Chapter 33: Popular (3)

While the He family was gathered around reading the “comic book magazine.” Zheng Yun, who was in Shanghai City, had just returned home with the picture magazine she had bought.

Zheng Yun, twenty-two years old, worked as a female worker in a textile factory and was currently unmarried.

Although the legal marriage age was eighteen, the country promoted late marriage and late childbearing, and the factory leadership often did ideological work for the employees. Therefore, there were quite a few girls in their twenties like her who were still unmarried in the textile factory.

But this did not mean that her family wasn’t anxious. Marriage was a big life event, and finding the right person at first sight was rare. Moreover, after finding someone suitable, they still had to spend time together, and there were usually a few months between the engagement and the wedding.

Twenty-two years old, not young anymore.

In the past six months, Zheng Yun’s mother had been quite anxious about her marriage, but Zheng Yun herself was fine with it.

In fact, she didn’t think marriage was all that great.

Now, when she got off work and returned home, after finishing the housework and taking a shower, the rest of the time was her own. She could sleep if she wanted to, or read comic books if she felt like it.

On Sundays, she could also meet up with friends or colleagues to go out. If she came across a new picture magazine, she could buy as many copies as she wanted. Anyway, apart from the living expenses she gave to her mom each month, she was free to spend the rest of her money however she pleased. Her mom didn’t interfere.

Well, occasionally if she bought too many comic books, her mom would nag a little, but overall, her life was quite free.

Marriage was different. Her married colleagues were not only busy at work but also had to take care of their husbands and children when they got home. Then, when they received their monthly salary, they almost had to split every penny in half to make ends meet.

Just watching them made her feel scared.

She decided to enjoy a few more carefree years, Zheng Yun thought to herself as she opened the “comic book magazine” she had just bought.

“Chutao Yuan Village.”

This name seemed a bit ordinary, and it wasn’t clear what kind of story it might be.

These were Zheng Yun’s thoughts when she first flipped open the magazine. But when she saw Li Maochang waking up from his coma, hearing from a girl named Qingqing, who was dressed in a pre-revolutionary style with a coat and skirt, that this was Taohua Village, she vaguely thought that perhaps the name was quite fitting after all.

She continued reading, and the subsequent developments confirmed her suspicions.

When the male lead, Li Maochang, walked out of the bedroom, he saw a scene of winding paths, children playing by the roadside, smoke curling up from cooking fires, and the sounds of roosters crowing and dogs barking in the distance… It all came together to form a picture called The Peach Blossom Spring.

However, while The Peach Blossom Spring was a classic and widely known, anyone who had attended middle and high school should be familiar with it.

If the author was collaborating with the Publishing House and just illustrated the original story, that would have been fine. But changing the name, altering the background, and presenting it as their own work—it didn’t seem quite right.

However, Zheng Yun thought to herself, Comic Book Magazine was the current best-selling picture magazine, and the publishing house probably wouldn’t ruin its reputation over this. Besides… a durian?

Seeing this strange name, Zheng Yun immediately knew it was a new author.

It wasn’t that she disliked the name, but she was a fan of various picture magazines and had read quite a few comic books. The bookshelf against the wall in her bedroom was specifically bought to hold her comic books.

As her mom would say, even the comic book stands at the market didn’t have as many as she did.

With such a unique author name, if she had seen it before, she would definitely have remembered. Since she didn’t have any impression, it was clear the author was new.

Would the Publishing House break the rules for a newcomer?

Zheng Yun didn’t think so, so she continued reading.

After observing the outside scene and learning that the Educated Youth had grown up here and never left, Li Maochang finally met the head of the household, who was also Qingqing’s father.

The other person’s attire was also quite old-fashioned—a long coat that was common before the founding of the country. The faded blue coat was patched with large and small patches, indicating that this family was not wealthy.

As Li Maochang sized up the man, Qingqing’s father was also sizing him up.

After a long pause, Qingqing’s father asked: “Is there still fighting outside?”

Li Maochang was stunned and asked: “Have you lived outside?”

Qingqing’s father replied, of course, but that had been many years ago. At that time, he was still a child, and his family was suffocated by heavy taxes.

He still remembered that when they moved to Taohua Village after the autumn harvest, it was actually a good year. The rice in the paddy fields grew tall and strong, but the rice stalks were so full of grains that they couldn’t even stand upright.

Every night when he went to bed, he could hear his parents discussing what they would buy for the family after harvesting the rice and paying the rent. The kitchen bowls were too broken to be repaired, the eldest child’s shoes were so worn that they couldn’t be worn anymore… Things that once seemed distressing now, when recalled, filled their hearts with hope.

But before the autumn harvest was even finished, the people in charge had changed.

The previous warlord had been driven away, but the new ones weren’t any better. Before they had even settled into their positions, they announced they were raising taxes. Orders came down one after another, and the taxes increased with each layer.

In the end, it turned out that not only did they lose an entire year’s labor, but they also had to pay for the land. Some people in the village were already planning to sell their children.

At this point, Qingqing’s father took a heavy puff of his dry tobacco, and Li Maochang hurriedly asked: “And then? Did you run away here?”

Qingqing’s father stopped his movements, turned his head, and sighed: “Run away? It’s not that easy. Our roots are here.”

At this point, Zheng Yun hurriedly turned the page, then, in disbelief, asked: “That’s it? What happened next?”

She desperately flipped back and forth for two whole rounds before she noticed the words “To be continued…” at the end, and she had no choice but to face the reality. To find out what happened next, she would have to wait for half a month—or rather, seven more days.

Fine then.

Zheng Yun lay on her bed, helplessly thinking.

But after lying down for a little while, she couldn’t help but get up again, go to the living room, and find the calendar. She turned straight to the 16th. When she saw that it was a Sunday, she jumped up in excitement, causing Zheng Yun’s mother, who had just entered the room, to scold: “You’re over twenty years old now, can you be a bit more stable? You’re jumping around like a child.”

Zheng Yun quickly apologized, backing away to her bedroom, where she picked up the “comic book magazine” from the bed.

Originally, she wanted to see the rest of the story, but her hands weren’t cooperating. By the time she realized it, the pages had already turned back to the first one.

How about… reading it again?

The thought just crossed her mind, and she immediately immersed herself back into the story.

From June 9th to June 16th, in just a short span of seven days, Zheng Yunsha flipped through Comic Book Report to read Chu Taohua Village at least 180 times.

In truth, she had already memorized the story thoroughly, and had seen the illustrations countless times. Speaking of the illustrations, at first glance, they didn’t seem remarkable. Though the images were clean and delicate, the artistic style was not particularly special, and as they were black-and-white drawings, there was little to discern.

However, after viewing them repeatedly, Zheng Yun realized that the author’s drawing skills were truly impressive. Out of the thirty-plus illustrations, there wasn’t a single unnecessary line, and one could tell that the author had a great deal of mastery over their craft.

Zheng Yun thought that this “Durian” must have studied painting and likely had some literary foundation, but had probably never drawn a comic book before, which explained the lack of a distinct artistic style.

Nonetheless, Zheng Yun believed that as long as Durian continued drawing, they would eventually develop their own unique style.

That said, these days were incredibly difficult to endure. Despite it only being seven days, it felt as though seven years had passed. So much so that on the 16th, she woke up before dawn—partly out of excitement, partly so she could be the first to see the continuation of Chu Taohua Village.

On that day, Zheng Yun did indeed get to see the continuation, but after reading it, she realized that Chu Taohua Village actually had more chapters!

This meant she would have to wait another half month!

No, wait. July 1st was a Monday, and she would be working the early shift that week, which meant she would have to wait more than twenty days before she could see the conclusion.

Ahhh!

She wouldn’t be able to sleep for the next twenty days!

In cities with a Xinhua Bookstore, there were many readers like Zheng Yun, whose hearts were torn with anticipation. Zhang Yaping, who lived in the capital, was one of them.

However, unlike Zheng Yun, Zhang Yaping had not gone to the countryside after finishing middle school, as per the policy. His street had not arranged work for him, so he was currently unemployed.

Not having a job meant no income or savings, so although he liked reading comic books, he couldn’t afford to buy them in bulk and collect them as Zheng Yun did.

Fortunately, his home was not far from the Xinhua Bookstore. With just a three-kilometer walk, he could spend an entire morning or afternoon at the bookstore, passing the time with comic books.

Therefore, he was the first to see the grand conclusion of Chu Taohua Village.

After hearing from Qingqing’s father the reason they had fled to Taohua Village, Li Maochang began to speak of the outside world.

He said that the Japanese had long been driven away, the warlords had been eliminated, and the New China had been founded in 1949. The country had been at peace for more than twenty years.

He said that now there were no harsh taxes, and the amount of grain tax was fixed. The weather here was favorable, and as long as people worked hard, the grain left after paying the tax would be more than enough to feed the family, with plenty left over.

He also said that human trafficking was now illegal, and anyone who dared to come and kidnap people from their home could be reported directly to the Public Security Bureau, and the state would definitely support them.

Qingqing’s father listened intently, full of longing, yet remained somewhat skeptical.

Thus, Li Maochang settled down in Taohua Village and began to tell them about the outside world in bits and pieces.

At meal times, he told them what people outside commonly ate, what grain tickets and oil tickets were, and seeing the old clothes they wore, patched up all over, he explained what cloth tickets were.

However, what ultimately moved the villagers was something Li Maochang said when he saw the children playing.

He said that children their age should all be sent to school.

Although Qingqing’s father had never received much education, he firmly believed in the saying: “All professions are inferior, only reading is noble.” and immediately began to inquire in detail.

When he learned that after the founding of the country, the government had vigorously carried out literacy campaigns, with adults attending literacy classes and children being sent to school, his heart was moved.

After several discussions and many arguments, Qingqing’s father finally decided to go out and see for himself.

So, ten days later, Li Maochang took Qingqing and her father out of Taohua Village.

Once outside, he first took them to the nearest commune leader, explained their situation, and expressed their desire to learn more about life outside.

The commune leader took this matter very seriously, specially arranging for a staff member to show them around the commune and the surrounding brigades.

After leaving the Revolutionary Committee, Qingqing’s father followed the commune staff member through the main street for a tour, and then they visited the surrounding brigades.

The houses in the brigade were not as grand as those in the commune, but they were well-arranged. It was lunchtime, and smoke rose from chimneys in every household. Occasionally, one could hear the calls of mothers calling for their children.

On the road, they encountered a group of women chatting outside. Upon seeing his worn clothes, they covered their mouths and laughed.

In the afternoon, they visited the fields, where the brigade members were working hard. They also visited the Educated Youth station, where groups of teenagers were speaking politely and courteously.

Finally, they went to a school. Standing outside the classroom, they looked through the windows and saw the students inside, their faces full of concentration. They could hear the sound of loud reading coming from an unknown classroom. This elderly man, who had lived in seclusion for decades, was moved to tears.

At the end of the story, the villagers of Taohua Village were relocated once again.

By then, Li Maochang had returned to his city of work. When he heard this news, he was very pleased and shared it with his colleagues. One of them laughed and said: “Shouldn’t this play be called Chu Taohua Village?”

Li Maochang, upon hearing this, smiled and replied: “Do you think they’ve left Taohua Village? How do you know they haven’t entered Taohuayuan?”

With the country at peace and the people content, everywhere was Taohuayuan.

Upon reading this, Zhang Yaping was moved to tears.

He was born in the 1950s, never having experienced war or the pain of separation and death. Apart from the three years of hardship, he had never gone hungry.

The “Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside” campaign could be considered the greatest challenge of his short seventeen years of life.

It was now 1974, and batches of Educated Youth had been sent to the countryside, but few had returned. Having heard countless stories from relatives and neighbors about their children sent to the countryside, Zhang Yaping was filled with fear about this very issue.

He couldn’t understand—was all their years of education just for the purpose of sending them to the countryside to farm?

After reading the last issue, he had asked his parents if life for farmers before the founding of the country had really been so difficult. Their answer was: Yes, it was indeed that hard, and the reason they could now live a happy life was because of the leadership of the Party and the great leaders.

After talking to his parents, Zhang Yaping began to reflect on his own future.

Should he really just stay at home like this? No matter how difficult life in the countryside was, could it be harder than the lives of the common people before the founding of the country? No matter how tough the countryside life was, could it be worse than his parents’ difficult youth?

The pioneers who saw the desolate state of the country never thought of retreating. In the end, they succeeded in allowing the people of this country to live a prosperous and peaceful life.

Why should he be so sure that he would accomplish nothing by going to the countryside, that all he could do was farm? He was only seventeen years old. Did he really intend to lose his ambition and live his life aimlessly?

Zhang Yaping closed the comic book, and when he looked up again, his face was full of resolve.

He had made up his mind. He would go to the countryside. He would go to the border areas.

But before going to the border, he needed to write a letter first.

After reading Chu Taohua Village, Zhang Yaping was not the only one who wrote a letter to the Publishing House. In just half a month, the Publishing House received two large sacks of reader correspondence.

After receiving the letters, the Publishing House arranged for staff to organize them, then sent the letters along with the full manuscript publishing contract of Chu Taohua Village to Rong City.

On a certain day in late July, Su Ting was suddenly called to the kiosk as she passed by.

Three minutes later, she retrieved her pick-up notification from among the many letters at the kiosk.

Looking at the sender on the notification, Su Ting’s mind was filled with three question marks. What could the Publishing House have sent her? And why did the note specifically mention she should remember to ride… a tricycle?!!