Chinese Literature

against the poor; unless the poor themselves stood up and did something, there would be no hope for them all their lives. Moreover, Big Lai had stated with great certainty that the world would belong to the poor in the near future.

Thus, Li-chiu was again reminded of the extraordinary events, which had taken place four years before, when the Peasants’ Association* was in power.

“Oh, if only that world would come again!”

He smiled. Suddenly a figure passed by him. Startled, he turned and saw Big Lai, the very person he had been thinking about.

“Hey! Where’re you going, Elder Cousin?”

“Ah, Li-chiu. So you folks have also started work in the fields.”

“Yes, Cousin. Come, let’s have a chat.” Li-chiu stopped swinging his hoe.

“Where's your Dad?”

“Over there carrying peat. Shao-pu is with him.”

“How are you people getting along these days?”

“Miserably, of course! How else? Today, there is no one home making rain hats. All three of us are working in the field. Last night, my Dad went to Mr. Ho and borrowed ten catties of beans which gave us a meal of a sort before we came to work. Otherwise. oe

“You're not doing so badly. You still manage to borrow beans from Mr. Ho.”

“Who wants to borrow from him? Never again! My Dad had to beg and beg. He kowtowed too, and promised to pay a higher price. And how about you people, Cousin?”

“We too find it hard to manage from one day to the next.”

A minute’s silence and then the customary smile again returned to Cousin Big Lai’s face. He nodded to Li-chiu and said: “Let’s continue our chat this evening, Li-chiu.”’

“All right.”

After Big Lai hurried off, Li-chiu continued his work. His hoe swung up and down in the field, from one part of the ditch to another. The sun hung high up in the sky as if to inform the people that it was already noon. The sound of singing voices, so long absent in the village, was again floating in the air. Tired, the peasants made their way home; but smoke—the sign of food cooking—emerged from only very few huts.

Yun-pu’s body ached all over although the day before when carrying peat he had only made some twenty or thirty trips. His legs and shoulders hurt as if hundreds of sharp needles were sticking into his joints.

*Tn 1926-1927 when the Chinese Communist Party co-operated with the Kuomintang and started the Northern Expedition against feudal warlords, Peasants’ Associations were formed in many provinces to oppose the landlords and demand land. These associations were suppressed after the Kuomintang betrayed the revolution.

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