I am not Ximen Qing.

The towering iron tower atop the distant mountain peak of Dahe Forest Farm was something even Zhang Honglin's father didn't know when it was built. At least, Zhang Sheng, along with Dachun, Jianguo, Xinjun, Jindi, and Lechen, had played a game of "Forest God" and encountered the Dionysus Choir. Of course, his playmates didn't understand Western gods or drama, nor did they read "Andersen's Fairy Tales" or "One Thousand and One Nights." They were practically illiterate, only occasionally listening to storytelling or the grand broadcast of the first television set in Dahe Forest Farm at Liu Dadan's house.

In the novel *Water Margin*, the character Gao Yanei, especially the part where Gao Yanei harasses Lin Chong's wife, infuriated Zhang Sheng so much that he almost threw stones at Liu Dadan's television. He was being harassed by his own wife and yet he was too timid to resist. Zhang Sheng asked his father why Gao Qiu was so unreasonable. Not only did he not criticize his son for harassing another man's wife, but he even had Lu Yuhou frame Lin Chong. Why was that? His father didn't answer directly, only saying that no matter how high Gao Qiu's status was, he could make Emperor Huizong of Song happy, but when it came to his own son, Gao Yanei, he had no way to discipline him.

Seeing the part where Pan Jinlian, Wang Po, and Ximen Qing conspired to kill Wu Dalang, it's unbelievable that such vicious women really exist! However, Ximen Qing's death in *Water Margin* differs from the story his great-uncle Huang Yumin told Zhang Sheng in the storeroom. His great-uncle could read the Wanli edition of *Jin Ping Mei* in traditional Chinese characters. Zhang Sheng remembered his mother being fierce towards this old man, but his great-uncle didn't care at all because of his father. He said Ximen Qing died from exhaustion from chasing women. It seems Pan Jinlian and Ximen Qing were more famous public figures than Wu Song in history. Zhang Sheng hadn't seen Pan Jinlian's beauty in the Dahe Forest Farm, and the Dahe Forest Farm, where Ximen Qing had three wives and six concubines, didn't exist either. Thanks to Liu Dadan's impulsive purchase of the first black-and-white television, he became the talk of the town in Dahe Forest Farm, resembling the classic Chinese novels "Shanghai Bund," "Huo Yuanjia," "Water Margin," and "Romance of the Three Kingdoms." Otherwise, the children wouldn't know about the story of Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian. However, everyone sympathized with Wu Dalang, not Pan Jinlian. Everyone has the right to pursue freedom in love. In fact, Wu Dalang was the driving force behind Pan Jinlian's tragedy. If Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian hadn't killed Wu Dalang, it would have been nothing more than a scandal—Ximen Qing and Pan Jinlian having an affair. Zhang Sheng knew that his great-uncle Huang Yumin was now a master of having affairs, but he only had affairs with widows, which wasn't illegal; it was just gossip. Inspired by Ximen Xue's ten years of diligent study in the snowy forests of Dahe Forest Farm, Wang Renxue also changed his name to Wang Zhongyong and gave his son the impressive name Wang Lunyu. As the Song Dynasty's Grand Chancellor Lü Mengzheng once said, "Half of the Analects can govern the world." To be able to govern the world is far more impressive than Fan Jin, whom Ximen Qing idolized. Wang Lunyu's name is well-known in the Dahe Forest Farm, as is Wang Zhongyong.

The Dahe Forest Farm also initiated a movement to break away from feudal family naming conventions. Wang Zhongyong remains Zhang Honglin's close friend in the work team. His son is currently the academic genius of the Dahe Forest Farm. Teacher Lang commented that Wang Lunyu will definitely be the first person to leave the snowy forest of Dahe, and will be among the top three scholars in the imperial examinations, or at least a scholar or a literary figure. Wang Lunyu is indeed a learning prodigy. In the past, people often used the phrase "a golden phoenix flying out of a mountain valley." The Dahe Forest Farm is a vast river, and with such a vast river, there must be legendary dragons! Wang Lunyu is at least a college student who flew out of the forest from Longwan. Nowadays, the value of a college degree is comparable to that of Fan Jin passing the imperial examinations. Local officials would immediately send him several beautiful maids upon hearing the news, and upon seeing his thatched cottage, they would immediately send him a courtyard house with lions guarding the gate. Let alone college students, even junior college graduates or vocational school graduates would immediately become reserve cadres for secretaries and factory directors in the forest farm. Just think about how valuable a college degree is.

Wang Zhongyong stood taller than anyone else; this was the way of rural China—people never dared to offend the parents of scholars. For some reason, Zhang Sheng never disliked Pan Jinlian, because in the TV series, she and Xiao Baicai were equally beautiful women. And it wasn't her own fault that the tragedy occurred; Ximen Qing was too rich and powerful, owning so many pharmacies and fabric shops. This immediately reminded me of Doctor Zhu from the Dahe Forestry Farm. Now, after years of being a wife, he's finally become the boss, Director Zhu, with a huge official air. At home, his wife doesn't dare raise her voice, otherwise, he'll unleash his martial arts skills like Wu Song beating Sun Erniang.

He was good at flattering the factory director and secretary, so he dared to use underhanded tactics when prescribing medicine to the workers. He was similar to Gao Feng, a figure from the Tao Zhu formula in Dahe Forestry Farm; one made money from medicine, the other from his small shop. Gao Feng's shop squeezed out the state-run department store in Dahe Forestry Farm, as his goods were cheap and plentiful. During the Spring Festival, people in Dahe Forestry Farm had to queue to buy some sought-after items with ration coupons, but there was no queue at Gao Feng's shop. Gao Feng was similar to Wu Dalang, short and wiry, and his wife was as beautiful as Pan Jinlian from the TV series. Now, Wang Kunlun and Gao Feng were both rich in the forestry farm, and even the old women there said they were good at speculation and making extra money. Gao Feng's wife looked so elegant in her big leather coat in winter! Wang Kunlun made some money through his connection with Secretary Wang, but he was relatively low-key. He hardly spoke to his father, Zhang Honglin, anymore. This was the first time Zhang Sheng had truly felt the difference between being rich and poor. Ximen Xue seems like a fictional legend. Did he actually live in the Dahe Forest Farm? Indeed, he did, he worked there, but Ximen Xue chose to sever all ties with the Dahe Forest Farm. He worked and lived in Changchun, the provincial capital, not to mention Beijing or Shanghai.

The older sister was quite a figure at school because she was the conductor of the school's honor guard band during sports meets. Xinchun, Xinmin, and Wang Lunyu were all flag bearers. Zhang Sheng, Xinjun, Jindi, and Lechen all wanted to be trumpet players, but those positions were already filled by upperclassmen. The PE teacher comforted them, saying they would become trumpet players when they entered junior high school.

Ever since Liu Dadan bought the first television set at Dahe Forest Farm, Zhang Sheng's worldview changed. It seemed that myths and legends were real; people could fly through the clouds, even use magic to pass through walls like the Taoist priests of Laoshan. At the very least, knowing kung fu would allow him to leap across rooftops in the Forbidden City like Yanzi Li San, fighting evil and promoting good. There were also figures like Wang Wu the Great Swordsman, Huo Yuanjia, Chen Zhen's Lost Track Fist, light-body kung fu, and the Shaolin Temple—the monks even saved Li Shimin of the Tang Dynasty and defeated Wang Renzhe. The first step in learning kung fu was having his mother make two bags filled with sand, which he tied to his calves and ran 10,000 meters every day on the school's large playground. He believed that in 36,500 days he could fly like the heroes on TV, soaring through the pine and birch forests of the front mountain.

Xinchun Xinjun made his older brother, Xinmin, do hard labor, digging a training ground atop the cliff face of the front mountain. He leveled it with yellow mud, then, like the Shaolin monks, he squatted in a beautiful horse stance, stomping his feet to compact the mud. A large sandbag was hung from a crooked tree at the edge of the cliff, and he practiced punching and kicking it every day, running towards the distant iron tower. However, watching Xiaohua in the movie theater was too heartbreaking; the beautiful woman's fate was like the azalea on the cliff—a springtime azalea falling into the river. The love stories in *Blood Suspicion* and *Manhunt* were so moving, as was the war film *Garland Under the Mountain*, with its news broadcast of howitzers firing in unison against the invaders. *Romance on Lushan Mountain*, with its story of Zhou Yu's love on Lushan Mountain, was so touching—the courtesan oblivious to the sorrow of a fallen nation. But seeing Du Shiniang's final lament, pouring all her gold and silver into the river before leaping into the water, was a tragic love story. If we look at Bai Juyi's "The Song of the Pipa" and "The Song of Everlasting Regret," we might change the elegy of the tragic fate of women amidst great historical changes.

Believe it or not, the train station is busier now. The cinema in Dahe Forest Farm is right next to the video arcade, playing Bruce Lee movies non-stop. In *The Big Boss*, the villain rips a beauty's clothes, revealing her white breasts, scaring Zhang Sheng so much he runs out of the video arcade. The cinema has lost its audience; people are more enthusiastic about watching Hong Kong and Taiwanese dramas on TV, all romance dramas by Qiong Yao. The actresses' performances are too exaggerated, screaming and yelling from beginning to end, or crying and wailing. Children love watching martial arts films and reading novels by Jin Yong, Liang Yusheng, and Gu Long. Believe it or not, Zhang Sheng even read a revenge story similar to *The Count of Monte Cristo* and Alexandre Dumas's *A Deadly Secret*. This dream of finding treasure was all shattered in Dahe Forest Farm before New Year's Eve, with the sounds of pig-slaughtering competitions echoing through the mountains and valleys, the screams and roars of the pigs in the deep mountains turning to ashes. Guo Baoshan's pure pursuit of black pigs could produce the flavor of the Forbidden City, the grand master's banquet of pork fat that Guo Baoshan yearned for. His existence at least showed respect to Director Zhu, because Guo Baoshan was one of the few remaining embodiments of the magical realism of Dahelin City. Guo Baoshan's skin had aged and hardened; even acupuncture needles would break and bend. He cried and screamed like a child all day long because of the pain—pain all over his body.

In Dahe Forest Farm, the air before New Year's Eve is always filled with the squeals of pigs, because of the blood sausage and pork sausage. The purest meat, especially the lard from the pigs, is part of the cultural tradition. On this day, Guo Baoshan comes alive, instructing his beloved daughter, Guo Jinque, on how to make boiled pork belly, cooked in a large copper pot for a delicious hot pot. The New Year's Eve dinner is the most lavish and abundant part of the New Year's atmosphere in Dahe Forest Farm, as the women prepare for the entire year. The custom of slaughtering pigs before the New Year originated when every household raised a few pigs. During the New Year, they would eat the purest "pig-slaughtering feast," with relatives and friends gathering to enjoy the most delicious dishes, including the best pork stew with sauerkraut.

Animals in the city are pets, but those in the Dahe Forest Farm are delicacies. The ferocious black pigs eat chickens, geese, and ducks; one might even suspect they're offspring of wild boars—they're incredibly wild! Slaughtering a pig is painful, the same pain as with the yellow cat. You develop an attachment to pigs after raising them for a long time. The yellow cat died from rat poison, and Zhang Sheng grieved for almost a year or two, so he stopped keeping cats—the emotional attachment was too painful. But pigs aren't pets; they can't fly or escape, and they're not like the banished Pigsy from the mortal realm. While slaughtering the pig, Zhang Sheng ran to the snow-covered area on the front mountain and lay down to ski, skiing down the mountain to the river on a sled. Because of the pain, he was no longer afraid. Skiing down from the summit, he lost control but thankfully didn't fall off the cliff; instead, he miraculously survived by finding a gap, otherwise he would have been smashed to pieces. Perhaps this is the pig's soul's revenge, but it quickly forgets all the unpleasantness because the stewed pork with sauerkraut, braised pork hock, braised pig's feet, pork ribs, and pig intestines—the "pig-killing feast"—is so delicious. Therefore, pigs are pitiful, ultimately destined to become human food. My mother would use the best lean pork to make dumplings, freezing several large vats of it, and also making several large vats of sticky rice cakes. The storeroom was filled with frozen chicken, duck, and goose, as well as pork. My mother said that Guo Baoshan, who lived with my second aunt in her old age, was a true gourmet, a chef who could prepare the Manchu Han Imperial Feast.

The children no longer believed in gods and ghosts, but at least they still believed their sister's theory about the robes crawling into the classroom. Zhang Sheng believed that the river was overflowing with toads, fish, shrimp, and cicadas, because he spent all day catching fish and shrimp in the river, and he was quite good at catching toads. These were games and fun for him, part of his dream. Picking beans on the mountain frustrated him; they weren't part of his dream. He couldn't let his mother discover his carefree life; he had to keep busy, because the distant mountains held his fairytale world for his brothers, because it held Zhang Sheng's last bit of freedom. He had to be free, didn't he? When autumn came from the east, he could see wild geese flying south, flying in orderly V-formations in the sky. The people of the Dahe Forest Farm gathered in autumn and stored for winter; where did people go home? In the ancient graveyards in the distant wetlands and forests? The wetlands are full of legends. They are home to waterbirds and wild berries. People both love the long and round wild berries of the wetlands and fear the ancient cemeteries hidden in the wetland forests. Nearby is a station leading out of the mountains, where the locomotive refuels with water and coal. But Zhang Sheng has never gotten off the train to visit his grandmother's grave, where pearls lie in eternal rest. His father says the grave is at least 20 kilometers from the station.

The geese also prefer wetland environments; they can hide in the reeds, and they never land in the river within the Dahe Forest Farm. Zhang Sheng once asked his father why the geese didn't breed in the river of the Dahe Forest Farm. This had always puzzled him. Perhaps because the people in the Dahe Forest Farm slaughtered pigs for meat during the New Year, the geese preferred to linger in the lakes of city parks rather than catch fish in the river of the Dahe Forest Farm. How regrettable it was to see the geese! The geese in the sky, along with the pheasants, jays, and even crows in the forest, all maintained a wary distance from the people of the Dahe Forest Farm. The reason was found: the children in the Dahe Forest Farm liked to trap jays in the thick, white snow covering the production team's fields, and they ran into the forest to make traps for grouse. Jaws liked to eat corn, but the children preferred grouse meat. In Dahe Forest Farm, some people raise pigeons and enjoy eating pigeon meat. They say grouse taste much better than pigeon, and others like to eat sparrows. I've never heard of any birds daring to eat owls or crows. I understand now; birds have their own unique language. That's why geese fly over Dahe Forest Farm and never stop in its lakes, streams, or rivers. They prefer to raise their young in wetlands near human cemeteries rather than approach bloodthirsty humans. There's no doubt the geese can't hear the pitiful cries of pigs during the New Year; perhaps the crows told them. Ah, Dahe Forest Farm not only sees geese flying south, but also rockets roaring and spewing flames and smoke over the river! Children chase after the rockets, calling them rockets, while adults call them missiles, saying it's much more exciting than what you see on TV.