Chapter 214 - Homecoming (Part 4)

Fu Fu climbed a small hill and let the wind blow over him, drying the sweat from a long day’s walk under the sun. He didn’t feel particularly tired. He had been accustomed to farm work since childhood, and in the army, the ample food, daily training, and labor had made his body even stronger. Walking a dozen miles at a stretch was nothing to him.

There was no scheduled bullock cart service from East Gate Market to Meiyang Village, but the road had been thoroughly repaired. Simple bridges were erected, potholes were filled, drainage ditches were dug alongside, and the road surface was paved with sand and gravel. Apart from being a bit narrow, the roadbed was already at the level of a simple highway. Fu Fu walked with ease; after all, he had a five-kilometer cross-country run every week as part of his training.

The winter wind in Lin’gao wasn’t cold, but rather cool and pleasant. Looking out from the hill, the yellowish-brown road snaked through the hills and paddy fields covered with shrubs and trees. The second rice harvest had just been mostly completed, and the fields were already planted with winter wheat, fava beans, and various green manure crops. This area was a key demonstration zone for the Heaven and Earth Society’s new agricultural methods.

It was a pastoral scene of a “new countryside” he had never seen before—somewhat resembling the scenery in the “Australian pictures” shown to them during political classes in the army. The “Australian countryside” in those pictures was as beautiful as a fairyland. Fu Fu couldn’t believe that such a beautiful and prosperous village, with such fertile and lovely fields, existed in the world.

He still remembered the scenery along this road in the past: once you were a little far from the village, it was a desolate and terrifying wasteland of barren hills. The grass on both sides of the dirt road grew taller than a person, so dense that an adult walking into it would immediately disappear. Wild dogs roamed the wasteland, letting out low, frightening barks. He had heard the old folks say that these wild dogs specialized in digging up and eating corpses from graves… Since childhood, Fu Fu had heard all sorts of terrifying stories about the wilderness.

The vast stretches of scrub and bushes that were once everywhere had greatly diminished. Most of the flat land had been reclaimed into fields, and the hillsides were left with mixed forests, some with newly planted saplings. Fu Fu had also participated in “agricultural support” in the army and knew that the trees planted on the hillsides were mostly “economic forests” like fruit trees.

In the distance, amidst this quiet rural landscape, was a large cluster of houses—that was Meiyang Village. Fu Fu felt a little puzzled. Was Meiyang Village that big?

Fu Fu had been sold to Meiyang Village when he was seven or eight years old, and he had hardly left the village before being sent to the army. Fu Bu’er himself rarely left the village, going to the market once every ten days or half a month, and to the county town only once or twice a year. Fu Fu had been on long journeys less than five or six times in total. Meiyang Village was his entire world. In the rare moments of leisure from work, he would climb a small hill a mile or two from the village with other children, gazing at the distant scenery and arguing about what they would encounter and see if they kept walking in a certain direction. A trip to the county town, where he couldn’t see the village, was already an eye-opener for him.

When he was sent to be a soldier, the draftees from each household were tied up with ropes and sent away by the village. This was how every village handled it, to prevent the draftees from escaping. He and the few others from the village who were sent to be soldiers were tied together with a rope, stumbling along the bumpy road under escort. The village had specially sent a few strong men with sabers and wooden spears to guard them. He still remembered the leader, Fu You San’s eldest son, Fu Yizhuang, constantly brandishing a rusty saber at their necks, threatening to chop off the head of anyone who dared to escape. The cold blade sent shivers down his spine, and his heart grew cold as well. When he left, his master’s wife had only let him wear a pair of torn shorts and a tattered rag that resembled a vest. She didn’t even let him have a pair of straw sandals. Fu Bu’er had said, “Let him wear them,” but his wife snapped back, “He’s as good as dead once he’s gone, why does he need shoes?”

He walked barefoot for days, eating a few raw sweet potatoes and drinking mouthfuls of raw water each day. Almost every draftee had diarrhea. An orphan from the village, who was too young, had severe diarrhea and died on the way to Bopu. The eldest son of the Fu You San family, who was in charge of escorting them, just dug a shallow pit by the roadside and buried him, complaining, “Why couldn’t he wait until we got to Bopu to die?”

Fu Fu, dragging his feet with the dejected feeling that he was going to his death, was sent all the way to Bopu and became a soldier for the Australians.

Fu Fu didn’t know the term “life’s fortunes,” but in his limited vocabulary, he still felt fortunate for his “good luck.” Life as a soldier had opened another door for him, leading him into a world he had never imagined—a world he had never even dreamed of.

“I never thought this day would come.” Fu Fu took off his sun hat. When he left Meiyang Village, he never expected to return alive, let alone to return in such a grand and imposing manner. It turned out that being a soldier could be like in the plays, “returning home in glory.” At this thought, Fu Fu couldn’t help but smile with satisfaction. He felt a great sense of pleasure thinking about the expression on his harsh master’s wife’s face when she saw him.

Fu Fu quickened his pace towards the village. He couldn’t wait to see Fu Yijin. With Fu Yijin in his thoughts, even the master’s wife seemed less detestable.

He walked along the road, looking at the fields on both sides. Many fields now had ditches and sluice gates installed. The army had also contributed to this agricultural water conservancy; two-thirds of the “agricultural support” Fu Fu had participated in was spent on building irrigation systems.

As he neared the entrance of the village, he saw two girls coming down a small hill by the roadside. One was wearing a blue “work uniform,” and the other was dressed like a local girl. Both were carrying a rattan basket on their backs, filled with freshly cut tender grass. One of the girls was also carrying a small basket filled with rice grains and chaff that had been dropped in the fields.

From the way the girls walked and their general figures, Fu Fu recognized them at a glance as Fu Yijin and Fu Xi. He shouted loudly, “Sister Yijin! Little Sister Xi!”

The two girls stopped at the sound and looked at him in surprise.

Seeing them stop, Fu Fu was certain it was them and quickened his pace to catch up. As he got closer, he saw them more clearly—it was indeed them. Fu Yijin still wore her hair in a braid with bangs in the front, a wooden hairpin stuck in her hair. Her round face, with a pair of large, dark, and lively eyes, stared at him in surprise. A girl truly changes in her late teens. He hadn’t seen her in two years, and she looked so different from before. He called out loudly, “Sister Yijin, it’s me!”

Fu Yijin and Fu Xi still looked at the strange soldier in amazement, not yet recognizing who he was.

Fu Fu walked up to them, took off his helmet, and said with a smile, “It’s me! I’m Xiao Fu!”

The two finally recognized him. This strong and spirited young man was Fu Fu. Fu Xi took two steps forward in pleasant surprise. “You’re Brother Xiao Fu! How did you get back from the army? I never expected this.”

Fu Fu smiled with his mouth open, at a loss for words for a moment. Fu Xi was wearing the work uniform common in Bopu, which surprised him—apart from village cadres, ordinary country folk didn’t dress like this. Had she also gone to work for the Chiefs?

Fu Xi noticed him staring at her clothes. “I’m studying at the National School. The school issued these for us to wear during work-study sessions.” Fu Xi pointed to the cloth badge on her chest, which indeed had the words “National School” and the school’s motto: “Knowledge is Power.”

“The school is on harvest break, so I came back to the village,” Fu Xi said, looking at Fu Fu with a mixture of surprise and joy. She held his arm and looked him up and down. “You’ve become so mighty and impressive. If you hadn’t called out to us, I really wouldn’t have dared to recognize you.” She nudged Fu Yijin. “Don’t you think so, Sister Yijin?”

Fu Yijin smiled shyly, a blush rising on her cheeks. She was speechless for a moment before finally saying, “You must be tired from your journey. You should go home and rest first.”

“Is Master Fu at home?”

“Father is in the fields. Chief Wan is here, giving everyone an agricultural technology lesson.” Fu Yijin found it strange that Fu Fu suddenly called Fu Bu’er “Master Fu”—it sounded like a stranger’s way of addressing him. But she knew that Fu Fu was no longer her family’s household servant. She looked at Fu Fu: he was taller and stronger than before, his skin a healthy dark tan, his hair cut short like the Australians. The imposing cartridge belt and the short sword hanging from his waist, in particular, made it impossible for her to look away.

Was this still the same household boy who used to farm and herd ducks? Seeing his smile and his gaze, Fu Yijin’s heart began to pound. She didn’t dare to look at Fu Fu’s face.

“Let’s go, let’s go home together.”

On the way, he learned from Fu Xi about the tax turmoil from over a year ago and its aftermath.

“That old scoundrel Fu You San was dealt with harshly by the Chiefs. Now he’s dirt poor and can’t even boss his own family around anymore.” Fu You San was very unpopular in the village and had many conflicts with Fu Bu’er, so everyone in Fu Bu’er’s family disliked him. Fu Xi had also suffered from the old man’s cane in the past, and she spoke of this with great satisfaction.

“Now our family is the richest in the village, and Master has even become the village chief,” Fu Xi said. “The family’s property is several times larger than before. Chief Wan is really a capable person! It’s like he has the Midas touch!” When she spoke of Wanli Hui, her face lit up with excitement and admiration.

“Did Master send you to school?”

“Yes. If it weren’t for the shortage of hands at home, he would have wanted to send more people to study. The price of hired labor is high now, not like in the past when you could just give them a full meal.”