Chinese Literature

days were set at ease. The people opened their mouths and breathed a sigh of relief. Carrying hoes and cotton bedding, the peasants dragged their limp bodies home. Smiles of victory lit up their faces.

“Hey, Cousin Big Lai, come on over this evening. Let's have a little chat.” Li-chiu said to Big Lai before they parted at the cross-roads.

VI

The burden of life and work weighed down upon the whole village like a heavy yoke. When the rice plants started to flower, all the peasants worked desperately. The people would be saved if they could only last through the next twenty critical days.

Although there was not a single grain of rice at home, Uncle Yun-pu was still all smiles. His heart was at ease; after the two false alarms there was ninety per cent certainty of a good harvest. The rice plants were strong and thick, and the flowers seemed sturdy—better than any in the past ten years. To Uncle Yun-pu, the world was full of joy and great expectations.

But he did not indulge in excessive day-dreaming. He simply seized upon the present and estimated what it would be like in twenty days or so. Gazing at the green fields, the big sturdy rice plants and the heads of rice about to turn golden, he could scarcely believe his own eyes, and he wondered whether or not he was dreaming. But there they were, the rice plants, actually standing, before his eyes! Real, not imaginary. He was practically intoxicated with happiness.

“Ha, ha, can life this year really be so wonderful?”

Now he would get some results from the fatigue and hard work of the past. From the time they started sowing up until then, Uncle Yun-pu actually had not had a moment’s leisure. Immediately after the seedlings were planted, there was the drought. Just when they had some rain, there was the threat of flood. Like a pail that went ceaselessly up and down the well, his heart had thumped and had not known any peace or rest. He was as tired as a dead snake. He had not had one decent, satisfying meal in all that time. Even after Ying-ying was sold the family still ate thin gruei, to say nothing of the days before that when they had had nothing to eat. He could hardly lift his legs when working in the fields and his body had wasted away to practically nothing but skin and bones. Only after all that fear and privation was Uncle Yun-pu privileged to see those long ears of rice plants. How could he feel anything but delighted? The crops could now be considered wealth in hand. He must carefully think over what to do with it.

First they must have a few good meals. The children really were too dreadfully starved, poor things. He must arrange to see that they have a few substantial meals to restore their energy. Then a few piculs

146