by Zhou Daxin
The next morning, the old man said to Nuannuan: “I’d like to work on the wall here for another couple of days. Can you take me there again? If you can, I’ll add 30 yuan to your payment every day. And it will be 150 yuan every day with meals and bed included.”
Of course Nuannuan agreed quickly: money would come much faster from this than knitting fish nets. How could she turn down such a good opportunity? Before breakfast, she went back to her parents’ house and had Hehe send Kaitian back from his uncle’s because he had no need to hide anymore. Later on, she prepared two packs of food for lunch on the hill.
After breakfast, Nuannuan carried the old man’s bag and led him into the hill again. She kept him company through the inspection, measurement, calculation and recording by the side of the collapsed stone wall. When they returned home that evening, Kaitian had already come home. Nuannuan gave the money from the old man to Kaitian and told him everything. Kaitian was surprised and satisfied. Then, she introduced Kaitian to her Uncle Tan. The old man smiled and said: “Tomorrow I will have to trouble you to take me into the hill.”
From the third day onwards, Kaitian became the company of the old man. Naturally he was quite familiar with the wall, too. The old man kept himself occupied for 9 days with Kaitian by his side. During those days, Kaitian and Nuannuan learnt a lot from him. He told them that people from Chu built the Great Wall but abandoned it afterwards; during the Song Dynasty, the Jurchens invaded China, so people of the Southern Song Dynasty re-established the wall in defense. Judging from the edges of the stones on the wall, some were obtained from the hill earlier than others. The old man also told them that the stone rubble behind the wall were foundations of camps for the army that guarded the wall. The big camps were built for the officers while the small ones were for the soldiers. The open area separated by stone bricks on the far end was the army’s exercise ground. Whenever there was no war to fight, soldiers would go to the ground and practice their martial arts. Kaitian and Nuannuan absorbed his words with great interest. They never thought about the great story behind those stones which they had sat eyes on countless times …
On the day of the old man’s departure, he gripped Kaitian’s hand firmly and said: “Thank you both for offering me so much help. I may visit again if I can in the future.”
“If you come again, we’ll keep you company.” Nuannuan answered in sincerity as she felt a certain gratitude towards him. That day, Kaitian and Nuannuan walked the old man all the way to the ferry by the lake and sent him off as he went on Black Bean’s small boat setting for the east bank. She truly hoped that the old man would visit again. The Kuang family had earned 1,600 yuan in 11 days. It was a precious income that had arrived with the best timing. Kaitian paid the most urgent households and bought medicine for his father. They could also cover the expenditure of their house through the winter …
Chapter 18
When Spring had fallen, Kaitian and Nuannuan resumed their busy work in the fields: they fertilized the wheat field, looked after the sprouts, piled up mounds to prevent too much water in the sweet potato fields, planted pumpkins, green beans, chives, eggplants and chilly peppers. The workload was far beyond one household’s capacity. One day, the young couple were looking after the peppers in the field when Kaitian’s mother came over with Dangen in her arms: “Dangen’s dad! Two city people, one man and one woman, came to the house and asked for you. Come home and see!”
Kaitian was confused: “City people? Who do we know from the city?”
Nuannuan was worried: “Do you think someone came over for the weedkiller problem?”
Kaitian clapped his hands to wipe off the dust and spit: “If it’s good news it’s good news. If not, we can’t escape anyway. Let’s go home and see what happens.”
Nuannuan couldn’t stay in the field on her own, so she followed them home.
Kaitian walked into the yard and saw two ‘city-looking’ young people sitting there. He asked nervously: “Are you sure you are looking for me?” The young man stood up. He first looked at the newspaper in his hand, then took a look at Kaitian and smiled: “It is you that I’m looking for! We read Mr. Tan Wenbo’s article in the newspaper and saw the photos he took here. We came here in specific looking for you and Ms. Chu Nuannuan.”
“Tan Wenbo? Ohh, Uncle Tan.” Kaitian and Nuannuan were reassured. Kaitian stepped up and took the paper from the young man. Not only did he see a picture of the stonewall, but also a photo of Uncle Tan, Nuannuan and himself.
“Heavens, we are in the news! Dangen’s mom, come and check this out!” Kaitian gave Nuannuan the paper in excitement.
The young woman came close and asked: “We are both majors in history at the graduate school of Tianjin University. His name is Xiao Jing and I am Jing Xiao. We read the article written by Mr. Tan and decided to see the Great Wall of Chu and visit you on the way. Can we trouble you to guide our tour, please?”
“It’s the stonewall on the hill, right? Sure! You came all the way here. You deserve to go see it!” answered Kaitian immediately.
“Just one small thing: how much do you charge for that?” asked the young man.
Nuannuan said: “30 yuan.” She looked quite calm.
“What about the fee for staying and eating in your house?” asked the young woman.
“60 yuan more each,” answered Nuannuan. “We charged the same as with Uncle Tan last time.”
“Deal. I’ll pay you for the first two days now.” The young man happily took his wallet out and gave Kaitian 300 yuan in cash.
Kaitian was so happy to have the money in his hand; that would almost cover the loss of one acre of green beans. Kaitian asked them: “When are we going up the hill?”
The two students answered: “Whenever you like!”
Of course Kaitian wished for them to stay for one more day, but before he could answer, Nuannuan spoke: “You should go tomorrow. Take a good rest in the afternoon and have a rural home-made dinner with us tonight so that you happily can start tomorrow’s work.”
The two students nodded and agreed. Kaitian and Nuannuan cleaned the warehouse, where Uncle Tan stayed in, so that the students could put down their luggage and take a rest. Kaitian said to them: “I still need to go back in the field to plant peppers.”
Jing Xiao was quite curious: “I have never planted peppers before. Can we go with you?”
“Of course! Let’s go!” Kaitian, still excited, took the students to the field.
Kaitian had not felt so happy in a long time. Two graduate students from the city watching you work in the field, in full curiosity … How could that happen? With a dab of his hands, Kaitian split the dirt, slipped in the sprouts, poured the water and sealed the seeding pit with dirt again. As he worked, he explained about the proper distance between seeding pits, the difference of sprouts, etc. The two students listened and watched closely. After a while they itched for trying: “Can we help you?”
Kaitian was waiting for those words. He answered: “Sure! Roll your sleeves up first. Farm work is no rocket science that you study in university!”
The students joined Kaitian in the filed. Kaitian stopped working and started coaching them …
The next morning, Kaitian took Xiao Jing and Jing Xiao to see the Great Wall of Chu on the hill. On the way, seeing the two students’ excitement, Kaitian thought to himself: “It must have been a charm cast on these two, to bring all the way down here to spend that much money, and just to see a collapsed stone wall! What a waste! With all that money, I will go to the city and treat myself with some fried dough sticks and soup with pepper in a fine restaurant and a movie in the theatre! Well, at least I benefit from their visit, where else can I find money from?”
Jing Xiao suddenly spoke: “Mr. Kuang, your lady is such a good cook.”
Kaitian did not answer for a second. Then, as Jing Xiao was speaking to him, he realized that Mr. Kuang was himself, his lady was, of course, Nuannuan. He felt somewhat flattered and said: “A peasant’s wife she
is, and all she can do is cook. I’m happy that you didn’t dislike the food. Hmm, I think it’s better if you don’t call me Mr. When you do I don’t feel like I’m being talked to at all. Just call me Kaitian, or big brother, how’s that?”
“Yeah, yeah!” Jing Xiao answered in Kaitian’s words, her laughter filled in the air of the lonely hill.
Kaitian was worried about their disappointment in seeing the wall as it was: after all it was old-timed and collapsed. He made up his mind that if they didn’t like the wall, he would take them to see several caves on the hill. He used to herd the sheep and chop firewood on the hill, and those caves with stones in strange shapes inside were his favourite places to be. He thought the caves were the most worthy sites for visitors. However, the students gasped in full amazement at the sight of the wall and did not move for a while. Later on they ran towards the wall and started their inspection and measurement as they talked and wrote down several notes. Kaitian was assured by their excitement, and followed them in silence as they slowly moved forwards alongside the wall …
Xiao Jing and Jing Xiao did not return home until dark, and they talked about staying for several more days. Kaitian was more than happy about that: one more day for them means more money for his family. He told them almost immediately: “You take your time to do your thing, and I will keep you company.”
That night at home, Xiao Jing and Jing Xiao went to their room after dinner. Kaitian said to Nuannuan: “You should go to Men Kuan, the butcher’s house, and ask him to cut 1 jin of pork for a couple of meat dishes for dinner tomorrow. The students will be happy. If they stay for even one more day, we could earn an extra 150 yuan.”
Kaitian served his father when he took the medicine and helped Nuannuan steam the vegetarian buns for lunch next day on the hill. The young couple cleaned up the kitchen and walked past the warehouse, now transformed into a guest room. They saw the light in the room off and quieted down their steps, knowing that their guest had already gone to bed.
Xiao Jing and Jing Xiao went up the hill every day for 5 days. Kaitian stopped following them around after taking them to the wall in the later days as he took the opportunity to get firewood on the hill and carry it home in the evening. Kaitian felt like he was killing two birds with one stone. In the evening of the last day when they were heading home, Xiao Jing said to Kaitian, who was carrying the firewood: “Big brother Kaitian, Jing Xiao and I did some investigation, and we both think that this Great Wall of Chu was probably built around 312 B.C. when Chu was already declining. The ruler did not realize the state’s problems and invaded the city of Yongshi reigned by the state of Han. Qin used the excuse of Han’s defense to validate its attack on Chu. In Danyang, which today is the area north of Dan River, Xixia County of Henan Province, Qin killed 80,000 people and took captive of more than 70 Chu generals including Qu Gai. They also occupied most of Chu’s land. As a result, this area became the frontline of the war between Chu and Qin. They must have sent civilians to construct this Great Wall here in hopes of counter-attacks and defense of Qin’s expansion southbound.”
Kaitian could only understand a small part of Xiao Jing’s words, so he asked: “How many years had passed after that, then?”
“More than 2,300 years.”
“Yikes, that many years? My great grandpa’s great grandpa weren’t even born by then! Why do you want to see a wall that old?”
Jing Xiao answered him: “The basic idea was to find out how people carried out militant construction during the time so that we could understand ancient Chinese ideas of defense and attack in wars. Of course there is much more than that to follow.”
“Can you make money out of this?”
Both students laughed. Xiao Jing said: “Probably not.”
“Then I’ll have to break it to you: don’t spend time on things that don’t give you money. That’s just a waste of life. Only a fool would waste his life! Maybe I shouldn’t say this, but I get paid by you for taking you here.”
The students laughed again …
Before Xiao Jing and Jing Xiao departed, Nuannuan felt sorry. She took a picture with them and kept their phone number and address. Moreover, Jing Xiao insisted on giving one of her own blouses to Nuannuan. How could Nuannuan take that? The two pushed the blouse between one another for a while, and eventually Nuannuan offered Jing Xiao a colourful piece of cloth that Shallot gave her as a wedding present in exchange. Nuannuan gave the students some walnuts and salty-boiled eggs for the road. Kaitian and Nuannuan walked Xiao Jing and Jing Xiao all the way to the ferry by the lake and sent them off as they went on Black Bean’s small boat setting for the east bank.
Chapter 19
At that moment, all that Kaitian wished for was his father’s recovery. Once his father got better, he could leave him to his mother’s care so that he could take Nuannuan and his son to Guangdong to find work. He would not stay in Chu Wang Village, with all his neighbours’ judgments over him.
However, he saw no sign of recovery from his father.
One afternoon, Kaitian was going home after buying some herb medicine in the town hospital, because he could not find the medicine in Mei’s pharmacy in the village. As he passed by the small ferry, he saw several young people from the city stepping off Black Bean’s boat, and begin asking about Kuang Kaitian and Nuannuan. Due to his experience with the two students from Tianjin, he wasn’t surprised by their visit. He stepped up and introduced himself: “I am Kuang Kaitian. Are you looking for me?”
The young people cried out: “Yes, yes! It is you that we are looking for!”
One of them showed him a picture in the newspaper in his hand. Kaitian looked and recognized the photo he took with Xiao Jing and Jing Xiao on the Great Wall of Chu.
“We are university students from Hunan and our ancestors were people of the state of Chu. We really want to see the Great Wall after reading this article and we’d love to stay in your place. Can you be our guide?”
Kaitian knew instantly that he had another opportunity to earn money. He smiled and answered: “Yeah, yeah! Come with me.”
Kaitian led the four young people, all talking and laughing in excitement, into his yard. He raised his voice and said: “Dangen’s mom, we have guests.”
Nuannuan, too, understood immediately. She hastened to offer a bowl of plain boiled water to each of the students and poured out two basins of cool water for them to wash their faces and hands. Then, she pulled Kaitian into their room and said: “We only have one spare room around the house, but we’ve got two men and two women to accommodate. How will this work? We can’t put them all in one small room! How about we give them our room and the two of us can sleep on the kitchen floor?”
Kaitian agreed: “Sure, we’ll do as you said.”
After a while, Nuannuan went to talk about the price with the students: “Last time when Xiao Jing from Tianjin was here, we took them to the hill and offered them food and accommodation for 150 yuan each. The price will be the same for you. Is that good?”
The students answered her: “Good, good. 150 yuan it will be.”
As soon as they agreed, a leader of them gave Kaitian 600 yuan. Kaitian again felt the excitement: another roll of cash earned.
Nuannuan intended to extend the students’ stay as she did last time, so she tried to persuade them to take a rest in their house. Yet the young students were too vigorous to take a rest; they could not wait to explore around. So they asked to go into the hill immediately. Kaitian had no choice but agree: “Yeah, yeah.”
Before he left, Kaitian whispered to Nuannuan: “Can you manage a dinner for four more people? If not, go ask Hehe for help.”
Nuannuan shook her head: “Just go and entertain the guests. Don’t worry about things at home.”
Hearing her words, Kaitian put the 600 yuan he had received from the students into her chest.
The four students were as excited as their predecessors at the sight of the Great Wall on the hill. They too took measurements, notes and photos
. They stayed for three days and set out for the hill every morning after breakfast to inspect the wall. They would walk and talk alongside the wall, and sat down to make some notes once in a while. They spent all day on the hill and would not leave until dinner time. Kaitian led them all the way and showed them locations of the army camps, according to what Uncle Tan taught him: where the army camped; where the troops practiced martial arts; where the soldiers ambushed their enemies, etc. He explained all the details with such a convincing manner that he seemed like an expert in history. He would go on the slopes to pick up wild flowers for the two girls and rocks in exotic shapes for the two boys when they were too tired to walk. Therefore, the students all praised his proper job as a tour guide.
The students brought Kaitian and Nuannuan an income of 1,800 yuan. The night after sending off the students, Nuannuan spoke to Kaitian in a serious tone when both of them were lying in the bed: “You need to give a good thought about this!”
Kaitian did not understand: “About what?”
“The visits people paid to the stone wall.”
“What is there to think about? It’s good, isn’t it? One visit, one more opportunity to earn money.”
“Is that the only thing you can get out of this?” said Nuannuan as she glared.
Kaitian raised his hand to touch his head. He mumbled: “What else is there to think about?”
“You! You never use your brains!” said Nuannuan, tapping Kaitian’s nose with one finger. “Have you thought about this: more people will want to come and see the wall after they read the newspaper. Don’t you think we can even make some good wealth? A good business out of the old wall that’s been here since who-knows-when?”
“Are you serious?” Kaitian held tighter to Nuannuan’s hand.
“Of course the wall is useless to us, who farm the fields. But now it seems to me that for people with high cultural level, and for those city people that like the look of old stuffs, the wall is a big attraction. Therefore, there will be a lot more people visiting here soon.”