The Scenery of the Lake and the Mountain

by Zhou Daxin

  Uncle Tan smiled and said: “You helped in the research of the Great Wall of Chu, so you deserve to be in the video. If you like, you can also talk about your knowledge of the wall.”

  “Talk about what? This thing has been here since forever. My Dad used to herd the sheep here when he was little, and I myself came here all the time to pick up firewood. I used to sleep on the wall when I was tired, sometimes I even peed on it! No one knew how precious it really is. We only started remembering its existence since your first visit …”

  Uncle Tan’s team began their on-field research since that day on. On the start of the wall, they observed carefully and measured with steel tapes; they knocked on the wall with a hammer and wrote down notes with fountain pens; they took photos and made videos with the cameras … Everyone was happily busy at their work all over the hill. Kaitian’s job was to introduce the hills, valleys, streams, rivers, villages and caves in the area. He taught them the names of different trees, bushes, weeds and rocks; he showed them the routes to go up and down the hill; he helped them tell if the weather was to be sunny, cloudy or windy (and how windy exactly). He would also carry two bottles of hot water and the meat buns and pickles for their lunch. The days were cold and the wind was so much fiercer on top of the hill that it hurt their faces. Kaitian, seeing people working around the stone wall, their breath visible in the air, thought to himself in sarcasm: “What worth is this?” Yet he hoped that they keep busy for a long time so that he could earn 1,000 yuan, one day after another!

  The research project of Uncle Tan’s lasted 12 days. During that time, Kaitian and Nuannuan had been very careful and busy. But the income made them more than satisfied. Uncle Tan paid them 13,200 yuan in total, from which only 1,500 yuan were spent on purchasing goods for their stay. The rest of the money was put safely in Nuannuan’s chest pocket. Upon his departure, Uncle Tan held Kaitian and Nuannuan’s hands and said: “We will give the video tape to the television company once we are back. A lot more people will know of the Great Wall of Chu and they will want to see it in person. By that time, even your Chu Di Ju will be too small!”

  Kaitian did not say anything. But inside he felt excited: Please send more people here, please …

  After Uncle Tan and his team left, Kaitian made the payment for the bricks and tiles he bought on credit to build the house, and gave 100 yuan to every family that bought weedkiller from him. He had Nuannuan sew the pocket on her chest close so that the rest of the money could be kept safe in it.

  “If more and more people come to see the wall, can we take them all in Chu Di Ju? The three of us had to sleep on the floor to receive 11 guests. What if next time there are 13 of them? Where do we put them?” asked Nuannuan, her eyes gazing upon Kaitian’s face.

  “Is there really going to be a group of 13? That many?”

  “Nothing is impossible. What if they do come?”

  “What do you think we should do?”

  “We shall build more houses and expand this hostel.”

  “More houses? Are you asking me to spend the money we just earned?” Kaitian was in shock.

  “This is not simply spending. I learnt from TV, it’s called investing. Even in here people have the saying: you can’t make omelets without breaking eggs.”

  “Will Mr. Leader Zhan grant us the land?”

  Nuannuan looked resentful as she said: “When I went to see Zhan Shideng last time about the land ownership, he promised me that we can build whatever and whenever we want.”

  “Then … shall we?”

  “We shall! In the worst case we can just sell the houses if no one comes to stay!”

  Chapter 22

  The Kuangs started another round of construction without notifying anyone. With more money in their pocket, the young couple found it easier than last time. They paid for the wood plank and cement and again bought bricks and tiles on credit from the kiln. The owner had already built trust in Kaitian, and agreed on everything he said. From sheer boldness Nuannuan decided to build more than one house. So they built three guestrooms, on both the eastern and western sides of the original Chu Di Ju, as well as a yard wall with an arch over the gateway on its southern side. When finished, Chu Di Ju had become a proper compound, ready to take in guests.

  People in the village were even more surprised this time: Kaitian’s son is still too young to get married, yet they spent so much money on these houses. Zhan Shideng did not expect their new project, either. He especially went to the construction site and inspected in suspicion. He asked Kaitian: “Are you planning on selling these houses?”

  Kaitian only smiled at him. He dared not give away his true motivation. Chu Changshun, Nuannuan’s dad also felt unhappy about his daughter’s expenditure, so he came over to warn them: “You must not do anything beyond your capacity. With so much debt, aren’t you afraid of going bankrupt with all this construction?”

  Nuannuan led Dad to her room and explained in a soft voice: “We are building these for the visitors.”

  Chu Changshun was more unpleased to hear that. He said: “What visitor will come to our poor village? Do you think we live in Nanfu City? I just hope you are not tricked, like last time with the weedkiller!” He finished the sentence with a sigh.

  Dad’s concern was not groundless. In the next few months, no one showed up to visit the Great Wall of Chu. As a result, no one came to stay in Chu Di Ju. Nuannuan became more nervous as their waiting extended without hope. They bought the bricks and tiles on credit with an interest of 50 yuan every month for 1,000 bricks, and 60 yuan every month for 1,000 tiles. If their houses stay vacant for any longer, they could not even pay the interest.

  One night when the couple were sitting in the new house in anxiety, Shallot ran inside and cried out happily: “Kaitian, come check this out: you are on TV!”

  The couple were stunned, and so they did not react immediately. Kaitian gathered himself first and ran out immediately after putting Dangen down. Yet when they reached Shallot’s house, he could only see Uncle Tan on the TV. He was introducing the Great Wall of Chu with a smile. He gave an explanation of the length, width of the wall, and the pattern of the rocks that built the wall. Kaitian watched the TV in amazement: how good is that camera! It captured every hair of Uncle Tan’s white beard. Kaitian could only laugh and said: “Who’d have known?”

  The next day, everyone in the village knew about the appearance of Kaitian and the wall on TV. Everyone felt surprised, yet no one understood what it meant.

  One midday, not long after Kaitian’s appearance on TV, several boats that looked like Black Bean’s anchored on the ferry outside Chu Wang Village. 20 university students stepped out, all laughing and talking, and asked about Kuang Kaitian. Seeing them approaching the house, Nuannuan realized that it was the opportunity that she had been waiting for. She stood up and said: “You must have come for the Great Wall of Chu! Welcome!”

  One student told her that they were students majoring in history in Hebei University and they came for the wall. Kaitian put down his bowl immediately and took the students to the newly expanded Chu Di Ju. Kaitian counted his guests. There were 22 of them, seven women and fifteen men. It was easy to offer them all accommodation. However, they had not bought pillows and bed sheets for beds in the new guesthouses. Kaitian sent the young women to the main hall of Chu Di Ju and took the young men to the guesthouses. The students were pleased to see the new houses and new beds in such a tidy courtyard. Kaitian promised to bring bed linen before dinnertime and talked to the leading student about the price. The student asked him: “How much did Mr. Tan pay when they were here?”

  Kaitian answered: “120 yuan per person including accommodation, food and a tour guide. But your group is larger, so I can give you a discount. How about 110 yuan every day per person?”

  The student thought for a while and agreed. He gave 4,840 yuan to Kaitian and said: “Here’s the money for two days. I will pay you more if we stay longer.”

  Kaitian happily took the mon
ey and showed it to Nuannuan. Then he had her put 2,000 yuan in the pocket she sewed close and gave her a couple hundred for the dinner. He went to his father-in-law’s later and gave him a little over 1,000 yuan so that he could find a neighbour to get 14 bed sheets and pillows from Juxiang Street. If they could bring everything back by nightfall, he would pay them 50 yuan each. Chu Changshun glared at his son-in-law and said: “Are you talking about money with me again?”

  Kaitian quickly answered: “okay, okay, no talk of money.”

  He turned and spoke to Hehe: “We need you to come over and help your sister prepare dinner. I will buy you a new dress and a new blouse after we send the guests away.”

  Hehe smiled and said: “My brother is most generous with his words!”

  Kaitian answered happily: “I will give you my word!”

  The students washed themselves and rested for a while before they asked to go see the wall on the hill. Nuannuan tried to extend their stay for the sake of 2,000 yuan a day, so she said to them: “It’s too late to go on the hill now. How about my baby’s dad take you around the Red Lake for now? He’ll take you to the hill tomorrow morning.”

  The leading student said: “Sure, we can go see the lake.”

  Nuannuan pulled Kaitian aside and whispered him what to do. He then left to guide the students.

  People in the village were curious of the group of students from the city and they all walked out their doors to watch Kaitian take them to the lakeside. They asked each other about the visitors. Zhan Shideng was in shock, too. He thought to himself: “Damn! The visitors asked for Kuang Kaitian instead of me!” Children in the village also swarmed up to look at the students.

  The small shop owned by Zhan Datong was close to the lakeside. He piled up dozens of dried sunflowers in front of his shop. The students had never seen such things, so they quickly bought all the flowers. Zhan Datong was more than happy: the sales had already surpassed his yearly revenue. He padded on Kaitian’s shoulder and whispered: “Thank you! Finally you are doing something good for the village!”

  There was nothing special to see by the side of the lake. There were some grass, herbs, willow trees and wild flowers. The students took several pictures and started asking about other places to go. Kaitian was nervous: it was still early before sunset and the students would not be happy without things to do. Suddenly he remembered that Uncle Tan told him about a skirmish between Qin and Chu right here by the side of the Red Lake. He spoke up in a tone of authority: “You must take this place seriously, for it is in fact an ancient battlefield. In the old days, the Chu army were defeated by the Qin army in Danyang, and they came here to take a rest before the next battle. But 100,000 Qin soldiers followed them and lit the fire of war again right here. The Chu soldiers had not even recovered from their defeat, so the Qin army killed thousands of our Chu people. What a cruel battle it was! Dead bodies were everywhere in this very place on that day.”

  “Wow!” The students listened to him carefully with their eyes gazed on the grass and the clear water.

  One student said: “Maybe we can find the weapons they used in the battle.” The others followed him as they carefully watched their steps in the grass. Kaitian was relieved so he followed their steps, too. He wished that they could really find a piece of weapon. With the students occupied again, he hoped they could spend time here until sunset so that he could earn money for one more day.

  “When I read Qu Yuan’s work,” said the leading student. “I read that his poem ‘Lament for My Nation’ was written in this area. He wrote the poem to commemorate soldiers killed in the battle. Do you think it was THE battle?”

  “It is possible.” One student answered.

  Kaitian listened in silence. Though he did not quite understand what they said, he felt happy to see these students paying attention: I can bring other guests down here by the lake again next time so that they can stay longer …

  The next morning after breakfast, Kaitian guided the students on the hill. They cheered in amazement when seeing the Great Wall of Chu and scattered in all directions. Some took pictures of the surrounding, some sat on a rock to paint pictures, some took notes of their observations. The group stayed in Chu Wang Village for four days. Nuannuan and Kaitian earned close to 10,000 yuan in total. It was a profit of 7,000 yuan minus the expenditure. They quickly paid what they owed from the construction. Apart from the income, they felt happy because they were more confident in the future of Chu Di Ju. Moreover, three days after the group left, 16 students from Shandong arrived. Following the Shandong group, 12 from Baoding, Hebei showed up. Before the Baoding group left, 11 from Kaifeng came to stay, too. Spotty Laosi stopped the students from Kaifeng when they arrived at the ferry and said: “You can stay at my place and eat with us. You are all welcome in my house.”

  The students went with him. But they saw Chu Di Ju with its new houses and tidy floor, beds and tables, so they immediately moved out and asked to stay in Chu Di Ju. Spotty Laosi was furious but he dared not stop them.

  One night after receiving the groups of visitors, Nuannuan said to Kaitian: “We should help Shallot out. She did not ask for compensation for the weedkiller. Now we have more money, we cannot forget about her.”

  “How should we help her? Give them money?”

  “She won’t take it. You know Shallot, she will not take money from you for no reason. I think we could hire her in Chu Di Ju and ask her to cook for the guests. I cannot manage in the kitchen with so many people. She is a better cook than I am. With her and Hehe, we don’t need to worry about food at all. I can help you with the tour guide if I’m not needed in the kitchen. We will pay Shallot 400 yuan every month and she will eat with us. She can use the money to help her family out.”

  Kaitian frowned and asked: “Isn’t 400 yuan too much for a month?”

  “Too much? Aren’t we trying to help her out here? Changlin has lost his arm and their life is even more difficult than ours before Chu Di Ju.”

  “We’ll do as you say.”

  Nuannuan paid a visit to Shallot. She did not mention anything about returning a favour or offering some help, she only talked about the job opportunity and her payment. Shallot was very happy and agreed immediately. Farm work in their fields was not enough for her and she was thinking of new ways to make money. The second day she showed up to work. Nuannuan told her what dishes to make and she went to the kitchen and occupied herself in a very efficient manner.

  Nuannuan knew about Spotty Laosi’s remorse about the guests. She did not want to make trouble with her neighbour, so she wanted to offer him some opportunities, too. She went to his house and said: “We will pay you 25 yuan one day if you take one group of visitors to see the wall. Are you in or not?”

  Not able to accommodate guests on his own, Spotty Laosi had to compromise. And 25 yuan per day was a lot better than nothing. He agreed, though with reluctance: “Alright. You Kuangs make your big money and I take only a small slice out of it. Heavens know how unfair this business is! …”

  Chapter 23

  Due to the continual arrival of guests coming for the Great Wall of Chu, a large quantity of vegetables was needed, and Nuannuan convinced Kaitian to convert the family block of land into a vegetable patch. Seeds of eggplant, chives, tomato, kidney bean, Chinese spinach, celery, pak choi, spinach and cucumber made up a total crop of at least a dozen. Although Kaitian had no real skill at planting crops, the family plot was fertile, and it was widely known that plants grew well there.

  Today, Nuannuan had come to the plot to cut back the chives, as yesterday a group from Shandong had arrived and chosen to eat egg and chive buns. Nuannuan planned to cut back the chives before noon, clean up and prepare as a filling, and in the afternoon give them to Shallot to prepare for the guests as steamed buns.

  After cutting back one bundle of chives, Nuannuan turned back and suddenly noticed Zhan Shideng standing at the front of the house. Her smile suddenly vanished, like a startled bird in flight. She pretended no
t to have seen him, put her head down and continued to cut the chives, though it was easy to see that her hands were now slow and clumsy. “Hey, I know you saw me, but not even a hello?” Zhan Shideng had a big smile on his face. Nuannuan didn’t lift her head for a while, but kept on cutting at her chives. It was only when Dangen went to her side and said: “Mom, someone is calling for you.” Only then did Nuannuan finally put down the sickle, lift her head to Zhan Shideng and say coldly: “What are you standing here for?”

  “You are allowing the stone wall visitors to stay in your home for lodging, and have already earned a good deal of money. After today, I intend to set up a distributed accommodation system, to send guests that come to Chu Wang Village into other homes, and allow other families to earn a bit of money for the sake of our collective wealth. What do you say?”

  Nuannuan’s heart sunk and, with much anger in her voice, replied: “So, you’ve found another way to get at us! Do you think earning this money is easy for us? If we weren’t to do like this, how could we pay back the families we owe?”

  “Hey, don’t forget that I am the leader here, and the leader must be watching out for the good of the whole village. Haven’t you heard the authorities up talk about allowing wealth for all people? A good turn like this cannot be left to a single household.”

  “You can’t just force the guests to stay in other houses. It is only right that guests choose where to live.” “Dangen, let’s go!” Nuannuan knew what was to come next, and, pulling Dangen by the hand, picked up her vegetable basket and rushed away …

  Chapter 24

  Nuannuan knew the meaning behind Zhan Shideng’s words and, afraid that he really would forcefully intervene, she told Kaitian about it that night. Kaitian also reacted with shock, and hurriedly asked Nuannuan: “What do we do?” After a moment of hesitation, Nuannuan said: “I think he is changing the rules as a way of forcing us to present him an offering. I’ve heard that every time Hu Datou brews a jar of yellow wine he will receive a flask: every time Zhan Guoli slaughters a cow, about 10 jin of meat is gifted to him; every time Black Bean sells a batch of Chinese medicine he will take a few cartons of cigarettes. We have admitted so many guests already, no wonder he is unhappy not to receive something from us? Right, let’s rid this problem with money, give him some money as a gift.” “How much?” Kaitian sounded distressed. “I say 500, with an appetite like his, I’m afraid that a smaller sum wouldn’t solve anything.”