secretly had a few looks at each other. Nothing more happened. How could  you imagine they had an affair?

    With the scene in the rice field, the men couldn’t naturally keep silent. “Chunyu, when will you get such a beautiful girl?” “OK. When did you become a military worker behind the enemy lines? You worked on her quietly. That’s wonderful.” “Well, now, Chunyu will get married before Chungen does.” All sorts of gossip. A lively conversation went on with everybody joining in. Chunyu would not get angry. But he was waken up by the noise of the people. “Qin Yatou liked me, and I liked her, Why not find a chance to talk about it?” Thinking of this, he felt annoyed. Being talked about by these people like that, he hadn’t even touched her fingers. No, it’s useless to keep it in mind. Chunyu thought and thought, feeling light and absent-minded. When they threaded the waterwheel, being absent-minded, their feet couldn’t keep pace. The direct result of his absent-mindedness was that his feet were hit painfully by the “turnings”, made a fool of himself, like a “hanging frog”. At that moment, Chunyu didn’t want to be a “hanging frog”, he could do nothing about it. If he didn’t grasp the cross bar firmly, bend to withdraw the legs, nobody could avoid the hitting of the “turnings” .

    Too bad, he got disgraced before Qin Yatou. “Be quick to stop it.” Chunyu cried out with pain. How was it possible to stop as he wanted? The other men couldn’t stop as quickly as possible, because the waterwheel had the force of inertia, turning round. Someone stepped harder than the beginning. Who was it? It was Genshui who was leaning over at the farthest side. “Genshui, why are you playing the fox? Why don’t you stop your dog legs?” It was disgraceful for Chunyu to be hung like a frog. The tone was not very good. “You can’t even bear a joke. How come?” Genshui got very angry, left the waterwheel. How could Chunyu know that he offended Genshui unconsciously, became his opponent. Who would not love beautiful girls like Qin Yatou? Chunyu was lucky, girls liked him everywhere. The party secretary wanted to take him as son-in-law. Now he had got Qin Yatou. The more he thought of this, the more angry Genshui became. He secretly liked Qin Yatou for a long time.

    The sun went high up in the sky as this fun-making and laughing continued. Under the sun, in the originally white fields came out seedlings with good density, vertically in lines, horizontally in rows, looking green, filled up the fields, so fresh like a group of young lives. Looking at the lively rice fields, some hopes and desires came into Chunyu’s eyes without any cover up.